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Nat Turner Rebellion Research Paper

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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

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