--- Page 1 --- From Baballion to a Reyulntlon Afro-American Slave Revolts in the Making of the Modern World EUGENE D.GENOVESE --- Page 2 --- The Walter Lynwood Fleming Lectures in Southern History Louisiana State University --- Page 3 --- This page intentionally lefi blank --- Page 4 --- From Rebellion to Revolution --- Page 5 --- This page intentionally lefi blank --- Page 6 --- From Rebellion to Revolution Afro-American Slave Revolts in the Making of the Modern World EUGENE D. GENOVESE Louisiana State University Press Baton Rouge --- Page 7 --- Copyright @ 1979 by Louisiana State University Press All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America Designer: Albert Crochet Typeface: VIP Garamond no. 3 Typeserter: G&S Typesetters, Inc. Louisiana Paperback Edition, 1992 04 06 08 IO 12 13 II 09 07 05 9 II 12 IO 8 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING IN PUBLICATION DATA Genovese, Eugene D 1930From rebellion to revolution. (The Walter Lynwood Fleming lectures in southern history, Louisiana State University) bibliography: P. I. Slavery in America. 2. Slavery in the United States-Insurrections, etc. 3. Maroons. I. Title. II. Series: Walter Lynwood Fleming lectures in southern history. HT1048.G43 301.44'93'0973 79-17722 ISBN 0-8071-1768-4 (paper) The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources. (00) --- Page 8 --- Men must be caressed or annihilated, for they will revenge themselves for small injuries but cannot do SO for great ones. The injury that we do to a man must, therefore, be such that we need not fear his vengeance. Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince A man may perish by the sword, yet no man draws the sword to perish, but to live by it. James Harrington, A System ofPolitics --- Page 9 --- This page intentionally lefi blank --- Page 10 --- For Eric Hobsbawm Our Main Man Federico, tû ves el mundo, las calles, el vinagre, las despedidas en las estaciones cuando el humo levanta sus ruedas decisivas hacia donde no hay nada sino algunas separaciones, piedras, vias férreas. Hay tantas gentes haciendo preguntas por todas partes. Hay el ciego sangriento, y el iracundo, y el desanimando, y el miserable, el arbol de las unas, el bandolero con la envidia a cuestas. Asi es la vida, Federico, aqui tienes las cosas que te puede ofrecer mi amistad de melancôlico varon varonil. Ya sabes por ti mismo muchas cosas, y otras iras sabiendo lentamente. Pablo Neruda separaciones, piedras, vias férreas. Hay tantas gentes haciendo preguntas por todas partes. Hay el ciego sangriento, y el iracundo, y el desanimando, y el miserable, el arbol de las unas, el bandolero con la envidia a cuestas. Asi es la vida, Federico, aqui tienes las cosas que te puede ofrecer mi amistad de melancôlico varon varonil. Ya sabes por ti mismo muchas cosas, y otras iras sabiendo lentamente. Pablo Neruda --- Page 11 --- This page intentionally lefi blank --- Page 12 --- Contents Preface xiii Acknowledgments XXV ONE Slave Revolts in Hemispheric Perspective I TWO Black Maroons in War and Peace 51 THREE The Turning Point 82 AFTERWORD "The Flag ofOur Country" 126 Bibliographical Essay 139 Index 167 --- Page 13 --- This page intentionally lefi blank --- Page 14 --- Preface I Enslavement in any form has figured as the antithesis of that individual autonomy considered the essence of freedom in modern societies. The revolt against slavery thus emerged as the basic assertion of human dignity and of humanity itself. The power of slavery as a cultural myth in modern societies derives from its antithetical relationship to the hegemonic ideology of bourgeois social relations of production. The dominant liberal and democratic strands of bourgeois ideology demand the responsibility of the individual for himself in the polity, the economy, the society. To be sure, working men and women have largely been excluded from the governance and benefits, but the justification for their exclusion has been compatible with the notion of propertied male individualism rather than in cynical or flagrant violation ofit. In bourgeois theory, freedom emerges as an absolute quality and right of the human being. Unlike some mystical Or spiritual right that might be realized only in another life, bourgeois freedom is grounded in the solid here-and-now of absolute property. Those who do not possess external, material resources enjoy a minimal property in themselves, most notably in their labor-power. Marx might call wage-labor xili --- Page 15 --- Preface draws its force from a general wage-slavery, but his metaphor that denies slavery as an acceptable acceptance of an ideology social and personal condition. raise movements of Precapitalist societies did not readily for they viewed social participation opposition to slavery, notion of society as a totality-norwithin one or another or household. ordered community mally, a hierarchically have also tended to favor a more comPrecapitalist societies Less likely than capitalist plex system of social participation. model of social beingsocieties to offer a single acceptable individual-they were more likely to justify the autonomous different from alternative slavery as a form of social being revolt rather than kind. In this context, forms in degree of revolt generally took the form simple against slavery the overstepping unbearable exploitation or against against Even the slaves perceived their of traditional arrangements. from society. revolts as external to society-as a withdrawal therefore, slave revolts had a restorationist For a long time, content. rather than a revolutionary, Or isolationist, character of such early slave revolts The objective social of enslavement-of should not obscure the deep experience slave rebinds them to oppression and exploitation-that confrontation with involts in the modern world. Violent But the justice lay at the core of any revolt against slavery. of the revolts and the terms in which they were cast goals changes in the social relachanged with the revolutionary and Ameritions of production and the ideology ofEuropean can society as a whole. into the AmeriEuropean conquerors introduced slavery character of slavery bore the stamp of the historical cas. The xiv revolts The objective social of enslavement-of should not obscure the deep experience slave rebinds them to oppression and exploitation-that confrontation with involts in the modern world. Violent But the justice lay at the core of any revolt against slavery. of the revolts and the terms in which they were cast goals changes in the social relachanged with the revolutionary and Ameritions of production and the ideology ofEuropean can society as a whole. into the AmeriEuropean conquerors introduced slavery character of slavery bore the stamp of the historical cas. The xiv --- Page 16 --- Preface of its progenitors. Never an development and aspirations mode of production or form of government, independent constituted a social formation and a slavery in the Americas within a declinparticular set ofsocial relations of production of ("feudal") and a rising capitalist mode proing seigneurial ofthe attendant political reladuction, under the governance tions of property and authority. Europeans of enslavement introduced by The institutions the varied in their particulars from place to place throughout of historical development within the colonies. The stage initial colonization and of country of origin at the moment of decisive impact of colonial government had a the institution institutions, including the regionupon the shape of colonial acal form of slavery. I have discussed the world-fashioning Made, tion of the master classes in The World the Slavebolders sketched the historical context of modern in which I have it. The initial slavery and, by extension, ofthe revolt against whether that of a class, a segment impetus for colonization, imprint frequently left a decisive ofa class, or a government, of origin's form of colonial institutions. The country upon intersected with the level government, as well as its religion, actual or ofthe world market and the colony's ofdevelopment to it in such a way as to favor a particupotential relationship market possibilities comlar form of slavery. Frequently, the enslavebined with scruples about, or impediments to, or of indigenous colonial peoples ment of one's own people ofblack slavery as the accounted for the systematic adoption preferred form oflabor. however, it Once a slave system had been inaugurated, could be modified either by changing economic opportuniXV --- Page 17 --- Preface need of the masters to establish some ties or by the perceived the brute form of social hegemony to mitigate or legitimate in Roll, As I have argued at length economic exploitation. constituted a blank slate in this Jordan, Roll, the slaves never with them The successive waves of Africans brought process. of justice and commitments to and preconceptions as many did. And they fought tenaciously, legitimacy as their captors confrontation by all available means, including the ultimate The their own view of social relations. of revolt, to enforce struggles slave societies that resulted from these continuing did features and embedded- -even when they bore distinctive history of class conmanifest-their own specific not openly frontation and hard-won compromise. within slave societies all took root and grew These regional determined by the prevailing European an economic context And with due respect for the special mode of production. and their respective colcases of England, the Netherlands, of the that mode of production was, at the genesis onies, The seigneurial mode American slave systems, seigneurial. be equated that spawned the expansion cannot of production Internal crises with that ofhey-day medieval seigneurialism. and the absolute commercial capital had already permitted and Pormake inroads. In France, Spain, state to significant remained parasitic and tugal, commercial capital nonetheless seigneurial social relations of producfed off the prevailing absolute state did. The daztion, as even the most vigorous monarchies never freed zling achievements of the various relationship with the seigneurial them from their symbiotic free classes. Nor could those ruling classes decisively ruling and legally hedged rethemselves from ther ideologically xvi ism. and the absolute commercial capital had already permitted and Pormake inroads. In France, Spain, state to significant remained parasitic and tugal, commercial capital nonetheless seigneurial social relations of producfed off the prevailing absolute state did. The daztion, as even the most vigorous monarchies never freed zling achievements of the various relationship with the seigneurial them from their symbiotic free classes. Nor could those ruling classes decisively ruling and legally hedged rethemselves from ther ideologically xvi --- Page 18 --- Preface classes without sacrificing lations with their own laboring their national of their privileged position in the essence community. a multitude of economic Just as colonization promised balanced national SOadvantages external to the precariously case after anto offer, in one cial system, SO slavery appeared relations of producother, a means of rationalizing the social slaveholders, whatever their particular tion. But the various intended that rareligious and cultural sensibilities, never upon the traditional legitimization tionalization to impinge access to propof their own status, nor upon their privileged their Rather, grosso modo, they expected erty and authority. ofslaves to buttress their position ownership and exploitation live with the distinct economic as seigneurs. If they could rarely aspired to ofbeing modern feudataires, they advantages And the vicissitudes oft their become capitalist entrepreneurs. with the denizens of comcontinued symbiotic relationship and fed off who lubricated their operations mercial capital, seigneurial context of their profits, confirms the persistent their undertaking. had its earliest roots in a preEven English colonization But the first great capitalist economic and social system. revolution owed its origins to the same phenombourgeois colonization and swiftly altered the ena that produced the The and economic framework ofits development. larger legal colonies wave of slave imports into the Anglo-Saxon great almost the same moment as the Glorious Revoluoccurred at ofbourgeois individualtion, which confirmed the triumph reinforced ism in the mother country. This transformation hold other men as the ability of the Anglo-Saxon colonists to xvii --- Page 19 --- Preface absolute bourgeois property. To the extent that to Cast this naked they sought turned exploitation as a viable social order, to older they between seigneurial norms appropriate to relations peasants and lords, rather than toward the emerging norms barely appropriate to free labor. The history of slavery and of slave revolts in the corresponds roughly to the transition from Americas capitalism. And like that scigneurialism to tion, slavery in the Americas protracted and portentous transimodel. As cannot be reduced to a set ofsocial relations of any simple a dominant mode of production embedded in production, it must be that nuanced vision which should apprehended by ofthe historical role inform any understanding cial ofcommercial capital. For like commercapital, with which it was SO clearly in the Americas remained associated, slavery a rationalization of Capable of extraordinary efficiency parasitism. ture, it nonetheless within a given conjuncrepresented a developmental dead end. Ideologically, it combined traditional and ments in an uneasy and contradictory progressive eletably conflicted with synthesis that inevione or more elements of the bourgeois ideology. emerging Nothing better testifies to the integral role ofs transition from slavery in the seigneurialism to capitalism- -in as well as socioeconomic ideological revolts. Nor terms-than the history ofthe slave can any other social movement better the rich and contradictory illuminate ioned their process whereby the slaves fashown history within the contours of the modes of production. dominant of the Throughout the seventeenth and most eighteenth century, the numerous slave revolts lowed a generally restorationist folcourse. The various. slave xviii better testifies to the integral role ofs transition from slavery in the seigneurialism to capitalism- -in as well as socioeconomic ideological revolts. Nor terms-than the history ofthe slave can any other social movement better the rich and contradictory illuminate ioned their process whereby the slaves fashown history within the contours of the modes of production. dominant of the Throughout the seventeenth and most eighteenth century, the numerous slave revolts lowed a generally restorationist folcourse. The various. slave xviii --- Page 20 --- Preface with their discrete African and Afro-American populations of their European and cultures rose against the oppression their own white-creole masters. In SO doing, they drew upon identities and collective commitments to reject opcultural alternative social norms. When their pression and to advance and heroic sacrifice of life, path did not lead to bloody defeat estabwithdrawal from colonial society and to the it led to a with its lishment of maroon societies. This particularism, might entail acceptance of social and political heterogeneity, of traditional communities but even not only the re-creation It also lent itself to deals with the exploitation of other slaves. still a or ruling classes that accepted colonial governments vision of social order. hierarchically organized, particularist mode of producThus, prior to the triumph of the capitalist the ideology, slaves could use tion and a cohesive bourgeois their traditional concolonial world, at the margin, to defend ceptions of their own rights. of the The conquest of state power by the representatives bourgeoisie in France decisively transformed consolidating economic terrain. Nothing changed overthe ideological and the conditions in night, but the French Revolution provided could become a which a massive revolt in Saint-Domingue which Tousrevolution in its own right. The brilliance with and sisL'Ouverture claimed for his enslaved brothers saint universal human ters the rights of liberty and equality-of themselves conthe French were claiming for dignity-that in the history of slave revolts and, stituted a turning point accepting the indeed, ofthe human spirit. Far from passively class, Toussaint seized and approprihegemony of the ruling Henceforth, ated that hegemony at a transitional moment. xix --- Page 21 --- Preface from the dominant slaves increasingly aimed not at secession society but at joining it on equal terms. II criticisms of the book's thesis may be anticipated since Two communications they have already been raised in private from the and comrades. The first comes from colleagues Right; the second from the Left. homogeneity, First, I am not implying some ideological French Reveither before or after the much less coordination, revolts at any of restorationist olution, nor the disappearance ofideoin time. And I freely admit that the mechanics point remain obscure and await intensive relogical transmission black demand for the abolition of search. I do insist that the and social system was something new epochslavery as a have emerged as a worldmaking; and that it could not before the rise of a bourgeois-democratic historical power liberal comwhich itselfextended the revolutionary ideology The slave revolts, like SO mitment to absolute property. outside the context ofa demuch else, cannot be understood economics, world history within which the politics, veloping Africa, the Americas, and Asia as and ideology of Europe, well, had become inseparable. foreshadowed Second, I do not deny that the slave revolts anticolonial revolutions of the twentieth the proletarian and But in time and place their character was bourgeoiscentury. for continuity with later antidemocratic. The argument but only at a different capitalist movements may be sustained thelevel of analysis, and it does not contradict the primary beyond the scope of this book but familiar sis. For reasons XX , world history within which the politics, veloping Africa, the Americas, and Asia as and ideology of Europe, well, had become inseparable. foreshadowed Second, I do not deny that the slave revolts anticolonial revolutions of the twentieth the proletarian and But in time and place their character was bourgeoiscentury. for continuity with later antidemocratic. The argument but only at a different capitalist movements may be sustained thelevel of analysis, and it does not contradict the primary beyond the scope of this book but familiar sis. For reasons XX --- Page 22 --- Preface passed into the the overwhelming mass ofex-slaves enough, what Mintz has called - 'reconrural proletariat or into Sidney semi-serf SOstituted peasantries" or into semi-proletarian, formations. In each case, the bourgeois-democratic revocial early; in each case the radicalism ofthe lutions were strangled slavery passed into anticolonial or anticapitalrevolts against this process must be evaluated with ist movements, although of some of those reconstifull attention to the conservatism of, subjugation tuted peasantries and to the long political the blacks in the southern United States. say, raised this question sharply in his early C. L. R. James Black Reconstruction. And work, as W. E. B. Du Bois did in the attention of Sidney in different form it has engaged Luciano Franco, and David Brion Davis, among Mintz, José that these scholars, all of whom others. It is not surprising should insist on have been deeply influenced by Marxism, the world whole and on stressing the political implicaseeing investigations. tions of their historical and anthropological ofthis book to that extraordinarily complex The relationship another book to explore. But I have question would require historical continuity of the written nothing that denies the that slave revolts with later social movements-a continuity reading the present back into the past. does not justify the slave revolts did not chalUntil the Age of Revolution itself the world capitalist system within which slavery lenge Rather, they sought escape and autonomywas embedded. restoration. When they did bea local, precapitalist social banner of abolition, they and raise the come revolutionary revwithin the context of the bourgeois-democtatic did SO slogans and olutionary wave, with bourgeois-democtatic xxi --- Page 23 --- Preface relademands and with a commitment to bourgeois property The transformation of that legacy by subsequent gentions. erations is another story. III slaves have constituted the most opThroughout history of social pressed but not generally the most revolutionary less Historians of the ancient world have commented classes. ofthe Roman era than on their inon the massive slave revolts argued that the stronger frequency, and some have plausibly lower classes impulse came from the nonslave revolutionary subjugation provided more and strata whose less complete conditions. military, and psychological favorable political, of black docility in slavery appears Accordingly, the legend ludicrous, for, SO far as the the more ironic as well as the more in world no enslaved people evidence allows generalization, in such numbers or with SO history rose in revolt SO often or the Old South rose large a measure of success. The slaves of in fewer numbers, and less successfully much less frequently, and South America, but than those of the Caribbean region of revolt. too made vital contributions to the history they to recount the history of This short book makes no attempt Hemislave revolts throughout the Western Afro-American require ten large volumes to tell sphere-a story that might topically and adin adequate detail. Rather, it proceeds in time and dresses two main problems: (1) the conditions which favorable to slave revolt and guerrilla warfare, place and low intensity of revolts in help explain the infrequency and (2) the place the Old South relative to those elsewhere; warfare, including the southern, of slave revolts and guerrilla xxii of This short book makes no attempt Hemislave revolts throughout the Western Afro-American require ten large volumes to tell sphere-a story that might topically and adin adequate detail. Rather, it proceeds in time and dresses two main problems: (1) the conditions which favorable to slave revolt and guerrilla warfare, place and low intensity of revolts in help explain the infrequency and (2) the place the Old South relative to those elsewhere; warfare, including the southern, of slave revolts and guerrilla xxii --- Page 24 --- Preface movements that were making in the international political of Revolution. the modern world during the aptly called Age proceeded on the assumption that the extraordinary Ihave has finally laid to rest the myth of scholarship of recent years discuss noninand Thus, I do not slave docility quiescence. such insurrectionsurrectionary forms of resistance nor even slave shipboard revolts in the ary forms as the impressive themselves, bear on the trade. These subjects, important in extend themes of this book, but their inclusion would only without essentially affecting the argument. the text the ire of my colleagues by omitting Ihave decided to risk cluttered the first draft. the several hundred footnotes that to information here-only an attempt There is little new materials familiar to specialbring a point of view to bear on cited in the biblioists and available in the books and articles few I have not even cited the sources for the graphical essay. manuscripts, narrative slave acquotations from plantation Colonial Office, since they counts, and papers in the British bibillustrations but not "proof" ' of anything. The provide hardly comprehensive, may noneliographic essay, although I however, excessive for SO short a book; hope, theless seem that it will prove useful to nonspecialists. order Those infected with the current rage for sociological analysis" will, I fear, be disappointed with and "structural of the "factors" that the lack of precision in my presentation decision to conditioned revolt and guerrilla war, and with my course. Several follow a literary rather than a model-building Orlando Pattersociologists, most notably Marion Kilson, modelSynnott, have undertaken such son, and Anthony enriched our understanding building and have enormously XX111 --- Page 25 --- Preface while doing SO. I have read their work with the utmost profit and admiration and wish to express my indebtedness to them. My own general views, independently formulated during the last two decades, more often than not accord with theirs on essential matters. I have not followed their course primarily because I sense a grave danger in overstructuring these historical materials. At bottom, I agree with Herbert Aptheker's blunt remark that the "cause" of slave revolt was slavery. And, as in all my books with the partial exception of the sometimes mechanistic The Political Economy of Slavery, I have tried to profit from Machiavelli's argument for the large claims of fortuna. No model can do more than heighten our understanding of the probabilities, for slaves anywhere and at any time might take up arms. Since these sociologists have pushed their methods about as far as they can safely go and since the work of Kilson and Patterson is well known, as I hope Synnott's will be when published, I have sought to seize the advantages ofan alternative presentation. xxiv my books with the partial exception of the sometimes mechanistic The Political Economy of Slavery, I have tried to profit from Machiavelli's argument for the large claims of fortuna. No model can do more than heighten our understanding of the probabilities, for slaves anywhere and at any time might take up arms. Since these sociologists have pushed their methods about as far as they can safely go and since the work of Kilson and Patterson is well known, as I hope Synnott's will be when published, I have sought to seize the advantages ofan alternative presentation. xxiv --- Page 26 --- Acknowledgments My book Roll, Jordan, Roll (1974) contains a long list ofcolleagues who graciously criticized the manuscript. Since the earliest draft of this book was originally included in that manuscript, many of these colleagues offered criticisms, which I can here only acknowledge generally. A number of them, plus some others, also read later drafts and, among other services, saved me from embarrassing errors and challenged fuzzy thinking: David Brion Davis, Sanford Elwitt, Stanley L. Engerman, Eric Foner, Christopher Lasch, James W. Loewen, Ken Lawrence, August Meier, Sidney W. Mintz, Leslie Rout, William K. Scarborough, Stuart Schwartz, Joe Gray Taylor, Bennett Wall, C. Vann Woodward, and Mary Young. Robert Paquette, in addition to offering valuable suggestions, did yeoman work in helping me to prepare the Bibliographical Essay. I : am especially indebted to him for drawing my attention to some important Spanish American works, especially Cuban, that I had missed. Iowe a special debt to Edward Whiting Fox for his editorial and substantive criticism and, even more, for many, if not-quite-frequent-enough, discussions and debates about history. His extraordinary erudition, friendly skepticism toXXV --- Page 27 --- Acknowledgments ward my Marxism, and unerring eye for posturing and cant make our family gatherings all the more rewarding. Elizabeth Fox-Genovese performed her customary wifely duty of forcing me to rethink and rewrite and ofs slipping in needed sentences, paragraphs, and even pages. And she made me finish a book I thought I never would. This book grew out of the Fleming Lectures, delivered in the spring of 1973 at Louisiana State University. The splendid hospitality of the Department of History was what one comes to expect from southern colleagues. Let me add only that I consider the department's invitation to be as high a professional honor as I or any historian of the South could hope for, and I shall treasure the memory. xxvi --- Page 28 --- ONE Slave Revolts in Hemispheric Perspective The deceptively simple question "What has one was a slave revolt?" compelling answer: a struggle for freedom. But other answers that point toward it has cial character an understanding oft the speofparticular revolts and ofthe historical within which the revolts occurred. process other type, Resistance of one or anvisibility, and magnitude marked where. But slavery elseeverywhere slaves who took the road had to display insurrectionary extraordinary heroism in the face of difKculbtis-exraondinay even by revolutionary standards. Nothing could be more naive- -or why a Nat Turner did not arrogant-than to ask South, as if, from the appear on every plantation in the comfort of our living rooms, we have right to tell others, and a and retrospectively at that, when, why to risk their lives and those of their how, the odds and circumstances loved ones. As ficulty in become clearer, there is less difunderstanding the apparent infrequency of revolts throughout history and less slave the extent of the rebels' difficulty in appreciating courage and resourcefulness and the magnitude of their impact on world history. The revolts of black slaves in the modern world cial character and historical had a spewithin a worldwide significance, for they occurred ingly, capitalist mode of production. Accordthey contributed toward the radical though still bourI their lives and those of their how, the odds and circumstances loved ones. As ficulty in become clearer, there is less difunderstanding the apparent infrequency of revolts throughout history and less slave the extent of the rebels' difficulty in appreciating courage and resourcefulness and the magnitude of their impact on world history. The revolts of black slaves in the modern world cial character and historical had a spewithin a worldwide significance, for they occurred ingly, capitalist mode of production. Accordthey contributed toward the radical though still bourI --- Page 29 --- From Rebellion to Revolution and democracy, while geois movement for freedom, equality, itself. foreshadowed the movement against capitalism they necessarily remained an imThat foreshadowing, however, manifest itself as such in an manent tendency; it could not matured. in which a socialist alternative had not yet epoch be understood primarily as part of Hence, the revolts must that radical wing of the struggle for a democracy the most had not yet lost its bourgeois moorings. of the New World arose from a conjuncThe slave systems themselves ture of international and regional developments, world market. primarily by the exigencies of the generated the Iberian, had roots in But some systems, most notably notably the metropolises, whereas others, most seigneurial in the world's most advanced bourgeois English, had roots Paraconditions varied enormously. metropolis. Regionally, colonies of North America generated doxically, the English relationship most the slave system in which the master-slave history, for there the slaveholdprofoundly affected regional considera clas-for-itselfwith ers most closely approximated aspirations. The Enable political power and autonomous the colonies in the Caribbean, in contrast, generated glish bourgeois and subservient to slave system most thoroughly elseHaving discussed these problems world capitalism. to the point most directly where, * Ishall here restrict myself whole: Whatrelevant to the revolts in the New World as a be said of the revolts, they everywhere formed ever else may capitalism's of the political opposition to European part of the world and attendant subjugation of bloody conquest the colored peoples. Slaveholders Made: Two Essays: An Interpretation (New York, 1969), Part The World tbe One. --- Page 30 --- Slave Revolts in Hemispheric Perspective the historical conBy the end of the eighteenth century, to of the slave revolts shifted decisively from attempts tent to overthrow slavery secure freedom from slavery to attempts in Saintsocial system. The great black revolution as a To understand this Domingue marked the turning point. the revolts in the United States, or in epoch-making shift, indeed must be viewed in a hemispheric, any other country, however, that no one commits the world, context. I hope, to mean that no mechanistic error of reading the argument character of the posthints of the bourgeois-democratic late 1790S or that Haitian slave revolts appeared prior to the aftercharacter appeared no revolts of a primarily pre-Haitian for wards. I hope, too, that no one interprets the argument ideological shift to mean that it came clean, fully a decisive contradictions. A full hisconscious, or without innumerable would have to explore those problems tory of the revolts settle for a delineation of in depth; here, we shall have to contours. less acts of Many revolts began as more or spontaneous withagainst extreme severity, hunger, sudden desperation conditions. drawal of privileges, or other local or immediate but not often passed into warfare against These sometimes defined by the customary arparticular injustices even as wars of slavery. it came clean, fully a decisive contradictions. A full hisconscious, or without innumerable would have to explore those problems tory of the revolts settle for a delineation of in depth; here, we shall have to contours. less acts of Many revolts began as more or spontaneous withagainst extreme severity, hunger, sudden desperation conditions. drawal of privileges, or other local or immediate but not often passed into warfare against These sometimes defined by the customary arparticular injustices even as wars of slavery. Other revolts, as well as guerrilla rangements of runaway slaves) aimed at waged by maroons (i.e., groups an from slave society in an attempt to resurrect withdrawing African archaic social order often perceived as traditionally distinct Afro-American creation. There apbut invariably a and the nineespecially during the late eighteenth peared, slavery as a teenth centuries, revolts aimed at overthrowing slaves magnificent object unknown to the social system-a --- Page 31 --- From Rebellion to Revolution for black peoples a of the ancient world-and at winning of nation-states. The nineteenthplace in the modern system formed part of this epochrevolts in the Old South century in the relations ofclass and race in the making transformation Western Hemisphere. slave revolts in the English-speaking The most important occurred in New York City in 1712; North American states in southern Louisiana in at Stono, South Carolina in 1739; under Nat 181I; and in Southampton County, Virginia at To them might be added the conspiracy Turner in 1831. before the cession of the Point Coupee, Louisiana, in 1795, of Gabriel colony to the United States, and the conspiracies Denmark Virginia, in 1800 and of Prosser in Richmond, Carolina in 1822. The brutally Vesey in Charleston, South York City, however, suppressed conspiracy of 1741 in New alto have been a figment of white hysteria, seems largely doubt remains. Other actions, realthough some room for limits and enized and aborted, took place within narrow real and small numbers. Most states smashed plots, gaged quaked with fear without sufferimagined, and periodically have suppressed substantial revolts. The authorities may ing but they could hardly have done SO evidence of some revolts, numsuccessfully if they had had to contend with significant bers or a large area. different The slaves ofthe Old South had a history radically from that of the slaves of the Cain certain essential respects The slave regime in the ribbean islands and South America. States entered its great period of territorial, economUnited after the slave trade had ic, and demographic expansion of windfall profits emerged at the very closed; the prospect the material condimoment it became necessary to improve --- Page 32 --- Slave Revolts in Hemispheric Perspective of slave life in order to guarantee an adequate rate of tions proved decisive to the flowerreproduction. This conjuncture within which the slaves ing of paternalism and for the process with the regime, increasingly were led to an accommodation and violent accommodation. albeit a contradictory and Virginia even Paternalism had taken root in Maryland ofthe slave trade had driven ups slave prices before the closing themselves with the and compelled the owners to concern deminimal welfare of their slaves. The eightench-cencury tobacco market squeezed the slaveholders, who pression in the driven up by the more favorincreasingly found slave prices economic condiable conditions in the sugar market. Hence, the eighteenth century produced, prematurely tions during the tobacco areas of a kind that would as it were, an effect in the international slave become general in the South once could make the psychotrade closed. trade had driven ups slave prices before the closing themselves with the and compelled the owners to concern deminimal welfare of their slaves. The eightench-cencury tobacco market squeezed the slaveholders, who pression in the driven up by the more favorincreasingly found slave prices economic condiable conditions in the sugar market. Hence, the eighteenth century produced, prematurely tions during the tobacco areas of a kind that would as it were, an effect in the international slave become general in the South once could make the psychotrade closed. The tobacco planters than the and political adjustment much more easily logical of the islands could ever do, for they lived on sugar planters contact with their slaves. As the their plantations in intimate increased and the proportion of creole slaves to African-born narrowed, the distance between masters and slaves cultural grew progressively foundations of a regional paternalism Northeast of the Brazilian stronger. Yet, as the experience ofa resithe ameliorative tendency in the paternalism shows, class, even one that inherited a seigneurial dent slaveholding World, could be offset by the economic ethos from the Old increased exploitation generated by an open pressures for low cost of labor. slave trade and the attendant of an organic master-slave relationship The development does not alone or even primarwithin the web of paternalism revolts during the account for the low incidence of slave ily --- Page 33 --- From Rebellion to Revolution Much less does it prove the slaves innineteenth century. such docile. Without recourse to any speculative fantilized or of the it can be explained by a consideration psychologizing, slave revolt in the Caribspecific conditions that encouraged lacking in the United bean islands and Brazil but were largely Old Southof paternalism in the States. The development of rights and that is, the development of a sense reciprocal considerable duties between masters and slaves-implied stable famiwithin which the slaves could create living space community, and attain a mealies, develop a rich spiritual view revolt, under of comfort. As they came to sure physical of life in the Old South, as suicidal, the specific conditions appropriate centered their efforts on forms of resistance they their survival as a people even as slaves. to did that decision imply acceptance of slavery. In no sense other evidence attest to the slaves' The Spirituals and much peaceful relalonging for freedom. Nor did it guarantee deep and with whites generally. Both tions with their masters marked every violent and nonviolent resistance to injustice And when, as in some noteworthy day of the slave regime. slave trade rebelled slaves aboard ships in the domestic cases, the of the British, they and steered for Haiti or for protection conditions and demonstrated that the appearance offavorable chance of success could trigger bold action. But, a genuine the and violence in daily affairs usually represented resistance local scores rather than a collective settling of personal or to overthrow an overwhelming white power. attempt slaves fashioned for themselves fully reThe religion the Led by their own black preachers vealed these contradictions. imbibe white Chrisand exhorters, the slaves did not simply blended it with their own folk religion, partly tianity. They --- Page 34 --- Slave Revolts in Hemispheric Perspective and thus created a message oflove and muAfrican in origin, black and oft their tual support, oftheir own worth as people, served deliverance from bondage. Their Christianity ultimate dehumanization inherent in slavery. as a bulwark against the understood, especially after But increasingly, black preachers Denmark Vesey, and Nat the failure of Gabriel Prosser, therefore, with a Turner, that revolt would be suicidal, and, they counseled a defensive stratfew important exceptions, ofblack religion beofsurvival. ispheric Perspective and thus created a message oflove and muAfrican in origin, black and oft their tual support, oftheir own worth as people, served deliverance from bondage. Their Christianity ultimate dehumanization inherent in slavery. as a bulwark against the understood, especially after But increasingly, black preachers Denmark Vesey, and Nat the failure of Gabriel Prosser, therefore, with a Turner, that revolt would be suicidal, and, they counseled a defensive stratfew important exceptions, ofblack religion beofsurvival. Thus, the social content egy wider political realities, which it then came circumscribed by emerged to reinforced. As the moral content of the religion Chrisaccommodation and compromise as a properly justify drew the teeth of political tian response, it simultaneously millenialism. The developmessianism and revolutionary from of black Christianity did not arise mechanically ment the failure of slave revolts the failure of slave revolts; nor can the * Each arose within be attributed to black Christianity. the other. of social relations and steadily reinforced totality in the United States unwilling or simply Were the slaves ultimately colunable to rise in large numbers? The question If a people, over a protracted period, lapses into absurdity. long but virfinds the odds against insurrection not merely then it will choose not to try. To some extent tually certain, self-confidence and inthis reaction represents decreasing effort to develcreasing fear, but it also represents a conscious an alternative strategy for survival. op slaves ofthe Old South never gave up their expectation The it to be handed to them of deliverance and did not expect for survival as without effort of their own. But the strategy critics have attributed such a view to my Roll, Jordon, Rol! (New Iam amazed Nothing that some in the book supports so bizarre a reading. York, 1974). --- Page 35 --- From Rebellion to Revolution a people, implicit in their magnificent day religion and day-toresiarance-in-submision to what could not be claimed its own price. The religiously avoided, accommodation, grounded ideology of understood as itself a vital form to dehumanization and to enslavement, ofresistance brake on the acted as a powerful revolutionary impulse, to which it istic alternative. posed a realThe slaves' religion muted but diated the by no means wholly repurevolutionary message in the The strategy of accommodation prophetic tradition. ism but did not counseled patience and realdestroy the possibilities for daring. The slaves' ideology revolutionary of steadily reduced the revolt; it did not guarantee that probability could not be seized. a sudden main chance Thus, the slaveholders' constant a people who rose rarely and in small numbers fear of a hard-headed stemmed from ruling-class realism of their own. General risings of thousands, such as those in Demerara, and Jamaica, those in Saint-Domingue, or even ofhundreds such as many countries, remained a ever slim, rendered the possibility, which, howhopes ofa Gabriel Prosser, a Denmark Vesey, or a Nat Turner rational. Turner did raising the not succeed in countryside en masse, but he might have, had sustained his pilot effort even for a few weeks he forge a guerrilla base in the interior. or escaped to posed thousand followers Gabriel Prosser's supend itself may well have probably never existed, but the leggrown out ofa plausible The leaders ofthe expectation. conspiracy of 1822 in most elaborate Charleston-"the insurrectionary plot ever formed by slaves,' in the sober American judgment of Thomas Wentworth Higginson-claimed to have enlisted thousands of slaves and country, and some historians have in city lieve them. ained his pilot effort even for a few weeks he forge a guerrilla base in the interior. or escaped to posed thousand followers Gabriel Prosser's supend itself may well have probably never existed, but the leggrown out ofa plausible The leaders ofthe expectation. conspiracy of 1822 in most elaborate Charleston-"the insurrectionary plot ever formed by slaves,' in the sober American judgment of Thomas Wentworth Higginson-claimed to have enlisted thousands of slaves and country, and some historians have in city lieve them. But what should devoutly wished to bethese tough rebels have said? --- Page 36 --- Slave Revolts in Hemispheric Perspective have is a cadre of a few dozen, if that "Well, chaps, all we will follow but we know in our hearts that the masses many, have sounded a certain us.' 1> That message would hardly of the who properly assessed the strength trumpet to people able and sophistiwhite apparatus. Vesey, an uncommonly that the more people he had to confide cated man, understood and Gabriel Prosser in, the greater the danger of betrayal; Inihim and Nat Turner afterwards understood too. before than soldiers, for circumtially, Vesey needed captains more Charleston, stances did not permit his training a large army. g-and well disciplined-city, did not a beautiful, charmingThe captains an ideal place to drill rebel troops. present marched. would have to raise the army as they in effect, that the slaves, despite everyVesey estimated, with evidence of success thing, would rise once confronted Nothing in which they would have to choose sides. in a war that estimate unsound in the history of the Old South proves called difficult to realize. Good sense, then, only painfully who would be capable of quick for working with a few people Their chances recruiting once the war had begun. large-scale the slaves, on their prior depended on their prestige among without saying too much or being effort to stir up support of their evaluation of the too specific, and on the soundness popular temper. terror. * The recruitAnd it depended on revolutionary in the abstract. of large numbers could not proceed ment and fearful of being Slaves, long conditioned to submission Vesey had to be made to confront a new reality. slaughtered, discussion of revolutionary terror be read as a defense Under no circumstances should my that of the Red Brigades and resurgent fascist squadristi oft terrorism per se-for example, words with many different meanings. in Italy. Terror and terrorism are emotionally charged Accordingly, here I mean neither more nor Any evaluation must be historically historical specific. problems. less than what I say about given --- Page 37 --- From Rebellion to Revolution appealed to the words of Jesus: "He that is against me" (Luke, not with me is to choose II:23). He expected to force his not between revolution and safety but between people lutionary and revably concluded counter-revolutionary that violence. He reasonthe slaves, desired freedom and identified notwithstanding their fears, with the whites, and with each other rather than he expected to lead an of sands. But, first, he had to seize and army thousecure a Gideon's army, much as three hundred Charleston with close to seizing Bahia in or SO blacks came 1835, when they too reasonably expected to raise the base. countryside once they had secured their Vesey's problem foreshadowed that of armies during the twentieth national-liberation during the century. How often did we hear Algerian War that the Front de Libération ale was killing more "innocent" NationFrenchmen? Algerians than it was How often today do we hear the killing leveled against the rebels in same accusation Zimbabwe (Rhodesia)? And probably it is true. But the accusation from those whose proudest comes with ill grace ceeded in boast has been that they have suc- "pacifying" subject peoples-in spirit and convincing them that "the breaking their within the system. 99 smart move"is to "work Indeed, this very evidence of then appears in the work pacification ofapologists as evidence of ment and imperialist beneficence: contentmuch better off The people know how they are and would live rule if only they were not tormented peacefully under our Since the by outside agitators. the accusation from those whose proudest comes with ill grace ceeded in boast has been that they have suc- "pacifying" subject peoples-in spirit and convincing them that "the breaking their within the system. 99 smart move"is to "work Indeed, this very evidence of then appears in the work pacification ofapologists as evidence of ment and imperialist beneficence: contentmuch better off The people know how they are and would live rule if only they were not tormented peacefully under our Since the by outside agitators. system in question happens to be one of national humiliation and social oppression, it is pointless some people for to berate conditions regarding those who accept such shameful as traitors. Who does not know that the could not have held Algeria long without French the passive assent IO --- Page 38 --- Slave Revolts in Hemispheric Perspective Algerians? Or that Smith's reof thousands of "innocent" were it not in Rhodesia would long ago have collapsed gime for his black troops and politicians? blame the collaborators argue Those who do not readily of the follows from a realistic appraisal that accommodation Very well. relationship of forces, not from moral degeneracy. this defense reduces to the proposition that opposition to But ends in death. If sO, revolutionaries who have the oppressor conclude that they will have no not lost their senses must level of until the cost of collaboration rises to the prospects For only then will people be free to the cost of rebellion. And it serves no purpose to choose sides on grounds of duty. and inoffensive politipretend that "innocent"- personally needs neutral-people should be spared. The oppressor cally neutrality to do business as nothing sO much as political wills liberation in a conusual: It is his sine qua non : He who change wills revolutionary text that does not permit peaceful rerror had a No slave revolt that hesitated to invoke terror. chance. conditions that favored Even a brief review of the general difrevolts and guerrilla warfare suggests the special massive the slaves of the Old South. Were a list ficulties which faced without regard for the preof those conditions presented the other, it would sumed importance of one relative to (1) the of slave revolt where: suggest a higher probability in the context of had developed master-slave relationship cultural and as well as greater absenteeism depersonalization economic distress and of whites and blacks; (2) estrangement units approached the averfamine occurred; (3) slaveholding the hundred to two hundred slaves, as in sugar age size of one as in the Old South; (4) the colonies, rather than twenty or SO, between slaveclass frequently split either in warfare ruling II to (1) the of slave revolt where: suggest a higher probability in the context of had developed master-slave relationship cultural and as well as greater absenteeism depersonalization economic distress and of whites and blacks; (2) estrangement units approached the averfamine occurred; (3) slaveholding the hundred to two hundred slaves, as in sugar age size of one as in the Old South; (4) the colonies, rather than twenty or SO, between slaveclass frequently split either in warfare ruling II --- Page 39 --- From Rebellion to Revolution holding countries or in bitter struggles within slaveholding a particular country; (5) blacks heavily outnumbered whites; (6) African-born slaves outnumbered American slavery those born into (creoles); (7) the social structure of the slaveholding regime permitted the emergence of an mous black leadership; and (8) the autonopolitical environment geographical, social, and the formation of provided terrain and opportunity for colonies of runaway slaves strong threaten the plantation regime. The list enough to refined, and may be extended, subdivided, but taken together, these conditions spelled one: the military and political balance of revolts might anywhere, power. Slave central fact of anytime flare up in response to the enslavement; no particular condition was indispensable. But the provocation or scale revolt rested probabilities for largeconditions. heavily on some combination of these Having glanced at the social context here and at length in discussed it matic Roll,Jordan, Roll, I shall, at the risk of too a presentation, comment on some of the other schetions. Economic distress condithe hemisphere, provoked many big slave revolts in especially in the Caribbean, where war and inadequate local provisioning often resulted in shortages and outright starvation. desperate food sioned by years of Pronounced hunger, Occadrought and depression, triggered, for example, the massive rising on St. John in Cuba, writes H. H. S. Aimes, "There 1733; and in ing coincidence of servile has always been a strikofeconomical revolts and unrest and the periods depression and political crisis. 19 Countless agrarian and urban uprisings world have throughout the grown out of acute hunger and Slaves, like other lower classes, deprivation. normally stirred themselves I2 --- Page 40 --- Slave Revolts in Hemispheric Perspective and with difficulty. The whip ofhunger often to revolt slowly Some of the greatest revolts, howrendered them desperate. which of material improvement, ever, came during periods the governor of the stimulated expectations. And, although thousand that almost four Cape Verde Islands once estimated and famine, no slaves had died from the effects of drought ensued. Even starvation might not be enough. revolt in the United States did not have the A general depression Islands, effect on slaves that it did in the Caribbean same level of self sufficiency provided some infor a much higher Depression led weaker surance against acute food shortages. whose resultant slaveholders to try to sell and lease slaves, and must be taken into account, but even selling discontent economic depression as the leasing slackened during general remained the critical demand for labor fell. The food supply dimThere is no evidence oflarge-scale or frequent question. the period for which the firmest inution during 1820-1860, exists, and little evidence for the eighteenth documentation and early nineteenth centuries. concentrawithout economic depression, a large With or of revolt. Slaves in tion of slaves facilitated the organization and in Brazil lived for the most part on great the Caribbean hundred and two hundred estates that averaged between one revolts occurred slaves. ened during general remained the critical demand for labor fell. The food supply dimThere is no evidence oflarge-scale or frequent question. the period for which the firmest inution during 1820-1860, exists, and little evidence for the eighteenth documentation and early nineteenth centuries. concentrawithout economic depression, a large With or of revolt. Slaves in tion of slaves facilitated the organization and in Brazil lived for the most part on great the Caribbean hundred and two hundred estates that averaged between one revolts occurred slaves. In Venezuela and Colombia the slave or in the mining centers and in areas of similar concentration districts along the cities. For example, the gold mining In the Cauca River suffered revolts as late as 1842-1843United States half the slaves lived on farms, not plantations, lived on plantations of fifty or less. Large and another quarter within which insurrectionunits provided a favorable setting centers ofcould mature. Cities and mining ary movements --- Page 41 --- From Rebellion to Revolution to rebel slaves as did large fered some ofthe same advantages develop; centers of Leadership could more easily plantations: emerge; and condiautonomous culture could more easily Richard C. movement existed. tions favorable to personal disappear, Wade, in his attempt to make Denmark Vesey of urban life militated against has argued that the conditions Venezuela, and Brazil, insurrection. But in the Caribbean, deNew York City, urban revolts did occur not to mention much like those ofthe cities ofthe spite social conditions very and country; on Old South. Revolts occurred in both town urban centers, like great plantation districts, the whole, favorable conditions as well as special offered especially dangers. oft the New World in which slave revolts OCThe countries had a high and with greatest intensity curred most frequently free. In British Guiana ratio of blacks to whites and slave to of the population and outnumslaves constituted 90 percent between twenty and thirty to one. Jamaica, bered whites by Caribbean had huge black Saint-Domingue, and much ofthe than 80 and even in Brazil, majorities, often more percent, outnumblacks heavily which had a large mestiço population, As Capbered whites from the early days of the slave regime. wrote after his experience in Surinam, "Every tain Stedman is established, may of the world where domestic slavery part insurrection and disquiet, more be occasionally liable to of the where the slaves constitute the majority especially inhabitants." 19 countries, the of slaveholding In the most important except United States, blacks remained a minority southern constituted a majority only in South in restricted areas. They ranged Carolina and Mississippi, where their proportion --- Page 42 --- Slave Revolts in Hemispheric Perspective The proportion of slaves in principal from 55 to 57 percent. Alabama, 45 perstates in 1860 was: Louisiana, 47 percent; Tennessee, Virginia, 31 percent; cent; Georgia, 44 percent; slaveholders Kentucky, 20 percent. The southern 25 percent; Caribbean correctly and moved to end read the history of the periodically dethe African slave trade. State governments in order to reasof white-black ratios bated the significance imbalance. In the 1830s, Dr. sure themselves against a new wisW. Monette of Mississippi offered the conventional J. which for once had some merit, when he dom of his class, whites only in two noted that since blacks outnumbered the regime need not fear a general rising. states numerical preponderance to The slaves required a heavy concentrated in advantages offset the enormous military Saint-Domingue, the white hands. The slaves in Jamaica, feel their Guianas, and Cuba, at decisive moments, could feel the slaves in the United States could not help strength; Bennett Wall has emphasized, the contheir weakness. the conventional J. which for once had some merit, when he dom of his class, whites only in two noted that since blacks outnumbered the regime need not fear a general rising. states numerical preponderance to The slaves required a heavy concentrated in advantages offset the enormous military Saint-Domingue, the white hands. The slaves in Jamaica, feel their Guianas, and Cuba, at decisive moments, could feel the slaves in the United States could not help strength; Bennett Wall has emphasized, the contheir weakness. As although it certainly stant westward movement inhibited, those intimate ties the consolidation of did not prevent, trouble-makers could which conspiracies thrive on. Suspect of the area with little difficulty, and, in any case, be sold out taking place. of local personnel was constantly a reshuffling influence: Wall has also emphasized another geographic numbers Southern slaves were not concentrated in large and rice districts, and even there the except in the sugar out and the police appaplantations were sufficiently spread attempts at collective ratus sufficiently strong to discourage resistance. virtually unarmed. The slaves faced this white majority those did have access to axes and other crude weapons; They --- Page 43 --- From Rebellion to Revolution fields, for example, carried knives who worked in the sugar blow. Durenough to decapitate a man with one strong large Landon Carter of Virginia noted ing the eighteenth century tobacco fields carried a knife in passing that every slave in the for his work. More slaves knew how to use fireof some kind often gave trusted arms than the law allowed, for planters trusted did to hunt with guns; and being slaves permission Some slaves carried rifles not assure loyalty during a rising. plantation guard, and others surreptitiously while standing learned their use. A former slave obtained access to guns and Narrative Collecinterviewed for the Fisk University Slave "Culled folks been had guns all their life. They tion claimed: Colonel Higginson kept them hid. In apparent agreement, his regithat most of the former slaves who joined thought with firearms. And recent ment had had some experience provide new excavations of slave quarters archeological evidence. had nevertheless not deceived themselves The slaveholders of revolt on grounds of inwhen they minimized the danger few slaves would have sufficient arms. In any given area only a tactical with firearms and even fewer with their experience planned to distribute pikes uses. Thus, John Brown wisely him. As a rather than rifles to those slaves who might join remarked during the 1830S, European leading Mississippian with firearms than peasants had much greater experience be over-awed southern slaves did, and yet they could usually by disciplined military units. the slaves faced overwhelming Even with some guns, The whites who filled the interstices of the plantation odds. and the back country raised their districts, the up country, feats with and extraordinary sons to shoot. Sharpshooting --- Page 44 --- Slave Revolts in Hemispheric Perspective arms became elementary marks of manhood. The ulation constituted one white popagantly great militia fully and even extravarmed, tough and resourceful, and capable of all the savagery that racism can instill. In South trast, mercenaries filled the militias America, in conthan had and often did little more they to. The southern militia and armed settlers powerful reserve in the federal had, moreover, a down slave revolts but army, rarely summoned to put bolstering of slaveholder psychologically invaluable to the hopes. Masters spirits and the dampening of slave and slaves both knew that formidable garrisons stood ready to reinforce military tias. Although the wavering slaveholder militroops under Wade slave rebellion of 18II in Louisiana Hampton entered the restored only after the militia had order, the firmness and ment reassured the promptness of their movehave slaveholders for the future and could not escaped the notice of the slaves. After the Charlestonians pointedly Vesey crisis, assurances of federal congratulated themselves on the support if needed. and the dampening of slave and slaves both knew that formidable garrisons stood ready to reinforce military tias. Although the wavering slaveholder militroops under Wade slave rebellion of 18II in Louisiana Hampton entered the restored only after the militia had order, the firmness and ment reassured the promptness of their movehave slaveholders for the future and could not escaped the notice of the slaves. After the Charlestonians pointedly Vesey crisis, assurances of federal congratulated themselves on the support if needed. The federal to Nat Turner and John Brown in response point. With a white Virginia underscored the black majority surrounding even the areas of concentration, the slaveholders had a strong hand begin with, but, in addition, they knew, and to knew, that the armed their slaves ready might of the United States stood in reserve. The Gabriel Prossers and Nat Turners of the rebel leaders in countries with South, like confronted other more favorable conditions, problems almost as formidable. much solidarity and mutual However their support the slaves demonstrated, circumstances left much room for informers, traitors. In any delicate situation spies, and one might be enough. --- Page 45 --- From Rebellion to Revolution Thus, Colonel Higginson explained the revolts in the South by infrequency of slave noting that the blacks saw all er in white hands. He added, the powmoney, no "They had no knowledge, no arms, no drill, no organization- n-above mutual confidence. It was the tradition all no insurrections were among them that all always betrayed by *> the Nat Turner revolt somebody. During some slaves even sided with their ters, as some slaves did during many of the masout the hemisphere. But revolts throughwith traitors, every popular movement swarms spies, cowards, and dealing with them becomes agenti-prosocatears, SO that the first test of for a rebel leadership. The resourcefulness quacy of context remains at issue. Inadepreparation and execution-of counted for the failure of some of the organization- n-acvolts in the Americas. most serious slave reThe enormous advantage of maroon leaders volt leaders rested here: Whereas over slave releaders could with a little luck maroon maneuver, break off combat, survive and learn from mistakes, slave revolt defeats, to stake leaders normally had everything on a single stroke, prepared without experience among people who knew they would be prior their lives on a plunge into the unknown. risking Charles L. Redmond advocated Thus, when volt in 1858, Josiah encouragement to slave reHenson heatedly countered would do everything in his that he sand of his power to keep three or four thoupeople from getting killed in a hopeless Cultural influences also shaped the cause. military Throughout the hemisphere relationships. the newly arrived Africans most dramatic mounted sometimes found insurrectionary thrusts. Creole slaves themselves forced to side with their masters --- Page 46 --- Slave Revolts in Hemispheric Perspective Africans in Brazil and the Caribbean. The against rebellious was carried out by a great revolution in Saint-Domingue in the words of the rebel slave population most of which, the Bahia risleaders, "do not know two words of French"; and African base; ings of 1807-1835 had an unmistakable Caribbean majority of the revolts in the the overwhelming ones- were carried all the important before 1800-perhaps claimed to be, Akan. The creout by Africans who were, or of slave revolts, oles made a vital contribution to the history with of which they transformed decisively; but, the content their moment did not come until the minor qualifications, end ofthe eighteenth century. ia risleaders, "do not know two words of French"; and African base; ings of 1807-1835 had an unmistakable Caribbean majority of the revolts in the the overwhelming ones- were carried all the important before 1800-perhaps claimed to be, Akan. The creout by Africans who were, or of slave revolts, oles made a vital contribution to the history with of which they transformed decisively; but, the content their moment did not come until the minor qualifications, end ofthe eighteenth century. who entered the Atlantic trade as slaves may The Africans "criminals" in their own counhave included some common rid of antifor the African chiefs used the trade to get tries, elements. But they included many ordisocial and disorderly their sale labeled "criminals" in order to justify nary people who had in revolts and rebels participated and some political Africa. The Atlantic trade did while still in maroon activity but also heroic sweep up common thugs and trouble-makers, in the organiwith prior experience rebels against oppression zation of militant resistance to despotic authority. States the slave trade closed on the eve of In the United SO that a creole slave of the slave regime, the great expansion the nineteenth arose during force of unparalleled proportions closed about the The trade to the British Caribbean century. itself followed after a quartersame time, but emancipation and declining ecocentury of political struggle in England in the colonies. Reflecting upon the greater nomic prospects the eighteenth century than incidence of slave revolt during --- Page 47 --- From Rebellion to Revolution nineteenth and on the part played by Africans, during the African SlaveW. E. B. Du Bois wrote in The Suppression oftbe Trade: brutal character of the time and place was The rough and but a more decisive reason lay in partly responsible for this, Negroes. the fierce and turbulent character of the imported strict disThe docility to which long years of bondage and and acts of cipline gave rise was absent, and insurrections violence were a frequent occurrence. of creole slaves increased in As the number and proportion By the the United States, SO did the regime's military power. under slave revolts, difficult to mount turn of the century, zealot, for the best of conditions, attracted only an occasional stood united and in full command of growing the oppressors throughout the hemisphere, military power. Slaveholders did not inexperienced nor stupid, being neither politically their ranks. Like Metterreadily court disaster by dividing well-born would they calculated that if the great and nich, the would not dare rise or vigilantly man their posts, people of hardbe crushed if they did. The aptitude would speedily has, however, usually outrun ened reactionaries for logic verification for self-criticism and for empirical their aptitude theories. As if that discrepancy were not of their self-serving also exhibited an irresistible sufficiently dangerous, they have lower-class underestimate the ability of their tendency to penchant except manifest a presumed enemies to do anything understood perfectly for mindless violence. The slaveholders did resided in their unity. But unity well that their strength colonies over when they resided in presided not come easily The white Jamaican slaveby warring European powers. --- Page 48 --- Slave Revolts in Hemispheric Perspective mulattoes, alholders might control their property-holding class lines would that division along racial rather than though but how were they to control the eventually cost them dearly, Spanish or the French? from the first arrival of the The Caribbean region, almost warconstituted one grand theater of recurring Europeans, undeclared. their unity. But unity well that their strength colonies over when they resided in presided not come easily The white Jamaican slaveby warring European powers. --- Page 48 --- Slave Revolts in Hemispheric Perspective mulattoes, alholders might control their property-holding class lines would that division along racial rather than though but how were they to control the eventually cost them dearly, Spanish or the French? from the first arrival of the The Caribbean region, almost warconstituted one grand theater of recurring Europeans, undeclared. When the region enjoyed fare, declared and forces happily the slaveholders and their military peace the slaves down. Without the arhelped each other to keep the from Martinique, for example, rival of French troops to their slaves in would have lost St. John Danes probably French troops in JaYet, the landing of unwelcome 1733. several slave risings. During maica sixty years later provoked from Maroon War of 1795 the British could rely on help the the drain on their forces OCSpanish Cuba but had to lament when Drake atcasioned by war with France. In earlier days Nombre de Dios in 1571 and humiliated Spain by tacked in 1586, he had carefully prepared sacking Santo Domingo with local maroons. The Spanish the way by forging alliances British officials in Jamaica also knew how to play the game. that an to London in 1730-1731, warning sent messages would have substantial and careexpected Spanish invasion made Puerto Rico a fully prepared black help. The Spanish British slaves during the eighsometime haven for escaped between Spain teenth century. During the 1730S the enmity slaves in favorable opportunities for the and Britain provided invited to cross into FloriSouth Carolina, whom the Spanish correctly asda under assurances of freedom. The Spanish black warriors would provide a sumed that self-emancipated slave revolt at Stono OCformidable border army. The major curred in this context. 2I --- Page 49 --- From Rebellion to Revolution French incited the slaves of the British, Repeatedly, the who incited the slaves who incited the slaves of the Spanish, but welof the French. The slaves needed little incitement whatevidence that they had powerful alies with comed days of the revolution in Saintever motives. In the early French, and Toussaint deftly used the Spanish, Domingue, each other while he built his own army, English to torment had most ostensibly loyal to whichever European power At that, the slaveholders of Saintto offer at the moment. a racial chasm beDomingue invited disaster by creating weakwhite and mulatto property holders and thereby tween with the Girondist bourgeoisie at the ening their alliance both. threat was rising against moment the montagnard for advantage and Toussaint learned quickly to maneuver dictum too-good illustration of Marx's provided an almost the weapons for their that ruling classes unwittingly forge and rule, the below. Once made victims of divide enemies Toussaint made a brilliant pupil, people can learn its uses. should not shower him with too many compliments but we He had such good teachers. on this particular count: of the importance of Brazil offers another major example divisions in the history of slave revolt and maruling-class of autonomous black comroon war. Palmares, the greatest struggle bemunities, arose during the seventeenth-century the Dutch and Portuguese for control ofthe Northeast; tween in which the Portuit grew strong during the long period do. Brazil rehad more important things to guese army turbulent through the eighteenth century, mained internally of white divisions. Most notand the slaves took advantage the Portuguese had great difficulty in suppressing ably, in Minas Gerais during the eighteenth century, quilombos --- Page 50 --- Slave Revolts in Hemispheric Perspective took advantage of the struggle when the blacks repeatedly and the settlers. unities, arose during the seventeenth-century the Dutch and Portuguese for control ofthe Northeast; tween in which the Portuit grew strong during the long period do. Brazil rehad more important things to guese army turbulent through the eighteenth century, mained internally of white divisions. Most notand the slaves took advantage the Portuguese had great difficulty in suppressing ably, in Minas Gerais during the eighteenth century, quilombos --- Page 50 --- Slave Revolts in Hemispheric Perspective took advantage of the struggle when the blacks repeatedly and the settlers. The Portuguese between the government sell monopoly rights and to levy confiscatory attempts to reaction and resulted in the Emboaba taxes provoked a harsh armed clashes that played into War of 17II and subsequent the hands of rebellious blacks. took The series of revolts in Bahia during 1807-1835 ofbitter factional struggle within place against a background of foreign class, acute inflation and the disruption the ruling in the cities, and the trade, considerable violence especially ofd fdisaffected army garrisons. The Napoleonfrequent risings of the Portuguese empire to ic wars had brought the seat separation. Brazil, and subsequent events produced political supporters of one or another court parProvincial separatists, taxes and the metnot to mention those who rose against ty, constant uproar in a country with less ric system, provided a frontier to attract than the best of armies and with a large the second halfofthe century the new fugitive slaves. During by the humiliatabolitionist movement, the crisis generated and deand the struggle between rising ing war in Paraguay, landowners created a tumult clining groups ofbourgeois and and organized favorable to slave desertions, resistance, violence. slaveholders of the United States conIn contrast, the ofunusual strength. They fronted their slaves from a position to and capital in Europe to answer had no metropolitan When faced with shared power effectively in Washington. of the ninethe threat of slave revolt during the early part estabsuppressed internal divisions and teenth century they the slavery issue lished a political consensus by eliminating evoked strong and settling all other issues, many of which --- Page 51 --- From Rebellion to Revolution of ruling-class without violence or visible rupture passions, slaves had much less reason than Caribsolidarity. Southern believe that they could take bean or Brazilian slaves did to although they advantage of their enemy's internal divisions, but to not merely to accurate political reports too responded unfounded rumors as well. the whites False reports of political dissension among The slaves spurred slave revolts as readily as true reports did. of news of distant develophad their own means getting London that William Matthew wrote to ments. In 1733, had reached Nevis via the reports of the rising on St. John Jamaica, French islands. In 1816, a resident of Kingston, that the reading of the Registry Bill in warned Earl Bathurst "My Lord, 99 Commons would have dangerous repercussions. "the mere allusion to the question [of abolition] he pleaded, destruction and renewing has gone far toward effecting our has reached us of an the horrors ofSt. Domingo. Intelligence 99 Were these gentlemen referring insurrection in Barbados. that reached the whites? Hardly. As testimony only to news made clear, the whites talked on the Jamaican rising of 1831 On Tortola in and the slaves heard everything. too much, in 1831, and elsewhere in 1790, Barbados in 1816, Jamaica London had abolother years, the slaves rose in the beliefthat of and that their masters, with the connivance ished slavery in the the decree. of an the horrors ofSt. Domingo. Intelligence 99 Were these gentlemen referring insurrection in Barbados. that reached the whites? Hardly. As testimony only to news made clear, the whites talked on the Jamaican rising of 1831 On Tortola in and the slaves heard everything. too much, in 1831, and elsewhere in 1790, Barbados in 1816, Jamaica London had abolother years, the slaves rose in the beliefthat of and that their masters, with the connivance ished slavery in the the decree. Similarly, local officials, were suppressing slaves took militant sit-down strike in Buenos Aires in 1805, action in the belief that the government had freed them. an attitude common among The slaves were displaying in a who had grown up peoples, even the most rebellious, only The Russian serfs presented world of class dependencies. --- Page 52 --- Slave Revolts in Hemispheric Perspective As Michael Cherniavsky has writthe most famous example. ten in Tsar and People: literally risked (and lost) their lives in Thousands of peasants against their oppresorder to appeal directly to the emperor against the law that forbade the serfto complain sors, despite Hundreds of peasant uprisings took place during his master. I, for which the justification was the thirty years of Nicholas that their tsar had dethe utter conviction of the peasants disobeyed creed their liberation and that his order was being by the gentry and the bureaucracy, that is, and suppressed by the State. insurrection appeared in the United States as This spur to the nineteenth as during well but not nearly SO often during crisis burned century. Even as the secession the eighteenth Lincoln's election, it had the radically hotter, especially after of emancipation to different effect of raising the expectations established come rather than of proclaiming an emancipation to Lewis Clark, an ex-slave who escaped and suppressed. that when the slaves write his own narrative, even suggested in the British had heard of the emancipation in Kentucky because they considbecame less militant West Indies, they of time. In part the ered their own emancipation a matter informasouthern slaves simply may have had more accurate slaveholders' power over their region, SO clearly tion, but the and military life, must manifest in every phase of political believe about have set firm limits to anything the slaves could The in a far-off place called Washington. a superior power knew that London had the power to slaves of the Caribbean abolished the slave trade, abolish slavery, especially after it little or no exbut the slaves of the Old South experienced --- Page 53 --- From Rebellion to Revolution that of their masters, whose consent was terior power except African slave trade. necessary even to abolish the could seize upon eviDuring the colonial period the slaves whites of internal and external division among the dence could after the Revolution. In addimore readily than they antagoto take advantage of British-Spanish tion to trying excitement within the colnisms, they responded to political occurred while the onies. The revolt in New York in 1712 and the from Leisler's Rebellion were still open wounds and the cloudy conspiracy of 1741 OCwhites deeply divided; the War of Jenkins' Ear. After Independence, curred during less favorable, but Gabriel Prospolitical conditions became conflict with France; Denser took heart from the American of the effectively seized upon the implications mark Vesey the false story that Congress Missouri debate and even spread slaveholders were had declared emancipation but that the and Nat Turner moved in an atmosphere charged at balking; white and black alike of renewed once with rumors among evidence of antislavery diswar with Britain and with hard The slaves affection among the whites of western Virginia. and heard more than they were supposed to, even always saw determined that there would be as though the slaveholders little as possible to see and hear. the American of the effectively seized upon the implications mark Vesey the false story that Congress Missouri debate and even spread slaveholders were had declared emancipation but that the and Nat Turner moved in an atmosphere charged at balking; white and black alike of renewed once with rumors among evidence of antislavery diswar with Britain and with hard The slaves affection among the whites of western Virginia. and heard more than they were supposed to, even always saw determined that there would be as though the slaveholders little as possible to see and hear. the most The white South suffered from internal divisions, of which pitted slaveholders against nonslaveholddangerous research into the politics of the 1850S suggests ers. Recent exwhich spurred proslavery deepening class antagonisms, the tremists to push for secession as a way of disciplining classes. But there remains no doubt ofthe slavewhite lower is, of their success in confining all holders' hegemony-that of In other struggles to issues other than that property. --- Page 54 --- Slave Revolts in Hemispheric Perspective between slaveholders and nonwords, although the struggles within each class, were slaveholders, not to mention those that sharper, they were not over slavery in any way growing To the contrary, the nondirectly threatened slave property. of the Upper slaveholders of the Lower South and of most reiterated their support of the social system. South closed ranks against the The whites of all classes effectively revolt. Had the slaves after, if not before, the Nat Turner beneath South not seceded in 1861, the class antagonisms might have exploded and created new the regional consensus Indeed, fear of such developopportunities for slave revolt. to secede and in the decision ments played a discernible part internal and external try to secure the slave states against the slaves conthreat. But, whatever the mighe-have-beens, until the fronted a solid and overwhelming white majority end ofthe regime. slaves who chose insurThe magnitude of the task facing of leaders with considerable rection suggests the importance of the divisions knowledge of political events in general; and exigencies; of teramong whites; of military prospects of ways to get arms rain; of the psychology of their people; craftsmen, and train fighters; of everything. Mechanics, role in the drivers, even house slaves played a big preachers, revolts. Both rebel leaders and supreme accommogreat slave ranks, for they were men of dationists came from the same and had talents than ordinary field hands wider experience they could turn in either direction. less room for the Slave society in the Old South provided islands ofadvanced strata than in the Caribbean development did and achieve noteworthy and Brazil. Those strata emerge conditions that results in the South, but they did SO within --- Page 55 --- From Rebellion to Revolution success and thus minimized the prospects for revolutionary forms of resismaximized the pressures for nonrevolutionary self-assertion. Craftsmen, drivers, and preachers tance and leadership in the southern reprovided the indispensable in other volts, but on fewer occasions than their counterparts of fewer because of lack of will but because countries, not strata of oppressed possibilities. The privileged promising as then as now, respond to opposing pressures, peoples, has stressed. Being most exposed to Frantz Fanon especially culture and its superior techassimilation by the dominant least likely to equivocate on the political rology, they are the their and issues. That is, either they identify with oppressors with their peoseek individual advancement or they identify at the disposal of rebellion. ple and place their sophistication of leaders and traitors. They thus produce a high percentage both sides; collecIndividually, they play a central role on and attach themselves to tively, however, they do equivocate one or the other. . Being most exposed to Frantz Fanon especially culture and its superior techassimilation by the dominant least likely to equivocate on the political rology, they are the their and issues. That is, either they identify with oppressors with their peoseek individual advancement or they identify at the disposal of rebellion. ple and place their sophistication of leaders and traitors. They thus produce a high percentage both sides; collecIndividually, they play a central role on and attach themselves to tively, however, they do equivocate one or the other. and even then albeit with Until the nineteenth century, rallying altered content, religion provided the ideological revolt. In the Caribbean and in South America point for Myalmen, Vodûn priests, religious leaders-Obeahmen, vital Muslim teachers-led, inspired, or provided Nanigos, after another. In addition to the Bahian sanction for one revolt drama, Muslims led at least two revolts in Saint-Domingue -despite the numerical insignificance of and in SurinamThere is, however, no reason to Muslims in those countries. Obeah, Myalism, or Vodûn as intrinsically regard Islam, than various forms of Christianity. more revolutionary of Islam in the wave of risings in Bahia may The influence --- Page 56 --- Slave Revolts in Hemispheric Perspective Throughout the Americas, Muslim serve as an example. rebellious. The slaves earned a reputation for being especially West Africa ideology they brought from political-religious them for enslavement to infidels, whose power ill-prepared resist. West Africans could have abthey were expected to for the masses consorbed Islamic doctrines only indirectly, well into the to the older religions until tinued to adhere however, had both nineteenth century. The ruling strata, teachtradition and some knowledge ofthe specific religious World they had the incitement and opporings. In the New of resistance. To do SO effectively, tunity to forge an ideology and assimilate however, they had to eschew Muslim purity traditional chought and practice of the much of the religious religions. Thus, the African and emerging Afro-American conliterate Muslim leaders in Bahia accepted many practices fetishistic and pagan by strict Muslim reckoning. As sidered bound them closer to the urban blacks, free their syncretism prepared them to asand slave, their ideological hegemony of a firm and disciplined revolutionary sume the leadership effort. decisive leaders of the early The Hausa emerged as the in Muslim penetration of Hausa territory Bahian revolts. Some towns emAfrica dated from the fourteenth century. had the fifteenth and by the seventeenth braced Islam during majority established centers of Muslim learning. The great the rural cultivators, nevertheless, of the people, especially religions until the continued to adhere to their traditional ofthe nineteenth century. The Hausa masses Fulani conquest Islam in Africa by 1807, may not have been converted to in Bahia; but when Zaria fell to the Fulani and the blacks rose --- Page 57 --- From Rebellion to Revolution been disciplined to follow a firm Muslim they had already advanced which in the New World successfully leadership, Islam as a religion of resistance. together African Islam brought In Bahia an Afro-Brazilian Hausa and Fulani enThe Yoruba, who had resisted peoples. turned up as Muslims in croachments in their motherland, fundamenBrazil. Islam in Africa as in the Middle East arose and the Yoruba (Nagôs, as they tally as an urban religion, urban people in Afwere called in Brazil), preeminently an in large concentrated in the city of Bahia (Salvador) rica, were with the Hausa in Africa, they numbers. African Islam brought In Bahia an Afro-Brazilian Hausa and Fulani enThe Yoruba, who had resisted peoples. turned up as Muslims in croachments in their motherland, fundamenBrazil. Islam in Africa as in the Middle East arose and the Yoruba (Nagôs, as they tally as an urban religion, urban people in Afwere called in Brazil), preeminently an in large concentrated in the city of Bahia (Salvador) rica, were with the Hausa in Africa, they numbers. Despite their rivalry while not with them in Brazil for reasons that, cooperated included the combined psychocompletely clear, probably and and the conditioning of their urban past present logical force. As Trimingattractiveness of Islam as an organizing the "Islam, being a universal religion, spreads ham writes, world along with that of the conception of the inhabitable who foruniversal God and establishes a link between peoples them to live harmoniously tomerly had little to prepare of different culgether. 99 Indeed, the ability to unite peoples socioeconomic systems into a coherent civilization tures and ofMuhammed and of the classimarked the political genius cal Muslim state-builders. part in the reAfro-Brazilian Muslims played a prominent shook Bahia during the early nineteenth century: volts that force in 1816, 1826, in 1807, 1809, 1813, and with special in 1835. Ewe (Gèges), 1827, 1830, and most dangerously and other slaves and free Negroes participated. Nupe (Tapas), of Islam remains in dispute, alThe exact contribution Raimondo Nina though the thesis of a jibad, advanced by of questionable in the light Rodrigues and others, appears --- Page 58 --- Slave Revolts in Hemispheric Perspective Some have seen the revolts as ethnic with a recent evidence. in religious garb. A Muslim gloss; others as a class struggle slaves and series of powerful revolts that brought together and YoMuslims and non-Muslims, Hausa free Negroes, Yet, Nina Rodrigues ruba, resists simple categorization. that the Muslims had a firm political-military well argued taught their followers to tradition and leadership; that they were ilread the Koran in a city in which many slaveholders and that literate; that they enforced impressive discipline; estranged peoples. they forged alliances among previously however much weight must be given to more general Thus, and organizational the ideological ethnic considerations, And ifthe revolt power ofthe Muslims proved indispensable. in his attranscended class lines, as R. K. Kent has argued thesis and other schematic readings, it tack on the jibad of liberation to nonetheless promised a substantial measure essential slaves of Bahia and thereby demonstrated an the class as well as ethnic content. hundred slaves and free The great Bahian revolt of several conditions that provided Negroes in 1835 revealed general Britfor the revolts of the whole period. Despite the context Brazil continued to imish pressure and treaty obligations, increased steadily. AlAfricans, whose number in Bahia port slaves came from various areas, certain though these new Yoruba, clung together in groups, notably the Hausa and workers and numbers. Many went to the city as skilled large established ties with free Negroes of similar craftsmen and community with background and together formed a coherent leaders. The surrounding plantaliterate and sophisticated and suffered desertions that fed the quilombos tions had long and the arrival of substankept the entire region in disorder; --- Page 59 --- From Rebellion to Revolution tial numbers of West Africans with ethnic ated new ties to the city crepossibilities for urban risings capable of setting the plantations ablaze. The revolt of 1835 struck terror into the might, since it came close regime, as well it to success. craftsmen and community with background and together formed a coherent leaders. The surrounding plantaliterate and sophisticated and suffered desertions that fed the quilombos tions had long and the arrival of substankept the entire region in disorder; --- Page 59 --- From Rebellion to Revolution tial numbers of West Africans with ethnic ated new ties to the city crepossibilities for urban risings capable of setting the plantations ablaze. The revolt of 1835 struck terror into the might, since it came close regime, as well it to success. Hundreds of blacks gave an excellent account of themselves and only with difficulty. Had the rebels were defeated or just had better luck, planned more carefully of they might have realized their taking the city by virtual coup d'etat and then hopes countryside. Bahia had raising the come close to Haiti. becoming another Where religious movements could take such tian forms the slaves were non-Chrismitment being called to arms by a deep comthat, by its very nature, divided master from and black from white. It had to be slaves ficult to win slaves to a purely immeasurably more diflogical and emotional revolutionary cause, the ideocontent of which actually linked to their masters on some levels while them others. In the hands of a skillful separating them on religious cry could be made anti-Christian leader the the white to separate the slaves totally from community and thus transform holy war against the infidel. When every rising into a to the same God, the master and slave appealed same book, the same of the Nat Turners became teachings, the task much more difficult. It did however, as Turner himself demonstrated, not, sible, for Christianity has had its become imposThe difference own revolutionary history. came not with the abstract character of the Christian tradition but with the reduction of potential inherent in the deeper revolutionary class and especially separation of religion from ethnicity. A final observation on the relatively unfavorable condi32 --- Page 60 --- Slave Revolts in Hemispheric Perspective slaves of the Old South concerns the maroons. tions facing slave revolts in the hemisphere proThe most impressive in periods in ceeded in alliance with maroons or took place undermining the slave which maroon activity was directly for the slaves by example. In Venezuela, regime or inspiring revolt of 1732 occurred in the conexample, the Andresote Caribbean revolts often maroon war. The text ofa widespread dramatic case being that had maroon connections, the most Two, For reasons explored in Chapter of Saint-Domingue. United States, while by no means maroon activity in the as it could trivial, could not spark general revolt as readily elsewhere. of the slave revolts in the British The size and frequency the United States in perCaribbean may help to put those in Western HemiThe greatest slave revolts in the spective. revolution in Saintsphere, except for the world-shaking Guiana (the Domingue, took place in Guiana and Jamaica. Berbice, and Demerara) provided a territories of Essequibo, British and the Dutch, who theater of war between the hinterland for alternated control, and it offered an extensive warfare. Like Jamaica, Guiana maroon colonies and guerrilla Taken toratio of more than ten-to-one. boasted a slave-free revolt, averaged about one significant gether, the territories during every two years not to mention serious conspiracies, in Berbice in is, from the revolt from 1731 to 1823-that Demerara in 1823. The record 1731 to the massive revolt in of the years in view of the relative quiet is the more striking Dutch-Indian alliance kept 1752-1762 during which a firm however, the slaves and maroons in check. and guerrilla Taken toratio of more than ten-to-one. boasted a slave-free revolt, averaged about one significant gether, the territories during every two years not to mention serious conspiracies, in Berbice in is, from the revolt from 1731 to 1823-that Demerara in 1823. The record 1731 to the massive revolt in of the years in view of the relative quiet is the more striking Dutch-Indian alliance kept 1752-1762 during which a firm however, the slaves and maroons in check. Berbice exploded, and the 1760s, with revolts in 1762, 1763-1764, during 1767. --- Page 61 --- From Rebellion to Revolution of under Cuffy, an exThe Great Rebellion 1763-1764 engaged, according to some estimates, driver turned cooper, standard massive. halfthe slaves in the colony and was by any Africans; creoles joined late, The rebels were predominantly Cuffy attribunder some duress, and quit early. apparently the oft treatment and uted the origins of the revolt to severity his aims Although tried unsuccessfully to negotiate peace. foreshadthey seem to have cannot be wholly deciphered, black L'Ouverture's dream of an autonomous owed Toussaint The defeat of the state allied to a major European power. conducted with slaves led, as usual, to widespread executions invariably attribute to nonwhite all the cruelty Europeans 'savages. 11 after the unsuccessful revolts of Essequibo remained stable revolt of 1744, and the cen1731 and 1741 and the aborted late The resistance shifted to Demerara in the 1760s. ter of occurred there during the 1770S: two in principal revolts others in 1774-1775, which 1772; another in 1773;and two between the black amounted virtually to full-scale civil war on one side and the whites and Indians on slaves and maroons revolt broke out in 1803, and the other. Another serious in flames. The revolts twenty years later the colony went up of the took place against the radical backdrop of 1794-1795 fall ofthe Netherlands and proclamaFrench Revolution, the and the division of the white tion of the Batavian Republic, themselves along political lines, with one party's colonists the Rights of Man. Apraising the Tricolor and proclaiming or too the slaves were supposed to be too stupid parently, cowed to make that message their own. Demerara. BeIn 1823 the slaves rose on the east coast of --- Page 62 --- Slave Revolts in Hemispheric Perspective thousands from at least thirtyfore the revolt ran its course thousand in one major had taken part, two seven plantations emancipation and, apparently battle. The rebels demanded shorter work-week with an eye on future labor conditions, a "Good King" of They believed that the on the plantations. them and that the planters were holding England had freed of Jack Gladstone, a them illegally. Under the leadership and even Christian cooper, and a group of drivers, craftsmen, nonviolent tactics house slaves, they attempted to prevail by strike. Rather than kill the whites, suggestive of a general who refused to lay imprisoned them, executing only two they testified to havdown arms. The white captives subsequently availed the been treated humanely. This moderation ing down in blood. But the revolt blacks nothing: They were put the resolve of the stirred English opinion and strengthened to be done with the tyrannical regime emancipationist party in the colonies. divided by the The revolts in Jamaica fall into two phases between the maroons and the British. peace treaty of 1739 1672, 1673, twice in 1678, The slaves had risen in 1669, 1685, 1690, 1733, and 1734, with 150 participating 1682, and to 400 in that of 1690. acks nothing: They were put the resolve of the stirred English opinion and strengthened to be done with the tyrannical regime emancipationist party in the colonies. divided by the The revolts in Jamaica fall into two phases between the maroons and the British. peace treaty of 1739 1672, 1673, twice in 1678, The slaves had risen in 1669, 1685, 1690, 1733, and 1734, with 150 participating 1682, and to 400 in that of 1690. Once in the revolt of 1685 they entered into the maroons had won autonomy, however, the slaves could no an alliance with the British. Thereafter, would hunt find refuge in the interior, for the maroons longer and return them to the plantations or, worse, them down the slaves had to bid execute them on the spot. Increasingly, that is, not as for the abolition of slavery as a system-bid, for social revofor their own freedom but a particular groups however, did lution and the freedom of all. This tendency, --- Page 63 --- From Rebellion to Revolution revolutions in France and not mature until the interrelated power Saint-Domingue created a new system ofinternational and a more coherent revolutionary ideology. made revolt during the The pacification of the maroons but not more difficult and less frequent, eighteenth century Parish exploded in a revolt less intense: In 1760, St. Mary's revolts, one of least slaves, which triggered other of at The maroons helped the which engaged about a thousand. Rebellion, 19 but not before Jamaica British crush "Tacky's Akan slaves-turnedhad been shaken to its foundations by and those called to arms by obeahmen. This revolt, warriors, marked the beginning of the transition of 1765 and 1766 African past to the from rebellions aimed at restoring an future. movements to establish a revolutionary of the slave trade In 1807 the slaves heard of the abolition Convinced and assumed that it also meant emancipation. the king's will as well as that the planters were thwarting Africans, primarily their own, they rose. In 1815 about 250 They were Ibos, without any creole support prepared to rise. 1,200 slaves on five plantations rose. They crushed. In 1824, 1820S the full force of the new too were crushed. By the strugworld-wide revolutionary era and of the emancipation felt. The great "Christmas Rising" gle in Britain was being followed the tense deof 1831, with 20,000 participants, a modern bates in London; embraced the creoles; prefigured seal nationalism; and despite its defeat helped black Jamaican The revolt represented the the fate of the slaveholding party. slaves could look culmination of a new stage, in which the in a world of modern nation-states. forward to independence for the Great And its rhetoric was not lost on those battling --- Page 64 --- Slave Revolts in Hemispheric Perspective of off deeper social convulReform Bill as a means staving of in home. Mark the year 1831. The men power sions at themselvés pressed by the events in JaLondon, who found and for all had also maica to settle the slavery question once to reflect on disturbing news from Virginia. but some Guiana and Jamaica had many fierce revolts, Trinidad escaped, and Barbados, despite colonies had none. revolt and that and disorders, had only one major conspiracies The contrast holds no mysteries. The Spanish not until 1816. entrepot, not a plantation had used Trinidad as a commercial during the When the British spread sugar cultivation colony. sions at themselvés pressed by the events in JaLondon, who found and for all had also maica to settle the slavery question once to reflect on disturbing news from Virginia. but some Guiana and Jamaica had many fierce revolts, Trinidad escaped, and Barbados, despite colonies had none. revolt and that and disorders, had only one major conspiracies The contrast holds no mysteries. The Spanish not until 1816. entrepot, not a plantation had used Trinidad as a commercial during the When the British spread sugar cultivation colony. plantations did emerge. But on nineteenth century, large with that of the the whole the system had more in common ofNorth America than with the plantation northern colonies Caribbean had become overcolonies. British power in the for by the time of annexation, and the prospects whelming brightening. The slaves peaceful emancipation were steadily bided their time. for it had been the Barbados, however, presents a problem, and of sugar islands during the seventeenth century greatest for humanity toward its slaves. hardly enjoyed a reputation and best Richard Dunn has probably offered the simplest The island was too small. The slaves had no inexplanation: flee and sustain maroon colonies and terior into which to of holding off the warfare, and they had no hopes guerrilla and seapower. Any revolt, thereformidable British military act ofdesperation with every fore, had to be an all-or-nothing in which for ending in disaster. And the proximity prospect the whites' chances of masters and slaves lived maximized The revolt conspiracies before they could mature. strangling --- Page 65 --- From Rebellion to Revolution in the context of the movement to accelerof 1816 broke out imminent and, therefore, susbelieved ate an emancipation tains the argument. America also help The revolts in Spanish and Portuguese slavUnited States in perspective. Plantation put those ofthe use of slave labor in ways in contradistinction to the ery, did not fourish in Spanish tangential to the main economy, enormous America as it did elsewhere. The Spanish, with an Africans as a supplepool ofIndian labor to exploit, imported boom of the nineeven before the sugar ment. Nevertheless, districts did transformed Cuba, plantation teenth century colonies, notably on the coast of exist within the Spanish and important Venezuela, Colombia, and Central America, districts in Mexico and South America came to rely mining slave labor. Not surprisingly, these planheavily on African often districts, in which exploitation tation and mining became the centers of revolt reached extremes of brutality, suffered lesser and maroon warfare, although other areas slaves in Hisshocks from time to time. As early as 1522 the revolt the first black slave paniola rose in what was probably in the New World. significant revolts in Black slaves in Mexico mounted smashed 1608, and 1670. In 1537 the regime 1546, 1570, kill the whites, impose a regime on an elaborate slave plot to "AfriIndians and mestizos, and re-create a traditional the century the conflict becan" society. During the seventeenth and Spanish for control of the Mosquito tween the English the way to autonomy for an Coast ofCentral America opened that had arisen Afro-Indian people ("Sambo-Mosquito") of color allied with the there. These racially mixed people weak settlement they protected in return English, whose own --- Page 66 --- Slave Revolts in Hemispheric Perspective Thus, the Spanish, who for recognition and independence. not to menfaced trouble from black maroons, periodically slaves like those who shook the San Pedro tion from insurgent themselves unable to dislodge mining district in 1548, found nonwhite either their main European rival or their dangerous local antagonists. Afro-Indian people ("Sambo-Mosquito") of color allied with the there. These racially mixed people weak settlement they protected in return English, whose own --- Page 66 --- Slave Revolts in Hemispheric Perspective Thus, the Spanish, who for recognition and independence. not to menfaced trouble from black maroons, periodically slaves like those who shook the San Pedro tion from insurgent themselves unable to dislodge mining district in 1548, found nonwhite either their main European rival or their dangerous local antagonists. the town of Santa Marta In Colombia the slaves destroyed inflicted much damage in 1530, and, after it was rebuilt, slaves) in the again in 1550. The rebel bozales (African-born and killed Colombian interior mining district rose in 1548 whites while taking 250 Indian hostages during their twenty bases. In addition to mounting small reretreat to maroon number, the Zaravolts, slaves, four thousand in paralyzed area in the middle ofthe sixteenth century. goza King Miguel's force of about eight In Venezuela in 1552, mines until the Spanhundred rebels shut down important revolt crushed the revolt. The great ish, with Indian support, Valley in the 1730S anniunder Andresote in the Yuracuy defeated force ofthree hundred before being hilated a Spanish where there had hundred. The slaves at Coro, by one offifteen followed reports from been an earlier slave revolt in 1532, France and in 1789 rose with expectations revolutionary This massive revolt also succumbed to Spanof French help. Indian allies, but its scope may ish power supplemented by which included 17I be inferred by the savage repression, executions. features of the Venezuelan revolts Among the suggestive V ofSpain in 1716 that were the concern expressed by Philip colonies and renegade whites were joining the black maroon beliefthat by 1800 the total maroon strength the widespread thousand. Leslie Rout, in his in Venezuela had reached thirty --- Page 67 --- From Rebellion to Revolution American slave revolts, notes that analysis of the Spanish and he has plausibly rebel slave leaders often were creoles, of roots in the colonial experisuggested the importance leadership. formation of effective black military ence to the plagued the colonial In any case, rebel slaves periodically during the ninethroughout its history, although regime merged with the teenth century black action increasingly different for national liberation and assumed a postruggles litical character. history of Afro-Brazilian slaves also created an impressive Small, local revolts occurred frequently, and armed struggle. century in Bahia witthe first four decades of the nineteenth revolutionary war. Certainly, nessed, in effect, a protracted else faced slaves in Brazil as everywhere insurrection-prone difficulties enormous military, political, and psychological and could not often realize their ambitions. revolt in Brato minimize the record of slave The attempt force in Carl Degler's Neither Black zil presented with special reasoning. In Brazil Nor Wbite rests on some extraordinary of slaves took the some other countries armed resistance as in than of direct inform of maroon warfare much more readily different set This distinction draws attention to a surrection. but hardly justifies the of military and political problems deserves no conclusion that the record of quilombolo struggle ofslave revolt. Degler writes: "Generally, place in the history the slave systhe quilombo neither attempted to overthrow made war on it." 3 That is, the quilombolos fought tem nor regions rather than defensively to preserve their autonomous This reading represents, at best, to attack the slave regime. idea-that the quiand misleading truth. Its core a partial overthrow ofslavery as a social syslombolos did not aim at the --- Page 68 --- Slave Revolts in Hemispheric Perspective with equal force to all the great slave revolts tem-applies those of black Americans until the from that of Spartacus to extension all black late eighteenth century. it." 3 That is, the quilombolos fought tem nor regions rather than defensively to preserve their autonomous This reading represents, at best, to attack the slave regime. idea-that the quiand misleading truth. Its core a partial overthrow ofslavery as a social syslombolos did not aim at the --- Page 68 --- Slave Revolts in Hemispheric Perspective with equal force to all the great slave revolts tem-applies those of black Americans until the from that of Spartacus to extension all black late eighteenth century. Thus, by logical after it, before Toussaint L'Ouverture's and some risings should not be classified as revolts. defined, The record shows impressive slave revolts, strictly although that which strikes throughout Brazilian history, strike another as trivial. The question one as impressive may Relative to the slave relative to what?" reduces to "impressive record, which inrevolts in the United States, the Brazilian and Rio hundreds of slaves in Minas Gerais cludes revolts by in Bahia, stands up well de Janeiro, not to mention the events it could of course be dismissed by anyone enough, although or Demerara for whom anything less than Saint-Domingue hardly deserves notice. record should be the insurgent Taken as a continuum-as distinctions among taken despite the necessity for analytical quilombo acdifferent forms of armed struggle-the revolts, of slaves in such wider regional tivity, and the participation Balaiada justifies movements as the and social revolutionary by Marxist scholars, the conclusion, insisted upon especially in modern histhat Brazilian slaves wrote a heroic chapter all numbers and relativity games notwithstanding. tory, did not, by definition, constitute slave Black participation did the movement of American revolt, but, then, neither however, was the slaves into the Union Army. Here at issue, of destruction of slavery as a social system by the absorption directly manifested much more the impulse to slave revolt, forms of often in Brazil than in the United States, into larger struggle with better chances for success. in New revolts of the eighteenth century The principal --- Page 69 --- From Rebellion to Revolution modest numbers in comparison to York and Stono engaged but they were big those in the Caribbean or even Brazil, into colonial America: thirty or forty enough to strike terror with the slaves in New York and perhaps a hundred at Stono, of attracting more ifthey had sustained ever-present possibility They had an impact all the themselves a while longer. formidable revolts since the slaveholders knew of the greater view of the matin the Caribbean and took an international subsophistication than most ter, thereby displaying greater sequent historians. in the midst of noticeable divisions Both revolts broke out Rebellion in within white society. The aftermath of Leisler's York had left the whites divided, although not necessarNew Possibly, the slaves ily as much as the slaves may have hoped. conflicts illusions on that score but expected that had no great the and military the whites had weakened political among Stono conditions were even more favorable: apparatus. At full with hostile Indians and with The whites had their hands Carolina. The slaves black maroons in Florida as well as South knew-that Spain and England were preknew- everyone freedom to paring for war and that the Spanish were offering slaves from the English colonies. runaway dominated both revolts and appealed African-born slaves brothers and sisters. The to the religious sentiments of their as traditional African religion, New York rebels espoused the Christians in a understood it, and called for a war on they Caribbean Obeahmen and manner suggestive of the early of Saintforeshadowing the call to arms of the Vodun priests ofthe rebels at Stono appears to have Domingue. freedom to paring for war and that the Spanish were offering slaves from the English colonies. runaway dominated both revolts and appealed African-born slaves brothers and sisters. The to the religious sentiments of their as traditional African religion, New York rebels espoused the Christians in a understood it, and called for a war on they Caribbean Obeahmen and manner suggestive of the early of Saintforeshadowing the call to arms of the Vodun priests ofthe rebels at Stono appears to have Domingue. The religion slaves with at least a Angolan been more clearly syncretic: ideological disformal adherence to Catholicism could put --- Page 70 --- Slave Revolts in Hemispheric Perspective themselves and their masters and enter more tance between notwithstanding the easily into alliance with the Spanish, slaveholders. small irony that the Spanish were themselves slaves craftsmen, and other skilled and privileged Mechanics, in New York and probably led the certainly led the revolt revolt at Stono. Louisiana in 181I, although the The revolt in southern obscure. Between 180 biggest in American history, remains closer to the and 500 slaves- - the lower estimate probably but number-armed with axes and other weapons actual toward New Orleans. The slavewith few firearms, struck and reinforced by holders, supported by a free Negro militia the revolt under Wade Hampton, smashed federal troops and lack of suitable quickly. But the slaves' inexperience a notethem from manifesting weapons had not prevented and as if that were worthy degree of military organization; ofthe future, the to make the slaveholders fearful not enough the never fully trusted anyfree Negroes' loyalty to regime, least one of the offset by the news that at way, was partially mulatto from rebel leaders, Charles Deslondes, was a free Saint-Domingue. ranks had broken, the vengeful As soon as the blacks' although the rebwhites began an indiscriminate slaughter, and had largely reels had killed only two or three whites The whites stricted themselves to burning the plantations. executed killed sixty-six blacks and subsequently summarily executioners cut off their victims' heads, sixteen leaders. The decorate the road from them on spikes, and used them to put Andre's plantation, where the revolt New Orleans to Major beaten. Civilization had had begun. The "savages" had been triumphed. --- Page 71 --- From Rebellion to Revolution Because the Louisiana revolt had occurred it had less impact on the South on the frontier, early part of the than three others during the nineteenth century, although two of never Came to fruition. The aborted revolts those in 1800 and Denmark of Gabriel Prosser Vesey in 1822, and the Nat Turner in 1831, bloody revolt of coming in the two great, supposedly stable slave states long-evolving, terrified the whole ofVirginia and South Carolina, country. The Nat Turner revolt stood out as a"cataclysm" and a especially the language of "fierce rebellion"- - -to invoke Aptheker and Oates-for the that it drew a considerable primary reason fact than the much amount of white blood, more in in bigger and harder fought revolt in Bahia 1835. The Nat Turner revolt had much in Gabriel Prosser and Denmark common with the leader had learned Vesey conspiracies. In each the to read and write and had and privileges. Gabriel Prosser special talents tant was a blacksmith whose miliof artisan politico-religious temperament placed him in a long line and skilled-slave revolutionaries. Aptheker and Oates-for the that it drew a considerable primary reason fact than the much amount of white blood, more in in bigger and harder fought revolt in Bahia 1835. The Nat Turner revolt had much in Gabriel Prosser and Denmark common with the leader had learned Vesey conspiracies. In each the to read and write and had and privileges. Gabriel Prosser special talents tant was a blacksmith whose miliof artisan politico-religious temperament placed him in a long line and skilled-slave revolutionaries. Nat jack-of-all-trades slave who basically Turner, a was an exhorter. IfTurner worked as a feld hand, chanic did not emerge as the skilled or foreman he has often been meless had ample called, he had nonethehave been preparation for advanced work and could only embittered by the lack and their friends had ofopportunity. His parents with special perceived him as a remarkable child for him religious powers and had predicted a as a free man. Vesey had great future after bought his own freedom winning a lottery: curiously, the year of Gabriel's rebellion and year was 1800-the slave, born either of Nat Turner's birth. As a in the Caribbean or in Africa, worked as a seaman and visited he had many countries, including --- Page 72 --- Slave Revolts in Hemispheric Perspective several languages and read the political Haiti. He spoke lieutenants included the Vesey's first-rate group of press. carpenter, as well as a slave celebrated Peter Poyas, a ship's skilled craftsmen. foreman, house servants,and among Each revolt took root amidst bitter antagonisms war with France led Gabriel Prosthe whites. The undeclared And, however all-out war and French help. ser to expect fought each other much the Federalists and Republicans rhetoric and the apwithin a consensus, the inflammatory ideology to and denunciations of French revolutionary peals on the slaves, who may well have made a deep impression nation on the verge of civil thought that they saw a white the Missouri and his followers eagerly followed war. Vesey as Jefferson called it. debate-that "firebell in the night," the slaves put on the debate, they Whatever interpretation sentiment was rising and had firm evidence that antislavery the defensive. that the slaveholders were being thrown on sound, however much they Their reading was strategically the pace of events. And at that, they may have misjudged the split was weakenmerely have assumed that political may extent. Nat Turner made his ing the slaveholders to some in Virginia convention move after a tense constitutional counties, displayed which embittered the antislavery western of slaveholder tyranny over the state, and genpublic charges albeit with colonization. erated demands for abolition, blended religious Each of these outstanding rebel leaders of the slaves with the accents of the Declaration appeals to of Man. Each projected an inIndependence and the Rights right ofChristianity that stressed the God-given terpretation fundamental doctrine of obligation underto freedom as the itself reflected the new ideologies lying a political vision that --- Page 73 --- From Rebellion to Revolution And each had to confront the Afriofthe Age of Revolution. Gabriel Prosser, despite among his people. can presence stressed Christian and warnings from within his own camp, of the folk religion secular appeals and, to his cost, slighted their Afslaves, who retained stronger links to the country Christian Nat Turner emerged as a messianic rican past. drawn from the radiprophet and skillfully spoke a language tradition of cal books of the Bible and the revolutionary sober scholars have seen in his Christianity, America. Yet, for "conjuring," >9 a norwithstanding his stated contempt have been African influence of which he may not strong aware. ressed Christian and warnings from within his own camp, of the folk religion secular appeals and, to his cost, slighted their Afslaves, who retained stronger links to the country Christian Nat Turner emerged as a messianic rican past. drawn from the radiprophet and skillfully spoke a language tradition of cal books of the Bible and the revolutionary sober scholars have seen in his Christianity, America. Yet, for "conjuring," >9 a norwithstanding his stated contempt have been African influence of which he may not strong aware. in Denmark Vesey had Between the two revolts Virginia His worked out the most subtle and sophisticated appeal. both in radical Christian and tradimovement boldly spoke be traditional African tional African-or what purported to had appealed to the Bible, much as Prosser -terms. Vesey would do, but he also relied on Jack Pritchdone and Turner reach slaves who had not ard ("Gullah, Jack"), an Angolan, to conversion had been converted to Christianity or whose yet Pritchard, like many other leaders of the been superficial. of the African Methodist Episcorevolt, had been a member had closed Church, which the authorities in Charleston pal indeed, he reportedly had wanted to down as subversive; which had enraged after the repression, strike immediately generally. In combining him and the black community and his followers did not Christian and African appeals Vesey of a black folk double They varied the accents play a game: sources and working itself religion that was combining many distinct Afro-American religious experience. out as a --- Page 74 --- Slave Revolts in Hemispheric Perspective elements in the slaves' religion The appeal to African those function in bolstering morale among served a special charms the rebels in who faced grim odds. The use of by will slave rebels throughout the Americas, Charleston, as by into battle with illustrate. In many revolts slaves went white man's them from the charms that ostensibly protected in his Religious bullets. The Reverend C. C., Jones ofGeorgia, uneasiInstruction oftbe Negroes (p. 128), expressed particular of such notions among southern slaves. ness at the appearance among insurrecWell he might have, for they have appeared and the poor in Europe as well as in Africa, tionary peasants colonial world generally. This recurring Melanesia, and the antidote to the normal use of charms has proven a powerful 19 those fresh recruits. However "superstitious, fears among under this have usually who have gone into battle protection their comrades had their reasons; they have been able to see charms. The Reverend Mr. Jones wisely fall, charms or no of the judge who senrefused to take comfort in the taunts tenced Gullah Jack to death: yourself as invulnerJack Pritchard : . you represented destroyed, and that able; that you could neither be taken nor under your banner would be invincible. : * all who fought yourself and of Your boasted charms have not preserved course could not protect others. rebels could always attribute the inReligiously inspired victims' bad faith or failure to obevitable casualties to the in of reincarnation ritual or even to the prospect serve proper to stiffen their resolve in the Africa. They needed something leaders proodds, and their religious face of overwhelming --- Page 75 --- From Rebellion to Revolution available. As Eric Hobsbawm revided as good a spur as was weak know that their marks, "And, alas, the poor and the and defenders are not really invulnerable. They champions they will also be defeated and may always rise again-but he adds in his book killed. casualties to the in of reincarnation ritual or even to the prospect serve proper to stiffen their resolve in the Africa. They needed something leaders proodds, and their religious face of overwhelming --- Page 75 --- From Rebellion to Revolution available. As Eric Hobsbawm revided as good a spur as was weak know that their marks, "And, alas, the poor and the and defenders are not really invulnerable. They champions they will also be defeated and may always rise again-but he adds in his book killed. *7 The promise of invulnerability, such rebel "offers in mythological form what every Bandits, knows he desperately needs--luck." back leaders in the South had much less to fall Slave revolt than their forerunners upon during the nineteenth century elsewhere in the during the eighteenth or their counterparts norconjuring but were Americas. They were infuenced by skeptical of its extreme and politically dangerous mally lived too close to their masters to deceive forms. And they recruit in Missouri explained, themselves. As one rebel slave shoot too Marse Newton and Marse John Ramsey "I've seen often to believe they can't kill a nigger. aims of the revolts remain debatable, apart The strategic the freedom of from the straightforward goal of securing rebellion and of as many other slaves as possible. those in Richmond-a realistic objecGabriel Prosser sought to seize indifferent defenses- and to inflict enough tive in view ofits terms. Posblows on the whites to bring them to unspecified for an the rebels would have tried to win recognition sibly, they sought freedom within existing enclave state; possibly, to seize arrangements; probably, they were waiting political Vesey apparently tried to any opportunities that emerged. taken Charleston and sekeep several options open. Had he its hinterland he might have set up an independent cured knew the odds against republic, although he undoubtedly with He seems to have expected to sail to Haiti holding out. Turner's blacks as survived the early engagements. as many --- Page 76 --- Slave Revolts in Hemispheric Perspective remain obscure. He may have thought along lines objectives of Gabriel Prosser or may have expected to similar to those the Dismal Swamp. Ofall the form a large maroon colony in least evidence of major plots and revolts his displayed the and foresight. Yet, this very careful planning, preparation, denied to Prosser and weakness may have given it a strength Vesey, for it was less exposed to betrayal. forms, the Whatever the reliance on archaic ideological the revolts in the United States reflected nineteenth-century in the era of the great revolution in world as it was emerging struggles in Europe Saint-Domingue and the revolutionary Their restorationist appearance- the possibiland America. would have ended as a maroon enclave- repreity that each of military reality. Vesey sented primarily the impingement as well as for looked to Haiti as a model and for inspiration the His speech to his followers combined material support. in the of the Age of Revolution, as manifested language and the Constitution, with the Declaration of Independence Nat Turner, a messibiblical language ofthe God ofWrath. of also spoke in the accents of the Declaration anic exhorter, of Man. Nat Turner, whatever Independence and the Rights else he might have been, was a Virginian. States faced a then, the slaves of the United In general, off forces, which shifted them highly unfavorable relationship forms of resistance. The from revolt and toward other away to revolt during the slaves had much better opportunities their than the nineteenth century; in general, eighteenth deteriorated over time until revolt became position steadily the eighteenth century virtually suicidal. of also spoke in the accents of the Declaration anic exhorter, of Man. Nat Turner, whatever Independence and the Rights else he might have been, was a Virginian. States faced a then, the slaves of the United In general, off forces, which shifted them highly unfavorable relationship forms of resistance. The from revolt and toward other away to revolt during the slaves had much better opportunities their than the nineteenth century; in general, eighteenth deteriorated over time until revolt became position steadily the eighteenth century virtually suicidal. But even during the slaves of had as promising as they never opportunities time of Gabriel Prosser, Denother countries had. By the --- Page 77 --- From Rebellion to Revolution mark Vesey, and Nat Turner only the most heroic souls, even as measured by the highest standards of revolutionary selfsacrifice, could contemplate such a course; and their prospects for raising the masses grew steadily dimmer despite the popular commitment to freedom. The wonder, then, is not that the United States had fewer and smaller slave revolts than some other countries did, but that they had any at all. That they did, in whatever proportions, demonstrated to the world the impossibility of crushing completely the slaves' rebellious spirit. --- Page 78 --- TWO Black Maroons in War and Peace The slaveholders of the New World faced military challenge not only from slaves in open revolt but also from those who fled the plantations, grouped themselves in runaway communities, and waged guerrilla warfare. These maroons (cimarrones, marrons, quilombolos) plagued every slave society in which mountains, swamps, or other terrain provided a hinterland into which slaves could flee. Some maroon communities became powerful enough to force the European powers into formal peace treaties designed to pacify the interior while recognizing the freedom and autonomy of the rebels. Jamaica and Surinam provided the most famous of these cases, which had counterparts in Mexico, Venezuela, and elsewhere. The Portuguese, as early as the seventeenth century, had unsuccessfully offered terms to the great quilombo ofPalmares, and even the haughty French came to terms with several thousand maroons near the Spanish border of SaintDomingue. The terms of the various treaties usually granted the maroons freedom and autonomy in return for a pledge of allegiance to the colonial regime, including the duty to return new runaways and to defend the public order-that is, to suppress slave rebellions. The Catholic countries also required adherence to the Church. Relations between maroons --- Page 79 --- From Rebellion to Revolution and slaves after promulgation of such treaties deningly ambiguous. became madMost maroon communities did not have an come to terms with the colonial opportunity to small units of tens or hundreds, regimes. They remained but sometimes sometimes in loose alliance culcurally and politically hostile to each er. So long as they remained outside othorder they the established colonial sympathized with the fate of those still for their own guerrilla activities enslaved, supplies from required intelligence and plantation informers and where in the hemisphere supporters. Everyparticular maroons at particular times and in places provoked desertions and slave revolts; fought and often defeated the they Whatever their relations troops sent against them. with the slaves, their success in defeating white military expeditions said tion slaves about the more to the plantaabolitionist fighting quality ofblack people than any pamphlet ever could. Although varying greatly in time and place, the redoubts in various countries had maroon Especially when some common features. maroons secured periods of peace pelling the whites to agree to a modus vivendi, by comcultural communities that they built agriechoed Africa while original Afro-American formations. developing as nities relied on horticulture Typically, the commuand raised such as sweet potatoes, bananas, crops yams, though they plantains, squash, and beans, almight also add cotton, sugarcane, and tobacco for their own use. They rarely if especially sufficiency in manufactures ever achieved selfcloth, and had to depend on others for implements, and, above all, guns. When at peace with the whites and sometimes at war, these maroon colonies established even when trade relations with --- Page 80 --- Black Maroons in War and Peace Trade relations with the nearby planters and townspeople. as sweet potatoes, bananas, crops yams, though they plantains, squash, and beans, almight also add cotton, sugarcane, and tobacco for their own use. They rarely if especially sufficiency in manufactures ever achieved selfcloth, and had to depend on others for implements, and, above all, guns. When at peace with the whites and sometimes at war, these maroon colonies established even when trade relations with --- Page 80 --- Black Maroons in War and Peace Trade relations with the nearby planters and townspeople. white adventurers Europeans and the absorption ofoccasional thoroughprovided some check to the into the community whole these communities Africanization. Yet, on the going New World black communities to recapitcame closest ofall essentially Africa, norwithstanding their remaining ulating cultural formations. Indeed, they seem American-i.e., new culture that were have some features of African to preserved Africa itself. But, as Gilberto Freyre argues disappearing in religion, and for Brazil, they also spread European language, interior among the Indians of the mores, however reshaped, served as agents of Western cultural expansion. and thereby recalled African kinship Family and social life in general leadership centered in religiously patterns, and political >7 The maroons imposed strict quasisanctioned "kingships. for violadiscipline and inflicted severe punishments military Much of the ritions of norms and challenges to authority. the maroon groups in Jamaica, valry between ccmpeting sometimes Alared into warGuianas, and elsewhere, which in the attempt of a leader of one maroon fare, originated community to impose his will on others. and in varying degrees, the maroon comIn different ways lost African world while incormunities aimed at restoring a and specififeatures of Euro-American civilization porating culture. The culture that arose on these cally plantation Amerindian, and foundations combined African, European, The elements into new and varied complexes. slave-quarter reworked their African inJamaican and Surinam maroons American useful elements of their heritance by assimilating filtered their American experience; simultaneously, they African-born slaves, acquisitions through an African prism. --- Page 81 --- From Rebellion to Revolution sparked the establishment of maroon rather than creoles, built reflected their oricommunities, and the societies they leaders in however, sometimes became maroon gins. Creoles, their in either the maroon numbers disproportionate to place has And, as Barbara Kopytoff or general slave population. communities fell under stressed, increasingly the big maroon those born as mathe leadership of their own creoles-of facing The peculiar military and diplomatic problems roons. with extensive knowledge maroons favored the rise ofleaders in dealing with the authorities. ofthe country and experience than the Afrihowever, provided fewer maroons The creoles, had advantages of language and cans did in part because they the towns and cities with terrain and could fly to familiarity Thus, the African and blend into the free Negro population. the creoles among the maroons does not indict predominance delineates different paths of for lack of militancy but, rather, reflected struggle. But since maroon communities strongly Africans, they often presented the culture of transplanted and culturally the creoles with an unsympathetic, strange, threatening power. the relationship of the During the eighteenth century of to slave revolts and the more general relationship maroons became strained. In their formative periods maroons to slaves for survival, cultithe maroon communities, often fighting relied close relations with those remaining in slavery, vated them to desert and on them for support, and encouraged alienated the slaves rebel. oon communities strongly Africans, they often presented the culture of transplanted and culturally the creoles with an unsympathetic, strange, threatening power. the relationship of the During the eighteenth century of to slave revolts and the more general relationship maroons became strained. In their formative periods maroons to slaves for survival, cultithe maroon communities, often fighting relied close relations with those remaining in slavery, vated them to desert and on them for support, and encouraged alienated the slaves rebel. Even then, the maroons sometimes circumtheir women and supplies. In time, two by seizing The colonial powers somestances deepened the antagonism: in return times offered favorable peace treaties to the maroons durand crushing slave revolts; and for capturing runaways --- Page 82 --- Black Maroons in War and Peace as creole slaves increased relative ing the nineteenth century, between maroons and to "salt water" slaves, the cultural gap and even haslaves widened and generated sharp hostilities sometimes let their treaty obligations to treds. Ifthe maroons them indifferently, runaways slip altogether or met capture treated dissident slaves brutally. The recat other times they contradictory, disord of the Jamaican maroons, although obligations African respect for treaty played a well-known said they would assist the and word of honor. When they their word. whites against the slaves, they meant to keep famous of Even after the defeat of the rebels during the most wars in the 1790S, when the British cynically the maroon those who surrendered, the broke their promise not to expel arrived as disafter a brief stay in Nova Scotia, maroons, in Sierra Leone in time to put down a rebelgruntled exiles an important lion. Those who remained in Jamaica played the Morant Bay rising of 1865. role in crushing the maroons During the revolution in Saint-Domingue efforts sided with the whites against Toussaint's sometimes They greeted Napoobedience to his authority. to compel as allies and later leon's army, which came to restore slavery, to their old archenemies, the mulattoes, gave some support makes no sense except on the against the blacks. Their course their that, above all, they wished to protect simple premise centralizing power, white or own autonomy against any black, reactionary Or revolutionary. with whites notwithstanding, Evidence of collaboration generally had a dethe formation of maroon communities slave disimpact on slavery and provided a spur to structive and rebellion. In Surinam, Venezuela, affection, desertion, slaves to challenge Jamaica, and elsewhere, maroons inspired --- Page 83 --- From Rebellion to Revolution and to rebel. When as often happened, the white authority the regime, ifonly because maroons were waging war against convinced it could it would not come to terms until being reinforcements consciously sought allies and not win, they slaves. In 1733 the British refrom among the plantation loyal black information that even their ostensibly ceived aid the maroons. The authorities troops were conspiring to a constant understood that unchecked maroons presented slaves to rise in revolt or to desert en masse. temptation to the delivered hard Ofspecial significance, maroons sometimes the whites in retaliation for particularly brutal blows against for example, during the treatment of slaves. In Surinam, of 1757 a rebel leader rebuked the goverpeace negotiations could claim to be and asked how the Europeans nor's emissary He then offered civilized and yet treat their slaves SO cruelly. aid the maroons. The authorities troops were conspiring to a constant understood that unchecked maroons presented slaves to rise in revolt or to desert en masse. temptation to the delivered hard Ofspecial significance, maroons sometimes the whites in retaliation for particularly brutal blows against for example, during the treatment of slaves. In Surinam, of 1757 a rebel leader rebuked the goverpeace negotiations could claim to be and asked how the Europeans nor's emissary He then offered civilized and yet treat their slaves SO cruelly. of which tells us much about the ambiguities some advice, Stedman recounts his speech: maroon ideology. As Captain tell the and your court that in We desire you to governor ought to want to raise no new gangs of rebels, they case they keep a more watchful eye over their take care that the planters to the and do not trust them SO frequently own property, and overseers, who : . . are the hands of drunken managers the woods such numruin oft the colony and wilfully drive to active who by their sweat earn your bers of stout, people, colony must drop to subsistence, without whose hands your and to whom at last, in this disgraceful manner, nothing, are glad to come and sue for friendship. you for the welfare of the slaves, as reThe maroon's concern to flected in this remarkable speech, revealed a willingness itselfintact. Thus, the outstanding rebel leader, leave slavery officer who had recentBaron, released a captured white army --- Page 84 --- Black Maroons in War and Peace arrived in Surinam and undoubtedly expected execution: ly have not been long enough in the colony "Go away, for you slaves.' 71 Another rebel to have been guilty of mistreating for a Dutch offered to send his son to Europe chief, Araby, could be arranged, and a year later education if peace terms commissioners with a the rebels received the Dutch peace display ofaristocratic hospitality. whether in Palmares, Surinam, or Jamaica, Maroons, including those already themselves often enslaved captives, mild, the whites. They seem to have practiced a enslaved by of the kind ostensibly practiced familial slavery reminiscent of African slavery in Africa. But those historians who speak of the indigenous forms of bondage -or more precisely, not appear to have concalled slavery by the Europeans-do differentsulted the slaves, who may have perceived matters of slaves in ly. No matter how mild the day-to-day existence threat ofritual execution hung heavily over many. Africa, the slaves do appear to have had an In the maroon communities we can hardly easier time, but without their own testimony What remains certain is that many maroon combe certain. the white slaveholders to treat munities did try to influence thus simulThe maroons' course their slaves more humanely. their the efforts of the slaves to improve taneously supported the moral and judicial pretensions condition and yet accepted inhibited of the white slaveholders. Their course necessarily of an abolitionist- t-a revolutionary-idethe development existence of the maroon communities ology while the very through the slave revolutionary shock waves was sending quarters. oft their conquest ofthe New World all From the early days of"divide and rule. >9 applied the policy the European powers --- Page 85 --- From Rebellion to Revolution about his reliance on the Cortes, for example, wrote frankly the hands of Indians who had suffered oppression at support for a chance to rise. Thereof the Aztecs and were waiting tribal hatreds after, the Europeans did their best to exacerbate Amerindians and later Africans, to foment hostility among and to set blacks against colbetween Indians and Africans, slaves. the New World all From the early days of"divide and rule. >9 applied the policy the European powers --- Page 85 --- From Rebellion to Revolution about his reliance on the Cortes, for example, wrote frankly the hands of Indians who had suffered oppression at support for a chance to rise. Thereof the Aztecs and were waiting tribal hatreds after, the Europeans did their best to exacerbate Amerindians and later Africans, to foment hostility among and to set blacks against colbetween Indians and Africans, slaves. Africans, and maroons against oreds, creoles against effects for the EuropeThe policy produced generally positive hostilities because it had firm roots in traditional ans in part little encouragement and even new ones that required only outsiders in order to burst into violence. Although from of all ages have mastered the art of turning peoimperialists it does them too much ples' ethnic hatreds to advantage, hatreds. They have them those honor to accuse ofinventing would have had such power. The Dutch, for example, rarely time in Surinam had not one group of had an even rougher toward other groups and maroons adopted an offensive policy driven them into an alliance with the regime. sometimes supported Indians and black slaves or maroons welcome the whites. The Indians might each other against alliance. Cooperblack runaways or even negotiate a military Amerindians but SO did hostility. ation appeared everywhere, black maroon colonies provided the decisive troops against and and slave revolts in Surinam, Brazil, Colombia, Jamaica, to crush various Indian elsewhere, and black troops helped stole black revolts. Some Indians at war with Europeans further complicated slaves for their own use and thereby relations. The Island-Carib, for example, conAfro-Indian the British islands in the ducted heavy slave raids against somtimes alone Caribbean during the seventeenth century, record of sometimes in alliance with the French. This and --- Page 86 --- Black Maroons in War and Peace Roger Bastide's argument that, antagonism does not negate Afro-Indian contacts shaped a wide-ranging for the long run, communities. syncretization and the rise of Afro-Indian the New World free Negroes and even loyal Throughout crush slave revolts and maroon slaves periodically helped to bastions. In Africa black troops provided an indispensable white in the coastal slave depots, and in the supplement to of some slaves proved Caribbean, in particular, the loyalty extensive the militancy of others. The adequate to frustrate Stedman sheds light on the report from Surinam by Captain rebels and might, more general use of loyal slaves against other shift in details, have come from Brazil Or with only a terms with two groups of countries. After having come to ofthe the Dutch continued their brutal treatment maroons, rebellion in 1772. A majority of slaves and provoked a new in panic while the authorities the planters fled to Paramaribo of manumitted made the desperate decision to form units slaves to send against the rebels. their conduct astonished the whites by The black loyalists Stedman's words, "performed under fire and, in Captain blacks saved the day for wonders. 17 These three hundred or SO arrive slaveholders until Dutch troops could the European had proved inadefrom Europe, for the local colonial troops authorities had picked their slave troops carefully quate. The volunteers with no record of from among especially strong in compensarecalcitrance. Owners received full payment blacks came to be called, staked out tion. The Rangers, as the and checked their enmity against the rebels" an "implacable The rebels returned the hatred: advance with great ferocity. saved the day for wonders. 17 These three hundred or SO arrive slaveholders until Dutch troops could the European had proved inadefrom Europe, for the local colonial troops authorities had picked their slave troops carefully quate. The volunteers with no record of from among especially strong in compensarecalcitrance. Owners received full payment blacks came to be called, staked out tion. The Rangers, as the and checked their enmity against the rebels" an "implacable The rebels returned the hatred: advance with great ferocity. of war but summarily They sometimes spared white prisoners executed all Rangers. --- Page 87 --- From Rebellion to Revolution the Rangers' tenacity as a conseCaptain Stedman explains freedom. He also observes that, quence of their desire to earn the side of the made the decision to fight on once having ofretreat, for the rebels poured on Dutch, they had no avenue and any athatred reserved for traitors; them that special them as traitors to to switch sides would have qualified tempt results. The Rangers earned their the whites with similar fighting with freedom in this fratricidal struggle not only by and élan but by teaching the white extraordinary courage warfare. According to Captain Stedtroops the art of fcolonial understood the rudislaves man, these newly emancipated much better ments of warfare on the Surinam countryside the methwhich had the sense to study than the Dutch army, ods of their despised "inferiors.' sucwhose previous Although the Bush Negroes-those and territory of cessful efforts had won them peace treaties the Rangers and probably sympathized their own-hated their treaties and refused to with the rebels, they stood by colonials' the war. In view of the precariousness of the enter arrival of reinforcements from Europe, position before the might have tipped the scales decisively a maroon rising version of Saintand transformed Surinam into an early Domingue. impressive story of Brazilian slaves wrote an especially resistance. In 1770, for example, the Portuguese guerrilla of Carlota in Mato Grosso, although the crushed the quilombo Nina Rodrigues, "a rebels put up, in the words of Raimondo defense. 99 The most compelling of these maroon brilliant century with the arose during the seventeenth war camps of a century (ca. 1605name Palmares. For the greater part slaves and their offspring, swelling to an esti1695) runaway --- Page 88 --- Black Maroons in War and Peace high- population of twenty thoumated-if suspiciously African community sand, defended their reconstituted blows oft the Netherlands and Portugal, two ofthe against the The Dutch sent two expeditions greatest powers of the age. than a dozen bePalmares and the Portuguese more against crushed it. Slaves had long slipped from the fore they finally and Palmares may well sugar plantations to the backcountry, settlements over have consisted of several discontinuous in the wake of time. The movement picked up dramatically weakenDutch invasion of Pernambuco and the resultant the ing ofthe Portuguese slaveholders' regime. such exof Palmares remains obscure despite The history Carneiro, Ernesto Ennes, cellent studies as those of Edison documents. and R. K. Kent, and the publication ofvaluable unfortunately, betray too much special pleading The sources, nothing from the from the colonial side and offer virtually of rebel side. As a result, the political and military history 1672-1695, has emerged, at least in the decisive period, of the but the social and cultural development outline, be described without considerable quilombo itself cannot speculation. the Palmarinos seem to have tried to In essential respects blacks from various reconstruct an African society. Although in Palmares, the Bantu-speaking parts of Africa converged predominated. uable unfortunately, betray too much special pleading The sources, nothing from the from the colonial side and offer virtually of rebel side. As a result, the political and military history 1672-1695, has emerged, at least in the decisive period, of the but the social and cultural development outline, be described without considerable quilombo itself cannot speculation. the Palmarinos seem to have tried to In essential respects blacks from various reconstruct an African society. Although in Palmares, the Bantu-speaking parts of Africa converged predominated. AfAngolan-Congolese peoples apparently of reliance on raids for women and supplies, ter a period districts and the Indian setlaunched against the plantation the Palmarinos began to produce tlements of the interior, became more ecotheir own food and tools. The quilombo and self sufficient and economically complex supnomically and craftsmen. Fragmentary eviported skilled mechanics --- Page 89 --- From Rebellion to Revolution that the economic organization adhered to dence suggests family-based West African norms. in the Politically, the Palmarinos concentrated power of chiefs. They practiced a "Catholihands ofa small group and heavily laden with cism" unconnected with the Church definite is known African beliefs and practices, although little and organization of this syncretic religion about the content The Palmarinos' orits place in the political and social system. They itself recalled African origins. attitude toward slavery those whom they had to take from the plantations enslaved and sisters those who by force, while welcoming as brothers African traditional defected to them. That they practiced from the rather than commercial slavery may be extrapolated organization and from their willingness to general economic free slaves who volunteered to help raid the plantations. the of the long struggle, the Palmarinos apUntil phase thin across a large area. For a long parently spread themselves served them well against time their dispersal of population destruction of one the Dutch and Portuguese invasions. The resulted in regroupment and the resumption or more centers warfare that wore down their enemies. ofa general guerrilla invaders improved their stayIn the last phase, however, the The and hammered the Palmarinos piece-meal. ing power concentrated their forces at Macaco, beleaguered Palmarinos the frontal assault of their chief redoubt, but succumbed to white and Indian troops. their economy led The Palmarinos' success in developing slavealliance with some ofthe neighboring to an important raiding, planters. In return for guaranties against holding into trade relations. Whether the Palsome planters entered from certain plantations is not marinos returned runaways --- Page 90 --- Black Maroons in War and Peace have been shaky, for SO long clear. The alliance must always slaves who dared existed, it provided a beacon to as Palmares to risk flight. losses on the PalmaIn 1678 the regime inflicted heavy sued for peace. rinos, whose supreme chief, the ganga-zumba, offered terms they considered generous, The Portuguese ofthe freedom of maybe too generous, including recognition appointment of the ganga-zumba as a royal the Palmarinos, ofthe Palmarinos' claims field commander, and confirmation already being eyed greedily by planters and merto territory Palmarinos in return had to give up some terrichants. The slave and Indian rereturn runaways, and help suppress tory, under the leadership of the volts. One group of Palmarinos, repudiated the zumbi (war chief) and other younger men, the and resumed executed the ganga-zumba, agreement, coalition of paulista struggle. ganga-zumba as a royal the Palmarinos, ofthe Palmarinos' claims field commander, and confirmation already being eyed greedily by planters and merto territory Palmarinos in return had to give up some terrichants. The slave and Indian rereturn runaways, and help suppress tory, under the leadership of the volts. One group of Palmarinos, repudiated the zumbi (war chief) and other younger men, the and resumed executed the ganga-zumba, agreement, coalition of paulista struggle. Not until 1695 did a powerful of recruited northerners, and a larger army ruffians, hastily Palmares. The zumbi, referred to in Indians, put an end to courage, document as a "Negro of singular one Portuguese [negro de singular valor, grande great spirit and persistence although wounded, was taken alive, animo e constancia)," and subsequently executed. the treaty of 1678 reThe zumbi's reasons for repudiating Just as some of the Portuguese main open to speculation. would break their authorities feared that the Palmarinos clearly distrusted Portuguese intenword, SO the Palmarinos attracted white tions. The rich lands of Palmares had already for by and even the limited land cessions provided interest, exceeded what the bolder Palmarinos the treaty may have their recent victories, the thought safe. Then too, despite had paid dearly for the long war and confronted Portuguese --- Page 91 --- From Rebellion to Revolution internal divisions between paulistas and tween local planters anxious for northerners and berisky adventures. peace and others ready for The zumbi may have calculated that the Portuguese would crack during a protracted since the relations between the war, especially provided paulistas and the Indians, who an indispensable force, were zumbi and his followers deteriorating. The may have objected to men for the Portuguese playing policeagainst the slaves. Whatever the sons, the decision to stake reaended in death for the everything on a war to the death rebel leaders and their boldest ers, in the enslavement of followPalmares many others, and in the division of among the invading whites. A formidable the Portuguese slaveholding threat to The regime had ended. Jamaican maroons dated from the English took the island from 1650s, when the tage of the Spain. Some slaves took advanstruggle between the European the interior, where cool weather powers to fly to conducive offered a healthful climate to the building ofstable communities. maroon colonies suffered hard These early military blows and only to be replaced by others. By the time succumbed Jamaica some the Spanish left I,500 maroons, according to Bryan Edwards' shaky estimate, had ensconced themselves in the accessible mountainous virtually inweakness interior. Their greatest military stemmed from their geographical large groups had occupied different division, for contact. The terrain without effective English, upon consolidating their fered one group in power, ofautonomy return for support in ing slave revolts and in defending the suppressIn time mass defections island against invasion. troubled the English owners, much as they had plantation previously troubled the 1690 the slaves in Clarendon Spanish. In Parish rose in insurrection and --- Page 92 --- Black Maroons in War and Peace interior. Those left behind sent the rebels retreated into the grounds until information and supplies from their provision self-sufficient maroon colonies could take shape. stable and of defeat, united behind One maroon group, after a period and enterCudjoe, in R. C. Dallas' words, "a bold, skillful, from the plan- ) reinforced by deserters prising man. troubled the 1690 the slaves in Clarendon Spanish. In Parish rose in insurrection and --- Page 92 --- Black Maroons in War and Peace interior. Those left behind sent the rebels retreated into the grounds until information and supplies from their provision self-sufficient maroon colonies could take shape. stable and of defeat, united behind One maroon group, after a period and enterCudjoe, in R. C. Dallas' words, "a bold, skillful, from the plan- ) reinforced by deserters prising man. Steadily the maroons contations, some of them in large groups, elaborate community discipline and organized an solidated by relying on the intelligence apparatus on the plantations obeahmen and those under their influence. Edward Trelawney, read the signs The British governor, Cudjoe kissed the feet of and, in 1738, offered peace terms. although this emissary and begged pardon, the governor's no more than a traditional self prostration, itself probably had assurances that the emissary courtesy, accompanied After these maroons agreed to brought satisfactory terms. another able leader, Quao, terms then other maroons, under clear that necessity, not preferfollowed suit while making ence, dictated their course. and Cudjoe between Governor Trelawney The agreement with the Maroons of Trelawney "Articles of Pacification on a significant Town, concluded March I, 1738"-began "In the name of God, amen. Whereas Captain Cudjoe, note: Johnny, Captain Cuffy, CapCaptain Accompong, Captain he was nego7 The understood that tain Quaco : . governor of 19 not "niggers. The stated purpose tiating with "captains, 3 It granted freedom and the treaty was peace and friendship. of designated autonomy to the maroons along with possession well as the lands. The maroons obtained hunting rights, as their lands as they wished, but agreed to right to cultivate with prescribed sell the produce in towns only in accordance --- Page 93 --- From Rebellion to Revolution to pay homage to the governor; to rules. The maroons agreed disof white courts in interracial submit to the jurisdiction control of justice in their own terputes; and to qualify their inflict the death by petitioning for white permission to ritory by the governor, were to penalty. Two white men, appointed the maroons more or less as governors-general; live among achieved official recognition simultaneously, Captain Cudjoe as an officer ofthe Crown. transcended concessions The maroons' most important measure of ceremonial matters and acquiescence in a these foreign invasion extraterritoriality. They agreed to help repel slaves to their plantations: More and to return all runaway ominously: Cudjoe and his successors do use Sixth, that the said Captain either their best endeavors to take, kill, suppress, or destroy with any other number of men, by themselves, or jointly the Governor, commanded on that service by his excellency, wherein chief for the time being, all rebels or commander this island, unless they submit to soever they be, throughout Cudjoe terms of accommodation granted to Captain the same and his successors. in the relations of This compromise marked a new stage and the slaves. The earlier alliance, based on the maroons and maroon efforts to assist slave support for the maroons had, however, Relations runaways, gave way to antagonism. and the early smoothly even during the 1690s not proceeded and slaves promised eighteenth century, for free Negroes had provided some of the toughest troops sent emancipation kept their word to the against the maroons. The maroons killing British: They ruthlessly tracked down runaways, --- Page 94 --- Black Maroons in War and Peace often that the British had to offer a premium for them SO colonies those taken alive; and they smashed new runaway their own survival, with such efficiency that they jeopardized occurred. to antagonism. and the early smoothly even during the 1690s not proceeded and slaves promised eighteenth century, for free Negroes had provided some of the toughest troops sent emancipation kept their word to the against the maroons. The maroons killing British: They ruthlessly tracked down runaways, --- Page 94 --- Black Maroons in War and Peace often that the British had to offer a premium for them SO colonies those taken alive; and they smashed new runaway their own survival, with such efficiency that they jeopardized occurred. And, additions to maroon ranks for no significant they opened themhas demonstrated, as Barbara Kopytoff deterioration and a of internal selves to a complex process and autonomy. The steady erosion of their political cohesion of authorities had no doubt that the military prowess British role in discouraging slave the maroons was playing a major forbade the although the treaty terms revolts. Moreover, slaves, they did buy some without promaroons from owning Maroons continvoking the intervention of the authorities. relations slaves and to cultivate sympathetic ued to marry diverged and with some, but increasingly the two groups passed over to animosity. the slaves claimed revenge. Two maroons, generIn 1795 fell into British hands ally acknowledged as trouble-makers, of which slaves inflicted on behalf and received whippings, cared noththe authorities. The maroons were enraged. They whom they themselves would probably ing for the culprits, the use of despised have hanged, but they refused to tolerate to the They reiterated their loyalty slaves as agents ofjustice. us to insult and huCrown but demanded, "Do not subject to whom we are set in opposimiliation from the very people maroons retion. 1) The origins of the rising ofthe Trelawney in Britalthough maroon suspicion of changes main obscure, stemming in British fears ofa new Haiti, ish administration, the blacks, and from reports of French agents among part all played a part. The ingrowing quarrels over landholding Maroon the outbreak of the great sulting incident triggered maroons had to War of 1795-1796, in which the Trelawney --- Page 95 --- From Rebellion to Revolution without a mass base of sympathy challenge British power of other big the slaves and without even the support among maroons helped to suppress maroon groups. The Accompong British armed for the the rising, as did some slaves whom the mafrom the plantations, the Trelawney war. Without help several hundred strong, roons had to fight alone. The rebels, defed the troops of the world's greatest fought heroically, of the island. Without adepower, and terrorized a large part of vicious dogs allies, however, and facing the threat quate be used to hunt them down, they eventually from Cuba to whites had had reason to fear anhad to sue for peace. The had been in 1795, for British troops other Saint-Domingue slave revolts in the French sent from Jamaica to suppress would have had excellent Caribbean, and unified black action The policy of divide and rule had triumphed. prospects. slaveholders of the Old South from the Maroons harassed the The authoriseventeenth century to the end of their regime. concern in the 1670S ties in Virginia, for example, expressed concern of slave revolt but, even more, over the possibilities of maroons in every part of over the activities of small groups authorities During the eighteenth century the the colony. colony in the Blue Ridge mounput down a vigorous maroon trouble with but had constant tains as well as smaller groups others in the Dismal Swamp. . prospects. slaveholders of the Old South from the Maroons harassed the The authoriseventeenth century to the end of their regime. concern in the 1670S ties in Virginia, for example, expressed concern of slave revolt but, even more, over the possibilities of maroons in every part of over the activities of small groups authorities During the eighteenth century the the colony. colony in the Blue Ridge mounput down a vigorous maroon trouble with but had constant tains as well as smaller groups others in the Dismal Swamp. CaroThe Dismal Swamp area along the Virginia-North runaways with a favorable location on lina border provided and raise pigs and fowl. which to build houses, plant crops, the maroon Toward the end of the seventeenth century white had larger and more stable and evoked groups grown insurrection. Punitive expeditions fears of a general black --- Page 96 --- Black Maroons in War and Peace settlements and kept the runaways from consolidestroyed bases. By the late antebellum period dating strong guerrilla had shrunk to the status ofa the maroon problem in the area during the eighnuisance. In Georgia and South Carolina unfolded, with small groups teenth century a similar pattern blows, and reofmaroons waging sporadic warfare, suffering consolidate without being able to develop and grouping like those of Palmares Or the interior colomajor war camps nies of Jamaica, Surinam, or Saint-Domingue. of maroon acDuring the ninteenth century the center especially Louisiana, and to tivity shifted to the southwest, offered refuge to fleeing Florida, where the Seminole Indians with white powblacks and produced a major confrontation of ("outrages, *7 to use the favorite word er. Reports ofactivity continued to filthe authorities) by small groups of runaways seaboard slave states, but they no longer proter in from the fear they once had. In the voked the deep and widespread during the in Tennessee caused much concern west, maroons century, and small groups early decades of the nineteenth enough to in the Gulf states on a scale just large operated nervous. The peak of nineteenth keep many communities the war, when long maroon activity came during century in full view and many others arose hidden groups appeared In South Carolina slaves deserting the plantations. among federal invasion of the coast and the favorable especially, the of armed and of the low country spurred a rash geography combative maroon colonies. slaves and maroons with the The relationship of the black parts of the interior and provided an Indians, who controlled the limited alternative to white domination, helps explain activity in the South. From the earliest days effect of maroon --- Page 97 --- From Rebellion to Revolution about black-Indian collaborathe whites expressed concern it. White fears rested on tion and took measures to prevent During the evidence of sympathy and mutual support. some centuries various Indian tribes seventeenth and eighteenth and provided ignored treaty obligations to return runaways infor them instead. During the nineteenth century refuge small sought and redividual runaway slaves and even groups from some Indian communities especially ceived protection in the southwestern slave states. black-Indian The classic policy of divide and rule poisoned Mutual sympathy among relations from the beginning. the Indians, and poor whites had taken root during blacks, during the seventeenth century, colonial period, especially enslavement and many for Indians as well as blacks suffered conditions of servants under whites worked as indentured those of the slaves. infor them instead. During the nineteenth century refuge small sought and redividual runaway slaves and even groups from some Indian communities especially ceived protection in the southwestern slave states. black-Indian The classic policy of divide and rule poisoned Mutual sympathy among relations from the beginning. the Indians, and poor whites had taken root during blacks, during the seventeenth century, colonial period, especially enslavement and many for Indians as well as blacks suffered conditions of servants under whites worked as indentured those of the slaves. From oppression that sometimes rivaled but this flowered into collaboration, time to time sympathy waned, the isolation of slavery and white indenture as Indian Virginia under the English and the blacks set in. In colonial battle Louisiana under the French, slaves went into against in European advance Indians who were fighting an ostensible the advance all along which in fact was an Afro-European lived in South Carolina the slaveholders frontier. In colonial constant dread of Afro-Indian collaboration. alliances Blacks and Indians did sometimes establish the whites; in general, however, they remained against divided in their interests and suspistrangers to each other, The whites never wholly cious of each other's strange ways. but they did sucsucceeded in overcoming their nightmares, the other. Indian troops ceed in playing the one against --- Page 98 --- Black Maroons in War and Peace rebellious slaves, and armed slaves helped helped to crush B. Nash writes in Red, Wbite, subdue the Indians. As Gary and Black: the harshest slave code of any of the colonies, By fashioning at critical moments, and by paying dearly for Indian support Carolinians were able to by militarizing their society, white The Cherorestrict the flow of blacks into the backcountry. Maroon never became the equivalent of the kee hill country the Brazilian quilombos as a refuge hideaways in Jamaica or feared. for runaway slaves as many Carolinians their freedom by fighting on the white Some slaves won of black troops side during Indian wars. The employment Indians faded during the late antebellum period against the the camon a large scale during postbellum only to reemerge black troops achieved paigns in the West. For better or worse, cammilitary record in the federal government's a splendid Indian nations. Thus, we find paigns to crush the last great depiction of the black troops as "black the Indians' grotesque Indians also suffered at the white men. *9 In antebellum times for of black slaves who acted as spies and translators hands in swindles and land expropriawhite speculators engaged in South Carolina and those tion. The Indians, especially helping to crush returned these compliments by Louisiana, down runaway slaves. Effecslave rebellions and by hunting each of Indians and blacks against tive white manipulation of stable mareduced for the organization other possibilities roon colonies. divided Indians from More than white manipulation different cultures, sometimes apblacks, for they represented whites, and to each other as to the peared almost as strange --- Page 99 --- From Rebellion to Revolution except when, as during the Seminole had little in common blunders of those who opWar, the excesses and tactical pressed them drove them together. and Seminole Wars, the most dramatic significant The cooperation against the whites, OCventures in black-Indian the United which until its annexation by curred in Florida, when under the Spanish, had States in 1819, and especially slaves. represented whites, and to each other as to the peared almost as strange --- Page 99 --- From Rebellion to Revolution except when, as during the Seminole had little in common blunders of those who opWar, the excesses and tactical pressed them drove them together. and Seminole Wars, the most dramatic significant The cooperation against the whites, OCventures in black-Indian the United which until its annexation by curred in Florida, when under the Spanish, had States in 1819, and especially slaves. The first provided a haven for runaway American of 1720known slave conspiracy in South Carolina-that by Spanish power by the possibilities presented was inspired built forts and across the border, and runaways to Florida and colonies during the 1730S. An agreement between Spain broke down the United States in 1791 to return runaways Florida in the American efforts to annex almost immediately. featured by unsavory first decade of the nineteenth century, traitors, resulted in part from a perplotting with Spanish sistent concern with the runaway problem. and for a brief Without the cooperation of the Spanish, authorities, the blacks could not easily period the English, but their main relihave established themselves in Florida, built fell the Seminole Indians. Black runaways ance upon the and ninesmall colonies of their own during eighteenth Indian centuries within the political framework of the teenth Seminoles did buy some black slaves in imitation nation. The worked their slaves as of white practice, but in effect chey insinuated share croppers. The blacks slowly dependent into Indian life. When themselves, along with the runaways, Indians and marines invaded Florida in 1812, American effort that foreshadowed the blacks repulsed them in a joint the American officers then as later regarded war to come. determined enemies they enblacks as the toughest and most --- Page 100 --- Black Maroons in War and Peace Wars, caused in no small part by countered. The Seminole blacks they reofthe Indians to surrender the unwillingness pitted blacks as well garded as part of their own community, free allies the whites, who had some Negro as Indians against assumed commanding positions in of their own. Some blacks that Seminole effort. They fought sO tenaciously the military characterized the war as the American authorities bluntly and their Indian primarily a struggle against black maroons allies. Seminole War (1835) cost the American miliThe Second as well as a stag1,600 lives, with many more wounded, tary million dollars. The United States had gering thirty to forty without the galling admiswon another of its wars, but not the Afroimpose its will on sion that it could not wholly make the major Indian alliance. The Americans had to the the blacks to move west with concession of allowing heroism the black struggle deSeminoles. In its scope and Surirank with that of the maroons of Jamaica or serves to make SO great an impact on nam, although it did not nearly the wider slave society. blacks and Seminoles had The magnificent unity of the notable of which was the black support precedents, the most Natchez in Louisiana in 1729. In for the great rising of the the of that event, the whites moved to placate the aftermath between them and their Indian alblacks and drive a wedge at scored some success, but, as the conspiracy lies. They anew in 1795, the threat of Pointe Coupee demonstrated as the cooperation remained acute SO long black-Indian French and Spanish held Louisiana. Seminoles had The magnificent unity of the notable of which was the black support precedents, the most Natchez in Louisiana in 1729. In for the great rising of the the of that event, the whites moved to placate the aftermath between them and their Indian alblacks and drive a wedge at scored some success, but, as the conspiracy lies. They anew in 1795, the threat of Pointe Coupee demonstrated as the cooperation remained acute SO long black-Indian French and Spanish held Louisiana. did of the blacks and Seminoles in any case The struggle South it have the electrifying impact on the plantation not --- Page 101 --- From Rebellion to Revolution for the hard blows delivered by the whites kept might have, the defensive. The American the blacks and Seminoles on appreciated the authorities and the southern slaveholders for the Florida colonies posed more magnitude of the threat, slaves. thrust and a beacon to escaping than a direct military deThe existence of autonomous black communities-the within the Seminole political gree of their cultural autonomy of an alternaremains unclear- created the danger structure and brute force tive black society. Time and circumstancedid however, permit the example to spread. not, included Indian slaveownership and Black-Indian contacts black slaves in considerable miscegenation. Indians held the 1820S and 1830S Indians ranked as numbers: During and subsequently some of Georgia's biggest slaveholders, chief, emerged Greenwood Leflore, the half-white Choctaw biggest planters with four hundred as one of Mississippi's Cherokee chief, owned about slaves. John Ross, the famous hundred slaves in 1860. By 1860 black slaves comprised one of the Indian Territory, al12.5 percent of the population Indians, notably the though most lived on small farms. Some as hard masters, but most enChickasaws, had a reputation whites and blacks for being generjoyed a reputation among in particular, often kind, and easy-going. The Creeks, ous, more suggestive of worked their slaves in arrangements them than slavery and sometimes adopted share-cropping Cherokees and some other Indians made into the tribe. The although an exposed geoalliances with the Confederacy, largely position and Byzantine factional politics graphical determined their decision. assertions of InThe narratives of ex-slaves contain many have reflected a wish to disdian ancestry. Some ofthese may --- Page 102 --- Black Maroons in War and Peace from African ancestry or to reduce its importance, but sociate hint of lack ofblack pride and appear matter of many gave no ofcontacts between fact. Other reports spoke more generally feature of life. For example, slaves and Indians as a normal said that enslaved in Alabama, George Fortman, an Indian Indians like himself presumed black slaves had been many with considerable kindness and and that the blacks responded travelers' accounts, made him comfortable. Court records, misand other sources make clear that, in fact, black-Indian and that every community had cegnation occurred frequently some slaves with Indian ancestry. of blacks and InThese changing cultural relationships Indian political repercussions. Some dians had profound transformed by the entrance of communities became utterly communities numbers of blacks, but, typically, the large into their own culture absorbed black slaves and runaways runMales predominated among and social organization. usually followed as a aways, and marriage to Indian women Indian tribes of course. Among the Creeks and other matter of matrilineal descent, absorpthat adhered to the principle into Indian culture proceeded the more rapidly, tion ofblacks tribal influence. cultural relationships Indian political repercussions. Some dians had profound transformed by the entrance of communities became utterly communities numbers of blacks, but, typically, the large into their own culture absorbed black slaves and runaways runMales predominated among and social organization. usually followed as a aways, and marriage to Indian women Indian tribes of course. Among the Creeks and other matter of matrilineal descent, absorpthat adhered to the principle into Indian culture proceeded the more rapidly, tion ofblacks tribal influence. and they rose to positions of considerable white Indian slaveholders usually were part Since the larger communities' most determined and these acted as the Indian white norms, of acculturation and assimilation to agents develop Afro-American cultural their slaves could not easily patterns of their own. Indian communities In short, whether the blacks entered Afromen, they could not reconstruct an as slaves or free Indo-African one. No doubt American world or construct an something to Indian culture and transmitted they imparted --- Page 103 --- From Rebellion to Revolution but for the features ofIndian culture to Afro-America, some either became Indians, in essential cultural most part they to rapidly acculrespects, or stood in the same relationship did to semi-white Indian slaveholders that they turating, Indian refuge for runaway slaves provided white slaveholders. for the flowering of an Afro-American little or no opportunity therefore, have slavery and might, alternative to plantation black maroon activity. reduced the chances for large-scale of maroon activity 1 - Palmares, the JamaiThe great centers and Cuba, Surinam can mountains, eastern Saint-Domingue hostile as to throw the -either had few Indians or Indians SO blacks entirely on their own resources. but, as dimension deserves closer study, The geographic the terrain of the Old South put Bennett Wall has observed, would-be maroons, or at unusual difficulties in the way of of those who aspired to form large-scale maroon comleast did exist, and sO did many fastnesses munities. Great swamps to Louisiana. Inwithin 150 miles of the coast from Virginia black outlaws housed bands of white and deed, those regions favorable terrain, however, was long after the war. The most could lose where individuals and small groups in Florida, continues, we do find evidence themselves. And as research with the of more and more small maroon groups. But, again limisolation and exception of Florida, the very geographic drastically reduced both the possiited means of subsistence a North bilities for large-scale maroon concentrations-for Palmares- and for decisive military-political American slave society. The question conintervention in the greater of less the existence of marronage-it did exist-than cerns that could affect the politics of the slave marronage on a scale especially the politics inherent in any encouragement society, --- Page 104 --- Black Maroons in War and Peace to that in Brazil, to slave revolt, in a manner comparable Surinam, or even Colombia or Venezuela. Jamaica, of the Old South did not, in any case, always The slaves with favor and look upon their own local runaway groups often sometimes helped to suppress them. The runaways, 99 typically huddled in small units and may called "outlyers, They occupied unbe called maroons" only as a courtesy. had terrain with only minimum security and rarely favorable life. Conseto forge a viable community an opportunity into wild desperadoes who quently, many degenerated in their path. A slave black, white, or red, preyed on anyone, could always tell a swamp runaway by told Olmsted that you emaciated, He would likely be frightened, his appearance: slave standards. and indecently clothed even by of Other slaves and ex-slaves left an unattractive picture thieves, and murderers who plagued the quarters parasites, Blanks and Green Cumby as readily as the Big House. seto forge a viable community an opportunity into wild desperadoes who quently, many degenerated in their path. A slave black, white, or red, preyed on anyone, could always tell a swamp runaway by told Olmsted that you emaciated, He would likely be frightened, his appearance: slave standards. and indecently clothed even by of Other slaves and ex-slaves left an unattractive picture thieves, and murderers who plagued the quarters parasites, Blanks and Green Cumby as readily as the Big House. Julia described local swamp runaways as mean, frightenof Texas the slaves into supplying them ing, wild men who terrorized said Mrs. Blanks, "if with food. "And if you didn't do it," to they sure would fix you. According they ever got you The New Man, slaves often refused H. C. Bruce, in his book ofsolidarrunaways not because of a sense to betray organized Such reports from but because of fear of ghastly reprisals. ity understandable the claims in white black sources make from that slaves often caught or reported runaways, sources depredations. In 1857, for whom they often suffered heavy recorded in her diary: example, Eliza Magruder ofMississippi from Claiborne rode in the yard and went in Two runaways Afterwards went into the kitchen and cooked and ate supper. --- Page 105 --- From Rebellion to Revolution house and made up and baked biscuit. Made up a Fred's off when the bread was done. Then went to bundle to carry taken by the servants and carried bed to wait for it. He was they have been the and put in the stocks. It seems to Hospital through the neighborhood. commicting depredations other cases the slaves helped groups of runaways In many Some planters complained and identified with their plight. extended to these bitterly about the support that the slaves them on the plantations. Ifthe runaways groups, even hiding had friends, they in the immediate area and had originated Ifnot, they might gain support by could readily expect help. by avoiding rather than stealing from the slaves, soliciting of and by appealing to the slaves' sympathy. acts terror, displayed many ofthe SOToo often, however, the maroons feadestructive and only some of the socially positive cially Rural outlaws, hunted as crimitures ofbanditry in general. society as nals by the regime, may remain within peasant do and avengers. Romance aside, they heroes, champions, the rich but ofren will not often prey on the poor as well as neighborhoods. on the poor of their own immediate prey understand the extent to which they must Normally, they and affection of their own people in rely on the sympathy and, above all, silence. But order to procure supplies, shelter, their own hands they since these bandits take their fate into avoid a certain contempt for the passive masses. cannot easily or slave uprising but They can spring to support a peasant exude much concern during more placid do not necessarily times. into desperadoes who The degeneration of some runaways black and white alike illuminates one of the many preyed on Clovis anomalies inherent in the southern maroon experience. --- Page 106 --- Black Maroons in War and Peace Moura, in his valuable book Rebelioes da good analysis of the military senzala, provides a lombolos, price paid by the Brazilian quiespecially those ofl Palmares, for their socioeconomic consolidation. As the quilombolos succeeded production-in in organizing cultivating the land to sustain a munity-they generally lost much of their large comity, for they had to give military flexibildefend their up hit-and-run tactics in order to families, homes, and livelihood. Thus, while increasing numbers made possible sturdier defense frontal assault, they also against compelled direct such assault. engagement with Without a mass population of into, in the manner of classical peasants to melt reduced guerrilla warfare, the to two: hit-and-run attacks from choices could not feed themselves and small bases that periodically ous forward movements; required dangerdefense of or commitment to the redoubts. flexibildefend their up hit-and-run tactics in order to families, homes, and livelihood. Thus, while increasing numbers made possible sturdier defense frontal assault, they also against compelled direct such assault. engagement with Without a mass population of into, in the manner of classical peasants to melt reduced guerrilla warfare, the to two: hit-and-run attacks from choices could not feed themselves and small bases that periodically ous forward movements; required dangerdefense of or commitment to the redoubts. The first tactic worked well for stand-up groups. The second became small while indispensable for large quilombos making them vulnerable to the superior their enemies. In Florida the second firepower of tactic ended in although not total defeat. defeat, mended itself under Elsewhere, the second tactic comgenerally unfavorable conditions. with difficulty, ifat all, could Only parasitical groups of runaways avoid that existence which must eventually alienate from their rebels potential mass base. The maroons of the Caribbean and South played both America also distendencies, but those of the United SO under circumstances that States did creased the weakened the positive and innegative features of their slaves. The maroons ofthe United relationship to the protective role assumed States rarely could play the by those of Palmares, Surinam. Where the police Jamaica, or power of the regime faltered or, --- Page 107 --- From Rebellion to Revolution the maroons spread their power what came to the same thing, dominated by the slaveover a geographical area ostensibly slaves had some proholders, even the blacks who remained In the United tection against the excesses of their masters. remained overwhelming, and the maStates the police power without found themselves constantly on the defensive, roons offer the slaves as quid pro quo for information, supmuch to Since the slaves often tended to identify and silence. plies, community - -an idenwith blacks from their own plantation marebel leaders struggled to overcome- -even tification them could seem dangerous roons who avoided plundering interlopers. invaluable contributions to the Yet, the maroons made for struggles for a better life in slavery and especially slaves' Even H. C. Bruce, the ex-slave who escape from slavery. terrorism against the quarters, wrote SO harshly of maroon and that those who deserted the plantations acknowledged masters to treat their slaves bettook to the woods compelled of and laif from fear of even heavier losses capital ter, only provided a constant reminder bor. Less tangibly, the maroons armed resistance to the that slaves could flee and even offer failed class. Whatever their limitations, the maroons master in the abstract sense of being too few to the slaves primarily rebellion SO much in evidence provide the kind of spark to elsewhere in the hemisphere. the maroons in favorable conditions faced by The more suggest the Brazil, Jamaica, Surinam, or Saint-Domingue Old South. R. C. difficulties faced by those of the special much when he closed his history of the JamaiDallas told us that free white farmers be can Maroon War by recommending their own settled in the interior. "Let them depend upon --- Page 108 --- Black Maroons in War and Peace of be he wrote, "and let their employment negroes labour, object of the scheme is, in the very limited. : . . The great interior trained to arms; white in the first, a large population of roads. 91 Reviewing the genand in the next, the opening in Primitive eral history of social banditry, Eric Hobsbawm, of good and fast modern Rebels, adds that the construction The slave states met roads alone often undermines banditry. White farmduring the nineteenth century. these challenges constituted a majority of the populaers, armed and stable, South's hills and back country. tion and infested most of the frontier moved west, the terrain favorable to maroons As the then, shrank steadily. The military question, and guerrillas terrain but the human beings inhabitconcerned not merely and instrucit. John Brown, who had taken inspiration ing maroons, missed the tion from the experience ofthe, Jamaican guerrilla point to his cost when he envisioned impregnable Mountains. during the nineteenth century. these challenges constituted a majority of the populaers, armed and stable, South's hills and back country. tion and infested most of the frontier moved west, the terrain favorable to maroons As the then, shrank steadily. The military question, and guerrillas terrain but the human beings inhabitconcerned not merely and instrucit. John Brown, who had taken inspiration ing maroons, missed the tion from the experience ofthe, Jamaican guerrilla point to his cost when he envisioned impregnable Mountains. Long before Harpers Ferry bases in the Allegheny of dissident to secure these bases with the support he planned whose racism he seems to have unpoor mountain whites, and politics he certainly derestimated and whose ideology misjudged. of the United States wrote heroic pages and The maroons the black struggle against slavmade a vital contribution to had to remain but under the circumstances their impact ery, those Indian settlements that provided refuge modest. Even them absorbed them in such a way as to separate for blacks By the end of from the slaves culturally as well as physically. the danger that large-scale maroon the eighteenth century slave revolts had passed, alactivity would trigger significant white fears ever did. though neither maroon activity itself nor --- Page 109 --- THREE The Turning Point Until Afro-American slave revolts and maroon movements merged with the trans-Atlantic bourgeois-democratic revolutions ofthe late eighteenth century, they looked toward the restoration of as much of a traditional African way of life as could be remembered and copied. More accurately, they looked toward the consolidation of a circumscribed AfroAmerican world that remained "traditional" in its minimum engagement with the politics, economy, and ideology of the emerging bourgeois world. They resembled in this respect the slave revolts of the ancient world and the many peasant revolts of medieval and early modern Europe, which also struggled for some kind of perceived restoration and lacked the material base and concomitant ideology for the projection of a new and economically more advanced society. Since in the strictly historical sense all such movements assumed the form of restorationist rebellions, they assumed the superficial aspect of "reactionary" impediments to the development of the productive forces. Many social movements that arose by counterposing a 'reactionary" outlook to the tendency of capital to destroy traditional lower-class life in the name of economic progress learned in the course of struggle to formulate demands which foreshadowed new SOcial relations. Conversely, the most revolutionary move82 --- Page 110 --- The Turning Point have had to come to terms with older ments against capital values in order to secure a mass base. made vital contriFrom the beginning, these movements world, for every ofthe modern butions to the democratization encrusted in backwardpopular revolt, no matter how much and objectively dangerous to the developlooking ideology forces of society, has helped to estabment ofthe productive their oppressors and lish the claims of the people against historithose who would use them as pawns even in a against In the unfolding of the blacks' comcally progressive cause. revolts-to the extent to which plex struggle, the early slave vision-deremained imprisoned in the early maroon they contradictory but tragic. veloped in a way not merely centuThe slave revolts of the sixteenth and seventeenth the world during an epoch of revolutionary ries burst upon Slavery arose in the New change in the mode ofp production. world World in response to the demands of an emerging Europe. Even such funmarket commanded from northwest and Portuseigneurial regimes as those of Spain damentally and built plantation economies in gal expanded westward and strains of the rise of capitalresponse to the ramifications century Especially during the seventeenth ism in Europe. ictory but tragic. veloped in a way not merely centuThe slave revolts of the sixteenth and seventeenth the world during an epoch of revolutionary ries burst upon Slavery arose in the New change in the mode ofp production. world World in response to the demands of an emerging Europe. Even such funmarket commanded from northwest and Portuseigneurial regimes as those of Spain damentally and built plantation economies in gal expanded westward and strains of the rise of capitalresponse to the ramifications century Especially during the seventeenth ism in Europe. militarily, politically, and they increasingly had to compete of Eneconomically with the emergent bourgeois powers Netherlands. A general crisis of European gland and the disruptions in the seigneurial society, accompanied by major marked the seventeenth century as an commercial economy, transformation. turmoil and profound era of international Eurotouched by the force ofa self-contradictory Everything expansion felt the shock. pean removed from the revolt ofthe comuneros or the However far --- Page 111 --- From Rebellion to Revolution the struggles in England germania in Spain or revolutionary manifestations and Holland, not to mention the less dramatic slavery and black resistance to it conof the European crisis, The brutal stituted part of a single historical movement. drove thousands of slaves to flee the sugar treatment that ofthe interior had its origin, plantations for the acute dangers in the in in the pressures to raise the rate ofexploitation part, economic demands within a developing face of stiffening world market. And however traditional or backward-looking Palmarinos, every blow they struck at the the world of the alteration in Dutch and the Portuguese forced some slight Whether they knew or the course of European capitalism. and of the whole hemicared, the rebellious blacks of Brazil had become actors on a world historical stage. sphere and maroons shared their restoThe early slave insurgents artisan movements rationist focus with great peasant and had a throughout history. Not all early popular movements character but SO many did as to suggest its restorationist who confronted the early manidominance among Europeans those Asians, Afrifestations of a money economy and among manifesand Latin Americans who confronted the later cans, Peasants, artisans, and even sections of tations ofcolonialism. raised the banner of traditional ruling classes periodically of their restoration in an effort to combat the dissolution communities and ways of life and to repeal the new exactions inherent in the advance of social relationand expropriations rather than on familiar patterns ships based on the cash nexus duties and responsibilities. The common people of reciprocal unusual when they rose against the of Agen did nothing under the slogan, king's tax collectors (gabeleurs) in 1635 Kill the gabeleurs! Long live the King "Death to the gabeleurs! --- Page 112 --- The Turning Point in Tsar and People, without gabelles!" Michael Cherniavsky, in Russia from writes ofthe great peasant and Cossack risings those of the Time of Troubles in the sixteenth century of Stenka Razin in the seventeenth to that of through that Pugachev in the eighteenth, and beyond: rebellions during the interregnum of Nearly all the peasant advanced under the banner of the the Time of the Troubles pretenders Tsar, utilizing for that purpose the most unlikely The masses were not rebelling against to the throne. . such a conception was the tsar; if Pugachev is any example, behind their own Orthounimaginable. They were marching dox popular Tsar. The restorationist vision gave way in Saint-Domingue, the slaves of the New World wrote their most glorious where industry that had chapter in the midst of a booming sugar world's richest colony. The slaves, in an uneasy created the minority of propertied and inconsistent alliance with a large defeated the Spanish, inflicted a defeat ofunprecemulattoes, the British, and then made their coundented proportions on army as well as the graveyard of Napoleon's magnificent try ambitions in the New World. They were marching dox popular Tsar. The restorationist vision gave way in Saint-Domingue, the slaves of the New World wrote their most glorious where industry that had chapter in the midst of a booming sugar world's richest colony. The slaves, in an uneasy created the minority of propertied and inconsistent alliance with a large defeated the Spanish, inflicted a defeat ofunprecemulattoes, the British, and then made their coundented proportions on army as well as the graveyard of Napoleon's magnificent try ambitions in the New World. In the end, the of his imperial Americas had their first black national state. R. revolution, which C. L. The story of that magnificent need has recounted with literary and analytic power, James in its bare outlines. The colony had half here concern us only driven in the midst of an extraordia million slaves, brutally class of slaveholders economic boom presided over by a nary absentees, wished they were. Ofthese slaves, who, when not two-thirds had come from Africa. at least half and probably with CaVodûn, although it later merged Their religion, African origins durtholicism, remained close to its eclectic --- Page 113 --- From Rebellion to Revolution and became a creed of opposition to the ing the slave period Macendal, who has white regime and its official religion. early been described as a Muslim, led the most important led the and Boukman, a Vodûn priest, resistance movement, itself. rising that sparked the great revolution revolution Many of the leaders who emerged during the slave strata. Toussaint had risen to came from the privileged read and write, although the position of foreman and could hotel waiter and Christophe had worked as a not well. Henry Those who led the mulatto had had some military experience. men of in the south were cultured and sophisticated rising all. The early leaders ofthe black revoproperty, not slaves at and Biassou, had establution in the north, Jean-François in the military campaigns on the Spanish lished careers had behind them knowledge of border. The revolutionaries of the island. maroon warfare in the eastern part protracted asunder. The planters and Finally, the ruling class split each other and together conspired to keep petits blancs fought slaveholders, in racial subthe mulattoes, many of them rich resisted the ordination. The white and mulatto colonials which milked them in the slave French bourgeoisie and state, trade and trade as well as in an imposed system of unequal and power crumbled after 1789, tariffs. The metropolitan the winning side and to use the colonials scampered to choose The arrival against each other. events in France to advantage fraternité French troops, with liberté, égalité, of revolutionary slaveholders' cause. And then on their lips, hardly helped the and bid for black and muthe white powers fell on each other played Toussaint and his generals brilliantly latto support. the other and, in the end, one ruling-class group against --- Page 114 --- The Turning Point themselves masters of all. In short, Saint-Domingue made of ideal preconditions for slave witnessed the conjuncture revolt. marked the turning point in the hisThe great revolution World. The people of Sainttory of slave revolts in the New British, and successively humiliated the Spanish, Domingue ofthe heaviest losses those supreme French and inflicted some could suffered. Neither Pitt nor Napoleon imperialists ever that later passed have taken much solace from the propaganda and disaccording to which the tropical climate for history, their armies. Nor could ease, not black heroism, destroyed winter a and later Hitler have found the Russian Napoleon than the Russian people. The legmore palatable conqueror all. people of Sainttory of slave revolts in the New British, and successively humiliated the Spanish, Domingue ofthe heaviest losses those supreme French and inflicted some could suffered. Neither Pitt nor Napoleon imperialists ever that later passed have taken much solace from the propaganda and disaccording to which the tropical climate for history, their armies. Nor could ease, not black heroism, destroyed winter a and later Hitler have found the Russian Napoleon than the Russian people. The legmore palatable conqueror all. Herr Goebbels insisted ends, nonetheless, die hard if at Russian winter accounted for the Nazi to the end that the notwithdefeat in Russia. Some historians continue to agree, battle of Kurskstanding such minor details as the great hisNazi Waterloo,' 79 as it is accurately called by Soviet "the claimed a half million German casualties. torians-which the summer of1943 in part beStalin chose to attack during his could do he wanted the world to know that army cause without the snow and cold. might in fact The revolutionary army in Saint-Domingue fever to the heavier French firepower, yellow have succumbed indomitable mass if it had not been supported by an or no, defeats into victories. As the French movement that turned burned San advanced, writes C. L. R. James, the "people that at the end of the war it was a charred Domingo flat SO remarks in The desert. 19 And as David Brion Davis pointedly Problem ofSlavery in the Age of Revolution: --- Page 115 --- From Rebellion to Revolution independence, like that of the United No doubt Haitian republics, depended upon a States and the Latin American had But if the black population variety of circumstances. fever epidemic would have been easily subdued, the yellow knew that the fever would made little difference. Both sides the blacks used the come, like the tropical rains, but only knowledge to their own advantage. meant much more than a major black Haiti's emergence creation ofa black state. Both had victory over whites and the Surinam, and even precedents. The maroons of Jamaica, whites and among others, had defeated the Saint-Domingue, ifnot quite "states" large, autonomous black communitiesof several had arisen in Palmares and the back country significance rested on more than the countries. Haiti's special and its emermagnitude ofits revolution, its victory, greater British, French, Dutch, Spanish, gent territorial state. Ifthe with large maroon coland Portuguese could come to terms should to crush slave revolts, why onies and use them help in the middle they tremble SO at an oversized maroon colony of the Caribbean? of genius, did not The revolution under Toussaint, a leader lost African world or build an isolated aspire to restore some whatever its cultural merit, Afro-American enclave that, role in world affairs and could have played no autonomous another would have had to become a protectorate of one or Toussaint, and after his death Dessalines European power. tried to forge a modern black state, and Henry Christophe, sector oriented to based on an economy with a vital export The ultimate failure of their basically the world market. of history's most grimly Jacobin program ushered in one Pétion's and Boyer's political ironical counterrevolutions. --- Page 116 --- The Turning Point relaxation and land reform replaced dictatorship and Henry Christophe's iron maintenance of the sugar plantations under rigorous work discipline. Haiti slowly Mintz's words, "The Caribbean became, in Sidney area's most peasant country. and Henry Christophe, sector oriented to based on an economy with a vital export The ultimate failure of their basically the world market. of history's most grimly Jacobin program ushered in one Pétion's and Boyer's political ironical counterrevolutions. --- Page 116 --- The Turning Point relaxation and land reform replaced dictatorship and Henry Christophe's iron maintenance of the sugar plantations under rigorous work discipline. Haiti slowly Mintz's words, "The Caribbean became, in Sidney area's most peasant country. $ thoroughgoing Mintz writes in Caribbean lutionary Haitian Transformations of the postrevosiderable peasantry: "The land is invested with conaffect: gods live in it; it is the ultimate against privation; family members are buried in security wealth come from it; and it is it; food and vated. Mintz good in itself, even ifnot cultiremarks on the slave-bred land adds that the peasants remain devoted hunger and "uneconomical." >> to the land even when And, he notes, the peasants absorbed French revolutionary tradition of the with the disastrous effect ofc agrarian egalitarianism ing fdecreasing plot sizes and increaspoverty. Thus, Haiti slipped into a system of ship and self sufficiencypeasant proprietorpoverty and wretchedness wonderful euphemisms for the of --and the dream of a modern bourgeois-egalitarian black swindles tragic hunger ofan ex-slave state drowned in the a chance to live in old population for a piece of land and Haitian ways or ways perceived as old. The peasants, like the French, turned toward ized authoritarian state a centralindependent to protect their hard-won claims to have proprietorship. But the Haitian state did not to tread easy in the face of a powerful and bourgeoisie; much less did it have to dangerous matic support the aspirations of that bourgeoisie- e-to programFrench state did even if advance, as the development. reluctantly, the cause of capitalist The counterrevolution of peasant property in Haiti came --- Page 117 --- From Rebellion to Revolution could not undo the later and, like most counterrevolutions, revolution proessentials. For a decade and more the Haitian new to Afro-America, as the American claimed something Euro-America. More accurateand French revolutions had to that spoke to the ly, these revolutions formed a single process The world and signaled the beginning of a new era. whole that reshaped French Revolution, especially the Jacobinism and of history despite the defeat of Robespierre the course differently had the colonial Saint-Just, would have developed posed with special urgency in Saint-Domingue, question, Haitian Revolution, in contradistincnot intervened. The would have been unthinktion to one more rising of slaves, The blacks of Saintable without the French Revolution. of Paris to teach Domingue did not need the white Jacobins did for freedom, and the white Jacobins ofParis them to fight from the blacks of Saintnot learn the demand for equality in ideology that emerged Domingue. But the revolutionary It Africanwas fed from both sides of the Atlantic. the 1790S send the colonialist Girondized France in ways that helped Saint-Domingue ists to a well deserved fate; it Europeanized black state. toward the rise of a modern in ways that pointed counterBut this process went only SO far. The Napoleonic restored slavery in the remaining French colonies, revolution completed Haiti's isolaand the Pétioniste counterrevolution revolt had become a tion. For the first time, however, a slave historical national revolution and a vital part of the great remade the entire world. process that irrevocably manifested politically in the The rise of the world market, nafor world power among the stronger European struggle undermined the restorationist threat of peastions, decisively --- Page 118 --- The Turning Point for it brought to a close the posant and slave movements, isolation. remaining French colonies, revolution completed Haiti's isolaand the Pétioniste counterrevolution revolt had become a tion. For the first time, however, a slave historical national revolution and a vital part of the great remade the entire world. process that irrevocably manifested politically in the The rise of the world market, nafor world power among the stronger European struggle undermined the restorationist threat of peastions, decisively --- Page 118 --- The Turning Point for it brought to a close the posant and slave movements, isolation. No matter how sibility of political and cultural might and autarchy a maroon community much autonomy isolate itself wholly or avoid playing a achieve, it could not modern world. Ifit came to political role in the shaping ofthe role then its might terms with the regime, as in Jamaica, features, but not without an oppohave brutally reactionary existence as a free black ensite feature guaranteed by its very Ifit continued to wage war, clave amidst a slave population. of the enslaved then it gave direct assistance to the struggle the most barbarous forms of Fexpioitalaboring classes against world market. Thus, even tion ushered in by the developing contributed somethe more extreme restoration impulses classes against thing to the emergent struggle of the laboring and oppression of capital. the exploitation revolts aspired to a restoration, howSo long as the slave although never their contribution to world politics, ever, secondary, at the level of effects derived trivial, remained of a defensive movement. from the objective working-out a lost insurgent slaves either had to restore Successfully could, or push into the world world, Or as much ofit as they slave essentially bourgeois social relations. Every of modern, for itself the task of self-liquidation class in insurrection set whole through the -ifnot for the liquidation ofthe class as a of abolition of slavery, then at least for the liquidation total meant the segment. The path nofrestoration its own particular social relaestablishment of essentially primicive-communal of power capable tions, which could never generate political autonomy in a world of technologically sustaining genuine communities sank advanced nation-states. The great maroon --- Page 119 --- From Rebellion to Revolution to their old enemies or reinto the category of protectorates outside bases vainly struggling to survive mained guerrilla the mainstream ofhistory. radical alternative of a Toussaint's vision provided the relations. nation with embryonic modern social modern of revolution called for the "Europeanization" Toussaint's that it sought to compel the Saint-Domingue in the same way revolution to come to terms with the aspirations European It did not seek to turn the blacks of of the colonial peoples. but to lead them toward a Saint-Domingue into Europeans the technology had revolutionized recognition that European in the creation of world and forced all peoples to participate variegated and increasingly a world culture at once nationally of the New World uniform. From that moment, the slaves freedom that had before them the possibility of a struggle for hisin the mainstream of world pointed toward participation tory rather than away from it. revolution of the The international bourgeois-democtatic in America and last quarter of the eighteench century opened throughout crested in France. But it had a profound impact imand, in its Haitian manifestation, had an the Americas transcended the political and pact on Afro-America that for justice. It helped ideological shaping ofthe black struggle forcible intervention in world poliprepare Afro-America's the feet of the gods of Power may tics. Those who worship at sole movers ofhistory, but the great personalsee elites as the deserve the respect they ities of those elites, who sometimes learned from of superstition, have generally get as a matter of subjects sooner or galling experience that the most abject moaned later claim their price. "I have to reproach myself," "with Bonaparte when it was too late, the fallen Napoleon --- Page 120 --- The Turning Point made upon the colony during my consulship. the attempt it by force was a great error. I ought The design of reducing the medium have been satisfied with governing it through to of Toussaint. respect they ities of those elites, who sometimes learned from of superstition, have generally get as a matter of subjects sooner or galling experience that the most abject moaned later claim their price. "I have to reproach myself," "with Bonaparte when it was too late, the fallen Napoleon --- Page 120 --- The Turning Point made upon the colony during my consulship. the attempt it by force was a great error. I ought The design of reducing the medium have been satisfied with governing it through to of Toussaint. 99 planters of South The mighty Napoleon and the proud awakening: "The role which the great Carolina had a rough played in the history of Negro Toussaint, called L'Ouverture, almost United States, 91 W. E. B. Du Bois wrote eighty the be written even now despite C. L. R. years ago, as might Develbook, "has seldom been appreciated." James's great opened by Henry Adams, he argued oping a line of thought enormously strengththat the revolution in Saint-Domingue and prepared the ened the antislavery movement in England in America; that it ended Napoleon's way for its flowering and led him to the sale ofLouidream ofan American empire United States; and that it which doubled the size of the siana, decisively, the decision of the southern influenced, perhaps slave trade. In these as in SO many states to close the African words Raul Castro used for other ways, Haiti became, in the revolution. a small country with a big Cuba in our own day, revolutions shattered The interlocking French and Haitian such as it was, of the slaveholding regions the tranquillity, and generated rational fear everywhere in the hemisphere the slaves and free the slaveholders. They stirred among under a modern ideology that posed a Negroes to rebellion the old regimes than anynew and more dangerous threat to declined after the encountered. That threat thing previously with France and Nacollapse of Toussaint's rapprochement During the to re-enslave the island. poleon's brutal attempt revolutionaries of Paris however, the interest of the 1790S, power of England and in breaking the counterrevolutionary --- Page 121 --- From Rebellion to Revolution resulted in mention of their own Girondists, Spain, not to blacks, to encourefforts, often carried by French-speaking revolts and movements for national liberation. age slave in France had given way Even when the counterrevolution when the of Bourbon Restoration and promise to a moribund the ideas of the revolutionary Haitian revolution had faded, cenhaunted the slave regimes. During the nineteenth epoch ideologies oft the early slave tury the traditional-reasorationise ideolrevolts gave way before a new bourgeois-democratic slave revolts a new qualogy, which imparted to subsequent spread all ity and power. Refugees from Saint-Domingue America, and the northern coast ofSouth over the Caribbean, their slaves with them. South Carolina and Louisiana, taking revolutionThose slaves had seen and heard much during the of and everywhere they became carriers ary conflagration, slaveholders of Trinidad had dealt with new doctrines. The had to deal with those recalcitrant slaves before, but now they which the Tricolor and singing the Marseillaise, wearing content. however French in form carried an internationalist In neither was nor was perceived to be trivial. The difference slave revolt at Coro in 1795 and Venezuela, during the big to be in during the revolt of 1798, the rebels, reported again French and Italian sailors, protouch with revolutionary liberty for the claimed "the law of the French, the Republic, social As and injustices. slaves, and an end to economic for national South America moved into a struggle Spanish democratic ideas, during the independence, influenced by slaves and free Negroes fought in large Napoleonic Wars, offered freenumbers on both sides. o in 1795 and Venezuela, during the big to be in during the revolt of 1798, the rebels, reported again French and Italian sailors, protouch with revolutionary liberty for the claimed "the law of the French, the Republic, social As and injustices. slaves, and an end to economic for national South America moved into a struggle Spanish democratic ideas, during the independence, influenced by slaves and free Negroes fought in large Napoleonic Wars, offered freenumbers on both sides. Initially, the royalists who volunteered to fight, but the return to dom to slaves --- Page 122 --- The Turning Point Ferdinand VII undermined the polpower of the reactionary chance to make the issue their icy and gave the patriots the assured the patriot black participation own. Increasingly, of slavery on borrowed armies victory and put the institution second half of the time. As would happen in Cuba during the benineteenth century, a vast war for national independence of the slaves. came the principal spur to emancipation intersection of American expansion into Louisiana The African slave trade decisively shaped with the closing of the which history of the slaveholders' regime, the subsequent its slave force to meet faced the formidable task ofexpanding demand of the new regions of the Southwest. the imminent that Dr. Du Bois saw propelled by Thus, the train of events extended much further the revolution in Saint-Domingue of the material conand compelled the general amelioration liberate the slaves ditions of slave life. Toussaint could not but he did contribute to their living in a more of the South, their own cultural humane framework with room to develop resources. in 1800 and Denmark Vesey in 1822 conGabriel Prosser and support, and as sciously looked to Haiti for inspiration slaves in South Carolina were interpreting news late as 1840 liberation. This is not from Haiti as a harbinger of their own necessarily that Gabriel Prosser or Denmark Vesey to say however they valued the revolution in Saint-Domingue, valued the its specifics, more highly than they interpreted just do not know. Rather, for American Revolution-we self-liberation of slaves of Saint-Domingue reprethem, the of those ideals of the American sented the full realization and indeed appealed to. In Revolution which they respected --- Page 123 --- From Rebellion to Revolution Rutledge of South Carolina told Con1800, Representative French that the slaves already had felt "this new-fangled gress 99 And in the aftermath of philosophy of liberty and equality. described the blacks Edwin Clifford Holland the Vesey plot, as "Jacobins": that our Negroes are freely the Let it never be forgotten the Anarchists and the Jacobins of the country; that they are and the the common enemy of civilized society, Domestic Enemy: could, become tbe destroyers of our barbarians who would if tbey race. however, quick to exaggerate, had not The slaveholders, understood the potential of what they become paranoid; they ofHaiti reverto the example and inspiration saw. References America. The impact on David Walker berated across black Haiti, William be readily seen from his great Appeal. may of free Negroes in Baltimore in Watkins told a meeting that the "an irrefutable argument to prove 1825, provides by their creator to descendants of Africa were never designed in the chain ofbesustain an inferiority, or even a mediocrity celebrations 11 And the slaveholders were not amused by ing.' such as that staged in 1859 by free of Haitian independence Missouri-a slave state. Jefferson Negro masons in St. Louis, consider- "The West Indies appears to have given had noted, in the United able impulse to the minds of the slaves : a revo9 States. The revolution in Saint-Domingue propelled consciousness throughout the New World. lution in black to which the revolution in Saint-Domingue The extent southern slaves remains a matter fired the imagination of the attention. of conjecture, but some telling signs command slaves in Notably, in the middle ofthe nineteenth century the --- Page 124 --- The Turning Point songs first heard Louisiana were heard singing revolutionary Nor in the early days of the revolution in Saint-Domingue. United able impulse to the minds of the slaves : a revo9 States. The revolution in Saint-Domingue propelled consciousness throughout the New World. lution in black to which the revolution in Saint-Domingue The extent southern slaves remains a matter fired the imagination of the attention. of conjecture, but some telling signs command slaves in Notably, in the middle ofthe nineteenth century the --- Page 124 --- The Turning Point songs first heard Louisiana were heard singing revolutionary Nor in the early days of the revolution in Saint-Domingue. black abolitionists be slighted. should Haiti's impact on the 1840the nineteenth century, especially during During established contact with Haiti, as 1860, many black leaders took heart from the revowell as with Africa, and many more these developexperience there. The links between lutionary railroad and the subsequent ments and the underground freedmen need further work of northern blacks among the demonbut the discernible overlapping of personnel study, of those links. L'Union, a bilingual strates the existence in New Orleans, chose published by free Negroes newspaper invoked to call for black-colored unity carefully the images Proclamation: in response to the Emancipation The hour strikes for us; a new sun, similar to that Brothers! on our horizon. May the cry of 1789, should surely appear the seizure ofthe Bastille which resounded through France at all be imbued with resonate today in our ears. : . Let us sentiments which characterize all civilized peothese noble let us fll the sweet accord with our brothers, ple. : . - In cries: "vive la liberté! vive l'union! vive air with these joyous la justice pour tous les hommes!" AmerThe Haitians who directly Or indirectly encouraged slavery paid off an old debt. After ican blacks to rebel against 3,600 owed America much. Of Count d'Estaing's all, they were blacks. To be French troops at Savannah in 1779, 545 menials. But primarily as servants and sure, they participated brains and could judge events for they had eyes, ears, and themselves. One of them was Henry Christophe. toward a bourgeois-demoThe shift from a restorationist in the ethnic reflected deepening changes cratic ideology --- Page 125 --- From Rebellion to Revolution character of the slave revolts. African-born slaves, especially and creole slaves constituted the those recently imported, but the Africans often orgatwo great groups everywhere, based on their ethnized themselves into competing groups regarded Both slaveholders and abolitionists nic origins. and revolt-prone than the Africans as much more dangerous as who developed a not entirely fair reputation the creoles, accommodationists. when creole slaves introBefore the nineteenth century, the of new and fateful political content into history duced a and executed the vast slave revolts, the Africans organized From such of revolts and certainly the major ones. majority that of the Wolofs on Hispaniola in 1522 to early risings as in 1733, to the the war in Palmares, to the rising on St. John series risings ofthe eighteenth century, to the great Jamaican the first four decades ofthe ofrevolts that shook Bahia during Africans predominated everywhere. nineteenth century, the warlike character of The usual explanation falls on and their difficulty in adjusting to life many African peoples inherent in the creas slaves and to the accommodacionism been born into slavery and having no personal oles' having does the creoles experience with freedom. This explanation Since the slave trade to the Americas remained an injustice. of the nineteenth century and wide open until the beginning after and since the slaves outopen to Cuba and Brazil long themselves, side British North America did not reproduce As a result, the acAfrican-born slaves had to predominate. less from commodationism of the creoles may have flowed than from their cultural their easier adjustment to slavery no doubt distance from and even antipathy to the Africans, by the creoles' access to more privileged posicomplicated --- Page 126 --- The Turning Point and in the towns and cities. the Americas remained an injustice. of the nineteenth century and wide open until the beginning after and since the slaves outopen to Cuba and Brazil long themselves, side British North America did not reproduce As a result, the acAfrican-born slaves had to predominate. less from commodationism of the creoles may have flowed than from their cultural their easier adjustment to slavery no doubt distance from and even antipathy to the Africans, by the creoles' access to more privileged posicomplicated --- Page 126 --- The Turning Point and in the towns and cities. A revolt tions on the plantations of an African way of life could that aspired to the restoration Eurolittle for creoles who had become partially have appeal The hostility bepean in their emergence as Afro-Americans. often Africans and creoles did not arise, as is alleged, tween of the one and the docility oft the other. In from the militancy assumed the role of fighters and the specific cases the creoles After slavery, this Africans that of supporters of the regime. for evident. In British Guiana, reversal became particularly while the creoles led big strikes after emancipation example, The nature of the several black the Africans worked as scabs. and intercommunities required different kinds ofstruggles, which when effected produced impresethnic cooperation, remained difficult to achieve. sive movements, Africans from others as readily Ethnic rivalry divided some developed in Africans from creoles. Fierce antagonisms as Saint-Domingue, and other places Cuba, Brazil, Jamaica, slaves from the Angola-Congo between the Bantu-speaking slaves from Guinea. Slave region and the Sudanic-speaking because of ethnic animosirevolts failed in several countries and Yoruba ties. In 1724, for example, Angolan (bantu) since in Minas Gerais, Brazil, (nagô) slaves rose separately leader, whereas a joint effort they could not agree on a single policy had genmight have succeeded. Although colonialist throw different African peoples together, erally tried to Some Brazilian officials saw sometimes it went into reverse. for alin grouping African peoples separately, the advantage conflict would increase, the more though the danger ofethnic would decrease. Reformidable danger of general slave revolt the slaves often found ways to group gardless of official policy themselves along traditional lines. --- Page 127 --- From Rebellion to Revolution determine events Actual ethnic origins did not necessarily Caribslave rebellions. In Jamaica and the British in ethnic (Akan) slaves repeatedly bean generally the "Coromantine" nineteenth century. slave rebellions until the led the great ofthose so-called CoromanBut many and perhaps even most fell under the sway of tines may have been other peoples who and identified with its strength. the most prestigious group retained quasiSlaves who came from Africa on the same ship relations in the New World, and the highly respected familial doubt commanded special respect during Ashanti warriors no sometimes did yeoman work the long voyage. The Ashanti slave and as drivers for the whites as virtual Kapos on the ships in the islands. Yet, the same qualities and later policemen also made them the most feared that led them into those roles slaves of Not surprisingly, many of all slave revolutionaries. the Coromantines different origins wanted to assimilate to followed them into battle. In Jamaica, as in and willingly and Yoruba who had fought each Bahia where the Hausa other in Africa joined to foment the great ninetench-century force. could become a powerful risings, ethnic solidarity the extent to which one Ethnic solidarity often depended on on had the strength to impose its hegemony African people which the Africans as a group the others and on the extent to heavily outnumbered the creoles. changed The role of the creoles in the British Caribbean durwith the shift in the creole-African balance dramatically The emergence of a creole preing the nineteenth century. fought each Bahia where the Hausa other in Africa joined to foment the great ninetench-century force. could become a powerful risings, ethnic solidarity the extent to which one Ethnic solidarity often depended on on had the strength to impose its hegemony African people which the Africans as a group the others and on the extent to heavily outnumbered the creoles. changed The role of the creoles in the British Caribbean durwith the shift in the creole-African balance dramatically The emergence of a creole preing the nineteenth century. divide in the history ponderance marked the great ideological revolts and undermined their restorationist qualofthe slave made possible the great risings in ity. Creole-African unity IOO --- Page 128 --- The Turning Point and in other cases, notably in Jamaica in British Guiana, alone or at the leadership of a 1831, the creoles either rose authorities reported larger movement. In 1776 the Jamaican The creoles at the heart of a dangerous insurrectionary plot. British feature ofthis and other reports in the most ominous that the rebels were closely folColonial Office files specified British North developments in lowing the revolutionary America. in 1831, Viscount Goderich reAfter Jamaica exploded to the Earl of Aected on the great change in a communication he Belmore. So long as the slave trade had remained open, in Jamaica, and relations began, Africans had predominated reading of the tuhad remained stable. Viscount Goderich's record can hardly be accepted, multuous eightench-century situation deserves respect. Now, but his comment on the new race ofmen has grown up, speaking he added, "an indigenous 99 Blind suband instructed in our religion. our own language be The he concluded, could no longer expected. mission, notwithstanding his misreading or Viscount had grasped, record, that the creoles, misrepresentation of the African with would bring once drawn into the antislavery struggle, consistent with the political them an ideological perspective Africans had raised formirealities of the modern world. The revolution. dable rebellions; the creoles were threatening laid bare the new The Christmas rising on Jamaica in 1831 slave revolts. The movequality of the ninetenth-century risings, at the heart of ment consisted of a number ofisolated a about slaves with about fifty guns organized which hard; other actions came closer "black regiment" and fought dose of arson. as strikes, with Or without a big to qualifying IOI --- Page 129 --- From Rebellion to Revolution slaves participated in some of its Large numbers of Jamaican dramatic. The setactivity even if not the most militant or outnumbered contained familiar elements. Blacks ting the island had a tradition of revolt whites about ten to one; battle the planters were fighting a desperate and maroon war; and the slaves threw up against abolitionists in England; leaders from their most privileged strata. slaveholders, sects, long opposed by the The dissenting the slaves and had had made considerable progress among reformers in Enattracted the support of abolitionists and but inThe slaves retained much oftheir folk religion gland. and Methodist beliefs and creasingly blended into Baptist them. The as the white ministers strove to convert practices, rebellion or disobedience but missionaries did not counsel which doctrine of spiritual equality, did preach a vigorous terms. The rising came in the slaves translated into political religious which had had the greatest the western parishes, occasioned by the spring ferment. The political excitement Commons and the abolitionist campaign in the House of convinced the slaves panic it inspired among white Jamaicans imminent that their masters were conspiring to thwart an The slaves were not far wrong. White Jamaiemancipation. resistance to the Crown, alliance cans in fact were debating measures. Before with the United States, and other desperate claims the literate slave leaders got a hearing for their long, a decree of emancipation that the masters were suppressing and plotting treason to the Crown. to which of the revolt revealed the extent The leadership a radical the slaves' movement for freedom was undergoing modMary (Reckord) Turner, the foremost transformation. ern historian ofthe revolt, writes: IO2 an The slaves were not far wrong. White Jamaiemancipation. resistance to the Crown, alliance cans in fact were debating measures. Before with the United States, and other desperate claims the literate slave leaders got a hearing for their long, a decree of emancipation that the masters were suppressing and plotting treason to the Crown. to which of the revolt revealed the extent The leadership a radical the slaves' movement for freedom was undergoing modMary (Reckord) Turner, the foremost transformation. ern historian ofthe revolt, writes: IO2 --- Page 130 --- The Turning Point ferment emerged leaders who directed Out of this political and discontent into action, utilizthe widespread excitement of the missionaries ing religious meetings and the authority rebel the cause offreedom. The most outstanding to promote domestic slave who worked in leader was Sam Sharpe, a church there. Montego Bay and was a member ofthe Baptist like intelligent and ambitious and, many Sharpe was literate, and a stimulant for his ambiofl his kind, he found an outlet a talent church. As a convert, he displayed tion in a mission which won him a posifor eloquent and passionate preaching care of a class of entrusted with the spiritual tion as leader, however, was not content to serve other converts. Sharpe, conwithin the church; he built up an independent simply "native" Baptists among whom he figured nection with the mission or "ruler. 19 At the same time he found as a "daddy" unsatisfactory. From his own reading teaching on obedience convinced that the slaves were entitled ofthe Bible he became combined with the developto freedom. This conviction, of which campaign in England, ment of the emancipation informed, led him to believe that Sharpe kept himself well aides, the slaves must make a bid for freedom. In recruiting naturally turned to other Baptist slaves. Sharpe therefore, and organization for the revolt, The inspiration the white missionaries came from the missions, although viointended their teachings and facilities to support never the Christian message, blended it lence. The slaves took up moral case for acwith their traditional religion, and forged a freedom. But the revolt did not tion on behalf of their own features ofal holy war. raise millennialist slogans or take on the demand for freeIt applied religious sanction to a political of the dom. It neither continued the restorationist ideology called for rebellions nor took utopian ground; it earlier ethnic extension ofEnglish liberan end to slavery and, in effect, the 1O3 teachings and facilities to support never the Christian message, blended it lence. The slaves took up moral case for acwith their traditional religion, and forged a freedom. But the revolt did not tion on behalf of their own features ofal holy war. raise millennialist slogans or take on the demand for freeIt applied religious sanction to a political of the dom. It neither continued the restorationist ideology called for rebellions nor took utopian ground; it earlier ethnic extension ofEnglish liberan end to slavery and, in effect, the 1O3 --- Page 131 --- From Rebellion to Revolution The origins of the revolt in the ties to the mass of the people. with British abolimissions and its ideological connections from the Jacotionism may help to account for its departure in Revolution, which by 1831 had, any binism of the Haitian the revolt of 1831 its force. Thus, in its own way, case, spent forces that had been building since the reflected the new had secularized the cause American and French Revolutions of liberation and proclaimed the Rights of national-popular Man. that followed all the slave revolts, The repressive measures from the exigencies of restorationist or modern, flowed within when confronted by opposition ruling-class power cruel nature ofthat repression, and without. The consistently slave revolt the elaboration. After every however, requires 99 "cruelties, 99 and whites cried out against the "barbarities, to of the rebels and proceeded indiscriminately 'outrages" blacks. Violations of white slaughter countless innocent During the investigawomanhood caused particular concern. surrounded the retion of the Vesey plot much commotion the slaves would mark attributed to a single rebel leader that do with the white women. And much was know what to slave rebels in Saintmade of the evidence that enraged over had raped many white women, sometimes Domingue bodies oftheir husbands. The fact remains: the dead Or dying as a whole, rape OCIn the slave revolts of the hemisphere despite the blacks' having had extreme provocacurred rarely whites. violation of their own women by tion in the constant the convenNeither Herbert Aptheker, who first challenged else has found evidence ofa single tional wisdom, nor anyone United States. During the long rape during the revolts in the --- Page 132 --- The Turning Point of slave revolts in Bahia (1807-1835), according to wave only one case of rape has been documented. Howard Prince, barbarism during revolts rested on one The charge of slave and even, as the rebels had the audacity to kill whites, point: Turner revolt, did not spare women and childuring the Nat warfare is to prodren. Since the first rule of such desperate before the more powerful enemy ceed as rapidly as possible and children equaled a compassion for women can regroup, That "bloodthirsty" death warrant for the compassionate. ruined himselfnot by his executions but precisely Nat Turner bloodthirstiness by black rebels by such compassion. Sheer but neither often nor on a mass appeared during the revolts killed white soldiers scale. The rebels in Bahia, for example, civilians. And as but committed few if any atrocities against much-touted massacre ofwhites in Saint-Domingue, for that of the revolution, English which occurred after the victory the deliberately urged it upon Dessalines against agents The English, knowing that wishes of his black generals. trade and support in Haiti was in desperate straits, offered of their French rivals. return for the extermination horror at the vioThe slaveholders expressed unfeigned to teach the lence ofthe rebels and took appropriate measures do when They responded as all ruling classes savages a lesson. The story is old and moreminded that they too are mortal. Did the Central European peasants rise against notonous. The Hungarian serfs, their lords during the Reformation? thousand would be others, needed a lesson: seventy among the leaders roasted over slow fires while slaughtered, with their Aesh. (Whites, like their followers were forced to eat cruelhave rarely hesitated to inflict the most grisly blacks, IO5 the lence ofthe rebels and took appropriate measures do when They responded as all ruling classes savages a lesson. The story is old and moreminded that they too are mortal. Did the Central European peasants rise against notonous. The Hungarian serfs, their lords during the Reformation? thousand would be others, needed a lesson: seventy among the leaders roasted over slow fires while slaughtered, with their Aesh. (Whites, like their followers were forced to eat cruelhave rarely hesitated to inflict the most grisly blacks, IO5 --- Page 133 --- From Rebellion to Revolution ties on their own people when property and class been at stake.) Did the Jacobins kill power have thousands of during the Terror? The opponents has not even earned a capital counterrevolutionary T in the terror, which many, many more. In the United literature, would kill period, John Brown and his States during the slave guerrillas struck terror into Virginians at Harpers Ferry and threatened to shed blood. mind that even in Kansas Brown's Never been indefensible butchery had politically selective and that he treated his Virginia with exemplary restraint. prisoners in madmen deserved the Clearly, such murderous worst, and the civilized were citizens they threatening were justified in shooting down emissaries despite their white flag; in Brown's warriors; and in lynching mutilating his fallen that the moral of these prisoners. Cynics might conclude stories is that a had better do its work revolutionary terror choroughly. The slaveholders, shocked by the evidence that had killed a few the slaves whites- SO few in fact in the that Nat Turner's United States fifty Or SO victims seemed Or that they had had the beyond belief-_ responded by audacity to contemplate doing sO, showing just how much more were than their degraded slaves. The civilized they action with slaveholders swung into every rumor or suspicion. They lynched, alive, tortured, and dismembered burned whom they later admitted suspected slaves, many of holders of Louisiana had been innocent. The slavewho in 181I spiked rebel heads rate the river road from New Orleans to decotation had not unleashed to Major Andre's plangenerations some early frontier temper that later would repudiate. In 1856 the slaveholders Tennessee repeated the of performance with a slight They carried the impaled heads in a variation: parade. And, unlike the --- Page 134 --- The Turning Point Louisianians of 18II, they had not even confronted arms; their victims had only fallen under slaves in rectionary design. suspicion ofinsurThe behavior of whites toward blacks, whom they suspected slave and free, in the ofinsurrection wrote a sadistic history of American law and order. If slaves chapter suffer lynching as often as free blacks did in the did not they did suffer terribly in the wake New South, barbarism of the ofinsurrection scares. The eighteenth and early nineteenth Carried down to the end ofthe regime, centuries stricken slaveholders with some consciencethe atrocities themselves providing the evidence for committed by their neighbors most of whom probably could against slaves, in a slaveholders' not have been convicted even court of law. As William H. Hinds County, Thomson of rection Mississippi, wrote in 1835 during an insurscare that resulted in the lynching of a number blacks and a few whites who tried to of ises to become a greater evil than protect them, "It promthat it was intended rect. The regulators need regulating. 9, to corterparts behaved no Their northern counexecuted differencly. The authorities in New York eighteen slave rebels in 1712: They and starved him to death, broke manacled one burned three another on the wheel, and others at the stake. Six of the condemned mitted suicide. comThe slaveholders of the United States in violence: Slaveholders set no special records in other countries as adept. Captain Stedman proved every bit reported from "In 1730, a most shocking, and barbarous Surinam, the unhappy execution of eleven of negro captives was resolved upon, in the tation that it might terrify their expecthem to submit. *> The whites companions and induce hanged one black man on a gibIO7 another on the wheel, and others at the stake. Six of the condemned mitted suicide. comThe slaveholders of the United States in violence: Slaveholders set no special records in other countries as adept. Captain Stedman proved every bit reported from "In 1730, a most shocking, and barbarous Surinam, the unhappy execution of eleven of negro captives was resolved upon, in the tation that it might terrify their expecthem to submit. *> The whites companions and induce hanged one black man on a gibIO7 --- Page 135 --- From Rebellion to Revolution hook stuck through his ribs. (Nat Turner: bet by an iron burned two others alive- "Was not Christ crucified?") They two broke six women on the rack; and decapitated slowly; resolution under the torture, > Stedman girls. "Such was their without even uttering a added, "that they endured them 19 as he called it, had an effect sigh.' " The "inhuman massacre, intended: The Saramaka opposite to that which the whites intensified their attacks on the plantations rebels promptly struggle, forced the regime and, after two decades of bloody to peace terms. never took place, havIn Barbadosin 1675 the insurrection aborted after the whites learned ofit from a woman ing been court-martial claimed thirtyhouse slave. White justice by alive and eleven five lives by execution, including six burned les beheaded and dragged through the streets pour encourager of the blacks sent to the stake, refused to autres. Tony, one of political wisdom: "If you indulge anything except a piece 11 The slaves cannot Roast me tomorrow. Roast me today, you killed their overseer in 1731 and at Plantation Poelwyck utterly revolted, football with his head. The whites, played like civilized human bewould teach their slaves to behave leader over other niceties, they roasted the rebel ings: Among smoka slow fire. Savage that he was, he succumbed quietly, who the sixteenth century the Spanish, ing a pipe. During touch. They chained also roasted slave rebels, added a special These and set wild dogs to devour them. their prisoners and during every period that events had parallels everywhere slavery existed. revolt demonstrated, could do The slaves, as Nat Turner's rush to extheir share of burning and killing, and we might --- Page 136 --- The Turning Point did, by saying, "Ifit be the cuse them, as Colonel Higginson saints like Uncle normal tendency of bondage to produce Tom, let us all offer ourselves at auction immediately. slaveholders) The difference was that the one brutality [ofthe retaliathat of a mighty state, and the other was only the was 97 Or we could recall the words of Gwyn tion of its victims. Culottes, "It was in blood, terWilliams, in Artisans and Sans entered and total war that democracy and democrats ror, Brecht's To history. 99 Or we could quote Bertolt European those who wring their hands at the alleged Posterity to answer savagery of slave risings: For we knew only too well: Even hatred of squalor Makes the brow grow stern Even anger against injustice Makes the voice grow harsh. Alas, we Who wished to lay the foundations ofkindness Could not ourselves be kind. excuses, or proud defenses are beYet, these explanations, rebellious slaves in the United side the point: Atrocities by killed whites but rarely States did not occur often. Rebels committed mutilated them. They rarely, that is, tortured or that whites regularly committed against whites the outrages where maroon them. Elsewhere in the hemisphere, against harsh actions, rewars and large-scale rebellions encouraged rose. the level of violence and atrocity actions, and reprisals, burden of evidence conBut everywhere the overwhelming including regimes ofcountless crimes, victs the slaveholding act of barbarism by the most sadistic tortures, to every single in slaves. C. L. R. James, whose history of the revolution the 1O9 , tortured or that whites regularly committed against whites the outrages where maroon them. Elsewhere in the hemisphere, against harsh actions, rewars and large-scale rebellions encouraged rose. the level of violence and atrocity actions, and reprisals, burden of evidence conBut everywhere the overwhelming including regimes ofcountless crimes, victs the slaveholding act of barbarism by the most sadistic tortures, to every single in slaves. C. L. R. James, whose history of the revolution the 1O9 --- Page 137 --- From Rebellion to Revolution minimize or apologize for the unSaint-Domingue scorns to concludes his seemly side of revolutionary violence, justly slaves. discussion of the rape and pillage committed by the moderate, then and afterAnd yet they were surprisingly their masters had been or wards, far more humane than maintain this revengewould ever be to them. They did not and privilege are ful spirit for long. The cruelties of property and ferocious than the revenges of poverty opalways more resented injustice, pression. For the one aims at perpetuating the other is merely a momentary passion soon appeased. Afro-American slave With whatever degree of violence, first and, affected the course of world history from the revolts significantly to the shaping of in particular, contributed did the slave revolts, like the the Age of Revolution. But much to the course of great peasant wars, actually contribute freedom? and antifascist martyr Marc Bloch The great historian wrote in French Rural History: doomed to defeat and eventual massacre Almost invariably insurrections were altogether too disorgathe great [peasant] result. The patient, silent strugnized to achieve any lasting communities over the gles stubbornly carried on by rural flashes in the pan. would accomplish more than these years (p. 170) heroic enough in their That these patient, silent struggles, ofthe contributed immeasurably to the liberation own way, and much the same could peasantry ought not to be denied, States who had be said about those ofthe slaves of the United path. Without peasant little chance to take the revolutionary however, the room for creative, peaceful and slave risings, IIO --- Page 138 --- The Turning Point and might have diseffort would have shrunk considerably appeared. results of popular risings, whether considThe long-term remain debated, if for no ered singly or in groups, will hotly than that their evaluation ultimately rests upon other reason within which each historian, conthe theoretical framework historical process as a sciously or mindlessly, interprets Bloch's remarks whole. Even for the short term, however, least test. The contrary holds true, at cannot stand empirical that such rebelwhich suffice to demonstrate for some caseseffect. Thus, the peasant risings in lions could have salutary and nineteenth centueastern Europe during the eighteenth and reform. ries drove the ruling classes into compromise Swing movement in England impressed Thus, the Captain weakness than by its very existence the landlords less by its national remany-sided and contributed to the subsequent in Russia durform. Thus, the innumerable peasant revolts stirred the intelligentsia to a belated concern ing 1822-1861 underscored the lesson of the Crimean with oppression and national humiliation War-that social backwardness spelled and defeat. And the list could be much extended. from such forms of black militancy and military acApart the great American struggle of tion as manifested during the direct efficacy of slave insurrection appeared 1861-1865, maroon wars in the Caribbean most forcibly in the successful of the slaves in the and in the quasi-insurgent struggles crises Danish West Indies and in Brazil during the abolition respectively. Well before the emerof 1848 and 1871-1889 of Revolution, maroon of abolitionism and the Age gence if modestly, the expansion wars and slave revolts inhibited, of the 'maand consolidation of slavery. "The heavy expense III tion as manifested during the direct efficacy of slave insurrection appeared 1861-1865, maroon wars in the Caribbean most forcibly in the successful of the slaves in the and in the quasi-insurgent struggles crises Danish West Indies and in Brazil during the abolition respectively. Well before the emerof 1848 and 1871-1889 of Revolution, maroon of abolitionism and the Age gence if modestly, the expansion wars and slave revolts inhibited, of the 'maand consolidation of slavery. "The heavy expense III --- Page 139 --- From Rebellion to Revolution 19 writes Gordon K. 7 following a slave rebellion, roon hunt, vulnerable economies, as, indeed, Lewis, "could cripple such after the ordeal of St. John reverted to 'bush' for a generation shook the And during the wave of slave revolts that 1733.". during the 1730S and 1760s, there was, British Caribbean beto David Brion Davis, a direct correspondence according violence and the number of publications dealing tween slave in the colonies. Under the shock with the problem of slavery inhibition grew of the revolution in Saint-Domingue, the restrict the The British decision to much more pronounced. colonies of Triniexpansion of slavery in its newly acquired dad and Guiana provides direct confirmation. on the movement Slave revolts had a contradictory impact of ameliorate the rigors of slave life and upon the progress to abolitionism. The revolts often generated Anglo-American for short-term reaction, with fearful immediate consequences additional difficulties for the abolitionists. the slaves and slave revolts stimulated British For example, most Caribbean war and thereby infears of social disorder and colonial race maneuvering of those in England hibited the parliamentary slave trade and ultiwho were seeking to outlaw the Atlantic the slaves. Yet, in the specific political mately to emancipate slave revolt in Jamaica-or the climate of 1831 the massive abolitionist hands ghastly reprisals it provoked-played into And in the contributed toward their triumph in 1833. and has noted, Nat Turner made United States, as C. L. R. James the lack offorGarrison a household word. Noewichstanding seized between the two, white southerners mal connection distribution of the Liberator upon Turner's revolt to suppress and put a price on Garrison's head. condition of the The influence of the slave revolts on the II2 --- Page 140 --- The Turning Point course. Gabriel Prosser, slaves also followed a contradictory of Denmark Vesey, and Nat Turner provoked waves represpreaching, manumission, and sion: restrictions on literacy, thoughtful much else. But they also made the slaveholders those who argued that the best antidote to and encouraged and shelter, more leisure rebellion was better food, clothing, tendenbrutality. The two time, and frmer measures against hand-in-hand. While taking measures to confirm cies went slave status and to reduce their room the blacks in perpetual slaveholders tried to for political initiatives, the southern bearable condition. The period make slavery itself a more reaction from Nat Turner to secession unfolded as a great tempering of the day-toand, simultaneously, as a modest day rigors oft the system. substantial contribution to On balance, the revolts made a of slave life, for the amelioration of the material conditions abolition of the provided one of the major spurs to the they trade. In the United States, especially, the closAfrican slave rise in the price of labor, ing of the trade, with its attendant designed to compelled the slaveholders to adopt measures labor and reproduction of their guarantee the productivity force. Du Bois, writing at the end of the nineteenth W. E. B. of slave revolt for drew attention to the significance century, slave trade. The slaveholders, he argued, the abolition ofthe blacks relative to whites and of recognized the increase of and Africans relative to creoles as a harbinger of new greater has introduced important qualirisings. Recent scholarship has sustained it. The fications into this thesis but basically for to restrict the trade to South Carolina, earliest measures in the wake of the Stono Rebellion and example, originated II3 , writing at the end of the nineteenth W. E. B. of slave revolt for drew attention to the significance century, slave trade. The slaveholders, he argued, the abolition ofthe blacks relative to whites and of recognized the increase of and Africans relative to creoles as a harbinger of new greater has introduced important qualirisings. Recent scholarship has sustained it. The fications into this thesis but basically for to restrict the trade to South Carolina, earliest measures in the wake of the Stono Rebellion and example, originated II3 --- Page 141 --- From Rebellion to Revolution measures of the 1790S, which paved the the decisive state of 1808, reflected nothing SO way for the national prohibition True, other much as the fear of another Saint-Domingue. have sufand the fear of revolt might not forces intervened, changes occur in response ficed. But few ifany great political of and the discovery of a conjuncture to a single pressure, Bois's insight. South Carolina's forces does not negate Du three had the trade for years decision in 1787 to suspend with the low much to do with the rivalry of the up country in drivand with the interest of the big rice planters country But, after the trade reopened, the willinging upslave prices. federal abolition undoubtness ofthe slaveholders to swallow Alowed in part from their reflections on Saint-Domingue edly Gabriel Prosser and the and on such warnings as those sent by Louisiana, as conspiracy of 1802. And in colonial widespread the combination of black resisJames McGowan has shown, intransigent forced a normally tance with a labor shortage including those deslaveholding class to institute reforms, signed to protect black family life. only the fear ofslave revolt produced Had the slaveholders' might have been abolition of the Atlantic trade, the victory for the amelioration in the material theirs, born of fear or no, ofslave life advanced in step with the confirmation conditions of the psychological ravof slave status and the heightening But that fear had additional consequences, ages of racism. the slaves' confidence in ultiwhich indirectly strengthened southern social order indeliverance. The defense oft the mate ofelementary civil libercreasingly required the suppression States. in the South but throughout the United ties not only with the The famous gag rule" in Congress, the tampering I14 --- Page 142 --- The Turning Point shrill demands for the suppression of free speech mails, the and the contempt for home and assembly for abolitionists, in the Fugitive Slave Law's administrative prorule implicit of slavery what they could not visions did for the enemies slavery with easily have done for themselves: They associated social class prepared to trample an arrogant and reactionary rights of white Amerion the time-honored and blood-won forever that the The abolitionists might have shouted cans. racism of the North black man too had rights. The pervasive abolitionists said promised little or no response. But the of insisted that the suppression of the rights more. They of the rights of white black people spelled the suppression and Only the slaveholders by their ever-increasing people. could demonstrate the deadly truth unavoidable recklessness of this charge. to increase the politThe slaveholders had no choice except understood that their safety required ical stakes, for they that exagmaximum protection. It is pointless to argue they of slave revolt and to dwell on the infregerated the danger revolt. The slaveholders and low intensity of actual quency that revolt would occur much more fresensibly believed if the balance of power quently and with greater intensity altered. And any fool could see that the dissemination were would expose the growing moral of abolitionist pamphlets in the country and and political isolation of the slave regime Even the world and would eventually affect that balance. the their attacks on nullificasouthern Unionists had to temper disorder. They tion and extremism SO as not to provoke slave inadverand thereby weakened their own political position bethe growing feeling that the South was tently reinforced II5 much more fresensibly believed if the balance of power quently and with greater intensity altered. And any fool could see that the dissemination were would expose the growing moral of abolitionist pamphlets in the country and and political isolation of the slave regime Even the world and would eventually affect that balance. the their attacks on nullificasouthern Unionists had to temper disorder. They tion and extremism SO as not to provoke slave inadverand thereby weakened their own political position bethe growing feeling that the South was tently reinforced II5 --- Page 143 --- From Rebellion to Revolution and reactionary society. For the slavecoming a monolithic the ofliberty holders, even more readily than for others, price their own- was eternal vigilance. rival in the slave revolts in the South did not frequenYes, the Guianas, or Brazil, not cy and intensity those of fJamaica, if the slaves had not risen to mention Saint-Domingue. But, County, Stono, in southern Louisiana, in Southampton at in Richmond and in if they had not come close to rising marifthey had not risen at all, would the sober, Charleston, leaders of the slaveholding class tial, experienced political with the North, inhave risked a dangerous confrontation allies, simply northern political cluding their own traditional from other slave because they were hearing horror stories themcountries? Why should they have? They considered of the most humane, materially comselves the guardians in history. But fortable, and militarily stable slave regime faithful all the cant about having loyal, contented, despite the recognition that a Nat Turslaves, they could not escape During Virginia's anywhere at any time. ner might appear conducted in the wake of great debate over emancipation, taunted the proslavery Nat Turner's revolt, James McDowell spokesmen: Was it the fear of Nat Turner, and his deluded, drunken which produced such effects? : . . No handful of followers, attached to the slave himsir: it was the suspicion eternally Turner might be in every self-the suspicion that a Nat be acted over at any family; that the same bloody deed might that the materials for it were spread time and in any place; the land, and were always ready for a like explosion. through but the force of this withering apprehension . Nothing brave people into consternation, or could have thrown a I16 --- Page 144 --- The Turning Point could have made any portion of this powerful Commonwealth, for a single instant, to have quailed and trembled. line of predecessors throughout the McDowell had a long the words of John Vaughhemisphere. Recall, for example, Barbados in 1738: manager of the Codrington estate in ton, Person who are Dwellers here knows, "That is what Every in A Conthat the best ofthem are at All times ready to joyn the best of Masters and Overseers." spiracy : . : Against in Vaughton's exagThat recognition, even as expressed with stemmed precisely from actual experience gerated way, including abortive revolts slave revolts, however limited, in Race Relaand plots. As James Hugo Johnston has written and Miscegenation in the South: tions in Virginia and sympathy for his felThe faithful slave gained respect fears that bloodlows, but the rebellious spirit created grave South if the shed and suffering would be inflicted on the forced to remain forever in bondage. The spirit Negroes were citizens that there were slaves who of rebellion taught many the slaves been docile and content, wanted to be free. Had all hold the Negro as a slave init might have been possible to made the slave system a definitely, but the violent spirits problem that would not be silenced. drove the slaveholdThose revolts and the fear they inspired fateful constitutional and political confrontation ers into a about the opwith northerners who cared little Or nothing with confrontation that ended pression of black people-a the destruction of the slaveholders" regime. intersection with wider moveBoth directly and through revolts formed a vital ments of national liberation, the slave that revolutionary tidal wave part of the international II7 slave init might have been possible to made the slave system a definitely, but the violent spirits problem that would not be silenced. drove the slaveholdThose revolts and the fear they inspired fateful constitutional and political confrontation ers into a about the opwith northerners who cared little Or nothing with confrontation that ended pression of black people-a the destruction of the slaveholders" regime. intersection with wider moveBoth directly and through revolts formed a vital ments of national liberation, the slave that revolutionary tidal wave part of the international II7 --- Page 145 --- From Rebellion to Revolution Paradoxically, the brought the modern world to fruition. other radical popular movements, to revolts helped, as did and expansion of assure the international consolidation in the influence Anglo-American capitalism both politically, in their balance of world power, and ideologically, on a new idea of property. Yet, being strengthening of the bourgeois they also movements of the nonwhite laboring poor, mass the new forms of exploichallenged, if often only implicitly, inherent in the triumphant capitalist tation and oppression revolts resembled worldworld-system. Normally, the slave Ifsuccesswide peasant revolts in at least one decisive respect: fell under the sway of more advanced SOful, they necessarily nowhere been able to create a state cial classes. Peasants have sustain one; of their own, for their form of property cannot however ultimately have had to support a state that, they serves the interests of a class powerful in itself, primarily system. In of organizing the social and productive capable has generally served the interests modern times this process concessions it has had to make to ofthe bourgeoisie, whatever themwho directly control the state or to the peasants those Lenin, Mao, Ho, and selves. During the twentieth century be to demonstrated that peasant wars may put others have other uses. and unlike the Afro-American slaves, unlike most peasants world, consciously willed their own slaves of the ancient sought to rebuild SOelimination as a class and consciously maroons base. The restorationist ciety on a new property which ended in their tangenworked out their own solution, to the mainstream ofhistorical development. tial relationship bourgeoiscame with the essentially The breakthrough which conceded democratic revolution in Saint-Domingue, I18 --- Page 146 --- The Turning Point ofsecurity to the ex-slaves-to, in Sidney land and a measure reconstituted peasantry. >9 Mintz's suggestive phrase, "the revolution ended in the triumph of a comprador That the merely provides a special case bourgeoisie and a parasitic state else the slave revolts merged of the general rule. Everywhere and for national liberation sociopolitical with larger struggles while encouraging the reform and benefited the bourgeoisie racism, exploitation, and oppression. masses to challenge these harsh batDespite the counterrevolutionary outcome, strength tles enabled the masses to glimpse their long-term however haltingly, for the many and to prepare themselves, struggles ahead. other forms of violent resistance during Slave revolts and by those and were shaped the Age of Revolution shaped too often for national liberation and social change struggles elites. During the South presented as the work of lily-white and revoluAmerican wars of independence, both loyalists in course in relation to blacks tionaries followed an uncertain Both had a stake in the supgeneral and slaves in particular. interest social and both had a vested pression of the question, of war led Yet, the exigencies protracted in slave property. with promises of emancieach not only to enlist black troops behind the other's pation but to encourage slave rebellion lines. movements faltered in their When the national-liberation the blacks shifted sometime commitment to emancipation, armed slaves side, as, for example, when to the royalist Venezuelan Republic; and in numerhelped to crush the first side to defend instances they rose against one or another ous their aspirations in what a Spanish their rights and realize 99 If nothing termed "insurreccion de otra especie. official wryly II9 not only to enlist black troops behind the other's pation but to encourage slave rebellion lines. movements faltered in their When the national-liberation the blacks shifted sometime commitment to emancipation, armed slaves side, as, for example, when to the royalist Venezuelan Republic; and in numerhelped to crush the first side to defend instances they rose against one or another ous their aspirations in what a Spanish their rights and realize 99 If nothing termed "insurreccion de otra especie. official wryly II9 --- Page 147 --- From Rebellion to Revolution destroyed the myth of slave docility and else, these risings leaders of both sides that whocontentment and taught the on his would have a formidable "black problem" ever won push the wavering Bolivar inhands. Black militancy helped Pétion and into bolder efto his famous alliance with Haiti's in Developments in Venezuela, forts toward emancipation. in Puerto Rithe first great black conspiracy turn, generated vicissitudes ofabolition politics durcan history. Despite the America, the widespread ing the next few decades in South the slave risings, and the developenlistment ofblack troops, helped put one self-confidence ofthe black communities ing after another on the road to emancipation. new republic with their heightened sensitivThe national revolutions, of"freedom," 13 autonomy, and even "equality to questions over slavery itself. Logic ity," 97 generated a crisis ofconscience ofslavidealism demanded the repudiation and revolutionary unlike the United States and ery as a matter of principle and, America did not contain Brazil, the new nations of Spanish dominate society. classes powerful enough to slaveholding time, but the end was in sight Final emancipation took a long The national revowith the dawn of national independence. either in revolt lutions, spurred by the action ofarmed blacks in uniform, undermined the slave regimes or in republican Central America and reduced Spanish-speaking South and and region to the Old South, the Caribbean, the slaveholding which followed the Brazil. British emancipation in 1833, hastened the completion of the wars of national liberation, and in South America final settlement oft the slavery question slaveholding classes irrevocably on the threw the remaining defensive. 1848 marked the end of slavery in The revolutionary year --- Page 148 --- The Turning Point and French islands, although not without massive the Danish behalf. The American and action by the slaves in their own isolated, Brazilian slaveholders, now almost completely comfort from their politically weak Cuban could take little who in time would reand Dutch Caribbean counterparts, The the South American and Danish experiences. capitulate of the South to secession"- - -to recall Phillips' phrase 'course destruction of New World slavery had and the ultimate whites, accelerated by Spanish-speaking been powerfully and episodic their allibrowns, and blacks, however tenuous the sigremote and tangential struggle, ance in a seemingly much less than that of such nificance of which seemed SO Orleans, the textbook events as the battle of New American panic of 1819, Of the Missouri Compromise. with slave revolts, beginning The post-restorationist imposed themselves on the revolution in Saint-Domingue, and world history as a vital part of the bourgeois-democratic colonies of national-liberation process begun in the English and to fierce climax in France. North America brought epoch was the central features of the revolutionary Among movement of the masses on the terrain the dramatic forward Eric Hobsbawm writes in of secular policies and ideology. Primitive Rebels: American and French Revolutions oft the eighteenth cenThe movements in the tury are probably the first mass political and ashistory of the world which expressed their ideology rationalism and not oftraditional pirations in terms ofsecular revolution in the life and thought religion. The fact marks a that its nature is difficult ofthe common people SO profound in an for those of us who have grown up even to appreciate epoch when politics is agnostic. 12I the dramatic forward Eric Hobsbawm writes in of secular policies and ideology. Primitive Rebels: American and French Revolutions oft the eighteenth cenThe movements in the tury are probably the first mass political and ashistory of the world which expressed their ideology rationalism and not oftraditional pirations in terms ofsecular revolution in the life and thought religion. The fact marks a that its nature is difficult ofthe common people SO profound in an for those of us who have grown up even to appreciate epoch when politics is agnostic. 12I --- Page 149 --- From Rebellion to Revolution democratized revolutionary ideology and Secularization autonomous role in prepared the common people for a more struggle. True, modern revolutionary political revolutionary have retained many important feaparties and movements projections of tures of militant millenarianism, including version of the Kingdom human perfection and a secularized to resurrect the Manichaean of God on Earth; a tendency in radical struggle of Christ against Antichrist SO recurrent and that Christian heresies; the cult of the infallible leader; of deliverance which has paradoxically often proven certainty voluntarism. This familnecessary to stimulate revolutionary those who would deniiar criticism, repeated ad nauseam by them modern revolutionary movements by linking grate does demonstrate the with irrationalism and fanaticism, sheds light on the of cultural inheritance and even power dimension of historical process. It remains, psychological nonetheless, radically false. with the Modern revolutionary movements, beginning ideology of the leaders of the American Revolution moderate in both its French and Haiand especially with Jacobinism the substantial tian forms, took a new turn, norwithstanding They inmeasure of historical continuity they represented. rationalism into older ideas and protroduced considerable nature and action. jected a more realistic view of human delivtheir break with the ideas of supernatural Specifically, reinforced the demand for the assertion of erance enormously reduced, although they did not human will and significantly fanaticism. Such eliminate, the tendency toward Manichaean almost have thrown up messiahs and sometimes movements responded to charisdeified them, but they have generally hardly leaders with a degree of realism and restraint matic --- Page 150 --- The Turning Point a prophet and a revelation. This possible for those following of revolutionshift, however partial, away from the tradition has created unprecedented room for auary millenarianism it has, in fact, required that action tonomous popular action; and repression. while creating new methods of restraint even of the gradual transfer of alleThe significance, for example, the movement, from the prophetic leader to the party, giance the possibilities for acquiring or the nation has narrowed of And for these very reasons the secularization blind loyalty. the chance ofvicrevolutionary ideology has vastly improved Stripped of the requirements of prophetic specificity tory. of the divinely chosen leader, the party can and of the myth for tactical retreats and the masses much more readily prepare of defeat and even disascompromises and for the acceptance ter while it regroups in protracted war. at state Toussaint's suppression of Vodûn, his attempt Catholicism, and his own brand ofJacobincontrol of Roman which example of this new stage, ism provided a powerful thought of Machiavelli had been prefigured in the political the need to and which, despite its cynical aspect, expressed of moral secular ideology in a doctrine ground a basically an illustration of obligation. masses much more readily prepare of defeat and even disascompromises and for the acceptance ter while it regroups in protracted war. at state Toussaint's suppression of Vodûn, his attempt Catholicism, and his own brand ofJacobincontrol of Roman which example of this new stage, ism provided a powerful thought of Machiavelli had been prefigured in the political the need to and which, despite its cynical aspect, expressed of moral secular ideology in a doctrine ground a basically an illustration of obligation. Toussaint's course provided Revolution: trenchant observation in The Age of Hobsbawm's demonstrates the remark- "This secularism of the revolution which hegemony of the liberal middle class, able political ideological forms on a much vaster imposed its political movement oft the masses. 97 marked the passage The revolution in Saint-Domingue war to the uniAfro-American religious call to holy from an of Man. Stage one: the Vodûn versalist claims of the Rights their cruciBoukman tells his followers to discard high priest --- Page 151 --- From Rebellion to Revolution the infidels: "Throw away fixes and to prepare for war against often caused us of the god of the whites who has the Symbol voice of liberty, which speaks in to weep, and listen to the black revolutionthe hearts of us all.' *9 Stage two: In 1792 the and Biassou, wishing to negotiate ary leaders Jean-François French demands that they heatedly reply to a compromise, disband their army as the price for peace: demand to "go home"? One hunHow can we accept your the dred thousand men are in arms. We are dependent upon will! That of a multitude general will-and what a general do from the African coast, who for the most part of negroes words of French, yet who have been warriors not know two in their own country. Toussaint assumes leadership of the revolution, Stage three: issues his own constiallies with the Jacobins, and eventually who "do not which confirms these "Coast Negroes" tution, words of French" in their new, hard-won status, know two "free and French. 99 defined by the constitution as black Toussaint's determination to link an independent France reflected his deep Saint-Domingue with revolutionary and economic realities of the modern grasp of the political and autonomous world. His new state would be independent dominion status within the orbit of revolutionary in virtual policy placed national France. And while his astute foreign and exhibited startling zig-zags, security above ideology Toussaint which critics have denounced as lack of principle, leading an invasion of Africa to destroy dreamed of someday the slave trade and to build an empire ofhis own, 91 apparently that Africans, too, might be "free and French. SO understood his revolution's international conToussaint --- Page 152 --- The Turning Point text, for, as Hobsbawm adds, "All plans of European liberation until 1848 hinged on a joint rising of peoples under the leadership of the French to overthrow European reaction. 79 The prestige of the great French revolution and the military state power to which it gave rise guaranteed French hegemony over revolutionaries in Europe and the Americas, much as during the twentieth century the prestige ofthe Russian Revolution and its subsequent consolidation of state power long guaranteed the hegemony ofthe Stalinist Third International over revolutionaries throughout the world. In time the reactionary features of the socially contradictory Bonapartist expansion would reinforce the growing sense among American and European revolutionaries that neither God nor the French would save them and that they would have to look elsewhere, especially to themselves, for inspiration and material power. But for a prolonged period the black struggle for freedom pushed forward within an international bourgeoisdemocratic mainstream. --- Page 153 --- AFTERWORD "The Flag ofOur Country" What did ignorant field hands in Virginia or South Carolina know or care about the ideals of the American and French Revolutions and of the Declarations of Independence and of the Rights of Man? Bonapartist expansion would reinforce the growing sense among American and European revolutionaries that neither God nor the French would save them and that they would have to look elsewhere, especially to themselves, for inspiration and material power. But for a prolonged period the black struggle for freedom pushed forward within an international bourgeoisdemocratic mainstream. --- Page 153 --- AFTERWORD "The Flag ofOur Country" What did ignorant field hands in Virginia or South Carolina know or care about the ideals of the American and French Revolutions and of the Declarations of Independence and of the Rights of Man? C. L. R. James, who pioneered in treating the slave revolts as part of the international bourgeoisdemocratic revolutionary movements, forcefully replied that the slaves of Saint-Domingue and the sans culottes of Paris together radicalized the French Revolution by projecting a political vision much more democratic than the republicanism being advanced by the liberal bourgeoisie. W. E. B. Du Bois provided a complementary answer: "There are today no truer exponents of the pure human spirit of the Declaration of Independence than the American Negroes. 71 However much some might wish to dismiss these claims as romantic exaggeration, the slaveholders knew better. The southern Federalists, for example, berated the Jeffersonians for spreading a French gospel of liberty, equality, and fraternity that the slaves would hear, interpret with deadly literalness, and rally around. Increasingly, during the nineteenth century, slaveholders lectured each other on the need to keep the blacks away from Fourth of July orations. The Reverend C. F. Sturgis of South Carolina left us a memorable image of --- Page 154 --- "The Flag of Our Country" holiday, at least as seen through the the Fourth as a plantation masters' eyes: and other fatlings are killed and a beautiful, Sheep and pigs dinner is provided. Master and though not very magnifcent assemble, and black and mistress and neighbors, and negroes table, like the keys of a white are seen strung along a great make and like the aforesaid instrument, the black keys piano; the white; all mingle for awhile in the fully as much noise as joke goes harmony and good feeling; many a merry utmost and all is rustic hilarity and mirth. round, songs are sung, strictly a negro and these celebrations must be] : : (But themselves should be their own family affair, and the negroes of "Hail Coactors, and musicians. Instead singing orators, of marchlumbia,' 91 let them sing "Walk-jaw-bone"; > instead in the the strains of martial music, let them engage ing to of patting "Juber," 19 and instead more congenial employment of the victories over the British, of listening to the rehearsal triumph in their long, let them rejoice in their well-earned with "General Green" that is with crab-grass. hard contest minds are liable to be led astray-the plainweak : . Their be or est things are likely to perverted exaggerated. had his problems, for the The Reverend Mr. Sturgis could not Fourth remained the Fourth, and the slaveholders innocuous layalways keep their slaves isolated at politically The slaves loved to see and hear the white poliby barbecues. their slaves and many masters thought ticians put-on-dog, heard. As late as 1825 an too stupid to reflect on what they "Freedom to fête caused trouble by toasting, orator at a big became safe enough. the slave, 19 but thereafter the speeches abolitionists. the 1840S the orators might even roast the By warnings of the southern Federalists, Forgetting the early --- Page 155 --- From Rebellion to Revolution sound themes acceptable to southern white they continued to slaves, for whom the and ostensibly irrelevant to the opinion freedom supposedcheers for Brazilian, Greek, or Hungarian could the loose talk ly could mean nothing. reflect on what they "Freedom to fête caused trouble by toasting, orator at a big became safe enough. the slave, 19 but thereafter the speeches abolitionists. the 1840S the orators might even roast the By warnings of the southern Federalists, Forgetting the early --- Page 155 --- From Rebellion to Revolution sound themes acceptable to southern white they continued to slaves, for whom the and ostensibly irrelevant to the opinion freedom supposedcheers for Brazilian, Greek, or Hungarian could the loose talk ly could mean nothing. Nor, apparently, of revo99 war against tyrants, "right about "independence, >9 lution," or, for that matter, "southern rights. Travel, told the Harriet Martineau, in Retrospect of Western of who heard of the Bill story of a slave in Massachusetts Asked how she had heard Rights and demanded her freedom. easily have of such things, she gave an answer that might still and from anywhere in the South: "By keepin' come the 99 Some ex-slaves interviewed during mindin' things. recalled the Fourth ofJ fJuly as a big holiday twentieth century speeches. Many others but added that they heard no political stalwarts having heard them, as worried slavery did report with maximum security and constantly insisted. And even efforts to keep the slaves away from political meetings, major remained. The Fourth was a major plantation the danger black friends from holiday with much coming and going by in House slaves and field hands mingled other plantations. barbecues. Some house slaves easy camaraderie at generous even ifthe slaves attended their masters at political meetings, back what they excluded, and they reported were generally saw and heard. ofthe AmerEvery election campaign echoed the language to slave unrest no ican Revolution and threatened generate rhetoric. In how much care was taken to control the matter slaveholder ordered Tom, his slave, to 1840, for example, a "Please de Lord, old Tip's do a job and got a sharp refusal: and Ia free man. >9 On February 22, 1849, the Plantelected, --- Page 156 --- "The Flag of Our Country" Parish, Louisiana, explained the iners' Banner of St. Mary's cident under the title "A Wrong Impression' ": . of the habit of Southern politicians representThe tendency candidates as Abolitionists is ing Northern Presidential anecdote, told by Dr. laughably illustrated by the following Presidential Elder. The Democratic stumpers, during the General of 1840, were in the habit of charging campaign the slaves everywhere heard it, Harrison with Abolitionism; election reached them, the poor and when the news of his thought their time had come at last. creatures of slave unrest that SO frightened the white The great wave in the wake of the Republican party's South in 1856 came bloodbath in Tennessee, emergence and ferce campaign. The in slave conspirators met a ghastly fate, may in which alleged throughout the fact have been linked to a widespread plot historians believe, but evidence western slave states, as some of Tennessee wrote to remains scarce. Benjamin F. Allen white southWilliam Trousdale on January 8, 1857, that believed in such a plot, and he attributed the hanging erners He added, "The offour blacks in Gallatin to a growing panic. had its oriand no doubt whole thing was greatly exaggerated hearing SO in the late Presidential canvass, the negroes gins to think that ifhe was elected that much of Fremont began idea that there was any they would all be free, but I have no organized plan for insurrection. remains scarce. Benjamin F. Allen white southWilliam Trousdale on January 8, 1857, that believed in such a plot, and he attributed the hanging erners He added, "The offour blacks in Gallatin to a growing panic. had its oriand no doubt whole thing was greatly exaggerated hearing SO in the late Presidential canvass, the negroes gins to think that ifhe was elected that much of Fremont began idea that there was any they would all be free, but I have no organized plan for insurrection. 17 plots projected the Fourth of July Several insurrectionary the aborted but impressive as the day to rise-for example, Since the whites Camden, South Carolina, in 1816. plot at to attend rallies and barbecues would leave their plantations purliquor, the decision had a simple practical with fowing --- Page 157 --- From Rebellion to Revolution meaning. The slaves pose, but it also had a powerful symbolic reading displayed too great a poetic sense to permit a narrow And was it coincidence that Denmark of their intentions. ofHaiti, origiVesey, who SO long brooded over the meaning insurchose Bastille Day as the day on which his great nally rection would begin? freedom and deliverance The slaves' Christianity sang of Revolublended easily into the political message of the and of the slaves, at least during the tionary War. The religion normally eschewed calls to insurrection nineteenth century, survival in a world ofhopeless and took the path oflong-term could be turned into odds, but its essentially militant core moments. Thus, the message revolutionary channels at given in the hands ofa Gabriel Prosser, a Denof the Revolution, could be made to reinforce mark Vesey, or a Nat Turner, The the religious spirit of the people. rather than challenge deliverance by Moses, who, transslaves had been promised individual salvation in the formed into Jesus, had offered of collective world while maintaining the promise next this world in God's good time. For the slaves emancipation in by the Revolutionary the freedom and equality proclaimed of His will, represented a step in the unfolding generation themselves but for everyman, as such spirituals not merely for demon- "Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel" SO eloquently as Reverend C. C. Jones warned his fellow strate. Thus, the of the Camden plot of slaveholders to grasp the meaning The leaders, in his partisan view, were not really 1816. he charged, invoking the words Christians at all. They were, wild and frantic ideas ofE. C. Holland, fanatics imbued "by and examof the rights of man, and the misconstrued injunctions tried to of Holy Writ!" In the 1850S the slaveholders ples --- Page 158 --- "The Flag of Our Country" and the slaves heard fewer inflammatory be more careful, speeches. Fewer-but still too many. those acThe attitudes of northern free blacks, especially abolitionist movement, reflected a deep ambivative in the often for lence toward the Fourth of July, misrepresented of The speeches and writings modern political purposes. increasingly dwelt on these leaders, some of them ex-slaves, of the Decblatant contradiction between the sentiments the existence of slavand the continued laration ofIndependence They mercilessly exery and extreme racial discrimination. and held up the posed the shallowness of white pretensions of white Constitution as well as the Declaration as evidence evoked bitterness hypocrisy. The Fourth ofJuly increasingly which from northern black communities, preand contempt of British Emancipation or no day ferred to celebrate the day at all. assaulted the slaveholdTo a large extent black spokesmen but powerful and their northern protectors by the simple ers mirror and bearing witness to the redevice ofholding up a such dramatic effect as flected image. They mercilessly exery and extreme racial discrimination. and held up the posed the shallowness of white pretensions of white Constitution as well as the Declaration as evidence evoked bitterness hypocrisy. The Fourth ofJuly increasingly which from northern black communities, preand contempt of British Emancipation or no day ferred to celebrate the day at all. assaulted the slaveholdTo a large extent black spokesmen but powerful and their northern protectors by the simple ers mirror and bearing witness to the redevice ofholding up a such dramatic effect as flected image. No one did SO with of in his great speech on "The Meaning Frederick Douglass 99 delivered in Rochester, the Fourth of July for the Negro, New York, in 1852. told whites that no selfDouglass had more than once that black could love or consider as home a country respecting brothers and sisters. He repeatedly referred to enslaved his institutions and traditions as the Fourth and to American in Rochester, "is "yours." * The Fourth, he began his speech national independence, and of your pothe birthday of your irony freedom.' s9 And he probably intended the biting litical invoked the biblical exodus SO important to with which he 13I --- Page 159 --- From Rebellion to Revolution slaves: "This, to you, is the imagery of the freedom-loving of God.' *? what the Passover was to the emancipated people ofhis indictment deserves extensive quotation: The heart pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called Fellow citizens, What have I, or those I represent, upon to speak here today? Are the great printo do with your national independence? embodied freedom and of natural justice, ciples of political extended to us? and am in that Declaration oflndependence, humble offering to the I, therefore, called upon to bring our devout national altar, and to confess the benefits and express for the blessings resulting from your independence gratitude only reveals the imto us? . Your high independence in which you, measurable distance between us. The blessings in common. The rich inthis day, rejoice, are not enjoyed heritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, fathers, is shared by you, not by me. The bequeathed by your and healing to you, has brought sunlight that brought light This Fourth of July is yours, not stripes and death to me. What, to the mine. You may rejoice I must mourn. . . that slave, is your Fourth of July? I answer: a day American than all other days in the year, the gross reveals to him, more victim. To and cruelty to which he is the constant injustice boasted liberty an unhim, your celebration is a sham; your national greatness swelling vanity; your holy license; your and heartless; your denunciasounds of rejoicing are empty shouts oflibertion of tyrants brass-fronted impudence; your and hymns, and equality hollow mockery; your prayers ty with all your religious payour sermons and thanksgivings, fraud, deceprade and solemnity, are to Him mere bombast, crimes and hypocrisy-a thin veil to cover up tion, impiety nation of savages. There is not a which would disgrace a shocking and nation on the earth guilty of practices more the of the United States at this very bloody than are people hour. --- Page 160 --- "The Flag of Our Country" said much more. Early in the speech he had Yet, Douglass noted: I am not wanting in respect for the fathers Fellow citizens, of the Declaration of Indepenof this republic. The signers men, too- great dence were brave men. They were great enough to give frame to a great age. It does not often happen nation to raise, at one time, such a number oftruly great to a from which I am compelled to view them is men. than are people hour. --- Page 160 --- "The Flag of Our Country" said much more. Early in the speech he had Yet, Douglass noted: I am not wanting in respect for the fathers Fellow citizens, of the Declaration of Indepenof this republic. The signers men, too- great dence were brave men. They were great enough to give frame to a great age. It does not often happen nation to raise, at one time, such a number oftruly great to a from which I am compelled to view them is men. The point and yet I cannot contemnot, certainly, the most favorable; admiration. They were plate their great deeds with less than they did, and heroes, and for the good statesmen, patriots contended for, I will unite with you and the principles they to honor their memory. denounced the doctrine that Toward the end he indignantly "InterConstitution guaranteed and sanctioned slavery: the the Constitution is a preted as it ought to be interpreted, consider its document. Read its Preamble, glorious liberty for a country still young And he expressed hope forces purposes." of change in a world in which "there are and capable work the downfall lofslavin operation which must inevitably with hope. leave off where I began, ery : . I, therefore, from 'the Declaration ofInWhile drawing encouragement and the it contains genius dependence, the great principles the obvious American institutions, my spirit is cheered by of tendencies of the age. 99 and words, in their attack on white hypocrisy Douglass' admiration for American political principles, their unfeigned ofantebellum reverberate through the writings and speeches Sterling Stuckey, in his admirable introblack Americans. Black Nationalism, writes of duction to Ideological Origins of "There the militant forerunners of black nationalism, even --- Page 161 --- From Rebellion to Revolution distinguished blacks for was no small admiration among there was intense America's 'free institutions,' even though * The deep impression made hatred of slavery and oppression. black Ameriby the great ideas of the Age of Revolution on ofexfree and slave, might seem obvious and unworthy cans, were it not that some historians, most tended comment, cited this deep notably Theodore Draper, have implausibly ofblack naimpression as evidence for an alleged repudiation black nationalists, more plausitionalism, or that embittered attacks nonetheless tragically, have cited the critical bly but of the opposite. on the tradition of the Fourth as evidence readvance of the Age of Revolution The great ideological slaves of the New World and the flected the struggle of the intellectual formumasses of the Old, notwithstanding their to revolutionaries who often preferred lation by bourgeois The their own words a more restricted interpretation. give heard and understood the words, masses, black and white, down which were clear enough, and put the "interpretation" hypocrisy, and the spirit ofJudas. to greed, to do with separatism The question has little or nothing cannot for blacks of both persuasions versus integrationism, to all Americans. A separate escape an inheritance common blacks, were one to emerge, nation-state formed by American hammered would inherit notions of freedom and democracy well as whites during the Age of Revolution out by blacks as Fathers, the expressed by the Founding and magnificently leaders of SaintJacobins of Paris, and the revolutionary And these notions have a particular context, Domingue. much more than the longing of people everywhich expresses In this sense, the American where to be free of oppressors. ofblack as Founding Fathers spoke for the deepest aspirations --- Page 162 --- "The Flag of Our Country" America, however much they dishonored themwell as white principles. selves by betraying some of their own highest relative Americans will decide for themselves the Black ideologies and stratemerits of separatist and integrationist been sustained in which in any case have rarely if ever gies, Whatever their ultimate decision, they share absolute form. certain other peoples affected by with white Americans and American, and the spirit and principles of the English, reconciliation of French Revolutions, a commitment to the precious commitindividual freedom with democracy-a scarce on both sides of the cold war. much they dishonored themwell as white principles. selves by betraying some of their own highest relative Americans will decide for themselves the Black ideologies and stratemerits of separatist and integrationist been sustained in which in any case have rarely if ever gies, Whatever their ultimate decision, they share absolute form. certain other peoples affected by with white Americans and American, and the spirit and principles of the English, reconciliation of French Revolutions, a commitment to the precious commitindividual freedom with democracy-a scarce on both sides of the cold war. ment increasingly make sense of the choice of those In no other terms can we colonization and yet antebellum blacks who spurned African the United States to live in Canada or England, repudiated worked for the creation of a great "Afroor of those who and illiterate as Saxon" empire in the Caribbean. Ignorant as the issue at least the slaves generally were, they grasped enfor their own history of struggle against well as others, bourgeois democracy led slavement in the world's greatest link between the and to seize upon the them to recognize to the world by Chrisfreedom of the individual proclaimed revolution, and the democratization of the bourgeois tianity that fateful idea into a political realwhich was transforming William Craft, in his preface to the ity. Not surprisingly, from slavery, cited narrative of his and Ellen Craft's escape unfit them for slavery: the biblical assertwo ideas as having ofone blood; and the egalitarian tion that God made all men principles of the Declaration of Independence. and the war, as the Union troops occupied more During the blacks reversed the attitude of more southern territory, made the Fourth their own holitheir northern brothers and --- Page 163 --- From Rebellion to Revolution which it remained after the war. A special meaning day, reading the Declaration of Indepenattached to a little boy's the action ofa Bapdence to the freemen of Port Royal, as did hundred on St. Helena, which rose, three tist congregation strong, to sing: Roll, Jordan, Roll, Jordan! Roll, Jordan, Roll. Lucy McKim Garrison commented: anthem. That same hymn It swelled forth like a triumphal the of last, thousands of Negroes on 4th July was sung by under the Stars and Stripes, when they marched in procession 9) them for the first time as the "fag of our country. cheering from there says the chorus was indescribably A friend writing woods and world seemed joining in grand-"chat the whole that rolling sound." 19 What did the Fourth, the Declaration of Independence, mean to those illiterate slaves and the "flag of our country" in sometimes and freedmen? Were the slaveholders right bomthat their chattel heard nothing more than asserting excitement or unfortubast, either rendered as meaningless assertion and license? Corporal nate incitement to primitive answer. An exPrince Lambkin provided an unforgettable soldier, he rose to speak to his slave transformed into a tough He in Colonel Higginson's regiment. fellow black troops he had war ever began by reminding them that predicted those blunt Fremont's campaign in 1856. And then, in since deserve to hear from accents which the people everywhere stroke leaders but sO rarely do, he combined in a single their faith of his people with the political the profound religious message they were ready to hear: --- Page 164 --- "The Flag of Our Country" Our mas'rs dey hab lib under de flag, dey got dere wealth under it, and ebryting beautiful for dere chilen. Under it dey hab grind us up, and put us in dere pocket for money. But de fus' minute dey tink dat ole flag mean freedom for we colored people, dey pull it right down, and run up de rag ob dere own. [immense applause.] But we'll neber desert de ole flag, boys, neber; we hab lib under it for eigbteen bundred sixty-two years, and we'll die for it now. --- Page 165 --- This page intentionally lefi blank --- Page 166 --- Bibliographical Essay Since slave revolt did not occur in a vacuum, a full bibliography would have to include virtually everything on slavery itself. de fus' minute dey tink dat ole flag mean freedom for we colored people, dey pull it right down, and run up de rag ob dere own. [immense applause.] But we'll neber desert de ole flag, boys, neber; we hab lib under it for eigbteen bundred sixty-two years, and we'll die for it now. --- Page 165 --- This page intentionally lefi blank --- Page 166 --- Bibliographical Essay Since slave revolt did not occur in a vacuum, a full bibliography would have to include virtually everything on slavery itself. Thus, for the hemisphere as a whole one should begin with the larger surveys. Indispensable for the historical context of the revolts and of modern slavery generally are Eric Hobsbawm, The Age of Revolution, 1789-1848 (New York, 1962); David Brion Davis, The Problem of Slavery in Western Culture (Ithaca, N.Y., 1966), and The Problem ofSlavery in the Age of Revolution (Ithaca, N.Y., 1975). See also two valuable general works: C. Duncan Rice, The Rise and Fall of Black Slavery (New York, 1975); and Philip Foner, History of Black Americans: From Africa to the Emergence of the Cotton Kingdom (Westport, Conn., 1975). Roger Bastide offers controversial interpretations of maroon life and other subjects in African Civilizations in the Americas (New York, 1972). His views are effectively challenged at some points by Richard Price in his introduction to his splendid collection ofstudies, Maroon Societies (New York, 1973), which includes some illuminating contemporary materials, essays by leading scholars, and a fine bibliography. Sidney W. Mintz's important studies of maroon life and the role of the African peoples in the development of Caribbean societies have been collected in Caribbean Transformations (Chicago, 1974). --- Page 167 --- Bibliographical Essay consideration of the revolts themselves should begin Any historical work and Marxist interwith C. L. R. James's great L'Ouverture and the San pretation, Black Jacobins: Toussaint Less useful-one Domingo Revolution (New York, 1938). still worth book should be enough for a lifetime-bur great A History of Negro Revolt (New York, reading are James, Slave Trade and Slavery: Some In1969), and "The Atlantic ofthe of their Significance in the Development terpretations Amistad, No. I United States and the Western World," ofthe (New York, 1970), 119-64. A seminal interpretation with slave revolts as part of the bourgeois-democratic era, volumibeyond that era, may be found in the implications nous work of W. E. B. Du Bois. on collection of papers and commentaries A wide-ranging in the New World may be found in various aspects of slavery Perspectives Vera Rubin and Arthur Tuden, eds., Comparative in New World Plantation Societies. Much ofthe mateon Slavery closely packed pages) book bears on our rial in this large (618 is Part VI on resistance, subject, but especially relevant Frucht (St. Kitts); Mavis which contains papers by Richard Leslie F. Manigat (Saint-Domingue); C. Campbell (Jamaica); Luz Maria Martinez MonAngelina Pollak-Eltz (Venezuela); Oruno D. Lara tiel (Mexico); Silvia de Groot (Surinam); United and Michael (Gerald W.) Mullin (the (comparative); by Herbert Aptheker and Richard States; with commentaries Price. social context and for an introductory For the hemispheric D. Genovese, eds., bibliography see Laura Foner and Eugene For Slavery in the New World (Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1969). amaica); Luz Maria Martinez MonAngelina Pollak-Eltz (Venezuela); Oruno D. Lara tiel (Mexico); Silvia de Groot (Surinam); United and Michael (Gerald W.) Mullin (the (comparative); by Herbert Aptheker and Richard States; with commentaries Price. social context and for an introductory For the hemispheric D. Genovese, eds., bibliography see Laura Foner and Eugene For Slavery in the New World (Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1969). readable and instructive attempt to set the revolts in an early Thomas Wentworth Higgina hemispheric perspective see --- Page 168 --- Bibliographical Essay Rebellion (New York, 1969), originally written for son, Black the 1850S and 1860s and published Atlantic Momthly during and Outlaws in 1889; also relevant is his as part of Travellers Black Regiment (Boston, 1870). better-known Army Life in a discussions of slave reImportant general works with useful World The Negro in the New volt include Sir Harry Johnston, The History of Sugar (2 (London, I910); and Noel Deerr, vols.; London, 1945). with the work of For slavery in the United States begin Alawed by Ulrich Bonnell Phillips, which although deeply American Negro Slavery racist bias, remains indispensable: and Labor in the Old South (Boston, (Baton Rouge, 1967); Life Old Soutb: The Selected Es1948); and The Slave Economy ofthe D. Genovese of Ulrich Bonnell Phillips, ed. by Eugene says 1968). My own appraisal of Phillips' work (Baton Rouge, be found in Eugene D. Genoalong with other matters may in Soutbern and vese, In Red and Black: Marxian Explorations History (New York, 1971). The outstanding Afro-American of southern slave socialternative to Phillips interpretation The Peculiar Institution ety as a whole is Kenneth M. Stampp, (New York, 1956). slave revolts in the United States Consideration of the American Negro Slave must begin with Herbert Aptheker, criticized for exaggeraRevolts (New York, 1943), widely invaluable. In addition see Aptheker's tions but nonetheless in To Be Free: Studies in American ground-breaking essays York, 1948). See also his "AdditionNegro History (New Maroons,' 17 Journal of Negro History, al Data on American For other useful general XXXII (October, 1947), 452-60. Insurrections in tbe United accounts see Joseph C. Carroll, Slave Insurrections Harvey Wish, "Slave States (Boston, 1938); --- Page 169 --- Bibliographical Essay Before 1861, *9 Journal of Negro History, XXII (July, 1937), Wish, "The Slave Insurrection Panic of 299-320; Harvey Soutbern History, V (Rebruary-November, 1856," Journal of Maxwell Brown, Strain of 1938), 206-22; and Richard Historical Studies of American Violence and Vigilantism Violence: (New York, 1975), Chap. 7. of the revolts in the For a stimulating popular account Chains (New United States see Nicholas Halasz, The Rattling RevoYork, 1966), esp. Chap. 5 on the effects ofthe Haitian in lution. Clement Eaton, The Fradom-ef-Thought Struggle N.C., 1940), is especially good on the Old Soutb (Durham, (Chap. 4). A number of "The Fear of Servile Insurrection" assessments of recent books on slave life contain thoughtful W. Blassinthe revolts from different points of view: John (New York, 1972); Nathan Huggame, The Slave Community Ordeal in Slavery (New gins, Black Odyssey: The Afro-American Property": Leslie Howard Owens, "This Species of York, 1977); Culture in the Old South (New York, 1976); Slave Life and Sundoun to Sunup: The Making ofthe George P. 4). A number of "The Fear of Servile Insurrection" assessments of recent books on slave life contain thoughtful W. Blassinthe revolts from different points of view: John (New York, 1972); Nathan Huggame, The Slave Community Ordeal in Slavery (New gins, Black Odyssey: The Afro-American Property": Leslie Howard Owens, "This Species of York, 1977); Culture in the Old South (New York, 1976); Slave Life and Sundoun to Sunup: The Making ofthe George P. Rawick, From Conn., 1972); and John AnBlack Community (Westport, Slavery and the Struggle thony Scott, Hard Trials on My Way: 1800-1860 (New York, 1974). For a provocative Against It, the thesis of docility see Stanley interpretation that accepts Institutional and InM. Elkins, Slavery: A Problem in American Lane, ed., tellectual Life (Chicago, 1959); but also Ann J. The Elkins Thesis and Its Critics (UrThe Debate Over Slavery: is the searching bana, Ill., 1971). Ofexceptional importance Freedom: An Analysis of essay of Marion Kilson, "Towards *9 Phylon, XXV (Summer, Slave Revolts in the United States, of which attempts, with a good measure 1964), 175-87, of revolt. success, to classify different types --- Page 170 --- Bibliographical Essay the colonial period in general see Winthrop D., Jordan, For Attitudes Toward the Negro, 1550 - White Over Black: American For the revolt in New York 1812 (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1968). Insurrection in Scott, "The Slave City in 1712 see Kenneth 99 New York Historical Society Quarterly, New York in 1712, revolt of 1712 and the XLV (January, 1961), 43-74. The McManus, trial of 1741 are discussed in EdgarJ. conspiracy in New York (Syracuse, 1966). The contempoNegro Slavery Horsmanden, The New York Conspiracy rary account ofDaniel Proceedings against Negro Plot with theJournal or a History ofthe York in the Years 1741-1742 (New tbe Conspirators at New reading about the York, 1810; 1972), makes fascinating also Ferenc M. terror struck into the white population. See "The New York Slave Revolt of 1741: A Re-ExaminaSzasz, 215-30. tion, 99 New York History, XXVIII (July, 1967), and revolts in colonial Louisiana, including For the plots see the forthcoming at Pointe Coupée the complex conspiracy or his doctoral dissertabook by James Thomas McGowan, Plantations in tion, "Creation of a Slave Society: Louisiana (University of Rochester, 1976), the Eighteenth Century" Indian wars, and analyzes slave resistance, which brilliantly See also Jack and economics. French and Spanish politics Pointe Coupée, "The Abortive Slave Revolt at D. L. Holmes, Louisiana History, XI (Fall, 1970), 341Louisiana, 1795, "The United States Army and 62, and Tommy R. Young II, 9 Louisithe Institution of Slavery in Louisiana, 1803-1815, 1974), 201-22, which sheds new ana Studies, XIII (Fall, "The PerJames H. Dorman, light on the revolt of1811;and) Louisiana," 99 Slave Rebellion in Territorial sistent Spectre: Louisiana History XVIII (Fall, 1977), 389-404and The studies of slavery in the states have materials --- Page 171 --- Bibliographical Essay revolts and discussions of white fears in analyses of the slave Charles S. Louisithe Institution of Slavery in Louisiana, 1803-1815, 1974), 201-22, which sheds new ana Studies, XIII (Fall, "The PerJames H. Dorman, light on the revolt of1811;and) Louisiana," 99 Slave Rebellion in Territorial sistent Spectre: Louisiana History XVIII (Fall, 1977), 389-404and The studies of slavery in the states have materials --- Page 171 --- Bibliographical Essay revolts and discussions of white fears in analyses of the slave Charles S. Sydnor, Slavery in the absence ofactual revolt. See Taylor, Negro (Gloucester, Mass., 1965); Joe Gray Mississippi Benson SellSlavery in Louisiana (Baton Rouge, 1963);James 1964); Slavery in Alabama (University of Alabama, ers, The Cotton Kingdom in Alabama (MontgomCharles S. Davis, Virgin1939); Robert McColley, Slavery andJeffersonian ery, 1964);Jeffrey R. Brackett, The Negro in ia (Champaign, Ill., the Institution of Slavery (Baltimore, Maryland: A Study of Plantation Slavery in Georgia 1889); Ralph Betts Flanders, "Slave RebelHill, N.C., 1933);John D. Milligan, (Chapel Florida Maroons, 19 Prologue, VI (Spring, liousness and the valuable. Orville W. Taylor, 1974), 4-18, is especially N.C., 1958); Chase C. Negro Slavery in Arkansas (Durham, Ind., 1957); Mooney, Slavery in Tennessee (Bloomington, The Negro in Tennessee, 1790-1860 Caleb Perry Patterson, Slavery in Kentucky, (Austin, 1922); Ivan E. McDougle, Coleman, (Lancaster, Pa., 1918); John Winston 1792-1865 (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1940); Howell Slavery Times in Kentucky Slave in Soutbern CaroMeadoes Henry, The Police Control ofthe Abortive Slave 1914); W. K. Moore, "An lina (Emory, Va., 12379 Missouri Historical Review (January, 1958), Uprising, David Burns McKibben, "Negro Slave Insurrections 26; and 1800-1865." Journal of Negro History, in Mississippi, which suffers from a slim XXXIV (January, 1949), 73-90, evidential base. Black Texans: A History of NeOn Texas see Alwyn Barr, and Wendell G. groes in Texas, 1528-1971 (Austin, 1973); ?9 of Negro "Slave Insurrections in Texas, Journal Addington, (October, 1950), 408-34. Also, Harold History, XXXV of Texas, 99 SouthSchoen, "The Free Negro in the Republic --- Page 172 --- Bibliographical Essay western Historical Quarterly, XL (January, William W. White, "The Texas Slave 1937), 169-99; Southwvestern Historical Insurrection of 1860, Quarterly, LII (January, 85; and for a skeptical reassessment, 1949), 259Disturbances in North Texas Wesley Norton, "Civil ern Historical in 1859 and 1860, 7) SonthwvestQuarterly, LXVIII (January, On the relationship of blacks and Indians 1965), 317-41. conditions and on frontier generally see especially Kenneth Wiggins remarkable volume of studies, The Porter's York, 1971), which Negro on the Frontier (New nole War. contains the best account of the SemiAlso, Annie Abel, The Slavebolding Indians vols.; Cleveland, 1915-1925); Mary Elizabeth (3 skins, Ruftesbirts, and Rednecks: Indian Young, Redand Mississippi, 1830-1860 Allotments in Alabama B. Nash, Red, Wbite, and (Norman, Okla., 1960); Gary 1974); Richard Maxwell Black (Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Brown, South Carolina Regulators (Cambridge, Mass., 1963); Rembert W. best account of the SemiAlso, Annie Abel, The Slavebolding Indians vols.; Cleveland, 1915-1925); Mary Elizabeth (3 skins, Ruftesbirts, and Rednecks: Indian Young, Redand Mississippi, 1830-1860 Allotments in Alabama B. Nash, Red, Wbite, and (Norman, Okla., 1960); Gary 1974); Richard Maxwell Black (Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Brown, South Carolina Regulators (Cambridge, Mass., 1963); Rembert W. Patrick, Fiasco: Rampant Rebels on the Gergia-Florida Florida 1815 (Athens, Ga., 1954); David M. Border, 1810the Plantation Potter, "The Rise of System in Georgia,' 99 Georgia Historical terly, XVI (June, 1932), I14-35; William S. Quarvide and Rule: Red, Willis, "DiJournal White, and Black in the 9, of Negro History, XLVIII (July, Southeast, Willis, 1963), 157-76; and nial "Anthropology and Negroes on the Southern ColoFrontier, in James C. Curtis and Lewis L. The Black Experience in America Gould, eds., ard K. Murdoch, "The (Austin, Texas, 1970); RichReturn of Runaway Slaves, 1794," Florida Historical Quarterly, 17901959), 96-I13; Wyatt F. Jeltz, "The XXXVIII (October, and Choctaw and Chickasaw 91 Relations of Negroes tory, XXXIII Indians, Journal of Negro His- (January, 1948), 24-37; Edward Everett --- Page 173 --- Bibliographical Essay Cherokees in the Confederacy, 9 Journal of SouthDale, "The ern History, XIII (May, 1947), 159-85. will be found in The best study of the Stono Rebellion but Wood, Black Majority (New York, N.Y., 1974), Peter context see also Eugene M. Sirmans, Colonial for the political 1663-1673 (Chapel Hill, South Carolina: A Political History, Gabriel's revolt N.C., 1966). Gerald W. Mullin's chapter on Resisother accounts: Flight and Rebellion: Slave supersedes Virginia (New York, 1972). The tance in Eighbtenth-Century Race Reladiscussion of slave revoltin, James Hugo, Johnston, and Miscegenation in the South (Amherst, tions in Virginia useful, and the account ofthe conMass., 1970), is generally spiracy of 1802 especially SO. conspiracy is that The fullest study of the Denmark Vesey The Turbulent of John Lofton, Insurrection in South Carolina: but World of Denmark Vesey (Yellow Springs, Ohio, 1964), analysis in William W. Freehling, see also the penetrating Richard Wade miniPrelude to Civil War (New York, 1966). Reconsideramizes the conspiracy in "The Vesey Plot: A 99 Journal of Soutbern History, XXX (May, 1964), 143tion, refuted Wade's thesis, as has 61. Freehling has adequately Denmark Vesey, Negro Sterling Stuckey, "Remembering documents Digest, XV (February, 1966), 28-41. Important O. Kilavailable in The Trial of Denmark Vesey, ed. John are and (no editor), An Account of tbe Late lens (Boston, 1970) Portion the Blacks of This City Intended Insurrection Among a of (West- (Charleston, 1822). The latter was reprinted in 1970 Conn.) in a volume entitled Slave Insurrections: Selected port, which also includes Thomas Pinckney, Reflections Documents, tbe Late Disturbance in Cbarleston and Joshua Occasioned bry Some of tbe Principal Slave Insurrections. The Trial of Denmark Vesey, ed. John are and (no editor), An Account of tbe Late lens (Boston, 1970) Portion the Blacks of This City Intended Insurrection Among a of (West- (Charleston, 1822). The latter was reprinted in 1970 Conn.) in a volume entitled Slave Insurrections: Selected port, which also includes Thomas Pinckney, Reflections Documents, tbe Late Disturbance in Cbarleston and Joshua Occasioned bry Some of tbe Principal Slave Insurrections. Coffin, An Account of --- Page 174 --- Bibliographical Essay Starobin, ed., Denmark Vesey: The Slave ConSee also Robert and his "Denof1822 (Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1970) spiracy of 1822: A Study of Rebellion mark Vesey's Slave Conspiracy Slav9) in John Bracey, et al., eds., American and Repression, Resistance (Belmont, Calif., 1971), 142ery: The Question of 57. The Fires ofJubile: Nat Turner's Fierce Stephen B. Oates, and York, 1975), combines sound scholarship Rebellion (New introduction to Nat Turner literary talent. Eric Foner's materials, is (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.), a collection of source William S. Drewry, The Southexcellent. The old study by retains some Insurrection (Washington, D.C., 1900), ampton marred by errors and bias. F. Roy, Johnson, value but is badly (Murfreesboro, 1966), is The Nat Turner Slave Insurrection Herbert interesting for its discussion of religion. especially Turner's Slave Rebellion (New York, 1966) Aptheker's Nat Slave Rein his American Negro is not as good as the chapter "The volts. On the wider context see John W. Cromwell, Turner's Insurrection,' 99 Journal of Negro Aftermath of Nat importance is History, V (April, 1920), 208-34. Ofs special abie collection of documents with a generally the excellent introduction by Henry Tragle, The but sometimes cranky Mass., 1971). Southampton Slave Revolt of1831 (Amherst, McManus, For slave revolts in the North see Edgar J. Ziland Arthur Black Bondage in the North (Syracuse, 1973), in the The First Emancipation: The Abolition ofSlavery versmit, 1967). For a moving account ofa an important North (Chicago, Katz, Resistance at Christiana if unusual action see Jonathan black resistance to (New York, 1974), which sheds light on of the Fugitive Slave Law. the implementation abolitionists, their attitude toFor a good survey of black --- Page 175 --- Bibliographical Essay revolts, and their role in shaping the ideology of ward slave Black Abolitionists black America, see Benjamin Quarles, H. Pease and Wil- (New York, 1969). Also valuable is Jane Search Tbey Wbo Would Be Free: Blacks' for liam H. Pease, York, 1974), which has especialFreedom, 1830-1861 (New revolumaterial on the impact ofthe European ly interesting black consciousness in the United tions of 1830 and 1848 on Freedom: The Nonviolent States; and Carleton Mabee, Black 1830 Through tbe Civil War (London, 1970), Abolitionists, from attitudes toward which has useful material on abolitionist ideology of for the impact of the slave revolt. Indispensable militant blacks is Sterling Stuckey, the Age of Revolution on Nationalism (Boston, ed., The Ideological Origins of Black introducfor which Stuckey has written a brilliant 1972), Feldstein, Once a Slave: The Slaves' View ofSlavtion. Stanley good on the slaves' view of ery (New York, 1971) is especially relationship ofindependence. On the general the Declaration fabric of American life," of black thought to "the complete 199 in Charles see Leroi Jones, "The Myth of'Negro Literature, Black: Writings T. Age of Revolution on Nationalism (Boston, ed., The Ideological Origins of Black introducfor which Stuckey has written a brilliant 1972), Feldstein, Once a Slave: The Slaves' View ofSlavtion. Stanley good on the slaves' view of ery (New York, 1971) is especially relationship ofindependence. On the general the Declaration fabric of American life," of black thought to "the complete 199 in Charles see Leroi Jones, "The Myth of'Negro Literature, Black: Writings T. Davis and Daniel Walden, eds., On Being from Frederick Douglass to the Present (Greenbry Afro-Americans Among the many fine documentaries wood, Conn., 1970). Carter G. of black writings and speeches see especially in Letters Woodson, ed., Tbe Mind of the Negro as Reflected tbe Crisis, 1800-1860 (Washington, D.C., Written During Porter, ed., Early Negro Writing, 17601926); and Dorothy On black hopes for an Afro-Saxon 1837 (Boston, 1971). H. Bell, ed., Black empire in the Caribbean see Howard Mich., Separatism and the Caribbean, 1860 (Ann Arbor, 1970). of religion to resistance, rebellion, and The importance --- Page 176 --- Bibliographical Essay has become increasingly clear, and some exaccommodation on black religion. See cellent work has recently appeared Culture and Black especially Lawrence W. Levine, Black to FreeFolk Thougbt from Slavery Consciousmess: Afro-American analysis of the dom (New York, 1977). For a comprehensive Slaves: A Study of literature see Olli Alho, The Religion of the Slaves in the Tradition and Behavior of Plantation the Religious Mecham Sobel's study of the United States (Helsinki, 1976). Conn., under slavery, Trabelin' On (Westport, black Baptists Among the different in1979), is based on fresh sources. Vincent terpretations of religious radicalism see especially "Religion and Resistance Among Antebellum Harding, 1800-1860, 93 in August Meier and ElAmerican Negroes, of Black America (2 vols.; liott Rudwick, eds., The Making Black ReNew York, 1969), 179-97; Gayraud S. Wilmore, books and Black Radicalism (New York, 1972); and two ligion H. Mitchell, Black Preaching (Philadelphia, 1970) by Henry Blacks in America and West and Black Belief: Folk Beliefs of be found in Africa (New York, 1975). My own views may York, Roll: The World the Slaves Made (New Roll, Jordan, 1974). between slave revolt and the abolition of The relationship discussed W. E. B. Du Bois, The Supthe slave trade is by States America ofthe African Slave Trade to the United of pression which contains many insights into the (New York, 1896), world politics. The comimpact of the Afro-Americans on revolt and abolition plexities of the slave trade in relation to further in Converse D. Clowse, Economic Beginare explored South Carolina, 1670-1730 (Columbia, nings in Colonial "Georgia and the Negro Before S.C., 1971); Darold D. Wax, LI Revolution, 99 Georgia Historical Quarterly, the American --- Page 177 --- Bibliographical Essay and "Negro Resistance to the Early (March, 1967), 63-77, American Slave Trade,' 99 Journal ofNegro History, LI (January, Lorenzo J. Greene, "Mutiny on the Slave 1966), I-15; James Ships, Phylon, V (Fourth Quarter, 1944), 346-54; DocuSins of the Fatbers (New York, 1966); Pope-Hennesy, Connecticut Historical Society ment, "A Slave Mutiny, 1764," Johannes Postma, Bulletin, XXXI (January, 1966), 30-32;J Slaves: The Dutch "Slaving Techniques and Treatment of the Guinea Coast,' 7) in Stanley L. Engerman and Activities on eds., Race and Slavery in the Western Eugene D. ips, Phylon, V (Fourth Quarter, 1944), 346-54; DocuSins of the Fatbers (New York, 1966); Pope-Hennesy, Connecticut Historical Society ment, "A Slave Mutiny, 1764," Johannes Postma, Bulletin, XXXI (January, 1966), 30-32;J Slaves: The Dutch "Slaving Techniques and Treatment of the Guinea Coast,' 7) in Stanley L. Engerman and Activities on eds., Race and Slavery in the Western Eugene D. Genovese, Studies (Princeton, N.J., 1973), 33Hemisphere: Quantitative "The Slave Trade and Sectionalism in 50; Patrick S. Brady, Journal of Southern History, South Carolina, 1787-1808," 601-20; Howard Jones, XXXVIII (November, 1972), National Honor: The Case of "The Peculiar Institution and Creole Slave Revolt, 79 Civil War History, XXI (March, the For the domestic slave trade in general and 1975), 28-50. Slave-Trading in black resistance to it see Frederic Bancroft, the Old South (Baltimore, 1931). in Clôvis Brazilian slave revolts and quilombos are surveyed insurreicoes, guerrilhas Moura, Rebelioes da senzala: quilombos, and are related to wider black struggles (Sao Paulo, 1959), luta contra a escravidao (Rio de Janeiin Luiz Luna, 0 negro na Goulart, Da fuga ao Also useful is José Alipio ro, 1968). Aderbal Jurema, Insurreicoes suicidio (Rio de Janeiro, 1972). ifsche1935), presents a stimulating negras no Brasil (Recife, Carl Degler has a different matic early Marxist interpretation. White (New York, 1971). interpretation in Neitber Black nor with valuable inRevolts and quilombos are assessed, often Brasil in Raimondo Nina Rodrigues, Os africanos no sight, Arthur Ramos, The Negro in Brazil (Sao Paulo, 1932); --- Page 178 --- Bibliographical Essay D.C., 1939); and Edison Carneiro, Ladinos e (Washington, no Brasil (Rio de Janeiro, 1964). crioulos: estudos sôbre 0 negro formulations is Especially interesting despite many arguable Bastide, of the religious dimension in Roger the treatment Brésil (Paris, 1960). On guerrilla Les religions africaines aul Mocambo: Slave Resisbases see Stuart B. Schwartz, "The III in Colonial Bahia, 1* Journal of Social History, (Sumtance See also, Schwartz, "Resistance and mer, 1970), 313-33. Brazil: The Slaves' Accommodation in Eightenth-Century Review, LVII View of Slavery, *9 Hispanic American Historical "Slave 1977), 69-81; and Cleveland Donald,Jr., (February, Abolitionism in Brazil: The Campista Case, Resistance and 182-93. ? Luso-Brazilian Review, XIII (1976), 1879-1888, of women in Brazil and Spanish America see Ann For the role Conn., 1976). Pescatello, Power and Paun (Westport, the For the wider context of black action see especially works of C. R. Boxer: The Dutch in Brazil (Oxford, 1957); Salvador de Sa and the Struggle for Brazil and Angola (London, (Berkeley, Calif., 1962). 1952); and The Golden Age ofBrazil although his The works of Gilberto Freyre remain arresting, doubtful of revolts and quilombos range from interpretations See especially The in their special pleading. Conn., 1976). Pescatello, Power and Paun (Westport, the For the wider context of black action see especially works of C. R. Boxer: The Dutch in Brazil (Oxford, 1957); Salvador de Sa and the Struggle for Brazil and Angola (London, (Berkeley, Calif., 1962). 1952); and The Golden Age ofBrazil although his The works of Gilberto Freyre remain arresting, doubtful of revolts and quilombos range from interpretations See especially The in their special pleading. to preposterous York, 1956) and The Mansions and Masters and the Slaves (New books of Caio the Shanties (New York, 1963). The admirable The Colonial devote attention to black history: Prado Junior Calif., 1967); Historia Background ofModern Brazil (Berkeley, ed.; Sao Paulo, 1962); and Evoluçao econômica do Brasil (7th 1963). For do Brasil e outros estudos (4th ed.; Sao Paulo, politica Pedro Calmon, Historia social do Brasil the early period see and for the wider struggles (3 vols.; Sao Paulo, 1937-1939); Conficts century see Kenneth R. Maxwell, of the eighteenth I5I --- Page 179 --- Bibliographical Essay Brazil and Portugal, 1750-1808 (Camand Conspiracies: region see the valuable study bridge, 1973). For the mining em Waldemar de Almeida Barbosa, Negros e quilombos by Minas Gerais (Belo Horizonte, 1972). free and slave, during The debate over the role of blacks, cenabolition crisis of the second half of the nineteenth the Of special importance is Emilia Viotti tury continues apace. (Sao Paulo, 1966). Among the da Costa, Da senzala à colonia and in that directly treat the issue ofviolence works English and economic abolitionist activity in relation to political The is Robert B. Toplin, developments, the most satisfactory See also his Abolition of Slavery in Brazil (New York, 1972). in Violence, and the Abolition of Slavery article, "Upheaval, Brazil: The Case of Sao Paulo, *? Hispanic American Historical But for other Review, XLIX (November, 1969), 639-55. in Pernamsee Peter Eisenberg, The Sugar Industry viewpoints Modernization Without Change (Berkeley, buco, 1840-1910: The Destruction of Brazilian Slav1974), and Robert Conrad, ery, 1850-1888 (Berkeley, 1972). discuss Palmares and the Many of the works already cited essential. On Bahia revolts, but several special studies are dos PalEdison Carneiro, 0 quilombo Palmares see especially valuable documents. Of mares (Sao Paulo, 1947), with some R. K. Kent, "An the several journal articles see especially in Brazil, " of African History, VI, no. 2 African State Journal "The Palmares 'Repub- (1965), 161-75; and Ernesto Ennes, Americas, lic' of Pernambuco: Its Final Destruction, 1697," volume of 1948), 200-216. Ennes has edited a V (October, Palmares (Sao Paulo, 1938). A few documents: As guerras nos see Richard of these have been translated into English; ed., The Bandeirantes (New York, 1965), 115-26. Morse, --- Page 180 --- Bibliographical Essay revolts in Bahia from 1807 to 1835 have been criticalThe Howard Prince, "Slave Rebellion in Bahia, ly surveyed by Columbia University, 1807-1835" (Ph.D. dissertation, "Black Revolts in Bahia, 18071972); and Joao José Reis, 1978), which 1835" (M.A. thesis, University of Minnesota, excellent evaluation from a Marxist viewpoint. provides an "A Elite Baiana Face OS Movimentos Sociais, See also Reis, Revista de Historia (Sao Paulo), CVIII Bahia: 1824-1840, (1976), 341-84. Howard Prince, "Slave Rebellion in Bahia, ly surveyed by Columbia University, 1807-1835" (Ph.D. dissertation, "Black Revolts in Bahia, 18071972); and Joao José Reis, 1978), which 1835" (M.A. thesis, University of Minnesota, excellent evaluation from a Marxist viewpoint. provides an "A Elite Baiana Face OS Movimentos Sociais, See also Reis, Revista de Historia (Sao Paulo), CVIII Bahia: 1824-1840, (1976), 341-84. Abbé Ignace Etienne, alThe old two-part account by still tells though marred by extreme bias and factual errors, des Malès du Brésil et leur a good story: "La secte musulmane 405-15. Anthropos, IV (1909), 99-105, révolte en 1835," and Africa are discussed in Pierre Contacts between Bahia de la traite des Nègres entre le Golfe de Benin Verger, Flux et reflux 1968); and José Honorio et Babia de Todos 05 Santos (Paris, which, howRodrigues, Brazil and Africa (Berkeley, 1965), For a overestimates the role of the Hausa. ever, certainly anti-Marxist challenging interpretation by a tough-minded R. K. Kent, "African Revolt in Bahia: 24-25 scholar see lofSocial History, III (Summer, 1970), January 1935, Journal 334-56. of African Islam see especially J. SpenFor the background (Oxford, 1959), and Islam in West Africa cer Trimingham, (London, 1962); M. G. A History of Islam in West Africa Societies, 91 Social Smith, "Slavery and Emancipation in Two Economic Studies, II (December, 1954), 239-90; and Peoples of Southwestern C. Daryll Forde, The Yoruba-Speaking G. B. Fisher and HumNigeria (London, 1962); and Allan (Garden Fisher, Slavery and Muslim Society in Africa phrey J. For the relevant features of the classical City, N.Y., 1971). --- Page 181 --- Bibliographical Essay Muslim political tradition see especially Reuben Levy, The Social Structure of Islam (Cambridge, 1957); Erwin I. J. Rosenthal, Political Thougbt in Medieval Islam (Cambridge, 1962); and the theoretically rich if somewhat contentious Marxist analyses of Maxime Rodinson: Mobammed (New York, 1971) and Islam and Capitalism (New York, 1973). For Spanish America see the excellent chapter on slave revolt and resistance in Leslie B. Rout, Jr., The African Experience in Spanish America (Cambridge, 1976). For a general discussion, especially useful for Peru, see Rolando Mellafe, La esclavitud en Hispanoamérica (Buenos Aires, 1964). For another, especially useful for Santo Domingo, see Ralph H. Vigil, "Negro Slaves and Rebels in The Spanish Possessions, 1503-1558, 19 Historian, XXXIII (1971), 637-55. Among the many admirable features of John Lynch, The Spanish American Revolutions, 1808-1826 (New York, 1973), is the attention paid to black participation and autonomous action. Sixteenth-century revolts and maroon warfare are surveyed in Carlos Federico Guillot, Negros rebeldes y negros cimarrones: perfil afroaméricano en la bistoria del Nuevo Mundo durante el siglo XVI (Montevideo, 1961). There are several useful studies of black revolt in Mexico: David M. Davidson, "Negro Slave Control and Resistance to Spanish Rule in Colonial Mexico, *1 Journal of Negro History, LII (April, 1967), 89IO3; Gonzalo Aguirre Beltran, Cuijla: esbozo etnografico de 112 pueblo negro (Mexico, 1958); and Octaviano Corro R., Los cimarrones en Vera Cruz y el Fundacion de Amapa (n.p., 1951). Montevideo, 1961). There are several useful studies of black revolt in Mexico: David M. Davidson, "Negro Slave Control and Resistance to Spanish Rule in Colonial Mexico, *1 Journal of Negro History, LII (April, 1967), 89IO3; Gonzalo Aguirre Beltran, Cuijla: esbozo etnografico de 112 pueblo negro (Mexico, 1958); and Octaviano Corro R., Los cimarrones en Vera Cruz y el Fundacion de Amapa (n.p., 1951). Valuable for Mexican-American tensions over slave defections from Texas is Ronnie C. Tyler, "Fugitive Slaves in Mexico,' ) Journal of Negro History, LVII (January, 1972), --- Page 182 --- Bibliographical Essay I-I2. For a valuable general work see Colin A. Palmer, Slaves oftbe Wbite God (Cambridge, Mass., 1976). For the role of blacks and Indians in the complex struggle for Central America, see Troy S. Floyd's spirited and wellwritten The Anglo-Spanish Struggle for Mosquitia (Albuquerque, N.M., 1967). Also, Luis A. Diez Castillo, Los cimarrones yelesclavitud en Panama (Panama, 1968). On Venezuela see Miguel Acosta Saignes, Vida de los esclavos en Venezuela (Caracas, 1967); and Federico Brito Figueroa, Las insurrecciones de los esclavos negros en las sociedad colonial venezolana (Caracas, 1961), which also has an important preface by Rodolfo Quintero, "El nuevo sentido de Ia historia venezolana. 1 On the revolt of 1730 see Carlos Felice Cardot, La rebelion de Andresote: Valles del Yaracuy, 1730-1733 (2nd ed.; Bogota, 1957); on the revolt of 1749 see Héctor Garcia Chuecos, "Una insurreccion de negros en los dias de la colonia, >) Revista de Historia de América, No. 29 (June, 1959); on Coro see Pedro Manuel Arcaya, Insurreccion de los negros de la Serrania de Coro (Caracas, 1949). For Columbia generally see the excellent study by Jaime Jaramillo Uribe, "Esclavos y senores en la sociedad colombiana del siglo XVIII, Anuario Colombiano de Historia Social y de la Cultura, I(1963), 3-62. For the relationship of black religion to slave resistance and subsequent black struggles, see Michael Taussig, "Black Religion and Resistance in Colombia: Three Centuries of Social Struggle in the Cauca Valley, 9> Marxist Perspectives, II, 6 (Summer, 1979). Among the studies of the palenques and related subjects see especially Aquiles Escalante, "Notas sobre el palenque de San Basilio, una comunidad negra en Colombia, 9 Divulgaciones Etno155 --- Page 183 --- Bibliographical Essay Derek Bickerton and Escalante logicas, III (1954), 207-59; A Spanishexamine language and culture in "Palenquero: of Northern Colombia, 11 Lingua, XXIV (FebBased Creole See also Robert C. West, Colonial ruary, 1970), 254-67. Rouge, 1952); and David Placer Mining in Colombia (Baton 91 Journal of "The Provenience of Colombian Negroes, Pavy, Negro History, LII (January, 1967), 35-58. Black resistance in Paraguay was largely nonrevolutionary discussed in Josefina Plâ, Hermano negro: la esclavifor reasons 1972). On Peru see especially Fredtud en Paraguay (Madrid, Slave in Colonial erick P. Bowser's fine book, The African dis- (Stanford, 1974). 67. Rouge, 1952); and David Placer Mining in Colombia (Baton 91 Journal of "The Provenience of Colombian Negroes, Pavy, Negro History, LII (January, 1967), 35-58. Black resistance in Paraguay was largely nonrevolutionary discussed in Josefina Plâ, Hermano negro: la esclavifor reasons 1972). On Peru see especially Fredtud en Paraguay (Madrid, Slave in Colonial erick P. Bowser's fine book, The African dis- (Stanford, 1974). And there is a good Peru, 1524-1650 within the special conditions of cussion of black resistance Historia de la esclavitud Puerto Rico in Luis M. Diaz Soler, See also, en Puerto Rico, 1493-1890 (Madrid, 1953). negra "Conclusiones breves de conspiraGuillermo A. Baralt, Puerto Rico, 19 sublevaciones y revueltas de esclavos en ciones, Caribbean Historians (Puerto Rico, Sixth Annual Conference of 1975). revolts in Cuba, even more readily than elsewhere, The liberal and namust be studied in relation to more general Pérez de la Riva, tional movements. See especially Francisco Fernando La babitacion rural en cuba (Havana, 1952). Also, los negros esclavos (Havana, 1916); Ortiz, Hampa afro-cubana: Slavery in Cuba, I51I to 1868 H. H. S. Aimes, A History of in the Americas (New York, 1907); Herbert Klein, Slavery in Cuba 1967); Franklin W. Knight, Slave Society (Chicago, Century (Madison, Wisc., 1970); ArDuring the Nineteenth Slavery in Cuba, thur F. Corwin, Spain and the Abolition of A His- (Austin, Texas, 1967); and Philip Foner, 1817-1886 and Its Relations with tbe United States (2 vols.; tory of Cuba --- Page 184 --- Bibliographical Essay New York, 1962). Valuable for the social setting of early struggles is Kenneth F. Kiple, Blacks in Colonial Cuba, 1774-1899 (Gainesville, Fla., 1976). Among the studies of slavery that shed particular light on the development of resistance movements are: Roland T. Ely, Cuando reinaba Sll majestadelazucar (Buenos Aires, 1963); Raul Cepero Bonilla, Obras bistôricas (Havana, 1963); and especially Manuel Moreno Fraginals, The Sugarmill (New York, 1976). Cuba and Saint-Domingue are compared in Gwendolyn Midlo Hall, Social Control in Slave Plantation Societies: A Comparison 0fSt.-Domingue and Cuba (Baltimore, 1971). For a fascinating account by a runaway slave see Esteban Montejo, The Autobiograpby ofe a Runaway Slave (New York, 1968). For particularly acute analyses of black struggles in Cuba and elsewhere see the work of José Luciano Franco: Afroamérica (Havana, 1961); "Cuatros siglos de la lucha por la libertad; los palenques, 91 Revista de la Biblioteca NacionalJosé Marti, IX (January-March, 1967), 5-44; La conspiracion de Aponte (Havana, 1963); "La conspiracion de Morales, 99 Revista de la Universidad de Oriente, VI (March, 1972), 12833; Placido: una polemica que tiene cien anos y otros ensayos (Havana, 1964); Revolucionesy conflictos internationales en el Caribe, 1789-1854 (Havana, 1965), Vol. ista de la Biblioteca NacionalJosé Marti, IX (January-March, 1967), 5-44; La conspiracion de Aponte (Havana, 1963); "La conspiracion de Morales, 99 Revista de la Universidad de Oriente, VI (March, 1972), 12833; Placido: una polemica que tiene cien anos y otros ensayos (Havana, 1964); Revolucionesy conflictos internationales en el Caribe, 1789-1854 (Havana, 1965), Vol. II of La batalla por el dominio del Caribe y el Golfo de México (3 vols.; Havana, 19641966). See also Margarita Dalton, "Los depositos de los cimarrones en el siglo XIX, >9 Etnologia J Folklore, III (1967), 5-29; José de Jesus Marquez, "Conspiracion de Aponte, 99 Revista Cubana, XIX (1894), 441-54, and Placido J los conspiradores de 1844 (Havana, 1894); Pedro Deschamps Chapeaux, "Cimarrones urbanos, 79 Revista de la Biblioteca Nacional José --- Page 185 --- Bibliographical Essay Marti, XI (May-August, 1969), 145-64; Francisco Gonzâlez del Valle, La conspiracion de la Escalera (Havana, 1925); Clément Lanier, "Cuba et la conspiration en ) d'Apunte 1812, Revue Société Haitienne d'Histoire, de Geograpbie et de Geologie, XXIII (July, 1952), 19-30; Fernando Ortiz, "Las rebeliones de los afro-cubanos, 97 Revista Bimestre Cubana, IV (March-April, 19I0), 97-II2; Francisco Pérez de la Riva, "El negro y la tierra, el conuco y el palenque, 9) Revista Bimestre Cubana, LVIII (Geptember-December, 1946), 97-139; Cirilo Villaverde, Palenque de negros cimarrones (San Antonio de los Banos, 1890). An excellent study is Vidal Morales y Morales, Iniciadores y primer martires de la revolucion cubana (3 vols.; Havana, 1931); very good is Elias Entralgo, La liberacion etnica cubana (Havana, 1955); and valuable material with conservative interpretation may be found in Justo P. Zaragoza, Las insurrecciones en Cuba (2 vols.; Madrid, 18721873). The slave revolts in the Caribbean region occurred amidst great-power rivalries and recurring warfare, as the work of José Luciano Franco especially illuminates. For this setting see such works as: Arthur Percival Newton, The European Nations in the West Indies, 1493-1688 (London, 1933); J. H. Parry, Trade and Dominion: The European Overseas Empires in the Eigbteenth Century (New York, 197I); James Alexander Robertson, "The English Attack on Cartagena in 1741; and Plans for an Attack on Panama, 17 Hispanic American Historical Review, II (February, 1919), 62-71. The forthcoming studies of slave revolt in the British Caribbean by Anthony Synnott and Michael Craton both promise to be outstanding. Sir Alan Burns, History of the British West Indies (London, 1954), contains much material on the --- Page 186 --- Bibliographical Essay slave revolts and offers a useful survey of regional history. Other works that help set the context for slave revolt in a theatre of war and diplomatic intrigue are: Carl and Roberta Bridenbaugh, No Peace Beyond the Line: The English in the Caribbean, 1624-1690 (New York, 1972); and Frank Wesley Pitman, The Development of the British West Indies, 17001763 (London, 1963). Burns, History of the British West Indies (London, 1954), contains much material on the --- Page 186 --- Bibliographical Essay slave revolts and offers a useful survey of regional history. Other works that help set the context for slave revolt in a theatre of war and diplomatic intrigue are: Carl and Roberta Bridenbaugh, No Peace Beyond the Line: The English in the Caribbean, 1624-1690 (New York, 1972); and Frank Wesley Pitman, The Development of the British West Indies, 17001763 (London, 1963). Two works on the slave regimes are of particular value: the older but still useful study by Lowell Joseph Ragatz, The Fall of the Planter Class in the British Caribbean, 1763-1833 (New York, 1971; first published, 1928), and Richard S. Dunn's excellent Sugar and Slaves: The Rise of the Planter Class in the English West Indies, 1624-1713 (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1972). Other works that treat British slavery generally and shed light on the slave revolts are: Eric Williams, Capitalism and Slavery (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1944); Michael Craton, Sinews of Empire (Garden City, N.Y., 1974); Wesley Frank Pitman, "Slavery on the British West India Plantations in the Eighteenth Century, +1 Journal of Negro History, XI (October, 1926), 584-668; Edward Braithwaite, The Development of Creole Society in Jamaica, 1770-1820 (Oxford, 1971); Michael Craton and James Walvin, AJamaican Plantation: The History fWortby Park, 1670-1970 (Toronto, 1970); Michael Craton, Searching for the Invisible Man: Slaves and Plantation Life in Jamaica (Cambridge, Mass., 1978). The ethnic factor in the revolts is suggestively explored by Monica Schuler in two articles: "The Ethnic Slave Rebellions in the Caribbean and the Guianas, *> Journal of Social History, III (Summer, 1970), 374-85, and "Akan Slave Rebellions in the British Caribbean, Savacou, I(1970), 8-31. Orlando Patterson, The Sociology of Slavery (London, --- Page 187 --- Bibliographical Essay other virtues, contains a thoughtful analysis 1967), among Curtin, TuoJamaicas (Cambridge, ofthe slave revolts. Philip coninto the international Mass., 1955), adds many insights and Economy in Jamaitext. B. W. Higman, Slave Population excellent for the (Cambridge, 1834), is ca, 1807-1834 revolt of 1831 has been well economic context. The great Slave Restudied by Mary Reckord (Turner), "The Jamaican Past & Present, No. 40 (July, 1968), bellion of 1831,' valuable: Bryan Edwards, 108-25. Two older works remain British West Indies The History, Civil and Commercial, of the The several editions); and Edward Long, (5 vols.; London; History ofJamaica (London, 1774). is R. C. Dallas, The The standard work on the maroon wars of the Maroons, from their Origin to tbe Establishment History of Sierra Leone (2 vols.; London, 1803). See their Cbief Tribe at marred primarily by also the analysis of Orlando Patterson, "Slavery assessment of Cudjoe: a biased and unconvincing Analysis of the First and Slave Revolts: A Socio-Historical Economic Studies, XIX Social and Maroon War, 1655-1740, Robin Winks, The Blacks in (September, 1970), 289-325. of the Maroons, from their Origin to tbe Establishment History of Sierra Leone (2 vols.; London, 1803). See their Cbief Tribe at marred primarily by also the analysis of Orlando Patterson, "Slavery assessment of Cudjoe: a biased and unconvincing Analysis of the First and Slave Revolts: A Socio-Historical Economic Studies, XIX Social and Maroon War, 1655-1740, Robin Winks, The Blacks in (September, 1970), 289-325. takes the Jamaican maCanada (New Haven, Conn., 1971) Fyfe, A History Nova Scotia; and Christopher roons through 1962), picks them up thereafter. of Sierra Leone (London, of the maroons is Barbara Essential for an understanding work: See espeKopytoff's brilliant and path-breaking new Maroon Political Organization: The Effects cially, "Jamaican XXV Treaties, 19 Social and E.conomic Studies, (June, of the Political Development of 1976), 87-105; also, "The Early Maroon Societies, *9 William 6 Mary Quarterly, Jamaican and "The Development of XXXV (April, 1978), 287-307; --- Page 188 --- Bibliographical Essay Jamaican Maroon Ethnicity, 9) Caribbean Quarterly, XXII (June-September, 1976), 33-50. The role of women awaits adequate attention, but for an introduction see Lucille Mathurin's lively, popular little book, The Rebel Woman in the British West Indies During Slavery (Kingston, 1975); and Alan Tuelon, "Nanny- - Maroon Chieftainess, 99 Caribbean Quarterly, XIX (December, 1973), 20-27. For the Leeward Islands see the outstanding book by Elsa V. Goveia, Slave Society in tbe British Leewardlslands at the End of the Eigbteenth Century (New Haven, 1965). For Trinidad and Tobago see Eric Williams, History oftbe Peoples of Trinidad and Tobago (London, 1962); and V. S. Naipaul, The Loss of El Dorado (London, 1969). For Barbados and the revolt of 1816 see Vincent T. Harlow, A History of Barbados (Oxford, 1926); J. Harry Bennett, Bondsmen and Bisbops (Berkeley, Calif., 1958); Claude Levy, "Barbados: The Last Years of Slavery, 1823-1833, Journal ofNegro History, XLIV (October, 1959), 309-45; and Jerome S. Handler and Frederick W. Lange, Plantation Slavery in Barbados: An Archaeological and Historical Investigation (Cambridge, Mass., 1978). For British Guiana there is useful material in D. A. G. Waddell's little book, The West Indies and the Guianas (Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1967). But see especially J. J. Hartsinck, "The Story of the Great Rebellion in Berbice in 1762," Journal of the British Guiana Museum and Zoo and the Royal Agricultural and Commercial Society, Nos. 20-27 (8 parts: 1958-1960). Roy Arthur Glasgow relates the struggles of the slavery era to more recent ones in Guyana: Race and Politics Among Africans and East Indians (The Hague, 1970). Es161 --- Page 189 --- Bibliographical Essay pecially rich is Rawle Farley, "Aspects of the Economic History of British Guiana, 1781-1852: A Study of Economic and Social Change on the Southern Caribbean Frontier" (Ph.D. dissertation, University ofLondon, 1956). Ihave also profited from a paper as yet unpublished, SO far as I know: Robert Moore, "Slave Rebellions in Guyana" (3rd Annual Conference of Caribbean Historians; Guiana, 1971). Africans and East Indians (The Hague, 1970). Es161 --- Page 189 --- Bibliographical Essay pecially rich is Rawle Farley, "Aspects of the Economic History of British Guiana, 1781-1852: A Study of Economic and Social Change on the Southern Caribbean Frontier" (Ph.D. dissertation, University ofLondon, 1956). Ihave also profited from a paper as yet unpublished, SO far as I know: Robert Moore, "Slave Rebellions in Guyana" (3rd Annual Conference of Caribbean Historians; Guiana, 1971). For the revolts and maroon communities in Surinam, Richard Price has provided an excellent bibliographic guide: The Guiana Maroons: A Bibliograpbic Introduction (Baltimore, 1976). See also his Saramaka Social Structure: Analysisof"Busb Negro" Society (Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, 1973), and his own articles cited in Guiana Maroons. Also essential are: Silvia W. de Groot, Djuka Society and Social Change (Assen, 1969); R. A.J. Van Lier, Frontier Society: A Social Analysis ofthe History of Surinam (The Hague, 1971); and Morton C. Kahn, Djuka: The Bush Negroes of Dutch Guiana (New York, 1931), which emphasizes continuity with the African experience. Still useful are Melville J. Herskovits, Rebel Destiny (New York, 1934), and Melville J. and Frances Herskovits, Suriname Folk-lore (New York, 1936). For the Iarger context see C. R. Boxer, The Dutch Seaborne Empire, 1600-1800 (London, 1965). Good reading and an invaluable source is (Captain) John Stedman, Narrative of a Five Years' Expedition Against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam (Amherst, Mass., 1971; first published 1796). The two great risings in the Danish Virgin Islands are discussed in Waldemar Westergaard, The Danish West Indies Under Company Rule (New York, 1917). See also, John L. Anderson, Nigbt of the Silent Drums (New York, 1975), on --- Page 190 --- Bibliographical Essay the revolt of 1733. For some interesting observations see Gordon K. Lewis, "An Introductory Note to the Study of the Virgin Islands, 11 Caribbean Studies, VII (July, 1968), 5-22. For the great revolution in Saint-Domingue, in addition to the outstanding works of C. L. R. James and José Luciano Franco, see George F. Tyson, Jr., ed., Toussaint L'Ouverture, which provides an incisive introduction to some good readings. Among the hostile interpretations of the revolution see especially T. Lothrop Stoddard, The French Revolution in San Domingo (Boston, 1914), or Harold Palmer Davis, Black Democracy (Rev. ed.; New York, 1937). James G. Leyburn, The Haitian People (New Haven, 1966), combines a fine historical sketch with an outstanding interpretation of Haitian life. Of special interest is Charles Frostin, Les révoltes blanches à Saint-Domingue aux XVIle et XVIII siècles (Paris, 1975). For the religious question see Odette Mennesson-Rigaud, "Le rôle de Vaudou dans l'indépendance d'Haiti, Presence Africaine, nos. 17-18 (February-May, 1958), 43-67; and Alfred Métraux, Voodoo in Haiti (New York, 1972). See also Hubert Cole, Christophe, King of Haiti (London, 1967); and Richard Pattee, Jean Jacques Dessalines: Fundador de Haiti (Havana, 1936). For the French West Indies in general see Gaston Martin, Histoire de l'esclavage dans les colonies francaises (Paris, 1949). The only overview in English is Shelby T. McCloy, The Negro in the French West Indies (Lexington, Ky., 1966), which is disappointing. The extensive writings of Gabriel Debien are invaluable; see especially "Le marronage aux Antilles Françaises au XVIIle siècle, 79 Caribbean Studies, VI (October, 1966), 3-44; "Les esclaves marrons à Saint-Domingue en 1764," --- Page 191 --- Bibliographical Essay Historical Review, LXI (1966), 9-20. 1949). The only overview in English is Shelby T. McCloy, The Negro in the French West Indies (Lexington, Ky., 1966), which is disappointing. The extensive writings of Gabriel Debien are invaluable; see especially "Le marronage aux Antilles Françaises au XVIIle siècle, 79 Caribbean Studies, VI (October, 1966), 3-44; "Les esclaves marrons à Saint-Domingue en 1764," --- Page 191 --- Bibliographical Essay Historical Review, LXI (1966), 9-20. Essential is Jamaican essai sur la désertion de Yvan Debbasch, "Le marronage: antillais, 97 L'Anné Sociologique (3rd Series, 1961), l'esclave 1962), 117-95. More polemical is I-I12, and (3rd Series, de la liberté (Paris, 1972). See also Jean Fouchard, Les marrons libres, 17 Annales: Roger Bastide, "Nègres marrons et nègres XX (January-February, Economies- - Sociétés- Civilisations, 1965), 169-74. role of religion in the slave revolts compels The important and on some attention to the vast literature on millennialism historical relationship of radical religion to revolutionary the Cohn, The Pursuit of the Millennium movements. Norman its fierce conservative par- (London, 1957), notwithstanding Also cool to revolutionary tisanship, remains indispensable. is Guenter movements but remarkably rich and judicious and Revolution (New York, 1974). For the poLewy, Religion tradition it is still best to litical implications ofthe prophetic The Socibegin with the work of Max Weber. See especially (Boston, 1963) and Ancient, Judaism (Glencoe, ology FReligion interpretation of the radical III., 1952). For a challenging The Radical Kingtradition see Rosemary Radford Reuther, relevant is Vittorio dom (New York, 1970). More directly York, 1963); Lanternari, The Religions of the Oppressed (New and The Trumpet Sball Sound (London, 1956); Peter Worsley, Lineamenti di storia delle religioni (Rome, Ambrogio Donini, while not di1964). Two little books by Eric Hobsbawm, contributions to rectly focused on religion, make essential of popular movements in which religion the social analysis England, 1959) often figured: Primitive Rebels (Manchester, and Bandits (New York, 1969). --- Page 192 --- Bibliographical Essay of revolt and revolution has been The psychological aspect with indifferent, not getting a good deal of attention lately, has been the miserable, results. Of value, however, to say which bears directly on problems of work on colonialism, domination. Alas, the best racism and the dynamics of class whose sympathy for the oppressors book is by a conservative Prospero and Caliban: can hardly be ignored: Octave Mannoni, The work of of Colonization (London, 1956). The Psychology Dominated Man (New Albert Memmi should be consulted: and The Colonizer and the Colonized (Boston, York, 1968) of Frantz Fanon will not pass muster as sci1965). The work interest for its many inentific psychology but retains great colonized that it brings sights and for the point ofview ofthe (New York, Black Skin, White Masks to bear. See especially Eartb (New York, 1963). For a 1967) and The Wretched ofthe Fox-Genovese and critique of these authors see Elizabeth A D. Genovese, "On the Psychology ofColonialism: Eugene Critique of Leading Theories" (forthcoming). of the ancient with the slave revolts Some acquaintance study is J. Vogt, Zur world will be helpful. The principal but see also Struktur der antiken Sklavenbriege (Mainz, 1957); ConAncient Sicily to the Arab M. I. Finley, A History ofSicily: (Berkeley, (New York, 1958), and The Ancient Economy quest P. Green, "The First Sicilian Slave Calif., 1973). Eugene Critique of Leading Theories" (forthcoming). of the ancient with the slave revolts Some acquaintance study is J. Vogt, Zur world will be helpful. The principal but see also Struktur der antiken Sklavenbriege (Mainz, 1957); ConAncient Sicily to the Arab M. I. Finley, A History ofSicily: (Berkeley, (New York, 1958), and The Ancient Economy quest P. Green, "The First Sicilian Slave Calif., 1973). Also, Two essays by War,". Past & Present, No. 20 (1961), IO-29. available learned Soviet historian Nikolai A. Mashkin are the material with an untenable thesis will in English. Valuable Revolution and the Fall of the be found in "The Workers' V 1) of General Education, Western Roman Empire, Journal is his inter- (October, 1950), 70-74. Much more compelling --- Page 193 --- Bibliographical Essay pretation of the religious dimension: "Eschatology and Messianism in the Final Period of the Roman Republic, 19 Philosoply and Phenomenological Research, X (December, 1949), 206-28. --- Page 194 --- Index Abolitionism, xxi, 35-36, 45. 97, Barbados, 24, 37-38, 108, I17, 161 IO2, 104, III, II2, II5, 131, Bastide, Roger, 59 147-48 Berbice, 33 Adams, Henry, 93 Black leadership. See Leadership Africa, 59 Black nationalism, 34, 36, 40, 85, African-born slaves, 12, 18-20, 88, 95. 119. See also National rev31-42 passim, 54, 97-102 olutions African influence: maroons, 3, Black Reconstruction (Du Bois), xxi 52-54, 61, 62; religion, 29-30, Black religion. See Christianity; Islam; 46-48 Religion Age of Revolution, xxi, xxiii, 46, 49, Blacks: number, II, 12, 14-15, 31, IIO, III, 134. See also American 33, 102; and Indians, 58-59, Revolution; French Revolution; 69-76, 81, 145-46; and Fourth of Revolutionary movements July, 126-29, 131-37. See also The Age of Revolution (Hobsbawm), Free Negroes; Maroons; Slaves Blanks, Julia, 77 Aimes, H. H. S., 12 Bloch, Marc, IIO-II Alabama, 15 Bolivar, Simôn, 120 Allen, Benjamin F., 129 Bourbon Restoration, 94 American Revolution, 95, 104, I21, Bourgeois-democratic ideology, xiii122, 126, 128, 130, 135. See also xiv, xvii-xxii, I-2, 92-94, 97, Revolutionary movements 118-19, I21, 126-37, 148 Antislavery movement. See Brazil: slave revolts, 5, 6, 13, 14, 19, Abolitionism 22, 27, 31, 40-42, 58, 59, 84, Aptheker, Herbert, xxiv, 44, I04 98, 99, III, I16, 150-52; warArtisans and Sans Culottes (Williams), ring Europeans, 22-23; and Islam, 30; maroons, 40-41, 51, 53, 60-64, 71, 77, 79, 80, 150-52. , 6, 13, 14, 19, Abolitionism 22, 27, 31, 40-42, 58, 59, 84, Aptheker, Herbert, xxiv, 44, I04 98, 99, III, I16, 150-52; warArtisans and Sans Culottes (Williams), ring Europeans, 22-23; and Islam, 30; maroons, 40-41, 51, 53, 60-64, 71, 77, 79, 80, 150-52. Bahia, Brazil, IO, 19, 23, 28-32, See also Bahia; Palmares 40, 41, 44, 98, IOO, IO5, I53 Brecht, Bertolt, I09 Banditry, 78-79, 81 Brown, John, 16, 17, 81, 106 Bandits (Hobsbawm), 48 Bruce, H. C., 77, 80 --- Page 195 --- Index Canada, 134 126, 133, 135, 136, 148. See also Cape Verde Islands, 13 Democratic-bourgeois ideology Capitalism, xv-xvii, xxi-xxii, 83, Degler, Carl, 40 Democratic-bourgeois ideology, Caribbean Islands: European involvexiii-xiv, xvii-xxii, I-2, 92-94, ment, xvi, 21-23, 33-39 passim, 97, 118-19, 121, 126-37, 148 51, 55-68 passim, 83-89 passim, 1 Denmark, 21, 12I IOI-I05 passim, II2, 121, 158- Deslondes, Charles, 43 62; slave revolts, xxii, 2, 4, 6, Dessalines, 88, IO5 12-28 passim, 33-38, 42,58, 59, Douglass, Frederick, 131-33 79, IOO, III, II2, 135, 158-60. Drake, Sir Francis, 2I See also specific countries Draper, Theodore, 134 Caribbean Transformations (Mintz), 89 Du Bois, W. E. B., xxi, 20, 93, 95, Carneiro, Edison, 61 II3, I14, 140 Carter, Landon, 16 Dunn, Richard, 37 Castro, Rail, 93 Charleston, S.C., 4, 8-10, 17, 46, Edwards, Bryan, 64 48, I16 Emancipation: rumors of, 24-25, 26, Cherniavsky, Michael, 25, 85 35, 36, 38; of slaves, 25-26, 37, Christianity, 7, 28, 32, 45-48, IO2, 97, 116, 120-21 103, 130 Emancipation Proclamation, 97 Christophe, Henry, 86, 88, 89, 97 England, xvi, 2, 19-38 passim, 42, Cities and slave revolts, 13-14, 55-70 passim, 83-88 passim, 93, 31-32 IOI-I05, II2, 135, 158-60 Civil liberties, suppression of, Ennes, Ernesto, 61 I14-17 European powers: in Caribbean, xvi, Civil War, 41, 69, III 20-23, 33-39 passim, 45, 51, Clark, Lewis, 25 55-68 passim, 83-89 passim, Collaboration, IO--II IOI-I05 passim, II2, 12I, 158Colombia, 13-14, 38, 39, 58, 77, 62; and maroons, 51-52, 54, 60, 155-56 63-67. European powers: in Caribbean, xvi, Civil War, 41, 69, III 20-23, 33-39 passim, 45, 51, Clark, Lewis, 25 55-68 passim, 83-89 passim, Collaboration, IO--II IOI-I05 passim, II2, 12I, 158Colombia, 13-14, 38, 39, 58, 77, 62; and maroons, 51-52, 54, 60, 155-56 63-67. See also specific countries Cortes, Hernando, 58 Counterrevolution, 88-90, 93-94 Fanon, Frantz, 28 Craft, William, 235 Ferdinand VII, 95 Creole slaves, 12, 18-20, 31-42 Florida, 21, 42, 49, 69, 72, 76, 79 passim, 54, 55, 97-102 Fourth of July, 126-37 Cuba, 12, 21, 38, 76, 95, 98, 99, France, xvi, xvii, 21, 22, 26, 39, 45, 156-58 51, 58, 67, 68, 70, 86-89, 105, Cudjoe, 65-66 I2I Cumby, Green, 77 Franco, José Luciano, xxi Free Negroes, 31-32, 43, 59-60, Dallas, R. C., 65-66, 80 133-37. See also Blacks; Maroons; Davis, David Brion, xxi, 87, II2 Slaves Declaration of Independence, 45, 49, French Revolution, xix-xx, 34, 36, --- Page 196 --- Index 90, 93-94, 96, 104, 121-26 Europeans, 20-21; maroons, 21, passim, 135. See also Revolutionary 35-36, 51-57 passim, 64-82 movements passim, 88, 1O2, 160-61 French Rural History (Bloch), IIO James, C. L. R., xxi, 85, 87, 93, Freyre, Gilberto, 53 109, II2 Fugitive Slave Law, 115 Jefferson, Thomas, 45, 96 Johnston, James Hugo, I17 Garrison, Lucy McKim, 136 Jones, C. C., 47, 130 Georgia, 15, 47, 69, 74 Gladstone, Jack, 35 Kent, R. K., 31, 61 Glorious Revolution, xvii Kentucky, 15 Great Britain. See England Kilson, Marion, xxiii, xxiv Guerrilla warfare. See Maroons Kopytoff, Barbara, 54, 67 Guiana, 14, 33-35, 53, 99, IOI, II2, II6, 161-62 Lambkin, Prince, 136 Leadership: slave revolts, I2, 27-28, Haitian Revolution, 48, 49, 67, 31, 44-45, 86, I02, IO3; ma88-90, 92-97, 104, 105, 120, roons, 18, 53-54, 62 122, 130, 163. See also SaintLeflore, Greenwood, 74 Domingue Leisler's Rebellion, 26, 42 Hampton, Wade, 17, 43 Lenin, Nikolai, 18 Higginson, Thomas Wentworth, Lewis, Gordon K., II2 8-9, 16, 18, 109, 136 Liberation movements. See Black Hispaniola, 38 nationalism; National revolutions; Hitler, Adolf, 87 Revolucionary movements Hobsbawm, Eric, 48, 81, 121, 123, Lincoln, Abraham, 25 Louisiana, 4, 15, 17, 43, 69-73 Ho Chi Minh, 118 passim, 1 94, 95, 97, 106, 107, 114, Holland. , 16, 18, 109, 136 Liberation movements. See Black Hispaniola, 38 nationalism; National revolutions; Hitler, Adolf, 87 Revolucionary movements Hobsbawm, Eric, 48, 81, 121, 123, Lincoln, Abraham, 25 Louisiana, 4, 15, 17, 43, 69-73 Ho Chi Minh, 118 passim, 1 94, 95, 97, 106, 107, 114, Holland. See Netherlands II6, 143 Holland, Edwin Clifford, 96, 130 Machiavelli, Niccolo, xxiv, 123 Ideological Origins of Black Nationalism Magruder, Eliza, 77 (Stuckey),133 Mao Tse-Tung, 118 Indians: as slaves, 38; and slaves, Maroons: and slave revolts, 12, 18, 58-59, 69-76, 81, 145-46; as 33, 37, 39, 55-56, 91-02, 1O2; slaveholders, 74; Indian-black mischaracteristics, 18, 52-54, 61-63, cegenation, 74-75 77-79; in Jamaica, 21, 35-36, Islam, 28-32, 153-54 51-57 passim, 64-82 passim, 88, Island-Carib, 58 1O2, 160-61; and slaves, 33, 51-52, 54-57, 66-68, 77-80; in Jacobinism, 88, 90, 96, 122, 124, Brazil, 40-41, 51, 53, 60-64, 71, 77, 79, 80, 150-52; in the Jamaica: slave revolts, 8, 14, 24, 33, South, 42, 49, 68-81; peace 35-36, 58, 98-103, II6; and treaties with Europeans, 51-52, --- Page 197 --- Index 54, 60, 63-67; owned slaves, Olmsted, Frederick Law, 77 56-57, 62; and Indians, 58-59, 69-76; bibliography, 160-62; Palmares, Brazil, 22-23, 51, 57, mentioned, xix, 3, 38, 39, III. 42, 49, 68-81; peace 35-36, 58, 98-103, II6; and treaties with Europeans, 51-52, --- Page 197 --- Index 54, 60, 63-67; owned slaves, Olmsted, Frederick Law, 77 56-57, 62; and Indians, 58-59, 69-76; bibliography, 160-62; Palmares, Brazil, 22-23, 51, 57, mentioned, xix, 3, 38, 39, III. See 60-64, 69, 76, 79-80, 84, 88, also Blacks; Free Negroes; Pal98, 152. See also Brazil; Maroons mares; Slaves Paraguay, 23, 156 Maroon War of 1795 (Jamaica), 21, Paramaribo, 59 67-68, 81-82 Paternalism, 5, 6 Martinique, 21 Patterson, Orlando, xxiii, xxiv Marx, Karl, xiii-xiv, xxi, 22, 41, 140 Peace treaties, 51-52, 54, 60, Maryland, 5 63-67 Master-slave relationship, 5, 6, II, Peasantry, 89-91, 118-19 32, 37 Pétion, Alexandre, 88-89, 90, 120 Matthew, William, 24 Philip V, 39 McDowell, James, 116-17 Phillips, Ulrich Bonnell, I2I McGowan, James, I14 Pitt, William, 87 Metternich, Prince, 20 Plantations, 13-14, 32, 38, 53, 85 Mexico, 38-39, 51, 154-55 The Political Economy of Slavery Military power, 15-17, 37, 43, (Genovese), xxiv 59-60 Population, black, 14-15 Mines, 13, 38, 39 Portugal, xvi, 22-23, 51, 60-64, Mintz, Sidney, xxi, 89 83, 84, 88 Miscegenation, 74-75 Poyas, Peter, 45 Mississippi, 14-15, 1O7 Primitive Rebels (Hobsbawm), 81, I2I Missouri Compromise, 26, 45, I2I Prince, Howard, IO5 Monette, J. W., 15 Pritchard, Jack, 46, 47 Moura, Clovis, 78-79 The Problem ofSlavery in the Age of Revolution (Davis), 87-88 Napoleon Bonaparte, 55, 85, 87, Property, xili-xiv, XX, xxii, I18 92-93 Prosser, Gabriel, 4, 7-10, 17, 26, Napoleonic Wars, 23, 94-95 44-50, 95, II3, 114, 130 Nash, Gary B., 71 Puerto Rico, 21, 120 National revolutions, IO-II, 90, 119-21. See also Black Quilombos. See Maroons-Brazil nationalism; Revolutionary movements Race Relations in Virginia (Johnston), Neitber Black Nor Wbite (Degler), 40 II7 Netherlands, xvi, 22, 33, 34, 58, 59, Rape, 104-105, IIO 61, 62, 83, 84, 88 Red, Wbite, and Black (Nash), 71 The New Man (Bruce), 77 Religion, 6-8, 28-32, 42-48, 62, New York, 4, 14, 26, 42-43, IO7 85-86, IO2-103, 121, 130, 135, North Carolina, 68-69, 71 148-49, 164. , 59, Rape, 104-105, IIO 61, 62, 83, 84, 88 Red, Wbite, and Black (Nash), 71 The New Man (Bruce), 77 Religion, 6-8, 28-32, 42-48, 62, New York, 4, 14, 26, 42-43, IO7 85-86, IO2-103, 121, 130, 135, North Carolina, 68-69, 71 148-49, 164. See also Christianity; Nova Scotia, 55 Islam --- Page 198 --- Index Religious Instruction of tbe Negroes Slaveholders: power, 2, 20-27; ma- (Jones), 47 roons as, 56-57, 62; Indians as, Revolts. See Slave revolts 74; violence, 106-108; versus Revolutionary movements, xiv, xix- - northerners, I14-17; mentioned, xxii, 3-4, 35-36, 85-90, 97, 8, 16, 17 I17-25. See also Age of Revolu- Slave leadership. See Leadership tion; American Revolution; French Slave revolts: restorationist nature, Revolucion; National revolutions; xiv, xviii-xxii, 3, 36, 38, 49, Russian Revolution 82-85, 91-92; revolutionary Revolutionary terror, 9-II nature, xiv, xix-xxii, 3-4, Revolutionary War. See American 35-36, 85-90, 97, I17-25; anRevolution cient world, xxii, 82, 165-66; Rights of Man, 45, 49, 104, 126. See shipboard, xxiii, 6; types, 3-4; also Democrnatic-bourgeois ideology nineteenth century, 4, 8-44 Robespierre, 90 passim, 49, 55, 98, IOI, 105-I07, Rodrigues, Raimondo Nina, 30, 31, III, 129; eighteenth century, 4, 12, 13, 19-26 passim, 33-42 Roll,Jordan, Roll (Genovese), xvi, 7M, passim, 49, 54-72 passim, 94, 98, IOI, 107, 108, I12; suicidal, 6, 7, Ross, John, 74 49; revolutionary terror, 9-I0; and Rout, Leslie, 39 economic conditions, II, 12-13; Ruling clases and slave revolts, and ruling classes,11-12, 20-23, II-I2, 20-23, 26-27, 34, 42, 26-27, 34, 42, 45, 86, IO2, 45, 86, 1O2, I14-17. , 108, I12; suicidal, 6, 7, Ross, John, 74 49; revolutionary terror, 9-I0; and Rout, Leslie, 39 economic conditions, II, 12-13; Ruling clases and slave revolts, and ruling classes,11-12, 20-23, II-I2, 20-23, 26-27, 34, 42, 26-27, 34, 42, 45, 86, IO2, 45, 86, 1O2, I14-17. See also 114-17; conditions affecting, European powers; Slaveholders II-I2, 31-32, 37-38, 49-50, Rumors, 24-25, 26, 35, 36, 38, IO2 86-87, 1O2; concentration of Runaway slaves, 69, 70, 72, 77-79. slaves, II, 13-14, 31; black-white See also Maroons ratio, 12, 14-15, 31, 33, IO2; Russia, 87, IIO leadership, 12, 27-28, 31, Russian Revolution, 125 44-45, 86, IO2, IO3; geographic terrain, 12, 37, 76-77; military Saint-Domingue, xix, 8, 14, 19-24 power, 15-17, 37, 43, 59-60; passim, 28, a, 36, 41, 43, 49, 51, and traitors, 17-18; sixteenth cen55, 60, 68, 69, 76, 80, 85-90, tury, 21, 38, 39, 83, 98; sev92, 99, 104, IO5, IIO-25 passim, enteenth century, 22, 35, 38, 134, 154, 163. See also Haitian 58-65 passim, 83, 108; rumors, Revolution 24-25, 26, 35, 36, 38, IO2; and St. John, 12, 21, 24, 98, II2 national revolutions, 34, 36, 40, Saint-Just, Louis, 90 85, 88, 90, 95, II9-20; white Secession, 26-27 violence, 104-108, II3; black Seigneurialism, xvi-xviii, 2, 83 violence, 105-106, 108-I IO; sig+ Seminole Wars, 72-73, 145 nificance, IIO-14; secularization, Sierra Leone, 55 123-25. national revolutions, 34, 36, 40, Saint-Just, Louis, 90 85, 88, 90, 95, II9-20; white Secession, 26-27 violence, 104-108, II3; black Seigneurialism, xvi-xviii, 2, 83 violence, 105-106, 108-I IO; sig+ Seminole Wars, 72-73, 145 nificance, IIO-14; secularization, Sierra Leone, 55 123-25. See also specific countries I7I --- Page 199 --- Index Slavery, xiv-xv, 4-8, I14-17, Surinam, 14, 28, 51-60 passim, 69, 73, 76, 77, 79-80, 88, 107-108, Slaves: differences, xv-xvi; docility, xxii, xxiii, 6, 20, 120; runaways, Synnott, Anthony, xxiii, xxiv 3, 69, 70, 72, 77-79; accommodation, xxili, 5-8, II, 27; and mas- Tacky's Rebellion, 36 ters, 5, 6, II, 32, 37; population, Tennessee, 15, 69, 106, 129 II, 12, 14-15, 31, 33, 102; creole Thomson, William H., I07 versus African-born, 12, 18-20, To Posterity (Brecht), 109 31-42, passim, 54, 55, 97-102; and Tortola, 24 maroons, 33, 51-57 passim, Toussaint L'Ouverture, Pierre 66-68, 79-80; in Civil War, 41; Dominique, xix, 22, 34, 41, 55, and Indians, 58-59, 69-76, 81, 86, 88, 92, 93, 95, 123, 124 145-46; and slave revolts, 59-60; Traitors, 17-18 Fourth ofJuly, 126-29, 131-34; Trelawney, Edward, 65 and democratic ideals, 126-37, Trimingham, J. Spencer, 30 148; See also Blacks; Free Negroes; Trinidad, 37, 94, I12, 161 Maroons Trousdale, William, 129 Slave trade, 4, 5, 15, 19, 37, 113- Tsar and People (Cherniavsky), 25, 85 14, 149-50 Turner, Mary Reckord, I02-103 South: slave revolts, xxii, 4, II, 14, Turner, Nat, I, 7-10, 17, 18, 26, 42-50, I16-17, 140-45; slavery 27, 32, 44-50, I05, 106, 108, in, 4-8, 113-14; black populaII2, II3, I16, I30, 147 tion, 14-15; internal divisions, 26-27; maroons, 42, 49, 68-81; Underground railroad, 97 versus North, I14-17. Turner, Nat, I, 7-10, 17, 18, 26, 42-50, I16-17, 140-45; slavery 27, 32, 44-50, I05, 106, 108, in, 4-8, 113-14; black populaII2, II3, I16, I30, 147 tion, 14-15; internal divisions, 26-27; maroons, 42, 49, 68-81; Underground railroad, 97 versus North, I14-17. See also L'Union, 97 specific states United States: slave revolts, 4, South America, xxii, 4, 17, 28, 38, 42-50, 140-45; unfavorable conI19-20. See also specific coun- ditions for slave revolts, 49-50. See 79, tries also South; specific states South Carolina, 4, 8-10, 14-15, 17, U.S. Constitution, 49, 128, 133. See 21, 42-44, 46, 48, 69-72, also Democtatic-bourgeois ideology 93-95, II3-14, I16, 129, 146 Urban areas and slave revolts, 13-14, Spain, xvi, 2, 21, 22, 26, 38-43, 64, 31-32 83-88 passim, 94 Stalin, Joseph, 87 Vaughton, John, II7 Stedman, Capt. John Gabriel, 14, 56, Venezuela, 13-14, 33, 38-40, 51, 59, 60, 107-108 55, 77, 94, II9-20, 155 Stono, S. C., 4, 21,42-43, II3, Vesey, Denmark, 4, 7, 8-10, 14, 17, I16, 146 26, 44-50, 95, 96, 104, II3, Stuckey, Sterling, 133 130, 146-47 Sturgis, C. F., 126 Violence: slaves, I05-106, 108-I0; The Suppression of tbe African Slaveslaveholders, 106-108 Trade (Du Bois), 20 Virginia, 4, 5, 15, 17, 27, 38, 44, --- Page 200 --- Index 45, 48, 68-69, 70, I16 War of Jenkins' Ear, 26 Virgin Islands, 162-63 Watkins, William, 96 West Indies, III, 163-64 Wade, Richard, 14 Williams, Gwyn, 109 Walker, David, 96 The World the Slaveholders Made Wall, Bennett, 15, 76 (Genovese), XV, 21