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BookPrinted Material
Author Rasmussen, Daniel, 1987-

Title American uprising : the untold story of America's largest slave revolt / Daniel Rasmussen.

Publication Info. New York, NY : Harper, [2011]
©2011

Item Status

Location Call No. Status OPAC Message Public Note Gift Note
 Moore Stacks  F379.N557 R37 2011    Available  ---
Edition 1st ed.
Description viii, 276 pages : maps ; 24 cm
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 223-264) and index.
Summary The author, a historian reveals the long forgotten history of America's largest slave uprising, the New Orleans slave revolt of 1811 that nearly toppled New Orleans and changed the course of American history. In this narrative, he offers new insight into American expansionism, the path to Civil War, and the earliest grassroots push to overcome slavery. Five hundred slaves, dressed in military uniforms and armed with guns, cane knives, and axes, rose up from the plantations around New Orleans and set out to conquer the city. Ethnically diverse, politically astute, and highly organized, this self made army challenged not only the economic system of plantation agriculture but also American expansion. Their march represented the largest act of armed resistance against slavery in the history of the United States. The work is the story of this elaborate plot, the rebel army's dramatic march on the city, and its shocking conclusion. No North American slave uprising, not Gabriel Prosser's, not Denmark Vesey's, not Nat Turner's, has rivaled the scale of this rebellion either in terms of the number of the slaves involved or the number who were killed. More than one hundred slaves were slaughtered by federal troops and French planters, who then sought to write the event out of history and prevent the spread of the slaves' revolutionary philosophy. With the Haitian revolution a recent memory and the War of 1812 looming on the horizon, the revolt had epic consequences for America. Through original research, the author offers a window into the young, expansionist country, illuminating the early history of New Orleans and providing new insight into the path to the Civil War and the slave revolutionaries who fought and died for justice and the hope of freedom.
Contents Carnival in New Orleans -- Paths to slavery -- A revolutionary forge -- Empire's emissary -- Conquering the frontier -- Masks and motives -- The rebels' pact -- Revolt -- A city in chaos -- A second wind -- The battle -- Heads on poles -- Friends of necessity -- Statehood and the young American nation -- The slaves win their freedom -- The cover-up.
Subject Slave rebellions -- Louisiana -- New Orleans Region -- History -- 19th century.
Slave rebellions.
Louisiana -- New Orleans Region.
History.
Chronological Term 19th century
Subject New Orleans (La.) -- History -- 19th century.
Slavery -- Louisiana -- History -- 19th century.
Slavery.
Louisiana.
African Americans -- Louisiana -- New Orleans Region -- History -- 19th century.
African Americans.
New Orleans (La.) -- Race relations.
ISBN 9780061995217 hardcover $26.99
0061995215 hardcover