“All the facts of this manumission were so wholly at variance with the established theories.”

“There were two main ways in which manumission, or enfranchisement as it was more commonly known in the Spanish colonies, could be achieved.”

“This provision gave slaves an incentive to work as well as the hope of eventual manumission.”

“Study of statutes and local legislation yields a variety of rules about sales, manumissions, learning trades, crimes, and more.”

“Through the efforts of the Westbury Friends and the minister Elias Hicks, more than 150 manumissions of slavery were recorded by 1790 on Long Island.”

“Slave manumissions ran well above the Southern, though perhaps not the Virginia, average.”