S E PT E MBE R 2 , 2 0 1 4

SLAVERY AND
REVOLUTION
PATHS TO RESISTANCE
Maintenance of cultural identity.
Religion
Family Life
Language
Dress
Maroons
Sabotage
Refusal to Speak English
Revolt/Rebellion
REVOLUTIONARY AMERICA
1763-1783: Conclusion of the French and Indian War
to Britains recognition of American Independence.
Ascendancy of the British in North America.
Bonds between Britain and the Thirteen Colonies Weaken.
Conflict over taxes.
New Avenues to freedom for the enslaved
CRISPUS ATTUCKS, 1723-1770
1770: The first casualty
of the American
Revolution.
Killed during the Boston
Massacre.
An escaped slave, who
had worked as a sailor
for 20 years.
THE PURSUIT OF LIBERTY
Declaration of Independence
All men are created equal; that they are
endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable
rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness.
Omitted: He has waged cruel war against human
nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life
and liberty in the persons of a distant people who
never offended him, captivating and carrying them
into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur
miserable death in their transportation thither.
WHAT IMPACT DID THE REVOLUTION
HAVE ON SLAVERY?
Runaways
Thomas Jefferson estimated that 30,000 slaves ran
away in Virginia in 1778.
Georgia: Lost about 75% of its 15,000 slaves
British use of African Americans led the colonists to
follow suit.
New paths to freedom.
New York offered freedom to all slaves who
served for 3 years.
New argument to oppose slavery.
POST-WAR ANTI-SLAVERY MOVEMENT
1783: Massachusetts abolishes slavery.
1784: Connecticut and Rhode Island pass acts
allowing for gradual abolition.
1785 and 1786: New York and New Jersey pass
manumission acts. (Enforceable laws in 1799)
1786: North Carolina Increases the duty for each
imported slave.
1787: South Carolina prohibits the importation of
African slaves.