On April 10, 1734 a fire occurred in Montreal, which, in three hours, burned down 45 houses and an entire hospital. During this time, slavery was supported by law and there was no freedom of expression. A black slave named Marie Joseph dite Angelique was accused of the crime of starting the fire. Angelique was sold by Nicolas Bleeker, her previous owner, to Therese de Cougne in 1729. In September of 1732, Angelique met a white man named Claude Thibault, and both of them attempted to flee in 1734 to British Colonies since their interracial relationship was forbidden in Lower Canada. However, they were brought back to Montreal on March 5. Angelique was returned to her owner, and Claude Thibault was put in jail. Thibault was then released on April 8, 1734, which was two days prior to the fire. In this essay, we will be arguing that Angelique was innocent and that her white lover Claude Thibault was the person who ignited the fire because he was seen at the fire site, he had a bad history with the family, and he was never seen after the fire.

Many witnesses were paid for their testimony, and one of them was a poor 53-years old poor woman named Marguerite Cesar dit Lagaardeletette. She stated, …show more content…
She goes inside the house and comes back out quickly, and returns to the previous posture. After so long of her standing there I go to see what she is doing but find nothing that would cause her to stand there for so long. So I go back inside, but as soon as I sit down I heard a cry of fire. I go outside and see Angelique standing there. The day of the fire I was taken by refugee with my sister and there told by a surgeon named Boudard that he had just chased away the said negrees when she was found laying with two men in the