alice clifton was an enslaved african-american woman owned by john bartholomew in philadelphia. she was brought to trial on april 18, 1787 for the murder of her infant daughter, found guilty, and sentenced to death. following the sentence, a mob formed in order to prevent her execution out of protest for unjust circumstances because she was coerced into killing her baby by the father of the child, jack shaffer. at the time of the trial, clifton was between fifteen and sixteen years old. clifton was mentioned in only one primary source known to date, the court record for her case.