African Americans and the Revolutionary War: The History of Black Soldiers in the American Revolution by Charles River Editors
English | November 24, 2024 | ISBN: N/A | ASIN: B0DP1F2Q9X | 61 pages | EPUB | 4.69 Mb
The American Revolution is replete with seminal moments that every American learns in school, from the "shot heard 'round the world" to the Declaration of Independence, but the events that led up to the fighting at Lexington & Concord were borne out of 10 years of division between the British and their American colonies over everything from colonial representation in governments to taxation, the nature of searches, and the quartering of British regulars in private houses. From 1764-1775, a chain of events that included lightning rods like the Townshend Acts led to bloodshed in the form of the Boston Massacre, while the Boston Tea Party became a symbol of nonviolent protest.
The political and military nature of the Revolutionary War was just as full of intrigue. While disorganized militias fought the Battles of Lexington & Concord, George Washington would lead the Continental Army in the field while men like Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia and Benjamin Franklin negotiated overseas in France. Benedict Arnold would become one of his nation's most vital war heroes and its most notorious traitor, French forces would play a crucial role at the end of the war, and the Treaty of Paris would conclude the Revolution with one last great surprise.
When the war started, the 13 colonies had a largely rural population of about 2,500,000, with an estimated 500,000 of that population being black. About 95% of them were slaves and 5% free, with some sharp differences among the colonies. At the same time, about 250,000 Native Americans lived in the region between the Mississippi and the Appalachians, with a scattering of different bands of varying sizes, like the Cherokee and the Creeks, in the 13 colonies. Most were British allies. And while the colonies were mostly rural, there were several large cities like Philadelphia, New York City, Boston, Charleston, and Newport, all of which had ports and were thus vulnerable to attacks from the sea.
Slavery existed in all the colonies, which had far-reaching ramifications for society. Massachusetts, where the fighting started, had 235,000 people, of which 4,700 were black, while in Rhode Island, 3,700 of 58,000 were black. Some 19,000 of New York's 163,000 were black, as were about 5,700 of Connecticut's total population of 183,000. Pennsylvania's population of 240,000 included 5,700 black people.
Given their large numbers and many slaves' desire for freedom, it was inevitable that African Americans would play a role in the Revolutionary War, even if their participation is often overlooked. Slavery in the South was an embedded essential for successful business and was only somewhat less so for the coastal and metropolitan North, with its shipping profits to consider. Meanwhile, the state of abolitionism was more advanced in Britain, but it rapidly gained public attention in the colonies as the American Revolution drew near. Further upsetting the institutional personality of the emerging nation, the Continental Congress was unable to both eliminate the slave industry and achieve unanimity for a Revolution espousing a freedom offered to all. The double standard persisted throughout the conflict, as black soldiers fought for a system that offered them no part in the envisioned American life to follow.
Despite this nearly fatal flaw, an estimated 20,000 black soldiers fought for the British and 9,000 for the rebels, and Washington's armed forces were the most integrated in American history up to the Truman administration in the mid-20th century. Throughout the war, the presence of black and white soldiers fighting together with equal weapons and pay endured much debate in order to reach reality, but over time, opposing the strongest empire on the planet eclipsed all other social concerns.
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