To the Public

The Battle of Bunker Hill was a significant engagement between the Americans and the British during the Revolutionary War. On June 17, 1775, about 1,200 American colonists faced 2,400 British troops just outside Boston. Outnumbered and with very little ammunition, the colonists fought bravely, though they eventually had to retreat, surrendering the contested hill to the British.

Despite the loss, the Battle of Bunker Hill was seen as a moral victory for the Americans. The colonists killed or wounded 1,000 of the British troops. The battle boosted the morale of those fighting for liberty against the British and showed that a group of oppressed underdogs could fight bravely and successfully against a much stronger opponent. Garrison writes of his new Boston newspaper, “I determined, at every hazard, to lift up the standard of emancipation in the eyes of the nation, within sight of Bunker Hill and in the birth place of liberty” (Paragraph 2, italics in original). He again associates emancipation with the principles of the American Revolution.

Enfranchisement is a political term that sometimes means “the release from slavery,” making it synonymous with the term “manumission.” However, “enfranchisement” also means being granted the full rights of citizenship, including the right to vote and hold office.