WHITES & BLACKS IN REVOLUTIONARY WAR.   Term Paper ID:25716 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Examines roles of average citizens in War of Independence, economic interests, major issues, demonstrations, Boston Tea Party.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Examines roles of average citizens in War of Independence, economic interests, major issues, demonstrations, Boston Tea Party. Paper Introduction: INTRODUCTION Although considerable scholarship has been devoted to the accomplishments of the founding fathers and their role in liberating the colonies from Great Britain, the real heroes of the American Revolution were ordinary men. These men hailed from the lower strata of society, and included working class urbanites, rural peasants, immigrants, and blacks, both free and slave. Such men provided the muscle and participated in mob action against British tyranny. Mass movements such as these led to war in the American colonies. Economic interests played a larger role in the American Revolution than many historians care to acknowledge. Granted, the ideals of freedom, liberty, and the rights of man were at the forefront in much of the rhetoric espoused by the founding Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. Many of the colonial leaders hadbeen reluctant to do so for fear that the practice would lead to a massexodus of blacks: "Heightened slave rebelliousness during the era of theRevolutionary War had revived latent white fears of slave risings" (Frey243). Lord Dunmore, royal governor of Virginia, led a troop of blacksoldiers called the Ethiopian Regiment. Cognizant of the burden placed on the lower class by British tyranny,middle class groups sought ways to harness the resultant discontent. Granted, the ideals of freedom,liberty, and the rights of man were at the forefront in much of therhetoric espoused by the founding fathers, but even this group, most whowere property owners with considerable wealth, had many economic intereststo protect: "All things considered, it seems clear that in most states thestrength of the revolutionary party lay most largely in the plain people,as distinguished from the aristocracy" (Jameson 18). Black slaveshad an even bigger stake, their freedom. Works CitedBerlin, Ira. A mob surrounded soldiers in King Street at the CustomHouse. It was common knowledge that the rioters had the support and approvalof many of their social superiors in Boston, including of course, the LoyalNine and their affiliates. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1961.----------------------- 12 The lower classes, blacks, and ethnic immigrants whofought in the American Revolution were caught up in a great struggle withconsequences on both the macro and micro levels of their lives. Some remained loyal toEngland while others became patriots. Merchants and residents who were suspected ofserving tea often had their places of business or their homes searched.Culprits were tarred and feathered. Tempers flared and skirmishes between locals and soldierscarried on throughout the night. The mass demonstration ended up at a new building being erected byOliver that many supposed would be used as a stamp office. Killed along with Attuckswere four white men, all members of the lower class: a ropemaker, a ship'smate, an apprentice joiner, and an individual described only as an"Irishman." A significant number of ethnic immigrants, such as Irish,participated in the insurrections that preceded the war with Great Britain. Seeking a scapegoat, many colonial leadersblamed Attucks for the whole affair: "The evidence given in court, thenewspaper reports, the earliest tradition, all single him out, in praise orblame, as the shaper of the event" (Kaplan 8). For the men who engagedin insurrection, the high ideals of freedom and liberty were more thanpaper principles. They had less to desert to" (Quarles 79). DeKalb, IL: Northern Illinois University Press, 1976.Bull, Lisa. . Likewise, the contribution of blacks has been greatly unwritten.Blacks, both free and slave, had very high personal stakes in the outcomeof the American Revolution. Economic interests played a larger role in the American Revolutionthan many historians care to acknowledge. Among the slaves who fought in the war were some who fought alongsidetheir masters. The chief occupation of the rural inhabitants was agriculture.The revolutionary spirit was clearly evident in this social class: "It laynot in the mob or rabble, for American society was overwhelmingly rural andnot urban, and had no sufficient amount of mob or rabble to control themovement, but in the peasantry, substantial and energetic though poor, inthe small farmers and frontiersmen" (Jameson 18). . These men hailed from the lower strata of society, andincluded working class urbanites, rural peasants, immigrants, and blacks,both free and slave. From there, the crowd's wrath turned to Oliver's private house. Therefore, for many, the choice between defyingthe British and acquiescing to higher taxes carried the severest ofconsequences: "[C]onsidering the present scarcity of money . The Loyal Nine was comprised of small businessmen with connectionsto town leadership: "The Loyal Nine became a kind of clearing housebetween top leadership and crowd. When Dunmore was defeated, many ofthe blacks who fought for him went to the Bermudas and freedom. Later, in describing the incident, many leading colonial citizens,including John Adams, criticized the lower class participants in scathingterms. Among the patriots were many Irishimmigrants: "It is well known that Irish Catholics were perenniallyoppressed by the British, and it is no surprise that the Irish supportedthe Americans in their fight against British oppression" (Harling andKaufman 55). In destroyingOliver's building, the symbolic actions of the crowd were transformed intodirect action with symbolic meaning: "By using his property--andincreasing it in the process--to deprive others of some of their propertyand thereby of their liberty, Oliver violated the social responsibility tothe community that was inherent in property ownership" (Hoerder 99). Unofficialabsence was rampant among the regular troops. Such men provided the muscle and participated in mobaction against British tyranny. Blacks, both free and slave, were inducedto join the cause by the prospect of an end to the personal oppressionwhich characterized their lives. Wrath against Britain's civil representatives also was directedagainst its military representatives. Theregion which recruited the most blacks was New England, followed byVirginia. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1967.Kann, Mark. For this reason, a substantialnumber of black slaves joined the British cause: "As the war dragged on,military necessity forced the British and then, more reluctantly, Americansto muster black slaves into their armies by offering them freedom inexchange for their services" (Berlin 353). At thewharf, the men divided into three groups, boarded British ships, orderedthe sailors off and started dumping tea. Most were relegated to the status of vulgar ruffians. Groups from Boston's Southend and Northend also participated in theinsurrection known as the Boston Tea Party. It is not surprising thatDunmore and the British were considered liberators by many blacks: "manyNegroes did participate in the war effort. The lower classes were in the forefront of the confrontation: "Adetailed analysis of the depositions about the affair shows that the menclosest to the soldiers were mainly mechanics and sailors from theNorthend, that the men farthest away . However, policy gradually changed on a state by state basis. News of the confrontations spread and thecrowds were soon joined by sailors from the docks and men from the Northendand Southend. But among blacks, desertionwas less common, partly because of the intrinsic motivation of gainingfreedom and partly because of economic realities: "[Blacks] were notlikely to have a farm that needed protection nor the kind of home thatinspired homesickness. Because almost seventy percent of colonists during this period were ofEnglish descent, ethnic immigrants were referred to as "foreigners." Someof the people who emigrated to the United States during this era came forthe express purpose of participating in the Revolution. The Black Presence in the Era of the American Revolution177 -18 . Young (Ed.) The American Revolution: Explorations in the History of American Radicalism, 349-382. New York: New York Graphic Society, 1973.Quarles, Benjamin. "The Revolution in Black Life." In A. Some of the men were recentimmigrants, and having experienced tyranny in their home countries, soughtto secure freedom in the country of their choice. The American Revolution Considered as a SocialMovement. Duringthis era, America was overwhelming rural; only about two or three percentof the population lived in the large towns of New England and the MiddleColonies. Crowd action against the stamp master began by hanging two effigiesin an old elm called "Liberty Tree" in the Southend, near Boston'sentrance. theexecution of that [stamp] act for a short space of time would dreign theCountry of Cash, strip multitudes of the poorer people of all theirproperty and Reduce them to absolute beggary" (Hoerder 91). The King Street riot, also known asthe Boston Massacre, began with a confrontation between colonial ropemakersand soldiers. Whereas the merchant could often pass theadditional expense of British duties on to their customers or rely ontheir own means of credit, people from the lower classes who plunged intodebt risked imprisonment. Their motivation wasfelt on a more deeply personal level. As the crowd grew, the magistrates retreated. Eventually, the policy makers for the Continental Army changedtheir rule regarding racial exclusion: "by the summer of 1778, theContinental army was well sprinkled with blacks" (Quarles 71). A crowd of spectators gathered, and soon after, the magistrates,who demand that the effigies be cut down. As the struggle progressed,active involvement on one side or the other was determined by the promiseof personal gain" (Bull 67). "The Bachelor and Other Disorderly Men During the AmericanFounding." Journal of Men's Studies (Fall 1997) vol 6, 1(18).Kaplan, Sidney. As a symbolof the chasm that existed between the aristocracy and the lower classes, hewas anathema to Boston's Northend and Southend inhabitants. Thefounding fathers, however, were largely critical of the mob actions of thecommon man during the tense periods preceding the war, even though suchmass movement was largely responsible for the war. . For a long time, blacks were barred from service in the Continentalarmy. In the aftermath of the Boston Tea Party, mob action vigorouslyenforced the boycott on tea. Naturally, when the soldierslowered their guns against the pressing crowds, it was the lower class menwho suffered death and injury. When thewar ended, other blacks who served under the British relocated to GreatBritain, Canada, Africa, and the West Indies. Sowidespread was the mob violence that British officials were forced to seekprotection from troops. Blacks served admirably in the cause of the American Revolution, oneevidence of which was the relatively low rate of desertion. Prior to the Loyal Nine's intervention, these two neighborhoodshad been engaged in sectional rivalry. TheTea Party was noteworthy for its high level of organization and the single-mindedness of the participants. or 3s.per weekday, perhaps 4 [pounds] per year, suddenly came into the estate ofa man [whose] handsome salary as stamp master would add further luster,while burdening others" (Hoerder 1 ). The Negro in the American Revolution. These men werethe foot soldiers in the war effort: "the mounted service tended to bemade up of men of property and reputation" (Quarles 74). After thewar, some masters freed their slaves in gratitude for their faithfulefforts; Washington did not. A spirit of revolution seized a diversegroup of people for a wide variety of reasons. Despite thediscrimination they faced in the military, many free blacks joinedwillingly. Guarding the effigies were menfrom the Northend. Their strength was the organizationaltalent with which they arranged crowd action or responded to it" (Hoerder94). The commonpeople, therefore, were not fighting for economic gain as a result of theAmerican Revolution, they fought for the economic survival of themselvesand their families. were merchants, often simplystanding at their doors" (Hoerder 228). Oliver was both a provincial official and a wealthy merchant. Most of the blacks who served in the war were members of mixedregiments. With the enactment of the Stamp Act, the Loyal Nine flew intopreparation to mobilize the lower classes from Boston's Northend andSouthend. History, however,focuses on the contribution of aristocrats like the founding fathers thanon the role of the peasantry. When manpower became severely acute, the colonies themselves wereforced to accept black soldiers as well. Theybroke windows and railings, forced their way in and searched for Oliver.Oliver was not there, but his friends were. Onesuch group was the Loyal Nine, one of many social and political clubs inBoston. The common man whoparticipated in the insurrections that preceded the declaration of war wasoften prompted by a strong sense of injustice. Free blacks who served inthe colonial forces had their personal freedom at stake, since many of themwere treated no better than slaves. Others were motivated bytheir strong sense of injustice. Westfield, MA:Historical Journal of Western Massachusetts, 1976.Frey, Sylvia. Thus core issues offreedom were closer to the cause of the common man and blacks in theAmerican Revolution than to upper class whites, who were often motivated byeconomic gain.DISCUSSION As much of an economic burden that British tyranny imposed on themerchant and wealthy classes in colonial America, the lower classes weresubjected to even more distress. The factthat a black man, Crispus Attucks, was among those killed, furtherdenigrated the participants. Franklin. Servicein the Revolutionary military often enhanced the patriotic loyalty ofblacks. Irish immigrants were represented in large numbers in Boston,the site of many of the rebellions against the British. Only rarely was tea not the sole focusof the crowds' wrath: "Sometimes all European goods found wereconfiscated, a sign that general considerations about importation, luxury,and drain of money motivated some of the rioting" (Hoerder 266). Slaves who enlisted did so because ofthe promise of emancipation after military service. Historians have largely overlooked the contributions of variousethnic immigrants, blacks, and the lower classes to the AmericanRevolution. Oliver suffered only materiallosses by the lower class rioters. INTRODUCTION Although considerable scholarship has been devoted to theaccomplishments of the founding fathers and their role in liberating thecolonies from Great Britain, the real heroes of the American Revolutionwere ordinary men. Some gathered in an organizedgroup before marching on the wharf, others joined in spontaneously. When money could not be used as an inducement for service, somestates, such as Virginia, offered land grants. While history pays much attention to the urban unrest of the AmericanRevolution, much resistance occurred in the countryside as well. As with previous insurrections, the wrathof the participants was aimed at the symbol of oppression: the tea. Asidefrom the economic motivation, free blacks were also lured by the sense ofadventure inherent in fighting for a cause in which they believed. "Negro." In Frederick Harling and Martin Kaufman (Eds.) TheEthnic Contribution to the American Revolution, 67-74. An example was William Lee, the servant of GeorgeWashington, who was listed as a member of the patriot forces. The focus instead has been on the founding fathers. Theeffigy of stamp master Oliver was then cut down by men from the Southendand paraded around town on a bier. Albeit some colonial leaders were apt to blamestamp act violence on the unbridled passions of the lower classes: "In1766, Jonathan Mayhew condoned the repeal of the Stamp Act but condemnedcolonial men for cloaking 'their rapacious violences with the pretext ofzeal for liberty'" (Kann 1). Others had alreadysettled in the colonies before the war began. Mass movements such as these led to war inthe American colonies. Most of thecommon men were not property owners, and thus were not fighting for theright to continue their pursuit of economic gain. Free blacks believed that their conditionswould improve if the outcome was favorable to the colonists. For the first time they envisioned themselves as activeparticipants in the destiny of their country.CONCLUSION The participation of the common man and blacks in the AmericanRevolution made the difference between defeat and victory. The crowd did not injure thembecause their target again was the wealth that symbolized their owneconomic oppression: "The men from the small, crowded quarters of theNorthend and Southend, who, if laborers, earned approximately 2s. The Loyal Nine convinced the Northend and Southend to form acoalition aimed at a common target: Andrew Oliver, the local stamp master. Westfield, MA: Historical Journal of Western Massachusetts, 1976.Hoerder, Dirk. New York: Academic Press, 1977.Jameson, J. A total of 123 participants wereidentified, and records show that a substantial number hailed from thelower classes: "One-third had no property, one-third were small propertyholders, one-sixth owned up to 1 [pounds], and the last sixth owned nomore than that" (Hoerder 263). The prospect of propertyownership was a powerful inducement for blacks and whites alike. . Crowd Action in Revolutionary Massachusetts 1765-178 . Typically, blacks were relegated to the rank of private, and inthe membership rolls were often not identified by name, only by labels suchas "A Negro Man" or "A Negro name unknown" (Quarles 74). "Liberty, Equality, and Slavery: The Paradox of theAmerican Revolution." In Jack Greene (Ed.) The American Revolution: ItsCharacter and Limits, 23 -252.Harling, Frederick and Martin Kaufman. "Irish." In Frederick Harling andMartin Kaufman (Eds.) The Ethnic Contribution to the American Revolution,53-56. 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