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African American Slave Resistance

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The harsh conditions and cruel treatment imposed by slave masters and perpetuated by the system of slavery was the greatest cause of the revolution. Slave resistance took many forms, for some it was through self-destructive means such as suicide or the act of abortion and even infanticide. Other forms were either aggressive or assertive, such as acts of revolt or marronage. In cases of suicide, “death was seen not only as a liberation from the extreme conditions of slavery, but according to popular African beliefs, as a means of escape permitting the dead to return to their native land”. It is also argued that suicide was also an, “offensive measure that could go beyond purely personal considerations, and in the same blow, aim at the economic …show more content…

During the seventeenth and early eighteenth century, revolts or conspiracies to revolt within the colony were all aimed at, “the massacre and annihilation of white masters”. These were localized events that were immediately terminated by officials, and it was recognized that any collective armed revolt during this period was a limited form of resistance and had a minimal chance of success. An alternative method was marronage, which proved to be, “the most viable and certainly the most consistent” means of resistance. Preceding the Haitian Revolution, was the Makandal conspiracy of 1757, one of the first conspiracies since 1704, the Makandal conspiracy occurred within a unique context unlike previous revolts, having been conceived and organized by those in marronage and then spread among the enslaved on plantations. Marronage enabled relationships with the enslaved on plantations, as well as free blacks, it facilitated a secret network of communication in the colony. The Makandal conspiracy consisted of poisoning white planters, “to overthrow the white regime, whereby the blacks would become the new masters of Saint Domingue”. Unlike other revolts, this was the first attempt at a disciplined, and organized revolt which included the notion of political independence. By 1791, marronage had become a revolutionary force, it had “acquired a distinctively collective characteristic, [which] would converge with the volatile political climate of the time and with the opening of a revolution that would eventually guarantee [the right to be a free person]”. Marronage represented an organized resistance movement that was aimed at the destruction of white supremacy and slavery. The Haitian Revolution was possible because it was a revolution ignited by the enslaved, and free people of colour who were fighting

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In Gabriel’s Rebellion: The Virginia Conspiracies of 1800 & 1802, Douglas R. Egerton examines the events that led Gabriel to form his emancipation plan, and the subsequent aftermath that resulted. Through the use of a variety of primary sources—most notably trial records—Egerton paints an extensive and well written narrative. His account stretches from the American Revolution and the promise of freedom, to the end of the 1802 conspiracy and the Virginia Assembly’s bitter intentions to curtail the possibility of future rebellions. Yet, Egerton includes a wide assortment of asides, different characters, background information, and quotes that blend together to form a cohesive story. Through this book, Egerton argues that Gabriel, and consequently

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At Saturday, April 20, 1793, many of the slaves revolted in order to gain freedom. The passage states ”hundreds of enslaved blacks revolted in the area surrounding the village of Trois- Rivières, Guadeloupe… they were quiet, orderly and unaggressive… the soldiers schedule scrot the enslaved into basse-terre where they would be placed into custody.” ( Insurrection and the Language of rights) This is an example of why the slaves wanted a social change as Toussaint Louverture believed that the blacks were not treated the way they should be.

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In Documents 1, 2, and 10, the Haitian Revolution was the spark

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The use of slaves has always been present in the world since the beginning of civilization, although the use and treatment of those slaves has differed widely through time and geographic location. Different geographies call for different types of work ranging from labor-intensive sugar cultivation and production in the tropics to household help in less agriculturally intensive areas. In addition to time and space, the mindsets and beliefs of the people in those areas affect how the slaves will be treated and how “human” those slaves will be perceived to be. In the Early Modern Era, the two main locations where slaves were used most extensively were the European dominated Americas and the Muslim Empires. The American slavery system and the

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Slavery was a major part of the american way of life, but there were many causes of the resistance to it. Even though many states in the United States opposed and are resisting the act of slavery, many events had a big impact on the ending of slavery. The second great awakening, industrial revolution, and abolishment movement are underlying forces of growing opposition to slavery in the United States from 1776 to 1852. The opposition and abolishment of slavery changed american history.

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In this article “African Dimensions Of The Stono Rebellion”, John Thornton a professor of history and African American studies, who wrote about the African slaves in the Americas, and specifically the servants in South Carolina during the early eighteenth century. In his writing, the author describes the personality of Africans and their desire to escape from slavery, going through obstacles on their path to freedom. John Thornton is primarily an Africanist, with a specialty in the history of West Central Africa before 1800. His work has also carried him into the study of the African Diaspora, and from there to the history of the Atlantic Basin as a whole, also in the period before the early nineteenth century. Thornton also serves as a consultant

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The peasants of the sixteenth century ate more than these slaves. These slaves suffered from malnutrition, they suffered from having restriction, they suffered from having not having liberty. How could King Louis XIV even ponder, or be bewildered upon why the slaves rebelled? There is only one answer for this obvious question, and that answer is mistreatment. The Haitians did not deserve this; they were taken from their

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Background Information on the Enlightenment: In the year of 1791, The French and Haitian Revolution coexisted simultaneously. France was trying to pick up the pieces of a country left in shambles, while across the hemisphere, Haiti was about to ignite the fire. In France, they were in the process of creating a new government, in which all citizens would have equal rights, as based on the Declaration of the Rights of Man. In Haiti, a shocked oppressed populace was discovering the power that was held by the Declaration of the Rights of Man and was keen to set their own revolution.

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The Haitian Revolution can be compared to the French revolution in that they were both influenced by the Enlightenment

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From 1791 to 1804, the country that had the biggest impact on the Haitian Revolution was France. In fact, the French Revolution was a significant catalyst to the Haiti’s own revolution despite having started a few years prior. At this point, France’s economy was still suffering after their involvement in both the American Revolutionary War and the Seven Years’ War. To combat the huge amount of debt they owed, France issued widely unpopular taxation schemes which ultimately caused more harm than benefit. Additionally, the heightened privileges enjoyed by the aristocracy and the clergy drew popular resentment.

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Since there was a large slave population in New York City, it caused paranoia amongst the whites, leading them to believe that all the black slaves were out to get them. In “The New-York Conspiracy, Or A History of the Negro Plot, with the Journal of the Proceedings Against the Conspirators at New-York in the Years 1741-2,” Daniel Horsmanden said, “Insurrections and conspiracies were, at this juncture, frequent in the West-India islands, and great apprehensions were entertained of an invasion by the French and Spaniards. These circumstances aggravated the horrors of a domestic plot to such a degree that the white inhabitants, regarding every Negro slave as an incendiary and an assassin, carried their apprehensions and resentments beyond all bounds.” Due to the large slave population, it was no surprise that the whites were uneasy at the idea of a slave rebellion. The whites suspected the capability of slaves committing arson, as they certainly did not trust them.

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As France was facing the beginning of the revolution, on the night of August 21, 1791, a well-organized slave revolt conducted by a voodoo priest named Dutty Boukman, broke out in the north of Saint-Domingue; where largest plantations were located. Black slaves massacred their masters and set fire to the sugar and coffee plantations. Although the revolts did extensive damage, the Whites kept control of the colony’s major cities. The issue with this revolt was not the total abolition of slavery, but a negation of the freedom of the slaves and their families. Also, they negotiated for a new system in which the week was divided into six days, 3 of these days would be work for their master and three days for themselves.

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Blues could not exist if the African captives had not become American slaves. Without African slaves from West Africa, there would be no blues music. The immediate predecessors of blues were the Afro-American/American Negro work songs, which had their musical origins in West Africa. It is impossible to say how old the blues are but it is certainly no older than the presence of Negros in the United States. The African slaves brought their music with them to the New World.

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Throughout American History, slavery has always posed as a problem in the United States from 1776 to 1852. Slavery grew dramatically when the country acquired new territory as a result of foreign wars, like the Mexican War. Even though there are many reasons why there was a growing opposition to slavery in the United States from 1776 to 1852, the growing opposition of slavery was caused by the country gaining new land as a result of wars and events like the Compromise of 1850 and the Second- Great Awakening which led to the development of new books and newspaper articles. The Land Ordinance of 1785 and the Northwest Land Ordinance of 1787 set forth how the government of the United States would measure, divide, and distribute the land it had

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Cato’s Conspiracy also known as the Stono River Rebellion, devised in Stono, South Carolina, in 1739, during the time England was at war with Spain (History.com Staff, 2009). The Stono Rebellion was the largest rebellion by slaves against their slave owners in American history; it all took place on the Stono River in South Carolina. The particulars of this event in 1739 are unclear, for the reason that the incident wasn’t documented; only personal testimonies were used to get a picture of this incident. The white colonial wrote these records, therefore made the historians to have to recreate the event and discover what caused the Stono River Rebellion and what was the motive behind the slave’s rebellion, (vox, 2015).

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