1780s

On November 29–December 1, 1781, Captain Luke Collingwood of the slave ship Zong ordered 132 living enslaved Africans thrown into the Atlantic. He claimed the ship was short of water and that killing the captives — rather than allowing them to die of illness — would allow the ship's owners, Gregson & Co., to collect insurance on the 'cargo.' The owners filed a claim; underwriters refused. The case went to court in 1783.

James Madison's notes record the Three-Fifths Clause debate at the Constitutional Convention. Southern delegates demanded enslaved people count fully for apportionment; Northern delegates argued they should not count at all. The compromise counted each enslaved person as three-fifths of a person for representation purposes, giving slaveholding states 25 extra congressional seats and distorting national politics until 1865.

Quock Walker, enslaved in Barre, Massachusetts, escaped to a neighboring farm and was recaptured. He sued Nathaniel Jennison for assault and battery, arguing he had been promised freedom. In Walker v. Jennison (1781), the court found for Walker. A related case, Commonwealth v. Jennison (1783), saw Chief Justice William Cushing instruct the jury that the 1780 Massachusetts Constitution, declaring all men born free and equal, had effectively abolished slavery in the state. Jennison was convicted.

Elizabeth Freeman, known as Mum Bett, was enslaved in Sheffield, Massachusetts. After being struck by her enslaver's wife, she approached attorney Theodore Sedgwick. He argued that the Massachusetts Constitution's declaration of universal freedom applied to her. The court agreed; Freeman was freed and awarded nominal damages. She took the surname Freeman, worked as a paid servant for the Sedgwicks, and became the first enslaved person in Massachusetts freed by judicial ruling under the new const

Belinda Sutton, enslaved for over fifty years by Isaac Royall Jr., petitioned Massachusetts in 1783 for a pension from Royall's confiscated estate, describing her capture in West Africa as a child. The legislature granted her fifteen pounds twelve shillings annually — the first reparations payment to a formerly enslaved person in American history. The pension was granted for only one year; she had to re-petition repeatedly.

Abolitionist Granville Sharp learned of the Zong massacre and pressed the Crown to prosecute Captain Collingwood for murder. Lord Mansfield — the same judge who decided Somerset — ruled that insurers must pay the claim, treating the killing as a commercial dispute rather than murder. No criminal charges were brought. But the case galvanized British abolitionism: Sharp publicized it widely, it directly inspired Thomas Clarkson's research, and Olaudah Equiano brought it to Sharp's attention.

Belinda Sutton, enslaved for over fifty years by Isaac Royall Jr. of Medford, Massachusetts, petitioned the state legislature in 1783 for a pension from Royall's confiscated estate. Her petition described her capture in West Africa as a child and a lifetime of unpaid labor. The legislature granted her an annual pension of fifteen pounds and twelve shillings — the first reparations payment to a formerly enslaved person in American history. The pension was granted for only one year; Sutton had to

Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution barred Congress from prohibiting the international slave trade until 1808, at the insistence of South Carolina and Georgia delegates. Madison's notes record his discomfort but ultimate acquiescence. The 20-year guarantee was a central condition of Southern ratification. Approximately 170,000 more Africans were legally imported in the period before the 1808 ban took effect.

Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution prohibited Congress from banning the importation of enslaved people before 1808, at the insistence of South Carolina and Georgia delegates Charles Cotesworth Pinckney and Pierce Butler. Pinckney argued openly that his state would not ratify without it. The clause allowed over 100,000 more Africans to be imported in the following two decades. Congress banned the trade in 1807, effective January 1, 1808 — the earliest constitutionally permitted date.

At the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, delegates agreed that enslaved people would count as three-fifths of a person for apportioning Congressional representation and direct taxes. Madison's notes show Gouverneur Morris denounced it as giving slaveholders political power derived from their victims: 'the inhabitant of Georgia and South Carolina who goes to the Coast of Africa, and in defiance of the most sacred laws of humanity tears away his fellow creatures from their dearest connect

Article IV, Section 2 of the Constitution required that persons 'held to service or labor' who escaped to free states be returned to their enslavers. This clause, never using the words 'slave' or 'slavery,' nationalized slavery's enforcement by binding free states to its maintenance. It was the constitutional basis for the 1793 Fugitive Slave Act and later the far more draconian 1850 Act.

Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3 of the Constitution required that any person 'held to Service or Labour' who escaped to another state must be 'delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labour may be due.' It applied across all states, including free states, and obligated Northern states to participate in the return of freedom-seeking people. The clause was inserted at the insistence of Southern delegates and passed without recorded dissent. It nationalized the institution of slavery by making the entire country complicit in its enforcement.

Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution prohibited Congress from banning the international slave trade before 1808, a direct concession to South Carolina and Georgia. Charles Pinckney and Pierce Butler of South Carolina threatened to walk out if the trade was restricted. In the 20-year window, an estimated 170,000 additional Africans were forcibly imported into the United States. South Carolina alone re-opened its trade in 1803 and imported roughly 40,000 Africans in five years. The clause was also evidence that the Constitution was explicitly constructed to protect slavery.

Equiano published The Interesting Narrative in London — the first widely read autobiography by an enslaved African, describing his capture in Nigeria, the Middle Passage, enslavement, self-purchase, and freedom. It went through nine editions before 1794. Equiano personally lobbied Parliament; the book directly influenced the 1807 Slave Trade Act.

Olaudah Equiano published The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano in London in 1789. It was the first widely read autobiography by an enslaved African, describing his capture in what is now Nigeria, the Middle Passage, enslavement in the Caribbean and Virginia, self-purchase, and life as a free man in London. It went through nine editions before 1794. Equiano personally lobbied Parliament and was a central figure in the British abolitionist movement; the book directly influenced

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

At the end of the Revolutionary War, British forces evacuated approximately 3,000 Black Loyalists to Nova Scotia, recorded in a document called the Book of Negroes — a registry of formerly enslaved people who had reached British lines. Most settled at Birchtown near Shelburne, Nova Scotia, the largest free Black settlement in North America at the time. They faced severe discrimination: given smaller and less fertile land grants than white Loyalists, barred from many trades, and subjected to viol

Absalom Jones and Richard Allen co-founded the Free African Society in Philadelphia in April 1787 — the first independent Black civic organization in the United States. It provided mutual aid, burial insurance, and support to newly freed and free Black Philadelphians. The Society later became the nucleus of the first Black church denominations: Jones's African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas and Allen's Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church. It modeled Black self-determination outside white i

The Northwest Ordinance banned slavery in the territory north of the Ohio River but permitted indentured servitude. Indiana Territory Governor William Henry Harrison exploited this loophole aggressively, advocating for multi-decade indenture contracts that functioned as de facto slavery. Hundreds of Black people were held in long-term indenture in Indiana and Illinois through the 1820s, making the 'free territory' designation largely nominal.

The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 declared: 'There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes.' This was the first federal prohibition of slavery in any jurisdiction. However, a fugitive slave clause required the return of escaped enslaved people from free states. Indiana Territory slaveholders subsequently used indentured servitude contracts — some lasting 99 years — to maintain what was effectively chattel slavery well int

At the time of his first inauguration, George Washington held 317 enslaved people at Mount Vernon. As president, he rotated enslaved household workers in and out of Philadelphia every six months to circumvent Pennsylvania's gradual abolition law, which freed enslaved people who resided in the state for six continuous months. When Ona Judge, an enslaved woman who served Martha Washington, escaped to New Hampshire in 1796, Washington deployed federal agents and a U.S. customs officer to recapture her repeatedly. She refused to return and died free in 1848. Washington's will freed his enslaved people only at Martha's death; the 153 enslaved people belonging to the Custis estate were never freed by him.

The Treaty of Paris (September 3, 1783) required Britain to withdraw 'without carrying away any Negroes.' Britain evacuated thousands of Black Loyalists anyway, honoring prior freedom promises. American slaveholders demanded compensation for 'property' lost. The dispute revealed that treaty authors had no conception of Black people as rights-bearing persons.

The Treaty of Paris (September 3, 1783) recognized American independence. It contained a clause requiring Britain to withdraw 'without carrying away any Negroes' — an American demand that British forces not take enslaved people. Britain evacuated thousands of Black Loyalists anyway, citing prior promises of freedom. American slaveholders demanded compensation for 'property' lost. The dispute over whether formerly enslaved people constituted property that could be legally evacuated showed the tre

Chief Justice William Cushing instructed the jury in Commonwealth v. Jennison that slavery was incompatible with the Massachusetts Constitution's declaration that 'all men are born free and equal.' The jury acquitted Nathaniel Jennison of assaulting Quock Walker, confirming that Walker was free. The earlier civil suit brought by Walker, and the parallel freedom suit of Elizabeth Freeman (Mum Bett) in 1781, together effectively ended chattel slavery in Massachusetts. This made Massachusetts the first U.S. state where slavery was judicially abolished.

Belinda Sutton, an elderly African woman enslaved for over fifty years in Massachusetts on the estate of Loyalist Isaac Royall Jr., petitioned the state legislature for a pension from Royall's confiscated property. She described in vivid terms being kidnapped from West Africa as a child, the Middle Passage, and decades of uncompensated labor. The legislature granted her an annual pension of 15 pounds 12 shillings — the first recorded instance of an American governmental body awarding something resembling reparations to an enslaved or formerly enslaved person.

In July 1784, white Loyalist veterans rioted in Shelburne, Nova Scotia, attacking the adjacent Black Loyalist community of Birchtown. Rioters demolished homes and drove Black residents from the town. The attack — sometimes called the first race riot in Canadian history — left Birchtown residents destitute. Many had received no land grants or tools promised by the Crown. The violence deepened the community's disillusionment with British promises and eventually prompted their emigration to Sierra

Jefferson's Notes on the State of Virginia, published in Paris in 1785 and widely in America by 1787, contained his most explicit public writing on slavery. He called it a 'moral and political depravity,' predicted it would produce divine retribution, and proposed gradual emancipation with colonization. He also wrote pseudoscientifically that Black people were inferior in reason and imagination. The book shaped American racial ideology while its author continued to enslave over 130 people.

In 1787 Prince Hall and 73 other free Black Bostonians petitioned the Massachusetts legislature for a school for Black children, noting that Black taxpayers were denied access to public schools their taxes supported. The legislature rejected the petition. The African Masonic Lodge then organized its own school, meeting in Hall's home. The petition was one of the earliest formal demands by Black Americans for equal access to public education and anticipated the school desegregation battles of the

In 1788, Massachusetts passed a law prohibiting state residents from participating in the transatlantic slave trade — fitting punishment, and fitting the same year it ratified the Constitution protecting that trade nationally. The law imposed fines and forfeiture on ship captains and owners. It was one of the first state laws specifically criminalizing the trade rather than merely restricting importation, and reflected the influence of the Boston-area abolitionist movement centered around the Pr

Connecticut and Rhode Island both passed gradual abolition laws in 1784. Connecticut's law freed children born to enslaved mothers after March 1, 1784, at age 25; Rhode Island freed such children at age 18 (males) or 21 (females). Neither freed anyone already enslaved. Rhode Island's law was partly the work of Quaker abolitionists. Both states were still major participants in the transatlantic slave trade, and Rhode Island merchants continued to dominate American slave trading for decades. The laws represented partial, delayed recognition of freedom, not immediate justice.

The Constitution counts the enslaved as three-fifths of a person and protects the slave trade.

The first abolition law in the new nation, freeing future-born children of the enslaved.

A series of freedom suits by Quock Walker leads Massachusetts courts to rule slavery incompatible with the new state constitution — effectively ending it there.

Elizabeth Freeman wins her freedom in a Massachusetts court, arguing the new state constitution's "all men are born free" applied to her.

Slavery is prohibited in the Northwest Territory, shaping the free-state North.