Prior to the Civil War
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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