1790 1800 1810 1820 '30 '40 '50 '60 N. Hamp. 158 8 R. Island 952 381 108 48 17 5 Conn. 2,759 951 310 97 25 17 Vermont 17 N. York 21,824 20,343 15,017 10,088 75 4 N. Jer. 11,423 12,422 10,851 7,657 2,254 674 236 18 Penn. 3,737 1,706 795 408 211 64 Illinois, by her constitution of 1818, continued slavery in the State, but declared that 'children hereafter born shall be free.' An effort was made in Congress to defeat the admission of Illinois, on the ground that its constitution 'did not conform to the ordinance of 1787.' But it was then decided by the House of Representatives (117 to 54) that 'the ordinance did not extend to States.' In the Senate the vote was _unanimous_. (See Niles's Register, vol. xix. p. 30.) Rhode Island adopted the Pennsylvania system. Connecticut declared free, at the age of 26, all born after the 1st March, 1784. Indiana pursued in its results the course of Illinois. By the census, Illinois had 917 slaves in 1820, 747 in 1830, 331 in 1840; and Indiana had 190 slaves in 1820, 3 in 1830, and 3 in 1840. New York in 1799 continued in bondage the slaves then living, but those born _after_ the date of the law were emancipated at the age of 28; and in New Jersey, the males at 25 and the females at 21. This slow and gradual process in States having so few slaves, should inculcate kinder and more indulgent feelings as to those loyal communities where the slaves are so much more numerous, and the time and mode of action so vital. The great model act of gradual emancipation, drawn by Benjamin Franklin, the great leader on this question, approved by the Quakers, and adopted by Pennsylvania in 1780, liberated all the descendants of slaves born after that date within the limits of the State. To avoid circumlocution, I shall call those born before the date of emancipating laws the _ante nati_, and those born after the date of such laws, _post nati_. I shall consider first the question of gradual emancipation and colonization in connection with Maryland, and afterward apply the same principles to other States.