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Sale 55: United States Postal History

Table of Contents

Slavery Related

Lot 1948

(Abolitionist Movement) Pennsylvania Gradual Abolition of Slavery Act, 1793 affidavit under the act respecting possible slaves owned by Hugh Neilly of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania; slight spitting along folds, otherwise Very Fine, very scarce.
Estimate    $150 - 200.

An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery, passed by the Pennsylvania legislature on 1 March 1780, was the first attempt by a government in the Western Hemisphere to begin an abolition of slavery. The Act prohibited further importation of slaves into the state, required Pennsylvania slaveholders to annually register their slaves (with forfeiture for noncompliance, and manumission for the enslaved), and established that all children born in Pennsylvania were free persons regardless of the condition or race of their parents. Those enslaved in Pennsylvania before the 1780 law went into effect remained enslaved for life. Another act of the Pennsylvania legislature freed them in 1847.

Realized: $115

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