Not really. If you look into the matter more deeply, you find that all the records from that time period were lost/destroyed. Not just this case, but many other cases from that court during that time period. Apparently whoever was responsible for keeping the records safe, didn't do their job. I think I had read that some were destroyed by water leaking into them from a bad roof.
It says nothing, nothing about the states-right of Pennsylvania to gradually abolish slavery in Pennsylvania, or put legal restrictions on how long slave-holders like President Washington could keep their slaves in Pennsylvania without freeing them.
It says as of 1802, Flora was a slave. One does not need to do a lot of contemplation to grasp the significance of this ruling. Again, slavery continued *in* Pennsylvania till at least 1840.
DiogenesLamp referring to a PA slave case: "It says as of 1802, Flora was a slave.
One does not need to do a lot of contemplation to grasp the significance of this ruling.
Again, slavery continued *in* Pennsylvania till at least 1840."
Of course, before the 13th Amendment, slavery was considered a matter for state laws to establish or abolish.
Most Northern states, like Pennsylvania, abolished their slavery gradually, over decades such that, for example, even in 1860 New Jersey recorded a handful of still slaves amongst their 25,000 freed blacks.
For comparison, a state like South Carolina had 400,000 slaves and about 10,000 freed blacks.