The incongruity of arguing for their own freedom and liberty while enslaving others was openly discussed by American revolutionaries during the period leading up to the writing of the Declaration of Independence and beyond.

In his most famous pamphlet, The Rights of British Colonists Asserted and Proved, James Otis (1725–1783) characterized the slave trade as “the most shocking violation of the law of nature.” He also stated that “It is a clear truth, that those who every day barter away other men's liberty will soon care little for their own.”