He also concluded that the slave's chronic tendency to run away was in reality the symptom of yet another African disease, Drapetomania, which he believed would eventually be medically cured.
Finally, some slaves engaged in active resistance.

Most of the slave insurrections in America were very small, and most were unsuccessful.
The three best known insurrections were those led by Gabriel Prosser, Denmark Vesey, and Nat Turner.

These revolts will be treated more fully in the next chapter.
The masters consistently refused to see examples of passive or active resistance as signs of manhood.

Lying and stealing were never interpreted as passive resistance, but were always attributed to an inferior savage heritage, as was slave violence.

Prosser, Vesey, and Turner, instead of being numbered among the world's heroes fighting for the freedom of their people, were usually represented as something closer to savages, criminals, or psychopaths.