Slave states and free states

Vermont — having declared its independence from Britain in 1777 and thus not being one of the Thirteen Colonies — banned slavery in the same year, before being admitted as a state in 1791.

The most recent free state, Kansas, had entered the Union after its own years-long bloody fight over slavery.

Slavery was established as a legal institution in each of the Thirteen Colonies, starting from 1619 on wards with the arrival of "twenty and odd" enslaved Africans in Virginia.

Although indigenous peoples were also sold into slavery, the vast majority of the enslaved population consisted of Africans brought to the Americas via the Atlantic slave trade.

[3] The sentiments of the American Revolution and the promise of equality evoked by the Declaration of Independence stood in contrast to the status of most black people, either free or enslaved, in the colonies.

[3] In the 1770s, enslaved black people throughout New England began sending petitions to northern legislatures demanding freedom.

5 Northern states adopted policies to at least gradually abolish slavery: Pennsylvania in 1780, New Hampshire and Massachusetts in 1783, and Connecticut and Rhode Island in 1784.

The southern boundary of the territory was the Ohio River, which was regarded as a westward extension of the Mason-Dixon line.

[10] The admission of Texas (1845) and the acquisition of the vast new Mexican Cession territories (1848), after the Mexican–American War, created further north–south conflict.

Slave-state politicians made efforts to annex Cuba (see: Lopez Expedition and Ostend Manifesto, 1852) and Nicaragua (see: Filibuster War, 1856–57), with intentions to create new slave states.

The result was that pro- and anti-slavery elements flooded into Kansas with the goal of voting slavery up or down, leading to bloody fighting.

Anti-slavery proponents during the "Bleeding Kansas" period of the later 1850s were called Free-Staters and Free-Soilers, and fought against pro-slavery Border Ruffians from Missouri.

Senator Carlile objected that Congress had no right to impose emancipation on West Virginia, while Willey proposed a compromise amendment to the state constitution for gradual abolition.

[20] The terms of the Willey Amendment only freed children, at birth or as they came of age, and prohibited the importation of slaves.

[22][23][24] Eighteen months later, the West Virginia legislature completely abolished slavery,[25] and also ratified the 13th Amendment on February 3, 1865.

Slavery in the District of Columbia remained legal until 1862, when, over strong opposition from slaveholding residents, Congress passed the DC Compensated Emancipation Act.

[29] While California's state constitution outlawed slavery, the 1850 Act for the Government and Protection of Indians allowed the indenture of Native Californians.

[32][33] In April 1863, after the declaration of the Emancipation Proclamation, the California legislature abolished all forms of legal indenture and apprenticeship for Native Americans.

During the war, abolition of slavery was required by President Abraham Lincoln for readmission of Confederate states.

[39] In Southern states, freedom for slaves typically followed the Union army's gaining control of an area.

[40] In 1863, voters approved the Willey Amendment, which provided for gradual abolition of slavery, with the last enslaved people scheduled to be freed in 1884.

[44] Louisiana – much of which had been under Union control since 1862 – abolished slavery through a new state constitution approved by voters September 5, 1864.

[45] The border states of Maryland (November 1, 1864)[46] and Missouri (January 11, 1865)[47] abolished slavery before the war's end.

The Union-occupied state of Tennessee abolished slavery by popular vote on a constitutional amendment that took effect February 22, 1865.

An animation showing the free/slave status of U.S. states and territories, 1789–1861 (see separate yearly maps below). The American Civil War began in 1861. The 13th Amendment, effective December 6, 1865, abolished slavery in the U.S.
During the American Revolution (1775–1783) some of the 13 British colonies seeking independence to become states began to abolish slavery. The U.S. Constitution ratified in 1789, left the matter in the hands of each state , and with federal jurisdiction in the territories asserted by Congress, particularly with the Northwest Ordinance of 1787.
In the early years of the United States, a north-south divide became evident.
The Missouri Compromise of 1820, trading the admission of Missouri (a slave state) for Maine (a free state), drew a line extending west from Missouri's southern border, which was intended to divide any new territory into slave (south of the line) and free (north of the line).
With the statehood of Arkansas in 1836, the number of slave states grew to 13, but the statehood of Michigan in 1837 maintained the balance between slave and free states.
By 1845, with Texas and Florida in the Union as slave states, slave states once again outnumbered the free states for a year until Iowa was admitted as a free state in 1846.
By 1858, 17 free states, which included California (1850), and Minnesota (1858), outnumbered the 15 slave states.
By the eve of the Civil War in mid-1861, with the addition of Oregon (1859) and Kansas (1861), the number of free states had grown to 19 while the number of slave states remained at 15.
Division of states during the Civil War. Blue represents Union states, including those admitted during the war; light blue represents border states, some of which had both Confederate and Unionist governments; red represents Confederate states. Unshaded areas were not states before or during the Civil War.
Abolition of slavery in the various states of the US over time:
Abolition of slavery during or shortly after the American Revolution
The Northwest Ordinance (slavery excluded), 1787
Gradual emancipation in New York (starting 1799, completed 1827) and New Jersey (starting 1804, completed by Thirteenth Amendment, 1865)
The Missouri Compromise , 1821
Effective abolition of slavery by Mexican or joint US/British authority
Exclusion of slavery by Congressional action, 1861
Abolition of slavery by Congressional action, 1862
Emancipation Proclamation as originally issued, January 1, 1863
Subsequent operation of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863
Abolition of slavery by state action during the Civil War
Operation of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1864
Operation of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1865
Thirteenth Amendment to the US constitution, December 18, 1865
Territory incorporated into the US after the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment