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.17 Fortunately, there are several such accountsand they generally corroborate one another.A South Carolinian writing Reading, Revelation, and Rebellion 125in the Carolina Gazette accurately summarized the trial testimony on thisissue as follows, with, of course, expected biases:The designing leaders in the scheme of villainy availed themselves of theseoccasions to instill sentiments of ferocity by falsifying the Bible.All the severalpenal laws of the Israelites were quoted to mislead them, and the denuncia-tions in the prophecies, which were intended to deter men from evil, weredeclared to be divine commands that they were meant to execute.To con-firm this doctrine, they were told that Heshbon, that Bash with its 60 cities,had been destroyed men, women and children; that in the destruction of Mi-dian, only the males were destroyed, at which Moses was displeased and delib-erately ordered the death of the boys and their mothers.That Joshua levelledthe walls of Jericho and regarded neither age or sex; that David vanquishedempires and left not one man, woman or infant alive.18This white Charlestonian focused on Vesey s misinterpretation of theBible and was especially interested in the bloody quality of Vesey s theol-ogy.In his focus he revealed the potency that he feared in Vesey s read-ings.Of more interest for this analysis, however, is the centrality of theOld Testament, and of specific portions of the Old Testament, to Vesey smessage.That slave conspirators would foreground the Old Testament comes asno surprise.The story of God s Chosen People being delivered from slav-ery has long been recognized as an important and inspirational narrativefoundation for slave Christianity.But given the mediated nature of thesources with which historians of slavery must work, it is, perhaps, too easyto meld the different stories of Jewish captivity and to fail to pay carefulenough attention to the specific passages that different interpreters chose.It is, for example, striking that all of the stories that the South Carolinianfound so troubling in Vesey s interpretive hands are drawn from periodsduring which Israel enjoyed successful charismatic military leadershipeither from Moses during the trek through the wilderness, from Joshuaas the Chosen People arrived at the Promised Land, or from David.19 Itis hardly necessary to belabor the obvious utility of these specific texts inbuilding a movement for freedom among enslaved people.Vesey s use ofthem underscores two conventional interpretations of slave Christianitythat it was deeply influenced by the story of the Exodus and that enslavedpeople of African descent developed a vision of themselves as God s newChosen People.20 White Carolinians need to assert that Vesey was falsi-fying, like the magistrates public refutation of his theology of liberationduring sentencing, emphasized that they perceived how much was at stakeif Vesey s interpretive authority were accepted.Perhaps because the stakes were so high, whites recorded much testi-mony regarding Vesey s interpretation of the Bible, testimony that permits 126 communities and contextsunusually precise analysis of the conspirators textual community.Variousreports made clear that Vesey knew his Bible well and could range broadlythrough the Old Testament in making his case.The confessions of twoconspirators Bacchus Hammet and a young boy named John describedhis preaching even more specifically.They cited a specific chapter of Ex-odus as central to Vesey s exhortation.At a meeting of his followers, Veseyread from different chapters from the Old Testament, but most generallyread the whole of 21st Chap.Exodus, and he exhorted from 16th versethe words and He that stealeth a man. 21 The full text of the verse reads: And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in hishand, he shall surely be put to death. A more apposite text to inspireenslaved rebels would be difficult to imagine.Vesey s unsurprising deci-sion to exhort upon that verse should not, however, draw too much at-tention from the fact that he read the whole of chapter 21.In thatchapter, sometimes called a part of the Book of the Covenant withinthe Book of Exodus, the Lord restated to Moses and to the children ofIsrael the laws they must obey to uphold their end of the covenant andthus retain his blessing.In the previous chapter the Lord had restatedmany of the sacred laws of the covenant, but in chapter 21 his focus is onmore secular matters involving the treatment of servants, assault, and at-tempted murder, as well as man stealing.The retributive sense of justicesuggested in the punishment for man stealing runs consistently throughthe chapter.It prevails in both specific punishments for listed crimes andin the Lord s more general instruction in dealing with any mischief resulting from a man mistreating a woman or child: thou shalt give lifefor life, Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. Veseyrallied his followers by turning to the Bible to resurrect for them a venge-ful God of secular deliverance, and he no doubt suggested, as had Ga-briel s brother Martin 20 years earlier, that this God would guide hisChosen People to liberty if they would take the first step by rising againsttheir sinful masters.22Some of those masters revealed through their responses that they un-derstood, at least implicitly, the interpretive acts that Vesey committedand the need to answer them with alternative interpretations.The SouthCarolinian wrote in the Carolina Gazette charging Vesey with committingan execrable perversion of the Bible by quoting the penal laws of theIsraelites, which were intended to deter men from evil, but presentingthem as divine commands to be carried into practice.In this way, Veseysought to turn the God of Mercy into a Juggernaught. The magistrateswho reported Vesey s sentence shared the South Carolinian s opinion andsought to redirect enslaved Carolinians attention away from the Old Tes-tament and back to the New.They addressed the by-then-deceased Veseydirectly: If you had searched.[the Scriptures] with sincerity, you wouldhave discovered instructions, immediately applicable to the deluded vic-tims of your artful wiles Servants (says St [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl centka.pev.pl
.17 Fortunately, there are several such accountsand they generally corroborate one another.A South Carolinian writing Reading, Revelation, and Rebellion 125in the Carolina Gazette accurately summarized the trial testimony on thisissue as follows, with, of course, expected biases:The designing leaders in the scheme of villainy availed themselves of theseoccasions to instill sentiments of ferocity by falsifying the Bible.All the severalpenal laws of the Israelites were quoted to mislead them, and the denuncia-tions in the prophecies, which were intended to deter men from evil, weredeclared to be divine commands that they were meant to execute.To con-firm this doctrine, they were told that Heshbon, that Bash with its 60 cities,had been destroyed men, women and children; that in the destruction of Mi-dian, only the males were destroyed, at which Moses was displeased and delib-erately ordered the death of the boys and their mothers.That Joshua levelledthe walls of Jericho and regarded neither age or sex; that David vanquishedempires and left not one man, woman or infant alive.18This white Charlestonian focused on Vesey s misinterpretation of theBible and was especially interested in the bloody quality of Vesey s theol-ogy.In his focus he revealed the potency that he feared in Vesey s read-ings.Of more interest for this analysis, however, is the centrality of theOld Testament, and of specific portions of the Old Testament, to Vesey smessage.That slave conspirators would foreground the Old Testament comes asno surprise.The story of God s Chosen People being delivered from slav-ery has long been recognized as an important and inspirational narrativefoundation for slave Christianity.But given the mediated nature of thesources with which historians of slavery must work, it is, perhaps, too easyto meld the different stories of Jewish captivity and to fail to pay carefulenough attention to the specific passages that different interpreters chose.It is, for example, striking that all of the stories that the South Carolinianfound so troubling in Vesey s interpretive hands are drawn from periodsduring which Israel enjoyed successful charismatic military leadershipeither from Moses during the trek through the wilderness, from Joshuaas the Chosen People arrived at the Promised Land, or from David.19 Itis hardly necessary to belabor the obvious utility of these specific texts inbuilding a movement for freedom among enslaved people.Vesey s use ofthem underscores two conventional interpretations of slave Christianitythat it was deeply influenced by the story of the Exodus and that enslavedpeople of African descent developed a vision of themselves as God s newChosen People.20 White Carolinians need to assert that Vesey was falsi-fying, like the magistrates public refutation of his theology of liberationduring sentencing, emphasized that they perceived how much was at stakeif Vesey s interpretive authority were accepted.Perhaps because the stakes were so high, whites recorded much testi-mony regarding Vesey s interpretation of the Bible, testimony that permits 126 communities and contextsunusually precise analysis of the conspirators textual community.Variousreports made clear that Vesey knew his Bible well and could range broadlythrough the Old Testament in making his case.The confessions of twoconspirators Bacchus Hammet and a young boy named John describedhis preaching even more specifically.They cited a specific chapter of Ex-odus as central to Vesey s exhortation.At a meeting of his followers, Veseyread from different chapters from the Old Testament, but most generallyread the whole of 21st Chap.Exodus, and he exhorted from 16th versethe words and He that stealeth a man. 21 The full text of the verse reads: And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in hishand, he shall surely be put to death. A more apposite text to inspireenslaved rebels would be difficult to imagine.Vesey s unsurprising deci-sion to exhort upon that verse should not, however, draw too much at-tention from the fact that he read the whole of chapter 21.In thatchapter, sometimes called a part of the Book of the Covenant withinthe Book of Exodus, the Lord restated to Moses and to the children ofIsrael the laws they must obey to uphold their end of the covenant andthus retain his blessing.In the previous chapter the Lord had restatedmany of the sacred laws of the covenant, but in chapter 21 his focus is onmore secular matters involving the treatment of servants, assault, and at-tempted murder, as well as man stealing.The retributive sense of justicesuggested in the punishment for man stealing runs consistently throughthe chapter.It prevails in both specific punishments for listed crimes andin the Lord s more general instruction in dealing with any mischief resulting from a man mistreating a woman or child: thou shalt give lifefor life, Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. Veseyrallied his followers by turning to the Bible to resurrect for them a venge-ful God of secular deliverance, and he no doubt suggested, as had Ga-briel s brother Martin 20 years earlier, that this God would guide hisChosen People to liberty if they would take the first step by rising againsttheir sinful masters.22Some of those masters revealed through their responses that they un-derstood, at least implicitly, the interpretive acts that Vesey committedand the need to answer them with alternative interpretations.The SouthCarolinian wrote in the Carolina Gazette charging Vesey with committingan execrable perversion of the Bible by quoting the penal laws of theIsraelites, which were intended to deter men from evil, but presentingthem as divine commands to be carried into practice.In this way, Veseysought to turn the God of Mercy into a Juggernaught. The magistrateswho reported Vesey s sentence shared the South Carolinian s opinion andsought to redirect enslaved Carolinians attention away from the Old Tes-tament and back to the New.They addressed the by-then-deceased Veseydirectly: If you had searched.[the Scriptures] with sincerity, you wouldhave discovered instructions, immediately applicable to the deluded vic-tims of your artful wiles Servants (says St [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]