Could enslaved people make use of the American Revolution to resist slavery?

George Washington with slaves on his Mount Vernon estate. Credit: MPI/Getty Images

The American Revolution,1765-83, was a political revolution which focussed on gaining autonomy from the British and significantly regaining the right to control property, including slaves. In one respect, the revolution reinforced American commitment to slavery, as the Southern States continued to reject emancipation and succeeded in strengthening the institution. Slave owners were able to make the emancipationists and slaves appear radical due to the disruption of social and political aspects within the American Revolution. On the other hand, many slaves in the South as Sylvia Frey argues, were promised freedom by the British which led to a large revolt within the population.[1] Despite being mainly used as a tool for winning the Revolutionary Wars, Jeffrey Crow adds many were enabled freedom as a result of participation in aiding the British Army.[2] Furthermore, the ideology behind the revolution hinged on radical new ideas such as “liberty” and “equality”, which enabled the Abolitionists further impetus to reject the nature of slavery, thus enabling those enslaved to further their voices. This is most convincingly argued by William Wiecek, who convincingly concludes the “antislavery tradition of the Pre-Revolutionary era had been expanded” due to a nation being based on the notion that “all men are created equal” having to square the declaration with slavery.[3]

There is evidence to suggest the American Revolution did little to assist those enslaved in resisting slavery, especially within the Southern States. Jeffrey Allen points out, that slave revolts appeared Anti-Federalist and radical in their approach within the South, especially in Kentucky as the slave owners used their property rights to argue this position, claiming abolition would not be justified with fair compensation since slaves were relied on for economic gain.[4] Douglas Egerton writes that ‘Gabriel’s Rebellion’ in 1800 within Virginia incited changes within the slavery institution such as the earlier allowance of literary material and the hiring of slaves for work became illegal.[5] These new legislatures ensured slaves became unaware of changes in the outside world, especially ones that would threaten the position of their white masters. Thus, this resulted in a reinvigorated slave system that had shown the new ideas of freedom within the slave population came at a price within the South, as Frey adds the number of slaves rose by 100,000 because of the Revolution. Alan Taylor concludes that the Patriots’ talk of liberty was very limited and “defended freedom for white men while asserting their domination over enslaved blacks." However, one must not underestimate the impact of the American Revolution on slave resistance as seen in a quote from one member of the Rebellion proclaiming to “obtain liberty for my countrymen…. I am a willing sacrifice in their cause". The slave owner’s argument of radicalism justifying the tightening of restrictions left slaves in the South in a far more precarious position until the Civil War. As a result, the position of the South rejects the idea that the American Revolution took slaves closer to freedom but is limited in its approach only showing a short-term position within only parts of America.

A stronger argument demonstrates to a good extent that slaves used the American Revolution to resist slavery. Frey authored that 400,000 slaves in the South participated in resisting their masters, under the guise of self-liberation.[7] Despite the stronger argument arising from military necessity rather than morality, there is no doubt the American Revolution and the British aided with limited emancipation to a far enough extent to offend and shock potential loyal states such as Georgia and South Carolina. Many slaves were also able to use this opportunity to flee America, with a report stating that over 5000 “Blacks” sailed with the British from Charleston in 1782, although the majority headed for areas with plantation agriculture.[8] Despite this, the chance of freedom was willingly taken as it was preferable to staying with their cruel former masters. Married with the revolutionary ideals of freedom and liberty, aiding the British during the American Revolution was a significant opportunity for those enslaved to resist.

Leading on, the strongest argument to show the enslaved population resisted as a result of the American Revolution is due to the ideology behind it. Within the Revolution came ideas of liberty and equality – these only served to push forward and popularize abolitionist views which Manisha Sinha depicts as those which fought for the modern concept of human rights.[9] This revolutionary spirit was able to extend anti-slavery policies in the middle states from 1780 that started the pathway towards the abolition of slavery in America. Edward Turner writes this can be seen in the law stating the gradual abolition of slavery in Pennsylvania in 1780, resulting in the complete abolition shortly after, as a result of how the State saw the righteousness of the cause.[10] As Wiecek puts it, this is due to the hypocrisy behind the Revolution and American ideals of “men being created equally”.[11] He argues that the expansion of antislavery traditions began to rise because of having to concede that slavery constituted rejecting this ideal of equality. Despite not being explicitly linked with slaves’ resistance, the consequences of the Revolution and its ideology led to the start of abolition and freeing of slaves in the Middle States. This consequence, combined with the resistance of the slaves within the Southern States, gave great impetus to the impact of the American Revolution in changing the pathway of enslavement. However, the extent of resistance must not be overstated, as Jack Greene concludes the institution of slavery persisted in all states in which it represented a substantial investment, mainly within the Southern States.[12] Yet, the impact of the Revolution and its ideals of liberty incited great change in many Northern states and began the road to the complete abolition of slavery in the United States.

In conclusion, because of the American Revolution and the rejection of the revolutionary ideals towards slavery, many restrictions were tightened in the Southern States, which led to an entrenchment of enslavement, specifically seen in Kentucky. Despite this, these measures were limited to the South and arose due to great slave resistance. It can be better argued that slaves were able to resist enslavement greatly. The mass of slaves that self-liberated in support of British Forces and the petitions both between slaves and abolitionists enabled new laws to be passed in the Northern states. It inspired the beginning of the complete abolition of the slave trade in the whole of America, by illustrating the hypocrisy of the Revolution and its ideals of liberty and equality. Thus, this shows the clear impact of the American Revolution and that it enabled opportunities for slaves to resist enslavement and express the immorality of the system.

[1] Frey, Sylvia. (1983). Between Slavery and Freedom: Virginia Blacks in the American Revolution. The Journal of Southern History, 49(3), 375-398. doi:10.2307/2208101

[2] Crow, Jeffrey (1992) African Americans and the Revolution,

https://www.ncpedia.org/history/usrevolution/african-americans accessed 03/08/21

[3] Wiecek, William (1977). Antislavery during and after the American Revolution. In The Sources of Anti-Slavery Constitutionalism in America, 1760-1848 (pp. 40-61). ITHACA; LONDON: Cornell University Press. Retrieved August 3, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7591/j.ctt207g6m0.7

[4] Allen, Jeffrey (1979). The Origins of Proslavery Thought in Kentucky 1792-1799. The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, 77(2), 75-90. Retrieved August 3, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/23378622

[5] Egerton, Douglas (1993) Gabriel’s Revolution: the Virginia Slave Conspiracies of 1800 and 1802, University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill and London, pp. xiii + 26

[6] Sutcliffe, R, (1812) Travels in some parts of North America in the years 1804, 1805, & 1806, B. & T. Kite, Philadelphia

[7] Frey, Between Slavery and Freedom: Virginia Blacks in the American Revolution

[8] Swain, David, (2019), Finding Aid on South Carolina, David Library of the American Revolution, https://www.amphilsoc.org/sites/default/files/2020-01/attachments/CO5South%20Carolina.pdf

[9] Sinha, Manisha. (2016) "The Slave's Cause: A History of Abolition," Civil War Book Review: Vol. 18 : Iss. 3 . DOI: 10.31390/cwbr.18.3.06 

[10] Turner, Edward (1912). The Abolition of Slavery in Pennsylvania. <i>The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography,</i> <i>36</i>(2), 129-142. Retrieved August 5, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/20085586

[11] Wiecek, Antislavery during and after the American Revolution

[12] Greene, Jack (2001) "The American Revolution." <i>The American Historical Review</i> 105, no. 1, 93-102. Accessed August 5, 2021. doi:10.2307/2652437.