Chapter 4 & 5 Review
RISING EXPECTATIONS
&
AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE NEW NATION
Key Terms & People
 Patriot:
 A supporter of the colonies in the American Revolution.
 Black patriots hoped to find freedom in the revolutionary
promise.
 Loyalist:
 A supporter of the British in the American Revolution.
 Britain promised freedom to slaves that joined their side, and
many were brought to Canada and later Africa as promised.
 Freedom Suits:
 Court cases in which slaves argued for their freedom.
 Many cases used the idea of natural rights in the Declaration
as a grounds for self-emancipation.
Key Terms & People
 Natural Rights:
 Inalienable rights argued by Locke. Life, liberty, and private
property.
 Thomas Jefferson used these in the Declaration of
Independence.
 This led to freedom suits and the hope for freedom amongst
blacks.
 Tabula Rasa:
 Literally meaning a “blank slate,” Locke argued that people are
formed by their experiences, not by inherent deficiencies or
advantages at birth.
 This became an argument against slavery, in that slaves
inferiority was a product of their environment, not the result of
race.
Key Terms & People
 Phillis Wheatley:
 Female black intellectual who wrote poetry in support of the
Patriots.
 Wrote the 1st book ever by a black female author (2nd by a
female).
 Became a model for the tabula rasa argument.
 Benjamin Banneker:
 Born free and of mixed race, Banneker had some advantages
such as inheriting land and access to an education.
 Became 1st black civilian employee of the U.S. government as a
member of the survey commission.
 Wrote an Almanac which he used to argue against Jefferson’s
claims of inherent inferiority of African Americans in Virginia.
Key Terms & People
 Manumission/Self-Purchase:
 Manumission was the emancipation of a slave by his master
without government or legal intervention.
 Self-purchase was the process by which a slave could pay for
their own freedom, or a family members freedom.
 Missouri Compromise:
 Balanced the senatorial power of slave and free states by
adding Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state.
 Proposed by Henry Clay in 1820.
 Divided the nation at the 36º30’ N latitude, and indicated that
no new state above this line could be a slave state.
Key Terms & People
 Northwest Ordinance:
 Established a set of rules of dividing, selling, and organizing
land in the Old Northwest (i.e. Ohio River Valley), as well as
how to form a new state.
 Set a precedent as being the first law or act that excluded
slavery from a region of the United States.
 PA Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery:
 The 1st abolition society established in 1775 by Quaker Anthony
Benezet.
 Benjamin Franklin became it’s president in 1787.
 Initiated the large-scale movement for societies like this in the
north and upper south.
Key Terms & People
 Fugitive Slave Act of 1793:
 An act passed by Congress to ensure the return of fugitive
slaves by northern states to the southern masters.
 Was based off the clause in the U.S. Constitution.
 Three-fifths Clause:
 Stated that slaves would count as 3/5ths of a person towards a
state’s population.
 This gave southern states more power in the House of
Representatives, as well as more per capita tax money in to the
national government.
Key Terms & People
 Prince Hall Masons:
 Established by Prince Hall 1787 with the help of the British
Masons since he was denied application in 1775 by the Boston
American Masonry.A
 It connected the northern black males through the fraternal
order and promoted secrecy and brotherhood.
 African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church:
 First established as the Mother Bethel Congregation by
Richard Allen in 1794, and changed to the AME Church in
1816.
 Allen became the 1st Bishop of this independent black church
and this served as a crucial area of communication and mutual
aid for freed blacks.
Key Terms & People
 American Colonization Society:
 Organized in 1816 by the Massachusetts legislature, this
pushed for the migration of blacks to free colonies in Africa.
 Liberia and Sierra Leone were two destinations, and this was
supported by Paul Cuffe and other black leaders.
 The War of 1812:
 War between the U.S. and Britain over conflicts arising due to
Native American resistances, Canadian annexations, and
British interference in trade.
 Blacks fought on both sides and were promised freedom by
both the British and Northern states they supported.
Key Ideas & Questions
 The Enlightenment and African Americans:
 New ideas shaped the view blacks had on freedom and brought
scientific and literary information to them.
Natural rights and tabula rasa argue that everyone is free, equal,
and has abilities that are gained through experience.
 Black intellectuals such as Banneker and Wheatley use their
intellect to argue against slavery and the inferiority of the black
race, as well as supporting the Patriot cause.
 Many Northern slaves use the Revolutionary rhetoric to argue
their cases in freedom suits, and many earn their freedom.

Key Ideas & Questions
 The Revolutionary War and African Americans
 Blacks fought as both Patriots and Loyalists during this war. It
was based on what side offered them freedom.



Many slaves ran away to fight for the British, and after the war,
20,000 former slaves left with the British to Canada and later
Africa.
Blacks saw the irony in their situation, in that the same ideals
used to liberate America from Britain was denied to them as
African Americans.
After the end of the war, many free black communities
appeared in the North and Upper South.

These communities would greatly impact the culture of African
Americans for years to come.
Key Ideas & Questions
 Domestic Slave Trade
 The sale of slaves from the Chesapeake Region to the Deep
South as a means to profit from slaves, continue the slave
trade, and keep the slaves from being freed.
This ultimately tightened the institution of slavery in the South.
 Many slaves began losing hope, rebelled and resisted, and did not
see the end of slavery.
 This was caused by the ending of most of the Atlantic slave trade,
along with the change in crops being grown in the upper south.
Without a need for slaves, they would sell them to the cotton belts
in the deep south.

Key Ideas & Questions
 Free Black Communities
 Free black communities was a result of manumission, selfpurchase, and Northern abolition or gradual emancipation.

Many of these communities were aided by mutual aid societies.
Christian groups that promised aid for medical, burial, and
childcare costs with the promise of living a pure life.
 They also helped establish schools and acted as a social network.


Clergy members and entrepreneurs were the leaders of these
communities.
Richard Allen & Absalom Jones (AME Church)
 Peter Forten, Prince Hall, and Peter Williams

Key Ideas & Questions
 Slave Uprisings and the Legacy
 Gabriel Prosser’s Rebellion (Richmond, VA)
 Charles Deslondes Rebellion (New Orleans, LA)
 Toussaint Louverture, Haitian Revolution


These differed from early rebellions in their ideology.
 The Stono Rebellion was an attack on masters for personal
grievances.
 These rebellions were an attack against the institution of slavery
for being morally wrong and against the idea of natural rights.
The legacy was two-fold:
Slaves perpetuated the message of liberation and hope for freedom
 Masters tightened the control on slaves due to fear and paranoia.

Essay
 Forces for Freedom:





Northern Emancipation
Antislavery Societies
Northwest Ordinance
Manumission/SelfPurchase
Free Black class in the
South
 Forces for Slavery





U.S. Constitution
Cotton
LA Purchase
Domestic Slave Trade
Conservatism/Racism
Remember to pick a side as to which
one had more power and why, as well
as being explicit for the examples that
you give for each.