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Gradual Abolition Laws, Race, and Freedom in the Early Republic

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This teaching module highlights the complexities of gradual abolition legislation in the Early Republic, focusing on a lawsuit to reestablish the freedom of an African American teenager from New York City named John Johnson. Johnson's experience demonstrates the new opportunities and distinct challenges that gradual abolition laws created for African Americans.

Items

  • An Act Concerning Slaves and Servants
    This act was one of several passed by the New York State Legislature relating to the gradual abolition of slavery. It details conditions for manumission and reiterates that any child born to an enslaved woman after July 4, 1799 would be born free, and establishes rules for the care of freedmen.
  • An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery
    This act was the first of several passed by the New York State Legislature relating to the gradual abolition of slavery. It declared that any child born to an enslaved woman after July 4, 1799 would be born free, provided that the child serve the enslaver of his or her mother until they reach the age of twenty-eight years and twenty-five years respectively.
  • An Act Relative to Slaves and Servants
    This act was the last of several passed by the New York State Legislature relating to the gradual abolition of slavery. It set July 4, 1827, as the date of emancipation for enslaved people in the state who had been born before July 4, 1799.
  • Gradual Abolition Laws, Race, and Freedom in the Early Republic
    This module highlights the complexities of gradual abolition legislation in the Early Republic, focusing on a lawsuit to reestablish the freedom of an African American teenager from New York City named John Johnson. Johnson's experience demonstrates the new opportunities and distinct challenges that gradual abolition laws created for African Americans.
  • Indenture of John Johnson
    Following his successful petition for freedom, John Johnson entered into a contract of indenture for four years in exchange for the $150 loan Johnson secured over the course of obtaining his freedom.
  • John Johnson v. Sosthene Allain
    John Johnson filed a petition for freedom in a New Orleans court, asserting that although born free in New York, he had been illegally sold into slavery and was now being held on a sugar plantation. Johnson and his attorneys invoked New York's gradual abolition laws to establish his free status. The Louisiana court ruled in his favor and Johnson claimed his freedom.