When did slavery end in each state?
|
On December 18, 1865, the 13th Amendment was adopted as part of the United States Constitution. The amendment officially abolished slavery, and immediately freed more than 100,000 enslaved people, from Kentucky to Delaware. The language used in the Thirteenth Amendment was taken from the 1787 Northwest Ordinance. Show Yet the 13th Amendment maintains an important exception for keeping people in "involuntary servitude" as "punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted." Some scholars say this exception ended slavery in one form only to allow it to continue in another. These laws are sometimes credited with laying the groundwork for the U.S. system of mass incarceration, which disproportionately imprisons Black people. Two years earlier, at the height of the U.S. Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared all Blacks held captive in the states who'd rebelled against the United States (as members of the Confederacy) were free. This did not have a sweeping practical impact, however, as the Confederacy considered itself a separate nation and did not follow U.S. laws, and the proclamation did not free enslaved populations in the “border states” that sided with the United States. Within five years, Congress passed the 14th and 15th Amendments. These amendments, among the most contested in courts today, established citizenship, equal protection, and voting rights for all male Americans, regardless of race. However, the same suffrage and protections would not be afforded to women of all races until over 50 years later, when Congress passed the 19th Amendment in 1919.
 In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, members of the Continental Congress sign the Declaration of Independence. 1776
1776 1777 1777 Rhode Island forbids the removal of slaves from the state. 1778 1780 1780 1780 (Reuters) - Britain marks 200 years on March 25 since it enacted a law banning the trans-Atlantic slave trade, although full abolition of slavery did not follow for another generation. Following are some key dates in the trans-atlantic trade in slaves from Africa and its abolition. 1444 - First public sale of African slaves in Lagos, Portugal 1482 - Portuguese start building first permanent slave trading post at Elmina, Gold Coast, now Ghana 1510 - First slaves arrive in the Spanish colonies of South America, having travelled via Spain 1518 - First direct shipment of slaves from Africa to the Americas 1777 - State of Vermont, an independent Republic after the American Revolution, becomes first sovereign state to abolish slavery 1780s - Trans-Atlantic slave trade reaches peak 1787 - The Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade founded in Britain by Granville Sharp and Thomas Clarkson 1792 -
Denmark bans import of slaves to its West Indies colonies, although the law only took effect from 1803. 1807 - Britain passes Abolition of the Slave Trade Act, outlawing British Atlantic slave trade. - United States passes legislation banning the slave trade, effective from start of 1808. 1811 - Spain abolishes slavery, including in its colonies, though Cuba rejects ban and continues to deal in slaves. 1813 - Sweden bans slave trading 1814 - Netherlands bans slave trading 1817 - France bans slave trading, but ban not effective until 1826 1833 - Britain passes Abolition of Slavery Act, ordering gradual abolition of slavery in all British colonies. Plantation owners in the West Indies receive 20 million pounds in compensation - Great Britain and Spain sign a treaty prohibiting the slave trade 1819 - Portugal abolishes slave trade north of the equator - Britain places a naval squadron off the West African coast to enforce the ban on slave trading 1823 - Britain’s Anti-Slavery Society formed. Members include William Wilberforce 1846 - Danish governor proclaims emancipation of slaves in Danish West Indies, abolishing slavery 1848 - France abolishes slavery 1851 - Brazil abolishes slave trading 1858 - Portugal abolishes slavery in its colonies, although all slaves are subject to a 20-year apprenticeship 1861 - Netherlands abolishes slavery in Dutch Caribbean colonies 1862 - U.S. President Abraham Lincoln proclaims emancipation of slaves with effect from January 1, 1863; 13th Amendment of U.S. Constitution follows in 1865 banning slavery 1886 - Slavery is abolished in Cuba 1888 - Brazil abolishes slavery 1926 - League of Nations adopts Slavery Convention abolishing slavery 1948 - United Nations General Assembly adopts Universal Declaration of Human Rights, including article stating “No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.” Sources: Durham University: here; Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights: here; Anti-Slavery Society: here for-phone-onlyfor-tablet-portrait-upfor-tablet-landscape-upfor-desktop-upfor-wide-desktop-up When did slavery officially end in all states?Passed by Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified on December 6, 1865, the 13th amendment abolished slavery in the United States and provides that "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or ...
What was the last state to free the slaves?New Jersey, The Last Northern State to End Slavery.
What state did slavery last the longest?Delaware held on to slavery the longest, even past when the institution was profitable for the state.
What order did the states abolish slavery?Five northern states agreed to gradually abolish slavery, with Pennsylvania being the first state to approve, followed by New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island.
|
