308). In the beginning of slavery, whites feared the rebellion of blacks therefore they used tactics to control and to place fear in the minds of their slaves. A basic device of control whites used against blacks was to make them feel like they were inferior to whites. Whites also made Negroes believe they were descendants of Cain or the snake in the book of Genesis in the bible. The church also had a large contribution to the mindset of slaves. The church taught slaves that God wanted them to hold a lower level in society. The church also taught slaves that they would spend an eternity in Hell if they did not perform their daily tasks. Church sermons usually described beatings and lashings as a correction. It did not matter if the slave deserved it or not, the church's justification was that God wills it. Very few, African-Americans accepted their status as slaves. Full scale slave rebellions as those planned by Nat Turner, Denmark Vesey, and Gabriel Prosser were not common among the African American community in the United States in the nineteenth century. Most, slave-owners were completely aware of this and they lived in fear of the African-Americans under their control. The fact that most slaves were able to have families and feel a sense of community lessoned resistance of slaves. "Masters encouraged marriage among believing made the men less rebellious "(Out of Many pp.306). Not only did slave-owners expect slaves to run away, letters and diaries give strong evidence that slave-owners (and even non-slave-owners) in the south believed that rebellion was inevitable. They had lived with this fear since 1792 when the Haitian Revolution proved unquestionably that slaves were ready to revolt and could do so with a passion that was awe-inspiring. Added to this dangerous mixture was the fiery rhetoric of abolitionists, both black and white in some states located in the south, there were counties and cities were the slaves outnumbered the white plantation owners.