In New York City in 1741 an economic decline exacerbated conflict between slaves engaged in commercial activity and working-class white colonists who felt their jobs were threatened. This tension boiled over in the spring when a series of fires led white New Yorkers to fear a slave uprising. The events became popularly known as the New York Conspiracy of 1741 (also called the Negro Plot or the Slave Insurrection). Nearly 200 people were arrested, including at least twenty whites, some of whom were suspected of being Catholic saboteurs and spies.