On this day in ...... 1780 (230 years ago today), amid the American Revolution, the legislature of the one-time British colony of Pennsyvania became the 1st in history to move to abolish slavery. Pennsylvania's Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery banned importation of slaves, guaranteed the children of slaves born in Pennsylvania would be born free, and provided that domestic slaves of citizens from other states would have the right to manumission after the household resided 6 months in Pennsylvania; however, U.S. Congress members were exempted from the last provision.
(Prior March 1 posts are here, here, and here)
