Slavery In Colonial New England

While Massachusetts was the first state to abolish slavery in 1783, it was also the first to legalize it 140 years earlier.

Slaves were an integral part of the founding of America and of the colonial society — long before the American Revolution and the Massachusetts Constitution.

Slaves were so seamlessly woven into the everyday experiences of the New England elite, that they were not often written about. Until now.

Wendy Warren, professor of history at Princeton University and author of "New England Bound: Slavery and Colonization in Early America," which goes on sale Tuesday.