Pliny Arms (1778-1859) of Deerfield, Massachusetts, wrote this unpublished manuscript history of the town in about 1840. It contains an account of the town during and after the American Revolution. Deerfield was evenly divided between Whigs (also called Patriots) and Loyalists (also called Tories) during the war. As each faction struggled for control, the actions of one town meeting were often overturned by the next. Arms also related a story “frequently conversed on in our family circles”, when several enslaved people in Deerfield who gathered for a “frolic” in the early 1770s “were detected and without judge or jury sentenced to the whip.” Arms pointed out that although slavery was not was officially abolished in Massachusetts, the Massachusetts State Supreme Court ruled slavery to be unconstitutional under the new state constitution adopted in 1780.
Arms, Pliny. Deerfield History. ca. 1840. Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, American Centuries. https://americancenturies.org/collection/l04-130/. Accessed on July 17, 2025.
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