Franklin, though he was a key founder of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society,Wright, 2002 originally owned slaves whom he later manumitted (released from slavery). While serving in the Rhode Island Assembly, in 1769 Hopkins introduced one of the earliest anti-slavery laws in the colonies. When Jefferson entered public life as a young member of the House of Burgesses, he began his career as a social reformer by an effort to secure legislation permitting the emancipation of slaves. Jefferson say's "In 1769, I became a member of the legislature…. I made one effort in that body for the permission of the emancipation of slaves, which was rejected", but the representatives of the Crown sought "to direct our labors in subservience to [the mother country's] interest…. and… the Royal negative closed the last door to every hope of amelioration." Jay founded the New York Manumission Society in 1785, for which Hamilton became an officer. They and other members of the Society founded the African Free School in New York City, to educate the children of free blacks and slaves. When Jay was governor of New York in 1798, he helped secure and signed into law an abolition law; fully ending forced labor as of 1827. He freed his own slaves in 1798. Hamilton opposed slavery, as his experiences in life left him very familiar with slavery and its effect on slaves and on slaveholders, although he did negotiate slave transactions for his wife's family, the Schuylers. New evidence suggests Hamilton may have owned a house slave. After the Jay Treaty was signed, Hamilton advocated that slaves taken in by the British during the Revolutionary War be returned to their masters.Serfilippi, 2020, pp. 1-3 Many of the Founding Fathers never owned slaves, including John Adams, Samuel Adams, and Paine.
