How Did African Americans Take Advantage of the Social Upheaval

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Fighting for the British during the Revolution: The American Revolution provided opportunities for slaves to seek their freedom. Black Americans were at first excluded from the Continental army, but as manpower needs increased, Congress permitted free blacks to enlist. About 5,000 black men served on the rebel side during the Revolution, nearly all from northern states. On the British side, General Henry Clinton announced that slaves owned by American masters could gain freedom by joining the British army. Thousands of self-liberated blacks fled to British lines, but, for most of them, their hopes of freedom did not come to fruition. The British never intended to emancipate the slaves; they only wanted to destabilize patriot planters and gain manpower. Still, about 8,000 to 10,000 emancipated blacks left the newly established United States after the revolution, resettling in England or Sierra Leone or moving north to Canada or west to Indian Country.
Petitioning for Freedom in the North after the Revolution: In the North, slaves took advantage of the language of liberty to argue for their freedom. Northern slaves filed petitions to obtain their freedom, but they were not successful. In Massachusetts, however, many slaves, such as Elizabeth Freeman, successfully sued for freedom in the courts. As a result, slavery in Massachusetts was effectively abolished by judicial decisions by 1789. Other northern states passed gradual emancipation laws. The protests of blacks forced every state from Pennsylvania north to acknowledge that slavery was fundamentally inconsistent with revolutionary ideology. To the south, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia eased restrictions on individual acts of emancipation.
Joining Union Lines and Destabilizing Slavery during the Civil War: As the North experienced manpower shortages, they reluctantly turned to African Americans. Although blacks faced discrimination and violence in the military, 179,000 African American men served in the Union army. No person or group did more to force emancipation than the slaves themselves. Blacks fled to Union lines by the thousands, forcing slavery on the Union's wartime agenda. At first, Union officers sent slaves back, but as their need for laborers increased, they began refusing to turn slaves over. In 1862, Congress forbade returning fugitive slaves to their masters. The slaves who remained on plantations subverted plantation discipline. They got to the fields late, worked indifferently, and quit early.
Political Success during Reconstruction: Following the War, during Reconstruction, African Americans made up the majority of southern Republicans. While they never had the influence in the party that whites had, newly freed blacks voted, ran for office, and served in high government positions.

How Did African Americans Take Advantage of the Social Upheaval

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How Did African Americans Take Advantage of the Social Upheaval

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