Stono Rebellion

The Stono Rebellion (sometimes called Cato's Conspiracy or Cato's Rebellion) is a slave rebellion that commences on September 9, 1739, in the colony of South Carolina.

It is the largest slave uprising in the British mainland colonies prior to the American Revolution.

One of the earliest known organized rebellions in the present United States, the uprising is led by native Africans who are Catholic and likely from the Kingdom of Kongo, which has been Catholic since 1491.

Some of the Kongolese speak Portuguese.

Their leader, Jemmy (referred to in some reports as "Cato", and probably a slave belonging to the Cato, or Cater, family who live just off the Ashley River and north of the Stono River) is a literate slave who leads 20 other enslaved Kongolese, who may have been former soldiers, in an armed march south from the Stono River (for which the rebellion is named).They recruit nearly 60 other slaves and kill 22–25 whites before being intercepted by the South Carolina militia near the Edisto River.

In that battle, 20 whites and 44 slaves are killed, and the rebellion is largely suppressed.

A group of slaves escapes and travels another 30 miles (50 km) before battling a week later with the militia.

Most of the captured slaves are executed; a few survive to be sold to the West Indies.In response to the rebellion, the South Carolina legislature passes the Negro Act of 1740 restricting slave assembly, education and movement.

It also enacts a 10-year moratorium against importing African slaves, and establishes penalties against slaveholders' harsh treatment of slaves.

It requires legislative approval for manumissions, which slaveholders had previously been able to arrange privately.

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