Volume 53, Number 13 · August 10, 2006
Redcoat Liberation
By George M. Fredrickson
Epic Journeys of Freedom: Runaway Slaves of the American Revolution and Their Global Quest for Liberty
by Cassandra Pybus
Beacon, 281 pp., $26.95
Rough Crossings: Britain, the Slaves and the American Revolution
by Simon Schama
Ecco, 478 pp., $29.95
The Forgotten Fifth: African Americans in the Age of Revolution
by Gary B. Nash
Harvard University Press, 235 pp., $19.95
Popular views of the American Revolution usually overlook one aspect of it that sharply contradicts the idealized image of a struggle for liberty against oppression. For the one fifth of the population that was African-American, freedom meant escape from slavery but not independence from Britain; those seeking emancipation were more likely to find it in places under British control than in territory held by white American revolutionaries. During the war thousands of slaves—estimates run as high as 80,000 to 100,000, or nearly a fifth of the total slave population—deserted their masters at least temporarily. Some simply vanished into the woods, swamps, and mountains of the South. But vast numbers crossed over behind British lines where those willing to join the struggle against the rebels were being offered their freedom as a reward for service to the Crown. Some of those who went to join the enemies of American independence were also inspired by somewhat misleading rumors that the British had abolished slavery. In a landmark legal decision of 1772 Lord Mansfield had decided that slaves brought to England could not be taken back to the colonies by their masters or sold for export. This ruling undermined slavery in Britain and soon led to its disappearance; but it did not affect black bondage elsewhere in the empire.[1]
Review, 4080 words
To read the full text of this piece, please choose one of the following options:
|
If you are already a subscriber to the Review's electronic edition, please sign in: |
To subscribe to the electronic edition, please press the button below. |
To purchase access to this article for $3, please press the button below. |