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American Revolution and Slavery
I. Introduction
A. I believe that the American Revolution didn’t play a significant role in ending
slavery or reducing racism.
II. The beginnings of the war
A. The importance of the American Revolution.
B. Revolutionary leaders were all slaver owners.
C. George Washington and slavery.
D. Thomas Jefferson and slavery.
E. Benjamin Franklin and slavery.
III. Back to regular people
A. Differences between how the British army treated slave recruits and how the
continental army treated them.
B. The British army was successful in attracting and using slave recruits in their war
efforts.
C. George Washington and the Continental Congress rejected the idea of slave recruits.
D. Eventually, the continental army accepted large numbers of slave recruits because
they were basically losing the war and desperate.
E. The situation for black people didn’t improve after the war. Some northern states
started to reject slavery, but other southern states didn’t.
F. Failing to deal with slavery and other important issues led to greater conflicts in the
future (Civil War).
IV. Conclusions
A. In times when our democracy is under attack by supremacist groups, it is our duty
to defend and preserve the ideals or democracy and inequality.


Introduction
Personally, I believe that the American Revolution did not play a significant role in
ending slavery and did not reduce the forms of racism and oppression black people
experienced between 1770 and 1830. My belief is not based on individual changes that may
have resulted from this great revolution. But rather on the fact that its leaders, even its three
greatest leaders: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin, were all
slave owners. Even today, when America’s democracy has been under attack, no one can
doubt that it is the greatest democracy in the world. But even the greatest democracy
stumbled at its beginnings.
The beginnings of the war
As I said before, no one should doubt that the American Revolution was the greatest
feat of its time. Many consider the French Revolution to be more important to world
history, but I disagree. The French Revolution was a direct result of the American
Revolution, and even though it addressed some of the unsolved issues of the American
Revolution (specifically equality), it was a complete failure that ended up in senseless
bloodshed.
As in every organization, the leaders shape its culture. In this particular case, I will
analyze the three greatest leaders of the American Revolution. George Washington was a
slave owner, and his wife, Martha also owned slaves (Mountvernon.org). But people can
learn and do the right thing. When George Washington died, his will ordered that all his
family’s slaves should be freed.

Thomas Jefferson’s family owned hundreds of slaves for more than 4 generations.
He even set up small workshops that used slaved labor to function. His slaves were
practically a huge extended family since they were the descendants of the first salves held
by his family (Smithsonianmag.com). Even though Thomas Jefferson represents the ideal
of American democracy, he never spoke against slavery.
The last, but not least, Benjamin Franklin, one of the greatest minds of his time, was
also a slave owner. Even though the amount of slaves that he possessed was not as large or
significant as Washington’s or Jefferson’s. As every other human being, Benjamin Franklin
had may defects, and one of his greatest defects was not trusting those who were not like
him. He didn’t like native Americans, nor black people, nor Jews, nor Germans, nor
Catholics, he even showed dislike for women by considering them as inferior (LapsanskyWerner, 2018). Basically he didn’t like anyone that wasn’t like him. So even great minds
are not perfect, but they shouldn’t be. No one is required to be perfect, and one thing that
makes people better is the ability to learn from their mistakes. During his last years,
Benjamin Franklin turned into an abolitionist, since he realized his previous errors and tried
to correct them.
Back to regular people
It shouldn’t be a surprise that the number of former slaves that fought for the British
crown tripled the number of slaves that fought in favor of the revolution (Egerton, 2009).
The reason for this is quite simple; any black slave that fought for the British crown became
a free person immediately just by serving King George. On the other hand, black slaves that
fought for the revolution were not offered freedom. Many slaves served instead of their
owners as recruits. Only a few colonies accepted that any slave that served the continental

army would become immediately free, like Rhode Island, and they were very successful
regiments (Army.mil). What made things worse is that George Washington himself and
many in the Continental Congress opposed enlisting black men, which alienated them even
more.
It shouldn’t be a surprise that so many black slaves fought for King George
considering the odds against the revolution itself, and the fact that American patriots were
the slave owners. The story of Colonel Tye happened over and over again all across the
colonies. The reason why Colonel Tye is remembered is that he got a very high rank in the
British army. If we look at Lord Dunmore’s and other British authorities’ success in
attracting black men to the King’s cause, we infer that the message was clearly understood
by black slaves. Fight for King George and be free is a very compelling argument.
As the revolutionary war extended in time and the continental army was everything
but successful, many local leaders rejected the orders of the Continental Congress and
started accepting slave recruits. Most of they did this not based on political correctness or
ideals of freedom, instead they did it due to desperation. The King’s army was clearly
dominating the war, having a much larger number of well-trained soldiers and freed slaves.
The continental army had around 14,000 active soldiers at any given time, while the
loyalists were on average more than 35,000, including thousands of freed slaves.
Logically and a result of desperation, militia leaders turned into slaves as a source
of recruits. The number of black recruits increased during the last years of the revolution,
and 5,000 were really significant considering that they were recruited during a short period
of time. There are several stories of black continental soldiers being very successful and
brave at battle, although most of them remain anonymous. Also, if you compare them to

how the British army treated them, the balance favored the King. There is no record of any
black officer in the continental army. Actually, the first black officer in the US army was
2nd Lt. Henry Ossian Flipper, who became an officer in the US army in 1877, 100 years
later (Army.mil).
The situation didn’t improve for black people after the revolutionary war. America’s
greatest leaders were still around leading the country at that time. After the revolution, the
new sense of a country was just starting. Before the war started, there was no United States,
thirteen different colonies existed. Within the colonies itself, black slaves or even native
Americans were treated different. Some northern colonies eventually adopted a position
similar to the British that resulted in freed slaves, and eventually rejected slavery. While
other southern colonies would not accept this concept at all. This unsolved issue divided the
country.
After the Founding Fathers passed away, the country wasn’t as united as before.
During many ...