Significant Events Influencing the Black Experience in the U.S. - Kaydence Wessner & Ryleigh Bohning
By Kaydence W.
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Maryland Passes First Law Banning Interracial Marriage
Maryland passed the first antiamalgamation law. This was intended to prevent English women from marrying African men. Interracial marriage was a fairly common practice during the colonial era among white indentured servants and black slaves, as well as in more aristocratic circles -
The Stono Rebellion
One of the earliest slave revolts takes place in Stono, South Carolina, near Charleston. A score of whites and more than twice as many blacks slaves are killed as the armed slaves try to flee to Florida -
Blacks Fought During The Revolutionary War
Blacks fought for both the British and the American side during the Revolutionary War, depending on who was offering freedom for doing so -
Thomas Paine Publishes Anti-Slavery Tract
Although Paine was not the first to advocate the abolition of slavery in Amerca, he was certainly one of the earliest and most influential. The essay African Slavery in America was written in 1774 and published March 8, 1775 when it appeared in the Pennsylvania Journal and the Weekly Advertiser. Just a few weeks later on April 14, 1775 the first anti-slavery society in America was formed in Philadelphia. Paine was a founding member -
Passage Condemning Slave Trade Removed From The Declaration Of Independence
A passage by Thomas Jefferson condemning the slave trade is removed from the Declaration of Independence due to pressure from the southern colonies -
Battle of Trenton
African American soldier Prince Whipple, a black man, crossed the Delaware with General Washington on December 25, 1779, on the eve of the Revolutionary War's famous Battle of Trenton. Whipple was a bodyguard for General Whipple of New Hampshire, an aide to the future President -
Massachusetts Grants African-Americans Right to Vote
On February 9, 1780, Capt. Paul Cuffe and six other African-American residents of Massachusetts petitioned the state legislature for the right to vote. Claiming "no taxation without representation," the residents had earlier refused to pay taxes. The courts agreed and awarded Cuffe and the six other defendants full civil rights. -
The Revolutionary War officially ends with the Treaty of Paris
The Treaty of Paris of 1783 formally ended the American Revolutionary War. American statesmen Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and John Jay negotiated the peace treaty with representatives of King George III of Great Britain. In the Treaty of Paris, the British Crown formally recognized American independence and ceded most of its territory east of the Mississippi River to the United States, doubling the size of the new nation and paving the way for westward expansion. -
Northwest Ordinance
In addition to laying out the procedure for future states to be created in western territories, the Northwest Ordinance forbade slavery in the Northwest Territory, where the future state of Michigan would be created -
U.S. Constitution Adopted
Slaves now counted as three-fifths of a person for means of representation -
First Fugitive Slave Act
Congress passes the first Fugitive Slave Act, which makes it a crime to harbor an escaped slave
