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Confusion and chaos took over the entire south as questions about why Nat ad rebelled came up. Why did he commit violence in an area where the master-slave relations were much better than many other southern counties (101)? The largest concern was if a rebellion as violent and as fierce in a mellow place like Virginia, what would happen in the “deep” south (105)? Rumors of slave plots spread to the border of Virginia and North Carolina and people were in a state of disarray. Any slave suspicious of participating in, or starting a rebellion would be killed immediately. Many white men started a manhunt for any collaborators of the rebellion and killed many slaves in the woods while taking the rest back to jail (98). While the captured “collaborators”, many were actually innocent but were put in jail anyway because of suspicion, waited for their trial, many whites protested outside and threatened to break inside and kill the rebels themselves (104). Judges continually convicted slaves for suspicion and talking rebellious even though many were innocent but they had just said that they would help Nat if the rebellion reached them (103). About 120 innocent slaves will be killed for suspicion (100). Virginians took action as well and started their
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Southerners blamed the Northern abolitionists for Nat’s rebellion (129). A very famous abolitionist, William Lloyd Garrison, was also blame d for Nat’s aggression. Garrison wrote an abolitionist paper called The Liberator that called for immediate abolishment of slavery because it was immoral. Garrison was a radical abolitionist that could even burn or rip copies of the constitution saying that it was a “deed with the devil”. There was no proof of Nat reading any of Garrison’s works on abolitionism, that Nat had even heard of him, or that there was even a copy of The Liberator in the county but they still blamed Garrison (130). Southerners refused to take the timing of the release of The Liberator and the rebellion as a coincidence (130). A large conspiracy even started in the South that the North, whites and blacks, would attack the South to abolish slavery. Governor Floyd gets into a heated argument with Garrison as well also blaming him for the rebellion. While Southern tension against the North grew, Southern slave owners were tightening their grasp on slaves to make sure they don’t make the same mistake again. “It was a pity to teach Negroes to read and write, to the end that they might read the scriptures.” Said a white female from Virginia (131). She had a good point, Nat’s literacy was a major reason for his rebellion, so now the education of slaves was just to teach them their job and everything that will
Southerners blamed the Northern abolitionists for Nat’s rebellion (129). A very famous abolitionist, William Lloyd Garrison, was also blame d for Nat’s aggression. Garrison wrote an abolitionist paper called The Liberator that called for immediate abolishment of slavery because it was immoral. Garrison was a radical abolitionist that could even burn or rip copies of the constitution saying that it was a “deed with the devil”. There was no proof of Nat reading any of Garrison’s works on abolitionism, that Nat had even heard of him, or that there was even a copy of The Liberator in the county but they still blamed Garrison (130). Southerners refused to take the timing of the release of The Liberator and the rebellion as a coincidence (130). A large conspiracy even started in the South that the North, whites and blacks, would attack the South to abolish slavery. Governor Floyd gets into a heated argument with Garrison as well also blaming him for the rebellion. While Southern tension against the North grew, Southern slave owners were tightening their grasp on slaves to make sure they don’t make the same mistake again. “It was a pity to teach Negroes to read and write, to the end that they might read the scriptures.” Said a white female from Virginia (131). She had a good point, Nat’s literacy was a major reason for his rebellion, so now the education of slaves was just to teach them their job and everything that will