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Difficulty: HardMajor Slave Rebellions and Conspiracies

Read the passage below from a report by the South Carolina Commons House of Assembly regarding an event in 1739:

'A number of Negroe Slaves, having assembled at Stono, first plundered a Warehouse of Arms and Ammunition, killed the two Storekeepers, and then proceeded... crying out Liberty, having two Drums beating and Colours flying... They increased to sixty or eighty, and killed all the white people they met... before they were halted by the militia.'

Based on the passage and your knowledge of African American history, which of the following was a direct legal and social consequence of the uprising described?

  1. It led to the passage of the Negro Act of 1740, which consolidated the colony's slave codes and legally prohibited enslaved people from growing their own food, assembling in groups, and learning to write.Answer
  2. B
    It prompted South Carolina to pass the Negro Seamen Acts, which mandated the arrest and detention of free Black sailors while their ships were docked in local ports.
  3. C
    It convinced colonial authorities that violent rebellions could be prevented by legally tolerating covert forms of everyday resistance, such as feigning illness or damaging tools.
  4. D
    It resulted in the colonial government negotiating formal treaties that recognized the legal autonomy of grand maroon communities within the Carolina backcountry.

Answer

It led to the passage of the Negro Act of 1740, which consolidated the colony's slave codes and legally prohibited enslaved people from growing their own food, assembling in groups, and learning to write.
The correct answer is correct because the Stono Rebellion of 1739, the largest uprising of enslaved people in the mainland British colonies, directly resulted in the South Carolina legislature passing the Negro Act of 1740. This law consolidated the colony's slave codes, banning enslaved people from assembling in groups, growing their own food, learning to write, or traveling without written passes, establishing a model of total racial control.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the historical event described in the passage.
The event is the Stono Rebellion, which occurred in South Carolina in 1739 near the Stono River.
The passage provides specific clues: the location 'Stono', the year '1739', and the details of an armed rebellion of enslaved people marching with drums and flags.
2
Analyze the historical consequences of the Stono Rebellion.
In direct response to the Stono Rebellion, the South Carolina legislature enacted the comprehensive Negro Act of 1740.
White colonists were terrified by the level of organization of the rebellion and sought to prevent future uprisings by severely restricting slave activities.
3
Evaluate the details of the Negro Act of 1740 against the options.
The Negro Act of 1740 restricted assembly, movement, literacy, and cultivation of food, which aligns perfectly with the correct choice.
This act codified chattel slavery more rigidly and remained the basis of South Carolina's slave law until the Civil War.

Key Concept

The Stono Rebellion (1739) and its legislative aftermath, specifically the Negro Act of 1740, which illustrates how white colonial authorities reacted to organized slave resistance by tightening legal control and stripping enslaved people of basic freedoms.
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Topics

Major Slave Rebellions and Conspiracies

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