Brom & Bett V. Ashley
In 1781 Reeve, worked with Theodore Sedgwick to represent Elizabeth Freeman (known as Bett), a slave in Sheffield, Massachusetts, in a legal bid for her freedom. Bett had listened to discussions related to the Sheffield Resolves and a reading of the 1780 Massachusetts Constitution, the latter containing the phrase "all men are born free and equal" and had asked Sedgwick to take her case in a local court. Reeve and Sedgwick successfully secured her freedom on constitutional grounds. This case, (Brom & Bett v. Ashley) set a precedent that led to the abolition of slavery in Massachusetts.
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