Defiance Makes a Change

African-Americans have a long history of slavery which was marked by oppression and discrimination. Black people were subjected to torture and sometimes murder from their masters. Due to this continued oppression, some of the slaves decided to organize riots at Stono in 1739 to oppose their masters for dehumanizing them. It necessitated lawmakers in South Carolina to pass the “Act for the better ordering and governing of the Negros and other slaves” in 1740 ¹ . Because of the fear that other riots could break out, the Act was meant to reduce the oppression of the slave. For example, the VII Provision stated that “it shall and may be lawful for every justice assigned to keep the peace in this province, within his respective county and jurisdiction ² .” During those early days, white women were discriminated and oppressed by white men. Workers were also subjected to poor working conditions and low wages. Later on, the workers started to form labor unions to fight for their rights. In this regard, this paper discusses some of the reasons that caused fear among Americans and even compelled the lawmakers to make changes to the law to tackle the issue of defiant slaves, women, and workers.

Americans feared defiant slaves because they could organize rebellions hence causing the destruction of property and loss of lives. Most of the Southern states in America put in place very severe punishments for slaves who broke the law. Due to these dehumanizing actions, sometimes defiant slaves organized revolts which caused the destruction of property and death. According to George Cato, the great-great-grandson of the Stono slave commander, the Stono Insurrection occurred in 1739. During the riots, 21 white men and 44 black men were murdered ³ . George Cato says the following when asked about how the riots started, “How it all start? Dat what I ask but nobody ever tell me how 100 slaves between de Combahee and Edisto Rivers come to meet in the woods not far from de Stono River on September 9, 1739. And how they elect a leader, my kinsman, Cato, and late dat day match to Stono town, break warehouse, kill two white men in charge, and take all de guns and ammunition they wants. But they do it, wid dis start, they turn South and match on ⁴ .” This kind of revolt threatened the hierarchical social order of the white society which demanded total submission by the slave. Therefore, it caused a lot of fear among the white men.

Slaves played a crucial role in the provision of labor in plantation farms and construction of public roads. Therefore, any act of defiance by the slave workers caused fear among the white farmers and slavers owners who depended on the slaves to provide labor. In his essay “Rebelling as men,” Edward Pearson states the following, “The changes that rice cultivation brought to the low country furnished the context in which the revolt occurred. Many slaves may have been only partly aware of the regions changing ethnic and demographic patterns, but they would have been very conscious of how the rice cultivation was reshaping their working lives. The back breaking nature of this work, combined with the transgression of gender roles that had prevailed in Atlantic Africa, gave male slaves a specific set of grievances against which to struggle.” ⁵ The struggles often affected the productivity of the plantations. Therefore, white farmers greatly feared defiant slave workers because the revolts resulted in losses since they occurred during the season for planting rice. Edward Pearson states that “Perhaps it is no accident that rebellion as plantation work reached its most intense and when slave men, reaping a bumper rice harvest in 1739, may have been provoked to contemplate flight.” ⁶

Defiant women were greatly feared by men, especially in North Carolina. According to men, defiant women personified social disorder. In the early 18th Century, the patriarchal household government and property rights were deeply connected with the early modern Europe and its American colonies. In the book “ Suspect Relations” by Fischer Kristen (2002), the author states that “The patriarchal household was crucial to the social order; it served as a metaphor and microcosmic example of the divinely ordained social hierarchy.” ⁷ Men demanded submission from the wives the same way the monarch demanded submission from its subjects. Married women did not have any legal identity. The only identity that was allowed for a woman to have was that of the husbands. Additionally, married women were not allowed to own any property of their own. For instance, in the book “Suspect Relations” by Fischer, the author gives an example of a woman called Dorothy who defied his husband and ran away with an adulterer. By running away, Dorothy had deprived her husband the right of possessing her body and services. Therefore, defiant women were feared because the law at that time did not allow them to have any power. They were regarded as the property of their husbands.

Native Americans and Quakers had gender norms that were different from those of the mainstream English patriarchal households. The Quakers and Native Americans provided their women with some benefits which threatened the social order among households. Native women had significant power in the general administration of the society. They were also allowed to own property and influence political decisions. Among the Quakers, women were allowed to travel and participate in preaching the gospel ⁸ . In addition, women friends were permitted to meet often to discuss and decide on matters that affected the community. Therefore, women among the Quakers and Native Americans seemed to be having privileges that were not consistent with the English familial norms. Among the English families, women were not allowed to form meetings that would discuss and decide on matters of the society. Consequently, colonialists feared defiant women because they were seen as people who wanted to disrupt the order of the society. They did not want women in the colony to start demanding inordinate powers.

The ideas about race, gender, and class greatly influenced the political culture in colonial America. Laws were passed to ensure effective control of slaves. For example, after the Stono Revolt in South Carolina, the General Assembly of the State passed some legislative laws to strengthen the 1737 Patrol Act. The XXIII Code states that “…it shall not be lawful for any slave, unless in the presence of some white, to carry or make use of firearms or any offensive weapons whatsoever, unless such Negro or slave shall have a ticket or license in writing…” ⁹ Changes were also made to the slave code with the intention of limiting the excesses of white slave owners. The laws that were put in place defined how and when the white masters were allowed to punish the slaves. It must be noted that the harsh treatment of slaves by their masters fueled the Stono Revolt. Because of the fear that revolts could probably increase, the general assembly made these changes to the law to ensure that slaves were well regulated.

Bibliography

Fischer, Kirsten. 2002.  Suspect relations: sex, race, and resistance in colonial North Carolina . Ithaca [u.a.]: Cornell Univ. Press.

Smith, Mark M. 2005.  Stono: documenting and interpreting a Southern slave revolt . Columbia, S.C.:University of South Carolina Press.