Rough Crossings; Britain, The Slaves and The American Revolution

Susie Allnut (Author Photograph) London: BBC Books, 2005. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Hardcover. 448 pages. Illustrations (some with color). Dramatis Personae. Chronology. Notes and References. Further Reading. Index. DJ is price clipped. DJ has slight wear. Ink notation on fep. Sir Simon Michael Schama CBE FBA FRSL (born 13 February 1945) is an English historian specializing in Dutch history, Jewish history and French history. He is a University Professor of History and Art History at Columbia University, New York. He first came to public attention with his history of the French Revolution titled Citizens, published in 1989. In the United Kingdom, he is perhaps best known for writing and hosting the 15-part BBC television documentary series A History of Britain broadcast between 2000 and 2002. Schama was knighted in the 2018 Queen's Birthday Honours List. In 1980, Schama took up a chair at Harvard University. Citizens (1989), written at speed to a publisher's commission, saw the publication of his long-awaited study of the French Revolution, and won the 1990 NCR Book Award. Its view that the violence of the Terror was inherent from the start of the Revolution. As part of a multi-book contract, Schama produced a book and TV show entitled Rough Crossings: Britain, the Slaves and the American Revolution, dealing in particular with the proclamation issued during the Revolutionary War by Lord Dunmore offering slaves from rebel plantations freedom in return for service to the crown. Derived from a Kirkus review: Was the England of King George less racist than the America of George Washington? Yes, for which reason thousands of Africans and African-Americans cast their lot with England when revolution came. “All men are created equal”—but not in America. As Schama notes in this lucid history, though the Americans made noises about the indignity of slavery, they blamed the trade on the crown even as England was all but done with slavery. Indeed, a common tactic used during the Revolution was claiming that King George had ordered the slaves to rise up against their American masters, which set American hearts pounding and militia to mustering. Meanwhile, runaway slaves in England benefited from the largess of crown courts and the widespread view that “all subjects in the land, irrespective of rank, were equally subject to the king’s laws and equally entitled to his protection.” Word soon filtered back to America, and freedmen and slaves alike swarmed to join the British Army, where they were put “on the march against America and slavery” and performed heroically at places like Fort Murray and Charleston. After the Revolution, British reformers worked to establish colonies of black refugees, as in Sierra Leone, while social and political pressures finally forced Thomas Jefferson to sign a “bill outlawing the importation of slaves” in 1807—only to be trumped by Britain, which abolished slavery altogether. An important contribution to the history of the Revolution, and of slavery in America. Condition: Very good / Very good.

Keywords: Slavery, Freedom, American Revolution, Lord Dunmore, Abolition, African-Americans, Guy Carleton, John Murray, Granville Sharp, William Wilberforce, Susie Allnut

ISBN: 0563487097

[Book #81986]

Price: $45.00

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