Why Slavery Was Able to Exist in New Jersey

Slavery was able to stay in New Jersey long after it began to die down in other part of the Northern States. The combinations of gradual abolition laws and the New Jersey’s geographic and economic ties with the Southern States made it hard for the State of New Jersey to abolish the institutions of slavery all together before the Civil War.

One primary factor that helped sustain slavery in New Jersey was the 1804 Gradual Abolition Act. This act was made to end slavery in New Jersey but with huge compromises. According to the 1804 Gradual Abolition Act, children born to the enslaved mother would be freed but after serving their mother’s master for a certain amount of time. A male children have to serve their mother’s master for 25 years and 21 years for a female children, before they become free. This structure created a new category of slaves “slaves for a term” rather than abolishing slave in New Jersey immediately, which helped the slave holder in New Jersey to continue benefiting from slave labor for decades. This law insured a slow death to the slavery institutions in New Jersey that stayed well into the 19th century. During this time the people of New Jersey knew the end of slavery is inevitable, so they did not feel the pressured to push for immediate abolition.

The location of New Jersey was also a major factor for the existent of slavery well into the mid 19th century. Geographically and culturally, the State of New Jersey had it’s legs on both the South and the North. This led to the frequent interactions between New Jersey and Southern States, where slavery was deeply rooted. According to the author, Gigantino II, there are several documented cases where the court of New Jersey sided with the slaveholders or the slave catchers. This shows that the government in New Jersey had a pro-slaver mentality while being in the Northern part of the United States. Also most white population in New Jersey felt that the Act of 1804 was good enough and no need for further laws or social awareness. All the abolitionist societies that were formed in New Jersey died down, and their members turned their attentions to the Atlantic slave trade and Southern slavery rather than the slow death of slavery in their own state.

New Jersey love compromises when they had to make laws banning slavery in their state. In 1846, New Jersey abolished slavery outright with a big compromise. In this law the legislatures of New Jersey abolished the legal term “slave” and started to call them “apprentices for life”. Now the previously black slaves are no longer slaves but apprentices who have to work for their master for a certain amount of time. This law reflected the New Jersey’s deeply conservative view on any social changes that might undermine the slave holders property rights. During that time, many white New Jerseyans still saw black individuals as inferior. The compromise of 1846 was a way to maintain social and economic stability while showing Northerners that New Jersey is a free state.

In conclusion, slavery in New Jersey was a complex problem while still being part of the free North. New Jersey’s approach to abolition was slow, reflecting the desire to maintain social stability and the property rights of the slaveholders over immediate freedom of the black residents. New Jersey did whatever they could throughout the antebellum period to maintain slavery in the state while showing they were part of the free North. The state’s “slave for term” in 1804, later “apprentices for life” in 1846, and the court system’s favorable view toward the Southern slave holder shows how deeply rooted slaver was even in North. This is the North where the ideology of freedom was supposed to dominate. Not all Northern states at that time were abolitionist, some prioritized slow end rather than sudden death.