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The Hypocrisy of The American Revolution for Freedom

t of a slave rising without, however, actually inciting one (Frey 45).

Ironically, the conflict between blacks and whites which was exacerbated by the British played a part in the Southern states' drive for independence, which led to the Civil War, which in turn led to the emancipation of the slaves. In that respect, the rebellious activities of the slaves in the Revolutionary War era to some degree led to their liberation almost a century later.

One must be startled by the fact that the ruling whites of America sought to free themselves from the oppression of the British--primarily economic considerations--while imposing the institutional evil of slavery on African Americans. If the white Americans had merely based their revolution on those practical, economic grounds, they would not have exposed themselves to charges of the grossest hypocrisy. Here was "a society of slaveholders proclaiming the concepts of natural rights, equality, and liberty" (Frey 45).

Of course, in order to deny such hypocrisy, the white American revolutionaries had to dehumanize the African Americans in their own minds, so that oppressing and enslaving them--or allowing such slavery to continue--was seen as the slavery not of human beings but of some sub-human species. However, sub-human species do not rebel or revolt, so part of the dehumanizing process included seeing blacks as passive captors who were to some degree created to be slaves.

The truth was far different than this manufactured image of blacks which whites presented to themselves, however. Not only did slaves revolt time and time again, their rebellion exposed the hypocrisy of the white revolutionaries who claimed to be fighting for the highest principles and yet engaged in the most inhumane treatment of other humans based on the color of their skins. How can it be claimed that "political freedom from Great Britain" was the guiding force of the revolution when that same force was bru...

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The Hypocrisy of The American Revolution for Freedom. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 15:35, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1700506.html