...Professor Kodi Roberts African American History 09 October 2012 African Americans and the Revolutionary War The American Revolution, also known as the Revolutionary War, was a significant event that changed the whole world. Although the Revolutionary War lasted only for eight years, the American Revolution started developing years before the first shots at the battle of Lexington and Concord were fired. African-Americans joined the Revolutionary War, because the principles underlying the revolution implied the end of slavery and granting of rights for them. American historian Benjamin Quarles, understood the African-American community's need for equality and freedom. Around 5,000 African-Americans served as soldiers in the Continental Army and about 20,000 in the British Army. The Revolutionary War was a blessing in disguise for many African-Americans, as it paved the way to freedom from slavery and helped them to embark on their journey towards equality and civil rights. At the start of the war General George Washington did not want African Americans to fight in the military. In November of 1775 Lord Dunmore, the Governor of Virginia, promised freedom to any slave, owned by a rebelling colonist that fought for the British. This caused many slaves to escape to the side of the British. The Americans still did not let slaves fight with them. As time passed and the Americans lost many soldiers, some of the colonies began to let slaves enlist in1778. Virginia did not let slaves...
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...Massachusetts. Local, agitated colonists demanded that the ships return to Britain without payment of a duty fee. A Collector of Customs denied the ships’ release until the colonists paid the charge. The stalemate culminated in a small revolt. Sam Adams and the Sons of Liberty marched among two hundred men to the wharf. Hollering war chants, they descended onto the ships and threw the offending cargo into the water (Brady 1). Typically, this event defines the quintessential grievance of the colonists; “no taxation without representation” (Waldman 40). Popular images such as the Boston Tea Party typified the revolution as a secular fight for political and economic liberty. However, religion played an equally significant role in the American Revolution. In America’s fight for political independence, different groups used religion to help to mobilize the success of the American Revolution. Patriotic, clergy referenced the Bible to justify the rebellious American spirit against British rule and unite their congregations. Furthermore, political revolutionaries manipulated this public spirituality to gain a stronger and necessary support in the country’s fight for independence. Clergymen, who allied with the revolutionary movement, tactfully utilized religion to justify the rebellion by rejecting Britain as the legitimate political leader of the colonies. Though the Bible explicitly calls for obedience to civil authority, Reverend Jonathan Mayhew overcame this contradiction to the revolution...
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...“Liberty” has always been a highly contested and contradictory terrain throughout American history—and nowhere is the contestation more prevalent than in the formation of the Constitution in the late 18th century. During the Revolutionary period, both common and elite Americans alike sought to define the ideals of liberty that would be incorporated into the new nation. But the realization of these ideals of equality in politics and universal rights necessitated the formation of a centralized Republican government in order to become a practical reality, thereby ensuring the success of the nation by implementing basis of lasting, effective systems of maintaining political order. In doing so, the constitution realizes revolutionary aspirations for independent government that guarantees the rights and common good of its citizens. The ratification of the US Constitution and Bill of Rights ensured that the ideals of independence, accurate representation in politics via a republican system, and the protection of natural liberties birthed during the Revolution could survive practically within the new nation. The ratification of the Constitution was critical for the success of the nation, thus realizing the revolutionary dream of...
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...The lady enlightening the world In New York harbor, on liberty island, a mighty green woman figure stands as a clear idea of what America is going to be, a multicultural country protects freedom of speech and religion, liberty didn`t only mean freedom from the British empire, liberty also meant freedom for immigrants who leaving their mother countries and come to the united states to create a new life without any persecution from any kind. My goal in this paper is to focus on the meanings for the statue of liberty which have changed over the time, and the countless roles in its 127-year history. I have organized my paper into two main sections, in the first one, we`re going to reflect on some of the various political and cultural meanings of the statue of liberty, in the second section I focus on the universal meanings of the statue as freedom, emancipation, and the national unity. Political and cultural meanings As the American civil war drew to close, in the summer of 1865, several French intellectuals were at a dinner party at the historian Edouard de Laboulaye`s mansion in Glatigny, Laboulaye was a French law...
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...14, 1789, a precedent was set for a new brand of political struggle as Parisians stormed the Bastille, sparking the French Revolution and beginning a new era in popular government. This Revolution, in addition to reshaping Europe in the nineteenth century, would be the inspiration for many revolutions to follow, including the Russian Revolution. Furthermore, it established a collection of values which many revolutions would aim to uphold: liberty, equality, and fraternity. Chicago Historian Sheila Fitzpatrick, however, argues that these are aims that “almost all victorious revolutionaries inevitably dishonour.”1 By examining the Cuban and Russian Revolutions, this can be seen to be too general a statement. Under Lenin, the Russian Revolution instituted one of the most progressive constitutions yet seen,2 while Cuba, with its unique role in relations between two Cold War superpowers, stayed mostly true to its primary goals of attaining social justice and equality. The objective that tends to be the most fraught by revolutions is liberty, because in order to completely reshape a society, power must be, at least for a time, concentrated in the hands of few. Thus, the Russian Revolution, particularly under Stalin, can be said to have dishonoured the goals of the original revolution, while the Cuban Revolution under Castro, for the most part, did not. The aim of eliminating inequality was central to both the Russian and Cuban Revolutions. Since before its independence, Cuba...
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...momentous event that changed the face of the whole world. Though the Revolutionary War lasted only a few short years, the American Revolution was a process that started long before the first shots of war were fired. The rebellion was permeated with the legacy of colonial political ideals, aggravated by parliamentary taxation, escalated by the restriction of American civil liberties and ignited by British military measures. England had a hard time controlling its American colonies from the very beginning, leaving them to develop relatively on their own for several generations. The North American continent is close to 3,000 miles away from England and the trip from England to American by boat in the 1600s took six to eight weeks if not longer. The trip was not easy and many died along the way, but when immigrants did reach the New World they arrived a bit changed by their harrowing journey. These new immigrants were met with a clean, new, virgin land, virtually unchanged for thousands of years. It was as if they had landed on a whole separate planet. These immigrants, then, established new societies based on whatever personal religious or political values they had, far from the shadow of England. Over 150 years later these values still lived strongly in the descendants of these original settlers. The rights of the individual were dominant in every aspect of American life in 1763. From the relative religious freedom, to the independence of the press, to the coveted public town meeting...
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...Civil War and how Lincoln was involved in most of the changes that happen during the War, For example the political and social issues, and the slaves that were liberated in the south. In this book McPherson tells us that president Lincoln was a conservative and a revolutionary. The War made Lincoln very popular because of his leadership ability and strategy. He is the most important president who fought to keep young stay whole. James McPherson best known for his prize winning book “Battle cry of Freedom,” which was the New York Times Book Review called one of top history writing. It is an account of the Civil War, which McPherson gathered in a sweep of events, which accounts the political, social, and culture aspects during the Civil War. In Abraham Lincoln and the Second Revolution, McPherson takes a different style of writing by offering a series of engaging essays on Lincoln and the Civil War that have rarely been discussed in such depth. McPherson displays his insight prose as he thoroughly examines the critical- themes of American history. He examines the President’s role as commander- in -chief of the Union forces explaining how Lincoln forged a national military strategy for victory. He exposes how Lincoln used parables and figurative language to communicate the purpose of the War as well as a new meaning of liberty for the people of the North. The title derives from McPherson, examining the Civil War as America’s...
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...The Revolutionary Period was the political, social, and economic turmoil in the Atlantic world. The Revolutionary era was the catalyst for the birth of dissent ideologies, radical literature, protests and boycotts (Dennis Lecture Notes). The Seven Years war had a negative economic domino effect on the colonies. Debt from the war on American soil consisted of various increases on tariffs and taxes in order to pay the debt left by The Seven Years war (Dennis Lecture notes).Tensions brewed between the colonies and the British crown due to unpopular taxes such as the tea, sugar and stamp act (Dennis Lecture notes). The Stamp Act crisis inaugurated not only a struggle for colonial liberty in relation to Great Britain but also a multisided battle...
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...Hercules Mulligan was one of the secret heroes during the Revolutionary War. He was born on September 25 1740. Hercules Mulligan served this country as an undercover spy for George Washington.. In the course of this time, he left an everlasting impression for the country. He was a representative for the Sons of Liberty, which was an organization of a secret society that worked on getting information about the British and stood up for the independence for america. He also used his undercover job to get more information which led to him saving George Washington's life twice. He made a big impact in the Revolutionary War. He sabotaged the British by taking information and messaging it to General Washington. This helped Washington plan his army with the insight of what the British were planning on doing, to defeat them, which eventually lead to victory. Originally born in ireland but moved to North America, Hercules Mulligan lived his life as a undercover spy during the American Revolutionary...
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...There are many national monuments in the United States of America, but the one that means the most to me is the Statue of Liberty. To me, it represents opportunity, freedom, and peace. In some countries, opportunity is rare. But when people come to America and see the Statue of Liberty, they know that everything is going to be alright because there are plenty of opportunities in America. Opportunities such as a better life, more job opportunities, better living conditions, and exceptional health care. There is always an opportunity for citizens of the U.S.A to become wealthy if they make wise decisions. The Statue of Liberty also represents freedom. Many people in various countries do not have this kind of freedom as we have in America. Many...
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...American revolution the colonists were looking for a change. They wanted freedom, and Britain was not giving them freedom. So the colonists had a revolution and went to war with Britain, and we won. There was a lasting effect because of this revolution, and that is the United States is still a free country today. That was the colonists original drive to go to war in the first place. Revolutions only happen because people are seeking change, and there is always a lasting effect even if it wasn’t the outcome was thought to be. People are always seeking...
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...outcomes. Both revolutions began due to the common peoples’ need to obtain independence and liberty from an oppressive government (2). The American Revolution was triggered by the American colonists’ need for financial independence from the overpowering nation of Great Britain, while the French revolution was a struggle to gain social equality among the masses. Although the American and French Revolutions were fought over some of the same ideas, the American Revolution is considered more "conservative" than the French is (2). The intent of the American revolutionaries was not to initiate a revolution, but rather to gain their freedom from a "long train of abuses" (Jensen). In contrast, the French were trying to cause a true revolution because they were not just fighting for freedom but rather to over throw and remove the monarchy (3). The American revolutionaries had no choice but to defend their liberties and the tactics used by the Americans were not as directly aggressive as those used by the French. The American and French Revolution both have similarities and differences. The similarities and differences can be seen in their economy, leaders, ideology, and provocation. The American Revolution, beginning in 1776, was started because of problems with the British economy. The major concept of the time was “taxation without representation” (Jensen). After the French and Indian war, the British...
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...consolidation of imperial authority B. Emerging split over British-colonial relations 1. British perspective a. Subordinate position of colonies b. Obligation of colonies to share in cost of empire c. "Virtual representation" 2. American perspective a. Equality of colonies and mother country b. No taxation without representation C. Initial skirmishes 1. Writs of assistance against smuggling 2. Proclamation of 1763 3. Sugar Act 4. Revenue Act 5. Currency Act D. Stamp Act crisis 1. Provisions of Stamp Act 2. Indignation in colonies 3. Taxation and representation; increasing opposition a. Virginia resolutions b. Stamp Act Congress c. Boycott of British goods d. Public demonstrations e. Committees of Correspondence f. Sons of Liberty g. Crowd actions 4. Breadth of opposition a. Colonial elites b. Middling ranks c. Laboring classes 5. Repeal of Stamp Act; passage of Declaratory Act E. Internal colonial disputes 1. Tenant uprising in Hudson Valley 2. Tenant uprising in Green Mountains 3. Regulators in South Carolina 4. Regulators in North Carolina II. The road to revolution A. Townshend crisis 1. Provisions of Townshend duties 2. Colonial response, home-spun virtue a. Revival of boycott on British goods b. American-made goods as symbol of resistance c. Reawakening of popular protest B. Boston Massacre 1. Stationing of troops in Boston 2. The massacre 3. Popular indignation C. An uneasy calm 1. Repeal of Townshend duties; withdrawal of troops from...
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...Famous for his “Give me Liberty or Give me Death” speech that he gave in 1775, Patrick Henry had a huge impact on the Revolutionary War in many different ways, but his most known call to action was his outstanding and mesmerizing speech. Henry played huge role in America’s resistance to the English. Being the Governor of Virginia, he contributed a great amount in the making of the war. In fact, Henry played such a leadership role in preparation for the fighting, that historians today refer to him as the “Sword of the War.” Even as a young man, Henry was known to stand up against the English’s policies due to his protesting against the Stamp Act. However, this was only the beginning of his resistance to the French for this rebellion would in time lead up to his incredible leadership in promoting the Revolutionary War and the life changing speech that he gave. Using nothing but his words, Henry motivated the colonists to fight by explaining his thoughts without being disrespectful and showing them what would happen if they were to hold back. Henry’s speech was one of the greatest deciding factors that led the colonies into war, and, for this reason, it is still one of the most important speeches that has ever been given. What was so important that pushed Henry to give his speech? When Henry gave his speech in the third Virginia convention, his number one goal was to cause the other men, who were the ones in charge of the thirteen colonies, to agree with his beliefs in that...
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...Revolutionaries are people who engage in political revolutions. The French third estate would be greatly satisfied with modern day France because France modern day is now a Republic for about 66 million citizens and a republic system offers the citizen the basic rights that the Third estate always wanted. Most of the original revolutionaries goals have been achieved by France now. In the 18th and 19th centuries, France was under three Estates; First, Second and Third. The Third Estate despised the First and Second Estate because the Third Estate were treated unjustly. This injustice spread like wildfire in the Third-Estate. France was led under a monarchy ruled by Louis XVI. The monarchy was very much corrupt because the King and Queen would...
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