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Nat Turner, Slave Rebellion

According to Faragher, Buhle, Czitrom, and Armitrage (285), the "ultimate resistance" against the abuses of slavery was the "slave revolt." On a hot August night in 1831, Nat Turner, a lay preacher and slave, led a revolt he had planned after having a religious vision in which he saw "white spirits and black spirits engaged in battle" (Faragher, et al. 285). Turner and five other slaves first struck and killed Turner's master, Joseph Travis. Traveling from one plantation to the next, the rebels killed fifty-five whites and had built up a group of sixty slaves by the second morning of the revolt. A group of armed white men broke up the revolt, which ultimately resulted in the execution of over forty blacks, including Turner, who was captured after hiding in the woods for more than two months.

Turner's Revolt, as the rebellion became known, was one of a handful of examples of organized slave rebellions of the era. Turner was intelligent and well-treated by his master, which created greater fear in whites for their safety, since if he would rebel no one could feel safe. Despite Turner's leadership and the oppression of slavery, it is difficult to put view him on the same level as George Washington, a freedom fighter against British oppression. While Turner and other slaves were oppressed, Turner killed any whites in his path. Said the slave of his master Joseph Travis, he "was to me a kind master, and placed the greatest confidence in me; in fact, I had no cause to complain of his treatment of me" (Faragher, et al. 285). Washington's rebellion against the British had a consensus of support, whereas Turner's rebellion stemmed from a "vision" and murdered whites indiscriminately as a symbol of rebellion. While slavery and its oppression are unconscionable and indefensible, it is difficult to view the actions of Turner and Washington on the similar level.

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Nat Turner, Slave Rebellion. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 03:38, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/2000606.html