April 6, 1712 The New York Slave Revolt started when 23 enslaved Africans killed nine whites and injured six. As a result, 70 blacks were arrested and jailed, 27 were put on trial and 21 were convicted and executed. Also laws governing the lives of blacks in New York were made more restrictive. Africans were not permitted to gather in groups of more than three, crimes such as property damage, rape and conspiracy were made punishable by death, and free blacks were not allowed to own land.
This set the stage for an uprising. The city had a large population of Black slaves; the result of many years of trade with the West Indies, then communication and meetings among enslaved persons was relatively easy, afterall the New York Citys’ inhabitants lived in a small area on the southern tip of Manhattan, and with the inhabitants living in such a densely populated area also meant that slaves worked in close proximity to free men, a far cry from the situation on the plantations to the South.
