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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Cliff Reuter, post: 7876748, member: 115140&quot;]I believe I read that Great Britain was using the Anti-slavery topic to further divide the colonies before and during our Revolutionary war. I believe they even had regiments of soldiers and offered freedom upon discharge.</p><p><br /></p><p>Here is more info:</p><p><a href="https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/slavery-in-the-colonies" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/slavery-in-the-colonies" rel="nofollow">GB anti-slavery in Revolutionary times</a></p><p><br /></p><p>An Excerpt:</p><p>&quot;.... </p><p>Despite attempts to persuade Gen. Washington and members of Congress to allow the enlistment of both free and enslaved blacks, the American army would not risk the fragile unity that existed among the ranks of both the army and the legislative bodies.<u> This would be tested by British orders to do the exact opposite. Sensing a vulnerability, British officials led the way for inciting mistrust of an integrated American war effort. Though there is clear evidence that the British themselves were wary of arming slaves, they nonetheless were determined to destroy the rebellion and utilize a manpower pool on the far side of the Atlantic.</u> In 1775, Lord Dunmore, Royal Governor of Virginia, issued his Proclamation that promised freedom to any enslaved person who joined the British army. A company of former slaves was raised and named the Ethiopian Regiment. However, smallpox wiped most of them out before they could see a major battle. Sir Henry Clinton issued the Philipsburg Proclamation in 1779 that escaped slaves would receive full sanctuary behind British lines. We cannot be certain how many former slaves abandoned their plantations and came through the British lines. By the end of the Revolution, it’s estimated that nearly one hundred thousand slaves escaped to British authorities, constituting a loss of about ¼ of the number of enslaved peoples in the United States at the time.</p><p><br /></p><p>We must caution though that these calls by the British were not done because they were abolitionists on a moral crusade. The British were attempting to disrupt the continental unity at any cost....&quot;[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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