Causes And Effects Of The Kongo Rebellion

In the fall of 1739, around twenty enslaved Africans gathered near the Stono River in South Carolina and sought out to rebel against slave owners in what would be one of the most important slave revolts in Colonial America. These Africans were said to be from the Kongo, who may have also been former soldiers. They planned to march and escape to Spanish Florida where the Spanish had issued a proclamation stating that any slave who deserted to St. Augustine would be given freedom and land. The enslaved Kongolese Africans were allegedly led by another slave named “Jemmy” (also referred to as Cato) who gathered a recruitment of more slaves as they headed south. On Sunday, September 9, 1739, they broke into the Hutchinson’s shop and killed the

Once intercepted by the local South Carolina militia, they battled and 20 whites were killed and double that of African rebels were also murdered. Due to this rebellion/revolt and the fear of more revolts, laws with even harsher slave codes were enacted. One act to come out the Stono Rebellion was the “Negro Act of 1740”, which restricted slave assembly, movement, and education. This act also restricted the importation of slaves directly from Africa for 10 years because the Africans were beginning to outnumber the whites. Slave owners who treated their slaves too harshly were subject to fines under the Negro Act in a way to implicit the idea that harsh treatment might contribute to rebellion. The Negro Act was also known as and often called the Slave Code; under this act/code were a list of laws and restrictions. These restrictions were that no slave could leave his master’s property without a pass from his master, or other persons having the care or charge of such slave, or by someone else without the master’s/owner’s order, directions and consent; any slave found off of his master’s property or outside the boundary lines of Charleston could be challenged by any white man and if the slave resisted, he could be legally