[babyface00]

So, it wasn't just Southerners who had slaves, or who hated the idea of losing it

I've often wondered...as the states in the North made slavery illegal, did the slaves get freed, or did they just get sold to Southern states?

[the OlLine Rebel]

Good question! I really haven't gotten any impressions much less solid statements on that. It would probably also depend on the state - not all would have to do the same thing.

[P-40]

did the slaves get freed

Lincoln freed something like 4,000 of them in Washington, DC...and after that I think they were just called interns. :)

[Restorer]

Something I have also wondered about. I have tried to research it, but have never been able to find any real numbers.

If most northern slaves were just sold South rather than freed when they abolished slavery, it makes the two sections a lot more morally equivalent on the issue.

If you run across accurate estimates, please let me know.

[stand watie]

most were SOLD to the southern slave-owners OR (worse yet) to the sugar planters in the Caribbean.

free dixie,sw

[Paige]

The North would have been holding on to slavery with everything they had if they would have been able to have crash crops.
Moreover, the North did not want the slaves freed because they didn't want to lose their jobs to people who would work for lower wages; plus, as for the expansion of slavery...the North did not want slavery expanded so free white men could get land and work for wages. It had nothing to do with the North loving the slaves.
So, please don't even go there about the North being about freedom because that would be historically incorrect.

[R. Scott]

I've often wondered...as the states in the North made slavery illegal, did the slaves get freed, or did they just get sold to Southern states?

Possibly both. If I were a Northern slave owner and saw that abolition would become fact I would want to sell off my property (slaves) to recoup as much of my capital investment as possible. We would see the same thing today if some State decided to make the internal combustion engine illegal.

[Non-Sequitur]

I've often wondered...as the states in the North made slavery illegal, did the slaves get freed, or did they just get sold to Southern states?

Both. Many were freed, but some owners chose to sell their slaves to owners in slave states. I have no idea what the proportions were.