"The Ballad of Cassandra Southwick" is a poem written by American

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

poet

John Greenleaf Whittier John Greenleaf Whittier (December 17, 1807 – September 7, 1892) was an American Quaker poet and advocate of the abolition of slavery in the United States. Frequently listed as one of the fireside poets, he was influenced by the Scottish poet ...

1843 Events January–March * January ** Serial publication of Charles Dickens's novel ''Martin Chuzzlewit'' begins in London; in the July chapters, he lands his hero in the United States. ** Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Tell-Tale Heart" ...

. It details the religious persecution of Cassandra Southwick's youngest daughter Provided Southwick, a Quaker woman who lived in

Salem, Massachusetts Salem ( ) is a historic coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, located on the North Shore of Greater Boston. Continuous settlement by Europeans began in 1626 with English colonists. Salem would become one of the most significant seaports tr ...

and is the only white female known to be put up at auction as a

slave Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

in the United States.

History

The ballad's foundation is based on a remarkable event in the history of

Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Catholic Church, Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become m ...

intolerance in early colonial America. In 1659, the youngest son and daughter of

Lawrence and Cassandra Southwick Lawrence and Cassandra (née Burnell) Southwick were early immigrants to colonial America and devout Quakers who, along with their children, were severely persecuted for their religious beliefs. Biographies Early lives Lawrence and Cassandra were m ...

, who themselves were imprisoned, deprived of all property and ultimately banished from

Massachusetts Bay Colony The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1630–1691), more formally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was an English settlement on the east coast of North America around the Massachusetts Bay, the northernmost of the several colonies later reorganized as the ...

, were fined £10 each for non-attendance at church, which they were unable to pay due to the severity of the family's legal and financial hardships. The case of Daniel and Provided Southwick was presented to the General Court at

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, which issued an order signed by Edward Rawson empowering the treasurer of Essex County "to sell the said persons to any of the English nation at Virginia or Barbadoes icto answer said fines." An attempt was made to sell Daniel and Provided at auction, but none of the shipmasters present were willing to take them to the West Indies.

Characterizations

Whittier characterized Massachusetts Governor John Endecott as "dark and haughty" and exhibiting "bitter hate and scorn" for the Quakers. Secretary Rawson is characterized as Endecott's willing minion.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ballad of Cassandra Southwick (poem), The Poetry and hymns by John Greenleaf Whittier 1843 poems Poems in English Historical poems Southwick