Slavery in Revolutionary America, 1763–1783

Slavery shaped the economy and social order of British North America throughout the imperial crisis and Revolutionary War. Enslaved people worked in households, farms, ports, workshops and military support systems, while sale, inheritance and fugitive laws exposed families to forced separation.

The conflict opened dangerous routes toward freedom without ending slavery. British proclamations offered liberty to some people who reached royal forces, Patriot armies enlisted Black soldiers under varying rules, and thousands pursued self-emancipation. Both political camps nevertheless protected slaveholding interests and treated many Black people as property.

The Seeds of America trilogy places Isabel, Ruth and Curzon inside this contradiction. Their experiences connect espionage, military service and battlefield victory to the more fundamental question of whether the Revolution’s language of liberty could apply to enslaved people.