the ashanti had a warlike empire that spread over most of africa. they would meet with charles and they would discuss plans for what would become the largest revolt in american history. charles deslondes was the ultimate sleeper cell. using his privileged position not to aid the planters but to subvert them. on january 6 was the final meeting between these men charles deslondes, harry kenner who also was the son of a white planter and was born in virginia and then they met together on january 6. what did the slaves discuss? what were their motives? how do they organize? these are questions which no historian can answer definitively. the slaves did not write anything down. and they kept their actions completely secret from the planters. but let me tell you what the slaves would have known. what they would have been familiar with. i'm not sure how many of you know about the revolution that occurred in haiti in 17 night -- 81. today i think when we think of haiti we think of the devastating scenes we see on television. in 1811, haiti was a beacon of ho

these leaders came from louisiana from the congo, from virginia, from the ashanti kingdom.some are born to white fathers. their names were french german spanish west african anglo-american. the politics of the slave quarters was complex. there was no single ideology, no single leader that defined the insurgents or their agenda. rather the slaves counted in the ranks men from such revolutionary hotbeds as congo, haiti and louisiana marin colonies in the swamps. but amidst this chaos and complexity, the planters deemed only to assign the descriptor guilty. the german coast uprising had raised serious questions and then orleans territory but the strength of american power, the extent of the spanish thread, the possibility of a haitian style revolution on american soil and that the character of america's newly acquired french citizens. the planters realized the urgency of these questions and answer them with 100 dismembered corpses and and a set of show trials intended to speak to the local slave population. in letters and newspaper accounts, william claiborne, the governor of