PRINTER'S NO. 2456
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE RESOLUTION
No.
157
Session of
2021
INTRODUCED BY RABB, HILL-EVANS, T. DAVIS, MERSKI, SCHLOSSBERG,
SANCHEZ, D. WILLIAMS AND DELLOSO, NOVEMBER 23, 2021
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON STATE GOVERNMENT, NOVEMBER 23, 2021
A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Honoring the 200th anniversary of the introduction of the Act
for the Entire Abolition of Slavery in Pennsylvania.
WHEREAS, Pennsylvania was the first State to enact gradual
abolition of slavery nearly a century after the Germantown
Quaker petition against slavery in 1688; and
WHEREAS, In 1780, Pennsylvania passed the Act for the Gradual
Abolition of Slavery which was the first legislative enactment
of its kind in the United States of America, however, it would
go on to be known as the most conservative of abolition laws
throughout the country; and
WHEREAS, Although the passage of the Act for the Gradual
Abolition of Slavery established a path toward emancipation for
some enslaved Black women, men and children in this
Commonwealth, the act granted few enslaved individuals the
immediate freedom they deserved; and
WHEREAS, The new law abolished what would later be referred
to as "hereditary lifetime slavery," yet permitted continued
enslavement, so long as enslaved people of African descent, born
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before the date of enactment, were registered with their county
clerk, and those who were not registered were to be free; and
WHEREAS, This provision still allowed White residents of this
Commonwealth the ability to buy and sell enslaved Black
individuals who were registered; and
WHEREAS, The act specified that every child born to a duly
registered enslaved woman in Pennsylvania would be free upon
reaching the age of 28, however some Pennsylvanians took
advantage of the law by registering Black children as young as
five weeks old in an effort to perpetuate enslavement; and
WHEREAS, The provisions of gradual abolition legally codified
a class of people in this Commonwealth who were "unfree" through
the establishment of what would later be referred to as "term
slavery"; and
WHEREAS, The passage of this act was one of many instances
where the General Assembly surrendered its responsibility to
fully protect every single individual in Pennsylvania; and
WHEREAS, Forty years later, State Senator Samuel Breck, an
antislavery Federalist from Philadelphia, who was an ally of the
Pennsylvania Abolition Society, advocated for total abolition;
and
WHEREAS, Senator Breck believed a more aggressive abolition
policy needed to be enacted in this Commonwealth; and
WHEREAS, On January 20, 1821, Senator Breck introduced the
Act for the Entire Abolition of Slavery in Pennsylvania, which
would have immediately abolished slavery and freed every
enslaved person in Pennsylvania; and
WHEREAS, The advancement of the Act for the Entire Abolition
of Slavery in Pennsylvania was cut short, as a motion to
postpone the bill indefinitely succeeded by a vote of 14 to 13
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on March 2, 1821; and
WHEREAS, On this day, the Pennsylvania General Assembly once
again abdicated its responsibility to protect all Pennsylvania
citizens by not abolishing slavery; and
WHEREAS, The indefinite postponement of the Act for the
Entire Abolition of Slavery in Pennsylvania was a clear example
of the Pennsylvania General Assembly's negligence that so
devastatingly impacted Black people for generations; and
WHEREAS, By 1850, slavery was, as the 1780 General Assembly
intended, gradually abolished in Pennsylvania; and
WHEREAS, However, the failure of the General Assembly to
fully eradicate slavery in this Commonwealth in 1780 and 1821
allowed racial disparities to occur in every facet of life for
Black Pennsylvanians, including areas such as health care,
education and incarceration, which have severely impacted their
livelihoods over the course of the past 200 years; and
WHEREAS, It is far past time that the people of Pennsylvania
and our General Assembly look at our Commonwealth's history with
a racial equity lens and educate ourselves on the missed
opportunities to eradicate racial disparities; therefore be it
RESOLVED (the Senate concurring), That the General Assembly
honor the 200th anniversary of the introduction of the Act for
the Entire Abolition of Slavery in Pennsylvania.
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