during the war of 1812, the british accepted all slaves who came into their hands as free. this was without any conditions as to military service such as had been made in the revolutionary war. by the end of the war of 1812, the momentum for antislavery reform, state by state, appeared to lose momentum. half the states had already abolished slavery, had prohibited it from the start or were in the process of eliminating slavery. the other half were committed to preserving slavery within their borders.