Book Review: Ten Hills Farm: The Forgotten History of Slavery in the North

The American Spectator has recently published a book review by George M. Wittman. The book is Ten Hills Farm: The Forgotten History of Slavery in the North. By C.S. Manegold (Princeton University Press, 345 pages, $29.95) As Wittman observes:

It is calculated that 1,200 Indians were enslaved before the end of the 1600s as well as an estimated 200 to 400 Africans, depending on the source. The pre-Revolutionary War census of Massachusetts in 1765 listed the number of black slaves as 5,779. These figures apparently do not include the Africans and Indians transshipped as cargo to the West Indies, the commerce that continued after the post-war emancipation to satisfy the supposed "equality of all." Approximately 5,000 slaves were quietly freed after the Revolution in Massachusetts in belated recognition of the state constitution's claim: "All men are born free and equal…" which, according to Manegold, when written in 1780, had no "intention to liberate all slaves…"

And:

One is struck by the talents Manegold, an experienced journalist and penetrating writer, displays in Ten Hills Farm. The history that evolved from this manor house and an initial 600 acre plot of land not only reflects the experiences of its several generations of owners and their neighbors over nearly 140 years, but defines the conquest and settlement of the of Massachusetts Bay Colony as a whole.