Grace WongPeriod 1US History

Struggle Against Bondage

Armed rebellion was an inevitable result of slavery. Large plantation owners often

resorted to cruel and brutal punishments in order to increase work efficiency and exploitation.

From the start, most slaves were treated as merely tools for economic gain and white supremacy.

Because of the indecency with which slaves were treated, armed rebellion was a natural outcome

of slavery.

Suicide and self-harm were common forms of rebellion. Slaves cut off their fingers, shot

themselves in the foot, and mutilated themselves as acts of refusal to work. Suicide was common

among slaves from Africa, who often starved themselves to death during the long boat ride to

America. Some slaves also resorted to violence as a form of rebellion, such as food poisoning

and murder. The most popular form of rebellion was escape from plantations. While often

ineffective, it succeeded in forming massive slave groups that never really came to a halt until

slavery ended.

The white south often reacted to rebellions with sympathy towards white slave owners

and disgust towards slaves. Laws that served to protect slaves were seldom enforced. Slave

owners who brutally abused their slaves were often excused in court. In 1827, a slave owner beat

his slave to death, but was still acquitted. In contrast, slaves who rebelled through violence were

given no mercy. A slave who choked Carolina Turner, his slave owner, was later hanged for his

deed. Planned escapes were very risky if caught, often resulting in mass arrest and execution. On

August 30, 1800, Governor Monroe caught over six hundred slaves in the act. Most of them were

arrested and thirty five were executed.

Grace WongPeriod 1US History

The most effective means of rebellion was the effort to escape. Unlike suicide, self-harm,

and violence, which were mainly individual acts of rebellion, escape allowed slaves to form huge

groups, ranging from two thousand to fifty thousand. For the slaves, it represented the

continuous fight between slaves and their masters. The Maroons was a large group of runaway

slaves who settled in the mountainous and swampy areas of Brazil, where conditions would be

unfavorable for plantation owners. The Denmark Vesey insurrection was another influential

rebellion that amounted to nearly nine thousand slaves and hundreds of pike heads, bayonets, and

daggers. Although little over a hundred were caught, the rebellion recognized the formidable

power of slave escape groups.

As a means of reconciling armed rebellion, we have attempted to increase economic and

social development of free slaves. Organizations such as the Society of Friends, the Pennsylvania

Society for the Abolition of Slavery, and the North Carolina manumission Society helped free

Negroes acquire housing property. Opposition of free blacks in society became less prevalent as

more rose in affluence. In 1861, the Daily Picayune described the free blacks as “a sober,

industrious, and moral class, far advanced in education and civilization.”