This condition obtained until 1840 in most northern communities and until 1850 in some places where the Negro population was considerable.
We must also take into account the critical labor situation during these years.

The northern people were divided as to the way the Negroes should be encouraged.

The mechanics of the North raised no objection to having the Negroes freed and enlightened but did not welcome them to that section as competitors in the struggle of life.

When, therefore, the blacks, converted to the doctrine of training the hand to work with skill, began to appear in northern industrial centers there arose a formidable prejudice against them.[5] Negro and white mechanics had once worked together but during the second quarter of the nineteenth century, when labor became more dignified and a larger number of white persons devoted themselves to skilled labor, they adopted the policy of eliminating the blacks.

This opposition, to be sure, was not a mere harmless sentiment.