14 November 1776 (passage)
Massachusetts exempts Black and Indigenous men from a compulsory army reinforcement
Massachusetts
Massachusetts’s act to reinforce the American army excepted Black, mixed-race and Indigenous people from its requirement to take up arms or provide another man in their place. The act directed the raising of a quarter of the eligible able-bodied male population aged sixteen and older for temporary reinforcement of the Continental Army.
Dates preserve the source’s precision. This entry is part of a selected historical record; its qualifications and sources are retained below.
Context / qualification
This is a racial exception from the act’s compulsory service and substitution requirement, not proof of a universal ban on voluntary enlistment. Section 1 also excepts specified religious and educational groups and powder-mill workers. The printed act records passage November 14, 1776 and notes signing on November 15; it is distinct from the Connecticut alarm-list law and the Cambridge army orders.
Sources
- Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States, chapter 5, pp. 77–79; supplied print pages, edition/year unidentified; context for the jurisdiction-specific follow-up, not a citation of this particular act
- Massachusetts Acts and Resolves, vol. V, 1776–77 chapter 21, sections 1–2, pp. 595–596; passage date p. 600 ↗