Denmark Vesey Part 2 of 3

The conspiracy behind Denmark Vesey enfolds around the attempt of his alleged failed rebellion.

 It is rumored that Vesey was able to convince over 9,000 slaves and freedmen to rise up and rebel against their masters and other slave owners. These numbers would have made this conspiracy the most widespread slave rebellion plot in the United States. The participants in Vesey’s supposed plan were men from Charleston and surrounding plantations who planned to take hold of Charleston’s resources and guard houses, kill the Governor, set fire to the city, and kill every white man they saw (Hink, 1997). However, a faithful slave told his master of the plan, which engaged other faithful slaves to step up and testify. One testimony stated, “He then read in the bible where God commanded, that all should be cut off, both men, women and children, and he said he believed, it was no sin for us to do so, for the lord had commanded us to do it” (Hink, 1997, p. 34).

This quote is from Rolla Bennett, one if the chief conspirators who was cracked under imprisonment, most likely tortured, admitted that Vesey had instructed this rebellion. It also supports the ideology that Vesey began preaching from the Old Testament, teaching his followers that they were the New Israelites. This means that he assumed they were all the chosen people whose enslavement God would discipline with death. Therefore, it was okay to kill their masters because it is what God planned.

At the end of the trial South Carolina officials excused Vesey and 35 other of his accomplices. However, on the other hand some argue that Vesey’s trial was unfair and his execution was an outcome of white panic, not a slave rebellion.

Well cover the opposing side in the next post, stayed tuned!

-Savannah

To find out what is talked about next, click here: http://hi360conspiracy.blogspot.com/2018/02/denmark-vesey-part-3-or.html

Works Cited

Hink, P. (1997) To Awaken My Afflicted Brethren. University Park, Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State University Press.