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The Gloucester County Conspiracy
This was one of the first slave revolts in American history. 9 men planned to collect ammunition, march to the governors mansion and demand they be released from their indentures. One of these 9 men betrayed them and they were captured, arrested, 4 of them were hung. The man that betrayed them was granted freedom and 5,000 lbs of tobacco. The conspiracy is made up of a combination of primary and secondary documents. This slave revolt started the trend for enslaved African Americans to fight. -
Stono Rebellion
A group of slaves broke into and robbed a store where they stole guns so they could become an armed militia. They marched killing around 20 white men in the way and forcing reluctant slaves to join them. The white community set out to stop this group, killing half of the slaves while the other half escaped. Eventually all the slaves were captured. In response to the Stono Rebellion, the Negro Act was passed which severely limited the privileges of slaves. -
The New York Conspiracy
It is seemed to believe that in 1741, a group of African American slaves and lower class white citizens set multiple fires in New York. The citizens in New York became paranoid with hat thought that there would be a slave uprising. Nearly 200 people were arrested due to this conspiracy. It was reported as an attempt to take over the city government that had made promises to these certain individuals. This revolt was organized in an attempt to gain their freedom and piece of mind back. -
Amistad Ship Revolt
53 African Americans were kidnapped and brought aboard the Amistad to be moved across the Atlantic and sold into the slave trade. The captives suffered unimaginable mistreatment during their journey. All the captives joined together to rebel. They managed to kill the captain and get rid of the crew members. Together, they navigated their way through the ocean until they reached the United States. The Amistad rebels were offered a trail, with John Adams defending, and were later granted freedom. -
German Coast Uprising
This was one of the largest slave rebellions in American history, however, only 2 white people were killed. Charles Deslandes was the leader of this uprising. The armed rebels, around 500 of them, burned down plantations and destroyed crops. They were confronted by white militia and many died while others were tried and executed. Northerners saw their executions as wrong because they suffered under slavery. The south opposed these views that the North voiced. -
Missouri Compromise
It was important to keep the amount of slave and free states balanced, so the expansion of the western territories caused a few problems. When Missouri asked to join the United States as a slave state, it would have thrown off the balance in favor of slave states. In response, it was allowed for Missouri to become a slave state with the return of Maine joining as a free state. This helped to balance the power between the North and the South but also added to the long lasting conflict. -
Nat Turners Rebellion
Nat Turners rebellion has been argued to be one of the most effective rebellions in slave history. Turner was an enslaved preacher who led a group that killed 55 white men, women and children as they marched to Jerusalem, Virginia. They were then stopped, the next day they were defeated by an organized resistance. This revolt is viewed by abolitionists as slaves being brave and voicing their hate slavery. -
Wilmot Priviso
The Wilmot Proviso was proposed to prohibit slavery from expanding into new territories that the United States gained in the Mexican-American war. This proviso would help minimize the expansion of slavery which the North was all for. The North decided to pass it due to the increased number of representatives they had compared to the South. Greater conflicts arose between the North and South. The South believed that slavery should be everywhere, the North disagreed, they wanted to reduce slavery. -
Fugitive Slave Act
This act allowed runaway slaves to be captured and returned to their owners. Also, any people who had helped the slaves runaway would be punished. Not only were runaway slaves being captured, a large amount of free, African Americans were illegally captured and sold into slavery, despite being free. During this time, many abolitionists created a safe network to see out bounty hunters and also provide a chain of safe houses to help slaves escape to the North. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
This Act repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820. The Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed in order to give Nebraska and Kansas territories their own freedom to choose whether or not to be a free or slave state. It upset many because the Missouri Compromise was looked at as a binding and equal contract where this completely went against that, the South however, strongly supported this. The shift in balance and power caused increased conflicts, leading to the Civil War.
