Nat Turner Rebellion Essay

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

Thomas Gray included in “The Confessions of Nat Turner” a letter addressed to the public in which he reassured the white slave owners that the revolt was “the offspring of gloomy fanaticism” (Greenberg 42). Therefore, the reader can conclude that many passages in the confessions were entirely focused on distorting Nat Turner to fit the description of a religious fanatic rather than to give the true narrative of the slave leader. In “Blake, or, The Huts of America,” Delany challenged Gray’s portrayal of slave revolutions being the delirious byproducts of religious fanaticism by creating Henry Blake, an educated revolutionary leader who mainly used religion as a rallying tool.

Throughout the colonial period and the time leading up to the American civil war, one of the most important and controversial topics facing Americans was the idea of slavery. The notion of slavery is an odd and incredibly horrifying concept, that one man can own another man, or two men, or an entire family, just because of the color of their skin. No doubt the idea was racist and repulsive, but to many Men and Women in history, across the country and across the world, slavery was just a part of everyday life: they knew no different. So when those people who were being stripped from their homeland and brought over on ships to be sold at auction to the highest white bidder, began to question the sacredness of this terrible

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.

From the 1830s to the 1860s, the “Abolitionist Movement” began with calls to eradicate slavery. Jackson, one of the largest slavery owners in Tennessee, was against this movement, but that did not stop articles from being published, and protests from being started. William Lloyd Garrison published a anti-slavery newspaper called “The Liberator” that received mixed reviews because some people in Boston, where he was from, still approved of slavery. Nat Turner was a slave who believed he was responsible for ending slavery. He created an uprising that killed 60 white men, women, and children. Some of the white slave owners were scared that this uprising

     Nat became very distant form the other slaves; it was like he was in another world. He fasted religiously and became well aquatinted with the spirits, and also claimed that they showed him visions in the sky. Nat began to read the Bible in depth and discovered the mockery that the whites made of it, while in reality the Bible was against human bondage. Nat had more visions as time went by such as the drops of blood on the corn. He finally got his vision after his sign from the eclipse. Eager and ready, Nat gathered a group of trusted fellow slaves and began to plot his insurrection.

In chapter two, Masur talks about the importance of Nat Turner and his Rebellion to end slavery. Turner, an African American slave was convinced throughout his life that god had put him on this earth for a certain reason. Throughout Turners life and search for why god had put him here, he started to get visions from god as he got older. These visions made Turner believe that he had to end slavery by attacking it. Turner went out killing whites the night of the eclipse and would gain more followers as he went on. The rebellion didn’t last long and it wasn't pretty either. Turner and his followers were executed and other slaves were killed because of it. Turners rebellion simply points out the lie that slavery is a benevolent institution. Another important event in chapter two is the development of abolitionism. William Lloyd Garrison was a journalist who wanted immediate emancipation of every slave and started a newspaper called the Liberator. The Liberator is what helped Garrison get his reputation of being an American abolitionist nation wide. At the time, the Liberator was a popular paper and would turn out to become very

Nat Turner was a man with a vision that would change America forever. His vision may

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

He had a second vision. In this vision he saw many lights on the sky. So, he prayed to God for Him to tell him what the light in the sky meant. He later got an answer from God and He told him what it meant. While Turner was working hard in the field, he saw that drops of blood on the corn, as though it were dew from heaven. Then he found hieroglyphic letters and numbers on the trees in the woods.

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.

Nat Turner was a man with a vision that would change America forever. His vision may

Slavery in North America began with the Portuguese in the seventeenth century. Increasing and spreading significantly, slavery eventually became an economic staple in the southern region of America. Although widespread and popular, rebellion against this human bondage was inevitable. Slaves in the south rebelled and revolted against their owners many times; however, these efforts were often suppressed. Although most revolts ended in failure, some did impact the feelings of slavemasters, and unfortunately, worsened their living conditions. Throughout American history, the most notable and significant slave rebellions in the south were The Stono Rebellion, The Vesey Rebellion, and The Nat Turner

Slave revolts normally happened outside of the plantation system and in large cities were the slaves were able to act more freely. It’s estimated there were at least 250 slave rebellions in America before slavery was abolished in 1865.Most tales of what happened during those rebellions could be bias seen as they were written by whites rather than by the slaves that started the revolt. Since African American slaves accounted for more than one-third of the population in the 18th century, slave rebellions were a large source of fear for white Americans in the south.

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