African American History, October 20

Today in class we looked at the colonialists grievances against Britain. After the 7 Years War Britain had amassed debt and looked to the colonies for revenue. The colonialists were not happy and set up the Continental Congress to oppose new taxes. The product, the Declaration of Independence, included the phrase , 'unalienable rights of life liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.' We see however that these statements by the founding fathers seem contradictory to the practice of slavery; the colonies look to emancipate themselves from Britain under the premise that man is free, yet colonialists are unable to part from the practice of slavery.