Gradual abolition of slavery
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The gradual abolition of slavery took place in the Northern United States, the British Empire, and parts of Latin America during the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, as part of the end of slavery in the Americas. It was the dominant viewpoint among abolitionists until the 1820s, when it was eclipsed by calls for immediate emancipation.[1]
History
Pennsylvania's An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery of 1780 was the first legislative attempt to gradually abolish slavery in the United States. It specified that "every Negro and Mulatto child born within the State after the passing of the Act [1780] would be free upon reaching age twenty-eight." Once the Pennsylvania residents were freed, they were supposed to be treated the same as indentured servants who were contracted for four years of service. For instance, they were to receive tools of their trade or other privileges.[2]
Four other Northern states adopted policies to at least gradually abolish slavery: New Hampshire and Massachusetts in 1783, and Connecticut and Rhode Island in 1784. The Republic of Vermont had already limited slavery in its original constitution (1777), before it joined the United States as the 14th state in 1791. These state jurisdictions thus enacted the first abolition laws in the Americas.[3] By the 1820s, all Northern states enacted laws for either gradual or immediate emancipation.[4] By 1860, U.S. Census data showed that almost all Northern states had no slaves except for New Jersey which had enacted such gradual emancipation that there were still 18 slaves enumerated by the census.[5][circular reference]
Starting in the early 19th century, the concept of gradual abolition spread from the US to Latin America, where it became known as Freedom of wombs.
Abraham Lincoln proposed an amendment to the Constitution for gradual emancipation in 1861 and 1862, culminating with the Second Message to Congress in December 1862. However, he realized that immediate emancipation was what was needed, because there was increasing support for emancipation in the north and slaves helped the Confederates during the war. This led to the Emancipation Proclamation, which went into effect on January 1, 1863.[6] The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified at the end of the war, making slavery illegal in every state, and all enslaved people were freed.[7]