In 1741, Manhattan had the second-largest slave population of any city in the Thirteen Colonies after Charleston, South Carolina. As a result The Conspiracy of 1741, also known as the Negro Plot of 1741 broke out in New York. This rebellion is marked as one of the most controversial events in the early American history because most historians disagree as to whether such a plot existed and, if there was one, its scale. This alleged conspiracy served as an excuse for a brutal revenge of the local authorities. The main target were African slaves. As in the Salem witch trials, a few witnesses implicated many other suspects. In the end, over 100 people were hanged, exiled, or burned at the stake.

When in 1741 a rash of fires followed a theft in pre-revolutionary New York City, British colonial authorities came to suspect an elaborate conspiracy led by slaves and poor whites who intended to burn the city and hand it over to Britain’s Catholic foes. Within seven months, roughly 200 people were arrested, 17 were hanged, and 70 others were expelled from New York. This book abridges the transcript Justice Daniel Horsmanden kept of the trials. His record of the testimony of slaves and working-class whites provides extraordinary clues to the nature of race, class, and gender relationships in colonial New York City and raises questions about the nature and extent of the alleged conspiracy. Serena Zabin’s introduction provides context by describing slavery, tavern culture, and the legal system as well as explaining British tensions with France and Spain. Additional documents include newspaper accounts of the Antigua and Stono Rebellions and letters concerning the 1741 trials to help students make connections among these uprisings and the atmosphere of fear and suspicion they created. Document headnotes and glosses, lists of trial participants, a chronology of events, questions for consideration, a selected bibliography, and an index provide strong pedagogical support.

In 1741, Manhattan had the second-largest slave population of any city in the Thirteen Colonies after Charleston, South Carolina. As a result The Conspiracy of 1741, also known as the Negro Plot of 1741 broke out in New York. This rebellion is marked as one of the most controversial events in the early American history because most historians disagree as to whether such a plot existed and, if there was one, its scale. This alleged conspiracy served as an excuse for a brutal revenge of the local authorities. The main target were African slaves. As in the Salem witch trials, a few witnesses implicated many other suspects. In the end, over 100 people were hanged, exiled, or burned at the stake.