It is seldom credited to southern slaveholders that they gave up as much property as the records show that they did. The slaveholding states practiced real abolition while New England and the other great abolition sections of the country were agitators of abolition rather than practitioners of it. None of their legislation shook the shackles from a single slave, according to eminent authority,[18] but merely abolished slavery that did not exist; that is, these acts said slaves yet unborn would be free at birth, or at certain age. This was not abolishing slavery by freeing those actually held in slavery. As a matter of fact, those held in slavery at the time of the passing of these acts were retained as slaves until they died, or were sold to Southerners. Of course, all over the country there was abolition by private individuals, but the point is, the Southern slaveholders were the real abolitionists. They actually gave up their property, and turned loose their slaves. There were 7,300 free negroes in Tennessee in 1860. Considering the fact that hundreds of free negroes went to Liberia, Haiti, Canada, and the free states, from Tennessee, and that hundreds of free negroes died in the period from 1796 to 1860, it is safe to say that, at $1000 each, more than ten million dollars’ worth of property was surrendered by the abolitionists of Tennessee. It was largely the small farmer slaveholders that made this sacrifice for their convictions. II. ANTI-SLAVERY LEADERS. Tennessee made a substantial contribution to the anti-slavery leadership of the nation. There were two groups of these men. One of them left the state for a larger field of activity, and might be called Separatists, while the members of the other group remained at home and fought in the ranks. These might be called Puritans. Jesse Mills, Elihu Swain, John Underhill, Jesse Lockhart, Rev. John Roy, Peter Cartwright, Charles Osborn, and Rev. John Rankin are examples of those who left the state for abolition centers.[19] Rev. John Roy was a Methodist preacher who rode Green circuit in Tennessee. He was a man of considerable ability, strong feeling, full of courage, with an iron will. He was strongly anti-slavery in his sentiment, and for this reason moved to Indiana, where he died in 1837 in his 69th year.[20] Peter Cartwright was one of the greatest preachers of Methodism. He was a native Virginian, but entered the Western Conference in 1804. He gave a great part of his life to the services of the church in Tennessee. He was a man of great humor and wit, and was a fighter against slavery. He finally decided that his labors would be more appreciated in an anti-slavery state, and moved to Illinois in 1824. He became increasingly bitter against slaveholders in his old age, and as a delegate from Illinois to the Methodist Conference in 1844, he voted for the division of the church.