CT FREEDOM TRAIL
Slavery After the American Revolution
The new nation that Farmington patriots fought for in the Revolution was founded on the principle that "all men are created equal ... endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights," including "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." But many of the republic's residents were slaves, as Barbara Donahue wrote in "Speaking for Ourselves: African American Life in Farmington, Connecticut":
"In 1790, there were were almost four million people in the United States. Of these, about 750,000, or almost 20%, were black. Of these blacks, 60,000, or only 8%, were free. ... In Connecticut a little over half of the state's 5,500 blacks were free."
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