Slavery in the United States Slavery in the United States Slavery in the United States was the legal institution of human chattel enslavement, primarily of Africans and African Americans, that existed in the United States of America in the 18th and 19th centuries. Slavery had been practiced in British America from early colonial days, and was legal in all Thirteen Colonies at the time of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. It lasted in about half the states until 1865, when it was prohibited nationally by the Thirteenth Amendment. As an economic system, slavery was largely replaced by sharecropping. By the time of the American
History of the United States (1776–1789) consent of the governed", as well as listing the main colonial grievances against the crown. July 4 ever since has been celebrated as the birthday of the United States. The Founding Fathers represented a cross-section of Patriot leadership. According to a study of the biographies of the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence: The British returned in force in August 1776, landing in New York and defeating the fledgling Continental Army at the Battle of Long Island in one of the largest engagements of the war. They quickly seized New York City and nearly captured General Washington and