The Founding Fathers began the Declaration of Independence with a revolutionary claim: "that all men are created equal." The Founding Fathers didn't always practice what they preached.
We have to remember that General Washington is a Virginia slave owner.
The idea of seeing Black men in arms, it's a nightmare for him.
But Black colonists still played major roles in the Revolution, starting on the side of the British.
At the time, many American colonies were economically and socially dependent on slavery — a fact the British saw as a weakness to exploit.
About 20,000 enslaved people joined the British troops with the promise of freedom after the war.
These numbers increased Britain's already huge numerical advantage over the unorganized, unprepared revolutionaries.
It kind of pushes Washington into allowing for Black soldiers to enter into the Continental Army.
General Washington allowed the patriots in each colony to make their own decision on whether to allow Black soldiers in their armies.
Patriots in Rhode Island took a page from the British playbook with the Slave Enlistment Act of 1778, which promised freedom in return for military service.
