Abolition of slavery during war of independance

The war of independance

What became the blacks at the end of this war?

During the 1770s, particularly during the War of Independence, the voice and action of the anti-slavery movement became stronger, sometimes linking the fate of the Americans who wanted to emancipate themselves from English guardianship to that of slaves. Many of the intellectuals or politicians manifested themselves by their willpower to defend the rights of the Blacks, such as Thomas Paine, an author or simply to claim the abolition of slavery, like Benjamin Franklin who chose to free his slaves in 1772.

Other figures of the American Revolution, Virginians and slave owners, were initially more reluctant, such as the future president of the United States, George Washington, who finally freed his slaves by will. Slavery was abolished in 1777 in Vermont, then gradually in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts until 1783. A 1782 law in Virginia resulted in the release of 10 thousand black people in ten years, and in 1783 Maryland banned the importation of slaves. Finally, in 1793, the only state to still allow the importation of slaves from Africa was Georgia.

However, when the American Constitution came into force on March 1789, it didn’t call into question the slavery practised in the Southern States, in order to guarantee the union of the young nation. In this context, slaves were excluded from citizenship, but the southern states claimed that they be counted in the census.

This claim, which would have greatly benefited the United States of the South, resulted in a compromise known as the “three-fifths clause”, which allowed for the addition of the total free population of the various states. “three fifths of all other persons” living on the territory, that is, slaves who, as in the Constitution as a whole, are never explicitly designated.

It happened between April1775 and April 1783 and was used to claim American independence. It took place in Eastern North American, Balearic Islands, Caribbean Sea, Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea

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