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There are two estimates given, backed by distinct sources, with different descriptions and numbers. E.g.During the course of the war, between 80,000 and 100,000 slaves escaped from the plantationsvsIt is estimated that up to 100,000 attempted to leave their owners and join the British over the course of the entire war. The source for the latter doesn't include the qualifications "up to" or "attempted", and reads: Estimates are the 100,000 slaves - men and women - fled to the British side during the war.[1]. Compared to the estimates of the number that left with the British, the vast majority of these 100,000 are unaccounted for. Can someone provide more clarity on these numbers? ★NealMcB★ (talk) 01:32, 29 May 2020 (UTC)[reply]
I deleted the following sentence as false.
Even though the numbers were small compared to the total slave population, more American slaves found their freedom through these proclamations than any other means until the American Civil War.
Since I was accused of vandalism. Let me expand on my reasons.
To test the validity, we need to know the number freed by the proclamations. None is provided. Instead reference is made to 100,000 runaways. However this number has been thoroughly debunked by noted historian, Cassandra Pybus, in the journal William and Mary Quarterly (2005) p 244-264 in an article entitled “Thomas Jefferson’s Faulty Math: The Question of Slave Defections in the American Revolution” As she shows this number comes from the self serving speculation of a few slaveholders. No evidence for it is ever adduced. Pybus then carries out a careful, exhaustive examination of all the sources and evidence. Her conclusion, there were 20,000 runaways of whom 12,000 found there way to freedom.
Against this, how many slaves were freed after the revolution up to the civil war? It was about 120,000. The range could be as high as 70,000-170,000. The slaves gained their freedom by three means. (1) Individual Manumissions (2) State Emancipations (3) via the Underground Railroad. The following provides a brief breakdown. Individual Manumissions: Here we only consider those from 2 states, Virginia and Maryland. Both states liberalized their manumission laws after the war allowing in Virginia’s case owners to free their slaves without state consent. Manumission activity surged as a result. The free black population went from about 5,000 to 60,000 in 1810. Even reckoning the better half of this was from population growth, a figure of 20,000 seems conservative for the number of manumissions. See Slaves Without Masters by Ira Berlin and The Protean Institution by Peter Albert for more details. State Emancipations: Before their respective emancipations, there were 57,000 slaves. This drifted down to nearly 0. However we should not attribute this all to the State action for several reasons. Individual manumissions in these states also played a role. Some were gradual emancipations consequently elderly slaves may never have seen freedom. Finally some slaveowners may have moved to more permissive states. In all, 40,000-50,000 may have been freed by the law and individual manumission. Underground Railroad: This is the least clear number. National Geographic cites 100,000. This seems high given the changes in free black population in the north. However the Canada Encyclopedia states 30,000- 40,000 settled in Canada. I tentatively chose 50,000.
In all some 120,000 were freed between the wars compared to the 12,000 freed by the proclamations. A ten fold difference! So the above contested statement is clearly false and should be deleted. This is a correction not “vandalism”. Clebur (talk) 20:51, 8 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]
