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Abstract: During the American Revolution, Philadelphia was described as the "Theater of Action," according to John Adams. Not only was it so for delegates traveling to the city from other colonies, but it was also so for people of African descent who "were in the region around the Delaware river before Pennsylvania was founded in the days of the Dutch and the Swede" according to Edward Raymond Turner in The Negro in Pennsylvania . This article examines different conceptions of the word "independence" from the viewpoints of the white colonists, the men of color who fought and provided logistical support during the Revolutionary War, and the Black women who advocated against slavery during and following the Revolution in subtle and legal ways. As the country approaches the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the question becomes whether their sacrifices will have been in vain if totalitarianism not only knocks on democracy's door but enters through the demagoguery of its next set of leaders. The Founding Fathers and all those who fought sought to create a Republic. To paraphrase Benjamin Franklin, the question in the foreseeable future is can we "keep it?"
Sherri Burr (Sun,) studied this question.