bating, New York at last declared
for gradual abolition, and New Jersey did likewise in 1804. In general,
gradual emancipation was the result of the work of people who were
humane but also conservative and who questioned the wisdom of thrusting
upon the social organism a large number of Negroes suddenly emancipated.
Sometimes, however, a gradual emancipation act was later followed by one
for immediate manumission, as in New York in 1817. At first those who
favored gradual emancipation were numerous in the South as well as in
the North, but in general after Gabriel's insurrection in 1800, though
some individuals were still outstanding, the South was quiescent. The
character of the acts that were really put in force can hardly be better
stated than has already been done by the specialist in the subject.[1]
We read:

[Footnote 1: Locke, 124-126.]

Gradual emancipation is defined as the extinction of slavery by
depriving it of its hereditary quality. In distinction from the
clauses in the constitutions of Vermont, Massachusetts, and New
Hampshire, which directly or indirectly affected the condition of
slavery as already existing, the gradual emancipation acts left this
condition unchanged and affected only the children born after
the passage of the act or after a fixed date. Most of these acts
followed that of Pennsylvania in providing that the children of a
slave mother should remain with her owner as servants until they
reached a certain age, of from twenty-one to twenty-eight years, as
stated in the various enactments. In Pennsylvania, however, they
were to be regarded as free. In Connecticut, on the other hand, they
were to be "held in servitude" until twenty-five years of age and
after that to be free. The most liberal policy was that of Rhode
Island, where the children were pronounced free but were to be
supported by the town and educated in reading, writing, and
arithmetic, morality and religion. The latter clauses, however, were
repealed the following year, leaving the children to be supported by
the owner of the mother until twenty-one years of age, and only if
he abandoned his claims to the mother to become a charge to the
town. In New York and New Jersey they were to remain as servants
until a certain age, but were regarded as free, and liberal
opportunities were given the master for the abandonment of his
claims, th