Chapter 16: Gabriel's Rebellion - Kevin Ong, Period 1

     A future abolitionist leader, Gabriel spent most of his early life as a blacksmith, working as a slave under his master, Thomas Prosser. Although he was a slave, he had some freedoms including his ability to earn money in order to purchase a certain extent of freedom. He was mainly an artisan and blacksmith rather than a sole plantation worker, and through his experiences with fellow slaves he sparked interest in issues of human liberty and rights. Consequently, these experiences led him to question slavery's place in society and would later push him to plan his slave revolt in 1800.

     Gabriel, one of the most famous radical abolitionist revolt leaders of his time, is most famous for leading a futile raid on Richmond, Virginia in 1800. Setting the stage for future revolts that would be led later by other abolitionist leaders including Nat Turner, Gabriel rallied a mob of approximately 1,000 slaves onto Richmond with the intentions of holding Virginia's governor, James Monroe hostage. Upon capturing Monroe, Gabriel and his followers had planned to forcibly make him free all slaves in Virginia. However, their plan ultimately failed due to a torrential downpour postponing their attack and black traitors reporting Gabriel's intentions to Richmond city officials (the mob itself never even reached Richmond and, therefore, no whites were killed). Consequently, the mob was scattered, slaves including Gabriel were hanged, unjust trials were held, and even more rights were taken from Virginian slaves.

     Therefore, ironically, the revolt caused the Virginian legislature to re-tighten their grip on slaves' freedom. For instance, laws were passed and enforced that strictly prohibited "hiring-out" of slavery in some regions. In addition, all forms of slavery education were also banned. Although it began in Virginia, this revolt would also ultimately spread slowly throughout the South as Southerners became more and more weary of slave revolts. Thus, this revolt acted as the main forerunner to the tension leading up to the Civil War as Southerners tightened their grip on slavery through reforms like the gag resolution.

     On the other hand, positively speaking, Gabriel's revolt symbolizes that some slaves were educated enough to realize their stances socially and politically and were willing to fight for their freedom and rights. In fact even before the revolt, Gabriel had attempted to gain the support of other liberal groups including the Quakers, Methodists, and Frenchmen who were all currently huge advocates of equality and human rights. Additionally, Gabriel had also previously sought to gain recognition from various political leaders including Thomas Jefferson in an effort to have strong political parties like the Republican party support his abolitionist intentions. Furthermore, this revolt also acted as one of the first extremely radical slave revolts in the sense that the slaves were not simply trying to run away; they were attempting to raid a city in order to assert their abolitionist beliefs.

     Conclusively, Gabriel's revolt although unsuccessful influenced later radical abolitionist revolts and leaders. Even though it directly caused the tightening of slavery laws and freedoms, it exemplifies the rigid tensions that were rising between abolitionists and society. Influencing the rise of other abolitionist leaders including Nat Turner and John Brown, the revolt set the foundation for future radical revolts.

Works Cited:

Aptheker, Herbert. "Historical Background of the Gabriel Prosser Slave Revolt."College of Humanities and Social Sciences. New York: International Publishers, Feb. 1998. Web. 28 Oct. 2011. <http://chss.montclair.edu/english/furr/spl/gabrielrevolt.html>.

"Gabriel's Conspiracy." Library of Virginia. Library of Virginia. Web. 28 Oct. 2011. <http://www.lva.virginia.gov/exhibits/DeathLiberty/gabriel/>.

"Gabriel's Rebellion: Another View of Virginia in 1800 [ushistory.org]." Ushistory.org. Independence Hall Association, 2008. Web. 28 Oct. 2011. <http://www.ushistory.org/us/20f.asp>.