American Revolution & Early Republic (1770s–1820s)

Road to Revolution

• Causes = 1760s → New British taxes, after French & Indiana War (1754 - 1763)

  • Black response = began escaping & filin lawsuits 

Revolution Events

• March 5, 1770 → Boston Massacre (first casualty of Revolution)

  • Crispus Attucks was killed

• 1773 = Boston Tea Party (American colonists sneak onto ship and pour tea into the water)

• 1774 = First Continental Congress (delegated from colonies (not GA) to coordinate response to British acts)

• April 19, 1775 = Lexington & Concord (first military engagements of the war)

Patriots

• American colonists who supported independence from Great Britain during the American Revolution and fought to create the United States 

  • Black patriots = 5000+ African Americans fought & some gained freedom through service

  • North = more black soldiers, South = fear of rebellion → fewer allowed

Loyalists

• American colonists who remained loyal to Britain during the Revolution 

  • Black loyalists = created from promise of freedom from slavery 

    • 15,000 Black loyalists served w/ British 

    • 80,000 - 100,000 enslaved people fled during Revolution (1775-1783)

Somerset Case

• James Somerset could not be forcibly removed from England by his owner to be sold in Jamaica

  • 1772 = freed in England → inspired American slaves to demand freedom

  • 1773 (Massachusetts) = demanded freedom as natural right

Lord Dunmore’s Proclamation

• Promise of freedom to enslaved people who joined the British army & indentured servants (if they belonged to the Patriots & were willing to fight for Britain) 

  • John Murray (Earl of Dunmore) = Virginia royal governor 

  • 1775 → Dunmore forced out of Virginia & takes refuge in Yorktown

    • November 7, 1775 → issues proclamation 

  • Effects = slaves fled plantation, some joined British, hid in swamps/independent communities 

    • South = plantation system destabilized, slave owner forced to fight British & control enslaved population

Lord Dunmore’s Ethiopian Regiment

• Formed in 1775 = possibly first Black regiment in British America

  • November 16, 1775 = Battle of Kemp’s Landing (Black troops = ½ of his army)

  • British victory → patriot force crush regiment → smallpox outbreak kills many

Colonel Tye (Titus)

• Escaped slavery in New Jersey & joined British (1775-1776) 

  • 1778 = fought in Battle of Monmouth & led Black Brigade (guerilla unit)

James Armistead Lafayette

• Formed slave & worked for Marquis de Lafayette

  • Pretended to be British spy, actually fed info to Americans 

    • Helped Yorktown Campaign (1781) & defeat Cornwallis

    • Yorktown = British surrounded, Cornwallis surrenders

Declaration of Independence

• “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that 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.”

  • Drafted by Thomas Jefferson (edited by Ben Franklin & John Adams)

    • 34 of 37 signers owned slaves → Jefferson enslaved 200+ in 1776

  • Asserted rights & values, listed 27 reasons the US fought w/ King George, U.S. as independent nation

    • Made in 1776

Philipsburg Proclamation

• Issued by Sir Henry Clinton in 1779

  • Freedom for any enslaved person who escaped patriots & served Britain (not just soldiers)

    • Black patriots = could be sold into slavery

Black Loyalists after Defeat

• Britain abandoned Black allies in Yorktown and left them to be captured/re-enslaved 

  • 1782 - 1783 = 15,000 Black loyalists evacuated to Canada, England, Caribbean, Bahamas, Africa (Sierra Leone) 

    • Resistance after war = some Black loyalists stayed in South

    • Bear Creek Settlement (1783-1789) = self governing maroon community, destroyed in 1789

US Constitution

• Constitutional Convention’s (1787) goal was to preserve the Union, not solve slavery 

  • Article I = legislative branch (Congress), Article II = executive branch (President, Article III = judicial branch (Supreme Court)

  • Article I, Section 2 =  ⅗ compromise → used to decide representation & taxes

  • Article I, Section 9 = Slave Trade Cause → Congress couldn’t ban slave trade until 1808

  • Article IV, Section 2 = Fugitive Slave Cause → escaped slaves returned to slavers

Three-Fifths Compromise

• Enslaved people counted as three-fifths of a person for political representation 

  • 1787 = only counted for representation in the House & taxes

Fugitive Slave Clause

• Required escaped enslaved people to be returned to their enslavers

  • 1787 = strengthened by Fugitive Slave Act (1793)

Northwest Ordinance

• Law banning slavery in new territories north of the Ohio River

  • 1787 = passed by Congress of the Confederation 

  • Organized land northwest of the Ohio River 

  • Slavery banned in Northwest territory but allowed slavery to expand south of Ohio River 

    • Included fugitive slave clause = escaped slaves had to be returned

Naturalization Act of 1790

• Law granting citizenship only to “free white persons”

  • Required 2 years of residency (later increased) 

  • Applied only to immigrants seeking naturalization

Negro Election Day

• Annual celebration where Black communities symbolically elected leaders (kings & governors)

  • Began in 1741 

  • New England tradition that mixed African rituals & European customs

British Southern Strategy

• After France & Spain joins war in 1778 

  • Goal = retake South, more loyalists, protect Caribbean colonies 

  • Failed = south too large to control, colonists dint fully support Britain, Britain freeing slaves scared white Southerners (strengthens Patriot resistance) 

South (Upper South)

• Increase in free Blacks 

  • 1790s = 10% free in Chesapeake 

  • Due to decline of tobacco economy (1700s) & switch to wheat (less labor)

North

• 1777 = Vermont bans slavery

• 1780 = Pennsylvania gradual Abolition Act = freedom delayed (28 years of service) 

• 1783 = Massachusetts ends slavery = based on court cases

  • Mum Bett → Elizabeth Freeman (1780) = sued for freedom using Declaration of Independence 

  • Quock Walker case (1783) = court rules slavery unconstitutional in MA

Fugitive Slave Laws

• Made in 1793

  • Allowed Fugitive Slave Clause to be enforced, 

  • Slave catches allowed to go into free states, $500 fine for assisting escaped slaves, partus sequitur ventrem

Habeas Corpus

• Legal right that protects people from unlawful imprisonment 

  • 1867

  • Protected in the Constitution (Article 1, Section 9)