Barbados Quotes
This quotation—presented in its entirety because it is so unbelievable—illustrates one of the uglier and nasty aspects of Colonial America. Most of us associate early American colonists with persecuted minorities escaping the intolerance of Europe, but so much of the concept of tolerance then concentrated on the rights of a religious community but provided little if any obligation to then be tolerant of OTHER minorities in their colonies and communities. In this case, Massachusetts Christians did not perceive Quakers as either Christians or another sect to be tolerated. They not only wanted the Quakers stopped from coming to other parts of America, but actually attempted to interdict the Quaker immigrant ship, capture the Quakers, and sell them into slavery in the Caribbean. What makes the incident even more offensive is that the ethics of this was never questioned and was even justified as Christian acts and even duty. The Welcome evaded the Porpoise The founding fathers knew about these incidents and the religious discrimination that was rampant in many Colonial communities as bad as England and Europe. Hence, the separation of Church and State concepts were not just protections against the way of the old world, but dealt with a clear and present danger that Colonial history had demonstrated.
This historical quotation enables us to date the importation of slaves into Massachusetts to as early as 1638. It also shows us that even though the Spanish had enslaved Negroes from Africa, when English ships raided Spanish ships and seized their booty, they considered the slaves as property and took them to then sell for the money. Had they had a different point of view, they might have freed the Back slaves who had been captured by their enemy, the Spanish. But they did not and money and money was the major motivation.
