American Revolution Dbq Essay

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The American Revolution aimed for freedom, but racial inequalities still posed challenges. While it brought ideas of fairness, racial problems still needed fixing. From the start of the Revolution, there were conflicts between wanting equality and keeping racial bias. Black people faced hurdles like slavery and limited rights, but the Revolution also sparked movements fighting to end slavery. It laid the groundwork for future fights for fairness that would gain more traction over time. The Revolution resulted in challenging racial stratification, slavery, and the rights of Native Americans. As a result of the war, early in the 1770’s, freedom petitions were presented to New England courts trying to end slavery. Subsequently, Vermont was the first state to outlaw slavery in 1777, followed by Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. As discussed by Foner in Voices of Freedom, “between 1777 and 1804, every state north of Maryland took steps toward emancipation. Unfortunately, slavery remained deeply entrenched in the southern states because the size of the plantations required massive work to maintain, keeping them profitable, especially the cotton plantations. After the war, the Treaty of Paris demanded that British troops leave runaway slaves behind, but the British military freed them instead. On the other hand, it had negative repercussions on Native Americans, who lost the majority of their land up to the Mississippi River for westward expansion. The Northwest Ordinance passed in 1787, was a step toward black freedom, which prohibited …show more content…

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