Low-level sectional conflict arises again in response to the so-called Tariff of Abominations (1828).
In 1831 occurs the only effective, sustained slave rebellion in U.S. history, led by an enslaved African-American named Nat Turner (widely popularized by William Styron in his 1967 novel The Confessions of Nat Turner ).
In the aftermath of the terror, a new wave of unrest spreads through the South, accompanied by corresponding fear among slaveholders and passage of more repressive legislation directed against both slaves and free blacks.
These measures are aimed particularly at restricting the education of blacks, their freedom of movement and assembly, and the circulation of inflammatory printed material.
Increased vigilance on the part of Southern authorities prevents the success of such bizarre episodes as Murrel's Uprising (1835).
The institution of slavery, still the nonpareil reform issue in the United States, is a central factor in the Texan War of Independence (1836). The national financial panic of 1837 creates even greater unrest among U.S. farmers and workers, setting the stage for a new round of rebellion.
The United States is meanwhile occupied during this era with such Euramerican-Amerindian conflicts as the Black Hawk War (1832), the forced removal of the Cherokee tribe to Indian Territory, and the long and costly second Seminole War (1835-42), while a border dispute with Canada flares up as the Indian Stream "War."
