African Americans In The 1800s

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From 1790 to 1804, the Northern states gradually abolished slavery. The Abolition Act of 1808 outlawed imports of slaves. Still, African Americans couldn’t vote or go to public schools. Some states, such as New York and New Jersey, stated that children of slaves must serve time before they could be free. Some periods would last as long as 28 years. In the year 1800, over 36,500 African Americans were still enslaved in the North, while 47,000 were free. Pennsylvania freed its last slave in the year 1847. The difference is that in the North, the African American ethnicity was the minority, ranging from less than 1% in Vermont to 8% of the population in New Jersey. After being freed, most black men became farm hands and laborers, while women became domestic servants. In 1790, Congress limited citizenship to free whites, and in 1792 they restricted militia to white men. They limited blacks’ rights to vote, be jurymen, and move to different places. Massachusetts gave African Americans the right to vote (men) and the right to intermarry with whites. In …show more content…
In the year 1782, Virginia lifted a ban on manumission, which allowed owners to release slaves. In ten years, 10,000 slaves were freed. In 1802, A Maryland woman freed her slaves, stating that it went against the “Inalienable Rights of Mankind.” However, in 1782, Virginia passed a law that said black debtors must be returned to slavery. Despite manumissions, slavery increased in the Upper South. In 1790, there were 520,000 slaves, and in 1810, there were 650,000. Slavery even pushed westward with the country. Despite the Abolition Act, planters bought slaves illegally.
The Industrial Revolution in England brought many ideas to America. In 1793, when the cotton gin was invented by Eli Whitney, the profits from cotton rose, causing more slaves to be needed to help produce cotton. By 1800, as many as 35 million pounds of cotton were made every
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