Slavery Conspiracy

To any slave master of the 18th or 19th century, the fear of slave revolt was the most potentially dangerous prospect. This is most readily illustrated in the very law codes that governed New York, in which it is stated explicitly that, "All and every Negro Indian or other slave, who after the publication of this Act shall murder or otherwise kill... or conspire or attempt the Death of any of Her Majesty's liege people...shall be convicted of three or more of Her Majesty's Justices of the Peace...he, she, or they, so offending shall suffer the pains of Death." These fears were realized during the pre-Revolution years in the Mid-Hudson Valley. Amidst the fervor of the movement towards independence from Great Britain, so too were African enslaved peoples of the Mid-Hudson Valley motioning for a reassessment of the accepted power structure. As A.J. Williams-Meyers aptly states, "African slaves in the vicinity of Kingston sought to get the edge by striking a blow for their own freedom."