Little is known about Sarter's life beyond what can be inferred from his 1774 essay. He stated that he was born free in Africa and, while young, was "trapanned" (kidnapped or deceitfully seized) and forcibly transported to North America, where he was enslaved for over twenty years. He later purchased his freedom, writing that "at last, by the blessing of God," he had "shaken it off."
Antislavery essay (1774) On August 17, 1774, the
Essex Journal and Merrimack Packet, sometimes referred to as
The Massachusetts and New-Hampshire General Advertiser, published Sarter's essay, often referred to as
"Essay on Slavery." The piece appeared on the newspaper's front page, eight months after the
Boston Tea Party. Addressed to the Massachusetts legislature, the essay adopts the form of a
jeremiad, a rhetorical mode common in New England religious and political writing. Sarter condemned slavery as morally indefensible and directly challenged white colonists who demanded liberty from British oppression while holding enslaved people in their own households. He wrote:"I need not point out the absurdity of your exertions for liberty while you have slaves in your houses."Sarter grounded his argument in Christian theology, particularly the
Golden Rule, urging lawmakers to apply the same moral standards to enslaved Africans that they claimed for themselves:"Why will you not pity and relieve the poor, distressed, enslaved Africans? Let that excellent rule given by our Saviour, to do to others as you would that they should do to you, have its due weight with you."In addition to religious appeals, Sarter drew on natural rights arguments similar to those advanced by American revolutionaries, repeatedly paralleling colonial resistance to British tyranny with the condition of enslaved Africans. == Historical significance ==