"[2] He had received instruction also from his
parents and his indulgent young master, J.C. Turner.
[Footnote 1] Drewery, _Insurrections in Virginia_, p. 27.
[Footnote 2: Drewery, _Insurrections in Virginia_, p. 28.]
When Nat Turner appeared, the education of the Negro had made the way
somewhat easier for him than it was for his predecessors. Negroes who
could read and write had before them the revolutionary ideas of the
French, the daring deeds of Toussaint L'Ouverture, the bold attempt of
General Gabriel, and the far-reaching plans of Denmark Vesey. These
were sometimes written up in the abolition literature, the circulation
of which was so extensive among the slaves that it became a national
question.[1]
[Footnote 1: These organs were _The Albany Evening Journal, The New
York Free Press, The Genius of Universal Emancipation_, and _The
Boston Liberator_. See _The Richmond Enquirer_, Oct. 21, 1831.]
Trying to account for this insurrection the Governor of the State lays
it to the charge of the Negro preachers who were in position to foment
much disorder on account of having acquired "great ascendancy over the
minds" of discontented slaves.
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