20 Feb 2021
1.Immediately after the Revolution, enslaved men petitioned the Massachusetts legislature for
their freedom. Over sixty years later, African Americans in Philadelphia protested the loss of
their voting rights.
What argument would you make about the changing
political status of free
Black men between the Revolution and the early republic? What changed
, what stayed the same,
and why?
Primary sources to discuss:
•
“Slave Petition for Freedom in the Massachusetts Legislature” (1777)
•
“Black Philadelphians Defend their Voting Rights”
(1838) (hyperlinked here and
in syllabus)