The Role of African Americans in the Revolutionary War Essay

In the eyes of the British troops, recruiting slaves to fight amongst them was a win-win situation. I am sure a lot of the slaves back then wouldv’e done almost anything to get freed, and the Brit’s used this to their advantage. They also knew that it would anger the slave owners, that was another way to try and remain control over the people in the South. This would also work to their advantage because I am sure the slaves weren’t happy with their situations, and would channel that anger and hatred towards their owners into fighting against them. The slaves had families and probably recruited friends and family to help. The slaves were ripped from their homes and sold by the African people so they didn’t have their roots planted here in North America, so they was an advantage to both the colonists and the British troops. Common sense tells me that it would be more difficult for a man to commit to fighting in a war if he were surrounded by his friends and family. Where they were already ripped from them and here in a country isolated from their people, it wasn’t that difficult to walk away. The colonists also shared in the advantage that recruiting the slaves to join their militia would be easier to do considering what they were leaving. Some slave owners were good to

” For many, the economic structure of slavery still held strong and it established status in British America. Slavery had begun in the later half of the 17th century and in many ways, it had made Atlantic commerce and overseas settlement possible. Thousands of Africans had been shipped overseas to work in the fields of staple crops. In the years leading up to the American Revolution, high concentrations of slaves remained in the southern colonies where they continued to labour on cotton and tobacco plantations. Of the thirteen colonies, Georgia, Virginia and the Carolinas held the highest concentrations of slaves. In 1775, it is estimated that of the 2.5 million people living in the thirteen colonies, 500,000 were blacks. The vast majority of these blacks were slaves, with many labouring for their masters under harsh conditions. Although their experiences were difficult, blacks rarely revolted or staged rebellions against their masters. This has often been associated with the plantation system, and the role it played in severing blacks’ ties to one another. As highlighted by historian Silvia Frey, “The North American plantation organization, with the dominating presence of the master, inhibited the development of the tribal cohesiveness that characterized the islands’ plantation organization and produced widespread violence against whites by black guerrilla bands.” However, despite the absence of any significant

In their demands for liberty and equality, African Americans would point to their role in all of America’s wars. Many fought for liberty in the American Revolution, like Philadelphia’s James Forten who served aboard an American privateer.

During the revolutionary war slaves were used as spies often on both sides, for both loyalists and patriots. Some would volunteer to be spies but some were forced against their will to spy. James Armistead is an example of a spy that was a slave during the Revolutionary war. James Armistead was a very important spy that was a slave in the revolutionary war. He was what was known as a double agent, he spied for both sides the loyalists and the patriots. James Armistead gave some crucial information to George Washington that led to the battle that ended the war. This is an example of the crucial role that slaves held in the revolutionary war. Five thousand slaves fought in the Continental army. Eight hundred slaves fought in the British army. Many slaves that were in the British army had often run away

African Americans were very questionable at first in the Civil War. The Union Navy had been already been accepting African American volunteers. Frederick Douglass thought that the military would help the African Americans have equal rights if they fought with them. Many children helped in the Civil War also, no matter how old they were. Because the African Americans were unfavorable, black units were not used in combat as they might have been. Nevertheless, the African Americans fought in numerous battles. African Americans fought gallantly. Northern leaders also saw another reason to have African Americans in the Civil War is that the Union needed soldiers. Congress aloud them to enlist them because they thought they might as well have

About 180,000 African American people comprised 163 units that served in the Union Army, during the time of the Civil War, and many more African American people had served in the Union Navy. Both the free African-Americans and the runaway slaves had joined the fight. On the date of July 17, in the year of 1862, the U. S. Congress had passed two very important acts that would allow the enlistment of many African Americans, but the official enrollment had occurred only after the September, 1862, issuance of the, Emancipation Proclamation. In general, most white soldiers and officers, had believed that most of the black men, who had served in the Civil War, lacked the courage, and the will to fight

The concept of using slaves as soldiers was hardly revolutionary. Blacks had served our country with honor and bravery since the country's earliest days. Not only did the black

Before Lord Dunmores Proclamation in 1775, not only George Washington but others of the Thirteen Colonies did not accept slave recruits. In 1783 thousands of black American had become involved in The American Revolution. But still as a result over the years all their involvement in establishing the nation, was all forgotten on both sides of the war. Slaves loyalty mainly relied on where they would get more independence and freedom In exchange for the both of those, blacks played many roles in this war such either on the battlefield, behind the lines in noncombatant roles, or on the seas.

During the time of the Revolutionary War, the pressure between Great Britain and the 13 Northern America colonies were fighting to regain independence. Thus, African-Americans had the choice to join in and be able to gain independence and freedom from their white supporters. Alexander Hamilton and John Laurens wanted to give them that chance of having freedom and wanted to create large troops of Africans who would fight with the Patriots in exchange for their freedom. Eventually, The African-Americans adjusted as the belief of abolishment became more acceptable to those blacks willing to help the USA in the revolution against Britain. Again, it was hard for African-Americans to achieve independence, they had to fight for their freedom throughout

Washington’s response to British letting black enlist was to partially revise his earlier policy and allow free blacks who have previously served in the military to join again. General Clinton’s proclamation was that the slaves that served with the patriots were to be sold if captured and those who sought refuge with British were to be protected. Many blacks were running away to fight for British and win their own freedom or to ally with Patriots and win freedom for their country and themselves. Over 5000 African Americans served in the cause for independence. There were many distinguished black soldiers who served.

Individual freedom was the first motive of the American Revolution. They fought to free the land from the English government. At that time African American were the most populated groups and were slaves, their commitments put flames in the war by engaging in open resistance to white control. For the black, liberty and justice were the motives that stimulate them to fight (Brinkley, p 147).

When The British planted an army in Brooklyn, New York they had moved George Washington’s Continental Army to New Jersey into Pennsylvania. This caused multiple battles between Washington’s Army and the British armies. This in turn had Washington begin speaking of liberty, natural rights, and hatred of enslavement, African Americans began to listen into the arguments of Great Britain and the fight for freedom. But Washington didn’t allow African Americans into his ranks. When the time for the war came, Great Britain took the action to recruit African Americas into their ranks first. The reason why African Americans joined the Loyalist is because they offered up freedom first Hine states, “On November 7th, 1775, Lord Dunmore, the last royal

In spite of these early policies, one finds the Varner Rhode Island Battalion as "…the only large aggregation of Negroes in this war, though Connecticut, New York and New Hampshire each furnished one separate company…"1. As men became scarcer, slaves began to find their way into the ranks. But it is difficult to maintain a caste society when one finds slaves fighting side-by-side with freemen, so October 1775, General George Washington and his generals voted unanimously against the enlistment of slaves and the further enlistment of freemen.

The colonists would probably have kept African Americans out of the military during the war if not for the proclamation by the John Murray, Earl of Dumore. He stated “I do hereby further declare all indented servants, Negroes, or others, free, that are able and willing to bear arms, they joining His Majesty’s Troops, as soon as may be, for the more speedily reducing the Colony to a proper sense of their duty, to His Majesty’s crown and dignity.'; This brought chaos to the colonies, the fear of slaves turning against their masters, and

Was the American Revolution beneficial to the African Americans? To answer this question correctly depends on which region the slaves lived in in the late 18th century. If a slave was living in the north versus the south, the answer was are different. According to the author Ira Berlin, “The war did not last long enough to destroy slavery, but the libertarian ideology that Patriots used to justify the rebellion continued to challenge it when it ended.” Furthermore, even though the idea of slavery did not come to a conclusion, the view in which people observed it changed due to the war. The author explains, in the north, slavery was not necessary due to the fact that there were so few in New England region. Also, Berlin mentioned that even before the War, many African Americans enjoyed liberty. Consequently, the status of the African Americans in the north did not change that much.