(Editor’s Note: Portions of this essay are drawn from Mr. Reed’s forthcoming book, “Born of Ideas: How Principles, Faith, and Courage Forged America,” to be released in April 2026 by Faith & Freedom Press, the publishing house of Grove City College in Pennsylvania.)
Out of a total population of 2.5 million at the time of the Declaration of Independence, black Americans numbered about half a million, or 20 percent. Most were enslaved, but at least 30,000 were free men and women.





