1797: Charleston authorities uncovered and crushed a major conspiracy to burn the city that was said to have “originated among the French Negroes”.

1797: Charleston authorities uncovered and crushed a major conspiracy to burn the city that was said to have “originated among the French Negroes”. Five French-speaking blacks were tried and accused of intending “to act here as they had formerly done at St. Domingo”. The court sentenced three of the conspirators to death by hanging and the remaining two to transportation. White residents expressed relief that the plot was intercepted before “a single Negro of our Country” could be recruited into the scheme. The trial reinforced the perception that the presence of Saint-Domingue refugees was a direct threat to the stability of North American slavery.