Stono Rebellion

The enactment of the slave code in a British colony in South Carolina led to the slave uprising on September 9, 1739.Slaves had grown in number and they badly wanted to be free from their owners. Besides, slaves had also come to know about freedom of slaves in Florida which was controlled by Spaniards. Furthermore, disease like malaria had taken the toil of many slave owners in Charleston. It is believed to be the greatest uprising by the Catholic Africans who came from the Kingdom of Congo. The name comes for the event where in eighty slaves went on a rebellion killing the white civilians. They gathered around a literate slave Jimmy who led the rebellions. They choose this day being a Sunday when many slave owners would a church and was also a day of the Virgin Mary's nativity. They marched up to the Hutchenson's store at the Stono River Bridge and forcibly took guns and ammunition .They went about burning plantations, and attacking civilians at gun point. The Carolina militia suppressed the rebellion at the Edisto Riverwith a heavy hand. In the rebellion, many blacks were killed along with the whites. Those slaves who survived the rebellion were executed and the rest were packed off to West Indies as slaves. This led the Whites to be on guard and South Carolina legislature passed the Negro Act of 1740 to keep them under control. This act did not permit the movement, gathering or education of slaves. Besides, slaves were not allowed to be imported from Africa for the next decade .Further, the number of slaves permitted to work on a plantation was also fixed to ten. However, the causes of the rebellion were analyzed and the slave owners penalized for treating harsh treatment of their salves. Slaves were also trained in Christian theology, but freedom was largely denied to them.