Three years later the Massachusetts Supreme Court decided that
slavery was contrary to that state's constitution and that it violated
the natural rights of man. Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey, and
New York all passed laws providing for gradual emancipation. Although
the liberal philosophy of the revolution did lead these states to end
slavery, most Northern citizens were not genuinely convinced that
natural law had conferred full equality on their Afro-American
neighbors. Racial discrimination remained widespread.
At the same time, the Southern states which were dependent on
slavery for their economic prosperity showed little interest in
applying the doctrines of the Declaration of Independence to either
the slaves or the free blacks in their midst. If anything, the
passage of stiffer black codes increased the rights of the masters
while diminishing those of slaves and freedmen. Some Southern states
had qualms about the advisability of continuing the slave trade, but
this did not mean that they had doubts about the value of slavery.
Rather, the number of slave insurrections which swept through South
America, highlighted by the bloody revolt in Haiti, led them to fear
possible uprisings at home.
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