Date of Award
1-1-2014
Language
English
Document Type
Master's Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
College/School/Department
Department of History
Content Description
1 online resource (iv, 54 pages) : illustrations, color map.
Dissertation/Thesis Chair
Amy Murrell-Taylor
Committee Members
Richard F. Hamm
Keywords
Albany, NY, manumission, slavery, Slaves, Slaveholders
Subject Categories
United States History
Abstract
On March 29, 1799, the New York State Legislature received notice that the state's Council of Revision had approved, "an Act for the gradual abolition of Slavery." The bill changed slavery in such a way that children born to slaves after July 4, 1799, became free upon reaching the age of twenty-five for females and twenty-eight for males. Given the monumental change produced by this legislation, historians have linked passage of the gradual abolition bill to an increase in slave manumissions. While the gradual abolition bill may have prompted slaveholders to consider manumission, it was not the overall motivating force behind slave manumissions in the nineteenth century.
Recommended Citation
Meredith, William Angelo, ""For divers good causes and considerations" : manumission practices of Albany, NY slaveholders, 1799-1824" (2014). Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024). 1200.
https://scholarsarchive.library.albany.edu/legacy-etd/1200