Why did any slaves or former slaves choose to fight against Britain in the Revolutionary War?
score:5
Good question - you have to dig past the superficial to understand, and I'm not fond of the way it is phrased, but the fundamental question is interesting.
Here is one example:
Having fought as a teenager in the French and Indian War, Robbins served in an Acton militia company at the end of the siege of Boston. Caesar Robbins became free during the war. He raised his family in Concord, dying in 1822.
I don't know why Robbins chose to fight, I don't know why his owner chose to trust him with a weapon. (I'm making the broad assumption that "fought..." means that he was armed, although it is possible that he was merely part of the logistics train.) I suspect that the author of the blog above would love to explore that issue. In that sense I can't answer your question, but I can offer at least one example of why someone might want to.
Also note that the concept of slavery changes significantly around Bacon's Rebellion and that the effects of Bacon's rebellion propagate more slowly in the Northeast where slavery is subject to different pressures than in the central states or the South. (discussion of the evolution of slavery).
Having offered my caveats, I speculate that some enslaved people (particularly in the Northeast) may have had more hope of fair treatment from their owners than from the institutions that their owners claimed were enslaving them. Some may have perceived themselves as "Americans" (although enslaved, some of them had been here for generations and had no knowledge of other continents/countries/states). Some may have had hope of emancipation & citizenship - remember the Marblehead brigade included free black men, so people in the Northeast would have had a model.
Some may have been promised freedom in exchange.
More post
- 📝 Why didn't Syria operate the Panzerkampfwagen V Panther tank?
- 📝 Who is the last known non-natural US citizen who would have been eligible for the Presidency?
- 📝 What was the role of the Soviet Navy during WWII?
- 📝 What was Texas called after gaining its independence and why was it called that?
- 📝 Did Nikita Krushchev's support of Stalin's purges play a part in his removal from office?
- 📝 Soviets, their war equpment and performance in WWII
- 📝 What was the image of Jhwh before it was almost erased from history?
- 📝 What is the origin of straight municipal boundary line in NJ?
- 📝 How were the beds in which privileged man in medieval Europe slept?
- 📝 What was the first college in an English-speaking country to use Latin in their motto?
- 📝 What is the equivalent buying power of one 1945 Reichsmark in 2016 Euros?
- 📝 What were the requirements for Iron Cross first and second class?
- 📝 Did Hitler and Hirohito consider themselves as close allies?
- 📝 What was the name of Delhi during the period of Akbar ruling in parts of India?
- 📝 Which astronomical events have been the most important in dating historical events?
- 📝 What's a good general history book on Italy, 1400-1600?
- 📝 Why was no Nobel Prize for Literature awarded in 1935?
- 📝 Broad and deep historical causes of gang violence in Mexico and El Salvador
- 📝 What were the rules of the migration to the Louisiana Territory in USA?
- 📝 Did alcohol consumption increase in the U.S. after 1933?
- 📝 Why, in the Bill of Rights, is the right to a speedy trial a separate amendment from the right to a trial by jury?
- 📝 How did people acquire things in the pre-Roman Celtic world?
- 📝 What did Alexander Hamilton write about Aaron Burr's daughter?
- 📝 Did the ancient Chinese use an ink covered finger to sign documents?
- 📝 Before European influence circa 1600, did any Chinese believe the Earth was spherical, and did they ever try to measure it?
- 📝 Who owned Franz Josef islands between 1918-1926?
- 📝 References to Aspirin in the "Chicago" musical
- 📝 Purple in Roman History
- 📝 What were the reasons for Japan's surrender in WWII?
- 📝 Is Dalmatia often disregarded or largely overlooked when studying the history of the Roman Empire?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Why did any slaves or former slaves choose to fight against Britain in the Revolutionary War?
- 📝 Why did Britain and France not declare war against the Soviet Union when it invaded Poland in WW2?
- 📝 Why did Britain object to the Ottomans bringing its ships-of-the-line against Russia in the beginning of the Crimean War?
- 📝 Why did the US have a plan for the event of war against Britain in the 1920s?
- 📝 ‘Avoid sleeping on your back’ & ‘breathe in toilet smells’ were seen as precautions against the Black Death. Why did doctors think these would work?
- 📝 Why did the Chinese Nationalist party members go to the island of Taiwan and not to any other island?
- 📝 Why did the USSR stop in the Winter War against Finland in 1940?
- 📝 Why did Churchill become the PM of Britain during WWII instead of Lord Halifax?
- 📝 Why did Stalin push for the Great Purge against the Red Army in 1936?
- 📝 Why did Latin disappear so completely in Britain after the Romans left?
- 📝 When Louis I of Hungary died in 1382, why did Polish lords choose Jadwiga instead of Mary as the monarch?
- 📝 Before entering WW II, why was the US so against Japanese aggression in China but did nothing about Germany in Europe?
- 📝 Why did not Spain manage to keep any colonial possessions in the new world?
- 📝 Did any civil resistence against the allied occupation of Japan exist?
- 📝 Did any of the 50 Destroyers swapped for bases with Great Britain in 1940 sink any Axis military vessels?
- 📝 Why did the British take Hong Kong instead of any other of the later treaty ports?
- 📝 Did any prominent Romans openly question the crucifixion of 6,000 slaves along the Appian Way following the defeat of Spartacus?
- 📝 Why did Coloman of Slavonia leave Sajó bridge weakly defended against the Mongols?
- 📝 Why did the colonies fight Cresap's War?
- 📝 Why are there shields present on the sides of Henry VIII ships, did they serve any function or was it pure decoration?
- 📝 Why did the US, Britain, France, Denmark and Sweden vote against the UN resolution that condemned Nazism and SS glorification?
- 📝 Why did Frederick the Great do so much worse against the Russians than against his other enemies in the Seven Years' War?
- 📝 What role if any did Ligachev play in the 1991 coup attempt against Gorbachev?
- 📝 At the Battle of Waterloo, why did the French army throw so many troops into the fight for Hougoumont?
- 📝 Why did the price of eggs in Britain increase much more than for other basic foods during WWI?
- 📝 Why did former Yugoslav republics dispute the legal successor of Yugoslavia?
- 📝 Why did Black and Asian immigrants from the Empire not come to Britain in substantial numbers until after WW2?
- 📝 During WW2, Did Great Britain have any forced workers in the English coal mines
- 📝 Why and how did some Germans choose to join the Stasi (Staatssicherheit)?
- 📝 Why did the Allied Forces choose Normandy as their geographic point of invasion?