History of Slavery in New Jersey - Post-American Revolution

Post-American Revolution

African-American slaves fought on both sides in the War for Independence. The British Crown promised slaves freedom for leaving their rebel masters to join their cause. The number of blacks in New York rose to 10,000 as slaves escaped there from both norther and southern masters after the British occupied the city. The British kept their promise and evacuated thousands of freedmen from New York, resettling 3500 Black Loyalists in its colony of Nova Scotia and others in the Caribbean islands.

According to the American historian Giles Wright, by 1790 New Jersey's enslaved population numbered approximately 14,000. They were virtually all of African descent. The 1790 federal census, however, recorded 11,423 slaves, 6.2 percent of the total population of 184,139. In the decades before the Revolution, slaves were numerous near Perth Amboy, a major point of entry, and in the eastern counties. Slaves were generally used for agricultural labor, but they also filled skilled artisan jobs in shipyards and industry in coastal cities.