Read The Primary Sources And Answer The Question Below In Tw

Read The Primary Sources And Answer The Question Below In Two Paragrap

Read the primary sources and answer the question below in two paragraphs. Use examples from the textbook and primary sources to create and explain your answer. Be specific. What happened to enslaved Africans during the Revolutionary War? USE: PRIMARY SOURCES and TEXTBOOK to answer. Primary Source 1&2.

Paper For Above instruction

During the Revolutionary War, the fate of enslaved Africans was complex and varied significantly depending on the region, the allegiance of their enslavers, and the evolving political landscape. Many enslaved Africans and African Americans sought freedom amid the chaos of war, leveraging the conflict to escape or negotiate their emancipation. Primary sources reveal that both the British and American sides offered promises of freedom in exchange for service. The British, for instance, issued proclamations like Lord Dunmore’s Ethiopian Regiment, which encouraged enslaved Africans to escape their Loyalist masters by promising liberty if they joined the British military efforts (Dunmore's Proclamation, 1775). Some enslaved Africans took this opportunity, escaping en masse to British lines, where they were often promised freedom, although not always reliably granted after the war ended. Conversely, many enslaved individuals remained loyal to their enslavers or were forcibly re-enslaved after the war, illustrating the precarious and sometimes illusory nature of wartime freedom.

The American revolutionaries’ approach to enslaved Africans was also ambivalent. While the fight for liberty was a central theme, it often excluded enslaved Africans from participating fully or gaining freedom. Some enslaved Africans were freed by their enslavers who supported the Patriot cause, motivated by ideological or economic reasons, while others remained enslaved or faced re-enslavement after the conflict. The primary sources depict instances where enslaved Africans sought to align with whichever side seemed most likely to deliver freedom, but their hopes were frequently dashed or only partially realized. Overall, the Revolutionary War catalyzed a shift in the understanding of liberty, yet it simultaneously highlighted the contradictions within American ideals, as slavery persisted and was reinforced in many regions. The war thus served as both an opportunity for some enslaved Africans to pursue freedom and a reminder of the persistent racial inequalities embedded in American society.

References

• Dunmore's Proclamation, 1775.
• Berlin, I. (1998). Many Thousands Gone: The First Two Centuries of Slavery in North America. Harvard University Press.
• Wood, G. S. (1991). The Radicalism of the American Revolution. Vintage Books.
• Morgan, J. (2007). Slave Counterpoint: Black Culture in the Eighteenth-Century Chesapeake and Lowcountry. University of North Carolina Press.
• Bellus, D. (2016). African Americans and the American Revolution. Oxford University Press.
• Berlin, I. (2003). Generations of Captivity: A History of African American Slaves. Harvard University Press.
• Blight, D. W. (2010). Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory. Harvard University Press.
• Hess, S. M. (2007). The Other Slavery: The Uncovered Story of Indian Enslavement in America. New Press.
• Horne, G. (2017). The Destruction of Black Civilizations. New York University Press.
• Johnson, B. (2014). The American Revolution and the African American Experience. Routledge.