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African American Freedom Trail: From Slavery To Freedom

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“The African American Freedom Trail: From Slavery to Freedom in New York City” Christopher Moore .Slavery was a major issue/debate for years. Slavery torn the north and south apart because the North wanted nothing to do with slavery and the South made slavery a lifestyle a necessity. The enlightenment in America came from the American Revolution that then brought the debate on the institution of slavery. An enlightenment began to make people think differently than what they thought was normal. The enlightenment also known as the Age of Reason. The first people to go through the enlightenment was Europe and then later it moved to North America. What the enlightenment contained a rise in reasoning, liberty, and scientific method. The enlightenment …show more content…

There are many reasons why the revolutionary war happened. Slavery was one that had a major debate behind it. The revolution influenced by the enlightenment because the people in the revolutionary war had two major opinions the ones who wanted slavery and the other who wanted slavery abolished. The battle had such a big impact on the states who were fighting in this revolutionary war. During this revolution, people began to create petition and fight for equal rights. The whites who were against slavery and the slaves themselves. This petition took ideas from the enlightenment and the constitution. As stated in the essay African Americans Petition for Freedom, 1777 “ A populous Pleasant and plentiful contry and in violation of Laws of Nature and off Nations and in defiance of all the tender feelings of humanity Brough[t] hear Either to Be sold Like Beast of Bruthen & Like them Condemnd to Slavery for Life”. This in better terms of stating it mentions how African Americans being slaves is against the laws of humanity these laws came from the enlightenment telling that being put in slavery is just against basic human rights. These petitions were placed in front of Legislative body of the state. These petition fought for the African American freedom, but it was more than that they were fighting for basic human rights. The revolution filled with a lot of issues and debates …show more content…

The state was a northern state that abolished slavery and wanted nothing to do with it. They were dealing with slavery issues for a long time but when the war start there was nothing to do with slavery “The war proved particularly destructive in the case of New York, and the state was a battleground from one end to the other. Little was done during the war towards ending slavery, except that in 1781 the legislature voted to manumit slaves serving in the armed forces”. They needed all the help they could get so they then allowed slaves to join the armed force to assist them. New York City use have so a large amount of slaves this was before the American Revolution, about 40 % of New York’s households held slaves. The Transatlantic slave trade was big in New York City for a large amount of time because of the Dutch. Later in time the British took over New York City and made it the world’s leading slave traders. Slaves in New York tried to fight for their freedom even before the revolution “As a result, few black New Yorkers achieved freedom through legal means before the era of the Revolution” they didn’t get very far in trying to accomplish their goal. During this time there were some freed African Americans but they were still treated the same as the slaves. Most of Manhattan Island’s population contain one third of its population to be slaves “On the eve of the War of Independence, the

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