African American Revolution Effects

The quote taken from James Forten is a perfect example of the effect that the American Revolution had on African American people. The American Revolution was the “Great Awakening” for African Americans, because it was the spark to the coming Civil War. In Lecture 10 it was said that the slaves felt “inspired to fight”, and who could blame them? Dunmore’s Proclamation was not only a call for slaves to join the fight, but it was hope for freedom. African Americans used the ideology of the American Revolution to their advantage, and used the ideology to pursue freedom. Even though the American Revolution had a lasting effect on African Americans during this time period, it was only moderately revolutionary in improving the lives of African Africans; because, African American were still slaves in most areas, had many of their natural rights suppressed, and were seen as a threat to the new republic. The American Revolution gave African Americans ideas of natural rights, equality, and hope for freedom. The first document to examine would be “James Forten Protest Pennsylvania Law”, and his use of ideology from the American Revolution to help
Polgar. This reading examined the effect of the American Revolution on African Americas through gradual emancipation, and some of the reasons as to why many people were unwilling to keep the promises made to African American. Polgar highlights why the American Revolution has only moderately successful. Polgar states one of the most integral challenges to anti-slavery activist was the question of whether a former slave could ever become a responsible freedmen (To Raise Them to an Equal Participation; page 235). This in my opinion is one of the main drawbacks of the Revolutionary ideology, because it shows that African Americans were seen as a threat to the republic, and could never have a true place in American