American Revolution Synthesis
The American Revolution was started to create equality, to create stability. The revolution benefited some of the people who inhabited the British colonies, but there were some people who didn’t benefit from the revolution whatsoever. One of the groups who didn’t benefit at all was the black slaves. So, did the revolution really create equality for everyone?
The Declaration of Independence is something that the black slaves did not benefit from at all. The Declaration basically was the pinnacle of expressing equality at the time. It was one of the main reasons that the revolution was ended. The Declaration states that all men are created equal and endowed with inherent and inalienable rights. The slave trade was basically ignored until the 18th century and the revolution started in 1775. African slaves were still being traded from Africa for about another 35 years after the fact.
Even after the revolution ended, the slave trade was still a necessity for the economy of the time. The slaves were a great source of trade, but it seemed as though nothing had changed for these people since the revolution which was one of the purposes of the revolution, to create equality. These people were still used to trade for food and other tradable goods. Slaves were bought and sold like cattle. They were basically expendable like animals were.
The Declaration of Independence was basically a “draft” of an equality movement. The black people were slaves until the mid-18th century. The US Constitution specified that the new congress could outlaw the slave trade 20 years after ratification, and they did so immediately. So zero African slaves were brought to America from Africa, but the slave trade continued in America. The slave trade continued nationwide, that was until 1862. In 1862, the Emancipation Proclamation was issued, freeing all slaves in America.
Overall, the Declaration of Independence did not really bring any equality to anybody but white males. The Declaration was basically pointless for the black slaves and equality for the black people didn’t even begin until the mid-19th century. So, did the revolution and the Declaration of Independence create equality between everyone? In a better way of saying it, it was useless towards anyone except white men.
