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1777
- Vermont’s Constitution established—the first to prohibit slavery.
1786
- The Vermont Legislature passes “An Act to Prevent the Sale and Transportation of Negroes and Malattoes Out of This State.”
1819
- Vermont Colonization Society formed.
1820
- Every Vermont Congressman (except one whose vote was not recorded) voted against the proslavery amendments in the bill. The state legislature passed the following resolution: "Slavery is incompatible with the vital principles of all free governments and tends to their ruin. It paralyzes industry, the greatest source of national wealth, stifles the love of freedom, and endangers the safety of the nation. It is prohibited by the laws of nature which are equally binding on governments and individuals. The right to introduce and establish slavery in a free government does not exist.”
1834
- Vermont Anti-Slavery Society formed.
1835
- Abolitionist Samuel J. May mobbed while lecturing in Montpelier.
1837
- By 1837 there were 89 local anti-slavery societies with over 5,000 members.
- Vermont forwarded resolution to congress protesting against slavery in the District of Columbia and the
admission of Texas. Senator Calhoun’s response to the resolutions was recorded in The Congressional Globe: “Calhoun deemed the present moment one of deepest importance. A great step has been take in the progress of events....He had long foreseen the present state of things and now the time had actually come when it was to be determined whether we are to remain as one united and happy people or whether this union is to be dissolved by the hand of violence. Vermont has struck a deep and dangerous blow into the vitals of our confederancy.”
1840
- The Liberty Party is formed in Vermont.
1843
- Frederick Douglass toured Vermont.
- The Vermont Legislature passed a law forbidding sheriffs, bailiffs, jailers, constables, and citizens from detaining fugitives.
1850
- No Vermont Congressman voted for the Compromise of 1850.
- The Vermont Legislature passed an act to impede the carrying out of the Fugitive Slave Act.
- The Vermont Legislature sends protests to other state legislatures. Virginia responded: “The legislature of Virginia declines to consider the resolutions of the state of Vermont, relative to the peace of the world until that body shall show itself careful of the peace of the Union by conforming to the enactments of the Constitution of the United States and laws passed
