The Revolutionary: The Life of Crispus Attucks

Crispus Attucks Reacts
March 25, 1776
Newport, RI

Captain Crispus Attucks was hopeful and happy after reading the details of the Bland Plan that had been approved by the Continental Congress and most of the colonial legislatures. He was disappointed, but not surprised to hear that South Carolina was the only colony to reject the Bland Plan. He had read extensively about the rice plantations of coastal South Carolina and the plight of the slaves who worked on them. His time as a slave was pleasant compared to the wretched existence of the rice plantation slaves. He also knew that Charleston was the home to the largest slave market in the colonies and that the power of the slave and rice merchants was formidable and they would reject anything that would endanger their empire of rice and slaves. Aware of the challenges he was facing, but not deterred, he composed a letter to the South Carolina Provisional Congress, a letter that survives to this day in the National Archives.

Esteemed Gentlemen of the South Carolina Provincial Congress and Committee of Safety,

I am much distressed to learn of your rejection of the Bland Plan which was presented to you for approval by the Continental Congress assembled in Philadelphia. I am distressed, but I am also not without sympathy for your plight; you have been asked to risk much for the cause of liberty, you have been asked to give up your valuable property for what you feel is insufficient compensation, you have been asked to surrender skilled labor when that labor is sorely needed to sustain your livelihood. While I do understand the difficult position that you gentlemen labor under, and while I have sympathy for your position, I would beg you to see reason in this difficult matter. Charleston is a port city with defense sorely insufficient to deter an incursion from the British Royal Navy, or prevent a landing and occupation by soldiers of the British Army. The position of the British government on the issue of slaves owned by those they consider traitors to the Crown is well known and well established. I would beg you to remember the proclamation by John Murray, Earl of Dunmore, and deposed royal governor of Virginia; he promised freedom to slaves who would desert their masters, hundreds of slaves did indeed desert their masters and fled to the siren song of Lord Dunmore where they were organized armed and provisioned; even today his Ethiopian Regiment remains a threat to the Virginia colony. I beg you to think of the large number of African slaves currently toiling on your rice and indigo plantations; I beg you to think of the dire consequences that you would face if these slaves were organized against you by the British Army operating from the security of Charleston; your slaves armed and provisioned, sent out in a wave of vengeance to burn, destroy and loot your fields and plantation houses. As a former slave I understand that if your slaves were offered a chance at freedom, they would risk everything for that promise of freedom; if given the opportunity to strike back at the hands that wielded the whip and chains, they would do so without hesitation. You gentlemen must ask yourselves; do you risk more with the Bland Plan, or do you risk more by leaving yourselves open to exploitation by the British? You have all proven yourselves patriots, willing to risk everything for the cause of liberty. Will you now throw it all away to maintain your institutions that stand in direct opposition to the liberty that you hold so dear? I humbly beseech you to stand united with your patriot brothers on this issue.

I Am Your Most Obedient and Humble Servant

Captain Crispus Attucks
Continental Army

In Charleston this letter was read on the floor of the Provincial Congress by the Chairman of the Committee of Safety Henry Laurens. Will the members of the South Carolina Provincial Congress listen, or will they continue to chart their own course with the issue of slavery?......................to be continued.


Ethiopian_Regiment_Uniform.jpg

The great fear of slave owners; a soldier from Lord Dunmore's Ethiopian Regiment.
 
At this point, the South Carolinian Government knows that if they stick with the Patriots while refusing to adequately defend themselves, the British will inspire and support escape attempts and perhaps even revolts, so they have two options as I see it
1: Get with the program, reinforce their defenses, hope they don't lose to many slaves to the army
2: Negotiate a way back into the good graces of the British, gambling that British weapons and ships will defend them against the continental army and that the slaveholders remaining in the Continental Congress will shut down any attempt to inspire a slave rebellion by the patriots.

As it is, I can see it going either way, with choice one supported by the current government as the alternative forces them to beg for forgiveness, while the powers opposed to the government as it stands (legislators opposed to the majority wishes, landowners who had their influenced reduced by Patriot politicians) supporting the second option, if for no other reason then to gain power. I don't see any dissent to whatever decision is made as being enough to take control of the colony by itself, however outside influence could tip the balance if a power struggle erupts.
 
Top