Social and Behavioral Sciences E-Campus

H 101 - Lab Exercise: The New York Conspiracy (1741).

In the year 1741 at about noon on St. Patrick's Day, what was to be the first of eight fires in six days broke out in the city of New York. The fires, preceeded and accompanied by robberies, destroyed most of Fort George a major provincial building and seat of government. An investigation of an alehouse keeper, John Hughson, and his wife Sarah, for receiving and selling stolen goods implicated two black men, Caesar (Vaarck's) and Prince (Auboyneau's) and produced evidence which indicated that the fires and robberies were the result of concerted activity, raising the suspicion of conspiracy and insurrection.The investigation led to the prosecution and trial of more than one hundred fifty Africans and twenty Europeans. As a result, thirteen blacks were burned at the stake, sixteen blacks and four whites were hung and more than seventy blacks and seven whites were banished.

Description:

This exercise provides the student with an opportunity to review primary source materials from A Journal of the Proceedings in the Detection of the Conspiracy formed by Some White People, in Conjuction with Negro and other Slaves, for the Burning of the City of New York in America, and Murdering the Inhabitants (1744), and the rules of procedure established for the prosecution of those persons accused. Following a review of the trial record, the student is asked to decide on the guilt or innocence of an individual accused and then discover the original outcome.

Objectives:

This exercise is designed to help the student learn how to assess historical materials - their relevance to a given interpretive problem, their reliability, and their importance - and to weigh the evidence and interpretations presented in historical scholarship.

1. The (New York) Negro Law - Excerpts.
2. The Trial of Caesar (Vaarck's) and Prince (Auboyneau's)
3. The Trial of John Hughson, Sarah his wife, and Sarah his daughter

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Comments to Joan A. Andersen: joanaa@umd5.umd.edu
Content copyright © 1996 Joan A. Andersen;
Revised: 6 November 1999
URL: http://www.erols.com/bcccsbs/nyconsp.htm