The Abolitionist Movement: Nat Turner's Rebellion

Words: 1314
Pages: 6
Open Document
The abolitionist movement had its roots in Great Britain during the American Revolution and gradually evolved into a more radical form of reform that drastically divided the nation as no other issue did before. The prime basis of the abolitionist movement started with the Atlantic Slave Trade where slaves were tormented and brutally mistreated on the ships by the crews. Upon reaching the colonies, slaves were then forced to endure the hardships of labor by their white owners who deprived them of any rights as humans. Even though some whites knew their actions were unjust and immoral, not many opposed the concept of slavery itself due to the profit and benefits that came with slave labor in the plantations. Furthermore, the concept of white …show more content…
The rebellion proved that the level of radicalness of the movement would negatively affect the slaves into using force against their owners. In 1831, Nat Turner led a group of slaves in Virginia from farm to farm killing any whites in sight for about twelve hours. The aftermath resulted in the death of more than fifty whites and more than hundreds of blacks. For the following weeks, suspicions and fear of further insurrections eluded Northern Carolina, and white militias arrested or murdered any slaves that were thought to be a part of the insurrection. Although some believed that Nat Turner’s actions were motivated by the belief that he was God’s messenger sent to save his people, many believed that Turner’s actions were partially motivated by Northern abolitionists who gave ideas of escaping slavery and gaining liberty. One of the most prominent factors was David Walker’s Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World, published in 1829, which encouraged blacks to unite and rebel against their masters was one of the causes of Turner’s uprising. The abolitionist movement gave Turner an excuse to murder, and Turner’s uprising caused further restrictions on slaves such as tightening of the slaves codes which prevented large groups of African Americans from communicating and meeting. This overall slowed down the process of abolishing slavery in the southern states and the negative effects of the abolitionist movement is seen again on the abolishment of
Show More

Related Documents: The Abolitionist Movement: Nat Turner's Rebellion

The Abolitionist Movement: US War On Slavery

Bao-Khang Ngo HIST 1301 T/Thu 8:00AM- 9:30AM U.S Abolitionist Movement U.S War on Slavery The abolitionist movement had its roots in Great Britain during the American Revolution and gradually evolved into a more radical form of reform that drastically divided the nation as no other issue did before. The prime basis of the abolitionist movement started with no other than the Atlantic Slave Trade where slaves were tormented and brutally mistreated on the ships by the crews. Upon reaching the colonies…

Words 684 - Pages 3

Nat Turner: Effective Slave Rebellions In American History

Nat Turner was an African American slave and Christian preacher who led one of the most effective slave revolts in American History. During the 1830’s and 1840’s there was a struggle within the slave communities in the South. White southern slave owners were slowly building a defense of slavery which would result in an increase in abolitionists in the North and a very brutal slave rebellion. At least sixty white southerners of all ages and both sex were murdered. This rebellion resulted in an increase…

Words 159 - Pages 1

Essay on AmericanReform Movements

Reform Movements When the United States was founded, neither women nor African Americans had civil rights. This all began to change in 1800’s when people began to fight for equality. The Women’s Rights Movement and the Abolitionist Movement, although different in leadership and protest, were similar in their motivation and spread of ideas. One key differentiation between the fight for women’s rights and for African Americans rights is the methods of protest and gathering. While women held conventions…

Words 751 - Pages 4

Civil War Social Factors

such as the insurrection of Nat Turner and the publication of The Liberator, the emotional and…

Words 850 - Pages 4

Harriet Beecher Stowe: The Abolition Of Slavery In America

importation of slaves and in 1827 New York completely abolished slavery. Abolitionists played a big role in the abolition of slavery. William Lloyd Garrison wrote the paper the Liberator, which was an anti-slavery newspaper. Harriet Beecher Stowe was another author abolitionist, she wrote an anti-slavery novel in 1852 called Uncle Tom's Cabin, it was a best selling novel in the 19th century. Fredrick Douglas was an American abolitionist who not only believed in equality between race, but equality between…

Words 970 - Pages 4

Dred Scott V. Sandford Analysis

Dred Scott v. Sandford was arguably the most famous Supreme Court case of the 19th century. Through a majority opinion from seven of the nine justices, they ruled that African-Americans like Dred Scott and his family can never be American citizens based solely on their ancestry and that Congress had no right to make laws interfering with or prohibiting the practice of slavery. The case embodied the political sectionalism that has been splitting the country apart since the Missouri Compromise in 1820…

Words 1688 - Pages 7

Jacksonian Democrats DBQ Essay

or their territory. However, Georgia ignored that and Jackson was on its side. He sent the Cherokee down the "Trail of Tears" to Oklahoma (Doc. G). From this we can see there was no individual liberty for Native Americans. In the same year, Abolitionist, which means antislavery,…

Words 695 - Pages 3

Essay On Race Hate

and have a place to live, but that was it. Most or all of the money earned from crops was given to the owner of the field. So, in a way, while legally they were free, they were still slaves from a social standpoint. That is until the civil rights movement began in the 1960s, achieving "the greatest political and social gains for blacks since Reconstruction" ("Slavery in America" sec. ??). In 1896, came “separate but equal” segregation, condoned by our very own Supreme Court (“Civil Rights Timeline”…

Words 699 - Pages 3

Education In The Antebellum Era

economically. Numerous social reform movements came out of this antebellum period. In the antebellum south were a large number of slaves that were uneducated due to laws. During the antebellum era, slavery in the America didn't allow the African American slaves to get a legitimate instruction. Education for free Blacks in the South was all the rarer and harder to acquire. In the South, education was fundamentally led through private direction and numerous abolitionist in the capable framework were…

Words 1099 - Pages 5

Slavery In The Southern States

Even before the very founding of the United States, slavery was a highly controversial issue. The brutal trans-Atlantic slave trade, which began in the 15th century, sent millions of Africans to work on tobacco and sugar plantations that were vital to the colonial economy and created a system of race-based bondage. Almost all the Founding Fathers owned slaves, but by the time of the Constitutional Convention, many hoped that slavery would quietly disappear. In order to preserve the new union, however…

Words 1334 - Pages 6