Denmark Vesey's Revolt: The Slave Plot that Lit a Fuse to Fort Sumter (American Abolitionism and Antislavery)

In 1822, Denmark Vesey was found guilty of plotting an insurrection―what would have been the biggest slave uprising in U.S. history. A free man of color, he was hanged along with 34 other African Americans in Charleston, South Carolina, in what historians agree was probably the largest civil execution in U.S. history. At the time of Vesey’s conviction, Charleston was America’s chief slave port and one of its most racially tense cities. Whites were outnumbered by slaves three to one, and they were haunted by memories of the 1791 slave rebellion in Haiti. In Denmark Vesey’s Revolt, John Lofton draws upon primary sources to examine the trial and provide, as Peter Hoffer says in his new introduction, “one of the most sensible and measured” accounts of the subject. This classic book was originally published in 1964 as Insurrection in South Carolina: The Turbulent World of Denmark Vesey, and then reissued by the Kent State University Press in 1983 as Denmark Vesey’s Revolt: The Slave Plot That Lit a Fuse to Fort Sumter. In 1822, Denmark Vesey was found guilty of plotting an insurrection--what would have been the biggest slave uprising in U.S. history. A free man of color, he was hanged along with 34 other African Americans in Charleston, South Carolina, in what historians agree was probably the largest civil execution in U.S. history. At the time of Vesey's conviction, Charleston was America's chief slave port and one of its most racially tense cities. Whites were outnumbered by slaves three to one, and they were haunted by memories of the 1791 slave rebellion in Haiti. This book draws upon primary sources to examine the trial and provide, as Peter Hoffer says in his introduction, "one of the most ... measured" accounts of the subject A Key Port -- Slavery In The Islands -- Slave Life At Sea -- Slave City In A Free Republic -- Burden Bearers In South Carolina -- Seeds Of Insurrection -- The Half-free Community -- Mainstream Of Reaction -- Eddies Of Revolution -- Preparing The Ground -- The Hour For Revolt -- Rebels On Trial -- The Harvest Of Fears -- A Fuse To Fort Sumter. John Lofton ; New Introduction By Peter C. Hoffer. Originally Published Under Title: Insurrection In South Carolina. Yellow Springs, Ohio : Antioch Press, 1964. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.