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Nothing freed the slaves up north. If you were an African American born in the north you were free since the north did not condone slavery. However, if you were an escaped slave coming to the north the southern slave owners had the law behind them to go north and capture the escaped slaves. However some people in the north hid slaves and thus they were never captured

Joh9356 --- This is not entirely true. "condoning or not condoning slavery" did not constitute a "law". There were no laws in the Constitution or Bill of Rights banning slavery at the federal level until the ratification of XIII amendment to the U.S. Constitution in Dec of 1865 banning slavery. That is what ultimately freed the slaves. So, prior to the "Emancipation Proclamation"(which was illegal by the way), slavery was still legal in the Northern states.

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13y ago

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