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The Dutch frist brought African slaves into the New World
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Massachusetts was the first state to officially legalize slavery in statute,
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The first documented attempt at a rebellion by slaves took place in Gloucester County, Virginia.
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The Quakers of Germantown, Pennsylvania, passed the first formal antislavery resolution.
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Vermont was the first state to abolish slavery.
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George Washington reversed previous policy and allowed the recruitment of blacks as soldiers. Some 5,000 would participate on the American side before the end of the Revolution.
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Eli Whitney obtained a patent for his cotton gin, which lead to massive slavery expansion.
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The Continental Congress forbade slavery in the region northwest of the Ohio River by the Northwest Ordinance.
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The Constitution of the United States allowed a male slave to count as three-fifths of a man in determining representation in the House of Representatives.
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Congress passed the first Fugitive Slave Law.
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The Ohio legislature passed "Black Laws" designed to restrict the legal rights of free blacks. These laws were part of the trend to increasingly severe restrictions on all blacks in both North and South before the Civil War.
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The slave trade was officially illegalized
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