The Abolition of Slavery in Delaware

The progress of liberal ideas is gradually advancing, the latest illustration of which is the introduction of a bill into the Legislature of Delaware for the abolition of slavery in that State.  The bill provides, that every slave thirty-five years of age and upwards, shall be free within ninety days after its passage; and all slaves under thirty-five shall become free as they reach that age; and that from and after the first day of January, 1872, there shall not be slavery or involuntary servitude except as a punishment for crime.  Males born of a slave mother [after] the passage of this act shall be held as indentured servants until the age of twenty-one, and females until they are eighteen. – The above provisions are based upon the condition that “Congress, will at its present session, engage to pay to the State of Delaware, in bonds of the United States, bearing interest at the rate of six per centum per annum, the sum of $900,000, in ten annual installments, $90,000 to be payable on some day before the first of September, 1862, to establish a fund for securing full and fair compensation to the owners of slaves who shall have been divested of their property by force of the act in question.  The bill further provides for the appointment of an assessor in each county, who shall estimate the value of the slaves, and fix the price which shall be paid for them.  The salary of the State Treasurer shall be raised when the act goes into operation, from $500 to $1,000, on account of his increased responsibilities and duties in making payment to the owners for the slaves.  If Congress will make the appropriation of $900,000 for this purpose, we think every man in the State will esteem the act calculated to promote the interests of the people.

The Wilmington Republican, in speaking of this movement, says that many of the slaveholders would gladly exchange their slaves for money, which they could use in payment for their lands and contemplated improvements, and that they are informed that many of the largest slaveholders favor the measure. – National Rep.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Monday Morning, February 17, 1862, p. 2