Status Updates From 1789: George Washington and...

Pennsylvania passed a law of gradual abolition in 1780, freeing slaves when they reached the age of twenty-eight. Massachusetts never formally abolished slavery, but in 1781 its State Supreme Court ruled that slavery was incompatible with the phrase 'All men are born free and equal' in its state constitution.

Delaware outlawed the importation of slaves in its 1776 constitution and in 1789 forbade slave ships to enter its ports, but [...] did little to abolish its homegrown slavery. In 177, Vermont, which did not enter the Union until 1791, amended its constitution to ban the enslavement of males age twenty-one and older and females eighteen and older; child slaves had to wait for freedom until their twenty-first birthday.

A slave bought in Africa for £4 to £6 could be sold at Jamaica for £50 to £55. That incredible ten-to-one profit margin was irresistible to investors. In 1764, Rhode Island Governor Stephen Hopkins [...] a signer of the Declaration of Independence, was a slave owner. Nevertheless, he was able to write, 'Liberty is the greatest blessing that men enjoy, and slavery the heaviest curse that human nature is capable of.'

...the Constitution called for each elector to enter two votes, without any distinction indicating which was for president and which was for vice president. The person receiving the most votes became president and the runner-up vice president. Thus, all 69 electorates voted once for Washington and then a second time for another candidate. This system proved unworkable and was altered by the Twelfth Amendment in 1804.

"By 1789, fourteen currencies were in circulation: one for each state, each denominated in pounds, and a continental currency denominated in dollars."

"Many of these opponents instead were supporters of militias, seen as armed symbols of state sovereignty in the Treaty of Paris [..It said the king] acknowledged that United States consisted of thirteen 'free Sovereign and independent States' and that he 'treats them as such.' Proponents of a republic now realized that the only way to get rid of the Articles..was to convince Washington to endorse a federal republic."

"Many soldiers and their officers, however, believed that Congress had no intention of paying them what they were owed; after all, the Articles of Confederation enabled Congress to establish an army but not to levy the taxes to pay for it."

"In 1778, Congress had promised officers that once the war ended, they would receive half-pay for seven years thereafter and that each soldier would receive a postwar bonus worth about $1,900 in today's dollars [2018 publication]. The bonus was later extended to soldiers' widows and orphan children."