New Amsterdam And The Slave Revolt Of 1712

1692 Words7 Pages

With the Native Americans out of the way, the only conflicts now had been between the English and settlers from other outside lands in a less-bloodied battle for American soil., as white people began to rule the lands of the New World. The location of the Middle Colonies had some better advantages than other colony locations, as the climate was better, especially for growing crops, along with more nourishing and fertile soil. One place in particular, New Amsterdam, along with New Netherlands, had become more of an egalitarian society, strictly by accident for most colonies were not welcoming of diversity, whether it be of place of origin or religion. New Amsterdam was founded by the Dutch, and ended up becoming home to many, such as the Quakers, …show more content…

Some slaves would flee from their slave owners’ land and join hidden African communities in the swamps. Many slaves eventually assembled and led rebellions in New York, including the first known slavery uprising known as the Slave Revolt of 1712, in which slaves set fires to settler homes and buildings, and many conspiracies were created by African slaves. One of the most notorious slave uprisings was the Stono Rebellion, where, in South Carolina in 1739, a large group of slaves overtook and killed many white men as they ran to Florida, or as better told by Give Me Liberty! An American History, “The Stono Rebellion took the lives of more than two dozen whites and as many as 200 slaves. Some slaves managed to reach Florida, where they were armed by the Spanish.” No one quite knew how the rebellion began, other than Africans more than tired of being slaves, but the rebellion put a lot of fear in the white men of South Carolina, causing them to become more paranoid, tightening the strictness of the slave code. The slave code wasn’t enough apparently, so the English needed a new act. The Negro Act of 1740 was created in response to Stono Rebellion, hoping to stop any more revolts from happening again by making it illegal for African slaves to meet up with each other, learn to write, or to earn money of their own. By finely restricting these abilities, it prevented the slaves from forming anymore rebellions and kept them from being able to buy anything that would help their “betrayal”, such as weapons or