How Free Were Free Blacks in the North? All African-American (slaves) wanted was freedom. Freedom was what they gain after the Civil War, which was during 1800-1860, in where the north had won the fight. Before the Civil War had broken out, 90% of the African-Americans living in the United States were slaves, in the north there were about 221,000 blacks living free. The main question here is before the Civil War, how much freedom did free blacks have in the North? In this essay you will see how free they were in four different topics, which are politically, socially, in education, economy, and in religion. In a political topic, by 1860 New England was about the only place where the blacks freedom was not as limited as the other places. It was here where their freedom reached out to social and educational matter. Some evidence would be document A where it says that there were 5 New England States were black males could vote. These states were Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, and one extra state New York. The only problem in New York for black males was if they did not own a land at least worth $250 they could not be permitted to vote. In 1860 Massachusetts was the only Northern state that permitted black man to participate in a jury duty as said in document A. Jury duty along with voting was power limited, same as white women couldn’t vote neither could black women. Another topic would be social freedom something that blacks was also restricted on. In document B a man named Charles Mackay, a visitor from England. He visited the northern part of the United States and was in agreement with what the white people had stated. It had said that black people were not allowed to at white restaurants, churches, nor hospitals. He also said that black people by any circumstance could not get married with a white person.