Reviews for New York Conspiracy Trials of 1741: Daniel Horsmanden's Journal of the Proceedings with Related Documents

The average rating for New York Conspiracy Trials of 1741: Daniel Horsmanden's Journal of the Proceedings with Related Documents based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2014-01-23 00:00:00 C Steel This was a very interesting read regarding the burning of New York in 1741. Much like the Salem Witch Trails, the court of law at the time did not have a defense attorney, so the accused didn't stand a chance at a fair trial. The emphasis for the court case was placed solely on the defendants testimony, even when the evidence was proven to be false. Also, the judge had final say in what evidence was used and what was thrown out. This journal recounts the "true" (according to the author) story of what happened and definitely exhibits traits of that time period: paranoia revolving around the idea of a secret Catholic governmental takeover, slaves rising to power, and the intermingling between races. All in all you have a very scary trial in which a lot of innocent people died. At first you might laugh at this court case and the verdict, but upon closer inspection is it really any different than today? For example: replace the American distrust of Catholics to the more recent American distrust of Muslims. Same story, different eras.

Review # 2 was written on 2015-02-15 00:00:00 Farhan Khan When slave populations in New York City soared to 20% of the city's population in the early 1700's, a series of arsons and burglaries quickly exaggerated fears and became the basis for allegations of a conspiracy involving Blacks and Whites. Most of the accounts of the trial itself come from Daniel Horsmanden, a British attorney who recorded the testimony in his own hand, but who had his own agenda and biases throughout the conspiracy trial. Should we consider Horsemanden's testimony as trustworthy or discard it as that of an hysterical partisan. His account reads as an attempt to justify the actions of the court, of which he was a leading member, by proving that some White people in conjunction with some Negroes and other slaves planned to burn the city of New York and murder its inhabitants, but, as the book demonstrates, conflicting testimony and crucial questions were ignored or unanswered, and pleas of innocence were dismissed. A difficult book to read.