NEW YORK CONSPIRACY 1741

NEW YORK CONSPIRACY 1741

Who has heard of, read of, or has any information on the New York Conspiracy of 1741. Well, this conspiracy had to do with an economic deadline which conflicted with slaves in activity, having to do with a slave rebellion. With black’s slaves and poor white men were planning on burning large parts and take over New York City.

In the year of 1741 the colonist of New York was worried about the Spanish and French were planning to take control of north America. These attacks had suspicion that they were a group of black Spaniards who had freed citizens of Spain and were the captured by the British. “When a series of thirteen fires broke out in March and April of 1741, English colonist suspected a Negro plot—perhaps one involving poor whites. Much as in Salem a half century before, hysteria came to colonial America, and soon New York City’s jails were filled to overflowing (Douglas, 1995.)

It is said that, “In May Caesar and Prince were charged not with conspiracy but with burglary and were hanged. Kerry (who was pregnant with Caesar’s child), Hughson, and his wife were arrested next and were publicly executed in June. Hughson’s body (and possibly those of his wife and Kerry as well) was left hanging for all to observe. Still desperate to uncover a plot, Horsmanden offered rewards (of varying amounts, depending on the informant’s skin color and status) to anyone who would provide evidence of a conspiracy (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, 2018.)

For this, hundreds and hundreds of slaves were then reportedly being taken to the city hall with charges on arson and burglary. “A 16-year-old Irish indentured servant, Mary Burton, was arrested in a case of stolen goods. She testified against the others as participants in a supposedly growing conspiracy of poor whites and blacks to burn the city, kill the white men, take the white women for themselves, and elect a new king and governor” (Jae Jones, 2017.)

Many of these were reportedly a rumor, stated false confessions, and is stated that 30 blacks, and 4 whites were executed. In this case and in most, more blacks were killed than whites. Another good piece of this conspiracy theory is stated that,” A journal written by Horsmanden in 1744 served as an important primary source on the proceedings of the 1741 conspiracy, revealing important details and offering valuable insight into the context in which the trials took place. In the 21st century, historians of the event were wary of Horsmanden’s factual accuracy, as his book was likely published as justification for his actions, and they remained agnostic about the actuality of a slave conspiracy (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, 2018.)

I believed that this showed many things of the law yet to come. Such as explaining colonial American justice and initiating a slave revolt against the whites. Also, that it showed our law was stretched for the punishment of African Slaves at this time in age. So much was going on, not a lot of people knew how to deal with the situation.

-        Fabian Carlon

Sources: Famous Trails. Professor Douglas O. Linder, 1995-2018, http://www.famous-trials.com/newyorkplot

New York slave rebellion of 1741. The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, 2018, https://www.britannica.com/event/New-York-slave-rebellion-of-1741, February 1^st, 2018

The New York Slave Conspiracy of 1741. Jae Jones, 2017, https://blackthen.com/new-york-slave-conspiracy-1741/ , March 4, 2017