SLAVE REBELLIONSPrior to the Civil War

START OF SLAVE REBELLIONS Many slave-owners feared slaves would

rebel. This caused slave-owners to rarely set slaves free.

Most slaves did not classify themselves as slaves.

Many rebellions were brought on because of slaves who became activists. They encouraged others to buy their freedom or escape.

GABRIEL PROSSER First major slave rebellion was brought on by

this man. His main fight, and argument was religion. He

was Christian, and slavery was not. Prosser gathered over 1,000 followers and he

began planning a revolt. The revolt was ruined by two followers who

backed out and gave away their plan. Prosser and his followers were arrested and

hung because of this.

DENMARK VESEY Considered Upper Class Vesey bought his own freedom and went on to live

his life, however he hated the idea of slavery. The anger that he had inside of him never went away and he began planning a revolt.

Unlike Prosser, Vesey didn’t trust everyone with his plans, only select few who were heads of revolts. That way if one betrayed him, the plan would still work. Unfortunately one fellow knew all of his plans and that was the follower who betrayed Vesey.

Thus leading to his hanging.

JUST A SIDE NOTE At this time, right after Vesey’s revolt,

slave owners and even non slave owners were getting more and more anxious about the rebellions. Although they sound quick and painless, most rebellions were not. Usually they were harsh, and merciless. The slaves were angry and rebelling, to them, was the only to get their freedom.

NAT TURNER Also upper class Nat Turner’s veiws and hatred for slavery was

also religion based. Nat Turner was very religious, so much that he became the “religious leader” in Southampton.

Turner had seven main followers. Turner’s main revolt killed 55 people. After

this, instead of getting caught, Nat went into hiding and wasn’t found, until several months after.

THE LAST REVOLT After Nat Turner died revolts were not

seen as much. However this did not stop the civil war from coming. These revolts helped open up many of the states eyes to slavery.

Thus the banning of importing and exporting slaves was issued.

THE AMISTAD Even though the importation of slavery was

banned, many slave traders were still doing it. On this particular ship, The Amistad, a revolt took

place. The ship was taken over and all were killed except for the captain.

Cinque, an African, demanded the ship be taken back to Africa but instead was taken to New York.

The Africans were tried for murder but were set free because of the circumstance.

This was unusual but it marked the beginning of the change of America

BIBLIOGRAPHY http://www.wsu.edu/~

dee/DIASPORA/REBEL.HTM http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nat_Turner www.google.com