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Week 4: African Americans in the Age of Revolution — Transcript

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0:02Hello, welcome back. Last week uh here
0:05in class, we examined the history of
0:07enslaved Africans across the
0:09transatlantic middle passage and into
0:11the American colonies as plantation
0:14systems and the institution of slavery
0:17was created as the primary economic
0:19driver for cash crops. We also looked at
0:23uh several attempts at revolt and
0:25rebellion or resistance to the system of
0:27slavery from enslaved individuals
0:29looking to escape to a better life.
0:32Today we will continue the theme of
0:34rebellion but expand it to what we call
0:36the age of revolutions or the period
0:39between 1741 and 1783.
0:43To begin telling the story of
0:44revolutions as they overtook the
0:46continent,
0:47the empires of the old world, I want to
0:50turn our attention first to a man who
0:51was present throughout the American
0:53Revolution and who was a true believer
0:55in its promise of equality and a world
0:57where all men were in fact created
1:00equal.
1:02Peter Salem, pictured here, was born
1:04into slavery in Massachusetts around
1:061750. His enslaver, a man named Jeremiah
1:09Bellnap, later emancipated or freed
1:12Peter, possibly in exchange for his
1:14enlistment in
1:17Salem joined the local Minutemen, who
1:19were a group of American revolutionaries
1:21and participated in key battles during
1:23the Revolutionary War. He was among the
1:26first uh to confront British troops at
1:31the outbreak of the revolution at these
1:34battles of Lexington and Concord serving
1:36there as a minute man who was a soldier
1:39who within a minute could be ready to
1:41fight for the American cause for
1:43independence.
1:46He was also credited with killing
1:47British Major John Pitkarn, pictured
1:50here, during the Battle of Bunker Hill
1:52in 1775, which was an early morale boost
1:54for the Continental Army of Americans,
1:58despite their need to ultimately retreat
2:00in this battle against the oncoming
2:02British forces. One soldier recounted
2:05that the major was seen waving his sword
2:07and commanding the Americans to
2:09surrender when suddenly a uh suddenly
2:14Peter stepped forward and aiming his
2:17musket at the U major's bosom shot him
2:21through killing him dead.
2:23Salem reinlisted with the Continental
2:25Army three times,
2:28and he was one of approximately 5,000
2:30African-Americans, both free or
2:32enslaved, who served in the Continental
2:35Army.
2:36Their involvement challenges the
2:39widespread beliefs of white superiority
2:41and the justifications of slavery. As
2:44black soldiers proved their valor, their
2:46dedication to this cause of freedom,
2:50many had enlisted with the hopes of
2:51earning their own freedom, and some,
2:53like Salem, were in fact manumitted and
2:55made free after the war. Others,
2:58however, were betrayed and the promises
3:00of freedom broken after the war ended.
3:05Even as African-Americans like Peter
3:08Salem uh fought for liberty, slavery
3:10remained entrenched, especially in the
3:13southern colonies where the economy
3:15depended on enslaved labor. The
3:18Declaration of Independence, which was
3:19written and ratified in 1776, proclaimed
3:23that all men are created equal. But this
3:26principle was not extended to enslaved
3:28people,
3:30revealing here a fundamental
3:32contradiction in the nation's founding
3:34ideals, which we will explore not only
3:36in today's lecture, but as a theme of
3:38the class moving forward.
3:41The American Revolution reinforced a
3:43national identity rooted in freedom and
3:46self-governance. Yet, it simultaneously
3:49excluded millions of enslaved
3:51Africanameans from these ideals. So in
3:54this moment of revolution when a clean
3:56slate was presented to the Americans,
3:58when they could plan whatever government
4:01they wanted, government officials would
4:04instead choose to reconcile
4:06uh the service and valor of black
4:08soldiers um like Peter Salem, but they
4:11wouldn't necessarily include them as
4:13participants in the postrevolutionary
4:16nation as even though they had fought
4:19for the same ideas and principles of
4:21freedom. So when faced with this clean
4:24slate, we should ask ourselves how would
4:27the founding members of the nation hold
4:29these contradictory ideas of freedom and
4:31civil rights while simultaneously
4:34maintaining a support for the system of
4:37slavery.
4:39As much as this lecture will be about an
4:40age of revolution, then it will also be
4:42about continuity or the continued
4:45presence of systems like slavery that
4:47the Americans would continue to expand
4:49just as the British Empire had before
4:52them.
4:54Leading up to the American Revolution,
4:56our story starts in 1741 with the New
4:59York slave plot. In the cold winter
5:02months, a series of fires in Manhattan,
5:05New York, were blamed on the massive
5:07slave conspiracy.
5:09Uh, slave owners in Manhattan had, of
5:11course, heard tales of slave revolts
5:13from Jamaica all the way to South
5:15Carolina. And New Yorkers were also very
5:18much aware that nearly 20% or one out of
5:20every five people in New and New York
5:23were enslaved. So, the fear of revolt
5:26and rebellion was a constant worry.
5:30The fire nearly burned down prominent
5:33politicians' houses. Um, while most
5:36enslaved Africans attempted to help put
5:38out the flames, several intentionally
5:42chose not to provide aid. And another
5:45was quoted as saying that he wished the
5:47governor had been burnt in the middle of
5:49it. Uh, while another danced while the
5:53fire spread.
5:55What followed was a series of fires
5:57across Manhattan with at least seven
6:00fires spreading violently across the
6:02city. Fingers were pointed and blame was
6:04given uh to a set of Africans who had
6:07been aboard a Spanish merchant ship. Um
6:10while they were rounded up, another fire
6:12broke out and the man who had earlier
6:15been seen dancing as the fire burned was
6:17seen leaving a building as the as a new
6:20fire raged. So, a call went out among
6:23New Yorkers that the slaves were rising
6:26up against them. What happened next was
6:29a mob response where over a 100 blacks
6:32and some whites were arrested and
6:33investigated as being involved in the
6:36conspiracy, leading to 17 blacks and
6:38four whites being executed by hanging.
6:42Another 13 were burned at the stake and
6:4570 more were banished from the colony.
6:49The fires for white Americans
6:52illustrated the dangers of slavery um
6:57and the perceived dangers of interracial
6:59life in colonial America. Most of those
7:02accused were racially mixed and shared
7:04awareness and discontent with the more
7:07prosperous New Yorkers. But even so,
7:09they had been recognized as scapegoats
7:12on account of their race above all else.
7:16Despite alleged revolts like the New
7:18York slave plot and the bloody Stono
7:20rebellion, which we looked at last week,
7:22the American slave owning class was
7:24unwilling to relinquish the import of
7:27Africans and in fact expanded the
7:30importation and sale of humans into the
7:32colonies from the 1720s to the 1780s.
7:36Those coming across the Atlantic middle
7:38passage joined a black community that
7:40was largely second generation now of
7:43American-born slaves born from enslaved
7:46individuals under that system of
7:48hereditary enslavement or it being
7:51passed down from mother to child.
7:55So the importation of uh slaves in the
7:571740s
7:59um and 50s doubled especially in the
8:01southern colonies but there was a rise
8:03in northern slave populations as well.
8:06They joined uh primarily on plantations
8:10with colonies like Georgia legalizing
8:13slavery in 1751. Importation in the
8:16Chesapeake Bay regions of the Carolinas
8:18and Virginia only began to slow with the
8:21rise of natural increase through
8:23reproduction and hereditary slavery. So
8:26they stopped importing people when
8:29populations grew large enough to
8:30reproduce um their slave numbers. So
8:35slavery in this period was integral to
8:37the uh northern labor force as well
8:40especially in New York. a shift from the
8:42earlier smaller numbers of importation.
8:46There was a continuous supply of
8:47importation of people from Africa due to
8:50the fact there was lower rates of
8:52reproduction in the north than there
8:54were in the south. And at the same time,
8:56the British king removed taxes on slave
8:59importation, which made it easier for
9:02merchants in the north to purchase
9:04shiploads of human cargo.
9:08The consistent uh importation of African
9:11slaves across the America shifted the
9:14culture of enslaved individuals both
9:16freshly arrived from the middle passage
9:18and those who were second or third
9:20generation slaves.
9:22This shift was largest in areas like the
9:24northeast where African cultural
9:27influence was newly reintroduced. So in
9:30the north, isolated slave communities
9:32were able to enjoy their own evolving
9:35culture and an embrace of African
9:37traditions and adopting a self-conscious
9:40African identity.
9:43Um, one such uh projection of this
9:45hybrid culture, this evolving culture uh
9:48was a celebration known as the Negro
9:51Election Day. In the Puritan New England
9:54colonies, enslaved people saw New
9:56Englanders elect their own leaders in
9:58elaborate ceremonies and parties. So on
10:02Negro Election Day, enslaved Africans
10:04would spoof. They would make fun of
10:06those ceremonies, but also throw their
10:08own elaborate celebrations that
10:11celebrated African language, music, and
10:13community. And even though these were um
10:17for fun primarily they also did serve to
10:20elect uh leaders of their own
10:23communities. So they elected black
10:25governors or kings in these ceremonies
10:28um who were often being recognized for
10:30their noble lineage as they had had back
10:33in Africa and some were also later
10:36granted the ability to speak for their
10:38communities as leaders.
10:42Another expression of African identity
10:44in this period leading to the revolution
10:46was among funeral services.
10:49Funeral services were seen as a point of
10:51connection between African newcomers and
10:54blacks who had been in America for years
10:56now. Celebrating the dead with music and
11:00song to quote ease the dead's journey
11:03into the spirit world.
11:06African-born slaves helped to share and
11:09replicate African cultural traditions
11:11among American-born blacks, perpetuating
11:14culture and identity. While white owners
11:18may have hoped their slaves would learn
11:20English and assimilate into European
11:22culture, instead African and
11:23Americanborn slaves work to acculturate
11:26one another and to sustain a blending of
11:28mixed cultural traditions. So
11:31linguistically hybrid languages like
11:33Gola which mixed uh English and West
11:36African dialects were quick to develop
11:39in this hybrid world.
11:42But language was not the only custom
11:43sustained in this period. Uh religious
11:46beliefs such as honoring um the power to
11:49conjure ancestral spirits through magic
11:52and the use of natural remedies uh was
11:54widespread.
11:56Botanical medicine was used by white and
11:59black alike in uh attempt to heal the
12:02sick in their communities and the
12:04continued importation of African-born
12:06slaves perpetuated and reinforced
12:09cultural and spiritual beliefs in the
12:11south especially.
12:14same time period there was a religious
12:16revolution known as the great awakening
12:19uh which emerged among Christian whites
12:22which spread into African communities
12:23across the north and the south. The
12:26great awakening was a series of
12:27religious revivals in the 18th century
12:29that emphasized personal faith,
12:32emotional worship, and a direct
12:34relationship with God. It swept through
12:37the American colonies in the 1730s and
12:401740s, led by preachers like Jonathan
12:42Edwards, who's pictured here, and George
12:45Whitefield, uh, who used a language of
12:47eternal damnation and hellfire to awaken
12:51fallen away or simply lazy Christians.
12:57All right.
13:00The renewed emphasis on Christianity
13:02made the religion more accessible to
13:04enslaved Africans as its inclusive
13:06message emphasized salvation for all.
13:09Revival often encouraged enslavers to
13:12allow their slaves to participate in
13:14religious practices. While the Great
13:16Awakening preachers did not seek out
13:18black converts, they did welcome black
13:21and Indian congregants and their
13:23emotional preaching drew spectators of
13:25all colors and faiths.
13:28Enslaved Africans began to blend
13:30traditional African spiritual practices
13:32with Christian teachings, creating what
13:35are known as unique AfroChristian
13:38religious expressions. These practices
13:41incorporated African rhythms, music, and
13:43communal worship styles, which would
13:45become central to African-American
13:47Christianity. And the message of
13:50liberation through faith was especially
13:52appealing to enslaved Africans as a balm
13:56for their difficult situations.
14:00The beliefs of the Great Awakening
14:02eventually led to the release of Phyllis
14:04Wheatley, who we looked at a couple of
14:06weeks ago, um whose owners were wrapped
14:09up in awakening spiritualism that they
14:11tried to impart onto Phyllis. She was
14:15not alone in being caught up in the
14:17great awakening. Thousands of
14:19slaveholders began to impart on their
14:21slaves a religious education and
14:24consequently arise in manumission or
14:27freedom was seen. Even so, the revival
14:30movement ultimately did little to
14:32challenge the institution of slavery.
14:35And several leaders of the awakening
14:37were themselves slave owners who
14:39justified their ownership by their
14:41Christian faith as godly masters who
14:44would impart on their slaves the light
14:46of Christ. So these were the ways that
14:48they would justify continued
14:50enslavement. They had to believe that
14:53slavery was compatible with Christianity
14:56uh provided that they would see to their
14:58slaves spiritual needs.
15:03The rise of Christianity among slave
15:05communities was also seen as a threat by
15:07southern slave owners. In South
15:09Carolina, for instance, harsh laws
15:11existed which prevented the gathering of
15:13enslaved people to prevent another uh
15:16instance of slave revolt like the Stoner
15:18Rebellion. In Virginia and Maryland,
15:22where there was a larger white
15:23population, the laws regarding African
15:26church services were more lax and
15:29congregations grew. Black preachers led
15:32conversion efforts, often meeting at
15:34night to prevent being seen as breaking
15:36the gathering laws.
15:38and embracing that belief uh that all uh
15:42men and women were equal before God,
15:44black preachers saw opportunity in the
15:46Bible's promises of spiritual
15:49deliverance even as they worked and
15:51hoped to find freedom on earth as well.
15:56Shortly before or shortly after the
15:58Great Awakening, tensions began to rise
16:01between the British Empire and their
16:02American subjects.
16:04In 1774, those tensions boiled over and
16:08a rift that began over taxes evolved
16:11into philosophical calls for
16:12self-government and later open violence
16:15and revolution. The American Revolution,
16:18which took place from 1775 until 1783,
16:22was fought over a supposed rejection of
16:24British tyranny, which had enslaved
16:27colonists,
16:29enslaved them, in their words, to the
16:32crown of England. Faced with a quest to
16:35unlock freedom for all Americans, the
16:37question of who was an American became a
16:39huge concern. Was the slave population
16:43included in these calls for freedom?
16:45Revolutionary ideology twisted and
16:47turned to face this foundational problem
16:50uh with the founding of this new
16:52country.
16:54So the language that American
16:56revolutionaries used was tied up in this
16:59rhetoric of enslavement. taxes had
17:02enslaved them to the king. They claimed
17:04by preventing their voice from being
17:06heard in Parliament. And even though
17:08they were not taxed personally, African
17:11slaves saw a powerful appeal in the
17:13opposition to British authority as a
17:15struggle for freedom against slavery.
17:18White colonists gave enslaved people a
17:21powerful new political rhetoric to act
17:24against their own enslavement. And soon
17:26slaves were seen making their own
17:28appeals for liberty just as the American
17:30revolutionaries had against their
17:32British imperial forebears. So you can
17:35see an example from revolutionary leader
17:38uh Patrick Henry who famously proclaimed
17:40that Britain must give me liberty or
17:43give me death. Patrick Henry had lived
17:46his life as a free man of wealth, an
17:49elite who owned nearly 80 slaves in his
17:52lifetime. But he was demanding liberty.
17:55So the growing revolutionary unrest was
17:58an opportunity for slaves across the
18:00Americas to escape from their owner
18:03owners and form what are called maroon
18:06communities or isolated communities away
18:09from the city centers.
18:11Others like Phyllis Wheatley uh became
18:14outspoken supporters of the revolution.
18:16Um, and some even managed to bring
18:18forward freedom suits or cases uh, uh,
18:22court cases that challenged their
18:24enslavement in the court of law, using
18:26this new language of liberty as their
18:28defense and claiming freedom as a
18:30birthright.
18:32Britain had set a precedent for this in
18:341772 with the James Somerset case where
18:38an American slave had become free by
18:41challenging British slavery and
18:43anti-slavery advocates and lawyers took
18:45on slave cases using that model across
18:48the colonies uh to some limited success.
18:53Once violence openly broke into
18:55revolution, many black northerners like
18:58Peter Salem joined the cause. Fugitive
19:01slaves were told that they could earn
19:03their freedom by joining the military,
19:05earning uh leading to more than 5,000
19:08black African-Americans to fight with
19:10the American forces.
19:12The revolutionaries
19:14first casualty was actually a black
19:16African man named Chrisus Addex, uh
19:19pictured here on the screen, who was
19:21killed in the Boston Massacre in 1770.
19:25He had helped to lead the mob against
19:27British soldiers in Boston and was
19:29honored as a martyr and a funeral
19:31procession which later had over 10,000
19:34attendees in his and the other victim's
19:37uh honor. Even so, the memory of Attics
19:41was largely erased after the fact
19:43because he was a man of color, as his
19:46rejection of the British complicated
19:48race relations for the revolutionaries
19:50and art depicting the Boston Massacre
19:53largely leaves attics out of the picture
19:55altogether.
19:57So the Declaration of Independence
19:59issued in 1776 claimed that all men are
20:02created equal. But the document made no
20:05effort to free the slaves in America. To
20:08do so was feared to rupture the economic
20:11interest of investors who would back the
20:13revolution and split the cause rather
20:15than uh be focused against the British.
20:19Thomas Jefferson's first draft of the
20:21Declaration of Independence had
20:23denounced the slave trade as an execable
20:26commerce and slavery itself was a cruel
20:30war against nature. But these lines were
20:34removed once the Continental Congress
20:36deemed as dangerous to the plantation
20:38institutions that made up the backbone
20:41of the southern states economy.
20:44Even so, militias across the northern
20:47colonies mobilized and enlisted black
20:49soldiers along with whites. Several
20:52northern colonies passed laws promising
20:54to free blacks who would serve in the
20:56army and abandon their British loyalist
20:58owners. In the south, black patriots
21:01were less common uh as the colonies
21:04prohibited black enlistment to the
21:05cause, fearing insurrection in favor of
21:08the British.
21:10George Washington himself was opposed to
21:13black enlistment in the army, removing
21:16their service from his own regiment.
21:18However, ultimately only Georgia and
21:21South Carolina, which were both hubs of
21:24enslavement and slave insurrections,
21:26chose not to mobilize black soldiers in
21:29the revolutionary army.
21:32The British, meanwhile, created their
21:34own black regiments as early as 1775,
21:36claiming that runaway slaves could earn
21:38their freedom uh by turning against
21:40their American masters. And these men
21:43were known as black loyalists and
21:46approximately 15,000 blacks served with
21:48the British. Um this was particularly
21:52led by uh the actions of the Earl of
21:55Dunore, who was the British governor of
21:58Virginia. He proposed in 1775 that any
22:02runaway enslaved Africans from Virginia
22:05who joined with him could earn their
22:07freedom through service in Dunore's
22:09Ethiopian regiment.
22:12This was called Lord Dunore's
22:14proclamation. Uh and this would not only
22:16bring in service to the British army but
22:18also destabilize American economies
22:21which relied on slave labor. In his
22:24proclamation, Dunore specifically
22:26offered freedom only to blacks who were
22:28enslaved by revolutionaries.
22:31So thousands of slaves heard this call
22:33and tried to reach Dunore, disrupting
22:35the Virginia war effort on multiple
22:37fronts, both for the British army and
22:40also slave rebellions.
22:43The Ethiopian regiment uh made up of the
22:45most physically fit of the African
22:47conscripts were said to be wearing
22:50sashes which proclaimed liberty for
22:52slaves. And in December of 1775,
22:56this regiment was effectively decimated
22:58by patriot forces and a smallox
23:01epidemic. And within 6 months, Dunore
23:04had lost control of Virginia. Dunore's
23:07proclamation had changed the trajectory
23:08of the war as Washington and Congress
23:11felt they had to offer their own
23:13proclamations to arm blacks for their
23:15cause. So Washington wrote that the
23:17outcome of the war would hinge on which
23:20side can arm the slaves faster. a
23:23recognition of the power of the massive
23:25enslaved black populations and the power
23:28they held over the white slave owning
23:30class.
23:31And here on the screen, you can see a
23:33regimental flag for the Bucks of
23:35America, which was an all black militia
23:38uh which was formed in Massachusetts.
23:41Flags like these commemorated the
23:43service and memory of those who had
23:44served in the military. And these flags
23:47were very similar to how veterans today
23:50wear hats dedicating their service in
23:53like Vietnam or Korea for instance. Um
23:57so you can see that this is in the style
24:00of other uh regimental flags from the
24:03period if that's something that you're
24:05interested in. There are several of
24:06these examples.
24:10Approximately 80 to 100,000 southern
24:12slaves led their masters during the
24:14revolution. But many chose not to join
24:17the British. Instead, many freed
24:20themselves and headed where they thought
24:21they might remain free, such as cities
24:23with large free black populations or to
24:26the frontier where slavery had yet to
24:28expand. Many of the British conscripts
24:31of black soldiers were set to forage for
24:33food as supply lines suffered and
24:36overall food was scarce and disease in
24:39the camps rampant.
24:42With the entry of the French on the side
24:44of the Americans, the tide of the
24:46Revolutionary War took a turn in favor
24:48of the Americans.
24:51With Britain's imperial rivals joining
24:53the fight, Britain became overextended
24:56in defending their colonies. As the
24:58British pulled out of the colonies, they
25:01left their black allies abandoned and
25:03with little to no legal recourse for
25:06their promises of black freedom.
25:08The southern strategy or the military
25:11strategy employed by the British to
25:12retake America relied on black military
25:15service but ultimately angered the
25:17loyalists in the south who owned slaves.
25:20Black spies for the patriots helped to
25:22undermine the British war effort as well
25:25by acting as double agents.
25:28As the war came to an end, black
25:30loyalists were abandoned by the British
25:33military, often set free, only to be
25:36reinsslaved by their former masters.
25:39Appeals for black regiments were met by
25:42silence from Parliament, who had of
25:44course never intended to abolish
25:46slavery, as the slave colonies were
25:48central to their imperial success of
25:50cash crops. The British West Indies, for
25:53instance, by this point had over 450,000
25:56slaves who might revolt if they heard
25:58that slaves elsewhere had been freed.
26:02There were, however, 15,000 black
26:04loyalists who were evacuated from
26:06America to Canada, Jamaica, South
26:09Africa, and Australia. All British
26:12colonies elsewhere in the world. that
26:14said many were left behind facing the
26:17wrath of embittered owners who had seen
26:19their former slaves on the battlefield.
26:24An exception to this was the Carolina
26:25Corps. The Carolina Corps was a military
26:28unit comprising of roughly 300 fugitives
26:31from slavery who took up arms for the
26:33British in exchange for emancipation.
26:36Uh these men were said to exhibit
26:38undeniable valor in combat. And a
26:41striking example of this occurred on
26:43February 24th, 1782 when the core
26:47confronted 500 South Carolina state
26:49troops. Catching up to the enemy, the
26:52Carolina Corps were made up of loyalists
26:55uh working for the British, formerly
26:58black slaves. They pursued the South
27:00Carolinians who were patriots with quote
27:03great slaughter. According to a
27:05contemporary newspaper report,
27:08um their leading officer was so
27:11impressed by their service that he said,
27:14"They have all been used to fire and
27:16sword and are brave to the last degree."
27:21created out of these units. In 1782, the
27:23core was evacuated from Charleston,
27:26South Carolina to form a regiment in the
27:28Caribbean, where these men were tasked,
27:31ironically, with suppressing slave
27:33uprisings and keeping the peace in the
27:35British West Indies.
27:39Many of the black Americans who had
27:42fought for the patriot cause did in fact
27:44gain freedom. Those who had
27:46documentation of their service were
27:48usually not subject to reinsslavement.
27:51In the north, free black populations
27:54rose to nearly 110,000 by 8 by 1800,
27:58which is a very remarkably large shift.
28:02With this shift came renewed calls for
28:04the abolition of slavery in these
28:05northern states, beginning with the ban
28:08of slavery in Vermont in 1777.
28:11While the war still raged on,
28:14Pennsylvania followed suit, though the
28:16state dragged its feet in moving towards
28:19complete abolition.
28:21While newly freed blacks were often poor
28:24and frequently the victims of terrible
28:26racial discrimination,
28:28uh once freed, they were afforded some
28:30of the same liberties to build their own
28:33families and communities.
28:36African-Americans like Peter Salem
28:38fought in large numbers to earn their
28:41freedom. For many, that freedom was
28:43denied, and the reality faced was often
28:46fears of reinsslavement.
28:49For all, the revolution was a period of
28:52introspection or looking in on
28:53ourselves, on the American character and
28:56identity. What did it mean to be free?
29:00Who would be an American after the
29:02shackles of British slavery and tyranny
29:04have been cast off? How could some be
29:08free and others enslaved when all were
29:11created equal? These these questions
29:13will all continue to plague the United
29:15States in the buildup leading to the
29:17American Civil War. Uh and several of
29:20these consequences still haunt the
29:23United States today. We will see more of
29:26this. We'll expand on the system of
29:28slavery in the South. uh as the American
29:31Empire expands next week. All right.

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