As an African American slave In the American Revolution, I would fight for the American and not for the British for a number of reasons. The American Revolution was a war for independence for the 13 colonies in North America, who wished to be democratic from the rule of the colonialist. As they were fighting, there were still black slaves who were to make a choice on what side to play in during the fight. However, taking aside was a huge dilemma for a slave because the Anglo Americans were fighting for their freedom, and not for the freedom of the slaves. However, on the other hand, the Britons were finding it easier to promise freedom, liberty, and land , but at the end of it all, it was a hard promise to keep, hence leaving the slaves more frustrated, since they had betrayed their masters and had no place to go after the war.
Fighting for America VS for the British as an American Slave
After the war, a few American slaves were rewarded with liberty. In most cases, the slaves who fought the war still remained the property of their masters. On the other hand, the British were promising the Africa American slaves of giving them land and self-governance (Delbanco, 2019). This gave hope of freedom and liberation since at the end of the war many of what was their promises were never fulfilled. However, the reason I would choose the Anglo America side over the Britons is the fact that the British people were already too powerful for Americans, where they already had thirteen colonies in North America. This did not make them any fewer perpetrators of slavery and was just asking slaves to side with them for the sake of war, but little did they have any of their interests at heart (Delbanco, 2019). It would be hard remaining a slave in America, but fighting for them would probably grant one chance of being granted freedom or getting rewarded for the loyalty one had portrayed in the cause of the war, since as the saying goes, “better the devil you know”, who in this case was the American master.
In the promise by the British to offer the Africa Americans freedom, there was a catch, which many did not see. The proclamation by Dunmore to grant slaves the freedom was a promise to slaves who were held by the loyalists and not by the rebels. This means that if your master was a rebel, and you fought for the Britons, one would lose loyalty to both sides and could end up in an awful condition at the end of the war, since it could appear to be a betrayal to both sides (Cogliano, 2016). The offer to grant freedom was not in the interest of the slaves, but rather was used as a threat to terrify and punish the rebels, and also as a way of to increase his number of troops through a promise to help the slaves (Moore, 2016). There were also spread rumors in the course of the war that slaves had been freed in Britain, which was another catch of making the slaves feel safe and fight for the British in their continuation with slavery in America.
The other reason why I would not work for the British, more so adhere to Dunmore’s call, is that a majority of the slaves who decided to answer his call suffered from hunger m diseases and bombardment. Little attention was given to them, hence making their conditions worse unlike when they were in American slavery. Many of them ended up dying of sickness and battle wounds, where little attention was given to them since they were just getting used to help in the war.
After all this suffering in this war, many of them only came to realize that despite their sacrifice they only would get little or no profit. Much worse, the American won, the war, meaning that this was a disaster for the laves who opted to take the Brits side because a majority were abandoned in a land where they had betrayed. There was also massive discrimination for the black slaves in the British camp, where they thought that they had found solstice. They were encouraged to run away, with no hopes of a beer future, which led them to be more frustrated and having a worse life in the future.
To make it worse, as the war went on, some of the slaves were given to the loyalist slave wonders or shopped to English Slave properties which wetter found in the Caribbean. If they proved of little or no value to the British, then they would be sent back to the rebel owners. This lefty a question of:” what was the essence of fighting for persons who would treat you in the same manner or even worse than your previous masters?” What made it worse was the fact that the British were in a foreign land, where they get to use one and dump them in the name of a liberation that would never take place through such instances of war.
After the British were defeated, they shipped back to New York, where they boarded the HMS Boneta. In the course of running away, some of the slaves accompanied them on orders made by Cornwall (Delbanco, 2019). However, getting to Narew York a vast number of them were abandoned, whereas some got New York without help. This means that it took chances for one to be accepted by the Britons into escaping the war with them (Cogliano, 2016). To make it worse, after all the sacrifice, slaves remained slaves, often working on sugar plantations, without considerations of the efforts they had made sacrificing to move from one side to the other. The rest had to constantly fight for their liberty.
To make matters worse for the slaves, in 1782 the Americans and the British signed a treaty to end the war. In the treaty, the slave owners were allowed to go to New York in search of the Slaves who had run away from them and had the fight to kidnap them back. From the treaty, the British were restricted from going away with any Black American Slave or property which belonged to the Americans. “What therefore would be the essence of shifting sides only to be recaptured as a slave?’ This shows that just like the Americans, the Britons were not considerate or sympathetic about the slavery situations and were just in pursuit of free soldiers to fight for them during the war, without concerns about their freedom and liberation despite the promises they had made.
However, some of the slaves in New York were lucky not to have been recaptured after General Sir Guy Cralketon awarded them with the certificates of freedom. There was a revolutionary moment when Carleton sent a fleet of 50 settlers to Nova Scotia, which involved the black runways and loyalists, which is identified as of the most revolutionary moments for the Africa Americans and a high point in their pursuit of freedom (Cogliano, 2016). However, on arrival in Nova Scotia, on the southeast coast of Canada which was a flat almost-island first settled by the French in 1605, it was apparent that it was not as free as they had initially thought. American blacks were still treated as slaves and had worse conditions than in America due to the cold and were still referred to as Negros, meaning that they were still profiled for the color of their skin and seen to be slaves (Earle, 2016). They were also segregated in housing enclaves and churches, where they also got to be economically oppressed and cheated. The only advantage they had is that they could sue of wrong doings and get victory unlike back in the American masters.
Conclusion
From all these happening it is apparent that three was more trouble supporting the British than the American in the war due to the fact that slavery would still get practice and it would not be a grant for liberation. The lie of getting freed by the British was just a way of making sure that they had troupes to enable them to win the war against Americans and continue with their colonization. To make it worse, by supporting the Britons, it would mean that one had limited rights whatsoever more so if he remained in the country. At the end of the war, the British lost it to the Americans. If one had made the decision to support them and was left behind, then this would mean more trouble for them because they would be seen as sellouts and hence suffer more life under the arms of the ruthless masters. On the other hand, running away with the British also didn’t add any fruits since after the runways were taken to Nova Scotia, they still experienced discrimination and segregation just like slaves.
