New York Conspiracy of 1741

The New York Conspiracy of 1741 is the name given to a series of events, trials, and executions that began in the British colony of New York in that year. Also known as the Slave Insurrection of 1741 and the New York Slave Conspiracy, the event was an alleged plot by enslaved African Americans to burn down the city, kill European Americans, and gain their freedom. It began as a series of suspicious fires, one of which destroyed the colonial governor’s residence. A grand jury used testimony and confessions—both allegedly coerced or encouraged with promises of rewards—to arrest nearly two hundred people. The handling of the trials has been compared by historians to the dubious way the Salem Witch Trials were conducted. Before they were done, thirty-four people had been executed by hanging or burning at the stake, eighty-four were transported to the harsher conditions of Caribbean slavery, and seven were exiled from New York.

Background

In 1741, approximately 20 percent of New York’s population of about ten thousand were enslaved people from Africa. Manhattan was second only to Charleston, South Carolina, in enslaved population. Tensions in the city were high due to a combination of economic conditions and rumors and suspicions. The winter of 1740–1741 had been a severe one, and people in the city were competing for limited resources and opportunities. In addition, other colonies had been experiencing uprisings by enslaved people, and a great deal of fear and suspicion surrounded the idea that New York could be next. At the same time, war was ongoing between England and Spain. With this came an increase in anti-Catholic feelings, since Spain was a predominantly Catholic country. Emotions were high in the colony and the city for all these reasons.

Then, in March and April, the city was struck with a series of more than a dozen fires. A March 8 fire destroyed Fort George, which included the official residence of New York’s provincial governor, as well as a nearby church. Four fires occurred on a single day in early April. Suspicion and blame were rampant, with some blaming enslaved people planning a revolt and others pinning blame on Catholic Spanish sympathizers. Terrified New York residents demanded that officials take some action.

Overview

Contemporary historians are mostly in agreement that the New York Conspiracy of 1741 only existed in the minds of people looking for someone to blame for the fires. In response to the fires, Supreme Court of Judicature Justice Daniel Horsmanden was asked to lead an investigation. He was an ambitious British expatriate who led a very aggressive inquiry into the situation.

On April 21, 1741, a grand jury was empaneled to investigate who and what was behind the devastating fires. As their investigation continued, dozens of people were arrested on suspicions of being involved. Many of them were arrested on the strength of testimony of others who were under investigation themselves and cast blame either to protect themselves or gain favor with the court.

One of these witnesses was a sixteen-year-old indentured person from Ireland named Mary Burton. She was indentured to a tavern owner named John Hughson whose bar was popular with sailors and enslaved people. Burton was initially arrested on suspicion of theft but was questioned about the fires as well. She initially refused to answer these questions, but when the court threatened her with imprisonment, she offered information about a burglary in a small shop in February. She named a sailor and three enslaved people who she claimed were involved, and claimed her boss Hughson received the stolen items.

After this cooperation, Burton was put under intense pressure to provide more information. She was offered an end to her indenture and a cash reward for additional information. She began making new allegations about a plot by enslaved people and poor European American residents to burn down the city and take over power. Her list of conspirators included the three enslaved people she had named in the robbery, Hughson and his wife Sarah, and their daughter (also named Sarah).

Burton’s testimony led to a new round of trials beginning May 11. As these trials unfolded, many of the accused had no legal representation because no attorneys were willing to handle the cases. Many of the accused named other alleged co-conspirators in an effort to protect themselves, usually in vain. Some were beaten or tortured, and many were heckled as they came to and from court. In addition, many jury members and most of the town were still panicked by the thought of more fires. By the time the trials were over, thirty-four people were executed, including all three of the Hughsons. Most of the European American people were blamed as ringleaders and hung, while thirteen Black Americans were burned at the stake. Hughson and one enslaved man named Caesar were left hanging on public display after their deaths. Eighty-four people, both men and women, were transported to the Caribbean in slavery. Seven additional suspects received pardons on condition of leaving New York permanently.

The trials and harsh punishments meted out by Horsmanden resulted in backlash from other colonies. It did not help that the prosecutors in the case switched to blaming Catholics and Spanish sympathizers as the trials progressed. Horsmanden was heavily criticized for the questionable techniques used to extract information from witnesses like Burton and for the nature of the punishments handed out. Feeling pressured by his own accusers, Horsmanden wrote his own account of the events of 1741 and the resulting trials. It was entitled The New York Conspiracy or a History of the Negro Plot with a Journal of the Proceedings Against the Conspirators at New York in the Years 1741–42.

Based on Horsmanden’s own account, many contemporary historians have likened the trials in New York in 1741 to the Salem Witch Trials in 1692. They point to the overzealous prosecution, coerced testimony, and the way the way the accused cast their own accusations at others in desperate attempts to lessen the consequences for themselves as similarities between the events.

The fires and trials of 1741 also brought other changes to the city. Additional restrictions were placed on the movements of enslaved people, even for routine tasks such as gathering water. The night watch was increased. In addition, the New York Assembly stopped the import of enslaved people from the Caribbean in favor of those from Africa, who were believed to be less likely to lead insurrections.

Bibliography

“Hughson’s Tavern.” Mapping the African American Past, maap.columbia.edu/place/4.html. Accessed 15 Apr. 2023.

“A List of White Persons taken into Custody on Account of the 1741 Conspiracy.” PBS—The Terrible Transition, www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1h302.html. Accessed 15 Apr. 2023.

“The Metaphor of Salem and the New York Slave Rebellion of 1741.” Salem Witch Museum, 10 Feb. 2023, salemwitchmuseum.com/2023/02/10/the-metaphor-of-salem/. Accessed 15 Apr. 2023.

“The New York Conspiracy of 1741: A Spotlight on a Primary Source by Daniel Horsmanden.” Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/spotlight-primary-source/new-york-conspiracy-1741. Accessed 15 Apr. 2023.

“The New York Slave Conspiracy of 1741.” American History Central, www.americanhistorycentral.com/entries/new-york-slave-conspiracy-of-1741/. Accessed 15 Apr. 2023.

Sutherland, Claudia. “New York Slave Conspiracy (1741).” BlackPast, 6 Mar. 2007, www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/new-york-slave-conspiracy-1741/. Accessed 15 Apr. 2023.

“Trials Relating to the New York Slave Insurrection, 1741.” Historical Society of the New York Courts, history.nycourts.gov/case/slave-conspiracy-trials/. Accessed 15 Apr. 2023.

“Witchhunt in New York: The 1741 rebellion.” PBS—The Terrible Transformation, www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1p286.html. Accessed 15 Apr. 2023.