Rebellion can happen for many reasons. Some call for social reform, while others want change economically or politically. However, the root of any rebellion is change. This was no different in the slave uprising of Virginia in 1831, led by Nat Turner. Turner was born in 1800, during the peak of slavery in Southampton, Virginia. From a very young age he had hostile feelings towards the whole institution of slavery. He felt an overwhelming sense of injustice, and refused to accept that this was the way his life would be. After receiving what he believed visions from God, he knew it was time to act. He gained a group of supporters, and set into motion a passionate and bloody rebellion. Turner was not just seeking personal revenge by uprising,
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However, not all rebellions are as pronounced or dramatic as the Turner rebellion was. In 1734, there was a fire set in the merchant district of Montreal, destroying 46 building including a church, convent and hotel. The women ultimately tried, tortured and executed for the crime was a slave named Marie Joseph Angelique. The burning of one of New France’s most bustling settlement may not be a very well-known event, but it has created centuries of speculation. There are questions of whether Angelique committed the crime she paid so heavily for, and if she did was it an act of rebellion. This paper will examine the events during, and leading up to the burning of Montreal, and using Nat Turner’s uprising as a comparison, establish that this event was also an act of slave resistance. Angelique and Turner’s refusal to accept the status quo, along with their motivation for freedom, and acts of terror towards the white community were all indicators of slave …show more content…
At the time it was one of the Atlantic’s prime cities for exporting slaves. Angelique was born free, but was bought and sold into slavery by time she was fifteen. Before being sold to the French merchant, Francois Poulin de Francheville, and brought to Montreal, Marie had to endure being sold many times to both European and North American slave owners. Despite many associating slavery primarily with the United States, the slave trade was alive and well in New France. In Afua Cooper’s book The Hanging of Angelique: The Untold Story of Canadian Slavery and the Burning of old Montreal she points out that during the time Angelique was in Montreal, there was around 1200 slaves in all of New France. Most slaves at this time were domestic slaves, but received the same inhumane punishments and were sometimes even were murdered by their owners. Even being a house slaves meant was a behaviour status quo slaves were expected to follow but Angelique often defied this. She was known to disobey her master and even was being described as having “a fiery tempered, was stubborn and willful”. She even took up a romantic relationship with another one of Francheville’s servants, a white man named Francois Thibault. Their involvement was a disgrace as relationships between a black slave woman and a white man were viewed as unacceptable. As another act of defiance, Angelique tried to flee with Thibault, the pair hoping to make it to
However, not all rebellions are as pronounced or dramatic as the Turner rebellion was. In 1734, there was a fire set in the merchant district of Montreal, destroying 46 building including a church, convent and hotel. The women ultimately tried, tortured and executed for the crime was a slave named Marie Joseph Angelique. The burning of one of New France’s most bustling settlement may not be a very well-known event, but it has created centuries of speculation. There are questions of whether Angelique committed the crime she paid so heavily for, and if she did was it an act of rebellion. This paper will examine the events during, and leading up to the burning of Montreal, and using Nat Turner’s uprising as a comparison, establish that this event was also an act of slave resistance. Angelique and Turner’s refusal to accept the status quo, along with their motivation for freedom, and acts of terror towards the white community were all indicators of slave …show more content…
At the time it was one of the Atlantic’s prime cities for exporting slaves. Angelique was born free, but was bought and sold into slavery by time she was fifteen. Before being sold to the French merchant, Francois Poulin de Francheville, and brought to Montreal, Marie had to endure being sold many times to both European and North American slave owners. Despite many associating slavery primarily with the United States, the slave trade was alive and well in New France. In Afua Cooper’s book The Hanging of Angelique: The Untold Story of Canadian Slavery and the Burning of old Montreal she points out that during the time Angelique was in Montreal, there was around 1200 slaves in all of New France. Most slaves at this time were domestic slaves, but received the same inhumane punishments and were sometimes even were murdered by their owners. Even being a house slaves meant was a behaviour status quo slaves were expected to follow but Angelique often defied this. She was known to disobey her master and even was being described as having “a fiery tempered, was stubborn and willful”. She even took up a romantic relationship with another one of Francheville’s servants, a white man named Francois Thibault. Their involvement was a disgrace as relationships between a black slave woman and a white man were viewed as unacceptable. As another act of defiance, Angelique tried to flee with Thibault, the pair hoping to make it to