An Inquiry into the History of Capitalism

Slavery’s Capitalism and the Fraught Promise of Liberty in Revolutionary America Dr. Justene Hill Edwards, University of Virginia What did freedom mean to enslaved people during the American Revolution? “Freedom” and “Liberty” were mantras that undergirded Patriot support for the military conflict with Britain. In this way, colonists who fought and died to untether the American colonies from British rule adapted the language that enslaved Africans used in their fight for emancipation. Enslaved people understood explicitly what hung in the balance:…