Although violent slave revolts were relatively rare, white southerners lived in fear of them. Two planned rebellions were stopped before they began. Gabriel Prosser planned a rebellion near Richmond, Virginia, in 1800. Denmark Vesey planned one in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1822. Authorities executed most of those involved in planning these rebellions. Though Vesey was executed as the leader of the Charleston conspiracy, several accounts written after his death by anti- slavery writers claimed he was a hero.

The most known slave revolt in the United States occurred in 1831 and is known as Nat Turner's Rebellion. Nat Turner, a slave from Southampton County, Virginia, believed that God had told him to end slavery. On an August night in 1831, Turner led a group of slaves in a plan to kill all of the slaveholders and their families in the county. First, they attacked the family that held Turner as a slave. Soon they had killed about 60 white people in the community.

More than 100 innocent slaves who were not part of Turner's group were killed by authorities in an attempt to stop the rebellion. Turner himself led authorities on a chase around the countryside for six weeks. He hid in caves and in the woods before he was caught and brought to trial. Before his trial, Turner's confession was published in newspapers, and calling him a madman. He expressed his belief that the revolt was justified and worth his death: "I am willing to suffer the fate that awaits me." He was executed on November 11, 1831. After the rebellion, many states strengthened their slave codes. The new codes placed stricter control on the slave population. Despite the resistance of enslaved people, slavery continued to spread. White and black abolitionists, working mainly in the North, spoke out against slavery.