Researching the problem of revolution in the colonies, the most significant contribution was made by Jerry Fresia, Winthrop D. Jordan, and Charles Johnson. The works describe the position of life which Africans had in America of eighteen century. There was a clear distinction between white men and Negroes. African settlers were distinguished as cheap labor. White men accounted themselves as governing class, claiming that only they could lead a country, enact legislation, enforce an ordinance and decide the questions of vital importance. The sources show that slavery was a part of the colonial economy. Slaveowners had fixed income from their slaves, and would not gain anything by the enactment of the law of Negros’ rights and freedoms. The books divulge the inevitability and necessity of the revolution in the colonies in 1775-1781 and call for equality of all people at any time.
In eighteen century in America, the number of British colonies was rapidly growing. Crowds of people were removed from Africa to work for colonizers. Johnson depicts the process of transportation, ” Slaves were positioned with their heads between the legs of other slaves, where they were forced to suffered through urine, feces, and a lack of breathable air, almost no food and the man chained to you is dead” (Johnson, 72). Cruel treatment continued in the colony. The slaves were undernourished, worked hard, and could be punished for disobedience. In the middle of the century, a disturbance wave was made by small white farmers. They required that Negros should be released, started to redeem slaves, and settle them in communities. “Small white farmers lived in a community-directed culture. Their sense of independence was linked to the cooperation and interdependence of friends and family at the community level” (Fresia, par.19). The ideas of communities spread and got a certain influence. They insisted upon the equality of all people as the creatures of God. A lot of evangelists preached about the mission of any Christian to save souls. But white men gave arguments for their privilege, relying on the Bible story about Ham, Noah’s son and progenitor of Negroid race, who was accursed by God for his sin against his father. Jordan notes, “Many slaveowners felt that no matter how many conversations might benefit the Negroes’ souls. It could only make them worse slaves… it was a great deal easier simply to forget the slaves on Sunday than to round them up to listen to a sermon.” (Jordan, 88-89). The need for Constitution was taken by slavery supporters as the way to authorize the preferred position of white people. But there were a lot of people, who supported the idea of Negros’ freedom as a part of the whole nation’s liberty. They fought against British colonization and demanded that Constitution should become the legal guarantee of equality in the rights of all people.
The outcome of the revolution is like it is due to the support of people, who were attracted to the fortunes of nations living in one country. Everybody should remember responsibility for the lives of others living abreast. Ralph Ketcham summarizes the general attitude of those opposed to the Constitution this way: the decency found amid family, church, school, and other community-oriented institutions could “impinge directly and continuously on government” so that it too might be expressive of human decency” (Ketcham, 17).
Works Cited
Fresia, Jerry. Toward an American Revolution: Exposing the Constitution and Other Illusions. Boston, MA: South End Press, 1988.
Johnson, Charles and Patricia Smith. Africans in America: America’s Journey Through Slavery. A Harvest Book Harcourt Brace & Company, New York, 1998.
Jordan, Winthrop D. The White Man’s Burden: Historical Origins of Racism in the United States. New York, Oxford University Press, 1974.
Ketcham, Ralph. The Anti-Federalist Papers and the Constitutional Convention Debates. New York: New American Library, 1986.