Indian Slave Act (29 March 1677)

Date: 29 Mar 1677 [unknown]
Location: Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts Bay Colony
Surname/tag: Rawson Waldron Frost

Historical document: 29 Mar 1677 at Boston in New England

Ordered by: Massachusetts Bay Colony Council

Issued by: Edward Rawson, Secretary

Effect: Immediate

From The First Maine Indian War: Incident at Machias (1676)

"In response to seizure [by William Waldron] of Abenakis at Machias, and apparently also the selling of some of the Indians taken by [Richard] Walderne and [Charles] Frost at Cocheco, the Massachusetts Council on March 29, 1677, forbade the buying or keeping of any Indian slaves "without allowance from Authority" (Rawson 1677)."^[1]

Rawson 1677 — Pamphlet published in Cambridge in 1677,^[2] now in possession of the Boston Athenaeum. The full text is as follows:

“At a court held at Boston in New England, the 29th of March, 1677. The council being informed that certain strange Indians, who have been in Hostility against us, or have lived amongst such, are brought into this Jurisdiction, and bought by several persons, which causeth much trouble and fear to the Inhabitants where they reside, and may be of dangerous consequence, not only to the Towns where they live, but to the whole Jurisdiction, if not timely prevented:

“It is therefore Ordered that what person soever within this Jurisdiction shall hereafter buy or keep above ten days after the publication hereof, any such Indian, man or woman already bought, above the age of twelve years, without allowance from authority, shall besides the forfeit of such Indian or Indians, pay the fine of five pounds to the Treasurer of the Country, and the Constables of the several towns are ordered forthwith to publish this Order in their Precincts.

"By the Council, Edward Rawson, Secr.”

Sources

1. ↑ Frank T. Siebert. “The First Maine Indian War: Incident at Machias (1676).” Actes Du Quatorzieme Congres des Algonquinistes, pp. 137-156. William Cowan, ed. Ottawa: Carleton University.
2. ↑ Siebert, p.153 (folio 17). An image of the pamphlet is presented.

• Incident at Machias (Jul 1676)
• Deceit of Captain Waldron (1676)

• “Petition of William Waldron,” Massachusetts State Archives, Volume 30, document 213a. Transcription from The New England Indian Papers Series (NEIPS), Paul Grant-Costa and Tobias Glaza, eds., Yale University Library Digital Collections, http://hdl.handle.net/10079/digcoll/3611.

• Our Beloved Kin. "William Waldron’s Defense: The Capture and Return of Wabanaki Noncombatants". Contributed by Allyson LaForge with Lisa Brooks. (Accessed 22 Oct 2022)

• "Waldron vs. Smith: Shipwreck at The Eastward, 1671". Barbara Rumsey. Boothbay Region Historical Society. Maine History; Volume 39, Number 2; The Early Coast of Maine; 6-1-2000.

• Margaret Ellen Newell. "The Changing Nature of Indian Slavery in New England, 1670–1720". Colonial Society of Massachusetts, Volume 71 "Reinterpreting New England Indians and the Colonial Experience". (Accessed 22 Oct 2022) https://www.colonialsociety.org/node/1397

• Baker, Emerson W., "Trouble to the eastward: the failure of Anglo-Indian relations in early Maine" (1986). Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects. William & Mary. Paper 1539623765. https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21220/s2-mh0r-hx28