New York Passes Gradual Abolition Act

New York's Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery (July 4, 1799) declared that children born to enslaved mothers after July 4, 1799 would be free — but bound as indentured servants until age 28 (men) or 25 (women). Existing enslaved people were not freed. New Jersey followed in 1804. Complete abolition in New York did not occur until 1827. The law reflected the same pattern as Pennsylvania: freedom deferred, labor extracted, the children of enslaved women legally held in a status barely distin