Slave Rebellions

Stono Rebellion

• September 9, 1739; South Carolina

• Spanish Florida gave fugitive slaves freedom

• Slaves killed 20 people with stolen firearms; 60 people caught, 30 dead, 30 escaped

• Effects: Negro Act of 1740 limited slaves from growing their own food, learning to read, assembling in groups, earning money, and using loud instruments

New York Conspiracy

• 1741; New York

• A series of fires led to white people thinking Black people were trying to burn the city

• Trials accusing Black people of doing so

• Effects: Black people were executed; stricter laws enacted

Gabriel’s Conspiracy

• summer of 1800; Virginia

• led by slave Gabriel Prosser

• plan was to capture governor James Monroe and force the government to end slavery (did not work btw)

• Effects: tightening of slave laws, more repression, heightened fear of slave rebellions, influenced political discourse

German Coast Uprising

• 1811; Louisiana

• Enslaved men attacked slave owners with sugar farming tools; marched to Mississippi River with other slaves and killed some more people

• Stopped by the militia

• Effects: brutal repression of slaves, tighter slave codes, fear amongst slave owners

Nat Turner’s Rebellion

• August 21-22, 1831; Virginia

• Enslaved preacher Nat Turner believed God told him to release the slaves after seeing a solar eclipse

• He and his allies killed 55 white people on their way to Jerusalem, Virginia

• Organized resistance and a series of defeats ended the uprising

• Effects: fear amongst slave owners, harsher slave codes, increased sectional tensions, ended emancipation debates in the south (caused them to double down on slavery)

John Brown’s Raid

• October 16-18, 1859; Harper’s Ferry, Virginia

• John Brown was an abolitionist who wanted to spark a widespread uprising

• Brown and his supporters held important people hostage and seized federal armory; hoping more slaves would join the raid and they would get access to those weapons

• Quickly ended by militia; Brown hung

• Effects: increased sectional tension; the North saw Brown as a martyr while the South saw him as a criminal, increased fear in the South

What was the response of slave holders after each revolt?

Make laws tighter and more restrictive for slaves

What made John Brown’s raid different from the others?

It was started by an abolitionist (who was white) to create a revolution