The document is a petition written by enslaved people in Massachusetts to

the House of Council and the House Representatives in Massachusetts Bay in

1777.The purpose of this petition is to urge the abolition of slavery. Ever
since the declaration of Independence, many enslaved African Americans
started to show their concerns toward liberty and equality in America. Those
who were enslaved in Massachusetts decided to petition for their freedom. In
this petition, they have listed several reasons why the Legislatives should
end slavery: they appealed to peoples ethos by explaining how they should
be treated as anyone else because all mankind have their rights to freedom
and shall not to be taken away by another human. They also mentioned that
their involuntary separation with their beautiful motherland is a violation of
Nature, especially in the concepts of Christian religious belief. Then, they
appealed to pathos by recalling the past situation when America was ruled
under British parliaments and barely have freedom to make decisions for
themselves. The intended audiences for this document are the House
Representatives in Massachusetts Bay and they argued the wrongful
existence of slavery and in hope of persuading the legislature with their
petition. The petition was later summited to the general court. Along with
some of the successful and memorable cases of slave against slavery, the
petition finally earned attentions in the legislature. In 1781, the
Massachusetts Chief Justice eventually ruled that slavery is unconstitutional
because of the violation of the new state constitutions statement that men
are born free and Equal.
There are credible facts present in this document including the detention of
African Americans whom were enslaved by British as well as the claim that
all men have inalienable rights and privileges which matched the claim of an
influential seventeenth century philosopher John Locke made in his book Two
Treaties of Government back in 1690 that all people possessed natural and
inalienable rights (108, Brands) which also described in the book as Godgiven rights. They also made specific references to the Declaration of
Independence by stating the idea all men are created equal. The opinions
expressed in the petition were not bias but rather promoted the concerns of
welfare for all the enslave African Americans and spoke for those who have
been treated unfairly under the law of slavery including young innocent
children whom have involved in terrible slave trades. Enslaved African
Americans prayed for the end of slavery not only for themselves as well as
their innocent children, the next generation. In my opinion, the most
convincing part of the petition is the reference to the new state constitution
which makes it hard for legislative body to turn down the petition.

As the first state to legalize slavery, Massachusetts has been an important

landmark for American history. This petition to the House of Representatives
in Massachusetts Bay should be considered as a valuable document because
it leads to the end of slavery of the United States. It also grants nature rights
and liberty to African Americans. Under the new constitution of America,
many states followed Massachusettss footstep and ended slavery for good
which returned freedom to a lot of former enslaved African Americans in the
history.