The American Nation A History of the United States, Combined Volume (14th Edition)

Psychological Effects of Slavery 327

and control in urban settings. Individual slaves were
successfully employed in southern manufacturing
plants, but they made up only an insignificant fraction
of the South’s small industrial labor supply.
Southern whites considered the existence of free
blacks undesirable, no matter where they lived. The
mere fact that they could support themselves disproved
the notion that African Americans were by nature
childlike and shiftless, unable to work efficiently with-
out white guidance. From the whites’ point of view,
free blacks set a bad example for slaves. In a petition
calling for the expulsion of free blacks from the state, a
group of South Carolinians noted that slaves

continualy have before their eyes, persons of the

same color... freed from the control of masters,

working where they please, going where they

please, and expending their money how they please.

Many southern states passed laws aimed at forc-
ing free blacks to emigrate, but these laws were not
well enforced. There is ample evidence that the white
people of, say, Maryland, would have liked to get rid
of the state’s large free-black population. Free blacks
were barred from occupations in which they might
cause trouble—no free black could be the captain of a
ship, for example—and they were required by law to
find a “respectable” white person who would testify
as to their “good conduct and character.” But whites,
who needed slave labor, did not try very hard to
expel them.

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Psychological Effects of Slavery

The injustice of slavery needs no proof; less obvious

is the fact that it had a corrosive effect on the person-

alities of Southerners, slave and free alike. By “the

making of a human being an animal without hope,”

the system bore heavily on all slaves’ sense of their

own worth. Some found the condition absolutely

unbearable. They became the habitual runaways who

collected whip scars like medals, the “loyal” servants

who struck out in rage against a master knowing that

the result would be certain death, and the leaders of

slave revolts.

Denmark Vesey of South Carolina, even after

buying his freedom, could not stomach the sub-

servience demanded of slaves by the system. When

he saw Charleston slaves step into the gutter to make

way for whites, he taunted them: “You deserve to

remain slaves!” For years he preached resistance to

his fellows, drawing his texts from the Declaration of

Independence and the Bible and promising help

from black Haiti. So vehemently did he argue that

some of his followers claimed they feared Vesey

more than their masters, even more than God. He

planned his uprising for five years, patiently working

out the details, only to see it aborted at the last

moment when a few of his recruits lost their nerve

and betrayed him. For Denmark Vesey, death was

probably preferable to living with such rage as his

soul contained.

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Table 12.1 Major Slave Rebellions

Rebellion Year Description Backlash against slaves Legislative response

New York

Slave Revolt

1712 Several buildings

burned; whites attacked

Twenty-one African

Americans executed, includ-

ing free blacks

Slaves prohibited from carrying firearms and free

blacks from owning land; slave owners obliged

to pay tax for freeing slaves

Gabriel’s

Rebellion

1800 Conspiracy to rebel

near Richmond, Virginia

Over two dozen slaves

hanged, including Gabriel

Restrictions placed on owner’s right to free

slaves; free blacks not allowed to congregate

freely on Sundays

Deslondes’

Rebellion

1811 Burned plantations near

New Orleans

Nearly 100 slaves killed,

including Deslondes

Restrictions on right of free blacks to congregate

Denmark

Vesey’s

Rebellion

1822 Plot to free blacks, kill

whites, flee to Haiti

Thirty-five slaves hanged,

including Vesey

Municipal guard established in Charleston,

South Carolina

Nat Turner’s

Rebellion

1831 Fifty-five whites killed

in Virginia

Over 100 slaves killed,

including Turner

Virginia legislature prohibited teaching liter-

acy to blacks, slave and free alike, and required

the presence of white ministers during slave

religious meetings