New York City Mayors and Slavery

By Paul Hortenstine ©2025

More enslaved people lived in New York City than any other town in North America for parts of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and slavery was interwoven with political power in the commerce-driven city from its beginnings. From the city’s first mayor in 1665 until New York State emancipation in 1827, forty-nine men served as mayor or acting mayor. Of those, forty-three—about 88%—are documented enslavers or investors in ships that carried enslaved people. After emancipation there were two mayors involved in slavery, which brings the total number of mayors with clear connections to slavery up to forty-five.

Mayors presided over the Common Council that enacted slave codes from the earliest days of the colony. This included implementing obligatory labor to improve the waterfront for one day a week in 1691 and giving colonists the power to apprehend enslaved people after dark in 1713. Activities on Sundays were severely limited, including a 1731 law that prohibited more than three enslaved people from gathering under the penalty of whipping. Even in 1818, mayors had to contend with enslavers using prison to punish the enslaved. Mayor Cadwallader Colden, president of the anti-slavery Manumission Society but formerly an enslaver, told the council to inquire under “what authority the City Prison is rendered subservient to the authority of slave holders.”

New York City Colonial Population [1]

	White	Black: vast majority enslaved	Total	% Black
1698	4,237	700	4,937	14%
1703	3,745	630	4,375	14%
1723	5,886	1,362	7,248	19%
1731	7,045	1,577	8,622	18%
1737	8,945	1,719	10,664	16%
1746	9,273	2,444	11,717	21%
1756	10,768	2,278	13,046	17%

The names of eighty-five people who were enslaved by mayors are documented in sales, wills, court cases, petitions, runaway notices, and manumission records. Early mayors sold enslaved people for agricultural goods, such as in 1676 when Mayor Gabriel Minvielle sold Prince for three hundred schepels (229 bushels) of wheat. Many mayors enslaved one or two people, but acting Mayor Gerardus Stuyvesant (1744) listed nineteen enslaved people in his 1786 will. While the voices of the enslaved are difficult to hear, documents show that two people petitioned for freedom from mayors. Sarah Robins requested her freedom as “a free Indian woman” in 1711 and Sam, a free Black man, asked for the freedom of Robin in 1715 after the death of their enslaver.

Twelve mayors are documented investors in thirty-four ships that transported the enslaved, including every mayor who held office from 1726 to 1766. Most of the ships they invested in sailed from New York City to the Caribbean with provisions and returned with enslaved people and agricultural goods, but seven ships took captives from Africa. Mayor Cornelius Steenwyck co-owned the Leonora, which from 1666 to 1667 sailed from the Netherlands to Ardra on the west coast of Africa. Three hundred thirty-eight captives were purchased; the two hundred ninety-one who survived were sold in Curaçao and Martinique. In July 1723, Mayor David Provoost sued the captain of the Expedition, which he was an investor in, for fifty pounds for damages to goods and the death of Jenny, an enslaved girl, who arrived on the ship from Barbados.

The following is a five-part essay on the connections between New York City mayors and slavery from the first mayor until 1827. After that, there is an overview of the mayors’ investments in ships that carried enslaved people and a list of the round-trip voyages of the mayors’ ships between the port of New York and the Caribbean that are found in port records and newspapers. The final part lists direct participation in slavery by New York City mayors through historical documents, including the terms of a 1664 auction, letters from 1698 about the arrival of slave ships, the 1703 census of New York City, a will from 1786, and an 1810 register of manumissions.

New York City Population After American Independence [2]

	Black	Total Population	% Black	Free Black	Enslaved	% Enslaved
1790	3,092	31,225	9.9%	1,036	2,056	66.5
1800	5,867	57,663	10.2%	3,333	2,534	43.2
1810	8,916	91,659	9.7%	7,470	1,446	16.2

This work ends at New York’s emancipation in 1827. However, after emancipation, Blacks, Indigenous persons, women, and many others in New York City still lived without equal rights and under the threat of violence.

Until the Civil War, slave ships were legally allowed to use the harbor to restock their supplies. Blacks lived in fear of being kidnapped into slavery and enslaved runaways were caught and returned. In July 1834, thousands of nativist rioters demolished the homes, businesses, and churches of abolitionists and Blacks, who were stoned and beaten. And, in July 1863, in the largest urban civil unrest in American history, rioters unleashed four days of violence and engaged in a battle for New York City in opposition to being drafted into the Union Army.  The rioters, mainly working-class men, destroyed the homes of the rich, targeted abolitionists, and sought out Blacks for beatings and murder, including lynching. The state militia and army defeated the rioters over the course of two days, fighting across barricades on city streets and in buildings.

This is not the end of this project. There are additional details to be found about mayors and the lives of the enslaved. For the six mayors until emancipation who are not listed as enslavers, it is possible they were enslavers or investors in the slave trade, but the documentation is lacking or unclear. However, as mayor each of them enforced slave codes as part of their official duties.

New York City during this time period refers to Manhattan or New York County. Other towns in today’s New York City had their own governments and the five boroughs of New York were consolidated in 1898.  

If you have questions, additions, omissions, or thoughts, please contact [email protected].

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Enslaver Mayors and Terms in Office

Thomas Willett 1665-1666 and 1667-1668	Johannes De Peyster 1698-1699	Edward Holland 1747-1756
Thomas Delavall 1666-67, 1670-71, and 1678-79	David Provoost 1699-1700	John Cruger, Jr. 1756-1766
Cornelius Steenwyck 1668-1670 and 1683-1684	Isaac de Riemer 1700-1701	Whitehead Hicks 1766-1776
Matthias Nicoll 1671-1672 and 1674-1675	Thomas Noell 1701–1702	David Mathews 1776-1783
John Lawrence 1672-1673 and 1691	Philip French 1702-1703	James Duane 1784-1789
William Dervall, 1675-1676	William Peartree 1703-1707	Richard Varick 1789-1801
Nicholas De Meyer, 1676-1677	Ebenezer Wilson 1707-1710	Edward Livingston 1801-1803
Stephanus Van Cortlandt 1677-78 and 1687-89	Jacobus Van Cortlandt 1710-11 and 1719-20	DeWitt Clinton 1803-07, 1808-10, 1811-15
Francis Rombouts 1679-1680	Caleb Heathcote 1711-1714	Marinus Willett 1807-1808
William Beekman, acting, 1681-1683	Robert Walters 1720-1725	Jacob Radcliff 1810-1811 and 1815-1818
Gabriel Minvielle 1684-1685	Robert Lurting 1726-1735	Cadwallader D. Colden 1818-1821
Nicholas Bayard 1685-1687	Paul Richard 1735-1739	Stephen Allen 1821-1824
Peter Delanoy 1689-1691	John Cruger 1739-1744	Philip Hone 1826-1827
Abraham De Peyster 1691-1694	Gerardus Stuyvesant, acting, 1744	Isaac L. Varian 1839-1841
William Merritt 1695–1698	Stephen Bayard 1744-1747	William F. Havemeyer 1845-1846, 1848-1849, 1873-1874*

*Business depended upon enslaved labor.

Names of People Enslaved by Mayors

Mayor	Names of Enslaved	Date of Record
William Beekman	Fernando and Rachel	1656, 1701
Cornelius Steenwyck	Mattheu	1662
William Dervall	Mingo	1675
Nicholas De Meyer	Arrow	1675
Thomas Willett	Jethro	1676
Gabriel Minvielle	Isabella and “children of my Spanish Indian woman called Koffey;” Danielle (Daniel); Catharina, Chrispina, and the child Marta; Prince	1676, 1698, 1680
Nicholas Bayard	John	1689
Francis Rombouts	Jacob and “Indian woman called Diana”	1692
Peter Delanoy	Nanny	1696
Thomas Noel	Robben and John, men; Vilet and Mercey, women; girls Izabell, Hannah, and Susannah; and boys Jack, Robben, and Clase	1704
Robert Walters	Sarah Robins	1711
Ebenezer Wilson	Robin	1717
Robert Lurting	Kate	1721
David Provoost	Jenny and Joa; Jane	1723
Jacobus Van Cortlandt	Pompey, Piero, John, and Frank; Hester; Hannah and her existing children; Andrew Saxton	c. 1730’s
Isaac de Riemer	Dean, Florah, Hagg, Harry, Joan, and Thom	1731
John Cruger	Deptford	1741
John Cruger Jr.	Hanover	1741
Stephen Bayard	Dina, Ben, Pashanse and Pegey	1722, 1741, 1757
Paul Richard	Galloway and Elizabeth; Maria and Cato	c.1730’s; 1741
David Mathews	Dinah, aged seven days	1770
Gerardus Stuyvesant	Harry, John, Cyrus, Gimm, Abraham, and Isaac. Isabell, Bett, Anna, big Mary, and a girl Phoebe. Gansey, Dick, and Syphax, boys Primus and Scipio, Peg, and girls little Mary and Lucy	1786
James Duane	Daun (Dan), age 25, and Sam	1792
DeWitt Clinton	Jack, Jenny, and Massa	1799, 1805, 1810
Philip Hone	Charlotte	1809
Richard Varick	Jenny (Jin), Frank, and Peter Anthony, age 32	1810 and 1812

Mayoral Administrations Until Emancipation

1. Thomas Willett, 1665-1666
2. Thomas Delavall, 1666-1667
3. Thomas Willett, 1667-1668
4. Cornelius Van Steenwyk, 1668-1670
5. Thomas Delavall, 1670-1671
6. Matthias Nicoll, 1671-1672
7. John Lawrence, 1672-1673

• 1673: Dutch occupation in August
• 1674: English control in November

8. Matthias Nicoll, 1674-1675
9. William Dervall, 1675-1676
10. Nicholas De Meyer, 1676-1677
11. Stephanus Van Cortlandt, 1677-1678
12. Thomas Delavall, 1678-1679
13. Francis Rombouts, 1679-1680
14. William Dyre, 1680-1683*

• William Beekman, acting, 1681-1683

15. Cornelius Van Steenwyk, 1683-1684
16. Gabriel Minvielle, 1684-1685
17. Nicholas Bayard, 1685-1687
18. Stephanus Van Cortlandt, 1687-1689
19. Peter Delanoy, 1689-1691
20. John Lawrence, 1691
21. Abraham DePeyster, 1691-1694
22. Charles Lodwik, 1694-1695*
23. William Merritt, 1696-1698
24. Johannes De Peyster, 1698-1699
25. David Provost, 1699-1700
26. Isaac De Reimer, 1700-1701
27. Thomas Noell, 1701-1702
28. Phillip French, Acting, then Mayor, 1702-1703
29. William Peartree, 1703-1707
30. Ebenezer Wilson, 1707-1710
31. Jacobus Van Cortlandt, 1710-1711
32. Caleb Heathcote, 1711-1714
33. John Johnston, 1714-1719*
34. Jacobus Van Cortlandt, 1719-1720
35. Robert Walters, 1720-1725
36. Johannes Jansen, 1725-1726*
37. Robert Lurting, 1726-1735
38. Paul Richard, 1735-1739
39. John Cruger, 1739-1744

• Gerardus Stuyvesant, acting, 1744

40. Stephen Bayard, 1744-1747
41. Edward Holland, 1747-1756
42. John Cruger, Jr., 1756-1766
43. Whitehead Hicks, 1766-1776
44. David Matthews, 1776-1783
45. James Duane, 1784-1789
46. Richard Varick, 1789-1801
47. Edward Livingston, 1801-1803
48. DeWitt Clinton, 1803-1807
49. Marinus Willett, 1807-1808
50. DeWitt Clinton, 1808-1810
51. Jacob Radcliff, 1810-1811
52. DeWitt Clinton, 1811-1815
53. John Ferguson, 1815*
54. Jacob Radcliff, 1815-1818
55. Cadwallader D. Colden, 1818-1821
56. Stephen Allen, 1821-1824
57. William Paulding Jr., 1825-1826*
58. Philip Hone, 1826-1827
59. William Paulding Jr., 1827-1829 (mayor on July 4, 1827)*

*No documentation of direct participation in slavery. It is likely that a free person in Paulding’s home was an indentured servant under the 1799 gradual emancipation law.

Timeline

1525: Estaban Gomez of Portugal explored parts of the Hudson River and returns with fifty-eight Indigenous people who were enslaved.

1609: Henry Hudson’s voyage, which led to further exploration.

1613: First recorded non-native settler on Manhattan, Jan Rodrigues, was left stranded or to signify possession of the site. He was of African and possibly Afro-European descent.

1614: Establishment of United New Netherland Company, with exclusive rights to American pelts.

1614 or 1615: Construction of Fort Nassau (present day Albany), first Dutch settlement in North America.

1621: The States General of Netherlands awarded the Dutch West India Company, a joint stock company, a twenty-four-year monopoly on trade and settlement that included the American coast between Newfoundland and the Straits of Magellan.

1624: The first settlers in New Netherland arrived on Nut Island (now Governors Island) and dispersed to other settlements. Fort Orange, the first permanent Dutch settlement in North America, is built as a replacement for Fort Nassau.

1625: Walloon families settled in Manhattan under the directorship of Hollander William Kieft, who renamed the island New Amsterdam. Establishment of Fort Amsterdam.  Arrival of the “Animal Fleet:” three ship retrofitted and provisioned to carry farm animals to New Netherland.

1627: The Dutch West India Company owned the first African enslaved persons—twenty-two—in New Amsterdam, who arrived on the Bruynvisch on August 29. Settlers from England, France, Norway, Germany, Ireland, and Denmark joined the Walloons on the island. The Dutch colony heavily relied on enslaved labor, as there were few indentured servants from Europe. This continued under British rule.

1635: Completion of Fort Amsterdam at southern tip of Manhattan. The company used enslaved labor to build the fort, clear land, build roads, and tend to farms. The company also refused to teach enslaved persons skilled trades. 

1639-40: Dutch West India Company’s fur and trade monopoly revoked. The WIC assumed a caretaker role to promote private enterprise for all citizens of the United Provinces, not just New Netherland.

1644: Eleven enslaved people petitioned for freedom and are granted conditional freedom if they paid an annual fee to the Dutch West India Company and worked for the company. However, the company dictated that their children were born enslaved and must serve the company. These former enslaved persons also owed a tax to the company, but Dutch colonists did not. Those granted this “half freedom” or “half slavery” formed the first Black community in Manhattan, on farms granted to them in the “Land of the Blacks,” located where Washington Square is today.

1646: Peter Stuyvesant named Director General of New Netherland, Curaçao, Aruba, and Bonaire.

1648: WIC allowed private slave trade in North America for a fee.

1650’s: Curaçao became major Dutch slave trading port from Africa.

1653: Municipal charter for New Amsterdam on February 2. New Amsterdam’s first municipal government consisted of two burgomasters (similar to mayor), five schepens (alderman and judge), and a schout (sheriff and chief legal officer). They were appointed by Peter Stuyvesant, Director-General of New Netherland, and his council. The Court of Burgomasters and Schepens met for the first time at City Tavern, “henceforth the City Hall.”

1654: The Dutch West India Company decreed that enslaved persons can be traded as chattels and increases slave trade to New Amsterdam, including directly from Africa, to create a major slave port after the loss of Brazil to Portugal.

1655: The first direct shipment of enslaved Africans arrived on the Witte Paert (White Horse).

1657: Establishment of the burgherright, a citizenship status that conferred the right to commercial activities.

1657-64: Thirty-five ships arrived in New Amsterdam with free people and indentured servants, tripling the number of residents.

1659: The Sphera Mundi arrived in New Amsterdam with five children from Curaçao to be sold at public auction.

1660: New Amsterdam was the most important slave port in North America and had the largest urban population of enslaved people.

1661: Enslaved persons could be traded outside of New Amsterdam, including Virginia.

1664: Richard Nicolls arrived on English warship on August 26. Three more warships arrived two days later. Peter Stuyvesant, director-general of New Netherland, surrendered the colony to England on September 8. During September, six English and six Dutch officials negotiated articles that enumerated rights for the Dutch and led to a peaceful transfer of power. Slaveship Gideon arrived in New Amsterdam on August 15, 1664 with 290 captives. As England took control of the colony, the sale of the captives at auction proceeded on August 30 and September 1 and 12. 

1665: English Governor of the Province of New York Richard Nicolls appointed Thomas Willett the first mayor of New York City on June 26. The government of New York city is the mayor, five aldermen, and one sheriff. The governor granted the mayor and aldermen authority “to Rule and Governe” and appoint other officers of the city. The aldermen came to be called the Common Council (similar to today’s city council). They also presided as judges over court cases at the Mayor’s Court. The Duke of York’s Laws are proclaimed for the Province of New York, but they are inconsistently applied. They specified that no Christian could be enslaved unless captured in war or selling themselves into slavery. 

1673-4: Dutch control reestablished but relinquished as part of treaty of wider war. The Dutch receive Suriname in exchange for transferring power of the colony back to England.

1674: Newly appointed New York provincial Governor Edmund Andros established ties with the Dutch merchant community after the colony returned to English power. Andros appointed Dutch merchants to government offices and ensured that they kept their property and wealth. Andros also made New York City’s port the only point of imports or exports for the province. 

1680: New York City slave code prohibited houses or taverns entertaining Indian or Black enslaved persons and serving them “Wine Rumm and other Strong Liquors.”

1682: Province of New York slave code outlawed Indian or Black enslaved people gathering on Sunday or any time without consent of enslavers. The penalty included whipping. 

1683: New form of government for Province of New York: a governor, executive council, and General Assembly were responsible for the laws of the entire province, although they were subject to royal approval. The governor continued to be appointed but the assembly was elected. The assembly was disbanded in 1686 but reestablished in 1691 and continued to govern until the Revolutionary War.  A province of New York law declared that professing Christianity would not free the enslaved. 

1684: New York City clave code prohibited Indian or Black enslaved gatherings of more than four and they cannot be “Armed att Any tymes with gunns, Swords, Clubs, Staues Or Any Other kind of weapons…under the Penalty of being whipped att the Publique whipping poste Tenn Lashes, unless the master or Owners of Such Slaue will Pay Six Shillings to Excuse the Same That One of the Constables…” 

1686: Governor Thomas Dongan issued a charter for the City of New York. It permitted the citizens of six wards to elect aldermen, assistants, assessors, and constables and formalized the powers of the city recorder. The aldermen, assistants, and city recorder sat on the Common Council. To protect European laborers’ jobs, a New York City slave code outlawed “Negroe or indian Slave” from working as a porter for goods being imported or exported. Trades and laborers were strictly controlled by the mayor and Common Council. The work of the enslaved was “found to be of very evill Consequence And tending greately to the discouragement and Losse of Such of the Inhabitants of this Citty as are Sworne porters.” 

1689: Leisler’s Rebellion and colonists ruled New York.

1691: Reestablishment of English colonial rule. New York City enacted a slave code ordering “every Male Negro in the Citty with Wheele barrows and Spades performe one dayes Worke” per week on waterfront land. Another code prohibits enslaved persons from drinking alcohol or gathering without permission. 

1702: On November 27, the Province of New York enacted a comprehensive slave code, including granting enslavers the authority “to punish the enslaved for their Crimes and offences at Discretion, not extending to life or Member [limb]” and limiting the number of enslaved people to three who can gather at one place except to labor. The code stated that “…slaves are the property of Christians…” Towns could appoint a “Common Whipper for their slaves.”

1703: Census of New York City. The category for Blacks is “negros.” 

1706: On October 21, a law enacted by the Province of New York “to encourage the baptizing of Negro, Indian, and Mulatto Slaves” defined slavery as a racial category: “all and every Negro, Indian Mulatto and Mestee Bastard Child & Children who is, are, and shall be born of any Negro, Indian, Mulatto or Mestee, shall follow ye State and Condition of the Mother & be esteemed reputed taken & adjudged a Slave & Slaves to all intents & purposes whatsoever.” The act also stated, “That the Baptizing of any Negro, Indian or Mulatto Slave shall not be any Cause or reason for the setting them or any of them at Liberty.” 

1711: Formal slave market established at Wall Street between Pearl and Water Streets. Enslaved people were hired and sold there until 1763.

1712: In March, the Common Council enacted “A Law Appointing a Place for the More Convenient Hiring of Slaves” at “the Markett House at the Wall Street Slip.” In April, a slave revolt in New York City. Twenty-one people were executed and six committed suicide. New York passed another slave code that further restricted the movements of the enslaved and discouraged enslavers from manumission by requiring a 200 pound bond to the government and an annual salary to the free person of 20 pounds. People freed after the law was enacted could not “possess any Houses, Lands, Tenements or Hereditaments within this Colony.”

1713: New York City slave code prohibited “slaves above the Age of fourteen years from going in the Streets of this City after Night” without a lantern or lighted candle, and “Any of her Majesties Subjects” within the city could apprehend enslaved people they found after dark. The penalty for those convicted was to “be whipped at the public whipping Post fourty lashes save one.” Britain awarded asiento: the exclusive right to supply enslaved persons to Spanish America.

1715: Parliament ended Royal Africa Company’s monopoly on slave trade.

1722: New York City slave code ordered burials of the enslaved take place during daylight.

1723: Census of New York province categories for people are “white” and “negroes and other slaves.”  

1730: New York implemented new provincial slave codes that replaced previous ones for the colony. It included penalties for selling alcohol to enslaved persons and buying goods from them; limited the number of enslaved people gathering to three except when laboring; fines for harboring enslaved persons or runaways; and gave enslavers the power to inflict punishment.  

1731: Governor John Montgomerie issued a comprehensive charter to New York City that defined the city as “one body corporate and politic” and granted the it the rights to valuable property on Manhattan and Long Island. The city had standing to buy and sell property and to sue and be sued in court. A New York City slave code prohibited enslaved people from gathering in numbers larger than three and from going on city streets in the nighttime without a lantern and must be “in Company with his her or their Master or Mistress or some White Person or White servant belonging to the family whose slave he or she is…” Colonists could apprehend enslaved persons and commit them to prison for a crime until the enslaver paid a reward. More than twelve people gathering at an enslaved persons funeral was prohibited. Census of New York province categories for people are “whites” and “blacks.”

1736: New York City slave code allowed imprisoning “all unruly and ungovernable servants and slaves” in the newly built Workhouse and House of Correction, the first city almshouse, “to be kept at hard labour and punished” by a justice with consent of the enslaver, who also had to pay to hold enslaved people there and for whipping them.

1741: Conspiracy or Slave Insurrection of 1741. Eighteen enslaved people were hanged, thirteen enslaved people were burnt at the stake, and four whites hanged. Seventy-one people were deported, including to colonies where the work was brutal and death rates were high.

1742: New York City slave code limited enslaved people from gathering at wells on Sunday. They can only go to the well nearest their abode. Enslaved also cannot ride a horse on the street or the common.

1754-1763: French and Indian War.

1772: Somerset case ended slavery in England and Wales. However, it does not end slavery elsewhere in the empire and has no impact on the large number of enslaved people in the West Indies British colonies.

1775-76: Colonists established control of New York.

1776: Devastating fire throughout the docks on the Hudson River and the western part of the city late on the night of September 20th and into the day of the 21st. The cause is unknown, and the British army had recently gained control of New York City.   

1776-83: British rule reestablished and military occupation.  After the British promised freedom to any Black person who fought for the King, thousands of escaped enslaved people move to the city. After the war, the British helped more than 3,000 former enslaved people leave for Nova Scotia.

1783: British evacuate Manhattan and American control of New York. November 25 celebrated as Evacuation Day as British soldiers and loyalists departed and a procession by General Washington and the Continental Army through the city, which proceeded south and ended outside Cape’s Tavern on Broadway. 

1784: In the fourth meeting of the Common Council after the Revolution, slave codes are passed. The enslaved must carry a candle at night or face fifteen lashes, be buried “by daylight,” and the punishment for riding a horse in a “disorderly manner” or for any “gaming” was whipping or a penalty paid by the enslaver. In September, constables were ordered to report the number and dwelling places of free and enslaved people. 

1785: New York Manumission Society founded. New York State law banned the sale of enslaved people imported from outside the state starting in June of the following year, including freedom for the enslaved person as a penalty for an illegal sale. 

1788: New York State enacts a comprehensive slave code that confirms slavery is hereditary and for life: “That every negro, mulatto or mestee, within this State, who at the time of the passing of this act, is a slave, for his or her life, shall continue such, for and during his or her life, unless he or she, shall be manumitted or set free…the children of every negro, mulatto or mestee woman, being a slave, shall follow the state and condition of the mother…” The law listed penalties for harboring or assisting runaways and selling alcohol to enslaved persons. It also formalized the manumission process. Taking enslaved persons out of state for sale was prohibited, with freedom for the enslaved person as the penalty. This ended the legal slave trade into and out of New York but selling enslaved persons within the state remained legal. 

1790: New York City enacted a law that servants or enslaved people can be sent to the Bridewell prison. First U.S. Census categories for people are “heads of families,” “free white,” “all other free persons,” and “slaves.” 

1799: First New York State emancipation law enacted. It allowed children born into slavery after July 4, 1799, to be freed, but only after a long period of indentured service: 25 years for women and 28 for men. Those who were born before July 4 remained enslaved.

1800: Second U.S. Census categories for people are “head of family,” “free white,” “all other free persons, except Indians, not taxed,” and “slaves.”  

1805: New York City enacted a law that enslaved person can be confined prison only with the order of a magistrate. No time limit was placed on confinement if the enslaver paid expenses.

1812-14: War of 1812 with Britain.

1812: New York City slave code permits enslavers to commit enslaved people to prison with the approval of a magistrate.

1813: New York City enacted a law that the enslaved can be committed to Bridwell by a magistrate for up to sixty days at the expense of the enslaver.

1814: New York City Common Council repealed 1813 slave code. 

1816: New York City jury ward census categories for people are “white inhabitants,” “aliens,” “coloured inhabitants, not slaves,” and “slaves.” 

1817: New York law was passed to emancipate those enslaved before the enactment of the 1799 law.

1818: New York City Common Council changes law on commitment of the enslaved so they can only be imprisoned for a crime and enslaved people imprisoned without a magistrate’s order would be discharged after three days.

1821: New York City slave code allows the enslaved to be held in Bridewell for over sixty days for “running away or for other misbehaviour” if the enslaver put up a bond. 

1825: Establishment of Seneca Village, a free Black community with many property owners. The city acquired their property through eminent domain as part of the creation of Central Park, and they were forced to move by the end of 1857. 

1826: New York enacted universal suffrage for white men age twenty-one, but required Black men to own property worth $250, be “over and above all debts and incumbrances,” a citizen for three years, and a taxpayer to vote.

1827: Slavery ends in New York and is commemorated by a parade in New York City on July 4th and 5th. However, slavery continued in other ways, including temporary visitors from other states who brought enslaved persons (for up to nine months); fugitives who would be returned to enslavers in slave states; slave ships were allowed to anchor and restock in New York ports.

1827-1860’s: Despite slavery ending in New York, many slave ships are outfitted in the port or operate illegal slaving operations. In August 1856, Walt Whitman claimed “It is safe to say that two or three slavers per month have fitted out and sailed from New York for at least the last ten years.”

1834: Nativists rioted against abolitionists and Blacks in New York City.

1834: British law for gradual emancipation throughout the empire goes into effect.

1841: New York abolished the right of non-residents to keep enslaved people.

1862: Nathaniel Gordon executed in New York City on February 21 for participating in the illegal slave trade. He was the only slave trader to be executed in the United States. 

1863: New York City Draft Riots.

1898: Consolidation of the five boroughs.

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Includes information from New York City, 1664-1710: Conquest and Change, In the Shadow of Slavery, 12-21; Prof. Benton essay on dating the beginning and end of slavery in New York; “Tale of the White Horse” and “To ‘experiment with a parcel of negros:’ Incentive, Collaboration, and Competition in New Amsterdam’s Slave Trade, Journal of Early American History by Dennis J. Maika; the Walt Whitman Archive, Minutes of the Common Council, The colonial laws of New York from the year 1664 to the revolution, Vol. I, Laws of New-York, from the year 1691, to 1751, inclusive: published according to an act of the General Assembly, and Laws of the state of New York: passed at the sessions of the Legislature held in the years 1777-[1801], Vol. II.

[1] The percentage of Blacks enslaved during this time period is unclear. There were some free people, but they were a small part of the Black population. Many who were free during the Dutch period fled the city, especially after more restrictive 1712 slave codes. “Slavery in New York,” Ira Berlin and Leslie M. Harris, 2005, online edition p.62 table; citing American Population Before the Federal Census of 1790, p.94-104, link

[2] Date from census and other sources in Somewhat More Independent, Shane White, p.26

Copyright 2025 Paul Hortenstine