Half-freemen were given passes which certified them as freemen as well as the privileges and liberties of the free people. There were no slave conspiracies in Kings County because the system was considered relatively humane by the Dutch.

Slaves believed that conversion to the Dutch Reform Church, would bring them freedom, and were encouraged to attend religious services and observe Dutch religious holidays. Once Blacks learned that conversion failed to bring freedom, some lost faith in the church and resorted to more agressive actions.

They sought freedom by running away. The English provinces of New Haven and Maryland, encouraged slaves to defect, which was an out growth of the belief held by the English, that the Dutch were squatters on their land. English: 1664 - 1776.

English control was established in the six towns of Kings County, in 1664. In the same year, that Long Island was designated aspart of the district of Yorkshire in the Province of New York, the six towns officially became Kings County. Slavery flourished under English rule, transforming it from a private to a public system of labor. The transfer of power also saw humane aspects of slavery gradually disappear.

The Dutch West India Company, also disappeared, and was replaced by the Royal African Company. The company consisted of private individuals, who invested large sums of money in building ships and financing slave expeditions. The Duke of New York promoted the importation of slaves by every possible means. In 1665, the English made slavery a legal institution under the "Articles of Capitulation." A population survey was made to determine the number of slaves in the colony, and the results were influential in determining how many slaves would be imported. The Lords Commission of Trade and Plantations, supervised the Royal African Company, and applied pressure on New York and the rest of the English colonies, to increase their slave population.

In 1665, the indentured servitude system was also altered. The restriction stipulated that only those willing to sign themselves into bondage would be accepted as indentured servants with a certain amount of years to serve.

This ruling made indentured servants more expensive and difficult to obtain. Through a gradual process, slavery was restricted to bondsmen of African origin. In 1698, black slaves constituted 15 percent of the total population of Kings County. Due to the pressure from the Lords Commission of Trade and Plantations, and the Royal African Company, along with the knowledge of economic advancement with the development of sugar plantations in the Caribbean, the importation of slaves into Long Island increased. During the early and mid-eighteenth century, New York State played a role in the "Golden Age of the Slave Trade."

It was a primary port on the Atlantic Coast. The English trader needed skilled labor, so they concentrated on West Indian imports. The Royal African Company sold it's slaves by cargo, regardless of skills, age or the condition of the slaves.

After a while, the Royal African Company began to play a minor role in the New York slave trade, and the market went to individual traders, who imported small groups of carefully selected slaves.

Primarily due to the decrease in West Africans being shipped to the West Indies, internal trade replaced the declining overseas trade.

After 1770, the slave trade between New York and the West Indies declined,

Kings County slaveholders watched New York City newspapers for lists of slaves being offered or sought for sale. Brokers, retail merchants and lawyers, viewed the slave trade as a profitable venture.