Pennsylvania"s 1780 Gradual Abolition Law that emancipated enslaved persons remaining in the Commonwealth for more than six months. However, Washington took great pains to subvert the Pennsylvania law and keep Posey and nine other enslaved Africans with him in Philadelphia in a condition of bondage. He did this by rotating Posey and the others out of the city into pro-slavery states like New Jersey across the Delaware River or back to Virginia, thereby continually resetting their time in the city.