Rederick Douglass Once Said “The Thing Worse Than Rebellion

rederick Douglass once said â€Å"The thing worse than rebellion is the thing that causes rebellion.† This quote was in regards to the slavery and oppression plaguing America in the 18th and 19th century. Rebellion is an act of violent or nonviolent disobedience that typically occurs as a result of being treated unfairly or inhumanly. So, what makes a rebellion effective when protesting against slavery? An effective slave rebellion would be one that improves social equality from previous social situations in which all peoples would be considered equal to one another without producing too many negative factors such as deaths. During the 17th and 18th century there were three groups that led slavery rebellions which were called â€Å"The New York†¦show more content†¦As a result of this, Mary Burton, a servant of John Hughson, was brought into the court and she told Judge Daniel Horsmanden that John Hughson held a meeting with slaves in which they discussed burning dow n all of Manhattan apart from the women which they would take as wives. For this plan to be executed, all of Hughson’s group just needed to know how to set a fire, run away and not get caught at the scene. Many others who claimed to have witnessed slaves fleeing the scenes of arson came forward with accusations. Because so few people were found guilty of setting the fires, officials forced the accused to give up names of the guilty in exchange for less harsh punishments in which case the accused would often lie and give names of truly innocent people that had nothing to do with the fires. This led over 200 people to become arrested and tried by Judge Horsmanden which stopped the fires; therefore, the actions of Judge Horsmanden, Mary Burton and the witnesses that came forward saved New York from burning down. Looking back at facts, this form of violent rebellion was not as effective as it intended to be. The supposed goal was to take over the New York government and burn down the area of Manhattan. John Hughson and his assemblage of many slaves did not accomplish any of their goals. They did more bad than good by having people hanged, thrown in confinement and banished. As a result of the trial on May 11th, about 30 slaves and four Caucasians were executed