The leaders of the Revolution, therefore, quickly receded from their
radical position of excluding Negroes from the army. Informed that the
free Negroes who had served in the ranks in New England were sorely
displeased at their exclusion from the service, and fearing that they
might join the enemy, Washington departed, late in 1775, from the
established policy of the staff and gave the recruiting officers leave to
accept such Negroes, promising to lay the matter before the Continental
Congress, which he did not doubt would approve it.[28] Upon the receipt of
this communication the matter was referred to a committee composed of
Wythe, Adams and Wilson, who recommended that free Negroes who had served
faithfully in the army at Cambridge might be reenlisted but no others.[29]
In taking action on such communications thereafter the Continental
Congress followed the policy of leaving the matter to the various States,
which were then jealously mindful of their rights.

Sane leaders generally approved the enlistment of black troops. General
Thomas thought so well of the proposition that he wrote John Adams in
1775, expressing his surprise that any prejudice against it should
exist.[30] Samuel Hopkins said in 1776 that something should be speedily
done with respect to the slaves to prevent their turning against the
Americans. He was of the opinion that the way to counteract the tendency
of the Negroes to join the British was not to restrain them by force and
severity but by public acts to set the slaves free and encourage them to
labor and take arms in defense of the American cause.[31] Interested in
favor of the Negroes both by "the dictates of humanity and true policy,"
Hamilton urged that slaves be given their freedom with the swords to
secure their fidelity, animate their courage, and influence those
remaining in bondage by opening a door to their emancipation.[32] General
Greene emphatically urged that blacks be armed, believing that they would
make good soldiers.[33] Thinking that the slaves might be put to a much