Focus Question: What were the consequences of the abolition of slavery in the northern states after the American Revolution?

 "To the Friends of Negro Emancipation," celebrating abolition of slavery in British Empire, 1833

Topics on the page

Benjamin Banneker

• Influential Biography:  Benjamin Banneker, African American Inventor

Act of Prohibit the Importation of Slaves

Abolition of Slavery in the North

Quock Walker, Mum Bett, and the End of Slavery in Massachusetts

Special Topic Page:  19th Century African American Inventors

Benjamin Banneker

• Benjamin Banneker was a free African American who was an author, scientist, farmer, astronomer, and an urban planner

• He was born free because he descended from an indentured servant who won her freedom, and a formerly enslaved man

• Banneker had little formal education, and largely taught himself

• Some of Banneker's greatest accomplishments include: creating a wooden clock that strikes on the hour, helping survey the original boundaries of Washington D.C., writing farmers almanacs, writing abolitionist essays, and studying astronomy 

As late as 1800, up to three-quarters of the world's population was still living in bondage (from Bury the Chains:  Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire's Slaves, Adam Hochschild, 2015)

International Chronology:  Who Banned Slavery, When?

Congress Abolishes the African Slave Trade  

• Congress passed an act to "prohibit the importation of slaves into any port or place within the jurisdiction of the United States...from any foreign kingdom, place, or country."

• This act passed in 1807 and became effective on January 1, 1808

• Although this was a start, the trade of enslaved people still continued in the South, and the children of all slaves became slaves (this created a never-ending cycle) 

Abolition of Slavery in the North

• By 1804, all Northern states had enacted a gradual plan to eliminate slavery. 

• Vermont was the first state to abolish slavery in 1777

• Vermont 1777 Slavery Ban Had a Complicated Reality

Mississippi Ratifies 13th Amendment Abolishing Slavery. . . 147 Years Late

The abolitionist movement to outlaw slavery nationwide started as a religious movement in the North, based on the immorality of slavery. However, abolitionists constituted a tiny minority, as they lacked a plan.

• Abolitionists gained support in 1836, when the House of Representatives instituted a gag rule concerning copious mailed in petitions against slavery.
• The gag rule tabled any petition regarding slavery. Abolitionists campaigned that the right to petition was under attack by wealthy slaveholders who compromised the power of the American people.

• This gained support against the slavery movement and the gag rule was repealed in 1844.

• As Westward Expansion led to the creation of more states, the issue of whether to allow slavery in the new states arose in Congress.
• The South wanted the new states to be slaveholding because it would tip the scales in Congress in favor of their interests, while the North wanted to prevent this.

Harriet Beecher Stowe 

• Harriet Beecher Stowe was the daughter of an abolitionist leader and came from a religious Connecticut family
• When she was older, she moved to Cincinnati, Ohio where she was exposed to the horrors of the slave trade and the treatment of slaves heading down south 

• She was a teacher and a writer

• She famously wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin  which denounced slavery

• "Uncle Tom's Cabin" opened the eyes of both Northerners and Southerners, and is one of the many reasons for the start of the Civil War 

Quock Walker, Mum Bett, and the End of Slavery in Massachusetts

For more information, link to The Legal End of Slavery in Massachusetts from the website, "African Americans and the End of Slavery in Massachusetts."

For a site on the end of slavery in the Northern States, visit slavenorth.com. This website allows you to read articles on the ending of Northern slavery in general, but also gives you articles on the emancipation of each specific Northern state.

This site includes documents and information on the Quock Walker trials, which along with the Elizabeth Freeman (Mum Bett) case, effectively ended slavery in Massachusetts.

 An Act Designing July 8 as Massachusetts Emancipation Day a.k.a. Quock Walker Day