What did the American Revolution mean for the institution of slavery?

Question

AP History, [JUNIOR]

Founding Brothers: Revolutionary Generation

Answer 1

It's true that slavery was allowed to continue in the Southern states. . . but that does not mean the Revolution had no effect on the institution.

1) It apparently helped give the impetus to the legal ending of slavery in most NORTHERN states.

2) There was, in parts of the South, a sense that the ideals of liberty they were fighting for were in conflict with the practice of slavery -- and many, including Southerners (esp. in Virginia) did hope for a gradual ending to slavery.

The Constitutional time-limit placed on Congress's forbidding the slave trade

3) In 1776 the Continental Congress specifically voted NOT to lift the 1774 ban on the importation of slaves.

4) These ideals may have helped assure passage of the Northwest Ordinance (1787), outlawing slavery in states to come from that territory.

Ultimately, this wasn't enough, and later events, such as the growth of the labor-intensive cotton crop in the South undermined hoped-for plans to eliminate slavery in those regions. . . but that is NOT to say "nothing happened".

You might find some of this, and more, in the book you list (Founding Brothers -- in the middle of the chapter called "The Silence")

Answer 2

Slavery was allowed to continue. This was the price for the support and participation of the southern colonies in the Revolutionary War. The first of many compromises on slavery. How different our history might have been if slavery had ended in 1776!

Answer 3

Not much. The civil war, between the North and South, was a watershed, but the American Revolution only succeeded in establishing the thirteen colonies as an independent nation, free of British rule. That didn't affect the slaves one way or the other as they were not considered 'subjects' in either the British or the early American views. They were simply property, just as horses were. It wasn't until the Civil War that slavery became an issue.

Answer 4

England ended the slave trade in the 1830s, without a civil war. So you can assume it would have done so in the American colonies as well.

Answer 5

It meant that America became a new and legitimate trade market with a high demand. Therefore slavery trade skyrocketed after America got on its own two feet.

Answer 6

Not much....