New Jersey is now the fifth U. S. state to apologize for its role in the practice of slavery before the Civil War, following in the footsteps of Virginia, Maryland, Alabama and North Carolina.

Lawmakers voted on Monday, Dec. 7, for a resolution which expresses “profound regret” for the enslavement of approximately 12,000 blacks before the Civil War, one of the largest populations in the northern colonies, the resolution reads.

The resolution does not have to be signed by Gov. Jon Corzine to become official. It was approved by the New Jersey Assembly by a vote of 59 to 8, with eight members abstaining. The Senate voted for it by a margin of 21 to 9.

If the resolution had not passed, the process would have had to begin again.

Previous states to have apologized publicly for slavery are Alabama, Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia, all Southern. New Jersey is the first Northern state to express contrition.

New Jersey’s resolution reads that the state was the last northern state to emancipate slaves, in 1846.

The resolution expresses its “deepest sympathies and solemn regrets” to slaves and their descendants. It states that “the fundamental values of Africans were shattered; they were brutalized, humiliated and dehumanized.”

“This is an apology for their descendants . . . and all mankind,” assemblyman William D. Payne, a Democrat who sponsored the resolution, said Monday.

The resolution also urges citizens to teach their children about slavery so as “to ensure that these tragedies will neither be forgotten nor repeated.”

The resolution adds that “an apology for centuries of brutal dehumanization and injustices cannot erase the past” however, it can help “speed racial healing and reconciliation” and “help African-American and white citizens confront the ghosts of their collective pasts together.”

Reuters quotes assemblyman Payne explaining that slavery practiced in the past has cast its shadow centuries on, as a factor in many current social problems, including unequal access to housing and education.

“Many of the social problems we have in this country are directly related to the fact that this country was involved in slavery,” he said.