Even before the writing of the Constitution, some states had progressed toward the elimination of slavery. Between 1777 and 1804, the eight northeastern states individually passed measures to provide for the emancipation of their slave populations. In Vermont, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, vague constitutional clauses left emancipation to the courts. Unfortunately, little is known about the results of this process; but in any case, these three states domiciled only a very small fraction of the northern blacks— probably 10 to 15 percent in 1780. As shown in Table 13.2, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey each passed laws of emancipation well before the year prohibiting slave importations. The process of emancipation used in these states was gradual, and the living population of slaves was not freed. Instead, newborn babies were emancipated when they reached adulthood (and were referred to as “free-born”).
This form of emancipation demonstrates that many—perhaps most—of those who were politically dominant were more concerned with the political issue of slavery than with the slaves themselves. Besides not freeing the living slaves, there were no agencies in any of these states to enforce the enactments. In addition, the enactments themselves contained important loopholes, such as the possibility of selling slaves to the South.
The emancipation process, however, did recognize the issues of property rights and costs. These “gradual emancipation schemes” imposed no costs on taxpayers, and owners were not directly compensated financially for emancipated slaves. But curiously enough,
AThe last census that enumerated any slaves in Pennsylvania was in 1840. bAll slavery was abolished in 1842.
CThe age of emancipation was changed in 1797 to age 21. In 1848, all slavery was abolished. dIn 1817, a law was passed freeing all slaves as of July 4,1827.
EIn 1846, all slaves were emancipated, but apprenticeships continued for the children of slave mothers and were introduced for freed slaves.
Source: Fogel, Robert William and Stanley L. Engerman. "Philanthropy at Bargain Prices: Notes on the Economics of Gradual Emancipation." The Journal of Legal Studies, Vol. 3, No. 2 (Jun., 1974), pp. 377-401.
Owners were almost entirely compensated indirectly by maintaining the free-born in bondage until they had repaid their owner for their rearing costs. In most cases, these slaves were freed when they reached their mid-twenties. In the first several years after birth, a slave’s maintenance cost was determined to be in excess of the value of his or her services (or output). Near the age of 10, the value of the slave’s annual output usually just about matched the costs of food, clothes, and shelter. Thereafter, the value of output exceeded yearly maintenance costs, and normally by the age of 25 or 26, the slave had fully compensated the owner.
Thus, the slaves themselves bore nearly all the costs of emancipation in the North. Newborn slaves who eventually were freed fully paid back their owners for their rearing costs. Owners of males who were born before the dates of enactment suffered no wealth loss. Owners of females who were born before the enactments and who could or eventually would reproduce incurred some minor wealth losses in that they lost the value of their slaves’ offspring. About 10 percent of the value (price) of a young female slave was due to the value of her offspring, and perhaps as many as 30 percent of the total enslaved population included females in their fertile or prefertile years.62 Consequently, only 3 percent (10 percent of 30 percent) of the total slave wealth was lost to northern owners by abiding by these enactments, but the percentage was probably much closer to zero because of the loopholes of selling slaves to the South, working the slaves harder, and reducing maintenance costs.
World History
