Biography
Jabez Bowen Jr. was a Georgia Superior Court judge who denounced slavery as an obstacle to the happiness and welfare of the state. In 1804 he instructed a Savannah grand jury to investigate slavery and prepare a plan for gradual emancipation. The grand jurors instead accused Bowen of spreading ideas that could encourage a slave insurrection and had him arrested. He spent two weeks in jail before his family raised an $80,000 bond, and the Georgia legislature later impeached him.
