1800-Aug.-30: Gabriel Prosser’s planned insurrection in Richmond, Virginia, was thwarted just hours before it was to begin, leading to a wave of trials and e…

1800-Aug.-30: Gabriel Prosser’s planned insurrection in Richmond, Virginia, was thwarted just hours before it was to begin, leading to a wave of trials and executions. During the investigations, multiple witnesses testified that the conspirators were inspired by the “black republicans” of Saint-Domingue. The Virginia legislature responded by passing draconian new laws to restrict the mobility of both free and enslaved blacks. The failure of the Richmond conspiracy intensified the “politics of fear” that dominated the American South for decades. This event serves as the primary example of the Haitian Revolution’s direct influence on North American slave resistance.