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In the northern colonies, slaves tended to live in cities and work as craftsmen or as domestic servants, whereas slaves in the South often lived on farms. Large plantations with more than forty slaves did exist, particularly in the deep South, but they were not common. EFFECTS OF THE AMERICAN WAR OF INDEPENDENCE After the American Revolution in the late 1700s, with the talk of independence, liberty, and equality, some people in the northern states grew uneasy about the idea of slavery. Inspired by the Declaration of Independence, Vermont abolished slavery in 1777. By 1800, most of the other northern states had enacted laws prohibiting slavery; New Jersey was the last to make slavery illegal, in 1804. Most of the laws in the northern states called for gradual emancipation . This gave slave owners time to sell their slaves “down South” so that they did not lose their financial investment. This illustration shows a slave-trading compound on the coast of what is now Nigeria. The flags of various European nations that purchased slaves, including Portugal, France, Great Britain, and the Netherland, fly over different areas of the compound where slaves were kept.

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SLAVE REVOLTS AND REBELLIONS