Turner Rebellion of 1831

By the time Nat Turner and other slaves killed more than 50 white people in and around Southampton, Virginia, in August of 1831, the slaveholders of the South had little experience that might have prepared them for the realization that the institution of slavery could place their lives in jeopardy. A conspiracy led by Denmark Vesey, a free Negro living in Charleston, North Carolina, had emerged in 1822, partly out of public discourse over the Missouri Compromise (1821), which settled the geographical boundaries of slavery in the territory of the Louisiana Purchase. When a ôfaithful retainerö revealed the plot, Vesey and 35 others were hanged, and another 34 were exiled (Wiltse 71). By 1831, public discourse of slavery and antagonistic North-South debate had heightened with the appearance of GarrisonÆs abolitionist newspaper The Liberator. Nevertheless, Nat TurnerÆs slave rebellion was not anticipated, and this fact is supported by the commentary that contained a good deal of speculation about the revoltÆs causes and TurnerÆs motives.

It is clear that TurnerÆs leadership role was central to the rebellion, and there was a religious component to that

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ö (Extract 22). It does not appear to have occurred to any whites that TurnerÆs religious sensibility was authentic. In any case, his convictions had been frustrated by the social realities of slavery. Whites had denied Turner and other slaves the privilege of being baptized in a church, which pushed them to construct a baptism ceremony at the river. Turner also reported a vision of the Holy Spirit in which it was revealed that ôthe time was fast approaching when the first should be last and the last should be firstö (Turner 126). Over a period of several years there was an accretion of signs, symbols, and interpretations that, in TurnerÆs mind, seemed to have been connected to the unbreakable condition of slavery. This period was coincident with TurnerÆs late twenties, a time in which assertions of adulthood are likely to emerge. But the fact of slavery perforce stunted any meaningful assertion on TurnerÆs part. His sense of greatness and purpose, however, was lent resonance in February 1831 by a solar eclipse and by his interpretation of natural shapes as signs from heaven. He believed the eclipse was a sign that the day of judgment was imminent and that it was time to ôarise and prepare myself and slay my enemies with t
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1824
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

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