Around 1800, five US states passed laws prohibiting the enslavement of future people (at least after they had reached a certain age) [1][2][3][4][5]. These prohibitions explicitly and exclusively applied to future people (operationalized as people born after X date, where X was shortly after the passage of the law).
More context and caveats:
I think I read somewhere (currently not finding the source) that these acts of “gradual emancipation” were political compromises between abolitionists and slave owners.
There were some benefits to present people (e.g., some of these laws also included eventual freedom for some currently living slaves, enslaved to-be-parents would likely get happiness from their kids being better-off, and free laborers might have gotten higher wages due to having less unpaid labor to compete with). But at least at first glance it seems like the primary benefit was to the future people.
Around 1800, five US states passed laws prohibiting the enslavement of future people (at least after they had reached a certain age) [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]. These prohibitions explicitly and exclusively applied to future people (operationalized as people born after X date, where X was shortly after the passage of the law).
More context and caveats:
I think I read somewhere (currently not finding the source) that these acts of “gradual emancipation” were political compromises between abolitionists and slave owners.
There were some benefits to present people (e.g., some of these laws also included eventual freedom for some currently living slaves, enslaved to-be-parents would likely get happiness from their kids being better-off, and free laborers might have gotten higher wages due to having less unpaid labor to compete with). But at least at first glance it seems like the primary benefit was to the future people.