Protests against slavery were not uncommon during the colonial period;
and before the Revolution was accomplished several of the States had
emancipated their slaves. Vermont led the way in 1777; the Ordinance
of 1787 forbade slavery in the Northwest Territory; and by 1804 all
the Northern States had provided that their blacks should be set free.
The opinion prevailed that slavery was on the road to gradual
extinction. In the Federal Convention of 1787 this belief was
crystallized into the clause making possible the prohibition of the
slave trade after the year 1808. Mutual benefit organizations among
the negroes, both slave and free, appeared in many States, North and
South. Negro congregations were organized. The number of free negroes
increased rapidly, and in the Northern States they acquired such civil
rights as industry, thrift, and integrity commanded. Here and there
colored persons of unusual gifts distinguished themselves in various
callings and were even occasionally entertained in white households.
The industrial revolution in England, with its spinning jenny and
power loom, indirectly influenced the position of the negro in
America. The new machinery had an insatiable maw for cotton. It could
turn such enormous quantities of raw fiber into cloth that the old
rate of producing cotton was entirely inadequate.
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