Dramatis Personae
James DeLancey, a Loyalist Colonel and slave owner
William Woodin, a Halifax businessman and merchant
Jack, an escaped Negro slave
Joseph Aplin, a Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia lawyer
William Tidd, a famous English lawyer and author on the law
Spencer Perceval, an English lawyer and Prime Minister of England
The Attorney-General of England
William Blackstone, a very famous English author on the law
Matthew Bacon, another famous English author on the law
Charles Holt, Lord Chief Justice of England and author on the law
After an interval of over 200 years, it becomes difficult to know who the people named in the pamphlet were or to find out anything much about their characters. All we can go by is the few things they wrote down about themselves, and the things other people wrote about them. Some of the people mentioned in the pamphlet were famous at the time, though for most of them, fame was fleeting. The person at the center of the controversy isn't even given a last name; he is just Jack, the one-time slave of James DeLancey.
The biographies that follow are incomplete, sketchy, and sometimes of uncertain accuracy. Still, to know at least a little of who these people were will, I hope, allow us to understand the issue of Canadian slavery a bit better.
The names of most of these people are spelled differently in various records. The names below are the regularized names; they are the most commonly used names, or the names the person used in their own writing.
(All biographical sketches, unless otherwise noted, are by David Badke.)
Commentary