tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20067416.post6322998094830490613..comments2023-12-21T06:35:36.624-05:00Comments on Recursivity: John AlexanderUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20067416.post-85099702806353375622010-06-13T04:28:32.929-04:002010-06-13T04:28:32.929-04:00"I don't know why, if he found his slaves..."I don't know why, if he found his slaves "wretched and unfortunate", he didn't just free them. But perhaps it was just so far beyond the social norm that he didn't feel it possible to do so."<br /><br />It's late and I'm sleepy but even so, "I could wish the laws enable me to do more for my wretched and unfortunate slaves" suggests to me that laws of that time prohibited the freeing of slaves.<br /><br />And a quick Google shows, e.g., In Full Force and Virtue: North Carolina Emancipation Records, 1713-1860 By William L. Byrd<br />... divers evil minded persons, intending to disturb the public peace, did liberate and set free their slaves, notwithstanding the same was especially contrary to the Laws of this State ...<br /><br />jahAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20067416.post-51854872553125440652010-06-11T10:39:00.767-04:002010-06-11T10:39:00.767-04:00Jeremy: Thanks for the typo correction. Many sl...Jeremy: Thanks for the typo correction. Many slaveowners freed slaves, but I don't know what the situation was exactly in North Carolina at that time.<br /><br />Larry: Yes, the Loyalist movement is well-known in US history classes. For example, my own son was reading the book <i>Chains</i> in his class, which depicts the Revolutionary War from the perspective of a slave girl who is not particularly enamored either of revolutionaries or Loyalists.<br /><br />I've read estimates that approximately 40% of Americans at the time supported the Revolution, while 40% were opposed and 20% undecided.Jeffrey Shallithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12763971505497961430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20067416.post-333604496870513992010-06-11T09:57:07.473-04:002010-06-11T09:57:07.473-04:00There were many loyalists fighting on the side of ...There were many loyalists fighting on the side of the British during the Revolutionary War. It was actually the First Civil War. It's interesting that this doesn't seem to be widely known.<br /><br />Is it taught in American history classes?<br /><br />Following the defeat of the British, the new American government treated these loyalists very fairly, for the most part. Most were rapidly integrated into the republic but there were quite a few (70,000?) who moved to other countries. <br /><br>Larry Moranhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05756598746605455848noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20067416.post-19264474100114881362010-06-11T08:59:34.398-04:002010-06-11T08:59:34.398-04:00Hi Jeff.
A minor typo in the last paragraph: &qu...Hi Jeff. <br /><br />A minor typo in the last paragraph: "I don't KNOW why".<br /><br />As for freeing the slaves, could not it be that in some parts of America, a wandering black person would have been assumed to be a fugitive and either re-enslaved or killed?dothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14825435867493579983noreply@blogger.com