Samuel Sewall was in England at the time of the Boston Revolt of April 1689 – his Diary (online here) shows that he had set sail from Boston Harbour on 22 November 1688 and arrived at the Isle of Wight on 10 January 1689 into an England where the Prince of 'Aurang' [Orange] had taken charge. Sewall stayed for most of 1689, sailing back to America from Plymouth on 10 October 1689.
Sewall co-authored the publication The Revolution in New England Justified, and the People there Vindicated (printed by Samuel Green for Joseph Brunning in 1691; online here) in which Sewall defended the Boston Revolt, stating that King James II's governor Edmund Andros had "made laws destructive of the liberty of the people".
"... The uprising against Andros certainly bears the signs of a popular movement, not based upon any knowledge of the success of the revolution in England, and for that reason not probably the work of any of the citizens of position and wealth. It was a desperate venture, since the continuance of the rule of King James would have brought a speedy and terrible punishment upon the malcontents. The inhabitants of Boston in 1689 were fully aware of the scenes which followed Monmouth's failure. Some refugees indeed had found shelter here, and the daughter of that most noted victim, Lady Lisle, had recently been living here as the wife of President Leonard Hoar (of Harvard University), and later of Hezekiah Usher ..." - from The Memorial History of Boston (online here)
Almost a decade later Sewall turned his pen to challenge aspects of slavery. In 1700 he published The Selling of Joseph; A Memorial which was written regarding the high-profile case of a man called Adam who was enslaved by Boston merchant John Saffin. Sewall drew parallels with the Biblical enslavement of Joseph in Egypt –
"... Originally, and Naturally, there is no such thing as Slavery. Joseph was rightfully no more a Slave to his Brethren, then they were to him ...
... Tis pity there should be more Caution used in buying a Horse, or a little lifeless dust; than there is in purchasing Men and Women: Whereas they are the Offspring of GOD, and their Liberty is 'auro pretiosior omni' (more precious than gold)...
... It is likewise most lamentable to think, how in taking Negros out of Africa, and Selling of them here, That which GOD has joyned together men do boldly rend asunder; Men from their Country, Husbands from their Wives, Parents from their Children. How horrible is the Uncleanness, Mortality, if not Murder, that the Ships are guilty of that bring great Crouds of these miserable Men, and Women. Methinks, when we are bemoaning the barbarous Usage of our Friends and Kinsfolk in Africa ..."
However, Sewall appears to have also sold African slaves. Humans are a mess of hypocrisies and contradictions. In every culture, in every era, the desperate and poorest and weakest have always been fuel for the indulgences of the comfortable classes – from William Blake's "dark Satanic mills" to Wilfred Owen's "Dulce Et Decorum Est", to the deadly coalmines of Lanarkshire, Yorkshire, and Appalachia.
I wonder which unthinkable inhumanities our era turns a blind eye too, to preserve our comforts and pleasures? The sweat shops where designer brands make incredible fortunes out of vanity, and where the shiny device you are reading this on is made by tech companies who have nets around their buildings to try to stop staff "unaliving" themselves.
Ursula K LeGuin's short story The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas is worth a (harrowing) read.
As Sewall wrote in 1700, "It is most certain that all Men, as they are the Sons of Adam, are Coheirs; and have equal Right unto Liberty, and all other outward Comforts of Life."
• Thomas Hutchinson's account of the Boston Revolt is in his History of Massachussetts (online here, from page 332). His grandfather Elisha Hutchinson had been a merchant in Boston at the time of the 1688 Glorious Revolution.
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