I attempted once to come up with some numbers from census data. Number of free blacks and slaves in the census before emancipation versus that in the next census.
Got bogged down. Not sure the method is usable. Too many unpredictable variables.
Most people don’t know that in most northern states emancipation was gradual. At least the northeastern states. The midwest states were born free. At least in theory.
If I remember correctly NJ still had a very few slaves in 1860.
I empathize with that problem emphatically.
Most people don’t know that in most northern states emancipation was gradual. At least the northeastern states. The midwest states were born free. At least in theory.
It started in Massachusetts with the freedom trials; Abolition societies suing slave owners for illegal incarceration. They pointed to the newly created Massachusetts constitution as the supreme law (which was filled with new noble ideas inspired by the Declaration of Independence) and it stated that "All men are born free and equal", and that was that for the trial.
Of course, Liberal Massachusetts was even back then using court cases to overturn existing laws. They prefer their monarchs in Judges robes.
If I remember correctly NJ still had a very few slaves in 1860.
1865. I recently checked.