SLAVE INSURRECTIONS. It is estimated that some twenty-five insurrections of slaves took place in the United States prior to the American Revolution. This takes no account of the insurrections in Louisiana and in the Spanish, French and English colonies in the West Indies. 1526. 1664. 1687. 1710. 1712. 1720. 1722. 1723. 1730. 1730. 1734. 1739. 1740. 1741. 1741. 1768. 1772. 1775. 1800. 1802. The most important insurrection in the West Indies was the uprising in 1791 of the slaves on the Island of Haiti, by which that country gained its Independ1804 the Republic of Haiti established. ence. First insurrection of Negro slaves within present limits of United States Attempted insurrection of Negroes in the Northern Neck of Virginia. Ne- First serious insurrection of slaves in the Thirteen Colonies in New York. Charleston, South Carolina, white people attacked in their houses and on Armed body of about 200 Negroes gathered near the mouth of the Rappahannock River, Virginia, for the purpose of attacking the people while they were in church. The plot was discovered. April 13. Governor Dummer, of Massachusetts issued a proclamation concerning the "fires which have been designedly and industriously kindled by some villainous and desperate Negroes or other dissolute people as appears by the confession of some of them." April 18, the Rev. Joseph Sewell preached a sermon on "The late fires that have broken out in Boston, supposed to be purposely set by ye Negroes." April 19, the selectmen of Boston made a report consisting of nineteen articles, Number 9 of which said, that if more than two Indians, Negro or mulatto servants or slaves be found in the streets or highways, in or about the town, idling or lurking together, unless in the service of their master or employer, every one so found shall be punished at the House of Correction." August. Insurrection in Williamsburg, Virginia. Rebellion of slaves reported from South Carolina. Conspiracy of slaves to gain their freedom by massacre of the whites discovered near Somerville, New Jersey. About thirty Negroes apprehended two hanged, some had ears cut off, others whipped. Slave conspiracy in Prince George's County, Maryland. The leader was Insurrection at Stone River, in South Carolina, was led by a slave Cato. Two Negroes, Gabriel and Jack Bowler, were leaders in an attempted re- 1805. 1811. 1816. 1818. 1819. 1822. 1831. 1831. 1845. 1853. 1857. 1859. 1859. 1859. ford, Martin, Bertie, Beaufort and Washington. June 10th had been set for the beginning of the insurrection. Two of the leaders were executed. Slave insurrection occurred in Wayne County, North Carolina. One Negro burned at the stake and two hanged. Parish of St. John the Baptist, thirty-six miles above New Orleans, about 500 Negro slaves organized and marched toward the city. They destroyed plantations on the way and forced other slaves to join them. Insurrection suppressed by the garrison from Fort St. Charles. Insurrection planned by slaves at Fredericksburg, Virginia. It was be- Rebellion of slaves at Charleston, S. C. Extensive conspiracy organized at Charleston, South Carolina, by a free Southampton Insurrection, Southampton County, Virginia, Nat Turner, October 4. There was to be an uprising of the Negroes in Sampson, Dub- April. Rumored uprising of slaves in Dorchester, Maryland. After the John Brown raid, rumor spread that there was to be a slave in- Ballagh, J. C., History of Slavery in Virginia. ume 24. REFERENCES Johns Hopkins University Studies. Vol Johns Hopkins University Studies, Bassett, J. S., Slavery in the State of North Carolina. Series XVII. Cooley, H. S., A Study of Slavery in New Jersey. Johns Hopkins University Studies Series IX. and X. Williams, G. W., History of the Negro. Volume II Chapter VII. Atlantic Monthly. Volumes VII and X. Higginson, T. W., Travellers and Outlaws, 1889. Drewry, W. S., Slave Insurrections in Virginia. 1900. Coffin, Joshua, An Account of Some of the Principal Slave Insurrections. 1860. Domestic Disturbances. Cutler, J. E., Lynch Law. 1905. Second Session. No. 209. Federal Aid in Walker, David, Walker's Appeal for Four Articles. 1829; Second Edition. 1830. Hart, A. B., Slavery and Abolition. New York. 1906. 1652. Phillips, U. B., American Negro Slavery, New York, 1918. ABOLITION AGITATION IN THE COLONIES. First enactment in North America looking toward the abolition of slavery adopted by the Rhode Island Assembly. No person, black or white, to serve in bondage more than ten years or after the age of twenty-four years. 1688. First protest of a religious body against slavery made by the Friends Society of Germantown, Penn., under the leadership of Francis del Pastorious. 1696. 1711. 1716. 1716. 1729. 1729. 1737. Yearly meetings of Friends of New Jersey and Pennsylvania votes to recommend to Friends that they cease from further importation of slaves. Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of Friends condemns importation of slaves. New Jersey Yearly Meeting of Friends advises against Friends buying or selling Negroes. Dartmouth Monthly Meeting of Friends asks the Rhode Island Quarterly Meeting "whether it be agreeable to truth for the Friends to purchase slaves and keep them for a term of life." Philadelphia Yearly Friends Meeting memorialized to the effect that it was wrong to buy and import Negro slaves. "The Mystery of Iniquity,” a condemnation of slavery, published by Ralph Sandiford. Benjamin Lee publishes a volume condemning slavery. 1740. The North Carolina Yearly Meeting of Friends raises question of freeing slaves. 1746-67. John Woolman, of New Jersey, travels in the middle and southern colonies and preaches that "the practice of continuing slavery is not right.' 1750-80. Anthony Benezet, of Philadelphia, anti-slavery agitator, establishes and teaches gratuitously a school for Negroes, also influences Pennsylvania to begin in 1780 the work of emancipation. 1770. The Rev. Samuel Hopkins, of Newport, Rhode Island, attacks slavery. 1773. Dr. Benjamin Rush, eminent physician and philanthropist, publishes in Philadelphia an address against slavery. 1775. 1775. 1776. 1777. 1778. 1780. April 14, first Abolition Society in America organized for promoting the abolition of slavery, the relief of free Negroes unlawfully held in bondage, and for improving the condition of the African race. (This Society is still in existence. See below Mission Boards of White Denominations, also Educational Funds, the "African Third.") Petition presented to New Jersey Assembly to "pass an act to set free all the slaves now in the colony." New Jersey Friends deny the right of membership in their society to slaveholders. Vermont abolishes slavery. First colony to do this. Governor Livingstone asks the New Jersey Assembly to make provision for the manumission of slaves. Bill for gradual emancipation passes Upper House Connecticut Legislature. Slavery Declared To Be Contrary To Laws God Man Nature. 1778. 1780. 1780. Virginia passes an act prohibiting the slave trade. Pennsylvania prohibits further introduction of slaves. The meeting of the Annual Methodist Conference at Baltimore put this question and answered it in the affirmative: "Does this conference acknowl 1782. 1783. 1785. 1785. 1786. 1786. 1786. 1786. edge that slavery is contrary to the laws of God, man and nature and hurtful to society; contrary to the dictates of conscience, pure religion, and doing that which we would not that others should do to us and ours; do we pass our disapprobation on all our friends who keep slaves, and advise their freedom?" May. A law bearing the title "An act to authorize the manumission of slaves" passed by the Virginia legislature. The free Negro population of Virginia at that time was probably less than Every Negro in Virginia who fought or served as a free man in the Revolu- December. Citizens of Queen Anne's 22. New Jersey provides for manumission without security. ABOLITION AGITATION IN THE STATES. 1787. Baltimore Yearly Meeting of Friends presents petition for the Emancipation of slaves to the legislature. Petition rejected by vote of 30 to 17. 1789. Bill to promote gradual abolition of slavery and to prevent rigorous exportation of blacks from Maryland presented to legislature. 1789. September 8. Maryland Society organized for promoting the abolition of slavery and for ameliorating the condition of Negroes and others unlawfully held in bondage. 1789. Rhode Island Anti-slavery Society founded by Jonathan Edwards and others. 1790. Connecticut Abolition Society organized, Dr. Ezra Stiles, the president of Yale College, president. 1791. Virginia Abolition Society organized. 1792. 1794. 1795. 1797. 1816. Abolition Society formed in New Jersey. First convention of Abolition Societies meets in Philadelphia, January 1; American Convention of Abolition Societies sends addresses to South Caro- Society for the Gradual Manumission of Slaves founded at Centre, North 1826. Abolition Societies hold_convention in Baltimore. Estimated that there 1827. 1828. 1829. 1831. 1831. 1832. 1833. 1833. 1833. 1837. 1845. 1848. 1851, 1857. 1859. were one hundred and forty of these societies, one hundred and six of which were in the South. Eighty-one represented at the Baltimore convention Seventy-three of them from Southern States and forty from North Carolina alone. About this time Massachusetts General Colored Anti-Slavery Association The American Convention of Abolition Societies meets in Baltimore. First annual convention of the People of Color, June 6-11, Philadelphia. New York Anti-Slavery Society founded. The National Anti-Slavery Convention meets in Philadelphia, December 4. Memorial presented to United States Senate from General Assembly of Ver- Connecticut decrees "that no person shall hereafter be held in slavery in this State and that no slave shall be brought into Connecticut." A law had already been passed (1784) providing for gradual abolition, but this law put an absolute end to slavery in that State. "Uncle Tom's Cabin," by Harriet Beecher Stowe, begins as a serial in the National Era, Boston. First edition issued March 20, 1852. "The Impending Crisis" by Hinton Rowan Helper, representing the "poor white" class in North Carolina. Demanding the abolition of slavery, the expulsion of the Negroes, and the destruction of the oligarchical despotism made possible by slavery. Circulation of this book forbidden in many parts of the South. October 16. John Brown's raid on United States Government Arsenal at Harper's Ferry. December 2, John Brown executed. Of the five Negroes who were with John Brown at Harper's Ferry, one escaped, two were killed in the fight, and two were captured and executed. (See Slave Insurrections.) THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD. The secret routes for transporting fugitive slaves to the free States of the North and to Canada were popularly known as "underground railroads." Friends of the fleeing slaves, by systematic and co-operative efforts, aided them to elude the pursuit of the slave hunters. There were at convenient distances "stations," that is, the houses of persons who held themselves in readiness to receive fugitives, singly or in numbers, at any hour of the day or at night, to feed, shelter and clothe, if necessary, and to conceal until they could be dispatched with safety to some other station along the route. There were other persons known as conductors who held themselves ready at all times to take the fugitives by private or public conveyance and transport them to the next station. If they went by private conveyance, they generally traveled in the night, by such routes and with such disguises as gave the best warrant against detection either by the slave catchers or their many sympathiz ers. As early as 1786, there are evidences of an underground road. A letter of George Washington, written in that year, speaks of a slave escaping from Virginia to Philadelphia, and being there aided by a society of Quakers formed for the purpose of assisting in liberating slaves. It was not, however, until after the War of 1812, that escaped slaves began to find their way by the underground roads in considerable numbers to Canada. From Maine to Kansas, all the northern States were dotted with the underground stations, and covered with a net work of underground roads. It is estimated that between 1830 and 1860 over 9,000 slaves were aided to escape by |