Nat Turner Rebellion Analysis

During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries colonial America experienced a number of rebellions by various groups for a variety of reasons. The protests took place in Virginia, Maryland, Massachusetts, and New York. Each protest began for a different reason, however, all involved the discontent that some groups underwent in the colonies. Some of the most notable rebellions include Bacon's Rebellion, The Regulator Uprising, Leislor's Rebellion, Culpepper's Rebellion, and the Paxton Boys Uprising.

Both free and enslaved Africans were discriminated against in this time period but responded differently towards their challenges. African Americans found ways to cope with their situation one being religious gatherings (Doc D). They sang old traditional African songs and danced. By doing so, they can forget about life troubles for a moment and give themselves a sense of hope that someday they would by free. Some slaves where more violent than other and began rebellions against their white owners. The use of rebellion was inspired to them by the Bible and that God was pleading for their cause with earnestness and zeal (Doc G). Slaves who caused mischief was relocated deeper south where the treatment and condition was even worse. The Fugitive Slave Law forced the North to send back any slaves who escaped to the North in return for a reward. Slaves who tried to escape to the North were also relocated. By relocating them, the chances of escape decreased for them. Even

Gray was filling in the empty spots he did so in his own words, and

     The Fires of Jubilee, is a well written recollection of the slave insurrection led by Nathaniel Turner. It portrays the events leading towards the civil war and the shattered myth of contented slaves in the South. The book is divided into four parts: This Infernal Spirit of Slavery, Go Sound the Jubilee, Judgment Day, and Legacy.

Oates, Stephen B. The Fires of Jubilee: Nat Turner’s Fierce Rebellion. New York: Harper & Row, 1975. Print.

Nat Turner was an African American slave who was born in Southampton County, Virginia on October 2, 1800. He started working on southern plantations 1831. When he was younger, everyone thought of him as being very smart. They saw that he was smart when he was about 3 or 4 years old. While young Nat Turner was playing with some of his friends, his mother heard him tell the children about something that had happened to him when he was born. She later had asked him about what he told the children. She asked him details about the incident, and it confirmed that he knew about this past event. From that time on, other slaves believed that in addition to his unique view, his physical markings were a sign that he would be a prophet.

What was the importance of Nat Turner and where does he stand in American history? Nat Turner is an American slave, who has been forgotten about in history as well in the hearts of African-Americans. He led and organized one of the bloodiest slave rebellions in American history. This rebellion was "…the rebellion that served to change the course of American history in the three decades before the Civil War" (Goldman 10). Within this paper, it is to analyze on his impact on the nation.

Slaves in the south was about one- third od the southern population. Most of the slaves lived either on a small plantations or large farms. The slave owners make their slaves depend on them for everything like food, shealther, and others. Slaves where not allowed to learn how to read and write. The woman that where in slaver were tooking advantage off secual by their slave master. Slaves were allowed to get married and raise large familys eventhought the marriage had no legal basis. Nat Turner led one of the slave revolt, His group had about 75 blacks and they murdered about 60 white people in two days before they where stoped by the militia forces.

Even though only a few were successful, slave revolts did occur. Nat Turner's slave revolt group was most terrifying for white slave holders. This occurred in 1831, which was a violent rampage that lead to fifty five caucasians dying. It ended up having more slave codes enforced and Nat Turner being hanged. Multiple people were abolitionists such as Frederick Douglass. Their goal was to abolish slavery. They believed based on a religious belief that slaveholding was a sin. Then others on a non religious aspect believed slave holding was: regressive, inefficient, and little economic sense. However, for the

Slaves in the American South had many struggles and difficulties such as working conditions and enduring punishment.

Before the Civil War, nearly 4 million black slaves toiled in the American South. The life of a slave in the south was horrible. Their daily life for a slave was incredibly difficult. Slaves, especially those in the field, worked from sunrise until sunset. Even small children and the elderly were not exempt from these long work hours. Slaves were generally allowed a day off on Sunday, and on infrequent holidays such as Christmas or the Fourth of July. Slaves would work all day and night for little pay and most of the time no pay. They would have set jobs and a set amount of work they have to get done in an allocated amount of time. Their living conditions were not good at all. Slaves were whipped by their masters to be “broken”. Being broken

The slaves were treated like animals, they had terrible living conditions and they were whipped daily for things they didn’t do. Slaves rebelled and tried to run away but most of the time they would be caught and beaten often to death. Some, however, did make it to a state where slavery was outlawed, and they would continue their lives as free as they could.

The influence of Christianity in Southern culture played a major role on the daily life of the slaves, Sunday religious gatherings were very common and always allowed (owners who forbid it were accused of being 'unchristian'). Slaves had many traditions an example are the "contra dances" in which slaves from nearby plantations gathered to play music and dance (http://xroads.virginia.edu). Relationship between slave and master was key on what kind of life the slave had. Some owners treated slaves just like property and in occasions would reseal the most skillful of the slaves sending them far away from their family and friends. There were some owners that cared for their slaves. There was always a contrast between the masters that literally worked their slaves to death and others ended up offering their slaves freedom if they could compensate them for it. Slaves would sometimes married slave from surrounding plantations and were only allowed once a week to visit their families. Usually there was only one way the slave life ended that’s was by death, many died of exhaustion or damage suffered by the hard work they underwent an entire lifetime. Although many slaves died by trying to found their liberty, they would try to escape and if the owner would found out they’re were trying to escape he would kill them but many slaves would rather die than to be a slave for life.

Resistance to slavery took many forms in the Old South, from occasional rebellious uprising to individual acts of defiance. “The most widespread expression of hostility to slavery was “day-to-day resistance” or “silent sabotage”—doing poor work, breaking tools, abusing animals, and in other ways to disrupting the plantation routine” (Foner 434). Stealing food was also another common form of resistance, so common that a southern physician diagnosed it as a hereditary disease that was unique to blacks. But the most dangerous and serious crime that the slaves committed, but does not happen frequently, was poisoning and armed assault against individual whites. The Stono Rebellion in 1739, Gabriel’s Rebellion in 1800, Denmark Vesey’s conspiracy in 1822 and Nat Turner’s Rebellion in 1831 are the most important rise of the rebellion in American history. Nat Turner’s Rebellion was the last large-scale rebellion and it sent shock waves through the entire south. “But a proposal to commit the state to gradual emancipation and the removal of the black population from the state failed to win legislative approval. The measure gained overwhelming support in the western part of Virginia, where slaves represented less than 10 percent of the population, but failed to win sufficient votes in the eastern counties where slavery was centered” (Foner 439). Instead of taking a step towards freedom, the Virginia legislature of 1832, decided to tighten the chains of bondage. The new laws prohibited

There are many different jobs slaves were obligated to do. These jobs varied on where the slave was located. Slave labor in Northern colonies were very different from the South. For example, the slaves in the South mainly worked on farms and plantations. They grew indigo, rice, and tobacco. The ultimate cash crop in the Southern colonies was rice. This crop brought a lot of wealth and prosperity to the planters and the region. The slaves that the Southern colonies received were from rice producing regions of Africa who provided plantation owners the knowledge about rice cultivation. South Carolina was