According to the 1800-1850 United States Census, the number of slaves that approximately remained in the North during the early 1800’s initially started from 135 slaves in the year 1800. Subsequently, the number of slaves rose in the North to a staggering 114,931 over the next 50 years. Contrary to popular belief, slavery lasted longer in the north than many tend to realize.
Initially, northern states adopted a process of “gradual emancipation that would phase out slavery over an extended period of time, reflecting concerns over race, social structure, and the economic benefits of owning slaves as property and an income source” (Thompson, K.L., 2017). As it stands, Pennsylvania was one of the first states to pass a “Gradual Abolition Law”. The law required the following provisions: all children born of slaves were to remain in bondage until the age of 28, interracial marriage was banned, slaves accompanied by their masters to the state would be freed in six months or indentured for 28 years for children and four years for adults, and if found that the newly emancipated slave could not maintain themselves could be in jeopardy of losing his/her freedom. However, the law passed in 1780, but no slave was actually emancipated until 1808. Consequently, other states constructed similar laws such as Connecticut and Rhode Island, implementing statutes that would effectively phase out slavery. For example, Connecticut offered slave masters the option
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On the contrary, what purpose did slavery provide in the North? In contrast to Southern plantation slavery, Northern slavery tended to address urban needs such as clearing lands, building towns, shipbuilding, and the slave served as a valuable slave trading commodity to the Dutch and the British as the slave was familiar with local colonial customs and work