Blacks born in colonial America were Englishmen with an inalienable right to liberty under Britain's rule of law and those who purported to be slavemasters were criminals. The product of graft -slavery was America's first continuing criminal enterprise. However, with Lord Chief Justice Mansfield's utterance in 1772, "... Let justice be done although the heavens fall..." - a freedom trial of a slave named James Somerset and then Britain highest court's declaration that slavery was unconstitutional, America's thirteen colonies exploded into rebellion. Myths developed to shield the founding generation and were used to further nationalist chauvinism.
In 1779, Britain repudiated colonial lawlessness and in committing itself to the restoration of the rule of law tradition - unconditionally freed all black slaves. And "... most strictly forbid any Person to sell or claim Right over any NEGROE (sic)..." Four years later, the U.S. sued for peace and by treaty agreed to "set at liberty" all British subjects; but reneged and relegated 500,000 black British subjects into slavery. The U.S. exploited legally free British subjects - in derogation of international law. The slavery narrative has overthrown U.S. history and racial chauvinism is nothing more than victim-blaming.
The significance of the Somerset decision - America'first emancipation of slaves has escaped telling. Told with all the power and drama of a novel, Smoke, Mirrors, and Chains: America's First Continuing Criminal Enterprise is an extraordinary account of pulse-pounding human drama defined by criminal enslavement, political intrigue and raw human achievement.