New York Slave Rebellion 1712

All Slavery is bad slavery, no matter your skin color, race, or religion. Holding another human against their will in harsh conditions, is a blatant disregard to equal rights. Slavery was used for hundreds of years all over the world not just the Americas. Violence, fear, and dominance was the key to keeping groups of people enslaved without a revolt. For over two hundred years, Africans were brought against their will to Britain's American colonies and to the new United States of America. One historian (Herbert Aptheker), calculated that over two hundred separate slave revolts and conspiracies took place from the 1600's to the end of the U.S. Civil War in 1865 (The History Guy). In the year of 1712, there was what is said at the time to be a large rebellion in the …show more content…
The revolt took place on April 6, 1712 at night when a house was set on fire by African slaves. The fire was used as a signal to let the other slaves who were in on the revolt know that it had begun. They slaves who were involved in the rebellion were able to get their hands on many brutal weapons such as knives, guns, and large objects. After the houses were set a flame the slave owners left their homes to see what the commotion was about. After exiting their homes they were confronted by twenty three armed slaves. Many of the whites scrambled and ran to let governor know of the situation the governor at the time was Robert Hunter (New York Slave Rebellion of 1712). Once the governor was notified he deployed the militia to handle the situation. When the militia arrived on site the slaves began to retreat and run to a nearby swamp. Overall the slaves were able to kill about nine whites and wound six in the process. The slaves were eventually captured and token to jail to await for trial. Those who were found guilty faced horrific executions, such as being burned alive, starved to death and the list goes