 In 1780, at the age of 21, Paul and his brother John Cuffe refused to pay taxes because free blacks did not have the right to vote in Massachusetts.In 1780, they petitioned the council of Bristol County, Massachusetts, to end such taxation without representation, which had been an issue leading to the Revolution.The petition was denied, but his suit contributed to the state legislature decision in 1783 to grant voting rights to all free male citizens of the state.