Chapter 7- BTC

In Chapter 7, when the American Revolution begins, the British were desperate for men to join the Army so that they could fight back against the rebels. In their time of desperation, they promised freedom to the American slaves if they left their rebel masters and joined the army. After the war was over, what would happen to all of these slaves? When George Washington met with General Carleton, problems arose regarding what would now happen with the freed slaves. There was disagreement about whether the slaves should be returned or whether their owners should just be compensated for them. When news of the Paris peace accord made its way to New York City, previous slave masters came to reclaim their slaves. When Carleton saw that this was happening, he realized that the only way to ensure the freedom of these slaves was to have them all relocate to another British territory, Nova Scotia.

This chapter did provide more historical background of what was going on with the slaves after the American Revolution. Unfortunately, this is pretty much all I walked away with after reading it. I feel like this chapter was a little disconnected from the previous chapter and Hochschild has not been clear enough as to what he is writing this book about.