The abolitionists did not lose heart. They tried again in 1803, and again the following year. In 1811 a little was done in the House, and in 1821 the matter was discussed in the Senate. In this latter year a bill was prepared and debated, but nothing passed except the motion to postpone indefinitely. Indeed the movement had now spent its force, and was thereafter confined to futile petitions that showed more earnestness of purpose than expectation of success.[260]
This is easily explicable when it is understood how rapidly slavery had declined. The number of slaves in Pennsylvania had never been large. By the first Federal census they were put at less than four thousand; but within a decade they had diminished by more than half, and ten years later there were only a few hundred scattered throughout the state.[261] The majority of these slaves during the later years were living in the western counties that bordered on Maryland and Virginia, where slavery had begun latest and lingered longest.[262] In Philadelphia and the older counties it had almost entirely disappeared. So rapid was the decline that as early as 1805 the Pennsylvania Abolition Society reported that in the future it would devote itself less to seeking the liberation of negroes than to striving to improve those already free. This could only mean that they were finding very few to liberate.[263]
That the decreasing agitation for the entire abolition of slavery in Pennsylvania was due to the decline of slavery and not to any decrease in hostility to it, is shown by the character of other legislation demanded, and the readiness with which stringent laws were passed. The act of 1780 permitted the resident of another state to bring his slave into Pennsylvania and keep him there for six months.[264] A very strong feeling developed against this. In 1795 it was necessary for the Supreme Court to declare that such a right was valid. It was afterwards decided, however, that if the master continued to take his slave in and out of Pennsylvania for short periods, the slave should be free. Again and again the legislature was asked to withdraw the privilege. It is needless to recount the petitions that never ceased to come, and at times poured in like a flood. At last the pressure of popular feeling could no longer be held back, and after the legislation of 1847 following the memorable case of Prigg v. Pennsylvania, when a slave was brought by his master within the bounds of Pennsylvania, that moment by state law he was free.[265]
Long before this time the passage through the state of slaves bound with chains had awakened the pity of those who saw it.[266] In 1816 it was decided that in certain cases if a runaway slave gave birth to a child in Pennsylvania the child was free.[267] Later the legislature forbade state officers to give any assistance in returning fugitives; and at last lacked but little of giving fugitives trial by jury.
If it be asked whether at this time Pennsylvania was not rather decrying slavery among her neighbors than destroying it within her own gates, since beyond denial she still had slavery there, it must be answered that first, her slavery as regards magnitude was a veritable mote, and secondly, since after 1830, for example, there was not one slave in Pennsylvania under fifty years old, it was far more to the advantage of the negroes to remain in servitude where the law guaranteed them protection and good treatment, than to be set free, when their color and their declining years would have rendered their well-being doubtful. It is probable that such slavery as existed there in the last years was based rather on the kindness of the master and the devotion of the slave, than on the power of the one and the suffering of the other. It was a peaceful passing away. And so in connection with slavery Pennsylvania is seen to have been fortunate. Seeing at an early time the pernicious consequences of such an institution she was able, such were the circumstances of her economic environment, and such was the character of her people, to check it so effectually that it never assumed threatening bulk. Almost as quick to perceive the evil of it, she acted, and while others moralized and lamented, she set her slaves free. Moreover as if to atone for the sin of slave-keeping she granted her freedmen such privileges that it seemed to her ardent idealists that the future could not but promise well.
Whether this liberality came to be a matter of regret in after years, and whether because of circumstances sure to come, but as yet unforeseen, it was possible for the experience of Pennsylvania with her free black population to be as happy as that with her slaves, it will be the purpose of later chapters to enquire.
[1] Breviate. Dutch Records, no. 2, fol. 5. In 2 Pennsylvania Archives, XVI, 234. Cf. Hazard, Annals of Pennsylvania, 49. The “Proposed Freedoms and Exemptions for New Netherland,” 1640, say, “The Company shall exert itself to provide the Patroons and Colonists, on their order with as many Blacks as possible”.... 2 Pa. Arch., V, 74.
[2] C. T. Odhner. “The Founding of New Sweden, 1637–1642”, translated by G. B. Keen in Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, III, 277.
[3] Hazard, Annals of Pennsylvania, 331; O’Callaghan, Documents relative to the Colonial History of the State of New York, II, 213, 214. The Report of the Board of Accounts on New Netherland, Dec. 15, 1644, had spoken of the need of negroes, the economy of their labor, and had recommended the importation of large numbers. 2 Pa. Arch., V, 88. See also Davis, History of Bucks County, 793.
[4] 2 Pa. Arch., XVI, 255, 256; Hazard, Annals of Pennsylvania, 372. Sir Robert Carr, writing to Colonel Nicholls, Oct. 13, 1664, says, “I have already sent into Merryland some Neegars wch did belong to the late Governor att his plantation above”.... 2 Pa. Arch., V, 578.