Denmark Vesey Research Paper

Little is known about Denmark Vesey’s childhood or his life before the revolt. He was born sometime in 1767 in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. He was a slave for 20 years before he purchased his freedom after allegedly winning the lottery, directly after this he became a carpenter and prospered at his trade, he became a very wealthy man. Not much more is known about Vesey’s early life except that he worked on a ship with his master, Joseph Vesey, and adopted his surname. He was hanged on July 2nd, 1822 at 55 years old after pleading guilty to attempted mutiny and being the ringleader of a revolt. One article said: ”As a personal slave, Denmark Vesey lived a comparatively comfortable life — far better than slaves working on plantations — and he had a certain amount of freedom to come and go as he pleased. Nevertheless, he was still a slave, subject to the whims of his master.” (U·X·L Biographies, U·X·L, 1999) Vesey created the commonly …show more content…
He could either A: Deal with his anger and impulsivity in a calm and peaceful manner like Martin Luther King. Or B: Leave all dignity and self respect in the dust and be reckless. Of course, he chose the latter. But he wasn’t stupid about it, it had been almost 20 years before he revealed his brutal plans to anyone, one article found stated: “It would have been the largest slave revolt in U.S history, but it’s end result was the passing of even stricter laws against African-Americans.”(“Denmark Vesey”,2015) which was entirely true. Vesey had a detailed and organized plan, but to sum it all up one article said, “So unsuspicious were the authorities, so unprepared the citizens, so open to attack lay the city, that nothing seemed necessary to the success of the insurgents except organization and arms.”(Higgins,1861) In other words, no one saw the mutiny coming. But still, there was not a doubt in Vesey’s mind that they couldn’t pull this off. They had God, arms, and people. What else could they possibly