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The Revolution of Slavery in the New World

Autor:   •  October 23, 2018  •  1,651 Words (7 Pages)  •  508 Views

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halt the plantation system, but in 1739 was where the rebellion truly worked, slave fugitives waged warfare against the British until the treaty of 1739, which gave the Blacks their freedom if they caught any future escapees. The best way the slaves were able to resist slavery was when there was a war, they got to the option of being on the side that guaranteed their freedom .Of an example of this would be the War of Jenkins, which was between England and Spain. In Florida, the Spanish guaranteed “Liberty and Protection” to the slaves that were fugitives from the British colonies; so in 1739 the slaves burned white colonists houses, barns, and killed whites all while shouting “Liberty!”. But not only did the slaves resist, there were a few white colonists who began to fight for their rights. Samuel Sewall, a Boston merchant, published The Selling Joseph in 1700, which was the first anti-slavery pamphlet in America, he shared the belief that “all sons of Adams have the equal right to liberty”. Then later in 1762, quaker abolitionist John Woolman stated that the wrongness of the idea of slavery being connected with black and liberty being connected with white. This made the American Dream have no racial boundary i the eighteenth century, the Americans rebelled against the British, and thousands of slaves would seize the opportunity to strike their own liberty.

The Slaves Fight for Freedom

When the revolution first began, there was a fear of slave revolts in Virginia since they made up twenty-five percent of the population; so Washington declined the blacks request for seeking receiving freedom, whereas the British guaranteed freedom of the African Americans fought with them, so the Virginian slaves joined the British; making more slaves obtaining freedom from the British. Many of the white patriots would argue that slavery is necessary and important because it made freedom possible for the whites. That’s because many of the white men that volunteered in the war, said to be awarded slaves for their service. Also the fact that there was nearly no importation of new slaves during the revolution ,so the war ended up leaving many plantations to ruins. But once the war was over, African Americans began to have demands of the white society, by using the Declaration of Independence. This document not only was meant to challenge Britain’s ordered society, but the point was that “all men are created equal”, this meant equality for all Americans, and African Americans felt that it was time they were to be included as well. Slaves began to make freedom petitions to courts in New England in the 1770s for arguments for liberty. Following the petitions, in the North (particularly Virginia and Maryland), slave owners voluntarily emancipated their slaves; a complete contrast to the South. After the war, the abolition of slavery in the North was a slow-drawn out process, but it began. As for slaves, liberty echoed in their communities for them to fight for not privileges, but basic human rights.

Conclusion

Although it took decades for slaves to start fighting for their rightful place in the New World, they were able to do so. From where the Africans started was vastly different than where they ended up, though later on they would still experience racism and prejudice, it still was better than where they began. In 1619, slavery among Americans would be begin and they would be accustomed to treating the Africans inhumanely, but by 1776 freedom petitions were presented by African slaves to New England courts and legislatives; because the language of liberty had echoed throughout slave communities, thus becoming a revolutionary rallying cry to challenge the white Americans for their freedom. Though it would take years, by using the resistance and the revolution as their backbone to fight for their rights, the African American slaves were able to receive freedom.

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