Willie j.

Harrington
C121
Task 5

Part 1-A
This source is about the confession of Nat Turner. While awaiting to be hung for the crime of killing his

master and many others. a Virginia lawyer named Thomas R. Gary wrote down Turners confession.

Thomas asked Nat Turner what let up to the Rebellion, and he said this all started when he was a child

learning how to read the bible and write. He said the lord spoke to him several times throughout his life.

While learning about the bible a certain passage kept bugging him. It says “seek ye the kingdom of

Heaven and all things shall be added unto you” He kept thinking about that passage over and over while

growing up. He prayed and fasted over that passage. He claims god was trying to tell him something. Nat

Turner would preach to other slaves and tell them that God has a plan for him and they should join him.

In 1825 Nat Turner had weird visions while working in the fields about dew looking like blood and claims

the Holy ghost revealed himself to him. In May of 1828 Nat Turner said he heard a loud noise from

heaven, and the holy ghost revealed himself again and told him the time to do what the lord ask is fast

approaching. Mr. Gary goes on an asked Nat Turner if he was mistaken about the visions that lead to the

rebellion, and Nat Turner replied, “was not Christ crucified”. Nat Turner goes on about how he told his

followers the plan to kill their master. On the evening of august 20 th Nat Turner and his follower killed

Mr. Travis (Nat Turners master) and his Family with axes and hatches. No one was spared and they

continued to the Next farm and continued kill until his capture. (Turner, N. (2006)

Part 1-B

From 1815-1860 the south was known for slavery. The needed slavery to take care of the large

plantations in the south. The North called the white people who lived there slow, or they do things

Backwards. The southern people were for proslavery. They defended slavery ever since the
Revolutionary war. Southerners justified it as a good thing, they claim slavery was in the bible so what

was all the fuss about. They believed whites were more intelligent, they claim the physicality of the

blacks made them destine for labor. Slavery shaped the South’s social structure, politics, and money. As

the years went on in the south more and more slaves became more resistance to their masters. Slaves

were tired of the beating and coercion from there slave’s owners. They started to become more violent

towards their owners, they would sabotage tools so they wouldn’t have to work in the fields. The slaves

tried to fight back anyway possible. this included escaping from the plantation. Many tried but a few

were successful in escaping using the underground railroad. These resistances produced fearless Revolts

from slaves before the Nat Turner rebellion. Similar incident happened in 1800 and it involved a

thousand slaves, and in Charleston South Carolina, A free slave by the name of Denmark Vesey who was

also a religious leader like Nat Turner was determined to free slaves from their owners, but was

unsuccessful, and 37 people who conspired with Vesey were hung, and others were sold. The aftermath

of the Nat Turner Rebellion had the same results in Virginia. Hundreds of slaves that were not involved

in the rebellion hung, because owners feared another rebellion could conspire. It won’t be until the end

of the Civil war when Slaves would be free. (Norton 2015)

Part B-1

In this primary source, Fredrick Douglas, a former slave who learned to read and write became a voice

for the abolition movement. In this speech titled “Fourth of July Oration” Fredrick Douglas criticizes

American’s who celebrate the 4th of July for being free and independent, but why are African Americans

still slaves? Why celebrated their freedom from Great Britain when they are still slaves? He quotes the

Declaration of Independence and ask how can the document say that “All men are Created Equal”, but

blacks are slaves. He goes on and talks about religion and how a preacher can preach the word of God
but doesn’t practice what he preaches. Fredrick Douglas feels if we are supposed to abide by the

Constitution then where does it state we should own slaves. He proves that there is no word, sentence

or section in the constitution that are fore fathers wrote that people should own another human being.

As you can see Fredrick Douglas is very angry and hope that the Union would split because of slavery is

inhumane and morally wrong. He closes by saying “God speed the year of Jubilee, the wide world O’er!”

or in other words He and others can’t wait until the world is free from slavery. (Douglass, F. (2009)

Part B-2

During this period 1850-1860 slavery is still the big issue in the south and the it is effecting the Northern

states. This source points about the Fugitive Slave Act which was passed. This act empowered slave

owners to legally claim that a slave had escaped. It didn’t matter if you were a free man and lived in a

free state. If you didn’t have your papers they can capture you and send you back to a slave state.

Abolitionist wrote in their papers that this act was a violation of human rights. In congress seats were

craved up by which state are slave’s states and which states are free states. They tried to balance the

government with the Missouri Compromise, but the Supreme court ruled that to be unjustified. This also

didn’t help with the westward expansion, because most states in the west wanted to support Slavery.

(Norton 2015)

Part C

Both primary source talk about slavery and how cruel it was for African American’s before the Civil war.

Nat Turner describe how the Lord called him to do what he called God’s message by using violence, and
Fredrick Douglas uses his words to tell us how White American’s don’t live up to the expectation of the

Constitution. Both sources tell the struggle of slavery and how over the years more and more slaves

became resistance towards their slave owners. Both authors of the sources learned how to reads and

write at an early age, and their actions and words made people look at how slavery was affecting how

the world see’s America and how inhumane African Americans were treated in the southern states. The

difference between the two sources were that one used violence and caused a mass hysteria in Virginia,

and the other source used words to open the minds of people who never looked at the celebrated of

the 4th of July as independence as for all men but for only White men. [Douglass, F. (2009), Turner, N.

(2006)]

Citation page.

 Turner, N. (2006). Nat Turner describes his rebellion. In C. Waldrep & M. A. Bellesiles (Eds.),

Documenting American violence: A sourcebook (pp. 124–127). Retrieved from

http://site.ebrary.com/lib/westerngovernors/reader.action?docID=10142487&ppg=139

(Original work published 1831)

 Primary Source B: Douglass, F. (2009). Fourth of July oration. In J. Bean & G. Saari (Eds.), Race

and liberty in America: The essential reader (pp. 38–42). Retrieved from

http://site.ebrary.com/lib/westerngovernors/reader.action?docID=10495368&ppg=61 (Original

work published 1852)

 Norton, M.B. (2015).  A People & a Nation.