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Essay On Nat Turner Rebellion

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Rebellion can occur for many reasons. Some call for social reform, while others want change economically or politically. However, the root of any rebellion is change. This was no different in the slave uprising of Virginia in 1831, led by Nat Turner. Turner was born in 1800, during the peak of slavery in Southampton, Virginia. Even as a youth, he had hostile feelings towards the institution of slavery. He felt an overwhelming sense of injustice, and refused to accept that this was the way his life would be. After receiving what he believed visions from God, he knew it was time to act. He gained a group of supporters, and set into motion a passionate and bloody rebellion. Turner was not just seeking personal revenge by uprising, he was looking …show more content…

Like Angelique, Turner was unable to accept the life of slavery. His mother had been born free in Africa, and had taught him from a very young age to despise and question the entire institution of slavery. Also similarly to Angelique, Nat had very little freedom. He could not engage in relationships, travel or own his own land. There was also always a lingering fear among slaves that one could be sold to a different plantation at any time, a reality Nat had suffered numerous times. The only light in Nat Turner’s life was God. He became a spiritual leader in his twenties, and believed that he had been chosen to change the lives of all those enslaved. He began to have numerous visions, which he believed to be from God, and began to wait for the right time to strike. Finally, in February of 1831, a sign came to him in the form of a solar eclipse. Nat took this as a sign that he needed to start preparing his battle with evil and picked July 4th, the United States’ day of liberty, to strike. Turner’s health took a sudden bad turn when July 4th came but that did not stop his cause. He waited for another sign. This one came on August 13 when the sun appeared a strange blue-green color. With this final sign Nat when full force into planning the attack. Nat Turner was unable to accept his life as a slave, and instead of surrendering, he chose to do the only …show more content…

Marie even asked for her freedom a few months before the fire, in December of 1733. Her owner swiftly declined her request, infuriating the slave girl. Angelique then threatened her owner and the other servants, claiming they would die by “roasting” and “burning”. Similar threats, as well as other intolerable behaviour, became frequent from Marie after that. She became so unbearable that in early 1734 she was sold for 600 pounds of gunpowder to a slave owner in the West Indies. News of this once again set Angelique off. This time she threatened to burn down the Francheville home. Marie’s life in New France as a slave was trying, but she recognized that her freedom would become even more limited if she were sold. Freedom was then most likely her motivation for running away with Thibault shortly after. Although Angelique went unpunished for attempting to flee, she still continued to threaten arson against her owners if she was not granted

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