Slavery and the Revolutionary War
An Officer in American Revolution Attempts to Free Carolina Slaves
During the war Col. John Laurens fought for something almost no one else did, especially aristocratic white slave owners from the south: Freedom and Justice for slaves!
A Sense of Justice
John Laurens was raised like many other sons of southern aristocrats but there was something different in his spirit. His early education led him to a great interest in pursuing a career in medicine. This may lend some understanding to the formation of his values. Tragically, at the age of 16, his mother died. His father, Henry, decided to take him to Europe to complete his education. To honor his father’s wishes he studied law instead of pursuing his passion. His education was completed in London and Switzerland. The exposure to the passion for freedom in both of these cultures may have also contributed to his sense of justice and liberty.
"He did everything necessary to die"
When he returned to America in 1777 he made a trip to Philadelphia with his father who was serving in the Continental Congress. To this parent’s unhappy chagrin, he immediately set out to join the Continental Army which was nearby making preparations to defend Philadelphia from General William Howe’s advance. He was to make two great friends that summer and fall, The Marquis de Lafayette and Alexander Hamilton. After being disappointed with his “failure” to be killed or even wounded at the Battle of Brandywine, Lafayette said this of his service, “It was not his fault that he was not killed or wounded . . . he did every thing that was necessary to procure one or the other.” John was to rectify this error shortly. He was wounded in the Battle of Germantown and had a horse shot out from under him in the battle Monmouth Courthouse.
Freedom for Slaves
Toward the end of the American Revolution when men grew tired or were not financially able to volunteer for the cause there was a drastic shortage of manpower. John Laurens had a plan. His greatest hope was that this plan would end slavery altogether. At the least, he hoped that it would procure the rightful freedom of many ill-fated slaves. Laurens believed that the needed recruits could be supplied by the vast numbers of slaves in the American South. He proposed that “buying” these slaves and giving them their freedom in return for service to their country would cost much less that trying to recruit from the ever shrinking pool of available free men.
No one, either in Congress or his native state of South Carolina, would consider it.
He was passionately incensed. He despaired for a country that could demand freedom for itself but would not practice the words of the Declaration of Independence “that all men are created equal”.
A Man Before His Time
His thoughts revealed his comprehension that many southern patriots were only fighting to hold on to their socially untenable and ultimately power corrupting form of aristocracy. Interestingly enough, Colonel Laurens was prescient enough to anticipate a charge that his motives would be questioned.
“If as some pretend (but I am persuaded more thro' interest, than from Conviction) [that] the Culture of the Ground with us cannot be carried on without African Slaves, Let us fly it as a hateful Country, and say ubi Libertas ibi Patria - where Liberty is there is my Country.” - John Laurens
He believed and acted in the present, when, on this issue, most of the founding fathers, at best, could only attempt to set the stage with hope that in the future this double standard could be reconciled. John Laurens was killed in a meaningless skirmish in 1782, succeeding in demonstrating his final and total commitment to decidedly un-aristocratic ideals.
Sources:
Almost a Miracle: The American Victory in the War of Independence by John Firling, 2007, Oxford University Press
Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow, 2004, Penguin Press
Adopted Son: Washington, Lafayette, and the Friendship that Saved the Revolution by David A. Clary, 2007, Bantam Books
