What were some legal methods to abolish slavery and what were some obstacles that stood in the way of abolition?
A. In Pennsylvania, the only method of legally abolishing slavery was the 1780 Gradual Abolition Act, which is explained below. In addition, slaveholders could manumit, or free, their slaves by putting this in writing and filing the document with the county or township in which they lived. This could be a direct manumission, or it could be predicated on certain conditions, such as the death of the owner, in a will. Of course manumission was a personal choice, and had no effect on the larger issue of abolition. Obstacles to the abolition of slavery in Pennsylvania included resistance by slaveholders themselves, who did not want to lose the use of this labor force and the value that they had invested in their slaves. That is probably why the 1780 Act was gradual and not immediate. This allowed slaveholders to keep until death those slaves that they already owned, and only abolished lifetime slavery, substituting term slavery, for those born after March 1, 1780. Another obstacle was the f
