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Causes And Effects Of The Cato Rebellion

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On September 09, 1739 a group of twenty plus slaves travelled along the banks of the Stono River chanting the sweet words of liberty. Led by an Angolian named Jemmy, he and several other slaves organized a rebellion that would lead to the death of sixty individuals. Commonly called The Stono Rebellion or Cato’s Rebellion was the largest slave insurrection in British North America. The Stono Rebellion did not just come about; there were several characteristics that led up to the uprising. The revolt also caused a significant aftermath. The Stono Rebellion was the first largest slave revolt of this time. Cato’s Rebellion acted as a tribute to the revolts that would occur afterwards, in which the slaves would finally earn their beloved …show more content…

They first arrived at a store and warehouse known to have weapons and ammunition. The slaves killed two people and took the materials to arm themselves. They then marched to a planation owners house by the name of Mr. Godfrey. They killed him and his two children and burned down his house. By dawn that day they had arrived to Mr. Wallace’s Tavern where they decided to spare the owner for his kindness to his slaves. They continued to march to six other plantations, killing the owners and recruiting more and more slaves for the rebellion. By 11am they had 50 rebels standing strong. Some slaves hid their masters to keep them safe such as the slaves of Thomas Rose. They were later rewarded after the rebellion had ended. By that afternoon, the slaves had chased and killed any whites that they had encountered. Soon word got out about the rebellion that was going on that day by Lieutenant Governor Bull. They had killed abruptly twenty to twenty five whites, burned seven plantations and marched ten miles before reaching the Edisto River before they decided to stop at a nearby field. This is where at 4pm one hundred whites surrounded the group. By dusk thirty slaves were pronounced dead, and the rest had escaped. Twenty white men were killed on the field of conflict. Over the next six months most of the slaves had been …show more content…

The Stono Rebellion “was probably the most notable day when slave relations in the South changed forever”. After the events that occurred of September 9th 1739 new laws were put in place such as the Slave Codes of 1740. The Slave Codes were put in place to “protect the white citizens, control daily movement of the slaves, as well as, protect the slaves from undue brutal treatment by whites. These laws restricted movement of the slaves, in that they had to be accompanied by a white person and/or have the explicit permission of their owner to be out and about”. The new laws were put in place in hopes of keeping the slaves from conversing with one another to keep the talks of any future rebellion down. Many laws would even imprison or fine whites who did not follow the laws completely. Laws were also written about making sure that slaves did not wear “decent” clothing to ensure that they did not look like a free man. The government felt like these laws were extremely important for society to ensure that the white population felt safe. After all, the African population definitely out weighed the white population at this time. The government made every restriction possible for slaves putting them on an even tighter rein. The slaves had fought for hope of an eventual freedom with tighter reins only more rebellion would be soon to come. In the years after the Stono Rebellion had taken

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Cry Liberty: The Great Stono-River Slave Rebellion of 1739 was written by Professor Peter C. Hoffer, who taught as a historian at the University of Georgia. This novel is a brief, yet very informative piece of work that provides a re-examination of a series of incidents that occurred during the Stono Rebellion (which transpired on September 9, 1739). This rebellion manifested once a group of about 20 slaves had broken into a store alongside the Stono River, nearby Charles Town, which is now known as Charleston, South Carolina. The author did an excellent job recreating events in this book and developing the question of whether or not it was actually a rebellion.

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This rebellion occurred on the Stono River and was given the name The Stono Rebellion. A slave, by the named Jemmy, led twenty other slaves in revolt in an effort to show slave owners the Africans desire for freedom. This revolt could not have been planned at any better time because at this point in history the colonist had an outbreak of yellow-fever as well as the war between England and Spain had reach the land of South Carolina. Of these twenty fighting slaves many were soldiers from their previous home in Africa, the village of Angola. Slaves were often trained to use weapons for fighting when they were capture and sold by white colonist.

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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 Stono Rebellion was one of the largest slave revolts in United States colonial history. This significant event took place near the Stono River in South Carolina in early September 1739, led by a group of enslaved Africans who sought to gain their freedom through an armed rebellion. The rebellion lasted several days but was eventually put down by white militia and resulted in the deaths of around 20 white colonists and 40 enslaved Africans. At the time, many colonists perceived the Stono Rebellion as a criminal act. Many white settlers were startled by the event, believing it signified a threat to their power and control.

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