Nor were the effects produced from
these otherwise than corresponding with what might have been expected
from such an union of exertion in such a cause; for both the evils, that
is, the evil of buying and selling, and the evil of using slaves, ceased
at length with the members of this benevolent society. The leaving off
all concern with the Slave Trade took place first. The abolition of
slavery, though it followed, was not so speedily accomplished; for,
besides the loss of property, when slaves were manumitted, without any
pecuniary consideration in return, their owners had to struggle, in
making them free, against the laws and customs of the times. In
Pennsylvania, where the law in this respect was the most favourable, the
parties wishing to give freedom to a slave were obliged to enter into a
bond for the payment of thirty pounds currency, in case the said slave
should become chargeable for maintenance. In New Jersey the terms were
far less favorable, as the estate of the owner remained liable to the
consequences of misconduct in the slave, or even in his posterity. In
the southern parts of America manumission was not permitted but on terms
amounting nearly to a prohibition.
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