One primary source document that shows how Nat Turners rebellion instilled fear into the white population was a letter written from Governor John Floyd of Virginia to Governor James Hamilton of South Carolina on November 19, 1831. This document discusses how Governor Floyd believes preachers were a leading factor that lead to the Nat Turner slave rebellion because they used religion to encourage African Americans to resist slavery. In this letter Governor Floyd states, “They began first, by making them religious –their conversations were of that character - telling the blacks God was no respecter of persons - the black man was as good as the white - that all men were born free and equal - that they cannot serve two masters - that the white …show more content…
Another point that was addressed in this primary source document written by Governor Floyd was how women that taught African Americans how to read and write were also part of the problem that lead up to this rebellion. Governor Floyd stated “finally our females and of the most respectable were persuaded that it was piety to teach negroes to read and write, to the end that they might read the Scriptures – many of them became tutoresses in Sunday schools and, pious distributors of tracts, from the New York Tract Society.” Later in his letter he discusses how African Americans use their new capability to read and write to read scriptures and pamphlets provided by the priests to further persuade them to rebel against white authority. At the end of this document governor Floyd states “ I shall in my annual message recommend that laws be passed – To confine the Slaves to the estates of their masters – prohibit negroes from preaching – absolutely to drive from this State all free negroes” This letter is important to analyze when studying the effects of the Nat Turner rebellion in
The white southerners have grown up with the idea that enslaving black men and tearing them down is alright since they have the idea that African American people are not real humans. Without the African Americans stating how they view slavery as unjust and cruel, it is doubtful those ideas would ever change. As stated at the end of previous chapter, Douglass began to teach other slaves how to read the Bible, and that, later on, led to the plans of escaping to freedom. “The week before our intended start, I wrote several protections, one for each of us.” (95) When people see African Americans reading or writing in public away from any plantation, most people assume they are free slaves, since it is common knowledge that teaching a slave how to read is illegal. When Douglass finally took the chance to escape after the first attempt was revealed and he was sent to a different plantation, he fled to New York and New Bedford and almost immediately joined a conference about black equality. He was the only fugitive slave out of all of the other men in the room, so his input and memories were crucial to the
However, Douglass tells us that through pseudoscience and the prevention of slaves from learning how to read and write gave the white slave-owners tangible evidence for their findings. Douglass continues saying that the inability of slaves to read and write made them dependent on their owners. Slave-owners understood that if slaves became educated, that would be the first step to dissent (Douglass 20). By controlling the slave’s education, they were able to control what the rest of America knew about slavery. Until slaves like Frederick Douglass came around, the common northerner had little to no idea what slaves actually went through.
Nat Turner rebellion took place in Southampton County, Virginia, in 1831. Turner’s intention was to move through the countryside, household to household, killing as many whites as possible. He did not care whether they were a man or women, child or adult. Turner was quoted as saying that “indiscriminate slaughter was not their intention after they obtained a foothold, and was resorted to in the first instance to strike terror and alarm. Women and children would afterwards have been spared, and men too who ceased to resist.”
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.
Nat Turner was a leader from the very moment he was born. But unfortunately he was also born into slavery. He was hit with the regulatory slave rules, he could not get married, travel without the permission of his master, could not own property, and he could not earn money. During his slavery, he was sold to many different slave owners and each time, he was sold, he was forced to leave some part of his family, as well as his friends he had made. This was the brutal and demeaning system of slavery that he sought to overthrow. He was not just looking for his own individual freedom, he was fighting for the abolishment of the whole entire system of slavery, along with liberating African Americans from white tyranny. During the 1820s he had many visions of what he believed to be God commanding him to prepare himself to fight against great evil. He was not the only one that was “receiving visions from God” there were many other Americans that said to experience
Gray’s “The Confessions of Nat Turner” opened with an overview of Turner’s early life. He included a passage in which Turner said that an odd moment in his life, when he recalled events that happened before his birth, “laid the ground work of that enthusiasm, which has terminated so fatally to many” (44). By declaring his revolt as an enthusiasm, which means that it was a divinely inspired pursuit, he already ingrained the prejudice of the confessions being the one of an overly religious man. The confessions persisted with the idea of Turner being an irrational self-proclaimed prophet. He was said to have many revelations in his life which convinced him that he was “ordained for some great purpose in the hands of the Almighty” (46). The purpose, as he saw it, was to lead his people to freedom.
Nat Turner’s rebellion was one of the largest slave rebellions in the United States. Nat turner was born into slavery in the year of 1800 in Southampton, Virginia. People on the plantation believed he was a prophet and chosen by God to lead them to great things. He knew of stories that were told before he was alive and his grandmother and mother knew then that he was special and sent from God.
In The Fires of Jubilee Nat Turner's Fierce Rebellion: Stephen Oates gives an account of the brief but deadly slave revolt in and around Southampton, Virginia. His controlling theme is that of religion and the profound influence that it had on the development of Nat Turner's charismatic persona and his rationale for engaging in a project of deliberate murder of people who had at least in the context of slavery as a given of Turner's experience, treated him quite decently. The effects of Nat Turner's rebellion were profound. The insurrection of Nat Turner was inspiration for all slaves, even if just 60 whites were killed to the 140 blacks. I am
Nat Turner did not like the way his people were being treated. Mistreatments on the black slaves pushed Nat and his followers to start the rebellion. In the movie “Nat Turner: A Troublesome Property “directed by Charles Burnett, “slavery was an institution that degraded people”. Blacks had no power whatsoever and had to
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
This anti slavery movement gained momentum for Nat Turner’s rebellion. Nathaniel Turner was an American slave who led a slave rebellion in Virginia on August 21, 1831 that resulted in 60 white deaths and at least 100 black deaths, the largest number of fatalities to occur in one uprising prior to the American Civil War in the southern United States. Slaves and freed slaves that upheld Christian views received great support from religious abolitionists. For instance, Reverend Mr. Gloucester, a freed black minister, was gifted with funds from the church to aid in freeing his family (Document C). An underlying cause of the Christian abolitionist’s disapproval of slavery arose from their realization of the cruelty in enslavement.
The book educates readers on the difficult life slaves had in America during the 1800’s and the life of Nat Turner and the rebellion he lead. The book focuses on Nat’s life and the adversities as well as challenges slaves had to go through to survive. The psychological effects slaves had for the fault of the system they were unjustly born into or put in, affected their decision making every day; either by making them obey their masters or fight for their freedom and die, rather than continue living as a slave. In the case of Nat Turner, life as a slave caused him to lead a rebellion whose sole purpose was to kill all of the white people who lived in Southampton County, Virginia, and its surrounding areas. Unfortunately, Nat’s rebellion is what caused his death.
How did the abolitionists' proposals and methods differ from those of earlier antislavery movements (see Chapter 8)?
Nat Turner’s slave revolt may have not been the greatest way to solve the problem of slavery,
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