Slavery in the North

Brittany Ploen

Professor Gorton

History 304

27 November 2012

Slavery in the North: Vermont and Connecticut

During the period of 1750-1800, the institution of slavery was in a unique position. It is generally acknowledged that this was a time when many slaves were being granted some freedom, however this freedom varied from colony to colony. In the northern colonies, this freedom was often limited or only applied to future generations, and there were different reasons behind their decision to grant slaves any freedom at all. In particular, Vermont and Connecticut demonstrated two different paths to the abolishment of slavery. Although they both had the same outcome, Vermont’s approach was more efficient and for different reasons than Connecticut’s approach.

Connecticut’s history laid the foundation for its road to abolition. One of the thirteen original colonies, it was founded in March of 1636 and was a place where Puritan noblemen were often found. [1]. Many of them were wealthy enough to own slaves, however it wasn’t until about 1700 that slaves were brought to Connecticut [2]. It took awhile for the slave population to grow; in 1730, out of Connecticut’s population of over 38,000, there were only about 700 black people [3]. This all changed as the Revolutionary War approached. In fact, at this point in time Connecticut had the largest number of slaves in New England with close to 5,000 [4]. Between 1756 and 1774, the slave to free proportion increased by 40 percent, an enormous leap in less than twenty years. The wealth of the colony had a lot to do with this, as both the upper class and the middle class could afford to buy slaves. Citizens were more frugal and the wealth was more evenly distributed than in other colonies such as Massachusetts or Rhode Island [5]. This made for a wealthier population overall, creating the perfect environment for a large number of people to own slaves. All of this laid the foundation for the path to abolition that...