New York honored slave-state property rights even after abolishing slavery in 1827

Evidence

Unlike other papers, the Sun also offered detailed coverage of New York’s slave trade, including stories of captured runaways (despite having abolished slavery in 1827, New York still honored the property rights of slave state residents) and of the misery of slave marriages sundered by the auction block. Though otherwise apolitical and nonpartisan, the New York Sun, mainly owing to Wisner, took a consistent principled stand in favor of abolition. “We believe the day is not far distant,” the Sun said, “when the clanking of slavery’s chains will be heard no more—and Americans stand before the world practicing, as well as preaching, the glorious doctrine that all men are created free and equal.” — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 39

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the broader history of Northern complicity with slavery and antebellum press politics. — connects to: Colonial officials kept legal distinctions after freedom to sustain slavery.; The Founding preserved slavery legally, embedding it in its founding documents — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project: A New American Origin…, 215; The Constitution contains specific provisions protecting enslaved people as property — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project: A New American Origin…, 547 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Northern free states stripped Black voting rights even as they abolished slavery #corroborates (0.80) — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 708
• The Founding preserved slavery legally, embedding it in its founding documents #corroborates (0.75) — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 215
• Colonial officials kept legal distinctions after freedom to sustain slavery. #corroborates (0.72)
• Free Black people were legally presumed fugitive slaves across many states #corroborates (0.72) — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 844
• The Constitution contains specific provisions protecting enslaved people as property #corroborates (0.70) — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 547