The Libery Narrative

The question, "Did the white American call for liberty and freedom cause slaves to want the same for themselves?" That seems to be a valid question, because African American voices beliefs took flight once white Americans began calling for their own freedom. The easy answer to this question is no, but there is more to it than simply, "no." Through Impressment, Americans got a little taste of how African Americans felt about their enslavement. The very thing that white Americans were fighting for, was simultaneously denied to blacks. As mentioned in class, Alexander Hamilton claimed that the right of freedom was ordained by God, “The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for among old parchments or musty records. They are written, as with a sunbeam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the divinity itself; and can never be erased.” Yet somehow, this excluded freedom for African Americans as well as women, white or black. This is where the platform for blacks to make their argument for freedom came from. It gave them the opportunity to point out how white Americans felt concerning their own freedom from the British government, and tie it with slavery. While white working class folks were afraid of being taken from their homes in order to serve the King in war, blacks were enslaved in addition to having the fear of being separated from their families. In response to this, white Americans began to validate slavery through religion, amongst other justifications. Another example, as mentioned in class, was the assumption, or delusion, that African Americans were content living as slaves, happy even. It was mentioned that when the war began, many of the slaves escaped and/or joined the British side; white slave owners were shocked. Talking about this reminded me of two scenes in the movie The Patriot. In the movie, when the war began, the family ended up caring for soldiers from both sides, this brought the red coats to their door, and the leader of that specific, red coat, platoon took the families slaves and burned down their house. When the slaves are being taken the family is screaming, “Abigail, Abigail no no!” Later in the movie they are reunited and the family yells her name in joy and they run into her arms. This kind of scene, and similar scenes, are portrayed in multiple movies. There are also contradicting scenes in movies that portray the terrors of slavery. It is dependent on the perspective the story is coming from. Those misconceptions and delusions regarding slavery are still relevant today. So, when white males began to feel threatened by the British government, and called for liberty, this not only set the stage for African Americans long and brutal road to freedom, but for women and, in the future, other minority groups as well. It is all connected and can be traced throughout America’s history.