“P” is for Primus Plot (May-June 1720)

“P” is for Primus Plot (May-June 1720). The Primus Plot was South Carolina's first alleged slave conspiracy. Word of this conspiracy surfaced while the colony’s atmosphere was tense. There were rumors that Spain would invade South Carolina and, in the process, arm the colony enslaved persons against its White inhabitants. South Carolina’s enslaved Black majority had quickly grown to nearly twice the number of its White population. The Commons House Assembly was told that a group of enslaved persons, led by a man named Primus, were going to destroy plantations and kill Whites as they fled toward St. Augustine. While existing evidence suggests that the Primus Plot was an effort by a group of enslaved persons to reach freedom in Florida, rather than a planned rebellion, White South Carolinians regarded it as an insurrection in the making.