After Horton led a group of Quakers to the free Northwest Territory, the enslaved people who accompanied them became free men and women when they crossed the Ohio River. Once settled there, Horton had to rebuild his personal finances, pursuing many opportunities. He tried building a grain mill, a pottery, harvesting salt, and raising sheep for wool. He also made time to advocate for abolition and for reparations to Native Americans who had been displaced by White settlers.

He was not successful in either effort during his lifetime. Not only were Native Americans not compensated, they suffered additional harm under the Presidency of Andrew Jackson who moved them further West. Jackson’s “Indian Removal Act” resulted in a forced journey known as ‘The Trail of Tears.’ This Act allowed white men to assume ownership of land, and make money from the resulting crops, and the gold and other minerals mined from the land.

That act was the only legislation passed during Jackson’s eight years as President. He vetoed more legislation than his six predecessors combined and ousted cabinet members who did not support him. His authoritarian style caused his detractors to call him King Andrew.

Abolition would not be fully accomplished until the end of 1865 when the 13th Amendment was ratified. Congress adopted that law early in the year, but Kentucky and Delaware continued to allow slavery until ratification of the Amendment. In January of 1865, General William T. Sherman issued Field Order 15, granting land to newly freed men. That order was reversed just months later, Andrew Johnson stepped into the Presidency following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. In the summer of 1865 he reversed the Field Order, returning the land to the original plantation owners.