Gabriel's Rebellion | Research & Encyclopedia Articles

Gabriel's Rebellion

United States 1800

Synopsis

Gabriel, a slave born on a plantation near Richmond, was a blacksmith who could read and write. Inspired by an earlier successful rebellion on Haiti, he masterminded the first U.S. slave rebellion in 1800. Using the communication network fostered by social and religious gatherings, Gabriel and his supporters spread the plans for a mass uprising in which the slaves planned to march into Richmond and take control of weaponry from the arsenal then attack the whites of the city. Weather and betrayal foiled the plot, and Gabriel and more than 40 other slaves were hanged for their part in the uprising. Ultimately, the rebellion contributed to the process of questioning the basic assumptions about slave capabilities and prerogatives that eventually lent force to abolitionist arguments.

Timeline

• 1775: American Revolution begins with the battles of Lexington and Concord, and delegates from each of the 13 American colonies meet for the Second Continental Congress.
• 1787: Constitution of the United States is signed.
• 1789: French Revolution begins with the storming of the Bastille.
• 1790: The first U.S. census reports a population of about 3,929,000, including 698,000 slaves.
• 1793: Eli Whitney patents his cotton gin—a machine that, by making cotton profitable, spurs the expansion of slave labor in the southern United States.
• 1800:

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