rthern slave owners would have to evaluate whether or not slave ownership was worthwhile, given the increasing foment against the practice.
In April of 1712, the militia were called out to suppress an African American insurrection in New York City, in which 21 slaves were executed. Beginning with a burglary committed in New York City, February 28, 1741, followed by a series of fires, panic seized the city as rumors spread that Blacks and poor whites had conspired to seize control. Morris reports that, "Despite sufficient evidence, "101 Negroes were convicted." In the aftermath, 18 Blacks and 4 whites were hanged, and 13 Blacks were burned alive.
The above cases are only two reported instances illustrative of the unease with which the North dealt with the institution of slavery. The northern part of the country had inherited a legacy of slavery from the European slave trade, but found that its economy was not dependent upon its perpetuation. In other words, it would be more expedient for the North to do without slavery entirely. A review in Nation of White's book, The End of Slavery in New York City, 1710-1810 provides a perspective on the inefficiency of slave ownership in a northern city. Because slaves were artisans or domestic servants for the most part, they were not under the rigid discipline of a plantation gang; consequently, they would run away frequently, and when they did flee, they were not punished severely, nor their accomplices. As Foner writes in his review of White's book:
"[still], New York slaves did not consider their masters particularly benevolent, for they ran away in large numbers and organized two insurrections during the eighteenth century . . . [in addition], the very dispersal of the Black population because of the small size of slaveholdings made Black family life even more fragile than in the South, and limited opportunities for the creation of the kind of semi-independent slave culture...