New Jersey Last Northern State to Pass Gradual Emancipation

New Jersey's gradual emancipation law, passed February 15, 1804, was the last Northern state to act. Like its predecessors, it freed no one already enslaved. Children born to enslaved mothers after July 4, 1804 would be free — after serving their mother's enslaver until age 25 (males) or 21 (females). New Jersey still had 236 people officially classified as 'apprentices for life' in the 1860 census — effectively enslaved — and was the only Northern state with remaining enslaved people at the start of the Civil War. The 'gradual' character of Northern emancipation meant slavery effectively persisted in New Jersey until the 13th Amendment in 1865.