8. Building a Republic, 1775

Quiz for Experiencing the American Promise: A Slave Sues for Her Freedom

Select the best answer for each question. Click the “submit” button for each question to turn in your work.

Question 8.1

1. When enslaved people sued for their freedom in Massachusetts in the 1780s, what document(s) did they argue justified their claim to freedom?

The suits brought by about thirty slaves in Massachusetts against their owners before 1780

The Massachusetts state constitution, which declared in 1780 that all men were born free and equal

The Declaration of Independence, which stated in 1776 that all men are created equal

Resolutions passed during the Revolutionary War that proclaimed liberty and independence for all men

Question 8.2

2. What conclusion can you draw about the experience of slavery in the late eighteenth century from the description of Bett’s owners Colonel John Ashley and his wife?

Female slave owners were typically crueler to female slaves than male slaves.

Wealthy slave owners were especially cruel in how they disciplined their slaves.

The average slaveholder in Massachusetts in this period had five slaves.

A slave’s treatment could vary dramatically depending on the owner’s temperament.

Question 8.3

3. When Bett chose the name “Elizabeth Freeman” for herself after she was freed from slavery, she was likely signaling

her love for her sister Lizzie, whose full name was likely Elizabeth.

her patriotic support for American independence from Britain.

her new status as a free person, in contrast to her previous enslavement.

her affiliation with the lawyer who helped her sue for her freedom.

Question 8.4

4. How was Elizabeth Freeman’s lawsuit similar to the claims made by white Americans during the Revolutionary War?

They both believed that all people were entitled to rights of freedom and property.

They both appealed to ideals of Christian kindness and benevolence.

They both evoked notions of masculine citizenship rights to bolster their claims.

They both argued that their own freedom hinged on the enslavement of other people.

Question 8.5

5. What is the historical significance of Elizabeth Freeman’s story?

Freeman's story illustrates how housekeeping was the most common paid work performed by women in New England in the Early Republic.

Freeman’s case Brom and Bett v. J. Ashley, Esq. was used as a precedent in legal challenges to slavery in the 1850s.

Freeman’s interactions with her state legislator are emblematic of the political participation by ordinary Americans in the 1780s.