Pennsylvania Passes Gradual Abolition Act — First Abolition Law by a State Legislature

Pennsylvania's Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery (March 1, 1780) declared that no child born in Pennsylvania after that date would be enslaved. However, children born to enslaved mothers remained indentured servants until age 28. Existing enslaved people were not freed. The law required slaveholders to register their enslaved people annually or forfeit their claims. George Washington exploited a six-month residency loophole by rotating his enslaved household staff between Philadelphia and