African Americans in the Early Republic

Author(s): Gary B. Nash

Source: OAH Magazine of History, Vol. 14, No. 2, The Early Republic (Winter, 2000), pp. 12-16
Published by: Organization of American Historians
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25163339 .
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Gary B. Nash

African
in

Americans

the

Early

Republic

Any teacher using a textbook published before the 1980s

or
would find virtually nothing on African Americans?slave
or South?in

.free, North

the era of

the American

churches,
cadre

rights. Nor did textbooks take any notice of the free black
and

schools,

of black

leaders

societies

benevolent
after

created
A

the Revolution.

an

by

of

pre-1980s texts shows black history beginning when the firstAfricans

in Virginia

arrived

in 1619

and

then

jumping

two hundred

years until the Missouri

duced

arguments

heated

older

slavery. While

The

the

communities

free black
of

outpouring

of

and

slavery

the North

on African

scholarship

the

and

remedied

in the nation's

up of the historical
erasure

and

most

current

behind

and African

learn

students

school

textbooks

such

still

Proclamation,

and

resisted

slavery

before

free
African

12

relations
and

the nation's

during

blacks

enslaved

American

topics?some

OAH Magazine

in

the

formative

decades

nation's

explosive

historians

of History

might

Winter

and

who

lag

growth.

add more?ought

role

white

blood

era

and were deeply

to stimulate

wanting

as many

slaves

racial

gain

their

independence.

Forten

were

typical

glorious

more

join

slave
the

about

the

ten

why

British

(or

indentured

of

times

to

grant

who

the

Americans

in state militias

servant)

in a

American

to twenty

white

promised

those

now,

fought with

While

patriots.

the

British

But

some free blacks)

or forbade black enlistment

to any

cause."

realistic

understand

readily

the American

Army,

to

James

"the

(along with

as with

master

be

will

students

Revolution,

and
for

can

we

to

Americans
Poor,

sacrifices

when

mon

and the
perpetual
his or her

fled

forces.

origin,

author

of

Five
to

had

Revolution,
of

achievement

com

"one
This

liberty."

book,

in 1961 and republished with an introduction by this

is still

American
the

the American

set purpose?the

in 1996,

Americans'
of how

in

Negro
one

first published

Turner's

the

made

mold-breaking

rebellion of 1831. Yet there is much still to be learned before the

student graduating from high school can claim a basic grasp of both
race

historians,

in Africa,

but many

Revolution

The wholesale flight to the British, Benjamin Quarles wrote in his

as Olaudah

Nat

Revolution

in the colonies

born

black

Salem

Attucks,

freedom

Equiano, Crispus Attucks, and Richard Allen and have at least some
notion that slaves and free blacks fought heartily in the American
Revolution, began to throw off the shackles of slavery before the
Emancipation

most

earliest

with

fought

Crispus

gradually

today

it. The

by

Continental

Americans.

figures

affected

discouraged

population

on African

about

something

Americans

young

pride and counter white hostility, focused on the few thousand blacks

the

American

has

profession,

scholarship

that

1760 and 1830.

were deeply involved in the American

British

South.

upper

of the American

of one-fifth

years. Yet many

formative

or more

a decade
Today,

the opening

the astounding

curriculum

history

Black American

Americans,

rise

history in the last third of this century, prompted by the civil rights
movement

the

The

latter

of

spread

after 1820 in some detail, they leave unnoticed

of abolitionism
fast-growing

antebellum

about

in 1820 pro

over

legislators

treat

textbooks

over

magically

Compromise

white

among

of

parts

African

who

emerging

examination

cursory

essential

learn as they study the years between

Revolution

and the early republic. Though about 20 percent of the population,

African Americans simply did not exist in the pre-1980s story of how
the Revolution proceeded and how the search for "life, liberty, and
the pursuit of happiness" affected those most deprived of these
unalienable

be

the best

one-volume
In ringing

Revolution.

"major

"was not

of blacks

loyalty"

account

of

phrases,

Quarles

to a place

the African

nor

wrote
a people,

but to a principle" and "insofar as he had freedom of choice, he was

likely to join the side that made him the quickest and best offer in
terms of those 'unalienable rights' of which Mr. Jefferson had
spoken."
become

This
common

Much
understanding

little

secret

about

knowledge,

scholarship

African

without

American

since Quarles's

of the massive

slave

2000

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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

history

embarrassment

rebellion

book

or

ought
anger.

has deepened

that occurred

to

during

our
the

Americans

Nash/African

American
able

Revolution
British

and

rights

black.

Teachers

effect

of white
on

oppression
to present

wanting

can bring

Americans

the

and

alive

early

heroic
such

figures

rhetoric

about

abolitionists,

figures

unalien

white

who

stood

as James Armistead

smaller

and

with

the

the double spywho helped win the climactic battle at Yorktown, and
the men of Rhode Island's black regiment. But those who struggled
for freedom with the British present equally heroic stories, and their
travails

after

able

as they

the war,

to Africa

returned

to

of

examples

refuge

sought

the Sierra

join

endurance

Leone

and

in Nova

Scotia

experiment,

unextinguishable

and
are

hopes

then

remark
for

the

future. Sidney Kaplan's Black Presence in the Era of the American

Revolution, first published in 1976 and republished in an expanded
edition with Emma Nogrady Kaplan in 1989, is a teacher's goldmine.
Little-known black figures leap off the pages of this fine book, which
is studded

with

includes

short
every

nearly

classroom

viewing.

volume

by Charles

Research
a

series,

Accompanied

by

Johnson,

to

way

Africans

use

for classroom

Americans

to light.

In addition,

in the
part

in America,

Patricia Smith,

revolution

two

of PBS's

is available

a teacher-friendly

and

and

for

companion

the WGBH

urban

was

important

were

the

under

originally

the

States.

creation

white

constructed

they

places

of

free

ecclesiastical

black

churches,
but which

control,

became autonomous by 1816. Black leaders such asAbsalom Jones

and Richard Allen in Philadelphia; Peter Spencer inWilmington,
in New York City became not only
Delaware; and PeterWilliams
to

aposdes
and

their

teachers.

flocks

Many

but

political

entrepreneurs,

spokespersons,
of

mini-biographies

these

black

included in Kaplan and Kaplan's Black Presence

American

Revolution

American

Culture

Students

and

in the five-volume

to

how

study

much

accomplished
churches

and

schools.

emerging

from

slavery

one

(which

taught

not

slaves

blacks

organized around

could

ask,

might

of

generation

in building free black communities

How,

of African

Encyclopedia

edited by Jack Salzman, et al.

and History,

need

are

founders

in the Era of the

to

those
think

recently
for

them

selves and not to think of themselves

as capable) find the inner

resources

new

learn
and

and

to read
social

external
and write,

associations?

to create

support
find
One

employment,
of

the main

and

form

names,
create

themes

families,

neighborhoods
o?

this

quest

for

is

the episode

Team,

surefire

come

television

four-part

suitable

of African

image

that has

ary generation
new

sources

primary

In these

of free black life in the United

Especially
which

Lafayette,

towns.

southern

foundations

jumpstart

classes in both middle schools

and high schools (1 ). For teach
ers with

advanced

students

want

to pursue

ment

in the American

black

who

involve
Revolu

tion, the third section of Ira

Berlin's Many
Thousands
Gone
sive

of

the

revolutionary
Ameri

of African

generation
cans,

a comprehen

provides
view

free

and

in all parts

slave,

America.

of North

The Rise of Free Black

Communities
One

the

of

in most

told

concerns

today

American
released

after

Revolution.
from

who made
from

even

rise of free

the

communities

black

good

and

especially

those

their flight
commonly

new
lives in urban
sought
ters.
In the North,
they
ered

the

Blacks

slavery,

bondage,

un

stories

big

textbooks

in the

cen
gath

seaports,

with Philadelphia
and New
York attracting the largest black
populations.
also

They

in Baltimore,

ton DC,

congregated
In the wake

Washing

Charleston,

and

Displaying

to offer knowledge
to the slaves. (Liberty
and progress
Revolution,
liberty seemed
the Arts and Sciences,
of Philadelphia.)
by Samuel Jennings, 1792. Courtesy of the Library Company

of the American

OAH Magazine

of History

This content downloaded from 207.62.236.106 on Wed, 17 Dec 2014 15:06:01 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Winter

2000

13

Americans

Nash/African

was

community
life was

black

the notion

secure

the only

that

the construction

of

foundation

of free

organizations

independent

embody

resources

rather

on white

than

While

benevolence.

to

coming

grips with this emerging sense of black autonomy and strength,

students should recognize thatmounting white hostility to free blacks
their

complicated

for

struggle

formation,

family

North,

torrent

in recent

of scholarship

traces

years

the Enlighten

ideals of the revolutionary generation crumbled by the early

nineteenth century, how discrimination and violence against free
remained
blacks increased yet how the free black communities
vibrant and enterprising. The three largest free black communities

Philadelphia, New York, and Baltimore?were studied respectively by

this author in Forging Freedom, by Shane White in Somewhat More
and by Christopher
Phillips in Freedom's Port.
Independent,
too detailed for most students, they can be mined by
Although
teachers interested in explaining community building among free
surest

The

to capture

way

the

of

imaginations

is to

students

view part three of the PBS series Africans inAmerica and read the
parallel section of the companion book mentioned above.

textbooks

a burning

this was

years

issue

a preoccupation

naturally

casual

only

for the

Jordan

of

was

the question

slavery;

and

generation
than

clear

perfecdy

thirty
the

that

had fought required the complete

for which Americans

principles

"It was

wrote,

slavery. None

More

society.

not

if, but when

and

how"

(2).

Twenty-four years ago, David Brion Davis wrote brilliandy on the rise
of

on

abolitionism?and

the

it?in

of

exhaustion

The

of

Problem

1770-1823. Both the rise and

Slavery in the Age of Revolution,
dissipation of abolitionist fervor ought to be understood in high
school
books

American

history

can

classroom

guide

The North
ism.

Gradual

and

courses,

selected

southern

characterized

to

need

Students

theaters of abolition
private (and limited)
with

discomfort

understand

at

northern

characterized

emancipation

how

the

the

ideology
tudes

issue

provides

of
off

facing

to

slavery

economic

white

Two
the freeing
morality

use

for classroom
aspects
of

of abolition
slaves

transcending

was

the rise and

ought

to stick

always

economic

interest.

Moreover,

The

first

of

OAH Magazine

of History

Winter

it their

to run

business

found

engineered

and

away

perfect

more

slavery

the writing

studies

youngster

at

impossible

that

trouble

of

ratification

and

time.

who

those

The

teacher

the

convention

the

against

in

point

activities.

classroom

stages

could?and
this was

that

argue

in Paul

essays

provocative

in their own

slave

to detest

documents

positions

taken

lesson

and

to allow

plans

regarding
from

Available

the

is a teaching unit utilizing

to evaluate

students
over

debates

the congressional

during

and

to see it

decisions

instructive.

in the Schools

National Center for History

primary

own

their

be

also

how Washington

slavery and hoping

lifetimes?made
can

property

of

Comparisons

professing

Jefferson?both
their

that

argue

slavery

where

Slavery and the Founders will help teachers construct

Finkelman's

abolished

in classrooms

fly

who

those

abolished

should?have

lively

will

Sparks

pitting

the
in the

slavery

(3).

The Spread of Slavery

Many opponents of slavery (and some defenders of it) believed
that the slave population would gradually wither after slave

minds.

showed

in

importations.

simple
freedom

case

that

cotton,
gin

gave

of

in spite

of

for

new

on

lease
the

reopening

slave

hiatus

cotton

the

boost to the production

a powerful

acquired
incentives

the Revolu

after

a wartime

of

invention

Eli Whitney's

When

slavery
new

censuses

state

first

growing

gin

of short-staple
life. The

cotton

and

insured

trade

that slavery would spread rapidly into the deep South where the
demand for field hands grew enormously between 1800 and 1830.
in the lower

lawmakers
how

and
ruling

Gone

Thousands

Many

South

account

the expansion

defended

their

consolidated

slaveholders

large

a fine

provides

power

of slave
as

the

of

how

society
region's

class.
of

growth

slavery

amidst

emancipation

gradual

needs

to be

understood. From about 470,000 slaves in 1770, the population

grew to about 720,000 in 1790 and 1,200,000 in 1810 (while the
population of free blacks grew from about 60,000 in 1790 to 185,000
in 1810). Also notable, the coming of King Cotton led to massive

process
thousands

came

slavery

the
was

in 1793 gave a tremendous

the widespread

First,

But

ceased.

importations
tion

two

by degrees for emancipated slaves. They did not move from abject
slavery to the light of freedom as ifmoving across the dark side of a
14

trade.

interregional

of abolitionism.

in students'

ofthat

worth.

atti

this and provide

decline

benevolent,

lesson

entrenched

discuss

on

not

and

to consider.

essays of this author's Race and Revolution

documents

This

generation.
interest

for students

lesson

weighty

another

economic

against

the slave
a debate

The

peculiar

interest and white abhorrence of the notion of freed slaves mingling

on an equal standing with whites dashed revolutionary idealism, thus
leaving

not

the Constitution, but not all consider how the delegates to the 1787
convention in Philadelphia wresded with the problem of slavery and

Berlin's

tempts at eradicating chattel bondage while

institution.

two

these

discussions.

legislated

manumission

of

chapters

and upper South were the main

was

the American

revolutionary

of black American

ago, Winthrop

abolition

to how

references

fueled a prolonged debate over abolishing

Revolution
theless,

give

All

recognition.

Itwas also produced, especially in the

their masters

that

American

First Congress

Early Abolitionism
Most

it was

social
abolition

Second,

made

who

to the point

Every

how

ment

blacks.

slaves

by

insolence

or

opportunity,

contested.

solely by high-minded whites.

respectability, civil rights, and justice before the law.

A

and

denied

than

education,

work,

was

economic

equal

rights,

ing their sense of being a people within a people and relying on their
own

river to the bright side. Legal emancipation did not confer full political

Life

slaves.

cotton

The

revolution

precipitated

sale of slaves from the upper to lower South?a brutal

involving a kind of new Middle Passage that sundered
of

slave

Toni Morrison's
available

of

transfers

in movie
under

families.

ing the Civil War,

learn

about

poignant historical novel Beloved

this

through

(which is also

form).
is generally

slavery

of the curriculum

can

Students

but

teachers

studied

may

have

that deals with

2000

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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

the decades
preced
during
to delve
into this as part

time

the early republic. Some fine,

Americans

Nash/African

a beacon

of freedom

for all who hoped

produced amorbid
tion

while

also

consider

it

how

fear of black insurrec

manumit

white

dampening

instincts.

ting

inspiration

for the overthrow of

can

Students

slavery.

an

and

Jefferson's

inner

personal

conflict is illuminating. As president, he

encouraged the black overthrow of sla
very in Saint Domingue and applauded
black independence. But he refused to
recognize the black government when it
came to power in 1804 and worked to
or

quarantine

neutralize

cially in deference
southern

commer

Haiti

to the interests of

planters.
part of the continuing

Another

of African Americans
volved

for

resistance.

open

struggle

in

freedom

Gabriel's

Rebel

lion of 1800 in Virginia and Denmark

Vesey's plot in 1822 in South Carolina,
both inspired in part by the Haitian

accessible

IfCongress
slavery

economic
idealistic

submerged

cancer;

important
that

visual

material

in Edward

Black Resistance in the New Nation

did not listen to petitioners who urged the end of

if hard-nosed

slavery;

clear

excellent

the new

nation

realities

a new

for

hopes

about

if by

the early

was

to be defined

the

nation

nineteenth

of

profitability
cleansed

its

of

century

it became

man's

republic;

as a white

precollegiate

One
1791-1804,

some

and

question,

of

the new

work

ought

to make

its way

the

long,

slave-centered

into

is the Haitian Revolution

revolt

against

and

brutal French slave regime in Saint Domingue. Textbooks hardly

mention
the prolonged revolution in Haiti, yet it was of signal
importance.
colonial

populous
Americas
that made

It was
power;

the

the

first

war

racial

instance

first

to overthrow

of mass

a European

self-emancipation

by

slave society; the first creation of a black republic in the

in themidst of the slaveholding West Indies; and the event
the Louisiana

Territory

nearly

useless

to France,

since

its

importance was supplying the foodstuffs to feed the hundreds

of thousands of French slaves in the Caribbean. Ironically, Jefferson's
acquisition of the Louisiana Territory vasdy extended theAmerican

main

domain

suitable

for enslaved

Another

attention,

many

and

plots

the

particularly

flight

labor.

Students can also explore how the Haitian Revolution spread the
spark of black rebellion to the United States and how Haiti became

cited

above.

of

aspect

the

search

for

liberty

and

among

equality

free and slave, in both the North and South, is the remarkable
in the early nineteenth
century. A
growth of Afro-Christianity
process

it was

African

among

a resistance

Americans

movement

in

its own

living
right,

under
it had

and

to do with their ability to endure captivity. Sylvia Frey and

Come Shouting to Zion is a rich treatment of this
Betty Wood's

much

The

topic.

of

the powerful

book

companion

slavery,

classrooms.

topic well worth discussing

but

known;

insurrections

smaller

deserve

transformative

then how would slaves and free blacks respond, and how would they
carry on their lives? Several rich veins of scholarship have explored
this

other

of slaves to the British forces in theWar

of 1812, paralleling the Revolutionary War attempts by blacks to cash
in on British offers of freedom. Much of this resistance is captured
in part three of the PBS video series Africans inAmerica and in the

edited volume Before Freedom Came.

Campbell's

most

and

essays

are available

are well

Revolution,

th ispri nt, Benjamin Henry Latrobe contrasted

the status of the wh iteoverseer with
that of field slaves. (Overseer Doing his Duty, by Benjamin Henry Latrobe, 1798. Courtesy
of the Maryland
Historical
Society, Baltimore, MD.)

With

book

pays

to

attention

particular

the

of women

role

in

fashioning black churches. The northern chapter of this quest for

spiritual autonomy and the building of black churches as citadels of
told by
social, political, and psychological
strength is movingly
Vincent

Harding

in chapters

three

and

is a River.

four of There

Many

of black church leaders appear in Kaplan and

mini-biographies
Kaplan's Black Presence in the Era of theAmerican Revolution and
The Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History.
One final aspect of black resistance that deserves attention
involves

schemes.

emigrationist

African

led notably

Americans,

by

the mixed-blood merchant and mariner Paul Cuffe, had toyed with
since the 1780s and, after
immigrating to the African homelands
1804, to Haiti and Canada. But the larger part of the story involves
the launching of theAmerican Colonization Society (ACS) in 1816.
Historians
northern
who

came

have
clergy,
together

argued
southern

for many

years

slaveowners,

to promote

about

the

and

a few

the voluntary

OAH Magazine

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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

of History

strange

mixture

free black

emigration

Winter

of

leaders

of free blacks

2000

15

Americans

Nash/African

towhat would become Liberia. The interest of African American leaders

was centered in the belief that the rising tide of white hostility to free
blacks

made

to Africa

repatriation

the only

viable

the

However,

option.

produced by Harpo Films and Clinica Est?tico. Directed

Home Video,
172 min. Touchstone
by Jonathan Demme.
1998. Vid?ocassette.
Berlin, Ira.Many Thousands Gone: The First Two Centuries of
Slavery in North America. Cambridge: Harvard University

Beloved,

mass of free blacks correctly understood that theACS (notwithstanding

the fact that some northern clergy who joined theACS were sincere
abolitionists who dwelled on the glory of African Americans returning

Press, 1998.
Campbell, Edward D. C, Jr., ed. Before Freedom Came: African
American Life in the Antebellum
South. Richmond, VA:
Museum of the Confederacy,
1991.
Davis, David Brion. The Problem of Slavery in theAge of Revolution,

to theirhomelands toChristianize black Africa) was for southern leaders

a deportation scheme thatwould remove incendiary free blacks from the
States

United

and

teachers

Most

cover

provide
not

will

for
time

have

and its limited success. However,

ACS

in how

students

the ACS's
the new

at which

roads

schemes

stood.

motives

the mixed

of the

at the least they can interest

emigrationist

republic

expansion.

slavery's
to explore

the one

On

the

cross

whites

who

reflected
hand,

Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1975.

17704823.
Finkelman, Paul. Slavery and the Founders: Race and Liberty in the
Age of Jefferson. New York: M. E. Sharpe, 1996.
Come Shouting to Zion: African
Frey, Sylvia and Betty Wood.
American Protestantism in the American South and British
Caribbean to 1830. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina

were unwilling to give free blacks real equality and were eager to cleanse
the country of them enthusiastically supported theACS emigrationist
On

efforts.

the other

movement

galvanized
a new

militance

and

to keep

required

black

now

leaders who

inter-city

their

of

league

Press, 1998.
Harding, Vincent. TTiere is a River: The Black Struggle for Freedom
in America. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1981.

that a new

understood

black

era hopes

revolutionary

a back-to-Africa

to encourage

this passion

hand,
free

were

spokespersons

alive.

None of the five topics oudined above should be thought of as self

contained African American topics. Rather they are American history
topics. Occupying vasdy different social places, white and black Ameri
cans were linked together by a common quest for freedom, though
had many

freedom

lives were

Their

and

meanings

various

required
on

whether

intertwined

to achieve.

strategies

in cities,

slave plantations,

Johnson, Charles Richard, et al. Africans in America: America's

Journey through Slavery. New York: Harcourt Brace and Com
pany, 1998.
Kaplan, Sidney and Emma Nogrady Kaplan. The Black Presence in
the Era of the American Revolution. Amherst: University of

or on

Massachusetts

ships at sea.Their productive effortswere part of the development of the

nation.

expanding

events

Great

drawing

to topics

attention

to the African

vital

for

to memory

restoring
elements

indispensable

of

the

as

such

States,

the

left imprints on everybody. While

the era of theAmerican Revolution

is a plea

the United

outside

French and Haitian Revolutions,

American

African

American

larger American

topics

that

are

story.

-.

Race

and

Richard

Quarles,

et al., Africans

Johnson,

in America:

America's

Journey through Sla very (NewYork: Harcourt Brace and Company,

1998); and Africans in America: America's Journey through
Slavery, produced byWGBH Educational Foundation, 270 min.,
PBS

Video,

1998,

vid?ocassette.

Teaching

are

kits

also

available

throughWGBH. For more information or to order, writeWGBH,

125Western Avenue, Boston, MA 02134 or call (617) 300-5400.
2.Winthrop
Jordan, White over Black: American Attitudes toward
the Negro, 1550-1812 (Chapel Hill: University of North Caro
lina Press, 1968), 342.
3. Copies of the teaching unit, Congress Debates Slavery, 1 790
1800, are available for $12 from The National Center for
History in the Schools, 6265 Bunche Hall, UCLA, 405 Hilgard
Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90095.
Sources Cited
in America:

Africans

by WGBH
1998.

16

America's

Educational

Journey

through

Foundation.

Slavery,

270 min.

Vid?ocassette.

OAH Magazine

of History

Winter

produced

PBS Video,

WI:

Madison,

Madison

1990.

House,

Freedom's Port: The African American Com

of Baltimore,

1790-1860.

Urbana:

of

University

Illinois

1998.

Press,

1. Charles

Revolution.

Phillips, Christopher.
munity

Endnotes

1989.

Press, 1988.

in

experience

and the early republic, this essay

Press,

Morrison, Toni. Beloved. New York: Knopf, 1987.

Nash, Gary B. Forging Freedom: The Formation of Philadelphia's
Black Community, 1 7204840. Cambridge: Harvard University

Benjamin.

The

in the American

Negro

Reprint, Chapel Hill: University

Salzman,

Jack, etal.,

eds. Encyclopedia

1961.

Revolution.

of North Carolina Press, 1996.

of African-American

Culture

and

History. 5 vols. New York: MacMillan Library Reference, 1996.

White, Shane. Somewhat More Independent: The End of Slavery in
New York City, 17704810. Athens: University of Georgia
Press, 1991.

Gary B. Nash
Los Angeles,

is a professor of history at the University of California,

and

is the

author

of many

books

and

articles

on

race,

and
class, and society in the early republic, including Red, White,
Black: The Peoples of Early America (1974, 4th ed. 2000). A
Guggenheim Fellow, and finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for his book
The Urban Crucible, Nash is a former president of theOrganization
of American Historians (1994-1995). He served as co-chair for the
National History Standards Project and currendy directs UCLA's
National Center for History in the Schools.

2000

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