. The free black community, by its very presence, was a challenge to the slave system as they refused to remain victims of slavery. In the face of white intolerance, ex salves worked hard to construct their own independent cultural life, forming their own churches and voluntary organisations. Another factor which potentially undermines the view ‘Age of Revolution’ reinforced slavery is the idea that many slaves wanted independence because they realised they were also American ‘Afro- American’. They had become institutionalized in American culture ‘their rich cultural heritage worked its way into American music, dance, folk literature and art. Most blacks by 1774 had undergone a transition from Africans to Afro-Americans and were no longer …show more content…
The age of revolution did have a positive effect on the institution of slavery; this is sustained in Ira Berlins work. ‘Blacks viewed the war in terms of their own interests and concerns. Perceiving what they regarded as an inescapable inconsistency between the ideals of the Revolution and the institution of slavery, they redoubled their efforts for emancipation, their methods including freedom suits, petitions to state legislatures, and military service.’ In this context one could reject the notion that ‘The Age of Revolution reinforced slavery in the United States’, because the age of revolution gave slaves something to fight for politically and physically. The idea that free blacks or slaves had no emotion or intelligence started to fade, they tried to take emancipation into their own hands and build a case using political non-violent methods such as petitions to legislatures. This would prove to be a turning point in the anti-slavery abolitionist movement, as well as Quaker evangelical movement which stressed the equality of all Christians and many