History of Slavery in New York - Abolition

Abolition

In the aftermath of the Revolution, men examined the institution of slavery against the revolutionary ideals and support increased for abolitionism. In 1781, the state legislature voted to free slaves who fought with the rebels during the Revolution. Further action toward abolition took longer, but the legislature made manumission easier, and numerous slaveholders individually freed their slaves.

The New York Manumission Society was founded in 1785, which worked to prohibit the international slave trade and achieve abolition. It also established the African Free School, the first formal educational institution for blacks in North America, which served both free blacks and the children of slaves. The school expanded to seven locations and produced some brilliant alumni who went on to higher education and prominent careers, such as James McCune Smith, who gained his medical degree with honors at the University of Glasgow after being denied admittance to two New York colleges. He returned to practice in New York and also published numerous articles in medical and other journals.

By 1790 one in three blacks in New York was free. Especially in areas of concentrated population, such as New York City, they organized even more as an independent community, with their own churches, benevolent and civic organizations, and businesses that catered to their interests.

Steps toward abolition of slavery accumulated, but the legislature also took steps back, as slavery was important economically, both in New York City and in agricultural areas. In 1799, the legislature passed a law for gradual abolition. It declared children of slaves born after July 4, 1799 to be legally free, but the children had to serve an extended period of indentured servitude: to the age of 28 for males and to 25 for females. Slaves born before that date were redefined as indentured servants but essentially continued as slaves.

African Americans' participation as soldiers in defending the state during the War of 1812 added to public support for their full rights to freedom. In 1817, the state freed all slaves born before July 4, 1799 (the date of the gradual abolition law), to be effective in 1827. It continued with the indenture of children born to slave mothers until their 20s, as noted above. On July 4, 1827, the African-American community celebrated final emancipation with a long parade through New York City.

New York residents were less willing to give blacks equal voting rights. By the constitution of 1777, voting was restricted to free men who could satisfy certain property requirements. This property requirement disfranchised poor men among both blacks and whites. The reformed Constitution of 1821 conditioned suffrage for black men by maintaining the property requirement, which most could not meet, so effectively disfranchised them. The same constitution eliminated the property requirement for white men and expanded their franchise. No women yet had the vote in New York. "As late as 1869, a majority of the state's voters cast ballots in favor of retaining property qualifications that kept New York's polls closed to many blacks. African-American men did not obtain equal voting rights in New York until ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment in 1870."