People, Locations, Episodes

Vermont Abolishes American Slavery

On this date in 1777, Vermont abolished slavery.

Vermont was an independent sovereign country that year and did not join the United States of America until 1791.

Vermont was the first country in the modern era to abolish slavery.

Knight v. Wedderburn is Upheld

*On this date in 1778, the Justices of the Peace court in Perth Scotland ruled on the case of Knight v. Wedderburn. This Scottish slavery decision predated the very similar Dred Scott ruling in America.

An Act for The Gradual Abolition Of Slavery is Passed

*An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery passed on this date in 1780. Approved by the Fifth Pennsylvania General Assembly, it prescribed an end to slavery in Pennsylvania. It was the first Act abolishing American slavery in human history to be adopted by a democracy. The Act prohibited further importation of enslaved people into the state. […]

America’s Articles of Confederation Are Enacted

*The Articles of Confederation of the United States of America were enacted on this date in 1781. Formally called the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, it was an agreement that served as America’s first constitution after being ratified by all 13 states. It was approved between July 1776 and November 1777 by the Second […]

John Quincy Adams, Politician, and Amistad Counsel born

John Quincy Adams was born on this date in 1767. He was a White American diplomat, politician, opponent of slavery, and the sixth president of the United States.

Adams was born in Braintree, MA, in a part of town which eventually became Quincy. Adams was the son of U. S. President John Adams and Abigail Adams. Much of Adams’ youth was spent overseas accompanying his father, who served as an American envoy to France from 1778 until 1779 and to the Netherlands in 1780. During this period, he was educated at institutions such as the University of Leiden.

The ‘Three-Fifths Compromise’ in America, a story

On this date in 1787, the Three-fifths Compromise was enacted. Delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia that year accepted a plan determining a state’s representation in the U.S. House of Representatives. It was ironic that it was a liberal northern delegate, James Wilson of Pennsylvania, who proposed the Three-Fifths Compromise, as a way to gain southern support for a new framework of government.

The Slave Trade Act of 1788 is Enacted

*On this date, 1788, the Slave Trade Act of 1788 was enacted. Also known as Dolben’s Act, it was an Act of Parliament that limited the number of people that British slave ships could transport based on tonnage.   It was the first British legislation passed to regulate slave shipping. In the late 18th century, […]

The Naturalization Act of 1790 is Passed

*On this date, 1790, the Naturalization Act of 1790 was passed. This law of the United States Congress set the first uniform rules for granting United States citizenship by naturalization. The law limited naturalization to “free white person[s] … of good character”. It excluded Native Americans, indentured servants, Black slaves, free Blacks, and later Asians, […]

The 1793 Fugitive Slave Act Is Signed

*The Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 was signed into law on this date.   This was an Act of the United States Congress to give effect to the Fugitive Slave Clause of the US Constitution (Article 4, Section 2, Clause 3), which the Thirteenth Amendment later superseded. The former guaranteed a right for a slaveholder to recover an escaped slave. The […]

The Slave Trade Act of 1794 is Passed

*The Slave Trade Act of 1794 was passed on this date in 1794. This law, passed by the United States Congress, prohibited American ships from engaging in the international slave trade. It was signed into law by President George Washington and was the first of several anti-slavery trade acts of Congress. In 1800, Congress strengthened […]

The Slave Trade Act of 1800 is Passed

*On this date in 1800, the Slave Trade Act of 1800 was passed. It was signed into law by President John Adams and was among several acts of Congress that eventually outlawed the importation of enslaved people to the United States. The United States Congress enacted this to build upon the Slave Trade Act of […]

Ellis Gray Loring, Attorney born

*Ellis Gray Loring was born on this date in 1803. He was a white-American attorney, abolitionist, and philanthropist.   From Boston, he was the son of James Tyng Loring, a druggist, and Relief Faxon Cookson Loring. He attended the Boston Latin School and was awarded the school’s Franklin Medal for scholarship in 1819. He studied at Harvard, where he was a Phi Beta […]

The British Slave Trade Act is Passed

*On this date, in 1807, the Slave Trade Act was passed. Officially, the Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade was a bill of the Parliament of the United Kingdom prohibiting the slave trade in the British Empire.   It did not abolish the practice of slavery; it encouraged British action to press other nation-states to abolish their slave trades. Many of […]

Salmon P. Chase, Abolitionist, and Judge born

Salmon Portland Chase, a white man, was born on this date in 1808. He was a White American teacher, abolitionist, lawyer, and judge.

Jonathan Wright, Lawyer, and Politician born

*On this date in 1809, Jonathan Jasper Wright was born. He was an Black lawyer and politician.

Wright attended Lancaster University. Upon completing his legal studies, he attempted to stand the Pennsylvania bar, but it wasn’t allowed, presumably because of his race. Wright accepted a position in Beaufort to open a school and teach the newly freed slaves. In addition to teaching school, he taught the Black citizens of the community. He lectured every Thursday evening on legal and political matters. He gave legal advice, particularly on labor relations.