The Confessions Of Nat Turner's Rebellion

After the Nat Turner slave rebellion, panic was set throughout the South. Slaveholders lived in fear that their slaves would rebel as well, so they inflicted fear into the slaves by punishing them and keeping them in their “proper place as submissive servants.” Additionally, there was a push for all free African Americans to be moved out of the state immediately, because they gave inspiration to African American slaves to revolt against their masters. However, another outcome of this rebellion was for the emancipation of African American slaves in the state of Virginia. This caused exorbitant, heated debates between antislavery and proslavery representatives. In the end, the appeal for emancipation, even gradual emancipation, was denied, …show more content…
Similarly, the last chapter or section of the book allows readers to reflect on what they read and it confirms the mindset that the audience had towards the document from the beginning. Thomas R. Gray was the person who constructed and published the final product that became known as The Confessions of Nat Turner. In this piece of work, Gray’s opinions are stated at the start of the confession where he influences the audience to portray the insurgents of the rebellion as inhumane, by stating, “No acts of remembered kindness made the least impression upon these remorseless murderers” (Greenburg, 41). Therefore, even though Turner explains his reasoning for the rebellion and the need for liberation of enslaved African Americans, the audience has the mindset that these rebels are nothing but evil. Additionally, at the end of the document, Gray reinforces this psyche by describing Turner with “the expression of his fiend-like face when excited by enthusiasm” when recollecting the events of the rebellion (Greenburg, 54). Gray had the ability to create the structure of the document and influence the mindset of the readers into believing that the insurgents were