Virtual Lecture – The Abolition of Slavery in Revolutionary Pennsylvania
In this talk, Professor Nicholas Wood explores the origins, passage, and implementation of the nation’s first abolition law: Pennsylvania’s 1780 Gradual Abolition Act. He traces the law’s ideological roots to Quaker responses to the French and Indian War, when many Friends interpreted the conflict as divine chastisement for the sin of slavery. Similar providential thinking surfaced during the American Revolution, as some patriots embraced abolition as an expression of gratitude to God for delivering Philadelphia from British occupation. Other patriots disagreed, insisting that slavery was a divinely sanctioned institution. Chester County residents were divided, with some petitioning for and others against abolition. Black Pennsylvanians helped ensure the law’s passage and enforcement through their resistance, negotiations, and petitioning.
About the Speaker: Nicholas P. Wood is an associate professor of history at Spring Hill College (Mobile, AL) and the author of Let the Oppressed Go Free: Abolitionism in Colonial and Revolutionary America, published by the University of Pennsylvania Press in 2025. He earned his B.A. and M.A. at Rutgers University, his Ph.D. from the University of Virginia, and has held postdoctoral fellowships at the Library Company of Philadelphia and Yale University. His essays have appeared in venues such as Pennsylvania History, the Journal of the Early Republic, and the William and Mary Quarterly.
Admission is Pay as You Wish! Your donation is greatly appreciated. Register Here for this pay-as-you-wish event All proceeds benefit the development of future programming and the preservation of the History Center and its collections. The History Center is home to over 750,000 manuscripts, 100,000 photographs, and 70,000 artifacts. Your donation helps us to preserve and share those resources.
Presentation is via Zoom, and will be recorded and available for 7 days for all registered participants. We will email out a Zoom link the day of the presentation, and email a link to the recording within 24 hours. Note: the Zoom link emailed out the day of the presentation only takes you to the live presentation; the link emailed out the day after will contain the recorded version.
The History Matters Speaker Series is made possible through the generous support of The Haverford Trust Company.
