Don Higginbotham

The British Isles and the War of American Independence

Introduction 1. Mobilization 2. The Economic Impact 3. The War, Society, and Culture 4. Divisions within the Whole 5. Uniting the Nations? 6. Parliamentary Power and Parliamentary Reform 7. Religious Reform and Religious Reaction 8. The Local Dimension 9. War, Peace, and Empire Conclusion Bibliography Index

Was It Murder for a White Man to Kill a Slave? Chief Justice Martin Howard Condemns the Peculiar Institution in North Carolina

L ATE in I77i at a session of the North Carolina Superior Court, quite likely held in Wilmington, Chief Justice Martin Howard delivered what can only be termed a remarkable grand jury charge. It was not unusual for a colonial judge to speak to a grand jury on themes that went far beyond the responsibilities of the jurors to determine matters of evidence. With deep roots in the English legal tradition, the grand jury charge not infrequently took the form of a commentary on topics of public interest. The subject Howard chose, however, was unusual: human slavery, which he resoundingly denounced. Howards charge took courage in a colony whose Negro population is estimated to have been large and increasing rapidly after I75O. Indeed, except for the Quakers, such strong antislavery sentiments were extraordinary anywhere in colonial America. Courage was not a new quality in Martin Howard. Reared in Rhode Island, he found that his prominent family name, his participation in the