New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

New York Conspiracy of 1741

Manhattan in Flames: Arson, Rebellion, Conspiracy, & Sabotage

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Detail from, "Southern Gentleman (about to Fire the Hotel" a cartoon showing a Confederate arsonist setting a fire in Manhattan (Harper’s Weekly, 1864)Early British colonists brought English common law to the colonies and adapted it to frontier conditions. Formally known as Lawes Divine, Morall and Martiall, “Dale’s Code” was a legal system enacted in 1610 (published in 1612) by the Deputy-Governor of colonial Virginia, Thomas Dale.

It mandated the death penalty for a range of misdeeds, from stealing grapes to trading with Indigenous populations. Arson too was a capital crime. [Read more…] about Manhattan in Flames: Arson, Rebellion, Conspiracy, & Sabotage

African Americans in Early New York City

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A description of the towne of Mannados or New Amsterdam : as it was in September, 1661, lying in lattitude 40 de. and 40 m., anno domini 1664, Leventhal Map Center, Boston Public LibraryWhen we think of slavery in Early America, we often think about the plantations and economies of the South. But slavery was also deeply entrenched in the city of New York.

The early history of African Americans in New York City started with the arrival of the first slaves in 1626, moving through the turbulent years before New York’s emancipation in 1827, and includes in one of the most terrifying displays of racism in U.S. history, the New York City Draft Riots of 1863. [Read more…] about African Americans in Early New York City

The Stono Rebellion, The Negro Act of 1740 & New York City

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Period illustration of the Stono Rebellion (Library of Congress)On May 10, 1740, the colony of South Carolina’s General Assembly enacted the “Bill for the better ordering and governing of Negroes and other slaves in this province,” also known as the Negro Act of 1740.

The law prohibited enslaved African people from growing their own food, learning to read, moving freely, assembling in groups, and earning money. It also authorized white enslavers to whip and kill enslaved Africans for being “rebellious.” [Read more…] about The Stono Rebellion, The Negro Act of 1740 & New York City

The Slave Conspiracy Riot of 1741

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slave revolt 1741This conflict also known as “The New York Conspiracy Riot” was an amazingly intricate and brutal affair that in addition to its local implications had an international twist as well.

In the context of the longstanding European conflicts, English colonists in New York City felt anxious about the French presence in Canada to the north and Spanish colonies in the Gulf Coast and the Mississippi River Valley to the South and West. They also felt threatened by a recent influx of Irish immigrants, whose Catholicism might incline them to spy for France and Spain. [Read more…] about The Slave Conspiracy Riot of 1741

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