Slavery Resistance and Revolts

Slaves never accepted their status, they resisted what they were being put through in many ways. A few of the ways were simple like working slowly for their masters but diligently in their own gardens (if owned). Other forms of resisting also consisted of sabotaging plantation equipment and work routines This did not always work out for slaves once their masters caught on to what was going on. They would see their business losing money. They would in return take out their anger by beating, and torturing the slaves. 

 For those slaves that could not take the way they were living, running away was an option of resisting. Slaves that ran away were known as Maroons most of these maroons had gained military experience in Africa. These Maroons organized escaped slaves into military forces. These communities flourished in slaveholding regions of the western hemisphere. Some still exist, such as Suriname.

Resistance to slavery was not always on such a small scale. The most dramatic form of resistance came in the form of revolts. Slaves usually outnumbered slave owners and supervisors on plantations.  

 Although slave revolts did free the slaves of their owners, they usually never brought an end to slavery itself. Military forces would always put an end to the revolts before they got to big. However slavery was abolished in the colony of Saint-Domingue due to a revolt. The slaves declared independence from France and renamed the land Haiti. The Haitian Revolution inspired slaves throughout the western hemisphere, while also frightening slave owners at seeing what slaves were capable of.