Causes Of Resistance To Slavery

Enslaved African Americans resisted slavery in a variety of active and passive ways. "Day-to-day resistance" was the most common form of opposition to slavery. Breaking tools, feigning illness, staging slowdowns, and committing acts of arson and sabotage--all were forms of resistance and expression of slaves' alienation from their masters.

The slaves used rebellions or anti-slavery movements as a form of resistance against slavery. However, the result of slave insurrections was mass executions, and many of them avoided these rebellions for the fear of being executed. The famous insurrections in the American history were the Gabriel Prossey's conspiracy in 1800, Nat Turner's Rebellion in 1831, and the Stono Rebellion of 1739. Among these rebellions, only the Nat

Document B is a journal entry from a man named Charles Mackay on his experience in the North. It gives us what blacks should be able to do and what restriction the had. According to Doc B, “We shall not make a black man a slave; we shall not buy or sell him; but we shall not associate with him”. This document tells us what rights black’s should have and what restrictions they could have.

The American Civil War occurred between April 12, 1861, and May 9, 1865, and began due to the long-standing controversy of slavery in the country. Shortly after Abraham Lincoln took office, Confederates attacked Fort Sumter in South Carolina, and among the 34 U.S. states seven Southern slave states succeeded from the United States. More states seceded and the Confederacy grew up to eleven slave states. This split the country between the Union in the Northern states, and the Confederate States of America in the Southern states. One big disagreement many Americans have today is whether slaves rights was the cause of the Civil War or not. Charles B. Dew believes the Civil War was fought over slavery, using speeches and public letters of 41 white southerners who were commissioners and appealed to their audience the ideas of the preservation of slavery and white supremacy as his evidence. Gary W. Gallagher believes that the Civil War was not fought over slavery, and the main goal for Northerners was to preserve the Union, using letters of white Northern soldiers that do not show much concern for black people as his evidence. Frederick Douglass’s statement, “The cry of Free Men was raised, not for the extension of liberty to the black man, but for the protection of the liberty of the white” is valid because the Civil War was not fought for the equality of black people, African Americans were treated very poorly after the Civil War and the emancipation proclamation was passed for

Nat Turner’s Rebellion was one of the few slave revolts that took place during the early 1800s. Countless attempts at freedom by slaves were not successful due to a lack of precision and planning that Nat Turner’s Rebellion possessed. Turner spent years gathering information and planning the specific details of the revolt he led. Turner researched the various people he targeted and focused on during the events in the rebellion. Nat Turner’s Rebellion influenced the abolition of slavery and the ways individuals are dealt with present-day human trafficking. The rebellion shows the tactics Turner used when he created an effective and life changing rebellion. The revolt and uprising of slaves during the time period was uncommon, since slave owners had not treated slaves in a harsh manner. The ways in which Nat Turner worked to combat against slavery were evident through his childhood, where he spent hours each day reading and analyzing the bible. He spent several years planning the different aspects of the rebellion, doing his best to minimize the possibility of exposing slaveowners to the plan for the rebellion. The events following the rebellion led to massive changes to the institution of slavery.

The story of Nat Turner’s rebellion, that took place in Southampton, Virginia, on August 22, 1831, is somewhat of a lost event. This is because this particular stand was not the most successful at first, but it resulted in the later years as an rewarding rebellion. Nat Turner’s rebellion affected racism and slavery, by being a leader, by being influential, and by showing bravery. All three of these things must be used in order to have a successful rebellion in this situation especially.

The conditions for slaves in the 1730’s were abhorrent. Slaves were not seen as people and had little to no basic human rights. The Africans brought in for slavery were treated like cattle, and were herded towards farms and plantations where they would spend the rest of their days working for their owners. Slaves could not travel, meet in groups, grow their own food, or hunt game. If they wanted to participate in any of these activities they had to do them in secret. The slaves became tired of being mistreated by the white southern slave owners, which eventually led them to start uprisings and rebellions like the Stono Rebellion.

In the process they killed fifty-five people and inspired close to sixty enslaved men on the journey to follow them. They continued to the town of Jerusalem with the purpose of destroying the town and killing all of the white people. During this time the governor called a few thousand of armed militiamen to end the rebellion. Slave masters at this time was terrified and didn’t know if they were next for this slaying or if their slaves were plotting the same rebellion. The militiamen gave the white people a slight relief of security. As the rebellion approached the town of Jerusalem the militia stopped them and many fled into the woods because they knew they were outnumbered. The militia searched and captured or killed the men who participating in the rebellion, except for Nat Turner, Nat hid for two months in Southampton County. Once he was captured, he was tried in court and then hanged and skinned his body. The other men were executed by the state or decapitated and heads posted on stakes to terrorize the black community. The fear in whites spread and they went out to kill blacks that had nothing to do with the Nat turner’s rebellion. These white mobs killed up to three hundred blacks. The governor of Virginia attempted to put a stop to these white mobs. The state legislature of Virginia considered ending slavery but ended up voting to restrict blacks freedom, hoping to prevent any future rebellions. In North Carolina, slaves were

The South Carolina pre-revolutionary Stono Rebellion led to many different forms of reactions from the people in colonial South Carolina. It can be characterized as that of a further dark future for the slaves, while creating more fear and discontent for the white citizens of the area. The revolts output created attitudes that led to the American revolution for whites, while creating the harsh and negative attitudes displayed toward blacks which we still see today. The repercussions created a greater sense of fear for Africans among the white population in Southeastern North America, one which necessitated a means for controlling what they believed to be a dangerous people. The revolt also showed the whites sense for blaming others for the uprising among the slaves, as multiple Spanish men are claimed to have incited the slaves to rise up and kill to gain their freedom in Florida.

Despite North America’s large slave population, there were few powerful slave revolts before 1831. Slaves were complacent and passive so most southern slave owners probably felt like they had enough control over their slaves. This way of thinking was completely changed by Nat Turner’s rebellion. This violent slave revolt showed people what slaves were really capable of. White southerners saw how slaves were smart enough to organize and plan a resistance and because they were getting tired of being oppressed. Even though Nat Turner’s rebellion was considered unsuccessful being that it was shut down in a matter of days, it was successful in that it had a long lasting effect on slavery. This level of success can be attributed to the fact that

“On Sunday, September 9th, 1739 the British colony of South Carolina was shaken by a slave uprising that culminated with the death of sixty people” (The Stono Rebellion 1739). It was one of the first organized slave revolts in history (Stono Rebellion 1739). As a result, the Stono Rebellion started to change viewpoints on slavery. Slave revolts started to become a problem for plantation owners. Due to this conflict over slave revolts, specifically the Stono Rebellion, South Carolina compromised by passing the Negro Act of 1740 and other laws regarding slavery.

In such inhumane conditions, a nation managed to justify the hell that it put Blacks through. How is it humane to enslave a person yet inhumane for the death penalty to be practiced? Living on a double standard, a nation built on civil rights has managed to justify this hell. In such harsh times, the South was frowned upon for slavery. The North was hypocrites for this accusation. Slavery was justified in the South. Throughout the world, one group subjugated another. With these reasons and lies from the opinion that wants to be heard; a nation is able to justify slavery.

Nat’s rebellion was one of the goriest and effective in American history. It had ignited a fear all around Virginia that soon spread to the south, and is said to be one of the reasons for the Civil War. In the aftermath of the rebellion many Southern states like North Carolina tightened restrictions for free African Americans. Over the course of two days more than 2 dozen whites were killed during the rebellion which

Last, but certainly the most important here, is the slave revolt that played upon the fears of southerners in the most significant of ways. This slave revolt is none other than the Nat Turner Revolt, perhaps the most well known of all slave revolts among historians. Nat Turner, like most many other African Americans, was born into slavery. Turner was born the slave of Benjamin Turner, and over the course of the first twenty years of his life, he was transferred to various family members when previous owners died, a concept known as primogeniture. The concept of primogeniture can best be described as the time when property, in this case slaves, would be transferred to the next of kin when the previous master die. Turner eventually found himself in the company of Joseph Travis, whom he described as “a kind master, and placed the greatest confidence in me; in fact, I had no cause to complain of his treatment to me.” As a child, Turner would be strongly influenced by religion, and was noted for his “uncommon intelligence” and “superior judgment.” This would play a large factor on how Turner organized his revolt as well as how he saw the predicament of African Americans slaves in southern society.

Another great part of the African culture that was brought to America and kept in practice through African American slaves was religion. An article titled “Slave Resistance and Rhetorical Self-Definition: Spirituals as a Strategy” states that “African American slaves used their spirituals to provide themselves with a rhetorical self-definition that served to refute limiting definitions pressed on them by whites” ( Sanger 1) Religion allowed Africans and African Americans to not only preserve something that was a part of their culture, but also allowed them to have hope and believe in something outside of the constraints that their white masters gave them. Without their masters knowing, slaves could get together and discuss liberty and the judgement of God against people being allowed to own slaves. According to this same