The Zong Massacre
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The somerset caseJames Somerset, a slave, was a Boston officials, Charles Stewart’s, “property.” After being brought to England two years prior, he escaped but was recaptured in November of 1771. He was forced onto a ship Jamaica bound. Granville Sharpe, an anti-slavery humanitarian, helped Somerset, it was forced that Somerset be let before a court. Presiding over the case, Lord Mansfield’s aim was believed to try and abolish slavery. He ruled, “No master ever was allowed here to take a slave by force to be sold abroad because he deserted from his service, or for any other reason whatever – therefore the man must be discharged” (Walvin 13). This case was a landmark decision that helped towards the abolishment of slavery.
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the zong Massacre |
The Zong Massacre was one of the biggest cases in the history of the Atlantic Slave trade. Under the command of Luke Collingwood and his crew, 133 enslaved Africans were thrown overboard and drowned. After leaving the coast of Africa, The crew crowded too many slaves onto the ship, therefore causing malnutrition and a lot of disease. After many had died, Collingwood decided to throw the remaining slaves over the ship. Collingwood tried to claim insurance on the slaves, saying that the cause of their deaths were natural. Lord Mansfield, after he had awarded the insurers £300, decided there was no price for a human life and called for a retrial. The insurers withdrew their case, furthering the law the enslaved could not be insured.
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