African Americans in the American Revolution

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African Americans in the American Revolution

• HIS 265

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Slavery the Revolution

• Egalitarian rhetoric of republicanism clearly at
  odds with slavery
• Over 18,000 slaves (5 of the black population)
  escaped to British lines or ran away during the
  war
• Both sides used slaves as soldiers
• Lord Dunmore (1775) Gen. Henry Clinton (1779)
  offered freedom to slaves who enlisted in British
  army
• Several states allowed slaves to serve in place
  of masters
• New York offered freedom to slaves who served 3
  years in army ( compensated owners)

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Black Units in the Continental Army

• R.I. legislature passed bill in 1778 authorizing
  recruitment of blacks
• Offered freedom regular pay
• Owners compensated based on value
• 1st Rhode Island saw action at Battle of Rhode
  Island (Aug. 1778) Yorktown (Oct. 1781)
• Mass. organized Bucks of America under Samuel
  Middleton
• 2nd Company 4th Conn. Regiment formed in Oct.
  1780
• Most blacks served in integrated units

Col.Christopher Greene
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Washington Crossing the Delaware
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Emancipation in the North

• Northern states began to phase out slavery ¾
  free by 1810 all by 1840
• Penn. (1780), N.Y. (1799), Conn. N.J. (1804)
  provided for gradual abolition almost all free
  by 1840
• Mass. Supreme Court ruled slavery violated state
  constitution in 1781
• Slavery barred from Northwest Territory (1787)

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Emancipation in New York

• New York Manumission Society founded in 1785 by
  Hamilton, Jay Burr
• Est. African Free School in 1787
• Lobbied newspapers not to run slave ads
• Offered free legal counsel to blacks suing for
  freedom
• 1785 attempt to abolish slavery failed due to
  controversy over voting rights issue
• 1799 law provided for gradual abolition
• Children born after July 4, 1799 would be free at
  25 for women, 28 for men
• Slaves already born remained servants for life
• 1817 law promised freedom to all slaves born
  before 1799 on July 4, 1827
• Some owners sold slaves south before law took
  effect

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Abolition in Massachusetts

• Mass. State Constitution (1780) declared all men
  are born free equal with the right of
  enjoying and defending their lives liberties
• Courts ruled in Mum Bett (1781) Quock Walker
  (1781-83) cases that slavery was therefore
  abolished

Mum Bett
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Manumission in the South

• Wave of manumission followed Revolution
• Over 10 of blacks in Upper South free by 1810
• George Washington freed slaves in his will, but
  only after death of wife

George Washington William Lee
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Compromises on Slavery in the Constitution

• Art. 1, Sec. 2 3/5 of slaves counted toward
  representation taxation
• Art. 1, Sec. 9 Congress couldnt ban slave trade
  for 20 years
• Art. 4, Sec. 2 Fugitive Slave Clause required
  capture return of escaped slaves
• Northwest Ordinance (1787) banned slavery in
  Northwest Territory, but allowed it in Southwest
  Territory