1710

Colonial court records from Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia document numerous cases of enslaved people accused of poisoning enslavers and their families. Enslaved healers and herbalists possessed knowledge of toxic plants unavailable to European colonists. South Carolina passed a specific law in 1751 making poisoning by an enslaved person a capital offense, confirming the scale of the practice.

Colonial court records from Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia document enslaved people accused of poisoning enslavers. Enslaved healers possessed knowledge of toxic plants unavailable to Europeans. South Carolina passed a specific 1751 law making poisoning a capital offense, confirming the scale of the practice.

In 1709, a plot involving both enslaved Africans and enslaved Native Americans spread across at least three Virginia counties — James City, Surry, and Isle of Wight. A second conspiracy, involving only African American enslaved people, was planned to launch on Easter 1710. An enslaved man named Will betrayed the plot to authorities. Will was granted his freedom as reward; his enslaver Robert Ruffin was compensated £40 from public funds. Two of the plot's leaders were tried by the General Court, convicted, and executed. The conspiracies were part of a wave of early 18th-century Virginia plots that reflected growing resistance to the hardening racial slavery codified by the 1705 slave codes.