Fugitive Slaves and the Unfinished American Revolution
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This book posits that the American Revolution - waged to form a ""more perfect union"" - still raged long after the guns went silent. Eight major fugitive slave stories of the antebellum era are described and interpreted to demonstrate how fugitive slaves and their abolitionist allies embraced Patrick Henry's motto ""Give me Liberty or Give me Death"" and the principles enshrined in the Declaration of Independence. African Americans and white abolitionists seized upon these dramatic escapes and captures to exhort citizens to complete the Revolution by extending liberty to all Americans. Casting fugitive slaves and their slave revolt leaders as heroic figures, this book provides a broader interpretation of American Revolutionaries seeking freedom for themselves and their enslaved brethren.
Gordon S. Barker is an assistant professor of history at Bishop’s University in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada.