1796-Jun.: A series of suspicious fires broke out in Charleston, leading white residents to suspect a coordinated plot by “French Negroes”.

1796-Jun.: A series of suspicious fires broke out in Charleston, leading white residents to suspect a coordinated plot by “French Negroes”. Observers feared that these individuals “intended to make a St. Domingo business of it,” referring to the total destruction seen in the islands. The recurring fires fueled a climate of extreme racial paranoia and suspicion toward all Caribbean refugees. While no direct evidence linked the fires to a general uprising at that moment, the events set the stage for more aggressive crackdowns. The term “St. Domingo business” became a shorthand for the existential threat posed by revolutionary black resistance.