Black History

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American Revolution
“The Negro’s role in the Revolution can best be understood by realizing that his major loyalty was not to a place nor to a people, but to a principle.”(Hine and Harrold pg.80) These words by historian Benjamin Quarles best describe what the American Revolution meant for African Americans and their fight for freedom. When a portion of white Americans demanded freedom from Britain, because it was their human right, it led to enslaved African Americans also asking for their freedom from slavery.
After the Seven Years War had ended and eliminated French and Spanish threats to American colonies, it weakened the relationship between Britain and the colonies. Since Britain had helped America get rid of these threats, Britain felt that America should be taxed in order to pay for the war. The colonies during this time were used to governing themselves and therefore believed that paying Britain was out of the question. This led to a number of taxes by the British on the colonies and Americans against British products. These events eventually led to the Declaration of Independence and the Revolutionary War.
The Declaration of Independence, which was written and adopted by Congress on July 4th, 1776, was written by a slaveholder. In it Thomas Jefferson wrote, “all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights…”(Hine and Harrold pg. 75). These rights that Jefferson wrote about did not apply to blacks. When blacks read this they believed that these rights belonged to them as well as whites and began to voice their opinions. African Americans then challenged whites to look at what had been written, and forced them change the way they thought about black freedom.
When the War for Independence finally began, blacks joined the side of either Patriots or Loyalists. African Americans in the north were eager to join the side of the Patriots becaus...