Samuel Sewall was born in England,
but he grew up in Massachusetts. He
received a formal education from Harvard, “…from which he earned his bachelor’s
degree in 1671.” and his master’s in 1674(1).
However, while he was well educated on religious matters, he never
accepted job offerings in any religious establishment. Instead, he chose to apply his knowledge of
morality to the world of politics. His foresights on many controversial topics
were recorded in his meticulously kept journal/diary. In which he began recording his thoughts
while attending Harvard. Sewall’s diary
has been invaluable to many historians, as it is largely an unbiased and
accurate record of the proceedings of industry and politics in seventeenth
century Massachusetts. Sewall married
Hannah Hull in 1676; daughter of a wealthy merchant based in Boston named John
Hull. Mr. Hull passed control of his business to Sewall, as well as gave him a
place of residence in Mr. Hull’s own home. Sewall’s inevitable knowledge of the
era’s mercantilism proved invaluable to him on many occasions, and was also
recorded in his diary. While Sewall had
many jobs, his favorite, and perhaps his most important was as a justice of the
Superior Court of Judicature, “a position he held for more than thirty-five
years” (1). His most widely publicized
cases were those of the Salem witch trials, in which Sewall was a key player in
sentencing nineteen suspects to death. Later
in his life, he confessed his guilt associated with these acts, to a crowd, on
an annual basis. Despite his
shortcomings, he still published one of the most influential pieces of
literature of the era, “The Selling of Joseph” which pushed for an anti-slavery
movement with vim and vigor.
“The Selling of Joseph” explicitly
declares its purpose in the very first lines, “Foreasmuch as Liberty is in real
value next to life: None ought to part with it themselves, or deprive others of
it, but upon most mature consideration.”(1)
This is the thesis of his essay.
To paraphrase, Sewall is saying: because liberty is second only to life,
none should freely part with it, or take another’s, unless this severe an
action is warranted and put into effect in a thoughtful, considerate way. Sewall goes on to provide scriptural evidence
to prove that one must be completely lacking in morality in order to own
another human being. He quotes such
scriptures as, Genesis 37: 20, 27, 28 (2) and 2 Kings 8:10, 12.(3) Both of these scriptures
display a complete disregard for human decency and respect. Sewall knew that these messages would be
powerful in the face of his opposition, as, if they denied his argument; they
were, in effect, denying Gods’ word.
Samuel Sewall published this essay
in 1700. Many historians believe that
Sewall was spurted into action by events in his town of residence. The text seems to have been aimed at a man
named John Saffin. Sewall used Saffin as
an example of a typical slave holder.
Saffin hired a slave for seven years, promising his release upon the
completion of his service. This young
slave, named Adam, and his wife, completed their period of servitude but were
not freed as promised. This local
example of the wrongness of slavery and slaveholders, helped push Sewall’s
essay further into the hearts of the people, and history itself.
I.
Baym,
Nina, and Robert S. Levine. The Norton Anthology of American Literature.
New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. Print.
II.
Genesis 37. (n.d.). Retrieved February 09, 2017,
from https://www.lds.org/scriptures/ot/gen/37?lang=eng
III.
2 Kings 8.
(n.d.). Retrieved February 09, 2017, from https://www.lds.org/scriptures/ot/2-kgs/8?lang=eng
I thought that your blog was very good and did a great job describing the content of Sewalls life. I found it particularly interesting how Sewall recognized and later acknowledged his mistakes in the events at Salem. I also found it interesting that though he was educated in religion he became a politician and a Superior Court judge instead of a minister.I also thought it particularly interesting that he professed his guilt for the events at Salem yearly. Another point was how he frequently used the scriptures in his argument against slavery even though he had chosen not to become a minister. A few points I found interesting was the format of his writing. It was very much like bullet points with each one designating a different argument, he would state the argument and the proceed to give his answer in a very list like way of formatting. Another interesting point i thought was how it seemed most of the arguments for slavery seem to be related to the scriptures, which may account for his using them to dispute the arguments. The arguments i found most absurd were the second and third points. The second being that slavery is good because it brings the slaves to a place where the gospel is preached, i found it interesting that for this argument Sewall only gave it the attention of two sentences showing that he thought that the point was so ridiculous that it didnt need anymore attention. The third point being that that because the slaves are bought from the winners of one war or another that the slaves are completely legal. Sewall used a quote from Mathew to dispute this point which basically said treat others how you would want them to treat you.
ReplyDeleteYou did a great job of explaining the main point of Samuel Sewall’s “The Selling of Joseph: A memorial.” I like that you got straight into his thesis by pointing out the first line of the writing and paraphrasing it into a simpler way of understanding what he saying. Your connections with his arguments against slavery and the scriptures he uses in Genesis Chapter 37 and Second Kings chapter 8 were very helpful and easy to understand, especially with the links that had the scriptures directly. When reading the text myself the first time I did not bother to look up any of the scriptures, so that made Sewall’s writing a lot more clear for me personally.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I think you should have included in your blog is the objections pro-slave owners use from the bible, and how Sewall answers and disproves the points they try to make (pages 325-326). I think that Sewall’s answers are important information to include when incorporating it into his main point that slavery is immoral.