CHAPTER XXII

NEGRO INSURRECTIONS

Slaves Were Content.-The account of slavery in South Carolina would not be complete without reference to the few insurrections. One of the most remarkable things in the history of the institution is the loyalty of the negroes. The absence of revolts is generally ascribed to the natural docility of the black man and the masterful spirit of the white man. To these might be added the ready response of the negro to kind treatment, and the great affection frequently observed between the negro nurses and the white children, which continued in after life. There was also a kindly relationship between the black men and the white men, who had played and hunted together in boyhood. But chief among the causes assigned must be the innate loyalty of the negro.

It had often been said by people of the North, and it was apprehended somewhat at the South, that when war once began between the sections, negro insurrections would rage in all quarters of the South. The disappointment of the North was very great. Such insurrections, had they occurred, would have disbanded the Southern armies in a week's time, from Virginia to Texas. But they would have resulted in the extermination of the negroes. There is certainly nothing more true than the assertion sometimes denied, that the war was not waged because of sympathy for the negro's suf

ferings as a slave. It was, as Mr. Lincoln declared, for the preservation of the Union; and, had outrage and slaughter been attempted by the negro slaves upon the white women and children of the South, Northern soldiers by the thousands would have joined the soldiers of the South to protect the white race and put an end forever to all fears of negro atrocities.

The negro acted wisely, as well as in accordance with his kindly nature, when he refused to join in any uprising in the rear of the Southern armies, to rob and outrage the helpless people at home. On the contrary, he faithfully hid his master's property from the Northern invaders, and came back after the armies were gone and worked for the support of the helpless women and children.

Stono Insurrection.-History has to record only two uprisings by the slaves in South Carolina. One took place during the administration of Lieutenant-Governor Bull, in 1739. It was led by the negro Cato, and is known as the Stono Insurrection, or the "Gullah War." It resulted in the butchering of a few white men, women, and children, and in the robbery and burning of some homes. A company of whites was soon formed under Captain Bee. They overtook the negroes, drunk on the liquors that they had taken from the homes of the whites and carousing in the noisiest manner. They did not perceive the approach of the whites until it was too late to offer effectual resistance, and the whole party was killed or captured after a short skirmish. Cato was among

the slain.

The whites showed great moderation and self-control after the capture. The most prominent and vicious of the rioters were brought to regular trial by the courts, and, after legal sentence, were hanged; but most of the captives were pardoned.

The next so-called attempt at insurrection failed because of the fidelity of many of the slaves to their masters. When urged to join in the insurrection, they revealed the whole plot, and the conspiracy collapsed. This attempt was made in Charleston in 1822, during the administration of Governor Bennett. It was instigated and organized by a mulatto, Denmark Vesey, from Santo Domingo. He had taken part in some of the bloody insurrections there and felt a desire to “taste” again the "blood of Englishmen." He was assisted by four white foreigners. Vesey and thirty-four of his associates were tried by the courts and hanged. The four white men were sentenced to fine and imprisonment. Some of the negro participants were sent beyond the borders of the State.

There has been, therefore, but one negro insurrection in South Carolina, and that one an insignificant affair, promptly and easily settled. In this connection, it may be said that there seems little ground for fear of a race war. The negroes are aware that to attempt an uprising would result in complete disaster to the black race, and we believe that the free negro well understands his environment and is content to work out in patience his own fortunes.

CHAPTER XXIII

CAUSES OF SECESSION

Prime Cause of Secession.-When we come to consider secession we must look back at its causes. The prime cause was tariff taxation, which came so near bringing about a conflict of arms in 1831-2. The planters of the South saw their particular industry subjected to a system of taxation by the import duties on foreign goods for the benefit of home manufactures. This question was a sectional one, because the manufacturers were at the North and the planting interests at the South. The slavery question was involved later, because the slaves could be used profitably on the plantations of the South, but were entirely rejected as a labor class in the factories of the North. So slavery grew where it was profitable and disappeared in sections where it was unprofitable, and the planting South became slave States and the manufacturing North free States.

Slave and Free State Agitation.-When new territory was acquired, a sharp conflict arose on the question of taxation and, incidentally, on slavery. If the new territory were settled by free-State people, the new States would come in as free States, and would add to the strength of the free States and advance their interests and power in the government of the country, especially in Con

gress and the Electoral College. In these circumstances the slavery question became predominant because of race prejudice, which was opposed to having negroes in the new territory, and because of the natural feeling of the free States against the extension of slavery. The people of the slave States, knowing that they had contributed more than their full share of intelligent and self-sacrificing effort in the acquirement of this territory, clearly understood the unfairness of denying them an equal share in the settlement of the soil. At first there was an adjustment of the difficulty, and at the admission of every free State a slave State was also admitted, and the balance of the sections was preserved, through an unstable and dangerous equilibrium. Desire for power soon made the free-State people contend that all the newly acquired territory should be free. The South realized that she must, in a short time, become helpless in a Federal Union, by such a system of settlement of the vast new territory, and that she could then be taxed under the protective system to any extent that the dominant section might desire. She also realized that the organization of societies throughout the North for the general abolition of slavery in Southern States, while the other States had been allowed to abolish this institution for themselves, would ultimately result in great disaster to her. Then came the efforts to incite the slaves to insursection, such as the John Brown agitation. It began to appear, therefore, that continuance in the Union, especially after the effort to elect a sectional President in 1856 had proved so formidable, was impossible. The