During the American Revolution, slaves made up at least 25 percent of the population of N.C. In reality, blacks totaled perhaps seventy thousand but only about 5 percent were free. Most Black people lived in the countryside and worked on land. Some worked at trades or were servants to slave holders. Skilled slaves worked as carpenters, coopers, blacksmiths, wheelwrights, and other skill requiring occupations. In towns on the coast they worked in the shipping business.

Blacks faced difficult choices with the war. They fought for both sides, providing manpower to both the British and the revolutionaries. Most believed that victory by the British would lead to the end of their slavery, especially with the new rule the British had of allowing the black people to fight for them in return for freedom.

Fears of a slave revolt gripped the South. Before the war, British military leaders recognized that the southern colonies could be greatly weakened by an uprising of slaves against their masters.

http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/nchist-revolution/1917

In the beginning of the Revolutionary war only a few militia’s had Black soldiers, mainly due to the fact that most colonies did not allow blacks to fight. Though, towards the end of the war, after the British initiated the rule that if Blacks fought for the British then they would be freed, the Colonies began to allow Black people to fight in the war.

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Cripus Attucks was a black slave and dock worker who played an important role in the fight for independence. In 1770, a group of angry people gathered in front of the Custom House on King Street. The group had accused a soldier of using the butt of his gun on a boy who made slurrin gremarks to his officer. The British officer, Captain Preston that day, and eight other British soldiers came to the aid of the one accused. The town fire-bell rang causing more people to come into the street and they were all throwing snowballs at the soldiers. The soldiers panicked and killed five civilians. Cripus Attucks was one of them.

http://www.earlyamerica.com/review/2004_summer_fall/soldiers.htm

The Great Awakening occurred in mid-18th Century. Forward thinking men such as Johnathan Edwards and George Whitefield instilled emotion into the colonists of the New World. The seeds of the great awakening were planted early in the 18th century. Church goers were complaining about how boring the "old dogs", or the traditional clergymen, were. Liberal ideas gradually began to challenge the old time religion.

The first 'revolutionary' man was Jacobus Arminius. He preached that individual free-will determined a persons fate rather than divine decree. He led to Johnathan Edwards.

Mr. Edwards proclaimed the folly of believing in salvation through good works and affirmed the need for complete dependence on God's grace. He wrote "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God". This sermon was meant to shock the listeners into leading a faithful life.

Next came George Whitefield. Mr. Whitefield preached of human helplessness and divine omnipotence. His speaking manner, or eloquence, brought critical men to tears and caused cheap men to add to the collection basket.

How did the Great Awakening contribute to the development of the separation of Church and State in America?

The Great Awakening caused many schisms in countless denominations across the colonies and older clergy were undermined by the emotional spirituality. Though, the Great Awakening did tend to break down sectional boundaries and denominational lines. All of these effects contributed to the separation of the church and state. People who no longer went to church were still active politically and political leaders could see from the lasting effects of the Great Awakening that if the church and state was kept together then in the future an event similar to the great awakening could occur in the politics of the state.

Relating to the picture of an intersection:

I think that this picture embodies the American spirit of pushing through the final frontier. I think that this picture depicts the paving of new places through the farm lands through to the West. I do not see this picture as much as an intersection as a picture of connecting the different sections of the United States. The roads do not divide which direction to take, rather, the roads help to unify the places of the United States.