Fear of loyalist-slavery-invasion convergence pushed southern delegates toward independence

Evidence

“When I consider the defenceless State of No. Carolina arising from a want of Arms & Ammunition [and] the divided sentiments of the people,” he wrote, local patriots should “call as soon as may be the Provincial Congress to take such measures under their Sanction as may prevent the cause of America, so far as N. Carolina is concerned in support of it, going to total destruction.” He would attend himself and asked Penn to go too. … A week later, all three North Carolina delegates—Hewes, Hooper, and Penn—sent a joint letter to the colony’s patriot executive council stating that, if Martin, the loyalists, and the invading British meet up, “the Consequences might prove fatal to our Colony.” — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 133

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Southern secession drove by fear of slave resistance, not abstract principle — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning: The…, 569; Fear of slave rebellion drove southern suppression of antislavery speech — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning: The…, 347; Protecting slavery was a primary motive driving some colonists to declare independence — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project: A New American Origin…, 102 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Southern secession drove by fear of slave resistance, not abstract principle #corroborates (0.85) — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 569
• Fear of slave rebellion drove southern suppression of antislavery speech #expands (0.78) — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 347
• Protecting slavery was a primary motive driving some colonists to declare independence #corroborates (0.75) — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 102
• Fear of slave rebellions drove enslavers to support colonizing free Blacks #expands (0.72) — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 398
• US leaders feared the Saint-Domingue rebellion would spread to enslaved Southerners #expands (0.70) — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 369
• Southern enslavers feared federal militia control would leave them defenseless against slave rebellions #expands (0.70) — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 790