ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book demonstrates the history of the Americas that led to serious debate among European intellectuals in the eighteenth century, as Jorge Canizares-Esguerra. The book shows that both religion and ethnicity helped enslaved Africans in the Americas to form communities. Many Africans used ethnic identification as a strategy to resist their ascribed identity as racially inferior slaves. The book discusses the implications of the addition of the Haitian Revolution to the great revolutions of its era. It argues that it puts the rhetoric of American Patriots about enslavement by Britain in a new light and raises questions about the connection historians have made between Enlightenment thought and the creation of political institutions that guarantee freedom.
