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Pennsylvania's Gradual Emancipation Act In 1780
An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery, passed by the Fifth Pennsylvania General Assembly on 1 March 1780, prescribed an end for slavery in Pennsylvania. It was the first act abolishing slavery in the course of human history to be adopted by a democracy. 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 came into effect remained enslaved for life. Pennsylvania's " gradual abolition"—rather than Massachusetts's 1783 "instant abolition"—became a model for freeing slaves in other Northern states. 1780 Act The 1780 Act prohibited further importation of slaves into Pennsylvania, but it also respected the property rights of Pennsylvania slaveholders by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Morton (American Politician)
John Morton (1725 – April 1, 1777) was an American farmer, surveyor, and jurist from the Province of Pennsylvania and a Founding Father of the United States. As a delegate to the Continental Congress during the American Revolution, he was a signatory to the Continental Association and Declaration of Independence. Morton provided the swing vote that allowed Pennsylvania to vote in favor of the Declaration. Morton chaired the committee that wrote the Articles of Confederation. Early life Morton was born in Ridley Township, in Chester County, present-day Delaware County, Pennsylvania, in 1725, the exact month is unknown. Morton's great-grandfather ( sv, Mårten Mårtensson, i=no, or ) was a Finn with roots in Rautalampi, Finland. In 1653, Marttinen emigrated from the Swedish land of Finland—then a constituent part of the Realm of Sweden—bringing son Martti Jr. to the Swedish colony of New Sweden. The younger Marttinen's son Johan anglicized his name to become John Morton ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pennsylvania Abolition Society
The Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage was the first American abolition society. It was founded April 14, 1775, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and held four meetings. Seventeen of the 24 men who attended initial meetings of the Society were Quakers, that is, members of the Religious Society of Friends, a branch of Christianity notable in the early history of Pennsylvania. It was reorganized in 1784 as the ''Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery and for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage'', (better known as the Pennsylvania Abolition Society) and was incorporated in 1789. At some point after 1785, Benjamin Franklin was elected as the organization's president. The society asked him to bring the matter of slavery to the Constitutional Convention of 1787. He petitioned the U.S Congress in 1790 to ban slavery. The Pennsylvania Abolition (or Abolitionist) Society, which had members and leaders of both race ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
President's House (Philadelphia)
The President's House in Philadelphia was the third U.S. Presidential Mansion. George Washington occupied it from November 27, 1790 to March 10, 1797, and John Adams occupied it from March 21, 1797 to May 30, 1800. The house was located one block north of the Pennsylvania Statehouse, now known as Independence Hall, and was built by widow Mary Masters about 1767. During the 1777–1778 British occupation of Philadelphia, it was headquarters for General Sir William Howe and the British Army. The British abandoned the city in June 1778, and the house became headquarters for Military Governor Benedict Arnold. Philadelphia served as the national capital from 1790 to 1800 while Washington, D.C. was under construction after which it was owned by Revolutionary War financier and fellow Founding Father Robert Morris, who gave the house to George Washington. Washington brought nine enslaved Africans from Mount Vernon to work in his presidential household. The house also served as the ex ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are shaped by the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Chesapeake Bay, which provide habitat for much of its flora and fauna. The capital of the Commonwealth is Richmond; Virginia Beach is the most-populous city, and Fairfax County is the most-populous political subdivision. The Commonwealth's population was over 8.65million, with 36% of them living in the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area. The area's history begins with several indigenous groups, including the Powhatan. In 1607, the London Company established the Colony of Virginia as the first permanent English colony in the New World. Virginia's state nickname, the Old Dominion, is a reference to this status. Slave labor and land acquired from displaced native tribes fueled the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tobias Lear
Tobias Lear (September 19, 1762 – October 11, 1816) was the personal secretary to President of the United States, President George Washington. Lear served Washington from 1784 until the former-President's death in 1799. Lear's journal details Washington's final moments and his last words: '''Tis well.'' Tobias Lear also served third president Thomas Jefferson, as envoy to Saint-Domingue (modern-day Haiti), and as peace envoy in the Mediterranean Sea and North Africa during the First Barbary War (1801–1805) and the Second Barbary War (1815). He was responsible for negotiating a peace treaty with the Bey of Tripoli that ended the first Barbary War. Early life Lear was born on Hunking Street in the seaport town of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on September 19, 1762, a fifth-generation American and the fifth generation of his family named Tobias. His parents were Tobias Lear (born August 1, 1737) (cousin of John Langdon (politician), John Langdon) and Mary Stillson Lear (born May 25 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Washington
George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of the Continental Army, Washington led the Patriot forces to victory in the American Revolutionary War and served as the president of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, which created the Constitution of the United States and the American federal government. Washington has been called the " Father of his Country" for his manifold leadership in the formative days of the country. Washington's first public office was serving as the official surveyor of Culpeper County, Virginia, from 1749 to 1750. Subsequently, he received his first military training (as well as a command with the Virginia Regiment) during the French and Indian War. He was later elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses and was named a delegate to the Continental Congress ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edmund Randolph
Edmund Jennings Randolph (August 10, 1753 September 12, 1813) was a Founding Father of the United States, attorney, and the 7th Governor of Virginia. As a delegate from Virginia, he attended the Constitutional Convention and helped to create the national constitution while serving on its Committee of Detail. He was appointed the first United States Attorney General by George Washington and subsequently served as the second Secretary of State during the Washington administration. Early life Randolph was born on August 10, 1753, to the influential Randolph family in Williamsburg in the Colony of Virginia. He was educated at the College of William and Mary. After graduation he began reading law with his father John Randolph and uncle, Peyton Randolph. In 1775, with the start of the American Revolution, Randolph's father remained a Loyalist and returned to Britain. Edmund Randolph returned to America where he joined the Continental Army as an aide-de-camp to General Geor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
US Attorney General
The United States attorney general (AG) is the head of the United States Department of Justice, and is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government of the United States. The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States on all legal matters. The attorney general is a statutory member of the Cabinet of the United States. Under the Appointments Clause of the United States Constitution, the officeholder is nominated by the president of the United States, then appointed with the advice and consent of the United States Senate. The attorney general is supported by the Office of the Attorney General, which includes executive staff and several deputies. Merrick Garland has been the United States attorney general since March 11, 2021. History Congress passed the Judiciary Act of 1789 which, among other things, established the Office of the Attorney General. The original duties of this officer were "to prosecute and conduct all suit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
US Cabinet
The Cabinet of the United States is a body consisting of the vice president of the United States and the heads of the Federal government of the United States, executive branch's United States federal executive departments, departments in the federal government of the United States. It is the principal official advisory body to the president of the United States. The president chairs the meetings but is not formally a member of the Cabinet. The heads of departments, appointed by the president and confirmed by the United States Senate, Senate, are members of the Cabinet, and acting department heads also participate in Cabinet meetings whether or not they have been officially nominated for Senate confirmation. The president may designate heads of other agencies and non-Senate-confirmed members of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, Executive Office of the President as members of the Cabinet. The Cabinet does not have any collective executive powers or functio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
US President
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces. The power of the presidency has grown substantially since the first president, George Washington, took office in 1789. While presidential power has ebbed and flowed over time, the presidency has played an increasingly strong role in American political life since the beginning of the 20th century, with a notable expansion during the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt. In contemporary times, the president is also looked upon as one of the world's most powerful political figures as the leader of the only remaining global superpower. As the leader of the nation with the largest economy by nominal GDP, the president possesses significant domestic and international hard and soft power. Article II of the Constitution establi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
