The Fucking South and the Industrial Revolution

In 1800, nearly one fifth of the five million people in the US were enslaved. In 1831, an enslaved preacher named Nat Turner gathered up a small band of his fellow slaves and launched an insurrection armed with hatchets, knives and muskets. Like John Brown, Nat Turner had also been born in 1800. He came to view himself as something of a prophet and believed that he had been chosen by God to bring about the end of slavery. And while John struggled to get ahead economically, the United States lurched close to violence over the issue of slavery.