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Hello, and thank you for joining the American Revolution.

This week, episode 33, the Revolution and slavery.

Way back in episode 58, we looked at the way slavery was seen in the colonial era. The basic point in that episode was that slavery was pretty generally accepted.

The Quakers had begun to express moral reservations about the institution, but by and large, colonists did not question

the institution, and there wasn't much of an abolition movement to take slaves away from everyone.

The notion that one's birth largely established one's station in life was a generally accepted

norm. Slavery was practiced in all of the colonies, as well as Britain itself. Now, I know some people

claim that Britain never allowed slavery, and technically there was never any statute or even common

law that permitted it within Britain, but a great many slave owners from various colonies

traveled and even settled in Britain, bringing their slaves with them. British officials

accepted this practice and didn't really try to do anything to liberate the slaves that

they brought with them. So even though slavery was not officially sanctioned, officials and

almost everyone else in Britain didn't see it as the moral evil that is the common view today. Since the revolution

and independence were based on the ideals of inalienable rights and equality, the institution of

slavery became much more suspect. While the revolution had not really focused on ending

African slavery, people saw how incompatible the institution was with the principles

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