1780. Massachusetts: Slavery Abolished.
Passage in the Constitution which was held by the courts to abolish slavery: "Art. I. All men are born free and equal, and have certain, natural, essential, and unalienable rights; among which may be reckoned the right of enjoying and defending their lives and liberties," etc. Constitution of Massachusetts, Part I., Art. 1; prefixed to Perpetual Laws (1789).
1780, March 1. Pennsylvania: Slavery Abolished.
"An Act for the gradual abolition of slavery."
§ 5. All slaves to be registered before Nov. 1.
§ 10. None but slaves "registered as aforesaid, shall, at any time hereafter, be deemed, adjudged, or holden, within the territories of this commonwealth, as slaves or servants for life, but as free men and free women; except the domestic slaves attending upon Delegates in Congress from the other American States," and those of travellers not remaining over six months, foreign ministers, etc., "provided such domestic slaves be not aliened or sold to any inhabitant," etc.
§ 11. Fugitive slaves from other states may be taken back.
§ 14. Former duty acts, etc., repealed. Dallas, Laws, I. 838. Cf. Penn. Archives, VII. 79; VIII. 720.
1783, April. Confederation: Slave-Trade in Treaty of 1783.
"To the earnest wish of Jay that British ships should have no right under the convention to carry into the states any slaves from any part of the world, it being the intention of the United States entirely to prohibit their importation, Fox answered promptly: 'If that be their policy, it never can be competent to us to dispute with them their own regulations.'" Fox to Hartley, June 10, 1783, in Bancroft, History of the Constitution, I. 61. Cf. Sparks, Diplomatic Correspondence, X. 154, June,