Pros And Cons Of Slave Insurrection

Slave insurrection occurred in a multitude of ways. Slaves practiced everyday resistance as well as planned and executed more elaborate forms of resistance. One form of resistance was strikes. During a strike Negros would flee to the swamps or forests and send back word that they would return if their demands were made. Demands would often include food, clothes, fewer beatings, shorter hours, or a new overseer. If demands were met they would return. However during the Civil War the demand of payment of wages. During this era they won “lifting themselves by their own bootstraps from chattels to wage workers”.3

Another form of insurrection was poisonings. This method was popular in the French West Indies to include Martinique, Louisiana,

There was little trouble in starting a fire in comparison to obtaining a gun or knife. As a result The American Fire Insurance Company on February 17, 1820 refused to insure homes in slave states.3 The possibility of arson by slaves was used to advocate curfew laws and the establishment of night watches.3Arson occurred frequently during the Civil War, setting a fire the property of patrol men and the official residence of prominent figures such as then President of the Confederate States of America Jefferson Davis in 1864.3 Furthermore in North America running away was popular. Slaves could run to Florida where Spanish offered them freedom. Saint Domingue following the Haitian Revolution offered refuge for slaves. Also slaves would run away to nearby maroon communities. Likewise slaves would integrate into Native American territories such as the Blue Ridge Mountains in South

Petite maroonage occurred when a slave often in a large sugar plantation would runaway for period of days. The slave running away may have been triggered to leave by a particularly brutal beating, the sale of spouse or children, or some unbearable humiliation. Grand maroonage occurred when the slave did not return but instead stayed in a maroon community of other runaway slaves. Grand maroonage was a central feature of Cuban slavery and resulted in the formation of palenques or cumbes. 4 However creating and maintain a maroon community free of colonial interference was very difficult. Colonies would often enlist the help of maroons to put down slave revolts in exchange for their freedom to live in their community without threat of a colonial intervention. Asserting the quote by journalist Jerry Pournelle “Freedom is Not