How American Symbols inspired enslaved people and their allies to fight for true freedom In the early United States, anthems, flags, holidays, monuments, and memorials were powerful Symbols of an American identity that helped unify a divided people.
In a time when the US flag, the Fourth of July, and historical sites have never been more contested, this book reminds us that Symbols are living artifacts whose power is derived from the meaning with which we imbue them..
Mindful and proud that theirs was a nation born in blood, these disparate patriots fought to fulfill the republic\'s promise by waging war against slavery.
Interpreting patriotic words, phrases, and iconography literally, they embraced a revolutionary nationalism that not only justified but generated open opposition.
Symbols of Freedom is the surprising story of how enslaved people and their allies drew inspiration from the language and Symbols of American freedom.
Clavin reveals, it was these powerful expressions of American nationalism that inspired forceful and even violent Resistance to slavery.
Yet, as award-winning author Matthew J.
Deriding the ideas that infused the republic\'s founding, they encouraged an empty American culture that accepted the abstract notion of equality rather than the concrete idea.
For enslaved people and their allies, the language and Symbols that served as national touchstones made a mockery of freedom.
Resonating across the country, they encouraged the creation of a republic where the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness was universal, natural, and inalienable.
The Declaration of Independence\'s assertion that all men are created equal, Patrick Henry\'s cry of Give me liberty, or give me death!, and Francis Scott Key\'s star-spangled banner waving over the land of the free and the home of the brave, were anthemic celebrations of a newly free people.
A language of freedom played a similar role in shaping the new nation.
How American Symbols inspired enslaved people and their allies to fight for true freedom In the early United States, anthems, flags, holidays, monuments, and memorials were powerful Symbols of an American identity that helped unify a divided people
