GO BACK TO THE PREVIOUS CENTURY

HUMAN ENSLAVEMENT, ETC. IN THE MID-18TH CENTURY

“The United States of America had human slavery for almost one hundred years before that custom was recognized as a social disease and people began to fight it. Imagine that. Wasn’t that a match for Auschwitz? What a beacon of liberty we were to the rest of the world when it was perfectly acceptable here to own other human beings and treat them as we treated cattle. Who told you we were a beacon of liberty from the very beginning? Why would they lie like that? Thomas Jefferson owned slaves, and not many people found that odd. It was as though he had an infected growth on the end of his nose the size of a walnut, and everybody thought that was perfectly OK.” – Kurt Vonnegut, FATES WORSE THAN DEATH, page 84

THOMAS JEFFERSON

NOTE: In this series of files, you may be startled to discover, an attempt is being made to untangle the issues of slavery and race in such manner as to allow for a factoid which the US Supreme Court has not once recognized: that not all enslaved Americans were non-white. For instance seamen who were “crimped” or “shanghaied” might or might not have been black but nevertheless had been reduced by force or trickery to a longterm and dangerous condition of involuntary servitude (this term “to crimp” had originated in the 18th Century in England and characterized the occupation of luring or forcing men into sea duty either for the navy or for the merchant marine).

NOTE ALSO: Binary opposites, such as “war vs. peace,” “slavery vs. antislavery,” etc. are mirrors to each other. The problem is never which of the two is the proper alternative but rather, the problem is always how to shatter such a conceptual mirror — so that both images can simultaneously safely be dispensed with. HDT WHAT? INDEX

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1750

During this year and the following one, Joseph Bernard Marquis de Chabert would be establishing an astronomical observatory at Louisbourg, and he was carrying out a series of latitude and longitude observations as a base for the charting of the St. Lawrence River. CARTOGRAPHY

The slave population of the English colonies in America reached 236,400, with over 206,000 of the total living south of Pennsylvania. Slaves comprised about 20% of the general population, over 40% of Virginia’s.

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A Quaker in Newport, one of the two major slave importing centers of the USA, was put under dealing by the elders of his monthly meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, on account of his firm’s continuing to engage in the international slave trade.1

Aaron Lopez, who would be known as the “Merchant Prince” of early American commerce, and his family, at this point arrived in Newport from Lisbon, Portugal, where as a Marrano2 he had been being required to use the Christian name “Don Duarte Lopez.”

1. So, exactly who, by name, was this interesting Friend? We know that Friend Abraham Redwood needed to be dealt with by the elders of his meeting, on account of his refusal to give up the ownership of beaucoup black slaves on his sugar plantation in Antigua, but I have not heard that this Friend Abraham was engaged in any trade other than the sugar trade — so presumably this Quaker slavetrader of unspecified name was some other Newport Quaker. Below, for your interest, appears the rotting hulk of the slave ship Jem, as of the Year of Our Lord 1891 at Fort Adams near Newport on Aquidneck Island:

2. Marrano = a Spanish or Portuguese Jew of the late Middle Ages who converted to Christianity, especially one forcibly converted but adhering secretly to Judaism. “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 347 HDT WHAT? INDEX

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(Probably, the family came to the port of New-York first and then went on up to Rhode Island.)

The father of the family immediately underwent ritual circumcision. Within twenty years he would own or have interests in nearly a hundred sailing vessels. Aaron and his nephew Moses would wholly own 27 square- rigged vessels, including whale-ships — although they would lose nearly all of these during the Revolutionary War. Like the aforementioned Newport Quaker, he would be heavily involved in the international slave trade. He would be one of the original founders of and contributors to Touro Synagogue.

Adolph Philipse, a member of the New York Assembly, died. Although he had rarely visited there, Philipsburg Manor in Sleepy Hollow, built in the 1680s, which is now a National Historical Landmark, had been the center of his commercial trade between New-York, the West Indies, and Europe. Albert, a nearby white tenant farmer, functioned as the overseer of the Philipse estate in Sleepy Hollow. In addition to trading in grain and farm goods, Philipse had engaged extensively in the slave trade. He had published various advertisements for runaway slaves in the local gazettes. Enslaved Africans who spoke several languages ran his international shipping operations. His mill on the Pocantico near the Hudson River was managed by Caesar, an enslaved African man. His dairy was managed by Susan, an enslaved African woman. The Philipse family was among the wealthiest in the colony. His probate inventory listed 30 sheep, 6 spinning wheels, silverware, pewter dishes, 3 feather beds, and 23 named men, women, and children slaves.

Georgia, which had originally been scoped out as a buffer entity between the slavery of the Carolinas and the freedom of Spanish Florida, cancelled the ban on local slavery which it had created upon its founding in 1732. This policy of local opposition to local human enslavement, based as it had been not upon principle but upon expedience, had been able to persist for merely a couple of decades before the institution of human enslavement had trickled across its borders from the plantations of South Carolina and it had begun to develop its own tradition of a white planter aristocracy.

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Thomas Thistlewood, son of an English tenant farmer, arrived in Jamaica at the age of 29. He would eventually come to rank in the richest top 5th of Jamaica’s planters, become a commissioner in the parish constabulary and a magistrate of the local court. He would develop a showplace garden, and a reputation as a horticulturist. A few days after disembarking, he had occasion to watch as a slaveholder whipped a runaway and then rubbed pepper, salt, and lime juice into the wounds. Then he observed that when a fugitive slave died, the master put the head atop a pole and burned the body. Then he watches as some 300 lashes were administered to a mulatto overseer for “crimes and negligences.” A slave who had pulled a knife on a white man had the offending hand “cutt off,” was “hang’d upon ye lst tree immediately,” and was “left unbury’d.” Thistlewood had no difficulty adjusting to local conditions and soon was administering “Derby’s dose” to his own slaves (a slave being required to defecate into the mouth of another offending slave, who would then be gagged). During his first year on the island, this white master would keep track of having sex with 13 black women on 59 occasions, jotting down the details of who, when, where, and how, and over the following four decades of plantation rule, he would make record of 3,852 copulations with a total of 138 women (he seems particularly fond of rape). He would “pickett” a female slave, “Douglas’ Coobah,” by forcing the neck of a quart bottle into her “till she begged hard.”

In Rhode Island harbors alone, during this year alone, it has been estimated by Alexander Boyd Hawes, some 6 negreros were being fitted out for the international slave trade. If an average cargo of slaves was 109 –as we have estimated on the basis of a number of known cargos– then a total of more than 650 souls would have been being transported over the dreadful Middle Passage during this year in Rhode Island bottoms alone.

On October 5th of this year, Spain paid a sum of money to England and the “Assiento” deal that had been in effect since 1713 was at an end. The English “Royal African Company” that had had a monopoly in this area of the international slave trade was forced to declare bankruptcy. W.E. Burghardt Du Bois: It is stated that, in the twenty years from 1713 to 1733, fifteen thousand slaves were annually imported into America by the English, of whom from one-third to one-half went to the Spanish colonies.3 To the company itself the venture proved a financial failure; for during the years 1729-1750 Parliament assisted the Royal Company by annual grants which amounted to £90,000,4 and by 1739 Spain was a creditor to the extent of £68,000, and threatened to suspend the treaty. The war interrupted the carrying out of the contract, but the Peace 3. Bandinel, ACCOUNT OF THE SLAVE TRADE, page 59. Cf. Bryan Edwards, HISTORY OF THE BRITISH COLONIES IN THE W. INDIES (London, 1798), Book VI. 4. From 1729 to 1788, including compensation to the old company, Parliament expended £705,255 on African companies. Cf. REPORT OF THE LORDS OF THE COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL, etc. “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 349 HDT WHAT? INDEX

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of Aix-la-Chapelle extended the limit by four years. Finally, October 5, 1750, this privilege was waived for a money consideration paid to England; the Assiento was ended, and the Royal Company was bankrupt. By the Statute 23 George II., chapter 31, the old company was dissolved and a new “Company of Merchants trading to Africa” erected in its stead.5 Any merchant so desiring was allowed to engage in the trade on payment of certain small duties, and such merchants formed a company headed by nine directors. This marked the total abolition of monopoly in the slave-trade, and was the form under which the trade was carried on until after the American Revolution. That the slave-trade was the very life of the colonies had, by 1700, become an almost unquestioned axiom in British practical economics. The colonists themselves declared slaves “the strength and sinews of this western world,”6 and the lack of them “the grand obstruction”7 here, as the settlements “cannot subsist without supplies of them.”8 Thus, with merchants clamoring at home and planters abroad, it easily became the settled policy of England to encourage the slave-trade. Then, too, she readily argued that what was an economic necessity in Jamaica and the Barbadoes could scarcely be disadvantageous to Carolina, Virginia, or even New York. Consequently, the colonial governors were generally instructed to “give all due encouragement and invitation to merchants and others, ... and in particular to the royal African company of England.”9 Duties laid on the importer, and all acts in any way restricting the trade, were frowned upon and very often disallowed. “Whereas,” ran Governor Dobbs’s instructions, “Acts have been passed in some of our Plantations in America for laying duties on the importation and exportation of Negroes to the great discouragement of the Merchants trading thither from the coast of Africa.... It is our Will and Pleasure that you do not give your assent to or pass any Law imposing duties upon Negroes imported into our Province of North Carolina.”10 The exact proportions of the slave-trade to America can be but approximately determined. From 1680 to 1688 the African Company sent 249 ships to Africa, shipped there 60,783 Negro slaves, and after losing 14,387 on the middle passage, delivered 46,396 in America. The trade increased early in the eighteenth century, 104 ships clearing for Africa in 1701; it then dwindled until the signing of the Assiento, standing at 74 clearances in 1724. The final dissolution of the monopoly in 1750 led —excepting in the years 1754-57, when the closing of Spanish marts sensibly affected the trade— to an extraordinary development, 192 clearances being made in 1771. The Revolutionary War nearly

5. Various amendatory statutes were passed: e.g., 24 George II. ch. 49, 25 George II. ch. 40, 4 George III. ch. 20, 5 George III. ch. 44, 23 George III. ch. 65. 6. Renatus Enys from Surinam, in 1663: Sainsbury, CAL. STATE PAPERS, COL. SER., AMERICA AND W. INDIES, 1661-68, § 577. 7. Thomas Lynch from Jamaica, in 1665: Sainsbury, CAL. STATE PAPERS, COL. SER., AMERICA AND W. INDIES, 1661-68, § 934. 8. Lieutenant-Governor Willoughby of Barbadoes, in 1666: Sainsbury, CAL. STATE PAPERS, COL. SER., AMERICA AND W. INDIES, 1661-68, § 1281. 9. Smith, HISTORY OF NEW JERSEY (1765), p. 254; Sainsbury, CAL. STATE PAPERS, COL. SER., AMERICA AND W. INDIES, 1669-74, §§ 367, 398, 812. 10. N.C. COL. REC., V. 1118. For similar instructions, cf. PENN. ARCHIVES, I. 306; DOC. REL. COL. HIST. NEW YORK, VI. 34; Gordon, HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, I. letter 2; MASS. HIST. SOC. COLL., 4th Ser. X. 642. 350 Copyright  Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX

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stopped the traffic; but by 1786 the clearances had risen again to 146. To these figures must be added the unregistered trade of Americans and foreigners. It is probable that about 25,000 slaves were brought to America each year between 1698 and 1707. The importation then dwindled, but rose after the Assiento to perhaps 30,000. The proportion, too, of these slaves carried to the continent now began to increase. Of about 20,000 whom the English annually imported from 1733 to 1766, South Carolina alone received some 3,000. Before the Revolution, the total exportation to America is variously estimated as between 40,000 and 100,000 each year. Bancroft places the total slave population of the continental colonies at 59,000 in 1714, 78,000 in 1727, and 293,000 in 1754. The census of 1790 showed 697,897 slaves in the United States.11 In colonies like those in the West Indies and in South Carolina and Georgia, the rapid importation into America of a multitude of savages gave rise to a system of slavery far different from that which the late Civil War abolished. The strikingly harsh and even inhuman slave codes in these colonies show this. Crucifixion, burning, and starvation were legal modes of punishment.12 The rough and brutal character of the time and place was partly responsible for this, but a more decisive reason lay in the fierce and turbulent character of the imported Negroes. The docility to which long years of bondage and strict discipline gave rise was absent, and insurrections and acts of violence were of frequent occurrence.13 Again and again the danger of planters being “cut off by their own negroes”14 is mentioned, both in the islands and on the continent. This condition of vague dread and unrest not only increased the severity of laws and strengthened the police system, but was the prime motive back of all the earlier efforts to check the further importation of slaves. SERVILE INSURRECTION

On the other hand, in New England and New York the Negroes were merely house servants or farm hands, and were treated neither better nor worse than servants in general in those days. Between these two extremes, the system of slavery varied from a mild serfdom in Pennsylvania and New Jersey to an aristocratic caste system in Maryland and Virginia.

April 25: In Boston, Massachusetts, James Dalton and Ezekiel Lewis exchanged their slave boys. The difference in value between Prince and Pompey was $40. Boston April 25th. 1750 — Recd. of Capt. James Dalton Forty Dollars and a Negro 11. These figures are from the above-mentioned REPORT OF THE LORDS OF THE COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL, Vol. II. Part IV. Nos. 1, 5. See also Bancroft, HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES (1883), II. 274 ff; Bandinel, ACCOUNT OF THE SLAVE TRADE, p. 63; Benezet, CAUTION TO GREAT BRITAIN, etc., pp. 39-40, and HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF GUINEA, ch. xiii. 12. Compare earlier slave codes in South Carolina, Georgia, Jamaica, etc.; also cf. Benezet, HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF GUINEA, page 75; REPORT OF THE LORDS OF THE COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL, etc. 13. Sainsbury, CAL. STATE PAPERS, COL. SER., AMERICA AND W. INDIES, 1574-1660, pp. 229, 271, 295; 1661-68, §§ 61, 412, 826, 1270, 1274, 1788; 1669-74., §§ 508, 1244; Bolzius and Von Reck, JOURNALS (in Force, TRACTS, Vol. IV. No. 5, pages 9, 18); PROCEEDINGS OF GOVERNOR AND ASSEMBLY OF JAMAICA IN REGARD TO THE MAROON NEGROES (London, 1796). 14. Sainsbury, CAL. STATE PAPERS, COL. SER., AMERICA AND W. INDIES, 1661-68, § 1679. “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 351 HDT WHAT? INDEX

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Boy named Prince in Exchange for my Negro Boy named Pompey — Ezekiel Lewis Junr [over] Ezekiel Lewis 1750

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October 2: The Boston Gazette and Weekly Journal carried an ad by William Brown of Framingham for the recapture of his slave Crispus. The man was described as “well set” and as a mulatto 6’2” in height, 27 years of age, with short curled hair. Crispus’s distinguishing physical characteristic, other than his quite extraordinary altitude, was that his knees were “nearer together than common.” The ad would not get results. Crispus Attucks had made himself a free man. Table of Altitudes

Yoda 2 ' 0 '' Lavinia Warren 2 ' 8 '' Tom Thumb, Jr. 3 ' 4 '' Lucy (Australopithecus Afarensis) 3 ' 8 '' Hervé Villechaize (“Fantasy Island”) 3 ' 11'' Charles Proteus Steinmetz 4 ' 0 '' Mary Moody Emerson per FBS (1) 4 ' 3 '' Alexander Pope 4 ' 6 '' Benjamin Lay 4 ' 7 '' Gary Coleman (“Arnold Jackson”) 4 ' 8 '' Queen Victoria with osteoporosis 4 ' 8 '' Queen Victoria as adult 4 ' 10 '' Margaret Mitchell 4 ' 10 '' length of newer military musket 4 ' 10'' Charlotte Brontë 4 ' 10-11'' Harriet Beecher Stowe 4 ' 11'' Laura Ingalls Wilder 4 ' 11'' a rather tall adult Pygmy male 4 ' 11'' John Keats 5 ' 0 '' Clara Barton 5 ' 0 '' Isambard Kingdom Brunel 5 ' 0 '' Andrew Carnegie 5 ' 0 '' Thomas de Quincey 5 ' 0 '' Stephen A. Douglas 5 ' 0 '' Danny DeVito 5 ' 0 '' Immanuel Kant 5 ' 0 '' William Wilberforce 5 ' 0 '' Mae West 5 ' 0 '' Mother Teresa 5 ' 0 '' Deng Xiaoping 5 ' 0 '' Dred Scott 5 ' 0 '' (±) Captain William Bligh of HMS Bounty 5 ' 0 '' (±) Harriet Tubman 5 ' 0 '' (±) Mary Moody Emerson per FBS (2) 5 ' 0 '' (±)

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John Brown of Providence, Rhode Island 5 ' 0 '' (+) Bette Midler 5 ' 1 '' Jemmy Button 5 ' 2 '' Margaret Mead 5 ' 2 '' R. Buckminster “Bucky” Fuller 5 ' 2 '' Yuri Gagarin the astronaut 5 ' 2 '' William Walker 5 ' 2 '' Horatio Alger, Jr. 5 ' 2 '' length of older military musket 5 ' 2 '' 1 the artist formerly known as Prince 5 ' 2 /2'' 1 typical female of Thoreau's period 5 ' 2 /2'' Francis of Assisi 5 ' 3 '' Volt ai re 5 ' 3 '' Mohandas Gandhi 5 ' 3 '' Sammy Davis, Jr. 5 ' 3 '' Kahlil Gibran 5 ' 3 '' Friend Daniel Ricketson 5 ' 3 '' The Reverend Gilbert White 5 ' 3 '' Nikita Khrushchev 5 ' 3 '' Sammy Davis, Jr. 5 ' 3 '' Truman Capote 5 ' 3 '' Kim Jong Il (North Korea) 5 ' 3 '' Stephen A. “Little Giant” Douglas 5 ' 4 '' Francisco Franco 5 ' 4 '' President James Madison 5 ' 4 '' Iosef Vissarionovich Dzugashvili “Stalin” 5 ' 4 '' Alan Ladd 5 ' 4 '' Pablo Picasso 5 ' 4 '' Truman Capote 5 ' 4 '' Queen Elizabeth 5 ' 4 '' Ludwig van Beethoven 5 ' 4 '' Typical Homo Erectus 5 ' 4 '' 1 typical Neanderthal adult male 5 ' 4 /2'' 1 Alan Ladd 5 ' 4 /2'' comte de Buffon 5 ' 5 '' (-) Captain Nathaniel Gordon 5 ' 5 '' Charles Manson 5 ' 5 '' Audie Murphy 5 ' 5 '' Harry Houdini 5 ' 5 '' Hung Hsiu-ch'üan 5 ' 5 ''

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1 Marilyn Monroe 5 ' 5 /2'' 1 T.E. Lawrence “of Arabia” 5 ' 5 /2'' average runaway male American slave 5 ' 5-6 '' President Benjamin Harrison 5 ' 6 '' President Martin Van Buren 5 ' 6 '' James Smithson 5 ' 6 '' Louisa May Alcott 5 ' 6 '' 1 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 5 ' 6 /2'' 1 Napoleon Bonaparte 5 ' 6 /2'' Emily Brontë 5 ' 6-7 '' Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 5 ' ? '' average height, seaman of 1812 5 ' 6.85 '' Oliver Reed Smoot, Jr. 5 ' 7 '' minimum height, British soldier 5 ' 7 '' President John Adams 5 ' 7 '' President John Quincy Adams 5 ' 7 '' President William McKinley 5 ' 7 '' “Charley” Parkhurst (a female) 5 ' 7 '' Henry Thoreau 5 ' 7 '' 1 the average male of Thoreau's period 5 ' 7 /2 '' Edgar Allan Poe 5 ' 8 '' President Ulysses S. Grant 5 ' 8 '' President William H. Harrison 5 ' 8 '' President James Polk 5 ' 8 '' President Zachary Taylor 5 ' 8 '' average height, soldier of 1812 5 ' 8.35 '' 1 President Rutherford B. Hayes 5 ' 8 /2'' President Millard Fillmore 5 ' 9 '' President Harry S Truman 5 ' 9 '' 1 President Jimmy Carter 5 ' 9 /2'' 3 Herman Melville 5 ' 9 /4'' Calvin Coolidge 5 ' 10'' Andrew Johnson 5 ' 10'' Theodore Roosevelt 5 ' 10'' Thomas Paine 5 ' 10'' Franklin Pierce 5 ' 10'' Abby May Alcott 5 ' 10'' Reverend Henry C. Wright 5 ' 10'' 1 Nathaniel Hawthorne 5 ' 10 /2'' 1 Louis “Deerfoot” Bennett 5 ' 10 /2''

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1 Friend John Greenleaf Whittier 5 ' 10 /2'' 1 President Dwight D. Eisenhower 5 ' 10 /2'' Sojourner Truth 5 ' 11'' President Grover Cleveland 5 ' 11'' President Herbert Hoover 5 ' 11'' President Woodrow Wilson 5 ' 11'' President Jefferson Davis 5 ' 11'' 1 President Richard M. Nixon 5 ' 11 /2'' Robert Voorhis the hermit of Rhode Island < 6 ' Frederick Douglass 6 ' (-) Anthony Burns 6 ' 0 '' Waldo Emerson 6 ' 0 '' Joseph Smith, Jr. 6 ' 0 '' David Walker 6 ' 0 '' Sarah F. Wakefield 6 ' 0 '' Thomas Wentworth Higginson 6 ' 0 '' President James Buchanan 6 ' 0 '' President Gerald R. Ford 6 ' 0 '' President James Garfield 6 ' 0 '' President Warren Harding 6 ' 0 '' President John F. Kennedy 6 ' 0 '' President James Monroe 6 ' 0 '' President William H. Taft 6 ' 0 '' President John Tyler 6 ' 0 '' John Brown 6 ' 0 (+)'' President Andrew Jackson 6 ' 1'' Alfred Russel Wallace 6 ' 1'' President Ronald Reagan 6 ' 1'' 1 Venture Smith 6 ' 1 /2'' John Camel Heenan 6 ' 2 '' Crispus Attucks 6 ' 2 '' President Chester A. Arthur 6 ' 2 '' President George Bush, Senior 6 ' 2 '' President Franklin D. Roosevelt 6 ' 2 '' President George Washington 6 ' 2 ''

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Gabriel Prosser 6 ' 2 '' Dangerfield Newby 6 ' 2 '' Charles Augustus Lindbergh 6 ' 2 '' 1 President Bill Clinton 6 ' 2 /2'' 1 President Thomas Jefferson 6 ' 2 /2'' President Lyndon B. Johnson 6 ' 3 '' Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. 6 ' 3 '' 1 Richard “King Dick” Seaver 6 ' 3 /4'' President Abraham Lincoln 6 ' 4 '' Marion Morrison (AKA John Wayne) 6 ' 4 '' Elisha Reynolds Potter, Senior 6 ' 4 '' Thomas Cholmondeley 6 ' 4 '' (?) Franklin Benjamin Sanborn 6 ' 5 '' Peter the Great of Russia 6 ' 7 '' Giovanni Battista Belzoni 6 ' 7 '' Thomas Jefferson (the statue) 7 ' 6'' Jefferson Davis (the statue) 7 ' 7'' 1 Martin Van Buren Bates 7 ' 11 /2'' M. Bihin, a Belgian exhibited in Boston in 1840 8 ' Anna Haining Swan 8 ' 1''

November 14: According to the Maryland Gazette (Green), published in Annapolis, the Bristol, Rhode Island ship King David had encountered some difficulties from an unruly cargo: By Capt. Tarr who arrived a few days ago from St. Kitts, we have the following account that was sent him by Hamilton Montgomery, belonging to the ship King David of Bristol, bound from the coast of Guinea, viz. That on the 8th day of May last, the slaves on board the said ship rose about 5 o’clock in the morning, none of them being in irons on board.——The insurrection was contrived and begun by 15 that had for a considerable time been treated with the same freedom as the white men; and a great many of the latter dying, encouraged them to the design.——As the chief of these slaves spoke very good English, he often convers’d with the captain in his cabbin, where all the arms were loaded.——and consulting with his comrades, knowing the small strength of the white men, they at once flew into the cabbin, and secured the arms in a few minutes, kill’d the captain and five of the people, thereby putting it out of the power of the remainder of the ship’s crew to make any resistance, so that they got down the hold to save themselves. But the head of the Negroes call’d to them, and told them, if they would come upon deck and surrender, he would save all their lives; which they soon did, except the chief mate, who remain’d in the “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 357 HDT WHAT? INDEX

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hold for some hours after; but sending down a white boy to acquaint him, if he did not come upon deck, they would come down and cut him to pieces; he thereupon came up, and they directly put him in irons, as they had all the others before: About eight of the clock the same evening, they threw overboard nine of the white men alive, with their irons on: The chief mate was also brought on the gunnel, to be serv’d in the same manner; but one of the head Negroes interposed, and said, Who must take care of the ship? and withal declared, that if they destroy’d him, he would kill the first man that attempted it; whereupon they saved his life.——Having let the ship drive with wind and tide for 24 hours, they at last insisted to have her carried to the Gold Coast, or Calabar, or St. Thomas’s, an isle near the coast of Guiney; but the head Negro being a fellow of more sense than common, being persuaded there was no possibility of getting there, it was agreed upon to go where no white man liv’d; and Desiada was pitch’d upon, which they made on the 14th of May; and at 6 in the evening the Negroes obliged the chief mate to hoist out the boat, and they then put two white men and four Negroes on board to go for the isle; and if there were any Whites liv’d there, they were to return and kill the remainder of the crew.——But as the relator writes, he afterwards heard that they did not reach the island, and that he heard nothing of them ’til he got the ship to an anchor at Grand tier point, in Teage, a French island, on the 10th.——Where the French, upon giving some small assistance, not so much as venturing their lives, or anything like it, charged the expences to 3000 l. currency.——What further was done with the ship, or the Negroes, he does not write. SERVILE INSURRECTION

November 15: In The Pennsylvania Gazette: TO BE SOLD, A Likely Negro woman, fit for towns or SLAVERY country business. Enquire of the printer. FRANKLIN

1751

Fenda was born. Since this name is African, possibly Muslim, and doesn’t match the pattern of slave naming in Concord, possibly she was brought to Concord at a later date, possibly even from Africa. She would get married there with another former slave, Brister Freeman, and bear at least three children: Nancy (born on March 9, 1772), Edward (born on November 17, 1781, died on September 13, 1788), and Amos (born during 1784). Both Nancy and Amos would marry, Amos twice. Nancy would be married by the Reverend Ezra Ripley, although it is not clear whether this wedding took place in the church. She would have two children, a son named Jacob in 1791 and a daughter in 1798 who would die in 1803. Amos would have two children, both of whom would die young.

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At the age of about 22, Venture Smith got married with Margaret or Meg, another of Robert Mumford’s slaves. By this point he would have been more than six feet tall and probably weighed more than 300 pounds. He would write “I was descended from a very large, tall and stout race of beings, much larger than the generality of people in other parts of the globe.” He made a run for freedom along with an indentured Irish servant named “Heddy.” During their flight, when Heddy stole provisions on Paumanok Long Island, Venture surrendered and turned him in to the authorities. Venture was then remanded to his slavemaster Robert Mumford. After I had lived with my master 13 years, being then about 22 years old, I married Meg, a slave of his who was about my age.

In Rhode Island harbors alone, during this year alone, it has been estimated by Alexander Boyd Hawes, some 8 vessels were being fitted out for the international slave trade. If an average cargo of slaves was 109 –as we have estimated on the basis of a number of known cargos– then a total of more than 870 souls would have been being transported over the dreadful Middle Passage during this year in Rhode Island bottoms alone.

June 14: The colony of South Carolina sought ways to encourage its upper classes to make use of white servants rather than colored ones. “An Act for the better strengthening of this Province, by granting to His Majesty certain Taxes and Impositions on the purchasers of Negroes and other slaves imported, and for appropriating the same to the uses therein mentioned, and for granting to His Majesty a duty on Liquors and other Goods and Merchandize, for the uses therein mentioned, and for exempting the purchasers of Negroes and other slaves imported from payment of the Tax, and the Liquors and other Goods and Merchandize from the duties imposed by any former Act or Acts of the General Assembly of this Province.” “Whereas, the best way to prevent the mischiefs that may be attended by the great importation of negroes into this Province, will be to establish a method by which such importation should be made a necessary means of introducing a proportionable number of white inhabitants into the same; therefore for the effectual raising and appropriating a fund sufficient for the better “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 359 HDT WHAT? INDEX

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settling of this Province with white inhabitants, we, his Majesty’s most dutiful and loyal subjects, the House of Assembly now met in General Assembly, do cheerfully give and grant unto the King’s most excellent Majesty, his heirs and successors, the several taxes and impositions hereinafter mentioned, for the uses and to be raised, appropriated, paid and applied as is hereinafter directed and appointed, and not otherwise, and do humbly pray his most sacred Majesty that it may be enacted, § 1. “And be it enacted, by his Excellency James Glen, Esquire, Governor in chief and Captain General in and over the Province of South Carolina, by and with the advice and consent of his Majesty’s honorable Council, and the House of Assembly of the said Province, and by the authority of the same, That from and immediately after the passing of this Act, there shall be imposed on and paid by all and every the inhabitants of this Province, and other person and persons whosoever, first purchasing any negro or other slave, hereafter to be imported, a certain tax or sum of ten pounds current money for every such negro and other slave of the height of four feet two inches and upwards; and for every one under that height, and above three feet two inches, the sum of five pounds like money; and for all under three feet two inches, (sucking children excepted) two pounds and ten shillings like money, which every such inhabitant of this Province, and other person and persons whosoever shall so purchase or buy as aforesaid, which said sums of ten pounds and five pounds and two pounds and ten shillings respectively, shall be paid by such purchaser for every such slave, at the time of his, her or their purchasing of the same, to the public treasurer of this Province for the time being, for the uses hereinafter mentioned, set down and appointed, under pain of forfeiting all and every such negroes and slaves, for which the said taxes or impositions shall not be paid, pursuant to the directions of this Act, to be sued for, recovered and applied in the manner hereinafter directed.” § 6. “And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the said tax hereby imposed on negroes and other slaves, paid or to be paid by or on the behalf of the purchasers as aforesaid, by virtue of this Act, shall be applied and appropriated as followeth, and to no other use, or in any other manner whatever, (that is to say) that three-fifth parts (the whole into five equal parts to be divided) of the net sum arising by the said tax, for and during the term of five years from the time of passing this Act, be applied and the same is hereby applied for payment of the sum of six pounds proclamation money to every poor foreign protestant whatever from Europe, or other poor protestant (his Majesty’s subject) who shall produce a certificate under the seal of any corporation, or a certificate under the hands of the minister and church-wardens of any parish, or the minister and elders of any church, meeting or congregation in Great Britain or Ireland, of the good character of such poor protestant, above the age of twelve and under the age of fifty years, and for payment of the sum of three pounds like money, to every such poor protestant under the age of twelve and above the age of two years; who shall come into this Province

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within the first three years of the said term of five years, and settle on any part of the southern frontier lying between Pon Pon and Savannah rivers, or in the central parts of this Province,” etc. For the last two years the bounty is £4 and £2. § 7. After the expiration of this term of five years, the sum is appropriated to the protestants settling anywhere in the State, and the bounty is £2 13s. 4d., and £1 6s. 8d. § 8. One other fifth of the tax is appropriated to survey lands, and the remaining fifth as a bounty for ship-building, and for encouraging the settlement of ship-builders. § 14. Rebate of three-fourths of the tax allowed in case of re- exportation of the slaves in six months. § 16. “And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That every person or persons who after the passing this Act shall purchase any slave or slaves which shall be brought or imported into this Province, either by land or water, from any of his Majesty’s plantations or colonies in America, that have been in any such colony or plantation for the space of six months; and if such slave or slaves have not been so long in such colony or plantation, the importer shall be obliged to make oath or produce a proper certificate thereof, or otherwise every such importer shall pay a further tax or imposition of fifty pounds, over and besides the tax hereby imposed for every such slave which he or they shall purchase as aforesaid.” Actual settlers bringing slaves are excepted. § 41. This act to continue in force ten years from its passage, and thence to the end of the next session of the General Assembly, and no longer. Cooper, STATUTES, III. 739. INTERNATIONAL SLAVE TRADE W.E. Burghardt Du Bois: South Carolina had the largest and most widely developed slave-trade of any of the continental colonies. This was owing to the character of her settlers, her nearness to the West Indian slave marts, and the early development of certain staple crops, such as rice, which were adapted to slave labor.15 Moreover, this colony suffered much less interference from the home government than many other colonies; thus it is possible here to trace the untrammeled development of slave- trade restrictions in a typical planting community. As early as 1698 the slave-trade to South Carolina had reached such proportions that it was thought that “the great number of negroes which of late have been imported into this Collony may endanger the safety thereof.” The immigration of white servants was therefore encouraged by a special law.16 Increase of immigration reduced this disproportion, but Negroes continued to be imported in such numbers as to afford considerable revenue from a moderate duty on them. About the time when the Assiento was signed, the slave-trade so increased that, scarcely a year after the consummation of that momentous agreement, two heavy duty acts were passed, because “the number of Negroes do extremely increase in this Province, and through the afflicting 15. Cf. Hewatt, HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF S. CAROLINA AND GEORGIA (1779), I. 120 ff.; reprinted in S.C. HIST. COLL. (1836), I. 108 ff. 16. Cooper, STATUTES AT LARGE OF S. CAROLINA, II. 153. “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 361 HDT WHAT? INDEX

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providence of God, the white persons do not proportionately multiply, by reason whereof, the safety of the said Province is greatly endangered.”17 The trade, however, by reason of the encouragement abroad and of increased business activity in exporting naval stores at home, suffered scarcely any check, although repeated acts, reciting the danger incident to a “great importation of Negroes,” were passed, laying high duties.18 Finally, in 1717, an additional duty of £40,19 although due in depreciated currency, succeeded so nearly in stopping the trade that, two years later, all existing duties were repealed and one of £10 substituted.20 This continued during the time of resistance to the proprietary government, but by 1734 the importation had again reached large proportions. “We must therefore beg leave,” the colonists write in that year, “to inform your Majesty, that, amidst our other perilous circumstances, we are subject to many intestine dangers from the great number of negroes that are now among us, who amount at least to twenty-two thousand persons, and are three to one of all your Majesty’s white subjects in this province. Insurrections against us have been often attempted.”21 In 1740 an insurrection under a slave, Cato, at Stono, caused such widespread alarm that a prohibitory duty of £100 was immediately laid.22 Importation was again checked; but in 1751 the colony sought to devise a plan whereby the slightly restricted immigration of Negroes should provide a fund to encourage the importation of white servants, “to prevent the mischiefs that may be attended by the great importation of negroes into this Province.”23 Many white servants were thus encouraged to settle in the colony; but so much larger was the influx of black slaves that the colony, in 1760, totally prohibited the slave-trade. This act was promptly disallowed by the Privy Council and the governor reprimanded;24 but the colony declared that “an importation of negroes, equal in number to what have been imported of late years, may prove of the most dangerous consequence in many respects to this Province, and the best way to obviate such danger will be by imposing such an additional duty upon them as may totally prevent the evils.”25 A prohibitive duty of £100 was accordingly imposed in 1764.26 This duty probably continued until the Revolution.

17. The text of the first act is not extant: cf. Cooper, STATUTES, III. 56. For the second, see Cooper, VII. 365, 367. 18. Cf. Grimké, PUBLIC LAWS OF S. CAROLINA, page xvi, No. 362; Cooper, STATUTES, II. 649. Cf. also GOVERNOR JOHNSON TO THE BOARD OF TRADE, Jan. 12, 1719-20; reprinted in Rivers, EARLY HISTORY OF S. CAROLINA (1874), App., xii. 19. Cooper, STATUTES, VII. 368. 20. Cooper, STATUTES, III. 56. 21. From a memorial signed by the governor, President of the Council, and Speaker of the House, dated April 9, 1734, printed in Hewatt, HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF S. CAROLINA AND GEORGIA (1779), II. 39; reprinted in S.C. Hist. Coll. (1836), I. 305-6. Cf. N.C. COL. REC., II. 421. 22. Cooper, STATUTES, III. 556; Grimké, PUBLIC LAWS, page xxxi, No. 694. Cf. Ramsay, HISTORY OF S. CAROLINA, I. 110. 23. Cooper, STATUTES, III. 739. 24. The text of this law has not been found. Cf. Burge, COMMENTARIES ON COLONIAL AND FOREIGN LAWS, I. 737, note; Stevens, HISTORY OF GEORGIA, I. 286. See instructions of the governor of New Hampshire, June 30, 1761, in Gordon, HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, I. letter 2. 25. Cooper, STATUTES, IV. 187. 26. This duty avoided the letter of the English instructions by making the duty payable by the first purchasers, and not by the importers. Cf. Cooper, STATUTES, IV. 187. 362 Copyright  Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX

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July 10: Prince Walker, age 43, was sold as a slave in Woburn MA.

1752

Venture Smith and his wife Margaret “Meg” Smith had a daughter Hannah Smith, who of course also would be the slave of Robert Mumford. When Hannah was about a month old, Robert Mumford sold Venture to Thomas Stanton of Stonington-Point, Connecticut, separating him from wife and daughter. I was sold to a Thomas Stanton, and had to be separated from my wife and one daughter who was about one month old. About a year and half after that time, my master purchased my wife and her child. Towards the close of the time I resided with this master, I had a falling out with my mistress. This happened one time when my master was gone [hunting]. At first the quarrel began between my wife and her mistress. Hearing a racket in the house, I [ran inside and] found my mistress in a violent passion with my wife. I requested my wife to beg pardon of her mistress. But whilst I was thus saying, my mistress took down her horse whip, and while she was glutting her fury with it, I reached out my great black hand, and committed the whip to the fire. When my master returned, his wife told him of the affair, but he seemed to take no notice of it. [A few days later], as I was putting on a log in the fireplace, I received a most violent stroke on the crown of my head with a club two feet long and as large around as a chair post. I snatched the club out of his hands and took it to a justice of the peace. He advised me to return to my master. I consented. The justice [also took] this opportunity to caution my master. [Then my master, his brother, and I] set out for home. When [we came] to a by-place, they fell to beating me with great violence. I became enraged and immediately turned them both under me, laid one of them across the other, and stamped them both with my feet. A short time after this, I was taken by a constable and two men. They carried me to a blacksmith’s shop and had me handcuffed.27

27. It was apparently a rather ordinary practice to use iron handcuffs to subdue an unruly person of color. According to the journal of Friend Thomas B. Hazard or Hafsard or Hasard of Kingston, Rhode Island, also known as “Nailer Tom,” at one point he was asked to fashion a pair of handcuffs with which to confine a crazy negress named Patience. “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 363 HDT WHAT? INDEX

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A bell was cast in England, among other bells, to fill an order from America. The inscription on this bell was from LEVITICUS 25:10, “Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof,” despite the fact that such an inscription was singularly inappropriate for such a determinedly slave-holding culture as that of the British colonies on the North American continent, a culture in which liberty was most definitely not being proclaimed throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof — because liberty was definitively not being offered here to anyone who was considered to be “the property of” anyone else. What was being offered to such people –for instance to racial minorities– was not liberty but slavery.

Shortly after its arrival in the New World, this bell would of course be rung — and in its ringing it would see damage. In Philadelphia it would be recast from the same metal using that same inappropriate inscription. Presumably, since such recasting was hot and heavy work, slaves would have been used in this recasting.

Thus this artifact of bronze was, and would remain –for short– our “Liberty Bell.”

There were 1,541 blacks in Boston, or 10% of the population. Most were slaves. But there was a whole lot of talk going around, at that point, about freedom and liberty for all — so stay tuned, America!

Thomas Hutchinson was appointed judge of probate. LIFE OF TH. HUTCHINSON

July: Upon the death of his half-brother Lawrence Washington, George Washington inherited rights to the Mount Vernon plantation in Virginia, inclusive of 18 slaves. (The ledgers and account books which he kept show that he then bought slaves when necessary and possible, to replenish this original 18. In the account books of Washington, the entries show that in 1754 he bought two males and a female; in 1756, two males, two females and a child, etc. In 1759, the year in which he was married, his wife Martha, brought him 39 “dower-Negroes.” He kept separate records of these Negroes all his life and mentions them as a separate unit in his will. Washington purchased his slaves in Alexandria from Mr. Piper and perhaps in the District in 1770 “went over to Colo. Thos. Moore’s Sale and purchased two Negroes. During Washington’s lifetime, the number of slaves would increase to 200.)

It would seem that during Washington’s youth, he would be rather casual in regard to the lives and fortunes of black slaves. For instance, Henry Wiencek reports in AN IMPERFECT GOD: GEORGE WASHINGTON, HIS SLAVES, AND THE CREATION OF AMERICA (NY: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2003) that at one point, the young man found it not to be beneath him, to participate in a lottery some of the prizes of which were slave children!

1753

During this year or the following one, Venture Smith’s new owner, Thomas Stanton of Stonington-Point, Connecticut, purchased Venture’s wife Margaret “Meg” Smith and daughter Hannah Smith from Robert Mumford for £700 “old tenor.” SLAVERY

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The bell cast in England in the previous year, which had been damaged in ringing upon arrival in the American colonies, was recast in Philadelphia from the same metal, with the addition of the name of the American a foundry, “Pass and Stow,” and the place and date, “Philad MDCCLIII.” Its inscription, from LEVITICUS 25:10, “Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof,” so singularly inappropriate for such a determined slave-holding culture, remained of course unaltered, since of course we believed in liberty, for everyone of course except our slaves.

Thus this artifact of bronze was, and would remain –for short– our “Liberty Bell.”

In Rhode Island harbors during this year, it has been estimated by Alexander Boyd Hawes, some 9 vessels were being fitted out for the international slave trade. If an average cargo of slaves was 109 –as we have estimated on the basis of a number of known cargos– then a total of 981 souls were transported during this year in Rhode Island bottoms alone. As of a recorded date of February 29 [sic], 1753, for instance, insurance for the Cumberbus was recorded in the insurance book of Obadiah Brown. Also, during this year, the sloop Sherbro sailed under Captain William Brown. In February, Captains Butler and Gardner were reported as at Anamaboe.

October 24: Captain Thomas Prince undertook to convey James Dalton’s slave Mindoe to North Carolina and there dispose of her to the best advantage — carrying back to Boston an equivalent value of good tallow or oxhides. Boston October the 24. 1753. Recd. from James Dalton a Negroe Woman Named Mindoe Which I promise To Dispose off Said Negroe at North Caralina To the best Advantage, for Said Dalton, and to Lay out What She will Neat in good Tallow or Oxhides, The Said Dalton Allowing me the Common freaight & Commissions, The Dangers of the Sea Excepted As Witness my hand Thos. Prince [over] Capn. Thos: Prince Receipt for Negroe

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Money from slave-produced commodities such as sugar, tobacco, and sea-island cotton was creating a growing leisure class in England, as well as in the New World. The only people who weren’t getting rich were the slaves.

In Concord, Benjamin Barron the farmer and cordwainer (shoemaker) of 53 Lexington Road died, leaving a substantial estate. His will listed not only the usual stuff such as beds, but also: One Negro servant named Jack ... £120:0:0 One Negro maid named Vilot, being of no value.

Soon after Barron’s death his black slave Jack, who was in his early 40s, would be able to purchase manumission from Barron’s inheritor, his daughter Susanna Barron, for this set price of £120:0:0, and would be able to announce that hereafter as a freeman he was to be known as “John Jack.” There are some problems with the following table. The first problem is that it makes it appear that there were considerably fewer persons of color in Concord, than there actually were, because it counts only heads of households. The second problem, more important, is that it makes the magic date 1780 of the “Massachusetts Bill of Rights” far more significant, in the elimination of Northern slavery, than actually it had been. Precious little seems actually to have happened in that year to improve the lives of persons of color in Massachusetts, or their societal standing! Concord MA Population

1679 ? 480 whites 1706 ? 920 whites 1725 6 slaves 1,500 whites 1741 21 slaves ? 1754 19 slaves ? 1780: Passage of the Massachusetts Bill of Rights 1783 15 blacks 1,306 whites 1790 29 blacks 1,556 whites 1800 38 blacks 1,641 whites 1810 28 blacks 1,605 whites 1820 34 blacks 1,754 whites 1830 28 blacks 1,993 whites

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Members of the Religious Society of Friends were being pressed to submit to military training and to bear arms for the state and Friends unwilling to embrace this way of violence were being forced out of public life. But this would not be an unmitigated disaster, for, freed of their involvement in the compromises of government, a number of these Friends would soon be turning their political energies toward the abolition of the institution of human slavery. Pennsylvania Yearly Meeting finally approved for publication Friend John Woolman’s 1746 SLAVERY treatise SOME CONSIDERATIONS ON THE KEEPING OF NEGROES.28

No image of Friend John ever was made

1749-1756 His Marriage — The Death of his Father — His Journeys into the upper part of New Jersey, and afterwards into Pennsylvania — Considerations on keeping Slaves, and Visits to the Families of Friends at several times and places — An Epistle from the General Meeting — His Journey to Long Island — Considerations on Trading and on the Use of Spirituous Liquors and Costly Apparel — Letter to a Friend. About this time [1753], a person at some distance lying sick, his brother came to me to write his will. I knew he had slaves, and, asking his brother, was told he intended to leave them as slaves to his children. As writing is a profitable employ, and as offending sober people was disagreeable to my inclination, I was straitened in my mind; but as I looked to the Lord, he inclined my heart to His testimony. I told the man that I believed the practice of continuing slavery to this people was not right, and that I had a scruple in my mind against doing writings of that kind; that though many in our Society kept them as slaves, still I was not easy to be concerned in it, and desired to be excused from going to write the will. I spake to him in the fear of the Lord, and he made no reply to what I said, but went away; he also had some concerns in the practice, and I thought he was displeased with me. In this case I had fresh confirmation that acting contrary to present outward interest, 28. JOURNAL, Chapter III 1749-1756 His Marriage. The Death of his Father. His Journeys into the upper part of New Jersey, and afterwards into Pennsylvania. Considerations on Keeping Slaves, and Visits to the Families of Friends at several times and places. An Epistle from the General Meeting. His Journey to Long Island. Considerations on Trading and on the Use of Spirituous Liquors and Costly Apparel. Letter to a Friend. “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 367 HDT WHAT? INDEX

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from a motive of divine love and in regard to truth and righteousness, and thereby incurring the resentments of people, opens the way to a treasure better than silver, and to a friendship exceeding the friendship of men. The manuscript before mentioned having laid by me several years, the publication of it rested weightily upon me, and this year I offered it to the revisal of my friends, who, having examined and made some small alterations in it, directed a number of copies thereof to be published and dispersed amongst members of our Society.29 In the year 1754 I found my mind drawn to join in a visit to Friends’ families belonging to Chesterfield Monthly Meeting, and having the approbation of our own, I went to their Monthly Meeting in order to confer with Friends, and see if way opened for it. I had conference with some of their members, the proposal having been opened before in their meeting, and one Friend agreed to join with me as a companion for a beginning; but when meeting was ended, I felt great distress of mind, and doubted what way to take, or whether to go home and wait for greater clearness. I kept my distress secret, and, going with a Friend to his house, my desires were to the great Shepherd for His heavenly instruction. In the morning I felt easy to proceed on the visit, though very low in my mind. As mine eye was turned to the Lord, waiting in families in deep reverence before Him, He was pleased graciously to afford help, so that we had many comfortable opportunities, and it appeared as a fresh visitation to some young people. I spent several weeks this winter in the service, part of which time was employed near home. And again in the following winter I was several weeks in the same service; some part of the time at Shrewsbury, in company with my beloved friend, John Sykes; and I have cause humbly to acknowledge that through the goodness of the Lord our hearts were at times enlarged in His love, and strength was given to go through the trials which, in the course of our visit, attended us. From a disagreement between the powers of England and France, it was now a time of trouble on this continent, and an epistle to Friends went forth from our general Spring Meeting, which I thought good to give a place in this Journal. An Epistle from our General Spring Meeting of ministers and elders for Pennsylvania and New Jersey, held at Philadelphia, from the 29th of the Third Month to the 1st of the Fourth Month, inclusive, 1755. TO FRIENDS ON THE CONTINENT OF AMERICA: — DEAR FRIENDS, — In an humble sense of divine goodness, and the gracious continuation of God’s love to His people, we tenderly salute you, and are at this time therein engaged in mind, that all of us who profess the truth, as held forth and published by our worthy predecessors in this latter age of the world, may keep near to that Life which is the Light of men, and be strengthened to hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, that our trust may not be in man, but in the Lord alone, who ruleth in the army of heaven and in the kingdoms of men, before whom the earth is “as the 29. This pamphlet bears the imprint of Benjamin Franklin, 1754. 368 Copyright  Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX

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dust of the balance, and her inhabitants as grasshoppers” (ISAIAH 40:22). Being convinced that the gracious design of the Almighty in sending His Son into the world was to repair the breach made by disobedience, to finish sin and transgression, that His kingdom might come, and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven, we have found it to be our duty to cease from those national contests which are productive of misery and bloodshed, and submit our cause to Him, the Most High, whose tender love to His children exceeds the most warm affections of natural parents, and who hath promised to His seed throughout the earth, as to one individual, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (HEBREWS 13:5). And we, through the gracious dealings of the Lord our God, have had experience of that work which is carried on, “not by earthly might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts” (ZECHARIAH 4:6). By which operation that spiritual kingdom is set up, which is to subdue and break in pieces all kingdoms that oppose it, and shall stand forever. In a deep sense thereof, and of the safety, stability, and peace that are in it, we are desirous that all who profess the truth may be inwardly acquainted with it, and thereby be qualified to conduct ourselves in all parts of our life as becomes our peaceable profession; and we trust, as there is a faithful continuance to depend wholly upon the Almighty arm, from one generation to another, the peaceable kingdom will gradually be extended “from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth” (ZECHARIAH 9:10), to the completion of those prophecies already begun, that “nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, nor learn war any more” (ISAIAH 2:4; MICAH 4:3). And, dearly beloved friends, seeing that we have these promises, and believe that God is beginning to fulfil them, let us constantly endeavour to have our minds sufficiently disentangled from the surfeiting cares of this life, and redeemed from the love of the world, that no earthly possessions nor enjoyments may bias our judgments, or turn us from that resignation and entire trust in God to which His blessing is most surely annexed; then may we say, “Our Redeemer is mighty, he will plead our cause for us” (JEREMIAH 50:34). And if, for the further promoting of His most gracious purposes in the earth, He should give us to taste of that bitter cup of which His faithful ones have often partaken, O that we might be rightly prepared to receive it! And now, dear friends, with respect to the commotions and stirrings of the powers of the earth at this time near us, we are desirous that none of us may be moved thereat, but repose ourselves in the munition of that rock which all these shakings shall not move, even in the knowledge and feeling of the eternal power of God, keeping us subjectly given up to His heavenly will, and feeling it daily to mortify that which remains in any

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of us which is of this world; for the worldly part in any is the changeable part, and that is up and down, full and empty, joyful and sorrowful, as things go well or ill in this world. For as the truth is but one, and many are made partakers of its spirit, so the world is but one, and many are made partakers of the spirit of it; and so many as do partake of it, so many will be straitened and perplexed with it. But they who are single to the truth, waiting daily to feel the life and virtue of it in their hearts, shall rejoice in the midst of adversity, and have to experience with the prophet, that, “although the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls; yet will they rejoice in the Lord, and joy in the God of their salvation” (HABAKKUK 3:17, 18). If, contrary to this, we profess the truth, and, not living under the power and influence of it, are producing fruits disagreeable to the purity thereof, and trust to the strength of man to support ourselves, our confidence therein will be vain. For He who removed the hedge from His vineyard, and gave it to be trodden under foot by reason of the wild grapes it produced (ISAIAH 5:6), remains unchangeable; and if, for the chastisement of wickedness and the further promoting of His own glory, He doth arise, even to shake terribly the earth, who then may oppose Him and prosper? We remain, in the love of the gospel, your friends and brethren. (Signed by fourteen Friends.) Scrupling to do writings relative to keeping slaves has been a means of sundry small trials to me, in which I have so evidently felt my own will set aside, that I think it good to mention a few of them. Tradesmen and retailers of goods, who depend on their business for a living, are naturally inclined to keep the good-will of their customers; nor is it a pleasant thing for young men to be under any necessity to question the judgment or honesty of elderly men, and more especially of such as have a fair reputation. Deep-rooted customs, though wrong, are not easily altered; but it is the duty of all to be firm in that which they certainly know is right for them. A charitable, benevolent man, well acquainted with a negro, may, I believe, under some circumstances, keep him in his family as a servant, on no other motives than the negro’s good; but man, as man, knows not what shall be after him, nor hath he any assurance that his children will attain to that perfection in wisdom and goodness necessary rightly to exercise such power; hence it is clear to me, that I ought not to be the scribe where wills are drawn in which some children are made sale-masters over others during life. About this time an ancient man of good esteem in the neighbourhood came to my house to get his will written. He had young negroes, and I asked him privately how he purposed to 370 Copyright  Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX

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dispose of them. He told me. I then said, “I cannot write thy will without breaking my own peace,” and respectfully gave him my reasons for it. He signified that he had a choice that I should have written it, but as I could not, consistently with my conscience, he did not desire it, and so he got it written by some other person. A few years after, there being great alterations in his family, he came again to get me to write his will. His negroes were yet young, and his son, to whom he intended to give them, was, since he first spoke to me, from a libertine become a sober young man, and he supposed that I would have been free on that account to write it. We had much friendly talk on the subject, and then deferred it. A few days after he came again and directed their freedom, and I then wrote his will. Near the time that the last-mentioned Friend first spoke to me, a neighbour received a bad bruise in his body and sent for me to bleed him, which having done, he desired me to write his will. I took notes, and amongst other things he told me to which of his children he gave his young negro. I considered the pain and distress he was in, and knew not how it would end, so I wrote his will, save only that part concerning his slave, and carrying it to his bedside, read it to him. I then told him in a friendly way that I could not write any instruments by which my fellow- creatures were made slaves, without bringing trouble on my own mind. I let him know that I charged nothing for what I had done, and desired to be excused from doing the other part in the way he proposed. We then had a serious conference on the subject; at length, he agreeing to set her free, I finished his will. Having found drawings in my mind to visit Friends on Long Island, after obtaining a certificate from our Monthly Meeting, I set off 12th of Fifth Month, 1756. When I reached the island, I lodged the first night at the house of my dear friend, Richard Hallett. The next day being the first of the week, I was at the meeting in New Town, in which we experienced the renewed manifestations of the love of Jesus Christ to the comfort of the honest-hearted. I went that night to Flushing, and the next day I and my beloved friend, Matthew Franklin, crossed the ferry at White Stone; were at three meetings on the main, and then returned to the island, where I spent the remainder of the week in visiting meetings. The Lord, I believe, hath a people in those parts who are honestly inclined to serve him; but many I fear, are too much clogged with the things of this life, and do not come forward bearing the cross in such faithfulness as He calls for. My mind was deeply engaged in this visit, both in public and private, and at several places where I was, on observing that they had slaves, I found myself under a necessity, in a friendly way, to labour with them on that subject; expressing, as way opened, the inconsistency of that practice with the purity of the Christian religion, and the ill effects of it manifested amongst us. The latter end of the week their Yearly Meeting began; at which were our friends, John Scarborough, Jane Hoskins, and Susannah Brown, from Pennsylvania. The public meetings were large, and measurably favoured with divine goodness. The exercise of my mind at this meeting was chiefly on account of those who were

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considered as the foremost rank in the Society; and in a meeting of ministers and elders way opened for me to express in some measure what lay upon me; and when Friends were met for transacting the affairs of the church, having sat awhile silent, I felt a weight on my mind, and stood up; and through the gracious regard of our Heavenly Father, strength was given fully to clear myself of a burden which for some days had been increasing upon me. Through the humbling dispensations of divine Providence, men are sometimes fitted for His service. The messages of the prophet Jeremiah were so disagreeable to the people, and so adverse to the spirit they lived in, that he became the object of their reproach, and in the weakness of nature he thought of desisting from his prophetic office; but saith he, “His word was in my heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones; and I was weary with forbearing, and could not stay.” I saw at this time that, if I was honest in declaring that which truth opened in me, I could not please all men; and I laboured to be content in the way of my duty, however disagreeable to my own inclination. After this I went homeward, taking Woodbridge and Plainfield in my way, in both which meetings the pure influence of divine love was manifested, in an humbling sense whereof I went home. I had been out about twenty-four days, and rode about three hundred and sixteen miles. While I was out on this journey my heart was much affected with a sense of the state of the churches in our southern provinces; and believing the Lord was calling me to some further labour amongst them, I was bowed in reverence before Him, with fervent desires that I might find strength to resign myself to His heavenly will. Until this year, 1756, I continued to retail goods, besides following my trade as a tailor; about which time I grew uneasy on account of my business growing too cumbersome. I had begun with selling trimmings for garments, and from thence proceeded to sell cloths and linens; and at length, having got a considerable shop of goods, my trade increased every year, and the way to large business appeared open, but I felt a stop in my mind. Through the mercies of the Almighty, I had, in a good degree, learned to be content with a plain way of living. I had but a small family; and, on serious consideration, believed truth did not require me to engage much in cumbering affairs. It had been my general practice to buy and sell things really useful. Things that served chiefly to please the vain mind in people, I was not easy to trade in; seldom did it; and whenever I did I found it weaken me as a Christian. The increase of business became my burden; for though my natural inclination was toward merchandise, yet I believed truth required me to live more free from outward cumbers; and there was now a strife in my mind between the two. In this exercise my prayers were put up to the Lord, who graciously heard me, and gave me a heart resigned to His holy will. Then I lessened my outward business, and, as I had opportunity, told my customers of my intentions, that they might consider what shop to turn to; and in a while I wholly laid down merchandise, and followed my

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trade as a tailor by myself, having no apprentice. I also had a nursery of apple trees, in which I employed some of my time in hoeing, grafting, trimming, and inoculating.30 In merchandise it is the custom where I lived to sell chiefly on credit, and poor people often get in debt; when payment is expected, not having wherewith to pay, their creditors often sue for it at law. Having frequently observed occurrences of this kind, I found it good for me to advise poor people to take such goods as were most useful, and not costly. In the time of trading I had an opportunity of seeing that the too liberal use of spirituous liquors and the custom of wearing too costly apparel led some people into great inconveniences; and that these two things appear to be often connected with each other. By not attending to that use of things which is consistent with universal righteousness, there is an increase of labour which extends beyond what our Heavenly Father intends for us. And by great labour, and often by much sweating, there is even among such as are not drunkards a craving of liquors to revive the spirits; that partly by the luxurious drinking of some, and partly by the drinking of others (led to it through immoderate labour), very great quantities of rum are every year consumed in our colonies; the greater part of which we should have no need of, did we steadily attend to pure wisdom. When men take pleasure in feeling their minds elevated with strong drink, and so indulge their appetite as to disorder their understandings, neglect their duty as members of a family or civil society, and cast off all regard to religion, their case is much to be pitied. And where those whose lives are for the most part regular, and whose examples have a strong influence on the minds of others, adhere to some customs which powerfully draw to the use of more strong liquor than pure wisdom allows, it hinders the spreading of the spirit of meekness, and strengthens the hands of the more excessive drinkers. This is a case to be lamented. Every degree of luxury hath some connection with evil; and if those who profess to be disciples of Christ, and are looked upon as leaders of the people, have that mind in them which was also in Christ, and so stand separate from every wrong way, it is a means of help to the weaker. As I have sometimes been much spent in the heat and have taken spirits to revive me, I have found by experience that in such circumstances the mind is not so calm, nor so fitly disposed for divine meditation, as when all such extremes are avoided. I have felt an increasing care to attend to that Holy Spirit which sets right bounds to our desires, and leads those who faithfully follow it, to apply all the gifts of divine Providence to the purposes for which they were intended. Did those who have the care of great estates attend with 30. Note by Whittier: He seems to have regarded agriculture as the business most conducive to moral and physical health. He thought, “If the leadings of the Spirit were more attended to, more people would be engaged in the sweet employment of husbandry, where labour is agreeable and healthful.” He does not condemn the honest acquisition of wealth in other business free from oppression; even “merchandising,” he thought, might be carried on innocently and in pure reason. Christ does not forbid the laying up of a needful support for family and friends; the command is, “Lay not up for YOURSELVES treasures on earth.” From his little farm on the Rancocas he looked out with a mingled feeling of wonder and sorrow upon the hurry and unrest of the world; and especially was he pained to see luxury and extravagance overgrowing the early plainness and simplicity of his own religious society. He regarded the merely rich man with unfeigned pity. With nothing of his scorn he had all of Thoreau’s commiseration, for people who went about bowed down with the weight of broad acres and great houses on their backs. “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 373 HDT WHAT? INDEX

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singleness of heart to this heavenly Instructor, which so opens and enlarges the mind as to cause men to love their neighbours as themselves, they would have wisdom given them to manage their concerns, without employing some people in providing luxuries of life, or others in labouring too hard; but for want of steadily regarding this principle of divine love, a selfish spirit takes place in the minds of people, which is attended with darkness and manifold confusions in the world. Though trading in things useful is an honest employ, yet through the great number of superfluities which are bought and sold, and through the corruption of the times, they who apply to merchandise for a living have great need to be well experienced in that precept which the Prophet Jeremiah laid down for his scribe: “Seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not.” In the winter this year I was engaged with friends in visiting families, and through the goodness of the Lord we often-times experienced his heart-tendering presence amongst us. A Copy of a Letter written to a Friend “In this, thy late affliction, I have found a deep fellow-feeling with thee, and have had a secret hope throughout, that it might please the Father of Mercies to raise thee up and sanctify thy troubles to thee; that thou being more fully acquainted with that way which the world esteems foolish, mayst feel the clothing of divine fortitude, and be strengthened to resist that spirit which leads from the simplicity of the everlasting truth. “We may see ourselves crippled and halting, and from a strong bias to things pleasant and easy, find an impossibility to advance forward; but things impossible with men are possible with God; and our wills being made subject to His, all temptations are surmountable. “This work of subjecting the will is compared to the mineral in the furnace, which, through fervent heat, is reduced from its first principle: ‘He refines them as silver is refined; he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.’ By these comparisons, we are instructed in the necessity of the melting operation of the hand of God upon us, to prepare our hearts truly to adore Him, and manifest that adoration by inwardly turning away from that spirit, in all its workings, which is not of Him. To forward this work the all-wise God is sometimes pleased, through outward distress, to bring us near the gates of death; that life being painful and afflicting, and the prospect of eternity opened before us, all earthly bonds may be loosened, and the mind prepared for that deep and sacred instruction which otherwise would not be received. If kind parents love their children and delight in their happiness, then He who is perfect goodness in sending abroad mortal contagions doth assuredly direct their use. Are the righteous removed by it? their change is happy. Are the wicked taken away in their wickedness? the Almighty is clear. Do we pass through with anguish and great 374 Copyright  Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX

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bitterness, and yet recover? He intends that we should be purged from dross, and our ear opened to discipline. “And now, as thou art again restored, after thy sore affliction and doubts of recovery, forget not Him who hath helped thee, but in humble gratitude hold fast His instructions, and thereby shun those by-paths which lead from the firm foundation. I am sensible of that variety of company to which one in thy business must be exposed; I have painfully felt the force of conversation proceeding from men deeply rooted in an earthly mind, and can sympathize with others in such conflicts, because much weakness still attends me. “I find that to be a fool as to worldly wisdom, and to commit my cause to God, not fearing to offend men, who take offence at the simplicity of truth, is the only way to remain unmoved at the sentiments of others. “The fear of man brings a snare. By halting in our duty, and giving back in the time of trial, our hands grow weaker, our spirits get mingled with the people, our ears grow dull as to hearing the language of the true Shepherd, so that when we look at the way of the righteous, it seems as though it was not for us to follow them. “A love clothes my mind while I write, which is superior to all expression; and I find my heart open to encourage to a holy emulation, to advance forward in Christian firmness. Deep humility is a strong bulwark, and as we enter into it we find safety and true exaltation. The foolishness of God is wiser than man, and the weakness of God is stronger than man. Being unclothed of our own wisdom, and knowing the abasement of the creature, we find that power to arise which gives health and vigour to us.”

On the Isle of Jersey in the English Channel in this year, the Huguenot couple Philippe Thoreau and Marie Le Galais Thoreau had a baby boy they would have christened on April 28th as Jean Thoreau (which makes him a member of the 3d cohort subsequent to the great Huguenot diaspora). Later, the records of Concord town in Massachusetts would falsely reflect, as below, not only that Jean’s given name was the English-language name “John” but also that he had been born in Concord, that is, that he was an American by birth rather than an immigrant: Births

Name Sex Birth Date Birth Place Father’s Name Mother’s Name

THOREAU, John 1754 Concord

THOREAU, Mary F 1786 Concord John

THOREAU, Sarah 1791 Concord

THOREAU, Helen L. F 1813 Concord John Cynthia

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Births

Name Sex Birth Date Birth Place Father’s Name Mother’s Name

THOREAU, John M 1815 Concord John Cynthia

THOREAU, Sophia Elizabeth F Sept. 27, 1819 Chelmsford John Cynthia

The parish records of St. Hélier show that on this island in this year, also, Marie Guillet was born to Jaques Guillet and Elizabeth Quintal (or Quintare or Quintore) Guillet, and the godparents were listed as Jean Perrochon and Marie Thoreau.

On the peninsula of Boston in the Massachusetts Bay, at their house on Prince Street, Mr. Burns and Mrs. Sarah Orrok Burns had a baby girl they named Jane Burns.

THOREAU LIFESPANS

It was in this year that Ammi White was born in Groton, Massachusetts, son of Thomas White and Hannah Faulkner White. (They named their infant after its maternal grandfather Ammi Ruhammah Faulkner. Note that this infant could not have been the son of Deacon John White of Concord, in whose store Jean Thoreau’s son John Thoreau eventually would work, since at the time he was only four or five years old. Deacon John White was a son of Thomas White’s brother, Mark White, Jr., and therefore Ammi White’s 1st cousin!) THE DEACONS OF CONCORD

In Boston during this year, Elizabeth Creighton was whipped when she was found to be cohabiting with a negro man. Let’s have none of that interracial stuff!

After the buildings of C. Croft, Esq., of Charleston, South Carolina were torched by his female slaves, two of them were punished in an exemplary manner by being burned alive. Let’s have none of that servile insurrection stuff! W.E. Burghardt Du Bois: We find in the planting colonies all degrees of advocacy of the trade, from the passiveness of Maryland to the clamor of Georgia. Opposition to the trade did not appear in Georgia, was based almost solely on political fear of insurrection in Carolina, and sprang largely from the same motive in Virginia, mingled with some moral repugnance. As a whole, it may be said that whatever opposition to the slave- trade there was in the planting colonies was based principally on the political fear of insurrection.

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In Rhode Island harbors during this year, it has been estimated by Alexander Boyd Hawes, some 16 vessels were being fitted out for the international slave trade. If an average cargo of slaves was 109 –as we have estimated on the basis of a number of known cargos– then a total of 1,744 souls were transported during this year in Rhode Island bottoms alone. For instance, on June 19, 1754, the sailing orders were issued for the schooner Sierra Leone under Captain David Lindsay, and on January 8, 1755, an unidentified ship would leave the coast of Africa under Captain Buffam.

The Jews of Newport appealed for financial assistance to the London Sephardim, in the construction of a synagogue in which they might worship, but the Treasurer (gabay) of that group, Moses de Jacob Franco, was able to respond at first only by sending them his blessings. (Five years later, Jacob Rodrigues Rivera and two Ashkenazim, Moses Levy and Isaac Hart, would purchase a small parcel of land for £1500 Rhode Island currency, and the Jews of New-York would be able to contribute £150, and there would be some money arriving from the Sephardic communities of Jamaica, Curaçao, Surinam, and London, so, finally, in 1763, the synagogue of K.K. Yeshuat Israel, the Holy Congregation of the Salvation of Israel, would be dedicated.) JUDAISM

February: The colonial legislature of Virginia provided for an additional duty of 5% across the board, including on new slaves from outside the colony, for three years, “for the encouragement and protection of the settlers upon the waters of the Mississippi.” Continued in 1755 and 1763; revived in 1772, and continued until 1778. Hening, STATUTES, VI. 417, 468; VII. 639; VIII. 530.

July 25: Maryland added another ten shillings per head to its import duties for slaves.

“An Act for his Majesty’s Service.” Bacon, LAWS, 1754, Chapter IX. INTERNATIONAL SLAVE TRADE

1755

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In Rhode Island harbors during this year, it has been estimated by Alexander Boyd Hawes, some 9 vessels were being fitted out for the international slave trade. If an average cargo of slaves was 109 –as we have estimated on the basis of a number of known cargos– then a total of 981 souls were transported during this year in Rhode Island bottoms alone. For instance, we know that during this year the Rhode Island ship Africa was transporting a cargo of 120, the schooner Hawke a cargo of 46, the ship Othello 200,32 the square-rigged brigantine Sally 80, the schooner Sierra Leone 57 (Captain David Lindsay received her sailing orders on August 15, 1755), and the sloop Young Bachelor 120.

Olaudah Equiano was captured in Africa by slave-traders at the age of ten, along with a sister — unless his 1759 baptismal record in England is correct and he was born in Carolina in 1747:

He would be sold several times and would labor in Monserrat in the Caribbean (where he was enslaved to Friend Robert King, a Quaker merchant), Barbados, Virginia, and England. In THE LIFE OF OLAUDAH EQUIANO THE AFRICAN, he would describe his capture and the Middle Passage to Virginia: I was soon put down under the decks, and there I received such a greeting in my nostrils as I had never experienced in my life; so that, with the loathsomeness of the stench, and crying together, I became so sick and low that I was not able to eat, nor had I the least desire to taste anything. I now wished for the last friend, death, to relieve me; but soon, to my grief, 31. Bear in mind that these 18th-Century white census takers undoubtedly were deploying their racist concept, “monig,” in order to classify some people who considered themselves to be Narragansett as being actually instead black (“monig” –there’s no PC way to avoid conveying this information– is a much-used local abbreviation standing for “more nigger than Indian”) ... and today some people are so offended that the official name of the state is “Rhode Island and Providence Plantations,” that they are demanding a change to eliminate this racially offensive term “plantation” — and the opponents of this PC move are insisting that the term, in its local historical use, does not imply human slavery but implies merely the existence of small freehold farms! Go figure. SLAVERY 32. Othello, what a strange name for a negrero vessel during an era in which, in presentations of Shakespeare’s play, the title role was of necessity being performed by an American white man wearing dark body makeup! –Obviously, some Shakespeare nut in Rhode Island had a considerable sense of humor! –What’s next, the brigantine Gen. Nat Turner? 378 Copyright  Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX

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two of the white men offered me eatables; and, on my refusing to eat, one of them held me fast by the hands, and laid me across, I think, the windlass, and tied my feet, while the other flogged me severely. The white people looked and acted, as I thought, in so savage a manner; for I had never seen among my people such instances of brutal cruelty. The closeness of the place, and the heat of the climate, added to the number in the ship, which was so crowded that each had scarcely room to turn himself, almost suffocated us. The air soon became unfit for respiration, from a variety of loathsome smells, and brought on a sickness among the slaves, of which many died. The wretched situation was again aggravated by the chains, now unsupportable, and the filth of the necessary tubs, into which the children often fell, and were almost suffocated. The shrieks of the women, and the groans of the dying, rendered the whole a scene of horror almost inconceivable.

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A steeple was erected above the meetinghouse in Lincoln, and furnished with a bell, the gift of Mr. Joseph Brooks.

These were the appropriations made by the town of Lincoln:33

Date. 1755. 1765. 1775. 1785. 1795. 1805. 1815. 1825.

2 2 Minister £56 £69 /3 £70 /3 £85 £105 $— $600 $460. 1 1 Schools 13 /2 20 13 /2 50 85 — 480 520. Highways 25 50 40 80 80 $450 600 400. 1 Incidental charges 24 /2 19 37 250 125 830 1450 500.

Town Clerks of Lincoln34

Ephraim Flint 1746-1752, 1754, 1756-1757 Grosvenor Tarbell 1799-1803

Ebenezer Cutler 1753, 1755, 1759 Thomas Wheeler 1804-1806

Samuel Farrar 1758, 1760-1766 Elijah Fiske 1810-1821

John Adams 1767-1777 Stephen Patch 1822-1827

Abijah Pierce 1778-1779, 1781 Charles Wheeler 1828-1830

Samuel Hoar 1780, 1782, 1787-1798, Elijah Fiske 1831 1807-1809

Richard Russell 1783-1786

New pews were added in the 1st Parish Meeting House of Menotomy. We have a record that good citizens, concerned that everyone’s needs should be taken into consideration, asked that the black Americans be provided with a place where they

33. Lemuel Shattuck’s 1835 A HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF CONCORD;.... Boston MA: Russell, Odiorne, and Company; Concord MA: John Stacy, 1835 (On or about November 11, 1837 Henry David Thoreau would indicate a familiarity with the contents of at least pages 2-3 and 6-9 of this historical study.) 34. Lemuel Shattuck’s 1835 A HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF CONCORD;.... Boston MA: Russell, Odiorne, and Company; Concord MA: John Stacy, 1835 (On or about November 11, 1837 Henry David Thoreau would indicate a familiarity with the contents of at least pages 2-3 and 6-9 of this historical study. On July 16, 1859 he would correct a date mistake buried in the body of the text.) “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 381 HDT WHAT? INDEX

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also might sit down:

“there should be new seats over the gallery stairs for the Negroes to sit in.” SLAVERY

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There were 62 slaves in the town of Ipswich of above sixteen years of age.

They were Indians as well as Africans. Besides these, in the early age of the colony, criminals were sold into servitude for a term of years, according to their offences.

Notice the category chosen for this statistic, “of above sixteen years of age.” Would there have been any functionality to this category at all, except that being above sixteen years of age made it so much easier to determine whether a person was a slave or was not a slave?

May: The colonial legislature of Virginia instituted an additional 10% duty on imports, including importation of new slaves, “for raising the sum of twenty thousand pounds, for the protection of his majesty’s subjects, against the insults and encroachments of the French; and for other purposes therein mentioned.” § 10. “ ... from and after the passing of this act, there shall be levied and paid to our sovereign lord the king, his heirs and successors, for all slaves imported, or brought into this colony and dominion for sale, either by land or water, from any part [port] or place whatsoever, by the buyer, or purchaser, after the rate of ten per centum, on the amount of each respective purchase, over and above the several duties already laid on slaves, imported as aforesaid, by an act or acts of Assembly, now subsisting, and also over and above the duty laid by” the Act of 1754. Repealed by Act of May, 1760, § 11, “ ... inasmuch as the same prevents the importation of slaves, and thereby lessens the fund arising from the duties upon slaves.” Hening, STATUTES, VI. 461; VII. 363. Cf. DINWIDDIE PAPERS, II. 86. INTERNATIONAL SLAVE TRADE

September: In Charlestown in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the slaves Mark, Phillis, and Phebe, along with Quaco and Robin, were convicted of murdering the slavemaster, Captain John Codman.35

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Having ascertained that their master had, by his will, made them free at his death, they poisoned him in order to obtain their liberty so much the sooner. Phillis, since she was a woman, was burned alive. Mark, since he was a man and, knowing how to read and write, the evident leader of the slave conspiracy,36 was dragged by horses to his place of execution on the town common, throttled, disemboweled37 and beheaded, and then his body was hung up in chains by the side of the public thoroughfare. SERVILE INSURRECTION

1756

Venture Smith and his wife Margaret “Meg” Smith had a son Solomon Smith, who of course also would be the slave of Thomas Stanton.

Sippio Brister was born, who would be the slave of the Hoar family of Lincoln, Massachusetts. Town Clerks of Lincoln38

Ephraim Flint 1746-1752, 1754, 1756-1757 Grosvenor Tarbell 1799-1803

Ebenezer Cutler 1753, 1755, 1759 Thomas Wheeler 1804-1806

Samuel Farrar 1758, 1760-1766 Elijah Fiske 1810-1821

John Adams 1767-1777 Stephen Patch 1822-1827

Abijah Pierce 1778-1779, 1781 Charles Wheeler 1828-1830

Samuel Hoar 1780, 1782, 1787-1798, Elijah Fiske 1831 1807-1809

Richard Russell 1783-1786

35. Captain John Codman was the son of Stephen Codman and Elizabeth Randall Codman of Charlestown, born on October 4, 1696. He married Parnell Foster, daughter of Richard Foster, and she died on September 15, 1752, at the age of 56. 36. He was known, for instance, to have read the BIBLE through. 37. The records suggest he was noticed to be already dead, rather than merely unconscious, while he was being disemboweled. 38. Ibid. 384 Copyright  Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX

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In this year a census was taken in Rhode Island. The document bears the title “Whites & Blacks & Arms & Ammunition, 1756.”

In Rhode Island harbors during this year, it has been estimated by Alexander Boyd Hawes, some 11 vessels were being fitted out for the international slave trade. If an average cargo of slaves was 109 –as we have estimated on the basis of a number of known cargos– then a total of more than 1,150 souls were transported during this year in Rhode Island bottoms alone. For instance, on April 4, 1756, the Hawke of Captain Owen Morris was captured. On June 19, 1756, the Marigold of Captain William Taylor was captured. On June 29, 1756, Captain Caleb Godfrey’s sloop Hare began selling a cargo of slaves in Charleston SC. During this year the Rhode Island brigantine Wydah carried a slave cargo of 80 souls and the sloop Young Bachelor a cargo of 140 souls. According to a preserved letter from William Pinnegar to Vernon, other Rhode Island slaver captains with him at Anamaboe were John James, Hammond, Clarke, and Rodman.

The population of the Virginia colony reached 250,000. More than 40% of the population were slaves, up from 24% in 1715.

March 22: The colony of Maryland increased its import duties by 20 shillings across the board, including its per capita charge on the importing of the sort of import with which we are here concerned, new human slaves. “An Act for granting a Supply of Forty Thousand Pounds, for his Majesty’s Service,” etc. For five years. Bacon, LAWS, 1756, ch. v. INTERNATIONAL SLAVE TRADE

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June 29: “Just imported in the Hare, Capt. Caleb Godfrey, directly from Sierra-Leon, a Cargo of Likely and Healthy SLAVES, To be fold upon eafy Terms on Taefday the 29th Inftant June, by AUSTIN & [Henry] LAURENS.” Which is to say (among other things that might be said) that Priscilla was for sale:

Priscilla was a 10-year-old who had been brought on the negrero Hare as part of its international slave trade to Charleston, South Carolina. She had been purchased by Captain Caleb Godfrey in the vicinity of the mouth of the Sierra-Leone River on the coast of Africa near Freetown, or perhaps as far north as the Rio Pongo region in what is now the Republic of Guinea, sometime earlier this year (the ship had put to sea on April 9th with a cargo of 84 slaves and had cast anchor on June 17th at the notorious “Sullivans Island” depot with 68 slaves remaining alive, and remaining healthy enough to be put on the auction block).

The negrero Hare was the property of Samuel and William Vernon of Newport. Negroes from the Sierra- Leone, a region in which rice was cultivated, were particularly desired in South Carolina because rice was one of its prime plantation cash crops. Such Rhode Island vessels which conveyed new slaves to Charleston commonly conveyed their proceeds back to Rhode Island in the form of bulk rice.

Priscilla and another girl, and three boys, would be purchased by Elias Ball for his Comingtee plantation near Charleston. It would be he who would assign to her the name “Priscilla.” As a plantation slave she would marry with a “Jeffrey” and, before dying in 1811 at an age of approximately 65, create a new generation of ten enslaved children.

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1757

In Rhode Island harbors during this year, it has been estimated by Alexander Boyd Hawes, some 8 vessels were being fitted out for the international slave trade. If an average cargo of slaves was 109 –as we have estimated on the basis of a number of known cargos– then a total of 872 souls were transported during this year in Rhode Island bottoms alone. Examples from this year include the Rhode Island sloop Dolphin,39 carrying a cargo of 80 slaves, the sloop Gambia, carrying a cargo of 140, the schooner Sierra-Leone, carrying 70, the snow Two Brothers, carrying 150, and a brig of unknown name, carrying 70.

A Quaker clerk turned over the blank volume in which the Friends Monthly Meeting of South Kingstown had been keeping since 1740 a record of its white births, white deaths, white marriages, and white removals, and upside down and backward in the back, began something very different from all that white stuff. What was begun upside down and backward at the end of the volume was — a record of the manumissions of the black slaves of these white Rhode Island Quakers. We learn that the 1st local Quaker to manumit a slave was Friend

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Richard Smith of Groton, Connecticut, who in this year manumitted an 18-year-old named Jane.

Friend Richard explained that the “Negrow Girl” in question had been become the property of his wife, Friend Abigail Gardner Smith, by the will of her father Stephen Gardner, “in Order to be a Slave all her Days According to the common Cuftom of Slavery.” The document is so totally eloquent in its lengthy expression of antislavery sentiments that I will copy it all here: I Richard Smith of Groton40 in the County of New London and Colony of Connecticut upon Confideration and Knowing it Required of me I have written this in Order to Shew the reafon and make it manifest to mankind why that I Difcharge & Sett free my Negrow Girl named Jane at Eighteen Years of Age Daughter of Sarah which is now in Slavery with her Other Children among the Heirs of Stephen Gardnor of Norwich Deceafed this Girl Jane was Given to my Wife Abigail41 by her Father Stephen Gardnor by will in order to be a Slave all her Days According to the common Cuftom of Slavery. But the falling into my hand by my Wife and the Lord by his free Goodnefs having Given me a clear Sight of the Cruelty of makeing a Slave of one that was by Nature as free as my Own Children and no ways by any Evil She had Committed brought her Self into Bondage and Slavery and therefore can no ways be Gilty of Slavery, and to argue because her Mother was made a Slave being by force and Violence brought Out of her Own Land against her mind and Will and Deprived of What She had there & made a Slave of her Should be a Sufficient Reafon that her posterity Should be oprest in bondage with Slavery. I see no Justice for it nor mercy in so Doing but Violent Opprefsing the Inocent without Cause For this ^thing of Servants it hath pleased God to Sett before me in a Clear manner the case 40. Friend Richard Smith of Groton deceased 28 of 8 mo 1800 “in the 96th year of his age.” 41. Friend Abigail Smith of Groton deceased 15 of 6 mo 1799. “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 389 HDT WHAT? INDEX

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of Servants and Especially the Unreasonablenefs of thefe matters and miftrefses who profefs to be the followers of Christ how they will buy & Sell and be pertakers in making marchandize in Great Babylon of the Slaves that in the bodys of men and womon and of thefe Strangers as Indians & Negrows that are taken Out of their Own Country [page] Country or taken in War one among a nother and Sent out which when brought here [word marked out] in Sed of being Released are Sold into Slavery all there Days and their Pofterity after them they being never so Innofent in Ronging of any and thefe mafters and miftrefses that buy them or other ways by their parents have them, all this while profefs them selves to be the followers of Christ or Chriftians and yet how they will plead the Reafonablefs of Keeping them in Slavery and their pofterity after them But when they have pleaded all they can and used the beft arguments they have, it is Only to have there work done with eafe & they to be great and to be Lord over there fellow Creatures, Because they have power & authority to opprefs the helplefs by a Cuftomary Law of the Nations to keep them in Bondage under Slavery, Quite Renounfing and Rejecting and Hating to obey the Law & command of there great Lord and Mafter Christ as they call him who charge them saying Therefore all things whatfoever Ye would that man fhould do to You do ye even so to them for this if the Law and the prophets said Our Great Lord Matt. 7 & 12. Now if it fhould be afked of any of thefe mafters or miftrefses if they in like Mannor with these Children fhould be carried away unto any Strange People in the world and be fold into Slavery whether they would be willing to serve a strange nation in Slavery & their Children after them and be Deprived of what they Injoyed in there own Country (for this is the Case) I fuppofe there anfwer would be no nor any of our Children upon any acc.:t no not if it were in a Christian Land as they call this well then how can any of them plead the Reafonables of Keeping of any of them in Slavery with there Pofterity and would set them free in a Reafonable Time as they themfelves with ^their Children would be willing to be done by according to Chrifts words above mentioned for by Nature all nations are free one from the other and the apoftle Saith God is no Refpecter of perfons, the apoftle Likewife Saith that God hath made of one Blood all Nations of men to Dwell on all the face of the Earth Acts 17 & 26 So [new page] So that by Nature & blood wee are no better in Gods Sight than they and it is plain that Chrift taught a Doctrine that was to Releive Opprefsed and to Unbind heavy Burdens

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and let the Innofent prifoner go free, and hath commanded us to love our Enemys, and to entertain Stranger, & not to opprefs them in Bondage with Slavery and said, he came not to Deftroy mens Lives but to save them Luke 9 & 56 So that the way that brings them into Slavery is forbidden by Chrift for by war violence & stealth and tradeing in them is the way by which they are first Ordered to go into Slavery, and they that buy them or other ways have them and keep them in Slavery as they do there Beafts, for to do there Labour & not to Releive them and set them free, are partakers of the same evil, Therefore I Leave this as a faithfull Teftimony in the fear of the living God against all such wicked proceedings, and upon true Confideration of what is above written I hereby Declare that now at this Time that my Negrow Girl Jane hath arrived to Eighteen Years of Age that fhe Shall now go out Free from Bondage and Slavery as free as if she had been free born and that my Heirs Executors or Administrators fhall have no power over her to make a Slave of Her or her pofterity no more than if she had been [word lined out] free born, for I freely give her her freedom now at the arrival of the afores.d age which is now fullfilled in this prefent Year 1757 as witnefs my hand Richard Smith Some time after I had written this Discharge I had it in Confideration which way was proper to make it manifest & secure and it appeared to me very proper to lay it before Friends at the preparative meeting, as buifinefs to the Monthly Meeting, to see if the Monthly Meeting would think proper that it might be put on Record or would forward Untill I might Know what might be done by Friends on this acc.t for this thing hath had weight on my mind ever since this Girl [new page] Girl was put into my hands to prove me in this part of Self Denial whether I would be faithfull or not [flourish] Now my Friends to tell you plainly some Years before this my Intent was to have bought some negrow Slaves for to have done my work to have saved hireing of help But when I was about buying them I was forbidden by the same power that now caufes me to set this Girl at Liberty for the matter was set before me in a Clear manner more Clear than what mortal man Could have done, and Therefore I believe it is not write for me to Think or hide in a thing of so great Concernment as to give my Confent to do to others Contrary to what we our selves would be willing to be done unto our selves if we were in Slavery as many of them are at this dayh & under such mafters and miftrefses too as would be willing to be called Chrifts true followers and make a large profefsion of some of his Truths but if we truly Confider God will have no part kept back for he call for Juftice and mercy

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and his Soul Loathes the Oppressing of the Inocent and poor & helplefs and such as have none to help and will afsuredly avenge their caufe in Righeoufnefs These things I have found on my mind to lay before Friends as a matter worth due [word lined out] Confideration and so lay it before this meeting as Buifinefs [flourish] Richard Smith [flourish]

We note that the 1st draft of the Declaration of Independence, in taking the King of England to task for having insisted on the continuation of the international slave trade (“He has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, capturing and carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur a miserable death in their transportation thither. This piratical warfare, the opprobrium of infidel powers, is the warfare of the Christian King of Great Britain. Determined to keep open a market where men should be bought and sold, he has prostituted his negative for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this execrable commerce.”42), may be better understood by referring back to the debate in this year over banning the importation of slaves into Virginia. In this year, the question of a ban on the further importation of new slaves did come before the House of Burgesses, and it was not a debate over benevolence or over human rights. The primary sponsors of such a ban were the large planters of the Northern Neck region of Virginia, including the family of Richard Henry Lee, while the main opposition to it came primarily from smaller planters closer to the frontier, many of them affiliated with the John Robinson faction. Not long after this debate began, the legislators abandoned the possibility of a total ban and the discussion turned toward imposing a 10% tariff or head tax on newly imported Africans as a means of raising revenue to defray Virginia’s expenses for the Seven Years’ War. We do have some evidence that this situation in Virginia was then discussed with the British government, for after Francis Fauquier would become governor of Virginia, the topic would come up in his correspondence with the Board of Trade. Fauquier would on June 2, 1760 mention that this proposal had been made by some “old settlers who have bred large quantities of slaves and who would make a monopoly of them by a duty which they hoped would amount to a prohibition.” In council on December 10, 1770, King George III of England would direct them not to thus interfere with the importation of new slaves from Africa — but this was not cruelty offsetting a colonial benevolence, for in this debate, the first consideration had been the business of making money, the second consideration had been the business of making money, and the third consideration had been the business of making money. INTERNATIONAL SLAVE TRADE

Friend John Woolman began a journal, retrojecting back to his birth and youth and carrying the story forward into his current activities. I have often felt a motion of love to leave some hints in writing of my experience of the goodness of God, and now, in the thirty- sixth year of my age, I begin this work.

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No image of Friend John ever was made

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During this year and the following one, he would be visiting the families of the Quakers of Burlington, and then traveling in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina.

He would write to the Quakers of New Garden and of Crane Creek. He would attend Friends Yearly Meeting RACE SLAVERY at Philadelphia particularly in regard to the issue of those who keep slaves, and, in the company of Benjamin Jones, would visit Friends in Pennsylvania. He would make notes on Thomas à Kempis and on John Huss. On the basis of his observations and conversations, he would become concerned over the absence of religious instruction in the education of young black slaves. He would become concerned over the drafting of the New Jersey militia for service in the Army. During this year and the following one, he was finding that he could not

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in good conscience pay taxes part of which would be used to finance the “French and Indian” war:43

43. In a commentary on this, on pages 58-9 of a Quaker-inspired collection of documents pertaining to conscientious objection in America from 1757 to 1967 titled CONSCIENCE IN AMERICA (NY: E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1968), the editor, Lillian Schlissel, pointed out that “Whereas the Quaker John Woolman refused to pay taxes out of a desire to keep Quakers separate from the worldly and warlike affairs of government, Henry Thoreau, on the contrary, saw his refusal to pay taxes as the beginning of a discourse with the government. He affirmed, by his action, the efficacy of saying ‘No.’ Out of a simple act, and a single night in a Concord jailhouse, Thoreau evolved a new morality in which a citizen, moved by ethical compulsion, acts to turn his society from its given course. Quaker pacifism had been inward and socially quietist, and the nonresistance of the peace societies had been largely hortatory, but Thoreau wrote of a conscientious objection committed to social change. Confronted with slavery and with war, a man of conscientious principle must do more than stand aside. Thoreau meant to affect his society, and he was willing to break its laws and go to prison…. Conscience and revolution were inseparable principles…. After the Constitution, Thoreau’s ‘Essay on Civil Disobedience’ is the most uniquely radical document in American history…. Thoreau at the end accepted the principle of violence.”

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As scrupling to pay a tax on account of the application hath seldom been heard of heretofore, even amongst men of integrity, who have steadily borne their testimony against outward wars in their time, I may therefore note some things which have occurred to my mind, as I have been inwardly exercised on that account.From the steady opposition which faithful Friends in early times made to wrong things then approved, they were hated and persecuted by men living in the spirit of this world, and, suffering with firmness, they were made a blessing to the church, and the work prospered. It equally concerns men in every age to take heed to their own spirits; and in comparing their situation with ours, to me it appears that there was less danger of their being infected with the spirit of this world, in paying such taxes, than is the case with us now. They had little or no share in civil government, and many of them declared that they were, through the power of God, separated from the spirit in which wars were, and being afflicted by the rulers on account of their testimony, there was less likelihood of their uniting in spirit with them in things inconsistent with the purity of truth. We, from the first settlement of this land, have known little or no troubles of that sort. The profession of our predecessors was for a time accounted reproachful, but at length their uprightness being understood by the rulers, and their innocent sufferings moving them, our way of worship was tolerated, and many of our members in these colonies became active in civil government. Being thus tried with favor and prosperity, this world appeared inviting; our minds have been turned to the improvement of our country, to merchandise and the sciences, amongst which are many things useful, if followed in pure wisdom; but in our present condition I believe it will not be denied that a carnal mind is gaining upon us. Some of our members, who are officers in civil government, are, in one case or other, called upon in their respective stations to assist in things relative to the wars; but being in doubt whether to act or to crave to be excused from their office, if they see their brethren united in the payment of a tax to carry on the said wars, may think their case not much different, and so might quench the tender movings of the Holy Spirit in their minds. Thus, by small degrees, we might approach so near to fighting that the distinction would be little else than the name of a peaceable people.

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1757, 1758 Visit to the Families of Friends at Burlington — Journey to Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina — Considerations on the State of Friends there, and the Exercise he was under in Travelling among those so generally concerned in keeping Slaves, with some Observations on this Subject — Epistle to Friends at New Garden and Crane Creek — Thoughts on the Neglect of a religious care in the Education of the Negroes. THIRTEENTH Fifth Month, 1757. — Being in good health, and abroad with Friends visiting families, I lodged at a Friend’s house in Burlington. Going to bed about the time usual with me, I awoke in the night, and my meditations, as I lay, were on the goodness and mercy of the Lord, in a sense whereof my heart was contrited. After this I went to sleep again; in a short time I awoke; it was yet dark, and no appearance of day or moonshine, and as I opened mine eyes I saw a light in my chamber, at the apparent distance of five feet, about nine inches in diameter, of a clear, easy brightness, and near its centre the most radiant. As I lay still looking upon it without any surprise, words were spoken to my inward ear, which filled my whole inward man. They were not the effect of thought, nor any conclusion in relation to the appearance, but as the language of the Holy One spoken in my mind. The words were, CERTAIN EVIDENCE OF DIVINE TRUTH. They were again repeated exactly in the same manner, and then the light disappeared. Feeling the exercise in relation to a visit to the Southern Provinces to increase upon me, I acquainted our Monthly Meeting therewith, and obtained their certificate. Expecting to go alone, one of my brothers who lived in Philadelphia, having some business in North Carolina, proposed going with me part of the way; but as he had a view of some outward affairs, to accept of him as a companion was some difficulty with me, whereupon I had conversation with him at sundry times. At length feeling easy in my mind, I had conversation with several elderly Friends of Philadelphia on the subject, and he obtaining a certificate suitable to the occasion, we set off in the Fifth Month, 1757. Coming to Nottingham week-day meeting, we lodged at John Churchman’s, where I met with our friend, Benjamin Buffington, from New England, who was returning from a visit to the Southern Provinces. Thence we crossed the river Susquehanna, and lodged at William Cox’s in Maryland. Soon after I entered this province, a deep and painful exercise came upon me, which I often had some feeling of since my mind was drawn toward these parts, and with which I had acquainted my brother before we agreed to join as companions. As the people in this and the Southern Provinces live much on the labour of slaves, many of whom are used hardly, my concern was that I might attend with singleness of heart to the voice of the true Shepherd, and be so supported as to remain unmoved at the faces of men. As it is common for Friends on such a visit to have entertainment free of cost, a difficulty arose in my mind with respect to saving my money by kindness received from what appeared to me to be the gain of oppression. Receiving a gift, considered as a gift, brings the receiver under obligations to the benefactor, and has a natural tendency to draw the obliged into a party with

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the giver. To prevent difficulties of this kind, and to preserve the minds of judges from any bias, was that divine prohibition: “Thou shalt not receive any gift; for a gift blindeth the wise, and perverteth the words of the righteous” (EXODUS 23:8). As the disciples were sent forth without any provision for their journey, and our Lord said the workman is worthy of his meat, their labour in the gospel was considered as a reward for their entertainment, and therefore not received as a gift; yet, in regard to my present journey, I could not see my way clear in that respect. The difference appeared thus: the entertainment the disciples met with was from them whose hearts God had opened to receive them, from a love to them and the truth they published; but we, considered as members of the same religious society, look upon it as a piece of civility to receive each other in such visits; and such receptions, at times, is partly in regard to reputation, and not from an inward unity of heart and spirit. Conduct is more convincing than language, and where people, by their actions, manifest that the slave-trade is not so disagreeable to their principles but that it may be encouraged, there is not a sound uniting with some Friends who visit them. The prospect of so weighty a work, and of being so distinguished from many whom I esteemed before myself, brought me very low, and such were the conflicts of my soul that I had a near sympathy with the prophet, in the time of his weakness, when he said: “If thou deal thus with me, kill me, I pray thee, if I have found favour in thy sight” (NUMBERS 11:15). But I soon saw that this proceeded from the want of a full resignation to the divine will. Many were the afflictions which attended me, and in great abasement, with many tears, my cries were to the Almighty for His gracious and Fatherly assistance, and after a time of deep trial I was favoured to understand the state mentioned by the Psalmist more clearly than ever I had done before; to wit: “My soul is even as a weaned child” (PSALMS 131:2). Being thus helped to sink down into resignation, I felt a deliverance from that tempest in which I had been sorely exercised, and in calmness of mind went forward, trusting that the Lord Jesus Christ, as I faithfully attended to Him, would be a counsellor to me in all difficulties, and that by His strength I should be enabled even to leave money with the members of society where I had entertainment, when I found that omitting it would obstruct that work to which I believed He had called me. As I copy this after my return, I may here add that oftentimes I did so under a sense of duty. The way in which I did it was thus: When I expected soon to leave a Friend’s house where I had entertainment, if I believed that I should not keep clear from the gain of oppression without leaving money, I spoke to one of the heads of the family privately, and desired them to accept of those pieces of silver, and give them to such of their negroes as they believed would make the best use of them; and at other times I gave them to the negroes myself, as the way looked clearest to me. Before I came out, I had provided a large number of small pieces for this purpose, and thus offering them to some who appeared to be wealthy people was a trial both to me and them. But the fear of the Lord so covered me at times

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that my way was made easier than I expected; and few, if any, manifested any resentment at the offer, and most of them, after some conversation, accepted of them. Ninth of Fifth Month. — A Friend at whose house we breakfasted setting us a little on our way, I had conversation with him, in the fear of the Lord, concerning his slaves, in which my heart was tender; I used much plainness of speech with him, and he appeared to take it kindly. We pursued our journey without appointing meetings, being pressed in my mind to be at the Yearly Meeting in Virginia. In my travelling on the road, I often felt a cry rise from the centre of my mind, thus: “O Lord, I am a stranger on the earth, hide not thy face from me.” On the 11th, we crossed the rivers Patowmack and Rapahannock, and lodged at Port Royal. On the way we had the company of a colonel of the militia, who appeared to be a thoughtful man. I took occasion to remark on the difference in general betwixt a people used to labour moderately for their living, training up their children in frugality and business, and those who live on the labour of slaves; the former, in my view, being the most happy life. He concurred in the remark, and mentioned the trouble arising from the untoward, slothful disposition of the negroes, adding that one of our labourers would do as much in a day as two of their slaves. I replied that free men, whose minds were properly on their business, found a satisfaction in improving, cultivating, and providing for their families; but negroes, labouring to support others who claim them as their property, and expecting nothing but slavery during life, had not the like inducement to be industrious. After some further conversation I said, that men having power too often misapplied it; that though we made slaves of the negroes, and the Turks made slaves of the Christians, I believed that liberty was the natural right of all men equally. This he did not deny, but said the lives of the negroes were so wretched in their own country that many of them lived better here than there. I replied, “There is great odds in regard to us on what principle we act”; and so the conversation on that subject ended. I may here add that another person, some time afterwards, mentioned the wretchedness of the negroes, occasioned by their intestine wars, as an argument in favour of our fetching them away for slaves. To which I replied, if compassion for the Africans, on account of their domestic troubles, was the real motive of our purchasing them, that spirit of tenderness being attended to, would incite us to use them kindly, that, as strangers brought out of affliction, their lives might be happy among us. And as they are human creatures, whose souls are as precious as ours, and who may receive the same help and comfort from the Holy Scriptures as we do, we could not omit suitable endeavours to instruct them therein; but that while we manifest by our conduct that our views in purchasing them are to advance ourselves, and while our buying captives taken in war animates those parties to push on the war and increase desolation amongst them, to say they live unhappily in Africa is far from being an argument in our favour. I further said, the present circumstances of these provinces to me appear difficult; the slaves look like a burdensome stone to

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such as burden themselves with them; and that, if the white people retain a resolution to prefer their outward prospects of gain to all other considerations, and do not act conscientiously toward them as fellow-creatures, I believe that burden will grow heavier and heavier, until times change in a way disagreeable to us. The person appeared very serious, and owned that in considering their condition and the manner of their treatment in these provinces he had sometimes thought it might be just in the Almighty so to order it. Having travelled through Maryland, we came amongst Friends at Cedar Creek in Virginia, on the 12th; and the next day rode, in company with several of them, a day’s journey to Camp Creek. As I was riding along in the morning, my mind was deeply affected in a sense I had of the need of divine aid to support me in the various difficulties which attended me, and in uncommon distress of mind I cried in secret to the Most High, “O Lord, be merciful, I beseech Thee, to Thy poor afflicted creature!” After some time I felt inward relief, and soon after a Friend in company began to talk in support of the slave-trade, and said the negroes were understood to be the offspring of Cain, their blackness being the mark which God set upon him after he murdered Abel, his brother; that it was the design of Providence they should be slaves, as a condition proper to the race of so wicked a man as Cain was. Then another spake in support of what had been said. To all which I replied in substance as follows: that Noah and his family were all who survived the flood, according to Scripture; and as Noah was of Seth’s race, the family of Cain was wholly destroyed. One of them said that after the flood Ham went to the land of Nod and took a wife; that Nod was a land far distant, inhabited by Cain’s race, and that the flood did not reach it; and as Ham was sentenced to be a servant of servants to his brethren, these two families, being thus joined, were undoubtedly fit only for slaves. I replied, the flood was a judgment upon the world for their abominations, and it was granted that Cain’s stock was the most wicked, and therefore unreasonable to suppose that they were spared. As to Ham’s going to the land of Nod for a wife, no time being fixed, Nod might be inhabited by some of Noah’s family before Ham married a second time; moreover the text saith “That all flesh died that moved upon the earth” (GENESIS 7:21). I further reminded them how the prophets repeatedly declare “that the son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, but every one be answerable for his own sins.” I was troubled to perceive the darkness of their imaginations, and in some pressure of spirit said, “The love of ease and gain are the motives in general of keeping slaves, and men are wont to take hold of weak arguments to support a cause which is unreasonable. I have no interest on either side, save only the interest which I desire to have in the truth. I believe liberty is their right, and as I see they are not only deprived of it, but treated in other respects with inhumanity in many places, I believe He who is a refuge for the oppressed will, in His own time, plead their cause, and happy will it be for such as walk in uprightness before Him.” And thus our conversation ended. Fourteenth of Fifth Month. — I was this day at Camp Creek Monthly

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Meeting, and then rode to the mountains up James River, and had a meeting at a Friend’s house, in both which I felt sorrow of heart, and my tears were poured out before the Lord, who was pleased to afford a degree of strength by which way was opened to clear my mind amongst Friends in those places. From thence I went to Ford Creek, and so to Cedar Creek again, at which place I now had a meeting. Here I found a tender seed, and as I was preserved in the ministry to keep low with the truth, the same truth in their hearts answered it, that it was a time of mutual refreshment from the presence of the Lord. I lodged at James Standley’s, father of William Standley, one of the young men who suffered imprisonment at Winchester last summer on account of their testimony against fighting, and I had some satisfactory conversation with him concerning it. Hence I went to the Swamp Meeting, and to Wayanoke Meeting, and then crossed James River, and lodged near Burleigh. From the time of my entering Maryland I have been much under sorrow, which of late so increased upon me that my mind was almost overwhelmed, and I may say with the Psalmist, “In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried to my God,” who, in infinite goodness, looked upon my affliction, and in my private retirement sent the Comforter for my relief, for which I humbly bless His holy name. The sense I had of the state of the churches brought a weight of distress upon me. The gold to me appeared dim, and the fine gold changed, and though this is the case too generally, yet the sense of it in these parts hath in a particular manner borne heavy upon me. It appeared to me that, through the prevailing of the spirit of this world, the minds of many were brought to an inward desolation, and instead of the spirit of meekness, gentleness, and heavenly wisdom, which are the necessary companions of the true sheep of Christ, a spirit of fierceness and the love of dominion too generally prevailed. From small beginnings in error great buildings by degrees are raised, and from one age to another are more and more strengthened by the general concurrence of the people; and as men obtain reputation by their profession of the truth, their virtues are mentioned as arguments in favour of general error; and those of less note, to justify themselves, say, such and such good men did the like. By what other steps could the people of Judah arise to that height in wickedness as to give just ground for the Prophet Isaiah to declare, in the name of the Lord, “that none calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth” (ISAIAH 59:4), or for the Almighty to call upon the great city of Jerusalem just before the Babylonish captivity, “If ye can find a man, if there be any who executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth, and I will pardon it” (JEREMIAH 5:1)? The prospect of a way being open to the same degeneracy, in some parts of this newly settled land of America, in respect to our conduct towards the negroes, hath deeply bowed my mind in this journey, and though briefly to relate how these people are treated is no agreeable work, yet, after often reading over the notes I made as I travelled, I find my mind engaged to preserve them. Many of the white people in those provinces take little or no care of negro marriages; and when negroes marry after their own way, some make so little account of those marriages, that

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with views of outward interest they often part men from their wives by selling them far asunder, which is common when estates are sold by executors at vendue. Many whose labour is heavy being followed at their business in the field by a man with a whip, hired for that purpose, have in common little else allowed but one peck of Indian corn and some salt, for one week, with a few potatoes; the potatoes they commonly raise by their labour on the first day of the week. The correction ensuing on their disobedience to overseers, or slothfulness in business, is often very severe and sometimes desperate. Men and women have many times scarcely clothes sufficient to hide their nakedness, and boys and girls ten and twelve years old are often quite naked amongst their master’s children. Some of our Society, and some of the society called Newlights, use some endeavours to instruct those they have in reading; but in common this is not only neglected, but disapproved. These are the people by whose labour the other inhabitants are in a great measure supported, and many of them in the luxuries of life. These are the people who have made no agreement to serve us, and who have not forfeited their liberty that we know of. These are the souls for whom Christ died, and for our conduct towards them we must answer before Him who is no respecter of persons. They who know the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He hath sent, and are thus acquainted with the merciful, benevolent, gospel spirit, will therein perceive that the indignation of God is kindled against oppression and cruelty, and in beholding the great distress of so numerous a people will find cause for mourning. From my lodgings I went to Burleigh Meeting, where I felt my mind drawn in a quiet, resigned state. After a long silence I felt an engagement to stand up, and through the powerful operation of divine love we were favoured with an edifying meeting. The next meeting we had was at Blackwater, and from thence went to the Yearly Meeting at the Western Branch. When business began, some queries were introduced by some of their members for consideration, and, if approved, they were to be answered hereafter by their respective Monthly Meetings. They were the Pennsylvania queries, which had been examined by a committee of Virginia Yearly Meeting appointed the last year, who made some alterations in them, one of which alterations was made in favour of a custom which troubled me. The query was, “Are there any concerned in the importation of negroes, or in buying them after imported?” which was thus altered, “Are there any concerned in the importation of negroes, or buying them to trade in?” As one query admitted with unanimity was, “Are any concerned in buying or vending goods unlawfully imported, or prize goods?” I found my mind engaged to say that, as we profess the truth, and were there assembled to support the testimony of it, it was necessary for us to dwell deep and act in that wisdom which is pure, or otherwise we could not prosper. I then mentioned their alteration, and, referring to the last- mentioned query, added, that as purchasing any merchandise taken by the sword was always allowed to be inconsistent with our principles, so negroes being captives of war or taken by stealth, it was inconsistent with our testimony to buy them; and

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their being our fellow-creatures, and sold as slaves, added greatly to the iniquity. Friends appeared attentive to what was said; some expressed a care and concern about their negroes; none made any objection by way of reply to what I said, but the query was admitted as they had altered it. As some of their members have heretofore traded in negroes, as in other merchandise, this query being admitted will be one step further than they have hitherto gone, and I did not see it my duty to press for an alteration, but felt easy to leave it all to Him who alone is able to turn the hearts of the mighty, and make way for the spreading of truth on the earth, by means agreeable to his infinite wisdom. In regard to those they already had, I felt my mind engaged to labour with them, and said that, as we believe the Scriptures were given forth by holy men, as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, and many of us know by experience that they are often helpful and comfortable, and believe ourselves bound in duty to teach our children to read them; I believed that if we were divested of all selfish views, the same good Spirit that gave them forth would engage us to teach the negroes to read, that they might have the benefit of them. Some present manifested a concern to take more care in the education of their negroes. Twenty-ninth Fifth Month. — At the house where I lodged was a meeting of ministers and elders. I found an engagement to speak freely and plainly to them concerning their slaves; mentioning how they as the first rank in the society, whose conduct in that case was much noticed by others, were under the stronger obligations to look carefully to themselves — expressing how needful it was for them in that situation to be thoroughly divested of all selfish views; that, living in the pure truth, and acting conscientiously towards those people in their education and otherwise, they might be instrumental in helping forward a work so exceedingly necessary, and so much neglected amongst them. At the twelfth hour the meeting of worship began, which was a solid meeting. The next day, about the tenth hour, Friends met to finish their business, and then the meeting for worship ensued, which to me was a labourious time; but through the goodness of the Lord, truth, I believed, gained some ground, and it was a strengthening opportunity to the honest-hearted. About this time I wrote an epistle to Friends in the back settlements of North Carolina, as follows: — TO FRIENDS AT THEIR MONTHLY MEETING AT NEW GARDEN AND CANE CREEK, IN NORTH CAROLINA: — DEAR FRIENDS, — It having pleased the Lord to draw me forth on a visit to some parts of Virginia and Carolina, you have often been in my mind; and though my way is not clear to come in person to visit you, yet I feel it in my heart to communicate a few things, as they arise in the love of truth. First, my dear friends, dwell in humility; and take heed that no views of outward gain get too deep hold of you, that so, your eyes being single to the Lord, you may be preserved in the way of safety. Where people let loose their minds after the love of outward things, and are more engaged in pursuing “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 403 HDT WHAT? INDEX

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the profits and seeking the friendships of this world, than to be inwardly acquainted with the way of true peace, they walk in a vain shadow, while the true comfort of life is wanting. Their examples are often hurtful to others; and their treasures thus collected do many times prove dangerous snares to their children. But where people are sincerely devoted to follow Christ, and dwell under the influence of His Holy Spirit, their stability and firmness, through a divine blessing, is at times like dew on the tender plants round about them, and the weightiness of their spirits secretly works on the minds of others. In this condition, through the spreading influence of divine love, they feel a care over the flock, and way is opened for maintaining good order in the Society. And though we may meet with opposition from another spirit, yet, as there is a dwelling in meekness, feeling our spirits subject, and moving only in the gentle, peaceable wisdom, the inward reward of quietness will be greater than all our difficulties. Where the pure life is kept to, and meetings of discipline are held in the authority of it, we find by experience that they are comfortable, and tend to the health of the body. While I write, the youth come fresh in my way. Dear young people, choose God for your portion; love His truth, and be not ashamed of it; choose for your company such as serve him in uprightness; and shun as most dangerous the conversation of those whose lives are of an ill savour; for by frequenting such company some hopeful young people have come to great loss, and been drawn from less evils to greater, to their utter ruin. In the bloom of youth no ornament is so lovely as that of virtue, nor any enjoyments equal to those which we partake of in fully resigning ourselves to the divine will. These enjoyments add sweetness to all other comforts, and give true satisfaction in company and conversation, where people are mutually acquainted with it; and as your minds are thus seasoned with the truth, you will find strength to abide steadfast to the testimony of it, and be prepared for services in the church. And now, dear friends and brethren, as you are improving a wilderness, and may be numbered amongst the first planters in one part of a province, I beseech you, in the love of Jesus Christ, wisely to consider the force of your examples, and think how much your successors may be thereby affected. It is a help in a country, yea, and a great favour and blessing, when customs first settled are agreeable to sound wisdom; but when they are otherwise the effect of them is grievous; and children feel themselves encompassed with difficulties prepared for them by their predecessors. As moderate care and exercise, under the direction of true wisdom, are useful both to mind and body, so by these means in general the real wants of life are easily

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supplied, our gracious Father having so proportioned one to the other that keeping in the medium we may pass on quietly. Where slaves are purchased to do our labour, numerous difficulties attend it. To rational creatures bondage is uneasy, and frequently occasions sourness and discontent in them; which affects the family and such as claim the mastery over them. Thus people and their children are many times encompassed with vexations, which arise from their applying to wrong methods to get a living. I have been informed that there is a large number of Friends in your parts who have no slaves; and in tender and most affectionate love I beseech you to keep clear from purchasing any. Look, my dear friends, to divine Providence, and follow in simplicity that exercise of body, that plainness and frugality, which true wisdom leads to; so may you be preserved from those dangers which attend such as are aiming at outward ease and greatness. Treasures, though small, attained on a true principle of virtue, are sweet; and while we walk in the light of the Lord there is true comfort and satisfaction in the possession; neither the murmurs of an oppressed people, nor a throbbing uneasy conscience, nor anxious thoughts about the events of things, hinder the enjoyment of them. When we look towards the end of life, and think on the division of our substance among our successors, if we know that it was collected in the fear of the Lord, in honesty, in equity, and in uprightness of heart before Him, we may consider it as His gift to us, and, with a single eye to His blessing, bestow it on those we leave behind us. Such is the happiness of the plain ways of true virtue. “The work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance forever” (ISAIAH 32:17). Dwell here, my dear friends; and then in remote and solitary deserts you may find true peace and satisfaction. If the Lord be God, in truth and reality, there is safety for us: for He is a stronghold in the day of trouble, and knoweth them that trust in Him. ISLE OF WIGHT COUNTY, in VIRGINIA, 20th of the 5th Month, 1757. From the Yearly Meeting in Virginia I went to Carolina, and on the 1st of Sixth Month was at Wells Monthly Meeting, where the spring of the gospel ministry was opened, and the love of Jesus Christ experienced among us; to His name be the praise. Here my brother joined with some Friends from New Garden who were going homeward; and I went next to Simons Creek Monthly Meeting, where I was silent during the meeting for worship. When business came on, my mind was exercised concerning the poor slaves, but I did not feel my way clear to speak. In this condition I was bowed in spirit before the Lord, and with tears and inward supplication besought Him so to open my understanding that I might know His will concerning me; and at length my mind “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 405 HDT WHAT? INDEX

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was settled in silence. Near the end of their business a member of their meeting expressed a concern that had some time lain upon him, on account of Friends so much neglecting their duty in the education of their slaves, and proposed having meetings sometimes appointed for them on a week-day, to be attended only by some Friends to be named in their Monthly Meetings. Many present appeared to unite with the proposal. One said he had often wondered that they, being our fellow-creatures, and capable of religious understanding, had been so exceedingly neglected; another expressed the like concern, and appeared zealous that in future it might be more closely considered. At length a minute was made, and the further consideration of it referred to their next Monthly Meeting. The Friend who made this proposal hath negroes; he told me that he was at New Garden, about two hundred and fifty miles from home, and came back alone; that in this solitary journey this exercise, in regard to the education of their negroes, was from time to time renewed in his mind. A Friend of some note in Virginia, who hath slaves, told me that he being far from home on a lonesome journey, had many serious thoughts about them: and his mind was so impressed therewith that he believed he saw a time coming when divine Providence would alter the circumstance of these people, respecting their condition as slaves. From hence I went to a meeting at Newbegun Creek, and sat a considerable time in much weakness; then I felt truth open the way to speak a little in much plainness and simplicity, till at length, through the increase of divine love amongst us, we had a seasoning opportunity. This was also the case at the head of Little River, where we had a crowded meeting on a First-day. I went thence to the Old Neck, where I was led into a careful searching out of the secret workings of the mystery of iniquity, which, under a cover of religion, exalts itself against that pure spirit which leads in the way of meekness and self-denial. Pineywoods was the last meeting I was at in Carolina; it was large, and my heart being deeply engaged, I was drawn forth into a fervent labour amongst them. When I was at Newbegun Creek a Friend was there who laboured for his living, having no negroes, and who had been a minister many years. He came to me the next day, and as we rode together he signified that he wanted to talk with me concerning a difficulty he had been under, which he related nearly as follows: — That as moneys had of late years been raised by a tax to carry on the wars, he had a scruple in his mind in regard to paying it, and chose rather to suffer distraint of his goods; but as he was the only person who refused it in those parts, and knew not that any one else was in the like circumstances, he signified that it had been a heavy trial to him, especially as some of his brethren had been uneasy with his conduct in that case. He added that, from a sympathy he felt with me yesterday in meeting, he found freedom thus to open the matter in the way of querying concerning Friends in our parts; I told him the state of Friends amongst us as well as I was able, and also that I had for some time been under the like scruple. I believed him to be one who was concerned to walk uprightly before the Lord, and esteemed it my duty to preserve this note concerning him, Samuel Newby.

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From hence I went back into Virginia, and had a meeting near James Cowpland’s; it was a time of inward suffering, but through the goodness of the Lord I was made content; at another meeting, through the renewings of pure love, we had a very comfortable season. Travelling up and down of late, I have had renewed evidences that to be faithful to the Lord, and content with His will concerning me, is a most necessary and useful lesson for me to be learning; looking less at the effects of my labour than at the pure motion and reality of the concern, as it arises from heavenly love. In the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength; and as the mind, by humble resignation, is united to Him, and we utter words from an inward knowledge that they arise from the heavenly spring, though our way may be difficult, and it may require close attention to keep in it, and though the matter in which we may be led may tend to our own abasement; yet, if we continue in patience and meekness, heavenly peace will be the reward of our labours. I attended Curles Meeting, which, though small, was reviving to the honest-hearted. Afterwards I went to Black Creek and Caroline Meetings, from whence, accompanied by William Standley before mentioned, I rode to Goose Creek, being much through the woods, and about one hundred miles. We lodged the first night at a public-house; the second in the woods; and the next day we reached a Friend’s house at Goose Creek. In the woods we were under some disadvantage, having no fire-works nor bells for our horses, but we stopped a little before night and let them feed on the wild grass, which was plentiful, in the mean time cutting with our knives a store against night. We then secured our horses, and gathering some bushes under an oak we lay down; but the mosquitoes being numerous and the ground damp I slept but little. Thus lying in the wilderness, and looking at the stars, I was led to contemplate on the condition of our first parents when they were sent forth from the garden; how the Almighty, though they had been disobedient, continued to be a Father to them, and showed them what tended to their felicity as intelligent creatures, and was acceptable to Him. To provide things relative to our outward living, in the way of true wisdom, is good, and the gift of improving in things useful is a good gift, and comes from the Father of Lights. Many have had this gift; and from age to age there have been improvements of this kind made in the world. But some, not keeping to the pure gift, have in the creaturely cunning and self-exaltation sought out many inventions. As the first motive to these inventions of men, as distinct from that uprightness in which man was created, was evil, so the effects have been and are evil. It is, therefore, as necessary for us at this day constantly to attend on the heavenly gift, to be qualified to use rightly the good things in this life amidst great improvements, as it was for our first parents when they were without any improvements, without any friend or father but God only. I was at a meeting at Goose Creek, and next at a Monthly Meeting at Fairfax, where, through the gracious dealing of the Almighty with us, His power prevailed over many hearts. From thence I

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went to Monoquacy and Pipe Creek in Maryland; at both places I had cause humbly to adore Him who had supported me through many exercises, and by whose help I was enabled to reach the true witness in the hearts of others. There were some hopeful young people in those parts. I had meetings afterwards at John Everit’s in Monalen, and at Huntingdon, and I was made humbly thankful to the Lord, who opened my heart amongst the people in these new settlements, so that it was a time of encouragement to the honest-minded. At Monalen a Friend gave me some account of a religious society among the Dutch, called Mennonists, and amongst other things related a passage in substance as follows: One of the Mennonists having acquaintance with a man of another society at a considerable distance, and being with his waggon on business near the house of his said acquaintance and night coming on, he had thoughts of putting up with him, but passing by his fields, and observing the distressed appearance of his slaves, he kindled a fire in the woods hard by, and lay there that night. His said acquaintance hearing where he lodged, and afterward meeting the Mennonist, told him of it, adding he should have been heartily welcome at his house, and from their acquaintance in former time wondered at his conduct in that case. The Mennonist replied, “Ever since I lodged by thy field I have wanted an opportunity to speak with thee. I had intended to come to thy house for entertainment, but seeing thy slaves at their work, and observing the manner of their dress, I had no liking to come to partake with thee.” He then admonished him to use them with more humanity, and added, “As I lay by the fire that night, I thought that as I was a man of substance thou wouldst have received me freely; but if I had been as poor as one of thy slaves, and had no power to help myself, I should have received from thy hand no kinder usage than they.” In this journey I was out about two months, and travelled about eleven hundred and fifty miles. I returned home under an humbling sense of the gracious dealings of the Lord with me, in preserving me through many trials and afflictions.

No image of Friend John ever was made

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April: The colonial legislature of Virginia enacted an additional 10% import tax across the board, “for granting an aid to his majesty for the better protection of this colony, and for other purposes therein mentioned.” § 22. “ ... from and after the ninth day of July, one thousand seven hundred and fifty-eight, during the term of seven years, there shall be paid for all slaves imported into this colony, for sale, either by land or water, from any port or place whatsoever, by the buyer or purchaser thereof, after the rate of ten per centum on the amount of each respective purchase, over and above the several duties already laid upon slaves imported, as aforesaid, by any act or acts of Assembly now subsisting in this colony,” etc. Repealed by Act of March, 1761, § 6, as being “found very inconvenient.” Hening, STATUTES, VII. 69, 383. INTERNATIONAL SLAVE TRADE SLAVERY

August 18: In The Pennsylvania Gazette: To be SOLD, A Likely Negro Girl, fourteen Years old, has SLAVERY had the Smallpox, and is fit for Town or Country FRANKLIN Service. Enquire of the Printer.

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1758

Venture Smith and his wife Margaret “Meg” Smith had a son Cuff Smith, who of course also would be the slave of Thomas Stanton.

In Rhode Island harbors during this year, it has been estimated by Alexander Boyd Hawes, some 6 vessels were being fitted out for the international slave trade. If an average cargo of slaves was 109 –as we have estimated on the basis of a number of known cargos– then a total of 636 souls were transported during this year in Rhode Island bottoms alone. Examples from this year include the Rhode Island sloop Dolphin,44 carrying a cargo of 145 slaves, the sloop Dove, carrying a cargo of 110, the brig Prince George, carrying 170, the snow Venus, carrying 150, and the sloop Wydah, carrying 60.

In this year, in Pennsylvania, at Yearly Meeting, Friends were deciding that if “any professing with us should persist to vindicate it, and be concerned in importing, selling or purchasing slaves, the respective Monthly Meetings to which they belong should manifest their disunion with such persons.” W.E. Burghardt Du Bois: One of the first American protests against the slave-trade came from certain German Friends, in 1688, at a Weekly Meeting held in Germantown, Pennsylvania. “These are the reasons,” wrote “Garret henderich, derick up de graeff, Francis daniell Pastorius, and Abraham up Den graef,” “why we are against the traffick of men-body, as followeth: Is there any that would be done or handled at this manner?... Now, tho they are black, we cannot conceive there is more liberty to have them slaves, as it is to have other white ones. There is a saying, that we shall doe to all men like as we will be done ourselves; making no difference of what generation, descent or colour they are. And those who steal or robb men, and those who buy or purchase them, are they not all alike?”45 This little leaven helped slowly to work a revolution in the attitude of 44. Friend Thomas Robinson was part owner of the negrero Dolphin, and Friend Isaac Howland was the vessel’s captain. These men were Quakers in good standing, of Newport. Nobody was looking the other way, it was simply that it hadn’t occurred to any who was white, as yet, that there was anything wrong with the buying and selling of black human beings. For instance, you can’t find anything in the BIBLE about the wickedness of this. 45. From fac-simile copy, published at Germantown in 1880. Cf. Whittier’s poem, “Pennsylvania Hall” (POETICAL WORKS, Riverside ed., III. 62); and Proud, HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA (1797), I. 219. 410 Copyright  Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX

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this great sect toward slavery and the slave-trade. The Yearly Meeting at first postponed the matter, “It having so General a Relation to many other Parts.”46 Eventually, however, in 1696, the Yearly Meeting advised “That Friends be careful not to encourage the bringing in of any more Negroes.”47 This advice was repeated in stronger terms for a quarter-century,48 and by that time Sandiford, Benezet, Lay, and Woolman had begun their crusade. In 1754 the Friends took a step farther and made the purchase of slaves a matter of discipline.49 Four years later the Yearly Meeting expressed itself clearly as “against every branch of this practice,” and declared that if “any professing with us should persist to vindicate it, and be concerned in importing, selling or purchasing slaves, the respective Monthly Meetings to which they belong should manifest their disunion with such persons.”50 Further, manumission was recommended, and in 1776 made compulsory.51 The effect of this attitude of the Friends was early manifested in the legislation of all the colonies where the sect was influential, and particularly in Pennsylvania. One of the first duty acts (1710) laid a restrictive duty of 40s. on slaves, and was eventually disallowed.52 In 1712 William Southeby petitioned the Assembly totally to abolish slavery. This the Assembly naturally refused to attempt; but the same year, in response to another petition “signed by many hands,” they passed an “Act to prevent the Importation of Negroes and Indians,”53 — the first enactment of its kind in America. This act was inspired largely by the general fear of insurrection which succeeded the “Negro-plot” of 1712 in New York. It declared: “Whereas, divers Plots and Insurrections have frequently happened, not only in the Islands but on the Main Land of America, by Negroes, which have been carried on so far that several of the inhabitants have been barbarously Murthered, an Instance whereof we have lately had in our Neighboring Colony of New York,”54 etc. It then proceeded to lay a prohibitive duty of £20 on all slaves imported. These acts were quickly disposed of in England. Three duty acts affecting Negroes, including the prohibitory act, were in 1713 disallowed, and it was directed that “the Depty Govr Council and Assembly of Pensilvania, be & they are hereby Strictly Enjoyned & required not to permit the said Laws ... to be from henceforward put in Execution.”55 The Assembly repealed these laws, but in 1715 passed another laying a duty of £5, which was also eventually disallowed.56 Other acts, the provisions of which are not clear, were passed in 1720 and 46. From fac-simile copy, published at Germantown in 1880. 47. Bettle, NOTICES OF NEGRO SLAVERY, in PENN. HIST. SOC. MEM. (1864), I. 383. 48. Cf. Bettle, NOTICES OF NEGRO SLAVERY, PASSIM. 49. Janney, HISTORY OF THE FRIENDS, III. 315-7. 50. HISTORY OF THE FRIENDS, III. 317. 51. Bettle, in PENN. HIST. SOC. MEM., I. 395. 52. PENN. COL. REC. (1852), II. 530; Bettle, in PENN. HIST. SOC. MEM., I. 415. 53. LAWS OF PENNSYLVANIA, COLLECTED, etc., 1714, page 165; Bettle, in PENN. HIST. SOC. MEM., I. 387. 54. See preamble of the act. 55. The Pennsylvanians did not allow their laws to reach England until long after they were passed: PENN. ARCHIVES, I. 161-2; COL. REC., II. 572-3. These acts were disallowed Feb. 20, 1713. Another duty act was passed in 1712, supplementary to the Act of 1710 (COL. REC., II. 553). The contents are unknown. 56. ACTS AND LAWS OF PENNSYLVANIA, 1715, page 270; Chalmers, OPINIONS, II. 118. Before the disallowance was known, the act had been continued by the Act of 1718: Carey and Bioren, LAWS OF PENNSYLVANIA, 1700-1802, I. 118; PENN. COL. REC., III. 38. “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 411 HDT WHAT? INDEX

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1722,57 and in 1725-1726 the duty on Negroes was raised to the restrictive figure of £10.58 This duty, for some reason not apparent, was lowered to £2 in 1729,59 but restored again in 1761.60 A struggle occurred over this last measure, the Friends petitioning for it, and the Philadelphia merchants against it, declaring that “We, the subscribers, ever desirous to extend the Trade of this Province, have seen, for some time past, the many inconveniencys the Inhabitants have suffer’d for want of Labourers and artificers, ... have for some time encouraged the importation of Negroes;” they prayed therefore at least for a delay in passing the measure.61 The law, nevertheless, after much debate and altercation with the governor, finally passed. These repeated acts nearly stopped the trade, and the manumission or sale of Negroes by the Friends decreased the number of slaves in the province. The rising spirit of independence enabled the colony, in 1773, to restore the prohibitive duty of £20 and make it perpetual.62 After the Revolution unpaid duties on slaves were collected and the slaves registered,63 and in 1780 an “Act for the gradual Abolition of Slavery” was passed.64 As there were probably at no time before the war more than 11,000 slaves in Pennsylvania,65 the task thus accomplished was not so formidable as in many other States. As it was, participation in the slave-trade outside the colony was not prohibited until 1788.66 It seems probable that in the original Swedish settlements along the Delaware slavery was prohibited.67 This measure had, however, little practical effect; for as soon as the Dutch got control the slave-trade was opened, although, as it appears, to no large extent. After the fall of the Dutch Delaware came into English hands. Not until 1775 do we find any legislation on the slave-trade. In that year the colony attempted to prohibit the importation of slaves, but the governor vetoed the bill.68 Finally, in 1776 by the Constitution, and in 1787 by law, importation and exportation were both prohibited.69

57. Carey and Bioren, LAWS, I. 165; PENN. COL. REC., III. 171; Bettle, in PENN. HIST. SOC. MEM., I. 389, note. 58. Carey and Bioren, LAWS, I. 214; Bettle, in PENN. HIST. SOC. MEM., I. 388. Possibly there were two acts this year. 59. LAWS OF PENNSYLVANIA (ed. 1742), page 354, ch. 287. Possibly some change in the currency made this change appear greater than it was. 60. Carey and Bioren, LAWS, I. 371; ACTS OF ASSEMBLY (ed. 1782), page 149; Dallas, LAWS, I. 406, ch. 379. This act was renewed in 1768: Carey and Bioren, LAWS, I. 451; PENN. COL. REC., IX. 472, 637, 641. 61. PENN. COL. REC., VIII. 576. 62. A large petition called for this bill. Much altercation ensued with the governor: Dallas, LAWS, I. 671, ch. 692; PENN. COL. REC., X. 77; Bettle, in PENN. HIST. SOC. MEM., I. 388-9. 63. Dallas, LAWS, I. 782, ch. 810. 64. LAWS, I. 838, ch. 881. 65. There exist but few estimates of the number of slaves in this colony: — In 1721, 2,500-5,000. DOC. REL. COL. HIST. NEW YORK, V. 604. In 1754, 11,000. Bancroft, HIST. OF UNITED STATES (1883), II. 391. In 1760, very few. Reverend Andrew Burnaby, TRAVELS THROUGH THE MIDDLE SETTLEMENTS IN NORTH-AMERICA, IN THE YEARS 1759 AND 1760 ... (2d ed.), page 81. In 1775, 2,000. PENN. ARCHIVES, IV 597. 66. Dallas, LAWS, II. 586. 67. Cf. ARGONAUTICA GUSTAVIANA, pages 21-3; DEL. HIST. SOC. PAPERS, III. 10; HAZARD’S REGISTER, IV. 221, §§ 23, 24; HAZARD’S ANNALS, page 372; Armstrong, RECORD OF UPLAND COURT, pages 29-30, and notes. 68. Force, AMERICAN ARCHIVES, 4th Ser., II. 128-9. 69. AMERICAN ARCHIVES, 5th Ser., I. 1178; LAWS OF DELAWARE, 1797 (Newcastle ed.), page 884, ch. 145 b. 412 Copyright  Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX

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Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends required all members of their society to cease and desist from purchasing slaves, resign from all public offices, and cease all participation in the political affairs of the colony.70

Costumes of Philadelphia Quakers This is what was going on for Friend John Woolman:

70. JOHN WOOLMAN’S JOURNAL, Chapter VI 1758, 1759 Visit to the Quarterly Meetings in Chester County. Joins Daniel Stanton and John Scarborough in a Visit to such as kept Slaves there. Some Observations on the Conduct which those should maintain who speak in Meetings for Discipline. More Visits to such as kept Slaves, and to Friends near Salem. Account of the Yearly Meeting in the Year 1759, and of the increasing Concern in Divers Provinces to labour against Buying and Keeping Slaves. The Yearly Meeting Epistle. Thoughts on the Smallpox spreading, and on Inoculation.

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1757, 1758 Considerations on the Payment of a Tax laid for Carrying on the War against the Indians — Meetings of the Committee of the Yearly Meeting at Philadelphia — Some Notes on Thomas a Kempis and John Huss — The present Circumstances of Friends in Pennsylvania and New Jersey very Different from those of our Predecessors — The Drafting of the Militia in New Jersey to serve in the Army, with some Observations on the State of the Members of our Society at that time — Visit to Friends in Pennsylvania, accompanied by Benjamin Jones — Proceedings at the Monthly, Quarterly, and Yearly Meetings in Philadelphia, respecting those who keep Slaves. A FEW years past, money being made current in our province for carrying on wars, and to be called in again by taxes laid on the inhabitants, my mind was often affected with the thoughts of paying such taxes; and I believe it right for me to preserve a memorandum concerning it. I was told that Friends in England frequently paid taxes, when the money was applied to such purposes. I had conversation with several noted Friends on the subject, who all favoured the payment of such taxes; some of them I preferred before myself, and this made me easier for a time; yet there was in the depth of my mind a scruple which I never could get over; and at certain times I was greatly distressed on that account.

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I believed that there were some upright-hearted men who paid such taxes, yet could not see that their example was a sufficient reason for me to do so, while I believe that the Spirit of truth required of me, as an individual, to suffer patiently the distress of goods, rather than pay actively. To refuse the active payment of a tax which our Society generally paid was exceedingly disagreeable; but to do a thing contrary to my conscience appeared yet more dreadful. When this exercise came upon me, I knew of none under the like difficulty; and in my distress I besought the Lord to enable me to give up all, that so I might follow Him wheresoever He was pleased to lead me. Under this exercise I went to our Yearly Meeting at Philadelphia in the year 1755; at which a committee was appointed of some from each Quarterly Meeting, to correspond with the meeting for sufferers in London; and another to visit our Monthly and Quarterly Meetings. After their appointment, before the last adjournment of the meeting, it was agreed that these two committees should meet together in Friends’ school- house in the city, to consider some things in which the cause of truth was concerned. They accordingly had a weighty conference in the fear of the Lord; at which time I perceived there were many Friends under a scruple like that before mentioned.71 As scrupling to pay a tax on account of the application hath seldom been heard of heretofore, even amongst men of integrity, who have steadily borne their testimony against outward wars in their time, I may therefore note some things which have occurred to my mind, as I have been inwardly exercised on that account. From the steady opposition which faithful Friends in early times made to wrong things then approved, they were hated and persecuted by men living in the spirit of this world, and suffering with firmness, they were made a blessing to the Church, and the work prospered. It equally concerns men in every age to take heed to their own spirits; and in comparing their situation with ours, to me it appears that there was less danger of their being infected with the spirit of this world, in paying such taxes, than is the case with us now. They had little or no share in civil government, and many of them declared that they were, through the power of God, separated from the spirit in which wars were, and being afflicted by the rulers on account of their testimony, there was less likelihood of their uniting in spirit with them in things inconsistent with the purity of truth. We, from the first settlement of this land, have known little or no troubles of that sort. The profession of our predecessors was for a time accounted reproachful, but at length, their uprightness being understood by the rulers, and their innocent sufferings moving them, our way of worship was tolerated, and many of our members in these colonies became active in civil government. Being thus tried with favour and prosperity, this world appeared inviting; our minds have been turned to the improvement of our country, to merchandise and the sciences, amongst which are many things useful, if followed in pure wisdom; but in our present condition I believe it will not be

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denied that a carnal mind is gaining upon us. Some of our members, who are officers in civil government, are, in one case or other, called upon in their respective stations to assist in things relative to the wars; but being in doubt whether to act or to crave to be excused from their office, if they see their brethren united in the payment of a tax to carry on the said wars, may think their case not much different, and so might quench the tender movings of the Holy Spirit in their minds. Thus, by small degrees, we might approach so near to fighting that the distinction would be little else than the name of a peaceable people. It requires great self-denial and resignation of ourselves to God, to attain that state wherein we can freely cease from fighting when wrongfully invaded, if, by our fighting, there were a probability of overcoming the invaders. Whoever rightly attains to it does in some degree feel that spirit in which our Redeemer gave His life for us; and through divine goodness many of our predecessors, and many now living, have learned this blessed lesson; but many others, having their religion chiefly by education, and not being enough acquainted with that cross which crucifies to the world, do manifest a temper distinguishable from that of an entire trust in God. In calmly considering these things, it hath not appeared strange to me that an exercise hath now fallen upon some, which, with respect to the outward means, is different from what was known to many of those who went before us. Some time after the Yearly Meeting, the said committees met at Philadelphia, and, by adjournments, continued sitting several days. The calamities of war were now increasing; the frontier inhabitants of Pennsylvania were frequently surprised, some were slain, and many taken captive by the Indians; and while these committees sat, the corpse of one so slain was brought in a waggon, and taken through the streets of the city in his bloody garments, to alarm the people and rouse them to war. Friends thus met were not all of one mind in relation to the tax, which, to those who scrupled it, made the way more difficult. To refuse an active payment at such a time might be construed into an act of disloyalty, and appeared likely to displease the rulers not only here but in England; still there was a scruple so fixed on the minds of many Friends that nothing moved it. It was a conference the most weighty that ever I was at, and the hearts of many were bowed in reverence before the Most High. Some Friends of the said committees who appeared easy to pay the tax, after several adjournments, withdrew; others of them continued till the last. At length an epistle of tender love and caution to Friends in Pennsylvania was drawn up, and being read several times and corrected, was signed by such as were free to sign it, and afterward sent to the Monthly and Quarterly Meetings. Ninth of Eighth Month, 1757. — Orders came at night to the military officers in our county (Burlington), directing them to draft the militia, and prepare a number of men to go off as soldiers, to the relief of the English at Fort William Henry, in New York government; a few days after which there was a general review of the militia at Mount Holly, and a number of

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men were chosen and sent off under some officers. Shortly after, there came orders to draft three times as many, who were to hold themselves in readiness to march when fresh orders came. On the 17th there was a meeting of the military officers at Mount Holly, who agreed on draft; orders were sent to the men so chosen to meet their respective captains at set times and places, those in our township to meet at Mount Holly, amongst whom were a considerable number of our Society. My mind being affected herewith, I had fresh opportunity to see and consider the advantage of living in the real substance of religion, where practice doth harmonize with principle. Amongst the officers are men of understanding, who have some regard to sincerity where they see it; and when such in the execution of their office have men to deal with whom they believe to be upright-hearted, it is a painful task to put them to trouble on account of scruples of conscience, and they will be likely to avoid it as much as easily may be. But where men profess to be so meek and heavenly-minded, and to have their trust so firmly settled in God that they cannot join in wars, and yet by their spirit and conduct in common life manifest a contrary disposition, their difficulties are great at such a time. When officers who are anxiously endeavouring to get troops to answer the demands of their superiors see men who are insincere pretend scruples of conscience in hopes of being excused from a dangerous employment, it is likely they will be roughly handled. In this time of commotion some of our young men left these parts and tarried abroad till it was over; some came, and proposed to go as soldiers; others appeared to have a real tender scruple in their minds against joining in wars, and were much humbled under the apprehension of a trial so near. I had conversation with several of them to my satisfaction. When the captain came to town, some of the last-mentioned went and told him in substance as follows: — That they could not bear arms for conscience’ sake; nor could they hire any to go in their places, being resigned as to the event. At length the captain acquainted them all that they might return home for the present, but he required them to provide themselves as soldiers, and be in readiness to march when called upon. This was such a time as I had not seen before; and yet I may say, with thankfulness to the Lord, that I believed the trial was intended for our good; and I was favoured with resignation to Him. The French army having taken the fort they were besieging, destroyed it and went away; the company of men who were first drafted, after some days’ march, had orders to return home, and those on the second draft were no more called upon on that occasion. Fourth of Fourth Month, 1758. — Orders came to some officers in Mount Holly to prepare quarters for a short time for about one hundred soldiers. An officer and two other men, all inhabitants of our town, came to my house. The officer told me that he came to desire me to provide lodging and entertainment for two soldiers, and that six shillings a week per man would be allowed as pay for it. The case being new and unexpected, I made no answer suddenly, but sat a time silent, my mind being inward. I was fully convinced that the proceedings in wars are inconsistent with the purity of the Christian religion; and to

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be hired to entertain men, who were then under pay as soldiers, was a difficulty with me. I expected they had legal authority for what they did; and after a short time I said to the officer, If the men are sent here for entertainment, I believe I shall not refuse to admit them into my house, but the nature of the case is such that I expect I cannot keep them on hire. One of the men intimated that he thought I might do it consistently with my religious principles. To which I made no reply, believing silence at that time best for me. Though they spake of two, there came only one, who tarried at my house about two weeks, and behaved himself civilly. When the officer came to pay me, I told him I could not take pay, having admitted him into my house in a passive obedience to authority. I was on horseback when he spake to me, and as I turned from him, he said he was obliged to me; to which I said nothing; but, thinking on the expression, I grew uneasy; and afterwards, being near where he lived, I went and told him on what grounds I refused taking pay for keeping the soldier. I have been informed that Thomas a Kempis lived and died in the profession of the Roman Catholic religion; and, in reading his writings, I have believed him to be a man of a true Christian spirit, as fully so as many who died martyrs because they could not join with some superstitions in that Church. All true Christians are of the same spirit, but their gifts are diverse, Jesus Christ appointing to each one his peculiar office, agreeably to His infinite wisdom. John Huss contended against the errors which had crept into the Church, in opposition to the Council of Constance, which the historian reports to have consisted of some thousand persons. He modestly vindicated the cause which he believed was right; and though his language and conduct towards his judges appear to have been respectful, yet he never could be moved from the principles settled in his mind. To use his own words: “This I most humbly require and desire of you all, even for His sake who is the God of us all, that I be not compelled to the thing which my conscience doth repugn or strive against.” And again, in his answer to the Emperor: “I refuse nothing, most noble Emperor, whatsoever the council shall decree or determine upon me, only this one thing I except, that I do not offend God and my conscience.”72 At length, rather than act contrary to that which he believed the Lord required of him, he chose to suffer death by fire. Thomas a Kempis, without disputing against the articles then generally agreed to, appears to have laboured, by pious example as well as by preaching and writing, to promote virtue and the inward spiritual religion; and I believe they were both sincere-hearted followers of Christ. True charity is an excellent virtue; and sincerely to labour for their good, whose belief in all points doth not agree with ours, is a happy state. Near the beginning of the year 1758, I went one evening, in company with a Friend, to visit a sick person; and before our return we were told of a woman living near, who had for several days been disconsolate, occasioned by a dream, wherein death, and the judgments of the Almighty after death, were represented to her mind in a moving manner. Her sadness on that account being

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worn off, the Friend with whom I was in company went to see her, and had some religious conversation with her and her husband. With this visit they were somewhat affected, and the man, with many tears, expressed his satisfaction. In a short time after, the poor man, being on the river in a storm of wind, was with one more drowned. Eighth Month, 1758. — Having had drawings in my mind to be at the Quarterly Meeting in Chester County, and at some meetings in the county of Philadelphia, I went first to said Quarterly Meeting, which was large. Several weighty matters came under consideration and debate, and the Lord was pleased to qualify some of His servants with strength and firmness to bear the burden of the day. Though I said but little, my mind was deeply exercised, and, under a sense of God’s love, in the anointing and fitting of some young men for his work, I was comforted, and my heart was tendered before Him. From hence I went to the Youth’s Meeting at Darby, where my beloved friend and brother Benjamin Jones met me by appointment before I left home, to join in the visit. We were at Radnor, Merion, Richland, North Wales, Plymouth, and Abington meetings, and had cause to bow in reverence before the Lord, our gracious God, by whose help way was opened for us from day to day. I was out about two weeks, and rode about two hundred miles. The Monthly Meeting of Philadelphia having been under a concern on account of some Friends who this summer (1758) had bought negro slaves, proposed to their Quarterly Meeting to have the minute reconsidered in the Yearly Meeting, which was made last on that subject, and the said Quarterly Meeting appointed a committee to consider it, and to report to their next. This committee having met once and adjourned, and I, going to Philadelphia to meet a committee of the Yearly Meeting, was in town the evening on which the Quarterly Meeting’s committee met the second time, and finding an inclination to sit with them, I with some others was admitted, and Friends had a weighty conference on the subject. Soon after their next Quarterly meeting I heard that the case was coming to our Yearly Meeting. This brought a weighty exercise upon me, and under a sense of my own infirmities, and the great danger I felt of turning aside from perfect purity, my mind was often drawn to retire alone, and put up my prayers to the Lord that He would be graciously pleased to strengthen me; that, setting aside all views of self- interest and the friendship of this world, I might stand fully resigned to His holy will. In this Yearly Meeting several weighty matters were considered, and toward the last that in relation to dealing with persons who purchase slaves. During the several sittings of the said meeting, my mind was frequently covered with inward prayer, and I could say with David, “that tears were my meat day and night.” The case of slave-keeping lay heavy upon me, nor did I find any engagement to speak directly to any other matter before the meeting. Now when this case was opened several faithful Friends spake weightily thereto, with which I was comforted; and feeling a concern to cast in my mite, I said in substance as follows: — “In the difficulties attending us in this life nothing is more precious than the mind of truth inwardly “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 419 HDT WHAT? INDEX

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manifested; and it is my earnest desire that in this weighty matter we may be so truly humbled as to be favoured with a clear understanding of the mind of truth, and follow it; this would be of more advantage to the Society than any medium not in the clearness of divine wisdom. The case is difficult to some who have slaves, but if such set aside all self-interest, and come to be weaned from the desire of getting estates, or even from holding them together, when truth requires the contrary, I believe way will so open that they will know how to steer through those difficulties.” Many Friends appeared to be deeply bowed under the weight of the work, and manifested much firmness in their love to the cause of truth and universal righteousness on the earth. And though none did openly justify the practice of slave-keeping in general, yet some appeared concerned lest the meeting should go into such measures as might give uneasiness to many brethren, alleging that, if Friends patiently continued under the exercise, the Lord in His time might open a way for the deliverance of these people. Finding an engagement to speak, I said, “My mind is often led to consider the purity of the divine Being, and the justice of His judgments; and herein my soul is covered with awfulness. I cannot omit to hint of some cases where people have not been treated with the purity of justice, and the event hath been lamentable. Many slaves on this continent are oppressed, and their cries have reached the ears of the Most High. Such are the purity and certainty of His judgments, that He cannot be partial in our favour. In infinite love and goodness, He hath opened our understanding from one time to another concerning our duty towards this people, and it is not a time for delay. Should we now be sensible of what He requires of us, and through a respect to the private interest of some persons, or through a regard to some friendships which do not stand on an immutable foundation, neglect to do our duty in firmness and constancy, still waiting for some extraordinary means to bring about their deliverance, God may by terrible things in righteousness answer us in this matter.” Many faithful brethren laboured with great firmness, and the love of truth in a good degree prevailed. Several who had negroes expressed their desire that a rule might be made to deal with such Friends as offenders who bought slaves in future. To this it was answered that the root of this evil would never be effectually struck at, until a thorough search was made in the circumstances of such Friends as kept negroes, with respect to the righteousness of their motives in keeping them, that impartial justice might be administered throughout. Several Friends expressed their desire that a visit might be made to such Friends as kept slaves, and many others said that they believed liberty was the negro’s right; to which, at length, no opposition was publicly made. A minute was made more full on that subject than any heretofore; and the names of several Friends entered who were free to join in a visit to such as kept slaves.

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No image of Friend John ever was made

December 7: Joseph or Jofeph Tillinghast or Tillinghaft the son of the deceased Elisha or Elifha Tillinghast or Tillinghaft (we note immediately that at this point in time the English were very much in the process of giving up the long á, written as an y without a cross-stroke) acting to fulfil the oft-expressed desire of his merchant father –that if he should die before his personal servant Primas or Primus or primus Tillinghast, the “Negro Man Slave” should serve no other man– and acting “also in Confideration of the sum of One Hundred and Sixty Six pounds in money of the Colony aforesaid to me in hand already paid by the said Primus Tillinghast,” did “Manumit Set free let go discharge and acquit him the said Primus Tillinghast from all manner of Slavery bondage Duty and Servitude whatsoever.” The record appears in the title transactions of Providence, Rhode Island for February 13, 1760 on page 38 of Volume 17:

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gÉ tÄÄ cxÉÑÄx àÉ ã{ÉÅ à{xáx cÜxáxÇàá á{tÄÄ vÉÅx \ ]ÉáxÑ{ g|ÄÄ|Çz{táà Éy cÜÉä|wxÇvx |Ç à{x VÉâÇàç Éy cÜÉä|wxÇvx |Ç à{x VÉÄÉÇç Éy e{Éwx\áÄtÇw ZxÇàÄxP PÅtÇ fÉÇ TÇw [x|Ü tà _tã àÉ XÄ|y{t g|ÄÄ|Çz{táà Ätàx Éy át|w cÜÉä|wxÇvx ÅxÜv{tÇà Wxvxtáxw tÇw tÄáÉ ÉÇx Éy à{x TwÅ|Ç|áàÜtàÉÜá Éy à{x ZÉÉw Wxuàá e|z{àá qtÇw VÜxw|àá Éy à{x ft|w XÄ|y{t g|ÄÄ|Çz{táà ã{É W|xw \Çàxáàtàx áxÇw ZÜxxà|ÇzA j{xÜxtá cÜ|Åtá vÉÅÅÉÇÄç vtÄÄxw cÜ|Åâá g|ÄÄ|Çz{táà t axzÜÉ `tÇ fÄtäx _tàx à{x ÑÜÉÑxÜàç Éy Åç ft|w Ytà{xÜ XÄ|á{t g|ÄÄ|Çz{táà? uç {|á Y|wxÄ|àç tÇw _ÉÇz VÉÇà|ÇâtÇvx |Ç à{x fxÜä|vx Éy Åç át|w Ytà{xÜ tÇw tÄáÉ uç {|á Wâà|yâÄÄ tÇw ZÉÉw Ux{tä|ÉâÜ àÉ {|Å tÇw tÄÄ {|á YtÅ|Äç áÉ yâÜ [sic] ÑÜÉvâÜxw àÉ {|ÅáxÄy à{x ZÉÉw _|~|Çz _Éäx tÇw xyàxxÅ Éy Åç át|w‰ Ytà{xÜ à{tà {x ÉyàxÇà|Åxá |Ç t ÑâuÄ|v~ ÅtÇÇxÜ |Ç {|á _|yx g|Åx WxvÄtÜxw g{tà {x W|w ÇÉà |ÇàxÇw à{tà {|á át|w ÅtÇ fxÜätÇà ÑÜ|Åâá [sic] f{ÉâÄw xäxÜ fxÜäx tÇç bà{xÜ ÑxÜáÉÇ uxá|wxá {|ÅyxÄy tÇw à{tà |y {x Åç át|w Ytà{xÜ f{ÉâÄw w|x y|Üáà à{xÇ à{x ft|w cÜ|Åâá á{ÉâÄw zÉ YÜxx? ÉÜ Éà{xÜ jÉÜwá \ÅÑÉÜà|Çz à{x átÅx g{|Çz‰ aÉã ^ÇÉã çx à{tà \ à{x át|w ]ÉyxÑ{ g|ÄÄ|Çz{táà Å|Çw|Çz tÇw wxá|Üx|Çz à{tà à{x \ÇàxÇà|ÉÇ Éy Åç át|w Ytà{xÜ |Ç à{|á Ux{tÄy á{ÉâÄw ux àÜâÄç ÉuáxÜäxw ÑÜxÜyÉÜÅxw [sic] TÇw yâÄy|ÄÄxw tÇw tÄáÉ |Ç VÉÇy|wxÜtà|ÉÇ Éy à{x áâÅ Éy bÇx [âÇwÜxw tÇw f|åàç f|å ÑÉâÇwá |Ç ÅÉÇxç Éy à{x VÉÄÉÇç tyÉÜxát|w àÉ Åx |Ç {tÇw tÄÜxtwç Ñt|w uç à{x át|w cÜ|Åâá g|ÄÄ|Çz{táà WÉ tá TwÅ|Ç|áàÜtàÉÜ tá tyÉÜxát|w tÇw yÉÜ Åç áxÄy Åç [x|Üá XåxvâàÉÜá tÇw TwÅ|Ç|yàÜtàÉÜá `tÇâÅ|à fxà yÜxx Äxà zÉ w|áv{tÜzx tÇw tvÖâ|à {|Å à{x át|w cÜ|Åâá g|ÄÄ|Çz{táà yÜÉÅ tÄÄ ÅtÇÇxÜ Éy fÄtäxÜç uÉÇwtzx Wâàç tÇw fxÜä|àâwx ã{tàáÉxäxÜ tÇw à{tà {x à{x ft|w cÜ|Åâá g|ÄÄ|Çz{táà á{tÄÄ ux tÇw exÅt|Ç t YÜxx ÅtÇ tÇw tuyÉÄâàxÄç tvÖâ|ààxw xåÉÇ{xÜtàxw tÇw W|yv{tÜzxw@ Éy tÇw yÜÉÅ tÄÄ tÇw qtÄÄ ÅtÇÇxÜ Éy fÄtäxÜç UÉÇwtzx Wâàç tÇw fxÜä|àâwx ã{tàáÉxäxÜ? yÉÜxäxÜ {xÜxtyàxÜ âÇàÉ Åx à{x át|w ]ÉáxÑ{ g|ÄÄ|Çz{táà Åç [x|Üá XåxvâàÉÜá tÇw TwÅ|Ç| PyàÜtàÉÜá tÇw âÇàÉ xäxÜç Éà{xÜ cxÜáÉÇ ÉÜ ÑxÜyÉÇ ã{tàáÉxäxÜ tÇw tá Åâv{ tá |Ç [Åx in margin]_|xà{ ZÜtÇà|Çz hÇàÉ à{x ft|w cÜ|Åâá g|ÄÄ|Çz{táà à{tà {x á{tÄÄ ux xÇà|àÄxw âÇàÉ tÇw {täx tÇw xÇ}Éç tÄÄ áâv{ cÜ|ä|Äxwzxá \ÅÅâÇ|à|xá YÜxxwÉÅá tÇw‰ TwätÇàtzxá àÉ tÄÄ \ÇàxÇàá tÇw ÑâÜÑÉyxá |Ç à{x átÅx ÅtÇÇxÜ tá |y {x {tw uxxÇ uÉÜÇ YÜxxA \Ç j|àÇxyá ã{xÜxÉy \ {täx {xÜxâÇàÉ fxà Åç {tÇw tÇw fxtÄ à{|á fxäxÇà{ Wtç Éy WxvxÅuxÜ |Ç à{x g{|Üàç fxvÉÇw lxtÜ Éy à{x ex|zÇ Éy [his] [the]{|á `t}xáàç ZxÉÜzx à{x fxvÉÇw uç à{x ZÜtvx Éy ZÉw ^|Çz Éy ZÜxtà UÜ|àt|Ç TÇw áÉ yÉÜà{ tÇw |Ç à{x çxtÜ Éy ÉâÜ _ÉÜw bÇx g{ÉâytÇw fxäxÇ [âÇwÜxw tÇw Y|yàç x|z{àA f|zÇxw fxtÄxw tÇw WxÄ|äxÜxw |Ç ÑÜxyxÇvx Éy ]ÉyxÑ{ g|ÄÄ|Çz{tyà((L.S.)) ftÅ V{tvx g{x tuÉäx f|zÇxÜ tv~ÇÉãÄxwzxw à{x tuÉäx AAAA TÜv{|utÄw lÉâÇz } \ÇáàÜâÅxÇà tà à{x g|Åx Éy f|zÇ|Çz àÉ ux {|á ÉãÇ iÉÄâÇàtÜç tvà tÇw Wxxw ‰‰‰‰ UxyÉÜx Åx ftÅM V{tvx ]âá cxtvx? exvÉÜwxw çx DFAà{ Wtç Éy YxuÜâtÜç DJIC yá ]tÅxá TÇzxÄÄ VÄxÜ~x‰

MANUMISSION SLAVERY

422 Copyright  Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX

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Providence, Rhode Island Records of Title Transfer Involving Non-White Persons Date Vol Page Party #1 Type Party #2

December 7, 1758 17 38 Joseph Tillinghast Man. Primus Tillinghast

August 7, 1762 14 512 Greenwich Navy Man. Nimbo (Wench) [Membo, Mimbo]

January 11, 1770 19 181 Benjamin Cushing Man. Caesar [Cefar]

October 14, 1774 19 262 Joseph Crawford Man. Five Negroes

October 14, 1774 19 263 Joseph Crawford Ind. Anthony

October 14, 1774 19 265 Joseph Crawford and wife et al Ind. Manuel

October 14, 1774 19 265 Joseph Crawford Ind. Patience

October 14, 1774 19 266 Joseph Crawford Ind. Primus

October 14, 1774 19 266 Joseph Crawford Ind. Peggy

December 15, 1774 19 315 Caleb Greene Man. Peter and Venter

October 16, 1775 19 310 Executor Benoni Pearce of will of Man. Pero James Brown

January 1, 1776 19 277 Nicholas Cook Man. Mingo

October 18, 1776 19 317 Gideon Manchester Man. Colette

January 7, 1777 19 309 Executor of will of Jeremiah Brown Man. Anthony (Negro)

December 12, 1777 19 339 Samuel Butler Man. Quaco

March 14, 1778 19 329 Benjamin Cushing Man. Prime

May 28, 1778 19 315 Joshua Hacker Man. Andrew Hacker

December 2, 1779 19 333 Juba Man. From two Privateers

March 31, 1781 19 340 Nicholas Power, et al Sale Caesar Power

April 2, 1781 19 345 Joseph Bucklin sold London to Sale London Bucklin Elkana & Moses Wilmarth, for him to perform their military obligation

April 16, 1781 19 340 Nicholas Power Man. Prince Power

May 16, 1781 19 341 Efek Hopkins sold Peggy to Flora Sale Peggy Hopkins Wanton, her own mother, for $100.00

May 29, 1781 19 342 Mary Crouch Man. Peter Crouch

January 24, 1782 22 43 Mary Chickley [Cheekly, Cheekley] Man. Cato

September 18, 1782 19 378 Ezekiel Durfee [Durfey] Sale Arthur Tickey [Tikey]

November 7, 1783 19 542 Richard Mumford Man. Cato Mumford

April 15, 1784 19 449 Amaziah Waterman Man. His Negroes

May 25, 1784 19 447 Joseph McClellan Man. Plato McClellan

“Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 423 HDT WHAT? INDEX

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Providence, Rhode Island Records of Title Transfer Involving Non-White Persons Date Vol Page Party #1 Type Party #2

October 13, 1784 22 43 Mary Stiles Man. Caesar [Cato]

December 18, 1784 19 492 Jabez Bowen Man. Prince Bowen

April 20, 1785 19 516 William Morris Man. Catherine

March 13, 1786 22 109 Jonathan Arnold Man. Lilly (Wench)

May 11, 1786 22 35-36 Ruth Hopkins Man. Tony Hopkins

May 26, 1786 22 48 Benjamin Cushing Man. Prime Cushing

July 14, 1790 22 290 John I. Clark, et al Man. Quam

February 15, 1792 25 144 Isaiah Burr Sale Baccheus Overing

May 3, 1799 27 4 Five heirs of Joseph Brown Man. Power of Attorney for Obadiah Brown to free Phillis Brown

May 6, 1799 27 5 the five heirs of Joseph Brown Man. Phillis Brown

August 22, 1808 30 432 Jabez Bowen Jr. and N. Brown Man. Robert, (Negro boy)

July 22, 1820 42 604 Mary T. Olney Man. Lewis Olney

May 4, 1829 57 148 Jacob Wood Man. Hetty [Smith]

April 28, 1832 63 183 Mann Page Lomax Man. William Howard

April 28, 1832 70A 331 Mann Page Lomax Man. Daniel Rollins

April 28, 1832 70A 332 Mann Page Lomax Man. Maria Rollins

April 28, 1832 63 274 Mann Page Lomax Man. Kitty Howard

April 28, 1832 63 274 Mann Page Lomax Man. Martha Howard

December 2, 1837 70A 436 George Collins Man. Jesse Kimball

1759

Thomas Stanton sold Venture Smith to Hempsted Milner for £56, with the stipulation that Venture would be given an opportunity to “redeem himself” by coming up with sufficient cash to obtain a manumission document. This sale, although entered into, would never, actually, be completed, appearing to have been more of a commodity speculation, so that Venture would continue to be the property of Thomas Stanton. Stanton proceeded to offer Venture to William Hooker of Hartford, Connecticut, for use on “the German Flats,” but again there would be no sale. Stanton would then pawn Venture to Daniel Edwards of Hartford for £10. SLAVERY

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In Rhode Island harbors during this year, it has been estimated by Alexander Boyd Hawes, some 7 vessels were being fitted out for the international slave trade. If an average cargo of slaves was 109 –as we have estimated on the basis of a number of known cargos– then a total of 763 souls were transported during this year in Rhode Island bottoms alone. Examples from this year include the Rhode Island sloop Abigail, carrying a cargo of 40 slaves, the brig Charming Betty, carrying a cargo of 117, the sloop Dolphin,73 carrying 145, the snow Industry, carrying 150, the brig Marygold, carrying 135, the sloop Three Friends, carrying 78, and the snow Two Brothers, carrying 150.

73. Thomas Robinson was part owner of the negrero Dolphin. He was a Quaker in good standing, of Newport. (How could he have been in good standing? –Well, he was.) “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 425 HDT WHAT? INDEX

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This is what was going on for the Quaker opponent of slavery, Friend John Woolman:

1758, 1759 Visit to the Quarterly Meetings in Chester County — Joins Daniel Stanton and John Scarborough in a Visit to such as kept Slaves there — Some Observations on the Conduct which those should maintain who speak in Meetings for Discipline — More Visits to such as kept Slaves, and to Friends near Salem — Account of the Yearly Meeting in the Year 1759, and of the increasing Concern in Divers Provinces to Labour against Buying and Keeping Slaves — The Yearly Meeting Epistle — Thoughts on the Small-pox spreading, and on Inoculation. ELEVENTH of Eleventh Month, 1758. — This day I set out for Concord; the Quarterly Meeting heretofore held there was now, by reason of a great increase of members, divided into two by the agreement of Friends at our last Yearly Meeting. Here I met with our beloved friends Samuel Spavold and Mary Kirby from England, and with Joseph White from Bucks County; the latter had taken leave of his family in order to go on a religious visit to Friends in England, and, through divine goodness, we were favoured with a strengthening opportunity together. After this meeting I joined with my friends, Daniel Stanton and John Scarborough, in visiting Friends who had slaves. At night we had a family meeting at William Trimble’s, many young people being there; and it was a precious, reviving opportunity. Next

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morning we had a comfortable sitting with a sick neighbour, and thence to the burial of the corpse of a Friend at Uwchland Meeting, at which were many people, and it was a time of divine favour, after which we visited some who had slaves. In the evening we had a family meeting at a Friend’s house, where the channel of the gospel love was opened, and my mind was comforted after a hard day’s labour. The next day we were at Goshen Monthly Meeting, and on the 18th attended the Quarterly Meeting at London Grove, it being first held at that place. Here we met again with all the before-mentioned Friends, and had some edifying meetings. Near the conclusion of the meeting for business, Friends were incited to constancy in supporting the testimony of truth, and reminded of the necessity which the disciples of Christ are under to attend principally to His business as He is pleased to open it to us, and to be particularly careful to have our minds redeemed from the love of wealth, and our outward affairs in as little room as may be, that no temporal concerns may entangle our affections, or hinder us from diligently following the dictates of truth in labouring to promote the pure spirit of meekness and heavenly-mindedness amongst the children of men in these days of calamity and distress, wherein God is visiting our land with His just judgments. Each of these Quarterly Meetings was large and sat near eight hours. I had occasion to consider that it is a weighty thing to speak much in large meetings for business, for except our minds are rightly prepared, and we clearly understand the case we speak to, instead of forwarding we hinder business, and make more labour for those on whom the burden of the work is laid. If selfish views or a partial spirit have any room in our minds, we are unfit for the Lord’s work; if we have a clear prospect of the business, and proper weight on our minds to speak, we should avoid useless apologies and repetitions. Where people are gathered from far, and adjourning a meeting of business is attended with great difficulty, it behoves all to be cautious how they detain a meeting, especially when they have sat six or seven hours, and have a great distance to ride home. After this meeting I rode home. In the beginning of the twelfth month I joined in company with my friends John Sykes and Daniel Stanton, in visiting such as had slaves. Some whose hearts were rightly exercised about them appeared to be glad of our visit, but in some places our way was more difficult. I often saw the necessity of keeping down to that root from whence our concern proceeded, and have cause in reverent thankfulness humbly to bow down before the Lord, who was near to me, and preserved my mind in calmness under some sharp conflicts, and begat a spirit of sympathy and tenderness in me towards some who were grievously entangled by the spirit of this world. First Month, 1759. — Having found my mind drawn to visit some of the more active members in our Society at Philadelphia, who had slaves, I met my friend John Churchman there by agreement, and we continued about a week in the city. We visited some that were sick, and some widows and their families, and the other part of our time was mostly employed in visiting such as had

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slaves. It was a time of deep exercise, but, looking often to the Lord for His assistance, He in unspeakable kindness favoured us with the influence of that Spirit which crucifies to the greatness and splendour of this world, and enabled us to go through some heavy labours, in which we found peace. Twenty-fourth of Third Month, 1759. — After attending our general Spring Meeting at Philadelphia I again joined with John Churchman on a visit to some who had slaves in Philadelphia, and with thankfulness to our Heavenly Father I may say that divine love and a true sympathizing tenderness of heart prevailed at times in this service. Having at times perceived a shyness in some Friends of considerable note towards me, I found an engagement in gospel love to pay a visit to one of them; and as I dwelt under the exercise, I felt a resignedness in my mind to go and tell him privately that I had a desire to have an opportunity with him alone; to this proposal he readily agreed, and then, in the fear of the Lord, things relating to that shyness were searched to the bottom, and we had a large conference, which, I believe was of use to both of us, and I am thankful that way was opened for it. Fourteenth of Sixth Month. — Having felt drawings in my mind to visit Friends about Salem, and having the approbation of our Monthly Meeting, I attended their Quarterly Meeting, and was out seven days, and attended seven meetings; in some of them I was chiefly silent; in others, through the baptizing power of truth, my heart was enlarged in heavenly love, and I found a near fellowship with the brethren and sisters, in the manifold trials attending their Christian progress through this world. Seventh Month. — I have found an increasing concern on my mind to visit some active members in our Society who have slaves, and having no opportunity of the company of such as were named in the minutes of the Yearly Meeting, I went alone to their houses, and, in the fear of the Lord, acquainted them with the exercise I was under; and thus, sometimes by a few words, I found myself discharged from a heavy burden. After this, our friend John Churchman coming into our province with a view to be at some meetings, and to join again in the visit to those who had slaves, I bore him company in the said visit to some active members, and found inward satisfaction. At our Yearly Meeting this year, we had some weighty seasons, in which the power of truth was largely extended, to the strengthening of the honest-minded. As the epistles which were to be sent to the Yearly Meetings on this continent were read, I observed that in most of them, both this year and the last, it was recommended to Friends to labour against buying and keeping slaves, and in some of them the subject was closely treated upon. As this practice hath long been a heavy exercise to me, and I have often waded through mortifying labours on that account, and at times in some meetings have been almost alone therein, I was humbly bowed in thankfulness in observing the increasing concern in our religious society, and seeing how the Lord was raising up and qualifying servants for His work, not only in this respect, but for promoting the cause of truth in general.

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This meeting continued near a week. For several days, in the fore part of it, my mind was drawn into a deep inward stillness, and being at times covered with the spirit of supplication, my heart was secretly poured out before the Lord. Near the conclusion of the meeting for business, way opened in the pure flowings of divine love for me to express what lay upon me, which, as it then arose in my mind, was first to show how deep answers to deep in the hearts of the sincere and upright; though, in their different growths, they may not all have attained to the same clearness in some points relating to our testimony. And I was then led to mention the integrity and constancy of many martyrs who gave their lives for the testimony of Jesus, and yet, in some points they held doctrines distinguishable from some which we hold, that, in all ages, where people were faithful to the light and understanding which the Most High afforded them, they found acceptance with Him, and though there may be different ways of thinking amongst us in some particulars, yet, if we mutually keep to that spirit and power which crucifies to the world, which teaches us to be content with things really needful, and to avoid all superfluities, and give up our hearts to fear and serve the Lord, true unity may still be preserved amongst us; that, if those who were at times under sufferings on account of some scruples of conscience kept low and humble, and in their conduct in life manifested a spirit of true charity, it would be more likely to reach the witness in others, and be of more service in the Church, than if their sufferings were attended with a contrary spirit and conduct. In this exercise I was drawn into a sympathizing tenderness with the sheep of Christ, however distinguished one from another in this world, and the like disposition appeared to spread over others in the meeting. Great is the goodness of the Lord towards His poor creatures. An epistle went forth from this Yearly Meeting which I think good to give a place in this Journal. It is as follows: — From the Yearly Meeting, held at Philadelphia, for Pennsylvania and New Jersey, from the 22nd day of the Ninth Month to the 28th of the same, inclusive, 1759. TO THE QUARTERLY AND MONTHLY MEETINGS OF FRIENDS BELONGING TO THE SAID YEARLY MEETING: — DEARLY BELOVED FRIENDS AND BRETHREN, — In an awful sense of the wisdom and goodness of the Lord our God, whose tender mercies have been continued to us in this land, we affectionately salute you, with sincere and fervent desires that we may reverently regard the dispensations of His providence, and improve under them. The empires and kingdoms of the earth are subject to His almighty power. He is the God of the spirits of all flesh, and deals with His people agreeably to that wisdom, the depth whereof is to us unsearchable. We in these provinces may say, He hath, as a gracious and tender parent, dealt bountifully with us, even from the days of our fathers. It was He who strengthened them to labour through the difficulties attending the improvement of a wilderness, and made way for them in

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the hearts of the natives, so that by them they were comforted in times of want and distress. It was by the gracious influences of His Holy Spirit that they were disposed to work righteousness, and walk uprightly towards each other and towards the natives; in life and conversation to manifest the excellency of the principles and doctrines of the Christian religion, whereby they retain their esteem and friendship. Whilst they were labouring for the necessaries of life, many of them were fervently engaged to promote pity and virtue in the earth, and to educate their children in the fear of the Lord. If we carefully consider the peaceable measures pursued in the first settlement of land, and that freedom from the desolations of wars which for a long time we enjoyed, we shall find ourselves under strong obligations to the Almighty, who, when the earth is so generally polluted with wickedness, gives us a being in a part so signally favoured with tranquillity and plenty, and in which the glad tidings of the gospel of Christ are so freely published, that we may justly say with the Psalmist, “What shall we render unto the Lord for all His benefits?” Our own real good and the good of our posterity in some measure depends on the part we act, and it nearly concerns us to try our foundations impartially. Such are the different rewards of the just and unjust in a future state, that to attend diligently to the dictates of the spirit of Christ, to devote ourselves to His service, and to engage fervently in His cause, during our short stay in this world, is a choice well becoming a free, intelligent creature. We shall thus clearly see and consider that the dealings of God with mankind, in a national capacity, as recorded in Holy Writ, do sufficiently evidence the truth of that saying, “It is righteousness which exalteth a nation”; and though He doth not at all times suddenly execute His judgments on a sinful people in this life, yet we see in many instances that when “men follow lying vanities they forsake their own mercies”; and as a proud, selfish spirit prevails and spreads among a people, so partial judgment, oppression, discord, envy, and confusions increase, and provinces and kingdoms are made to drink the cup of adversity as a reward of their own doing. Thus the inspired prophet, reasoning with the degenerated Jews, saith, “Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backsliding shall reprove thee; know, therefore, that it is an evil thing and bitter that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, and that My fear is not in thee, saith the Lord God of Hosts” (JEREMIAH 2:19). The God of our fathers, who hath bestowed on us many benefits, furnished a table for us in the wilderness, and made the deserts and solitary places to rejoice. He doth now mercifully call upon us to serve Him more

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faithfully. We may truly say with the Prophet, “It is His voice which crieth to the city, and men of wisdom see His name. They regard the rod, and Him who hath appointed it.” People who look chiefly at things outward, too little consider the original cause of the present troubles; but they who fear the Lord and think often upon His name, see and feel that a wrong spirit is spreading amongst the inhabitants of our country; that the hearts of many are waxed fat, and their ears dull of hearing; that the Most High, in His visitations to us, instead of calling, lifteth up His voice and crieth: He crieth to our country, and His voice waxeth louder and louder. In former wars between the English and other nations, since the settlement of our provinces, the calamities attending them have fallen chiefly on other places, but now of late they have reached to our borders; many of our fellow-subjects have suffered on and near our frontiers, some have been slain in battle, some killed in their houses, and some in their fields, some wounded and left in great misery, and others separated from their wives and little children, who have been carried captives among the Indians. We have seen men and women who have been witnesses of these scenes of sorrow, and, being reduced to want, have come to our houses asking relief. It is not long since many young men in one of these provinces were drafted, in order to be taken as soldiers; some were at that time in great distress, and had occasion to consider that their lives had been too little conformable to the purity and spirituality of that religion which we profess, and found themselves too little acquainted with that inward humility, in which true fortitude to endure hardness for the truth’s sake is experienced. Many parents were concerned for their children, and in that time of trial were led to consider that their care to get outward treasure for them had been greater than their care for their settlement in that religion which crucifieth to the world, and enableth to bear testimony to the peaceable government of the Messiah. These troubles are removed, and for a time we are released from them. Let us not forget that “The Most High hath His way in the deep, in clouds, and in thick darkness”; that it is His voice which crieth to the city and to the country, and oh that these loud and awakening cries may have a proper effect upon us, that heavier chastisement may not become necessary! For though things, as to the outward, may for a short time afford a pleasing prospect, yet, while a selfish spirit, that is not subject to the cross of Christ, continueth to spread and prevail, there can be no long continuance in outward peace and tranquillity. If we desire an inheritance incorruptible, and to be at rest in that state of peace and happiness which ever continues; if we desire in this life to dwell under the favour and protection of that

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Almighty Being whose habitation is in holiness, whose ways are all equal, and whose anger is now kindled because of our backslidings, — let us then awfully regard these beginnings of His sore judgments, and with abasement and humiliation turn to Him whom we have offended. Contending with one equal in strength is an uneasy exercise; but if the Lord is become our enemy, if we persist in contending with Him who is omnipotent, our overthrow will be unavoidable. Do we feel an affectionate regard to posterity? and are we employed to promote their happiness? Do our minds, in things outward, look beyond our own dissolution? and are we contriving for the prosperity of our children after us? Let us then, like wise builders, lay the foundation deep, and by our constant uniform regard to an inward piety and virtue let them see that we really value it. Let us labour in the fear of the Lord that their innocent minds, while young and tender, may be preserved from corruptions; that as they advance in age they may rightly understand their true interest, may consider the uncertainty of temporal things, and, above all, have their hope and confidence firmly settled in the blessing of that Almighty Being who inhabits eternity and preserves and supports the world. In all our cares about worldly treasures, let us steadily bear in mind that riches possessed by children who do not truly serve God, are likely to prove snares that may more grievously entangle them in that spirit of selfishness and exaltation which stands in opposition to real peace and happiness, and renders those who submit to the influence of it enemies to the cause of Christ. To keep a watchful eye towards real objects of charity, to visit the poor in their lonesome dwelling-places, to comfort those who, through the dispensations of divine Providence, are in strait and painful circumstances in this life, and steadily to endeavour to honour God with our substance, from a real sense of the love of Christ influencing our minds, is more likely to bring a blessing to our children, and will afford more satisfaction to a Christian favoured with plenty, than an earnest desire to collect much wealth to leave behind us; for, “here we have no continuing city”; may we therefore diligently “seek one that is to come, whose builder and maker is God.” “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things, and do them, and the God of peace shall be with you.” (Signed by appointment, and on behalf of said meeting.) Twenty-eighth of Eleventh Month. — This day I attended the Quarterly Meeting in Bucks County. In the meeting of ministers 432 Copyright  Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX

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and elders my heart was enlarged in the love of Jesus Christ, and the favour of the Most High was extended to us in that and the ensuing meeting. I had conversation at my lodging with my beloved friend Samuel Eastburn, who expressed a concern to join in a visit to some Friends in that county who had negroes, and as I had felt a drawing in my mind to the said work, I came home and put things in order. On the 11th of Twelfth Month I went over the river, and on the next day was at Buckingham Meeting, where, through the descendings of heavenly dew, my mind was comforted and drawn into a near unity with the flock of Jesus Christ. Entering upon this business appeared weighty, and before I left home my mind was often sad, under which exercise I felt at times the Holy Spirit which helps our infirmities, and through which my prayers were at times put up to God in private that He would be pleased to purge me from all selfishness, that I might be strengthened to discharge my duty faithfully, how hard soever to the natural part. We proceeded on the visit in a weighty frame of spirit, and went to the houses of the most active members who had negroes throughout the county. Through the goodness of the Lord my mind was preserved in resignation in times of trial, and though the work was hard to nature, yet, through the strength of that love which is stronger than death, tenderness of heart was often felt amongst us in our visits, and we parted from several families with greater satisfaction than we expected. We visited Joseph White’s family, he being in England; we had also a family sitting at the house of an elder who bore us company, and were at Makefield on a First-day: at all which times my heart was truly thankful to the Lord who was graciously pleased to renew His loving-kindness to us, His poor servants, uniting us together in His work. In the winter of this year, the smallpox being in our town, and many being inoculated, of whom a few died, some things were opened in my mind, which I wrote as follows: — The more fully our lives are conformable to the will of God, the better it is for us; I have looked on the smallpox as a messenger from the Almighty, to be an assistant in the cause of virtue, and to incite us to consider whether we employ our time only in such things as are consistent with perfect wisdom and goodness. Building houses suitable to dwell in, for ourselves and our creatures; preparing clothing suitable for the climate and season, and food convenient, are all duties incumbent on us. And under these general heads are many branches of business in which we may venture health and life, as necessity may require. This disease being in a house, and my business calling me to go near it, incites me to consider whether this is a real indispensable duty; whether it is not in conformity to some custom which would be better laid aside, or whether it does not proceed from too eager a pursuit after some outward treasure. If the business before me springs not from a clear understanding and a regard to that use of things which perfect wisdom approves, to be brought to a sense of it and stopped in my pursuit is a kindness, for when I proceed to business without some evidence of duty, I have found by experience that it tends to weakness. If I am so situated that there appears no probability of missing

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the infection, it tends to make me think whether my manner of life in things outward has nothing in it which may unfit my body to receive this messenger in a way the most favourable to me. Do I use food and drink in no other sort and in no other degree than was designed by Him who gave these creatures for our sustenance? Do I never abuse my body by inordinate labour, striving to accomplish some end which I have unwisely proposed? Do I use action enough in some useful employ, or do I sit too much idle while some persons who labour to support me have too great a share of it? If in any of these things I am deficient, to be incited to consider it is a favour to me. Employment is necessary in social life, and this infection, which often proves mortal, incites me to think whether these social acts of mine are real duties. If I go on a visit to the widows and fatherless, do I go purely on a principle of charity, free from any selfish views? If I go to a religious meeting it puts me on thinking whether I go in sincerity and in a clear sense of duty, or whether it is not partly in conformity to custom, or partly from a sensible delight which my animal spirits feel in the company of other people, and whether to support my reputation as a religious man has no share in it. Do affairs relating to civil society call me near this infection? If I go, it is at the hazard of my health and life, and it becomes me to think seriously whether love to truth and righteousness is the motive of my attending; whether the manner of proceeding is altogether equitable, or whether aught of narrowness, party interest, respect to outward dignities, names, or distinctions among men, do not stain the beauty of those assemblies, and render it doubtful; in point of duty, whether a disciple of Christ ought to attend as a member united to the body or not. Whenever there are blemishes which for a series of time remain such, that which is a means of stirring us up to look attentively on these blemishes, and to labour according to our capacities to have health and soundness restored in our country, we may justly account a kindness from our gracious Father, who appointed that means. The care of a wise and good man for his only son is inferior to the regard of the great Parent of the universe for His creatures. He hath the command of all the powers and operations in nature, and “doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.” Chastisement is intended for instruction, and instruction being received by gentle chastisement, greater calamities are prevented. By an earthquake hundreds of houses are sometimes shaken down in a few minutes, multitudes of people perish suddenly, and many more, being crushed and bruised in the ruins of the buildings, pine away and die in great misery. By the breaking in of enraged merciless armies, flourishing countries have been laid waste, great numbers of people have perished in a short time, and many more have been pressed with poverty and grief. By the pestilence, people have died so fast in a city, that, through fear, grief, and confusion, those in health have found great difficulty in burying the dead, even without coffins. By famine, great numbers of people in some places have been brought to the utmost distress, and have pined away from want of the necessaries of life. Thus, when the kind

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invitations and gentle chastisements of a gracious God have not been attended to, his sore judgments have at times been poured out upon people. While some rules approved in civil society and conformable to human policy, so called, are distinguishable from the purity of truth and righteousness, — while many professing the truth are declining from that ardent love and heavenly-mindedness which was amongst the primitive followers of Jesus Christ, it is time for us to attend diligently to the intent of every chastisement, and to consider the most deep and inward design of them. The Most High doth not often speak with an outward voice to our outward ears, but, if we humbly meditate on His perfections, consider that He is perfect wisdom and goodness, and that to afflict His creatures to no purpose would be utterly averse to His nature, we shall hear and understand His language both in His gentle and more heavy chastisements, and shall take heed that we do not, in the wisdom of this world, endeavour to escape His hand by means too powerful for us. Had he endowed men with understanding to prevent this disease (the smallpox) by means which had never proved hurtful nor mortal, such a discovery might be considered as the period of chastisement by this distemper, where that knowledge extended.74 But as life and health are His gifts, and are not to be disposed of in our own wills, to take upon us by inoculation when in health a disorder of which some die, requires great clearness of knowledge that it is our duty to do so.

No image of Friend John ever was made

74. Whatever may be thought of these scruples of John Woolman in regard to inoculation, his objections can scarcely be considered valid against vaccination, which, since his time, has so greatly mitigated the disease. He almost seems to have anticipated some such preventive. “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 435 HDT WHAT? INDEX

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March 9: In Concord, Elizabeth Wooley, a single woman and therefore entitled to enter into financial dealings on her own behalf, sold a piece of wooded land to John Jones, Jr. and gave him a receipt for his 24 shillings.

Blaise le savetier, an opéra comique by François André Danican-Philidor to words of Sedaine after Lafontaine, was performed for the initial time, at the Théâtre de la Foire St.Laurent in Paris. The work, his first complete opera, was an immediate success.

Gerusalemme sconoscente ingrata, a cantata by Giovanni Battista Sammartini, was performed for the initial time, in San Fedele, Milan.

August: There was yet another servile insurrection being plotted in Charleston, South Carolina. W.E. Burghardt Du Bois: We find in the planting colonies all degrees of advocacy of the trade, from the passiveness of Maryland to the clamor of Georgia. Opposition to the trade did not appear in Georgia, was based almost solely on political fear of insurrection in Carolina, and sprang largely from the same motive in Virginia, mingled with some moral repugnance. As a whole, it may be said that whatever opposition to the slave- trade there was in the planting colonies was based principally on the political fear of insurrection.

November: The colonial legislature of Virginia ordained a 20% duty to be paid by persons bringing slaves into this colony from Maryland, North-Carolina, and the West-Indies, or any other place in America, for their own use. “ ... from and after the passing of this act, there shall be paid ... for all slaves imported or brought into this colony and dominion from Maryland, North-Carolina, or any other place in America, by the owner or importer thereof, after the rate of twenty per centum on the amount of each respective purchase,” etc. This act to continue until April 20, 1767; continued in 1766 and 1769, until 1773; altered by Act of 1772, q.v. Hening, STATUTES, VII. 338; VIII. 191, 336. INTERNATIONAL SLAVE TRADE

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1760

At the age of 31, Venture Smith found himself sold to Colonel Oliver Smith for £56. This is where he picked up the name “Smith.” He was to hire himself out to labor, and deliver about a quarter of his wages to his new owner in return for this privilege. His new owner also would offer him an opportunity to redeem himself by an additional £85 series of installment payments, with the “note” being held for the time being by one of Venture’s free black friends. SLAVERY

The colony of South Carolina attempted to rid itself of slavery, only to be blocked by Great Britain (Burge, COMMENTARIES, I. 737, note; W.B. Stevens, HISTORY OF GEORGIA, I. 286). SLAVERY INTERNATIONAL SLAVE TRADE W.E. Burghardt Du Bois: South Carolina had the largest and most widely developed slave-trade of any of the continental colonies. This was owing to the character of her settlers, her nearness to the West Indian slave marts, and the early development of certain staple crops, such as rice, which were adapted to slave labor.75 Moreover, this colony suffered much less interference from the home government than many other colonies; thus it is possible here to trace the untrammeled development of slave- trade restrictions in a typical planting community. As early as 1698 the slave-trade to South Carolina had reached such proportions that it was thought that “the great number of negroes which of late have been imported into this Collony may endanger the safety thereof.” The immigration of white servants was therefore encouraged by a special law.76 Increase of immigration reduced this disproportion, but Negroes continued to be imported in such numbers as to afford considerable revenue from a moderate duty on them. About the time when the Assiento was signed, the slave-trade so increased that, scarcely a year after the consummation of that momentous agreement, two heavy duty acts were passed, because “the number of Negroes do extremely increase in this Province, and through the afflicting providence of God, the white persons do not proportionately multiply, by reason whereof, the safety of the said Province is greatly endangered.”77 The trade, however, by reason of the encouragement abroad and of increased business activity in exporting naval stores at home, suffered scarcely any check, although repeated acts, reciting the danger incident to a “great importation of Negroes,” were passed, laying high duties.78 Finally, in 1717, an additional duty of £40,79 although due in depreciated currency, succeeded so nearly in stopping the trade that, two years later, all existing duties were repealed and one 75. Cf. Hewatt, HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF S. CAROLINA AND GEORGIA (1779), I. 120 ff.; reprinted in S.C. HIST. COLL. (1836), I. 108 ff. 76. Cooper, STATUTES AT LARGE OF S. CAROLINA, II. 153. 77. The text of the first act is not extant: cf. Cooper, STATUTES, III. 56. For the second, see Cooper, VII. 365, 367. 78. Cf. Grimké, PUBLIC LAWS OF S. CAROLINA, page xvi, No. 362; Cooper, STATUTES, II. 649. Cf. also GOVERNOR JOHNSON TO THE BOARD OF TRADE, Jan. 12, 1719-20; reprinted in Rivers, EARLY HISTORY OF S. CAROLINA (1874), App., xii. 79. Cooper, STATUTES, VII. 368. “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 437 HDT WHAT? INDEX

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of £10 substituted.80 This continued during the time of resistance to the proprietary government, but by 1734 the importation had again reached large proportions. “We must therefore beg leave,” the colonists write in that year, “to inform your Majesty, that, amidst our other perilous circumstances, we are subject to many intestine dangers from the great number of negroes that are now among us, who amount at least to twenty-two thousand persons, and are three to one of all your Majesty’s white subjects in this province. Insurrections against us have been often attempted.”81 In 1740 an insurrection under a slave, Cato, at Stono, caused such widespread alarm that a prohibitory duty of £100 was immediately laid.82 Importation was again checked; but in 1751 the colony sought to devise a plan whereby the slightly restricted immigration of Negroes should provide a fund to encourage the importation of white servants, “to prevent the mischiefs that may be attended by the great importation of negroes into this Province.”83 Many white servants were thus encouraged to settle in the colony; but so much larger was the influx of black slaves that the colony, in 1760, totally prohibited the slave-trade. This act was promptly disallowed by the Privy Council and the governor reprimanded;84 but the colony declared that “an importation of negroes, equal in number to what have been imported of late years, may prove of the most dangerous consequence in many respects to this Province, and the best way to obviate such danger will be by imposing such an additional duty upon them as may totally prevent the evils.”85 A prohibitive duty of £100 was accordingly imposed in 1764.86 This duty probably continued until the Revolution.

An invention important to the development of the cloth industry occurred during this year. Robert Kay developed the drop-box. Because this development would have an impact on the demand for bales of cotton as a raw material for cloth, it would have an impact on the demand for field labor to grow this cotton, and therefore would eventually have consequences in terms of human slavery — and in terms of the international slave trade.87

W.E. Burghardt Du Bois: The history of slavery and the slave- trade after 1820 must be read in the light of the industrial revolution through which the civilized world passed in the first

80. Cooper, STATUTES, III. 56. 81. From a memorial signed by the governor, President of the Council, and Speaker of the House, dated April 9, 1734, printed in Hewatt, HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF S. CAROLINA AND GEORGIA (1779), II. 39; reprinted in S.C. Hist. Coll. (1836), I. 305-6. Cf. N.C. COL. REC., II. 421. 82. Cooper, STATUTES, III. 556; Grimké, PUBLIC LAWS, page xxxi, No. 694. Cf. Ramsay, HISTORY OF S. CAROLINA, I. 110. 83. Cooper, STATUTES, III. 739. 84. The text of this law has not been found. Cf. Burge, COMMENTARIES ON COLONIAL AND FOREIGN LAWS, I. 737, note; Stevens, HISTORY OF GEORGIA, I. 286. See instructions of the governor of New Hampshire, June 30, 1761, in Gordon, HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, I. letter 2. 85. Cooper, STATUTES, IV. 187. 86. This duty avoided the letter of the English instructions by making the duty payable by the first purchasers, and not by the importers. Cf. Cooper, STATUTES, IV. 187. 87. Bear in mind that in early periods the Southern states of the United States of America produced no significant amount of cotton fiber for export — such production not beginning until 1789. In fact, according to page 92 of Seybert’s STATISTICS, in 1784 a small parcel of cotton that had found its way from the US to Liverpool had been refused admission to England, because it was the customs agent’s opinion that this involved some sort of subterfuge: it could not have originated in the United States. 438 Copyright  Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX

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half of the nineteenth century. Between the years 1775 and 1825 occurred economic events and changes of the highest importance and widest influence. Though all branches of industry felt the impulse of this new industrial life, yet, “if we consider single industries, cotton manufacture has, during the nineteenth century, made the most magnificent and gigantic advances.”88 This fact is easily explained by the remarkable series of inventions that revolutionized this industry between 1738 and 1830, including Arkwright’s, Watt’s, Compton’s, and Cartwright’s epoch-making contrivances.89 The effect which these inventions had on the manufacture of cotton goods is best illustrated by the fact that in England, the chief cotton market of the world, the consumption of raw cotton rose steadily from 13,000 bales in 1781, to 572,000 in 1820, to 871,000 in 1830, and to 3,366,000 in 1860.90 Very early, therefore, came the query whence the supply of raw cotton was to come. Tentative experiments on the rich, broad fields of the Southern United States, together with the indispensable invention of Whitney’s cotton-gin, soon answered this question: a new economic future was opened up to this land, and immediately the whole South began to extend its cotton culture, and more and more to throw its whole energy into this one staple. Here it was that the fatal mistake of compromising with slavery in the beginning, and of the policy of laissez-faire pursued thereafter, became painfully manifest; for, instead now of a healthy, normal, economic development along proper industrial lines, we have the abnormal and fatal rise of a slave-labor large farming system, which, before it was realized, had so intertwined itself with and braced itself upon the economic forces of an industrial age, that a vast and terrible civil war was necessary to displace it. The tendencies to a patriarchal serfdom, recognizable in the age of Washington and Jefferson, began slowly but surely to disappear; and in the second quarter of the century Southern slavery was irresistibly changing from a family institution to an industrial system. The development of Southern slavery has heretofore been viewed so exclusively from the ethical and social standpoint that we are apt to forget its close and indissoluble connection with the world’s cotton market. Beginning with 1820, a little after the close of the Napoleonic wars, when the industry of cotton manufacture had begun its modern development and the South had

88. Beer, GESCHICHTE DES WELTHANDELS IM 19TEN JAHRHUNDERT, II. 67. 89. A list of these inventions most graphically illustrates this advance: — 1738, John Jay, fly-shuttle. John Wyatt, spinning by rollers. 1748, Lewis Paul, carding-machine. 1760, Robert Kay, drop-box. 1769, Richard Arkwright, water-frame and throstle. James Watt, steam-engine. 1772, James Lees, improvements on carding-machine. 1775, Richard Arkwright, series of combinations. 1779, Samuel Compton, mule. 1785, Edmund Cartwright, power-loom. 1803-4, Radcliffe and Johnson, dressing-machine. 1817, Roberts, fly-frame. 1818, William Eaton, self-acting frame. 1825-30, Roberts, improvements on mule. Cf. Baines, HISTORY OF THE COTTON MANUFACTURE, pages 116-231; ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA, 9th ed., article “Cotton.” 90. Baines, HISTORY OF THE COTTON MANUFACTURE, page 215. A bale weighed from 375 lbs. to 400 lbs. “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 439 HDT WHAT? INDEX

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definitely assumed her position as chief producer of raw cotton, we find the average price of cotton per pound, 8½d. From this time until 1845 the price steadily fell, until in the latter year it reached 4d.; the only exception to this fall was in the years 1832-1839, when, among other things, a strong increase in the English demand, together with an attempt of the young slave power to “corner” the market, sent the price up as high as 11d. The demand for cotton goods soon outran a crop which McCullough had pronounced “prodigious,” and after 1845 the price started on a steady rise, which, except for the checks suffered during the continental revolutions and the Crimean War, continued until 1860.91 The steady increase in the production of cotton explains the fall in price down to 1845. In 1822 the crop was a half- million bales; in 1831, a million; in 1838, a million and a half; and in 1840-1843, two million. By this time the world’s consumption of cotton goods began to increase so rapidly that, in spite of the increase in Southern crops, the price kept rising. Three million bales were gathered in 1852, three and a half million in 1856, and the remarkable crop of five million bales in 1860.92 Here we have data to explain largely the economic development of the South. By 1822 the large-plantation slave system had gained footing; in 1838-1839 it was able to show its power in the cotton “corner;” by the end of the next decade it had not only gained a solid economic foundation, but it had built a closed oligarchy with a political policy. The changes in price during the next few years drove out of competition many survivors of the small-farming free-labor system, and put the slave régime in position to dictate the policy of the nation. The zenith of the system and the first inevitable signs of decay came in the years 1850-1860, when the rising price of cotton threw the whole economic energy of the South into its cultivation, leading to a terrible consumption of soil and slaves, to a great increase in the size of plantations, and to increasing power and effrontery on the part of the slave barons. Finally, when a rising moral crusade conjoined with threatened economic disaster, the oligarchy, encouraged by the state of the cotton market, risked all on a political coup-d’état, which failed in the war of 1861-1865.93

New-York passed its first laws requiring that its medical practitioners be examined and licensed.

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During this decade Dr. Erasmus Darwin would be prescribing opium in massive doses as a cure-all. He may have been instrumental in the addiction of his friend Thomas Wedgewood. Samuel Johnson’s wife Tetty’s death was associated with opium use. Johnson himself left off his own opiate use before his death: “I will take no more physic, not even my opiates; for I have prayed that I may render up my soul to God unclouded.” Horace Walpole remembered Lady Stafford commenting, on an occasion when she had forgotten to take her opium, “Well...I have arrived without my wit today,” — “which she was forced to do if she had any appointment, to be in particular spirits.” Wellington commented regarding the excesses of George IV, that: “He drinks spirits morning, noon and night; and is obliged to take laudenum [opium mixed with alcohol] to calm the irritation which the use of spirits occasions.” Jane Austen’s mother used opium.

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Friend Anthony Benezet, a Quaker of Huguenot extraction, pointed out in OBSERVATIONS ON THE INFLAVING, IMPORTING AND PURCHAFING OF NEGROES. WITH SOME ADVICE THEREON, EXTRACTED FROM THE EPISTLE OF THE YEARLY-MEETING OF THE PEOPLE CALLED QUAKERS HELD AT LONDON IN THE YEAR 1748 (2d edition, printed in Germantown PA by Christopher Sower) that if buyers did not demand slaves, the supply would end. “Without purchasers,” he argued, “there would be no trade; and consequently every purchaser as

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he encourages the trade, becomes partaker in the guilt of it.” He saw guilt existed on both sides of the Atlantic, for some Africans, it appeared, would “sell their own children, kindred, or neighbors.” Benezet applied “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” to enslavement.

“EMANCIPATION IN THE BRITISH WEST INDIES”: All the great geniuses of the British senate, Fox, Pitt, Burke, Grenville, Sheridan, Grey, Canning, ranged themselves on its side; the poet Cowper wrote for it: Franklin, Jefferson, Washington, in this country, all recorded their votes.

Since emancipation alone would not do the trick, Friend Anthony proposed schooling. INTERNATIONAL SLAVE TRADE W.E. Burghardt Du Bois: In 1760 England, the chief slave-trading nation, was sending on an average to Africa 163 ships annually, with a tonnage of 18,000 tons, carrying exports to the value of £163,818. Only about twenty of these ships regularly returned to England. Most of them carried slaves to the West Indies, and returned laden with sugar and other products. Thus may be formed some idea of the size and importance of the slave-trade at that time, although for a complete view we must add to this the trade under the French, Portuguese, Dutch, and Americans. The trade fell off somewhat toward 1770, but was flourishing again when the Revolution brought a sharp and serious check upon it, bringing down the number of English slavers, clearing, from 167 in 1774 to 28 in 1779, and the tonnage from 17,218 to 3,475 tons. After the war the trade gradually recovered, and by 1786 had reached nearly its former extent. In 1783 the British West Indies received 16,208 Negroes from Africa, and by 1787 the importation had increased to 21,023. In this latter year it was estimated that the British were taking annually from Africa 38,000 slaves; the French, 20,000; the Portuguese, 10,000; the Dutch and Danes, 6,000; a total of 74,000. Manchester alone sent £180,000 annually in goods to Africa in exchange for Negroes.94

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In Rhode Island harbors during this year, it has been estimated by Alexander Boyd Hawes, 3 vessels were being fitted out for the international slave trade. If an average cargo of slaves was 109 –as we have estimated on the basis of a number of known cargos– then a total of 327 souls were transported during this year in Rhode Island bottoms alone. Examples of negreros being fitted out in Rhode Island for departure this year to engage in the international slave trade include the brig Abigail, carrying a cargo of 125 slaves, the sloop Industry, carrying a cargo of 104, and the schooner Little Polly, carrying 100.

Departure is different from arrival, of course, across the Middle Passage, and during this year the schooner Little Becky would be arriving in the harbor of Newport with a cargo of 96 –or, making no assumptions, what remained of an original cargo of 96– and although we do not know the name of the vessel or the number of human beings in its cargo, the vessel of Captain Carpenter also would be arriving in the harbor of Newport with slaves from the coast of Africa. W.E. Burghardt Du Bois: In the individual efforts of the various colonies to suppress the African slave-trade there may be traced certain general movements. First, from 1638 to 1664, there was a tendency to take a high moral stand against the traffic. This is illustrated in the laws of New England, in the plans for the settlement of Delaware and, later, that of Georgia, and in the protest of the German Friends. The second period, from about 1664 to 1760, has no general unity, but is marked by statutes laying duties varying in design from encouragement to absolute prohibition, by some cases of moral opposition, and by the slow but steady growth of a spirit unfavorable to the long continuance of the trade. The last colonial period, from about 1760 to 1787, is one of pronounced effort to regulate, limit, or totally prohibit the traffic. Beside these general movements, there are many waves of legislation, easily distinguishable, which rolled over several or all of the colonies at various times, such as the series of high duties following the Assiento, and the acts inspired by various Negro “plots.” Notwithstanding this, the laws of the colonies before 1774 had no national unity, the peculiar circumstances of each colony determining its legislation. With the outbreak of the Revolution came unison in action with regard to the slave-trade, as with regard to other matters, which may justly be called national. It was, of course, a critical period, — a period when, in the rapid upheaval of a few years, the complicated and diverse forces of decades meet, combine, act, and react, until the

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resultant seems almost the work of chance. In the settlement of the fate of slavery and the slave-trade, however, the real crisis came in the calm that succeeded the storm, in that day when, in the opinion of most men, the question seemed already settled. And indeed it needed an exceptionally clear and discerning mind, in 1787, to deny that slavery and the slave- trade in the United States of America were doomed to early annihilation. It seemed certainly a legitimate deduction from the history of the preceding century to conclude that, as the system had risen, flourished, and fallen in Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania, and as South Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland were apparently following in the same legislative path, the next generation would in all probability witness the last throes of the system on our soil. To be sure, the problem had its uncertain quantities. The motives of the law-makers in South Carolina and Pennsylvania were dangerously different; the century of industrial expansion was slowly dawning and awakening that vast economic revolution in which American slavery was to play so prominent and fatal a rôle; and, finally, there were already in the South faint signs of a changing moral attitude toward slavery, which would no longer regard the system as a temporary makeshift, but rather as a permanent though perhaps unfortunate necessity. With regard to the slave-trade, however, there appeared to be substantial unity of opinion; and there were, in 1787, few things to indicate that a cargo of five hundred African slaves would openly be landed in Georgia in 1860.

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In Newport, Rhode Island, some sailors were hanged for having been guilty of a mutiny at sea.

Some of the Quaker group in Newport, including some of the elders and some of the ministers, were, however little superior in morality to such condemned persons, for they were not only slavemasters but also were still entangled in the international slave trade. For instance, at this point the Wanton family that would produce Stephen Wanton Gould was still engaging in this trade. Friend John Woolman wrote that he and his companions “in bowedness of spirit went to the Yearly Meeting at Newport, where I understood that a large number of slaves were imported from Africa and then on sale by a member of our Society.... At this time I had a feeling of the condition of Habakkuk as thus expressed: ‘When I heard, my belly trembled, my lips quivered, my appetite failed, and I grew outwardly weak. I trembled in myself that I might rest in the day of trouble.’ I had many cogitations and was sorely distressed.” Habakkuk 3:16 is of course a graphic description of the wrath of God; the verse concluding with “I sigh for the day of distress to dawn over my assailants.”

Friend John engaged in a successful effort to read in Yearly Meeting session a petition to the Rhode Island legislature to discourage the importation of slaves. Apparently he got through this with his customary delicate, compassionate, and forceful persuasion. Having been able to read the petition aloud in the hearing of Friends, he “felt easy to leave the essay amongst Friends, for them to proceed on it as they believed best.” Then, however, the Yearly Meeting took up the question of lotteries, and Friend John evidently was not able to maintain his temperance. He reports that “The matter was zealously handled by some on both sides.... And in the heat of zeal, I once made reply to what an ancient Friend said, which when I sat down I saw that my words were not enough seasoned with charity, and after this I spake no more on the subject. ...Some time after ... I, remaining uneasy with the manner of my speaking ... could not see my way clear to conceal my uneasiness, but was concerned that I might say nothing to weaken the cause in which I had laboured. And then after some close exercise and hearty repentance for that I had not attended closely to the safe guide, I stood up and ... acquainted Friends that though I dare not go from what I had said as to the matter, yet I was uneasy with the manner of my speaking, as believing milder language would have been better. As this was uttered in some degree of creaturely abasement, it appeared to have a good savor amongst us, after a warm debate.” Woolman had managed to rein in his anger and distress during his careful and skillful management of his antislavery petition, using the emotional energy to power his compassion, discernment, and charity toward the slaveholders themselves, but then during the discussion of lotteries his anger had slipped out. Following the general Meeting, however Woolman was able to meet with a number of slaveholding ministers, elders, overseers, and others, and was able to report that “My exercise was heavy and I was deeply bowed in spirit before the Lord, who was pleased to favour with the seasoning virtue of Truth, which wrought a tenderness amongst us, and the subject was mutually handled in a calm and peaceable spirit.”

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Visit, in Company with Samuel Eastburn, to Long Island, Rhode Island, Boston, etc. — Remarks on the Slave-Trade at Newport; also on Lotteries — Some Observations on the Island of Nantucket. FOURTH Month, 1760. — Having for some time past felt a sympathy in my mind with Friends eastward, I opened my concern in our Monthly Meeting, and, obtaining a certificate, set forward on the 17th of this month, in company with my beloved friend Samuel Eastburn. We had meetings at Woodbridge, Rahway, and Plainfield, and were at their Monthly Meeting of ministers and elders in Rahway. We laboured under some discouragement, but through the invisible power of truth our visit was made reviving to the lowly-minded, with whom I felt a near unity of spirit, being much reduced in my mind. We passed on and visited most of the meetings on Long Island. It was my concern from day to day, to say neither more nor less than what the Spirit of truth opened in me, being jealous over myself lest I should say anything to make my testimony look agreeable to that mind in people which is not in pure obedience to the cross of Christ. The spring of the ministry was often low, and through the subjecting power of truth we were kept low with it; from place to place they whose hearts were truly concerned for the cause of Christ appeared to be comforted in our labours, and though it was in general a time of abasement of the creature, yet, through His goodness who is a helper of the poor, we had some truly edifying seasons both in meetings and in families where we tarried. Sometimes we found strength to labour earnestly with the unfaithful, especially with those whose station in families or in the Society was such that their example had a powerful tendency to open the way for others to go aside from the purity and soundness of the blessed truth. At Jericho, on Long Island, I wrote home as follows: — 24th of the Fourth Month, 1760. DEARLY BELOVED WIFE, — We are favoured with health; have been at sundry meetings in East Jersey and on this island. My mind hath been much in an inward, watchful frame since I left thee, greatly desiring that our proceedings may be singly in the will of our Heavenly Father. As the present appearance of things is not joyous, I have been much shut up from outward cheerfulness, remembering that promise, “Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord”; as this from day to day has been revived in my memory, I have considered that His internal presence in our minds is a delight of all others the most pure, and that the honest-hearted not only delight in this, but in the effect of it upon them. He regards the helpless and distressed, and reveals His love to His children under affliction, who delight in beholding His benevolence, and in feeling divine charity moving in them. Of this I may speak a little, for, though since I left you I have often an engaging love and affection towards thee and my daughter and friends about home, and going out at this time, when sickness is so great amongst you, is a trial upon me;

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yet I often remember there are many widows and fatherless, many who have poor tutors, many who have evil examples before them, and many whose minds are in captivity; for whose sake my heart is at times moved with compassion, so that I feel my mind resigned to leave you for a season, to exercise that gift which the Lord hath bestowed on me, which though small compared with some, yet in this I rejoice that I feel love unfeigned towards my fellow-creatures. I recommend you to the Almighty, who, I trust, cares for you, and under a sense of His heavenly love remain, Thy loving husband, J. W. We crossed from the east end of Long Island to New London, about thirty miles, in a large open boat; while we were out, the wind rising high, the waves several times beat over us, so that to me it appeared dangerous, but my mind was at that time turned to Him who made and governs the deep, and my life was resigned to Him; as He was mercifully pleased to preserve us, I had fresh occasion to consider every day as a day lent to me, and felt a renewed engagement to devote my time, and all I had, to Him who gave it. We had five meetings in Narraganset, and went thence to Newport on Rhode Island. Our gracious Father preserved us in an humble dependence on Him through deep exercises that were mortifying to the creaturely will. In several families in the country where we lodged, I felt an engagement on my mind to have a conference with them in private, concerning their slaves; and through divine aid I was favoured to give up thereto. Though in this concern I differ from many whose service in travelling is, I believe, greater than mine, yet I do not think hardly of them for omitting it; I do not repine at having so unpleasant a task assigned me, but look with awfulness to Him who appoints to His servants their respective employments, and is good to all who serve Him sincerely. We got to Newport in the evening, and on the next day visited two sick persons, with whom we had comfortable sittings, and in the afternoon attended the burial of a Friend. The next day we were at meetings at Newport, in the forenoon and afternoon; the spring of the ministry was opened, and strength was given to declare the Word of Life to the people. The day following we went on our journey, but the great number of slaves in these parts, and the continuance of that trade from thence to Guinea, made a deep impression on me, and my cries were often put up to my Heavenly Father in secret, that He would enable me to discharge my duty faithfully in such way as He might be pleased to point out to me. We took Swansea, Freetown, and Taunton in our way to Boston, where also we had a meeting; our exercise was deep, and the love of truth prevailed, for which I bless the Lord. We went eastward about eighty miles beyond Boston, taking meetings, and were in a good degree preserved in an humble dependence on that arm which drew us out; and though we had some hard labour with the disobedient, by laying things home and close to such as were stout against the truth, yet through the goodness of God we had at times to partake of heavenly comfort with those who were meek, 448 Copyright  Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX

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and were often favoured to part with Friends in the nearness of true gospel fellowship. We returned to Boston and had another comfortable opportunity with Friends there, and thence rode back a day’s journey eastward of Boston. Our guide being a heavy man, and the weather hot, my companion and I expressed our freedom to go on without him, to which he consented, and we respectfully took our leave of him; this we did as believing the journey would have been hard to him and his horse. In visiting the meetings in those parts we were measurably baptized into a feeling of the state of the Society, and in bowedness of spirit went to the Yearly Meeting at Newport, where we met with John Storer from England, Elizabeth Shipley, Ann Gaunt, Hannah Foster, and Mercy Redman, from our parts, all ministers of the gospel, of whose company I was glad. Understanding that a large number of slaves had been imported from Africa into that town, and were then on sale by a member of our Society, my appetite failed, and I grew outwardly weak, and had a feeling of the condition of Habakkuk, as thus expressed: “When I heard, my belly trembled, my lips quivered, I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble.” I had many cogitations, and was sorely distressed. I was desirous that Friends might petition the Legislature to use their endeavours to discourage the future importation of slaves, for I saw that this trade was a great evil, and tended to multiply troubles, and to bring distresses on the people for whose welfare my heart was deeply concerned. But I perceived several difficulties in regard to petitioning, and such was the exercise of my mind that I thought of endeavouring to get an opportunity to speak a few words in the House of Assembly then sitting in town. This exercise came upon me in the afternoon on the second day of the Yearly Meeting, and on going to bed I got no sleep till my mind was wholly resigned thereto. In the morning I inquired of a Friend how long the Assembly was likely to continue sitting, who told me it was expected to be prorogued that day or the next. As I was desirous to attend the business of the meeting, and perceived the Assembly was likely to separate before the business was over, after considerable exercise, humbly seeking to the Lord for instruction, my mind settled to attend on the business of the meeting; on the last day of which I had prepared a short essay of a petition to be presented to the Legislature, if way opened. And being informed that there were some appointed by that Yearly Meeting to speak with those in authority on cases relating to the Society, I opened my mind to several of them, and showed them the essay I had made, and afterwards I opened the case in the meeting for business, in substance as follows: — I have been under a concern for some time on account of the great number of slaves which are imported into this colony. I am aware that it is a tender point to speak to, but apprehend I am not clear in the sight of Heaven without doing so. I have prepared an essay of a petition to be presented to the Legislature, if way open; and what I have to propose to this meeting is that some Friends may be named to withdraw and look over it, and report whether they believe it suitable to be read in the meeting. If they should think well of reading it, it will remain “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 449 HDT WHAT? INDEX

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for the meeting to consider whether to take any further notice of it, as a meeting, or not. After a short conference some Friends went out, and, looking over it, expressed their willingness to have it read, which being done, many expressed their unity with the proposal, and some signified that to have the subjects of the petition enlarged upon, and signed out of meeting by such as were free, would be more suitable than to do it there. Though I expected at first that if it was done it would be in that way, yet such was the exercise of my mind that to move it in the hearing of Friends when assembled appeared to me as a duty, for my heart yearned towards the inhabitants of these parts, believing that by this trade there had been an increase of inquietude amongst them, and way had been made for the spreading of a spirit opposite to that meekness and humility which is a sure resting- place for the soul; and that the continuance of this trade would not only render their healing more difficult, but would increase their malady. Having proceeded thus far, I felt easy to leave the essay amongst Friends, for them to proceed in it as they believed best. And now an exercise revived in my mind in relation to lotteries, which were common in those parts. I had mentioned the subject in a former sitting of this meeting, when arguments were used in favour of Friends being held excused who were only concerned in such lotteries as were agreeable to law. And now, on moving it again, it was opposed as before; but the hearts of some solid Friends appeared to be united to discourage the practice amongst their members, and the matter was zealously handled by some on both sides. In this debate it appeared very clear to me that the spirit of lotteries was a spirit of selfishness, which tended to confuse and darken the understanding, and that pleading for it in our meetings, which were set apart for the Lord’s work, was not right. In the heat of zeal, I made reply to what an ancient Friend said, and when I sat down I saw that my words were not enough seasoned with charity. After this I spoke no more on the subject. At length a minute was made, a copy of which was to be sent to their several Quarterly Meetings, inciting Friends to labour to discourage the practice amongst all professing with us. Some time after this minute was made I remained uneasy with the manner of my speaking to the ancient Friend, and could not see my way clear to conceal my uneasiness, though I was concerned that I might say nothing to weaken the cause in which I had laboured. After some close exercise and hearty repentence for not having attended closely to the safe guide, I stood up, and, reciting the passage, acquainted Friends that though I durst not go from what I had said as to the matter, yet I was uneasy with the manner of my speaking, believing milder language would have been better. As this was uttered in some degree of creaturely abasement after a warm debate, it appeared to have a good savour amongst us. The Yearly Meeting being now over, there yet remained on my mind a secret though heavy exercise, in regard to some leading active members about Newport, who were in the practice of keeping slaves. This I mentioned to two ancient Friends who came out of 450 Copyright  Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX

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the country, and proposed to them, if way opened, to have some conversation with those members. One of them and I, having consulted one of the most noted elders who had slaves, he, in a respectful manner, encouraged me to proceed to clear myself of what lay upon me. Near the beginning of the Yearly Meeting, I had had a private conference with this said elder and his wife concerning their slaves, so that the way seemed clear to me to advise with him about the manner of proceeding. I told him I was free to have a conference with them all together in a private house; or, if he thought they would take it unkind to be asked to come together, and to be spoken with in the hearing of one another, I was free to spend some time amongst them, and to visit them all in their own houses. He expressed his liking to the first proposal, not doubting their willingness to come together; and, as I proposed a visit to only ministers, elders, and overseers, he named some others whom he desired might also be present. A careful messenger being wanted to acquaint them in a proper manner, he offered to go to all their houses, to open the matter to them, — and did so. About the eighth hour the next morning we met in the meeting-house chamber, the last-mentioned country Friend, my companion, and John Storer being with us. After a short time of retirement, I acquainted them with the steps I had taken in procuring that meeting, and opened the concern I was under, and we then proceeded to a free conference upon the subject. My exercise was heavy, and I was deeply bowed in spirit before the Lord, who was pleased to favour with the seasoning virtue of truth, which wrought a tenderness amongst us; and the subject was mutually handled in a calm and peaceable spirit. At length, feeling my mind released from the burden which I had been under, I took my leave of them in a good degree of satisfaction; and by the tenderness they manifested in regard to the practice, and the concern several of them expressed in relation to the manner of disposing of their negroes after their decease, I believed that a good exercise was spreading amongst them: and I am humbly thankful to God, who supported my mind and preserved me in a good degree of resignation through these trials. Thou who sometimes travellest in the work of the ministry, and art made very welcome by thy friends, seest many tokens of their satisfaction in having thee for their guest. It is good for thee to dwell deep, that thou mayest feel and understand the spirits of people. If we believe truth points towards a conference on some subjects in a private way, it is needful for us to take heed that their kindness, their freedom and affability, do not hinder us from the Lord’s work. I have experienced that, in the midst of kindness and smooth conduct, to speak close and home to them who entertain us, on points that relate to outward interest, is hard labour. Sometimes, when I have felt truth lead towards it, I have found myself disqualified by a superficial friendship; and as the sense thereof hath abased me and my cries have been to the Lord, so I have been humbled and made content to appear weak, or as a fool for His sake; and thus a door hath been opened to enter upon it. To attempt to do the Lord’s work in our own way, and to speak of that which is the burden of the Word in a way easy to the natural part, doth not reach the bottom

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of the disorder. To see the failings of our friends, and think hard of them, without opening that which we ought to open, and still carry a face of friendship, tends to undermine the foundation of true unity. The office of a minister of Christ is weighty, and they who now go forth as watchmen have need to be steadily on their guard against the snares of prosperity and an outside friendship. After the Yearly Meeting we were at meetings at Newtown, Cushnet, Long Plain, Rochester, and Dartmouth. From thence we sailed for Nantucket, in company with Ann Gaunt, Mercy Redman, and several other Friends. The wind being slack we only reached Tarpawling Cove the first day; where, going on shore, we found room in a public-house, and beds for a few of us, — the rest slept on the floor. We went on board again about break of day, and though the wind was small, we were favoured to come within about four miles of Nantucket; and then about ten of us got into our boat and rowed to the harbour before dark; a large boat went off and brought in the rest of the passengers about midnight. The next day but one was their Yearly Meeting, which held four days, the last of which was their Monthly Meeting for business. We had a labourious time amongst them; our minds were closely exercised, and I believe it was a time of great searching of heart. The longer I was on the island the more I became sensible that there was a considerable number of valuable Friends there, though an evil spirit, tending to strife, had been at work amongst them. I was cautious of making any visits except as my mind was particularly drawn to them; and in that way we had some sittings in Friends’ houses, where the heavenly wing was at times spread over us, to our mutual comfort. My beloved companion had very acceptable service on this island. When meeting was over, we all agreed to sail the next day if the weather was suitable and we were well; and being called up the latter part of the night, about fifty of us went on board a vessel; but, the wind changing, the seamen thought best to stay in the harbour till it altered, so we returned on shore. Feeling clear as to any further visits, I spent my time in my chamber, chiefly alone; and after some hours, my heart being filled with the spirit of supplication, my prayers and tears were poured out before my Heavenly Father for His help and instruction in the manifold difficulties which attended me in life. While I was waiting upon the Lord, there came a messenger from the women Friends who lodged at another house, desiring to confer with us about appointing a meeting, which to me appeared weighty, as we had been at so many before; but after a short conference, and advising with some elderly Friends, a meeting was appointed, in which the Friend who first moved it, and who had been much shut up before, was largely opened in the love of the gospel. The next morning about break of day going again on board the vessel, we reached Falmouth on the Main before night, where our horses being brought, we proceeded towards Sandwich Quarterly Meeting. Being two days in going to Nantucket, and having been there once before, I observed many shoals in their bay, which make sailing more dangerous, especially in stormy nights; also, that a great shoal which encloses their harbour prevents the entrance of sloops except when the tide is up. Waiting without for the rising

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of the tide is sometimes hazardous in storms, and by waiting within they sometimes miss a fair wind. I took notice that there was on that small island a great number of inhabitants, and the soil not very fertile, the timber being so gone that for vessels, fences, and firewood, they depend chiefly on buying from the Main, for the cost whereof, with most of their other expenses, they depend principally upon the whale fishery.95 I also encouraged the young women to continue their neat, decent way of attending themselves on the affairs of the house; showing, as the way opened, that where people were truly humble, used themselves to business, and were content with a plain way of life, they had ever had more true peace and calmness of mind than they who, aspiring to greatness and outward show, have grasped hard for an income to support themselves therein. And as I observed they had so few or no slaves, I had to encourage them to be content without them, making mention of the numerous troubles and vexations which frequently attended the minds of the people who depend on slaves to do their labour. We attended the Quarterly Meeting at Sandwich, in company with Ann Gaunt and Mercy Redman, which was preceded by a Monthly Meeting, and in the whole held three days. We were in various ways exercised amongst them, in gospel love, according to the several gifts bestowed on us, and were at times overshadowed with the virtue of truth, to the comfort of the sincere and stirring up of the negligent. Here we parted with Ann and Mercy, and went to Rhode Island, taking one meeting in our way, which was a satisfactory time. Reaching Newport the evening before their Quarterly Meeting, we attended it, and after that had a meeting with our young people, separated from those of other societies. We went through much labour in this town; and now, in taking leave of it, though I felt close inward exercise to the last, I found inward peace, and was in some degree comforted in a belief that a good number remain in that place who retain a sense of truth, and that there are some young people attentive to the voice of the Heavenly Shepherd. The last meeting, in which Friends from the several parts of the quarter came together, was a select meeting, and through the renewed manifestation of the Father’s love the hearts of the sincere were united together.96 From Newport we went to Greenwich, Shanticut, and Warwick, and were helped to labour amongst Friends in the love of our gracious

95. I considered that as towns grew larger, and lands near navigable waters were more cleared, it would require more labour to get timber and wood. I understood that the whales, being much hunted and sometimes wounded and not killed, grow more shy and difficult to come at. I considered that the formation of the earth, the seas, the islands, bays, and rivers, the motions of the winds and great waters, which cause bars and shoals in particular places, were all the works of Him who is perfect wisdom and goodness; and as people attend to His heavenly instruction, and put their trust in Him, He provides for them in all parts where he gives them a being; and as in this visit to these people I felt a strong desire for their firm establishment on the sure foundation, besides what was said more publicly, I was concerned to speak with the women Friends in their Monthly Meeting of business, many being present, and in the fresh spring of pure love to open before them the advantage, both inwardly and outwardly, of attending singly to the pure guidance of the Holy Spirit, and therein to educate their children in true humility and the disuse of all superfluities. I reminded them of the difficulties their husbands and sons were frequently exposed to at sea, and that the more plain and simple their way of living was the less need there would be of running great hazards to support them. 96. The poverty of spirit and inward weakness, with which I was much tried the fore part of this journey, has of late appeared to me a dispensation of kindness. Appointing meetings never appeared more weighty to me, and I was led into a deep search whether in all things my mind was resigned to the will of God; often querying with myself what should be the cause of such inward poverty, and greatly desiring that no secret reserve in my heart might hinder my access to the divine fountain. In these humbling times I was made watchful, and excited to attend to the secret movings of the heavenly principle in my mind, which prepared the way to some duties, that, in more easy and prosperous times as to the outward, I believe I should have been in danger of omitting. “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 453 HDT WHAT? INDEX

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Redeemer. Afterwards, accompanied by our friend John Casey from Newport, we rode through Connecticut to Oblong, visited the meetings in those parts, and thence proceeded to the Quarterly Meeting at Ryewoods. Through the gracious extendings of divine help, we had some seasoning opportunities in those places. We also visited Friends at New York and Flushing, and thence to Rahway. Here our roads parting, I took leave of my beloved companion and true yokemate Samuel Eastburn, and reached home the 10th of Eighth Month, where I found my family well. For the favours and protection of the Lord, both inward and outward, extended to me in this journey, my heart is humbled in grateful acknowledgments, and I find renewed desires to dwell and walk in resignedness before Him.

No image of Friend John ever was made

The Molasses Act of 1733 had become by this point a pronounced failure. Britain’s attempt to reassert its colonial monopoly over trade (all raw goods being brought by law to England for processing and transshipment) after having allowed the gradual development of direct trade relations between the colonies along the American seaboard with the islands of the Caribbean, cod, vegetables, wheat, and Indian maize in SWEETS exchange for molasses, had been negated by the English colonists by means of illicit arrangements with the WITHOUT French. After this embargo by means of heavy import duties, the American trade of cod for molasses had SLAVERY actually increased due to all the contraband activity, while the revenue stream to the mother country had increased not at all. In this year the British parliament tried again, with the Sugar Act of 1760, putting a tax of six cents per gallon upon molasses. This attempt would also be defeated, through contraband trade.

February: At Cape Coast Road on the coast of Africa, Captain Peter James’s Little Becky was being loaded with 96 Gold Coast slaves, purchased to be retailed by Peleg Thurston of Newport, Rhode Island.97 INTERNATIONAL SLAVE TRADE

97. An African record indicates somewhat more slaves than this, and the difference may reflect a number of privileged slaves taken along to assist in the management and care of the cargo slaves. (Although today we can afford to have rather simplified notions of the condition, slavery was in its reality a complex institution which involved a number of levels.) 454 Copyright  Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX

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February 8: In Massachusetts, Silvanus Hatch paid Patience Hatch £13 for her half of Salathiel, a mulatto Servant Boy who could, until 30 years of age, be treated as a slave. Know all Men by these Presents that I Patience Hatch of Falmouth in the County of Barnstable in New England, Widow, For the Consideration of the Sum of Thirteen Pounds Lawful Money to my Satisfaction, Paid by Silvanus Hatch of said Falmouth, Yeoman, Have Bargained, Sold, Assigned, & made over, unto the said Silvanus Hatch my Right and Title unto a (Molatto) Servant Boy named Salathiel (that is one half of him that I hold in Partnership with sd Salvanus) To Have and to hold the One Half of the said Boy Salathiel, unto him the said Silvanus Hatch, his Heirs and Assigns to his and their Use and Service, free and clear from all the Lawful Claims and Demands of all Persons, Until the said Boy, shall arrive to the Age of Thirty Years. In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my Hand and Seal the Eighth Day of February in the Year of our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred & Sixty. patience hatch Signed, Sealed & Delivered in the Presence of Nathan rowle miels cotton

February 14: Richard Allen was born a slave, to a family in service to the Quaker family of Benjamin Chew of Philadelphia. He and his family of origin would later be sold.

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Early June: His consignment of 96 new slaves from the Gold Coast having arrived safe and sound aboard the Little Becky, Peleg Thurston proceeded to retail them from his wharf in Newport, Rhode Island. This was being advertised as far away as Boston. It must have been quite a sight.

July 3: The Newport, Rhode Island gazette The Mercury announced the arrival of Captain Carpenter with a cargo of slaves from the coast of Africa. INTERNATIONAL SLAVE TRADE

Silas Lee was born in Concord, brother of Samuel Lee and the Reverend Joseph Lee, sons of the physician Joseph Lee.

1761

A Quaker counted a total of 1,027 Quaker families in Rhode Island, including Nantucket Island, and a total of 1,146 Quaker families living elsewhere in New England. Despite the continuing ownership of slaves by Quaker families, at this point those who traded in slaves were being disowned.

RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS

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In Rhode Island harbors during this year, it has been estimated by Alexander Boyd Hawes, some 5 vessels were being fitted out for the international slave trade. If an average cargo of slaves was 109 –as we have estimated on the basis of a number of known cargos– then a total of 645 souls were transported during this year in Rhode Island bottoms alone. Examples from this year include the Rhode Island sloop Africa carrying a cargo of 60 slaves, the brig Charming Abigail carrying a cargo of 145, the sloop Diamond carrying 79, again the sloop Diamond again carrying 79 (?), the sloop Dolphin carrying 94, the sloop Prince George carrying 40, the sloop Sally carrying 130, and the sloop Three Friends carrying 73.

Captain Nichols of Boston lost 40 of the slaves of a cargo due to a revolt, but managed to save his vessel. SERVILE INSURRECTION

By this point John Jack, the former slave of Benjamin Barron in Concord, having purchased his freedom out of his deceased master’s estate, had also purchased out of this estate “four acres of plow land in the great or common field so-called.” Adjacent to this he also purchased two acres of another party, and eventually he 1 would possess a total of 8 /2 acres. His home was near Merriam’s Corner on a path close to the ridge.

Meanwhile, during this year and the next, a mammoth 3-story, 15-room Georgian Colonial house was being erected at what is now 168 Derby in Salem, the street which also would have in 1819 the Salem Custom House in which Nathaniel Hawthorne eventually would become the supervising Surveyor. This mansion was being erected by Richard Derby for his son Elias Hasket Derby and bride Elizabeth Crowninshield (it is now the oldest surviving brick house in Salem). This Richard Derby who could afford such a wedding present had begun as a captain for the “codfish aristocrats.” It would be Richard’s son John Derby who would carry the first news to England of the fighting at Lexington and Concord between the army and the militia, aboard the Quero which would sail from Salem Harbor on April 26, 1775. This Elias Hasket Derby, who kept his eye on the shipping in the port and had one blue eye and one brown one, would come to be characterized both as King Derby and as the “father of American commerce with India.” The most expensive mansions in America, circa the turn of the 19th Century, would be the mansion of Peter Stuyvesant overlooking the Hudson River, and this codfish mansion in Salem MA. These homes would each be listed on the special housing-taxation census of that time at over $30,000.00. Derby had built a large wharf and was trading not only with India but also with China and Russia. By Hawthorne’s day, this merchant would have been succeeded by others –Simon Forrester was the richest– but Salem trade would have for various reasons very much dwindled: there had been disputes with the British navy, the harbor had had silting problems not shared with Boston or New-York, and of course there was a dearth of bulk commodity-transport connections with the interior.

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THE SCARLET LETTER: In my native town of Salem, at the head of what, half a century ago, in the days of old King Derby, was a bustling wharf – but which is now burdened with decayed wooden warehouses, and exhibits few or no symptoms of commercial life; except, perhaps, a bark or brig, half-way down its melancholy length, discharging hides; or, nearer at hand, a Nova Scotia schooner, pitching out her cargo of firewood – at the head, I say, of this dilapidated wharf, which the tide often overflows, and along which, at the base and in the rear of the row of buildings, the track of many languid years is seen in a border of unthrifty grass – here, with a view from its front windows adown this not very enlivening prospect, and thence across the harbour, stands a spacious edifice of brick. From the loftiest point of its roof, during precisely three and a half hours of each forenoon, floats or droops, in breeze or calm, the banner of the republic; but with the thirteen stripes turned vertically, instead of horizontally, and thus indicating that a civil, and not a military, post of Uncle Sam’s government, is here established. Its front is ornamented with a portico of half-a-dozen wooden pillars, supporting a balcony, beneath which a flight of wide granite steps descends towards the street. Over the entrance hovers an enormous specimen of the American eagle, with outspread wings, a shield before her breast, and, if I recollect aright, a bunch of intermingled thunderbolts and barbed arrows in each claw. With the customary infirmity of temper that characterizes this unhappy fowl, she appears by the fierceness of her beak and eye, and the general truculency of her attitude, to threaten mischief to the inoffensive community; and especially to warn all citizens careful of their safety against intruding on the premises which she overshadows with her wings. Nevertheless, vixenly as she looks, many people are seeking at this very moment to shelter themselves under the wing of the federal eagle; imagining, I presume, that her bosom has all the softness and snugness of an eiderdown pillow. But she has no great tenderness even in her best of moods, and, sooner or later – oftener soon than late – is apt to fling off her nestlings with a scratch of her claw, a dab of her beak, or a rankling wound from her barbed arrows.

What was the big difference between these two New England homeowners, John Jack and King Derby? Well, as a first approximation — one was poor and the other white.

March 14: Pennsylvania levied a £10 duty “on Negroes and Mulattoe slaves, imported into this province.” “An Act for laying a duty on Negroes and Mulattoe slaves, imported into this province.” Continued in 1768; repealed (or disallowed) in 1780. Carey and Bioren, LAWS, I. 371, 451; ACTS OF ASSEMBLY (ed. 1782), page 149; COLONIAL RECORDS (1852), VIII. 576. INTERNATIONAL SLAVE TRADE SLAVERY

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April 22: Amplifying its act of March 14th that had levied a £10 duty “on Negroes and Mulattoe slaves, imported into this province,” Pennsylvania’s Prohibitive Duty Act. “A Supplement to an act, entituled An Act for laying a duty on Negroes and Mulattoe slaves, imported into this province.” Continued in 1768. Carey and Bioren, LAWS, I. 371, 451; Bettle, NOTICES OF NEGRO SLAVERY, in PENN. HIST. SOC. MEM. (1864), I. 388-9. INTERNATIONAL SLAVE TRADE SLAVERY

June 23: According to The Mercury of Newport, Rhode Island, there was a consignment of slaves “just imported from Africa” at the wharf of Captain Samuel Holmes — just waiting for good white families in good colonial homes to realize how very much they would benefit from their services. INTERNATIONAL SLAVE TRADE

August 17: William Carey was born in Purey, Northampton, England. His father and grandfather were clerks of the Episcopal Church. Although during an orthodox boyhood he would be taught to regard dissenters with contempt, as an adult he would become one of these dissenters, a Baptist.

The following advertisement appeared in the Boston Gazette, offering that any male slave who was proving himself to be a management problem, which is to say, less than fully compliant with his master’s wishes, might be “sold South” to a venue in which, basically, he would be worked to death in the fields as part of a crew under the direction of slavedrivers with whips: To be sold, a parcel of likely young negroes, imported from Africa, cheap for cash. Inquire of John Avery. Also, if any person have any negro men, strong and hearty, though not of the best moral character, which are proper subjects for transportation, they may have an exchange for small negroes.

October: There was another servile insurrection in Kingston, Jamaica.

October: In Massachusetts, Anna Bill testified that Nathaniel Brown and John Oliver had purchased “right and title” to two of his Negro Boys from Captain John Sale (the legal issue was going to be, was such a sale legitimate, and this would depend on whether these two blacks were enslaved). Anna Bill of lawful age testifies and says that she was at the House of Capt. John Sale when Mr. Nathaniel Brown and Mr John Oliver came to buy two of his Negro Boys, and Capt. John Sale told them that he would not Sell them for Slaves but he would sell his Right and Title in them and Mr Oliver replyed that he would run the risque of their ever getting free. — Anna Bill her [+] mark. —

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Sworn before the Court in October 1761. — Atte: Middlecott Cookeller. A true Copy Atte: Middlecott Cookeller [over] Respecting Slaves 1761

December: There was servile insurrection on the island of Bermuda. The plot to destroy the whites was by accident discovered. One man would be burned alive, one would be hanged, and 11, according to the received account, would be “condemned” (I don’t know for sure, but I imagine that such a term in such a context would amount to being worked to death in a labor crew in the fields).

1762

Elbridge Gerry graduated from Harvard College and joined his father and two brothers in the family business, exporting dried cod to Barbados (as slave food) and to Spain.

Jeremy Belknap graduated from Harvard College and would become a teacher and then a minister/historian.

John Swift of Acton also graduated from Harvard College and would study medicine. He would become the 1st physician to establish a practice in Acton: John Swift, only child of the Rev. John Swift, born 18th of November, 1741, graduated [at Harvard College, like his father, in] 1762, and settled as a physician in Acton, where he died of the small-pox about 1775.98

When Robert Hazard II died as the largest slaveholder in South Kingstown, Rhode Island, his son Thomas Hazard III, a Quaker abolitionist, declined to inherit these slaves.99

98. Lemuel Shattuck’s 1835 A HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF CONCORD;.... Boston MA: Russell, Odiorne, and Company; Concord MA: John Stacy, 1835 (On or about November 11, 1837 Henry David Thoreau would indicate a familiarity with the contents of at least pages 2-3 and 6-9 of this historical study.) 99. Please do not assume that this means that anyone became free. 460 Copyright  Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX

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In January, England declared war on Spain, and so in June a large British military expedition seized the port of Havana, Cuba.

The British fleet also during the year captured Manila in the Philippine Islands. However, the British would not expand their occupation of the island of Cuba beyond the port, and would abandon the island in less than

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two years.

Between this point and 1838, about 391,000 black slaves would be brought to Cuba. (That’s not counting the Chinese coolies, who weren’t actual slaves but were, rather, contract workers without a promise of return to China.)

In Rhode Island harbors as a whole during this year, it has been estimated by Alexander Boyd Hawes, some 19 vessels were being fitted out for the international slave trade. For instance (although it is possible that these should be carried under the year 1761), Captain Taylor took the brig Royal Charlotte toward the Africa coast, Captain Nathaniel Roads was in the schooner Success, Captains Pinnegar, Gardner, Heffernan, Caleb Gardner, Carpenter, and Peter Allan were at Anamaboe when John Harwood or Howard left there in May, Captain Wanton brought a cargo of slaves to the island of Guadalupe, Captain John Allen’s brig Molly arrived on the coast of Virginia from Africa during October, and then there were mentions of Captains Larsher and Durfee. If an average cargo of slaves was 109 –as we have estimated on the basis of a number of known cargos– then a total of better than 2,000 souls were transported during this year in Rhode Island bottoms alone. Examples from this year include the Rhode Island ship Friendship, carrying a cargo of 150 slaves, the brig Greyhound, carrying a cargo of 150, the schooner Little Betsey, carrying 64, the sloop Prince Shebro, carrying 70, the sloop Rebecca & Joseph, carrying 70, the brig Royal Charlotte, carrying 70, the sloop Three Friends, carrying 75, and a brig of unknown name, carrying 75.

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August 7: A “free Negroe” and “Labourer” in Providence, Rhode Island named Greenwich Navy, having purchased a “Negroe whoman” named Membo or Mimbo, “a wench,” from Joseph Tellinghast the son, heir, and one of the administrators of the estate of the deceased Providence merchant William Tellinghast,100 “for Sundry Good Causes and Considerations me hereunto moving,” duly granted this “wench” her freedom.101 On January 15, 1766 this transaction would be duly recorded on page 512, the final page, in fact the flyleaf, of Volume 14 of the title transactions of the town. Since this record is severely out of its date sequence in books that were kept in date sequence, clearly it was written onto the blank last leaf of this completed 14th volume in order not to waste any space in Volume 17, the volume then current. Clearly, this transaction was considered at least by the clerk of the town, James Angell, to be more a ceremonial than a real property transaction (we notice that he even blotted a word he had begun to misspell), and clearly, the reason for such improper treatment was racial condescension. –However, out-of-sequence recording does award the record the honor of being the very 1st such “manumitt” now to be discovered in turning the pages of the transactions of this town:

100. No record of such a sale appears on Providence’s books. The heir and administrator Joseph Tellinghast may or may not have acted in good faith — perhaps eventually we will locate such a transaction entered in the records of some other town? Things all seems to have worked out for the Navys, for when later on page 22 of Volume 20 “I Greenwich Navy ... Free Negro man” sells a plot with a small shop on it to James Brown, there is at the bottom of said document a signed release by which “And Membo Navy wife of the faid Greenwich Navy doth also release requit and Surrender,” etc. 101. According to Mary Beth Corrigan’s “It’s a Family Affair” in WORKING TOWARD FREEDOM (ed. Larry Hudson, 1994), generally, when free blacks in the Upper South owned black slaves, this was for “philanthropic reasons” — i.e., as a step toward providing freedom to kin. During the 1850s, approximately 10% of the slaves who had been freed by manumissions in deeds (in contrast to manumission in wills) had been freed by a member of their own family who had purchased their enslaved kin in order to free them. Of the 900 or so former slavemasters who would petition for compensation upon the manumission of their Washington DC slaves by the US Congress, approximately 888 would be white slavemasters and 12 would be free blacks slavemasters. All but one of these black slavemasters, however, merely “owned” members of their families — usually these were adult males who “owned” wives or children. Note that the black slavemasters who had to that point retained ownership of family members could have been simply unable to afford the rather steep fees of $50 for a certificate of freedom. 464 Copyright  Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX

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^ÇÉã tÄÄ `xÇ uç à{xáx cÜxáxÇàá à{tà \ ZÜxxÇã|v{ atäç t yÜxx‰ axzÜÉx Éy cÜÉä|wxÇvx |Ç çAx VÉâÇàç Éy cÜÉä|wxÇvx tÇw VÉÄÉÇç Éy‰ e{Éwx \áÄtÇw _tuÉâÜxÜ yÉÜ tÇw |Ç VÉÇá|wxÜtà|ÉÇ Éy à{x ZÉÉw j|ÄÄ tÇw tyyxvà|ÉÇ ã{|v{ \ {täx tÇw wÉ uxtÜ gÉãtÜwá `xÅuÉ [blank space] t axzÜÉx ã{ÉÅtÇ? ã{|v{ \ câÜv{táxw Éy à{x TwÅ|Ç|áàÜtàÉÜá Éy à{x Xáàtàx Éy j|ÄÄ|tÅ gxÄÄ|Çz{táà Wxvxtáxw tÇw yÉÜ fâÇwÜç ZÉÉw Vtâáxá tÇw VÉÇá|wxÜtà|ÉÇá Åx q {xÜxâÇàÉ ÅÉä|Çz? WÉ uç g{xáx cÜxáxÇàበ`tÇâÅ|àà à{x át|w axzÜÉx jÉÅtÇ? tÇw tuáÉÄâàxÄç yÜxx tÇw w|áv{tÜzx {xÜ yÜÉÅ tÄÄ ÅtÇÇxÜ Éy fÄtäxÜç? UÉÇwtzx ÉÜ fxÜä|àâwx ã{tàáÉxäxÜ {xÜxuç câuÄ|á{|Çz tÇw WxvÄtÜ|Çz àÉ tÄÄ ã{ÉÅ |à Åtç VÉÇvxÜÇx [sic] à{tà à{x át|w `|ÅuÉ [blank space] uç ä|Üàâx Éy à{|á \ÇáàÜâÅxÇà Éy `tÇâÅ|áá|ÉÇ |á uxvÉÅx t yÜxx fâu}xvà Éy {|á `t}xáàç tÇw‰ uç tÄÄ cxÜáÉÇá áÉ àÉ ux XáàxtÅxw[sic]tÇw gt~xÇ[blotted “hera”?]{xÜxtyàx܉ A\Ç j|àÇxyá ã{xÜxÉy \ wÉ {xÜxâÇàÉ fxà Åç [tÇw tÇw fxtĉ à{x fxäxÇà{ Wtç Éy Tâzâáà |Ç à{x fxvÉÇw lxtÜ Éy {|á Åt}xáàç ex|zÇ ZxÉÜzx à{x g{|Üw ^|Çz Éy ZÜxtà UÜ|àt|Ç q çxTW DJIE f|zÇxw fxtÄxw tÇw WxÄ|äxÜxw \Ç à{x cÜxáxÇvx Éy ]ÉáxÑ{ TÜÇÉÄw ZÜxxÇã|v{ atäç ((Seal)) ]ÉÇtà{tÇ [|ÄÄ } exvÉÜwxw ]tÇâtÜç DHAà{ DJII‰ Uç ]tÅxá TÇzxÄÄ VÄxÜ~x

MANUMISSION SLAVERY

1763

In about this year New Jersey adopted a duty of prohibitive proportions against the importation into the province of any further “Negroes and Mulatto Slaves.” (We suspect that this enactment was subsequently disallowed by Great Britain.) “An Act for laying a duty on Negroes and Mulatto Slaves Imported into this Province.” Disallowed (?) by Great Britain. N.J. ARCHIVES, IX. 345-6, 383, 447, 458. INTERNATIONAL SLAVE TRADE SLAVERY

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February 23: Cuffy launched a servile insurrection against the Dutch of Berbice, Guyana that would prove so successful (if only temporarily, pending the arrival of European reinforcements) that there is now a statue in his honor.

June 16: According to The Mercury of Newport, Rhode Island, the brig Royal Charlotte was in port with a consignment of slaves from the Gold Coast of Africa, men, women, boys, and girls currently being offered for sale to the discerning customer:102 INTERNATIONAL SLAVE TRADE

On Thursday last arriv’d from the Coast of AFRICA, the Brig Royal Charlotte, with a Parcel of extremely fine, healthy, well-limb’d Gold Coast SLAVES. Men, Women, Boys, and Girls. Gentlemen in Town and Country have now an Opportunity to furnish themselves with such as will suit them. Those that want, are desired to apply very speedily, or they will lose the Advantage of supplying themselves. They are to be seen on board the Vessel at Taylor’s Wharf. Apply to Thomas Teekle Taylor Samuel and William Vernon. N.B. Those that remain on Hand will be shipt off very soon.

Boys, stored coincidentally Men Women Girls, stored coincidentally near the crew’s sleeping near the officers’ sleeping quarters. quarters.

(kept carefully separate)

September 19: The brig Royal Charlotte departed from the port of Newport, Rhode Island with some portion of its consignment of enslaved men, women, boys, and girls from the Gold Coast of Africa, still not as yet disposed of to the discerning final consumer. The destination of the vessel was the upper James River.

102. I bet you’ve looked at this idealized master plan for the benevolent negrero ship a thousand times and never realized what it had to tell you about gender segregation aboard such a vessel! 466 Copyright  Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX

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November 26: The colony of Maryland imposed an additional £2 duty in “An Act for imposing an additional Duty of Two Pounds per Poll on all Negroes Imported into this Province.” § 1. All persons importing Negroes by land or water into this province, shall at the time of entry pay to the naval officer the sum of two pounds, current money, over and above the duties now payable by law, for every Negro so imported or brought in, on forfeiture of £10 current money for every Negro so brought in and not paid for. One half of the penalty is to go to the informer, the other half to the use of the county schools. The duty shall be collected, accounted for, and paid by the naval officers, in the same manner as former duties on Negroes. § 2. But persons removing from any other of his Majesty’s dominions in order to settle and reside within this province, may import their slaves for carrying on their proper occupations at the time of removal, duty free. § 3. Importers of Negroes, exporting the same within two months of the time of their importation, on application to the naval officer shall be paid the aforesaid duty. Bacon, LAWS, 1763, ch. xxviii. INTERNATIONAL SLAVE TRADE SLAVERY

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December 2, Chanukah: Dedication of the 1st synagogue in New England, the Touro Synagogue of congregation K.K. Yeshuat Israel, the Holy Congregation of the Salvation of Israel, in Newport, Rhode Island (this congregation had actually been in existence on Aquidneck Island since 1658).103

The Reverend Ezra Stiles noticed that the only furniture in the place was the wainscoting, but that this was adequate seating since there were only about eighty in the congregation. Presumably by “wainscoting” the Congregational reverend was referring to the wooden bench structures built into the walls.

(Some of the Jews of this synagogue, like some of their Christian neighbors such as the Quakers, next door up the hill, engaged in the international slave trade. In general, in Rhode Island harbors as a whole during this year, it has been estimated by Alexander Boyd Hawes, some 17-20 vessels were being fitted out for the coast of Africa. For instance, Captain Ferguson arrived on that coast some time before September. If an average cargo of slaves was 109 –as we have estimated on the basis of a number of known cargos– then a total of more than 1,850 souls were transported during this year in Rhode Island bottoms alone. Examples from this year include the Rhode Island snow Adventure carrying a cargo of 150 slaves, the brig Diamond carrying a cargo

103. It would not, until a much later timeframe, be referred to as the Touro Synagogue. After their synagogue building, in what had become the bad part of town, had been deconsecrated, the dilapidated empty structure, under a caretaker who was a Quaker, would perhaps find use occasionally, surreptitiously, as free temporary accommodations for escaping slaves as a station on the Underground Railroad (the word “perhaps” is used because no evidence whatever has ever been produced and, most likely, this has been pious wishful thinking). The edifice would be designated a national historical site in 1946. —When you visit, and are proudly shown the must-see secret hiding hole underneath the lectern, try to be discrete and polite and do not complicate matters (Boo!) by inquiring about participation in the international slave trade. 468 Copyright  Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX

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of 120, the schooner Kitty carrying 70, the schooner Little Sally carrying 60, the sloop Salisbury carrying 90, the sloop Three Friends carrying 78, the sloop Wydah carrying 60, a schooner of unknown name carrying 120, a schooner of unknown name carrying 72, a schooner of unknown name carrying 90, and a schooner of unknown name carrying 90.)

Isaac Touro (“de Toro”) was officiating as Cantor.

He would be the first rabbi. It had been he, presumably, who had provided, from memory, the design of the Portuguese Sephardic Synagogue of Amsterdam. The structure had been faced so that the congregation as it turned toward the Aron Kodesh would be turning toward Mizrah. The main floor was for men and the gallery for women. JUDAISM

1764

Sam Adams, when offered a slave woman to tend his sick wife, insisted that she had to be manumitted before he would allow her to enter his home.

There are some things up with which I will not put.

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In Nova Scotia, the townships of Granville, Windsor and Shelburne were formed; and the Acadians were permitted to hold lands in the province upon taking the oath of allegiance. There were war debts that now had to be paid. Parliament modified its Molasses Act to produce revenue in concert with its Revenue Act, as the Sugar Act, the first to raise revenue not only from England but from its colonies as well. England had come out of the period known as the Seven Years’ War in Europe and the French and Indian Wars in America (it lasted eight years over here) in the position of being the most far-flung empire which the world would ever see. From France, England had taken not only the amorphous hinterland known as Canada but also several islands in the West Indies. From Spain, England had taken a region centering around what would be known as Florida. But England had come out of the period of hostilities, of course, as said, with an immense debt load, and Americans of course immediately objected to sharing in this burden, on grounds that since under British law such revenue measures could be taken only upon the consent of the representatives in Parliament assembled, and with Americans having no representation in that body, we should not be taxed with out being represented. Everybody knew, the condition of the Parliament being what it was, that that was very much like saying that they shouldn’t be raping us without kissing us first, but never mind because what we needed was a nice slogan, and ample indignation.104 The only real possibilities being • either kill a whole bunch of Englishmen, • or else do the unthinkable, stop putting sugar in our tea; since we had just come out of a period in which we and the Englishmen had been killing a whole bunch of Frenchmen and a whole bunch of Indians, the easiest solution was a minor behavioral adjustment: • substitute for the killing of Indians the killing of Englishmen. This Revenue Act having brought taxation without representation to Boston, obviously a Committee of Correspondence had to be formed.

104.It isn’t too hard to create slogans when you really need them: witness a slaveholder standing up in public, in broad daylight like, and going “Give me liberty or give me death!” But you have to be careful to avoid afterthoughts during this process — the first inspiration is usually the best one. 470 Copyright  Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX

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As his contribution to the resolution of this crisis, Governor Stephen Hopkins of Rhode Island prepared THE RIGHTS OF COLONIES EXAMINED, and this was printed in Providence:

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July 6: A preserved gazette advertisement tells us that the sloop Elizabeth had juft arrived at the port of Newport on Aquidneck Island in the colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, from the coast of Africa, bearing a number of healthy Negro boys and girls, who would be offered for fale by John Miller at his houfe or store:

TRIANGULAR TRADE Likewife available to be fold at the houfe or store of John Miller was a consignment of snuff.

The Middle Passage of this vessel, from the coast of Africa to the coast of America, had required 55 days.

(Was there any difference between selling boys and girls, and selling snuff? Well, yes, there was, there was for instance the issue of the health, which is to say, the varying quality, of boys and girls, an issue which seems not to arise in the case of the snuff, and there was the issue of quantity of sale, in that the snuff was to be wholesaled either by the cafk or by the dozen whereas human beings would of course be vended individually.) SLAVES

August 25: The colony of South Carolina levied an additional £100 head tax upon the first purchasers of all Negroes hereafter imported. “An Act for laying an additional duty upon all Negroes hereafter to be imported into this Province, for the time therein mentioned, to be paid by the first purchasers of such Negroes.” Cooper, STATUTES, IV 187. INTERNATIONAL SLAVE TRADE SLAVERY W.E. Burghardt Du Bois: South Carolina had the largest and most widely developed slave-trade of any of the continental colonies. This was owing to the character of her settlers, her nearness to the West Indian slave marts, and the early development of certain staple crops, such as rice, which were adapted to slave labor.105 Moreover, this colony suffered much less interference from the home government than many other colonies; thus it is possible here to trace the untrammeled development of slave- trade restrictions in a typical planting community. As early as 1698 the slave-trade to South Carolina had reached such proportions that it was thought that “the great number of negroes which of late have been imported into this Collony may endanger the safety thereof.” The immigration of white servants was therefore encouraged by a special law.106 Increase of immigration reduced this disproportion, but Negroes continued 105. Cf. Hewatt, HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF S. CAROLINA AND GEORGIA (1779), I. 120 ff.; reprinted in S.C. HIST. COLL. (1836), I. 108 ff. 106. Cooper, STATUTES AT LARGE OF S. CAROLINA, II. 153. 472 Copyright  Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX

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to be imported in such numbers as to afford considerable revenue from a moderate duty on them. About the time when the Assiento was signed, the slave-trade so increased that, scarcely a year after the consummation of that momentous agreement, two heavy duty acts were passed, because “the number of Negroes do extremely increase in this Province, and through the afflicting providence of God, the white persons do not proportionately multiply, by reason whereof, the safety of the said Province is greatly endangered.”107 The trade, however, by reason of the encouragement abroad and of increased business activity in exporting naval stores at home, suffered scarcely any check, although repeated acts, reciting the danger incident to a “great importation of Negroes,” were passed, laying high duties.108 Finally, in 1717, an additional duty of £40,109 although due in depreciated currency, succeeded so nearly in stopping the trade that, two years later, all existing duties were repealed and one of £10 substituted.110 This continued during the time of resistance to the proprietary government, but by 1734 the importation had again reached large proportions. “We must therefore beg leave,” the colonists write in that year, “to inform your Majesty, that, amidst our other perilous circumstances, we are subject to many intestine dangers from the great number of negroes that are now among us, who amount at least to twenty-two thousand persons, and are three to one of all your Majesty’s white subjects in this province. Insurrections against us have been often attempted.”111 In 1740 an insurrection under a slave, Cato, at Stono, caused such widespread alarm that a prohibitory duty of £100 was immediately laid.112 Importation was again checked; but in 1751 the colony sought to devise a plan whereby the slightly restricted immigration of Negroes should provide a fund to encourage the importation of white servants, “to prevent the mischiefs that may be attended by the great importation of negroes into this Province.”113 Many white servants were thus encouraged to settle in the colony; but so much larger was the influx of black slaves that the colony, in 1760, totally prohibited the slave-trade. This act was promptly disallowed by the Privy Council and the governor reprimanded;114 but the colony declared that “an importation of negroes, equal in number to what have been imported of late years, may prove of the most dangerous consequence in many respects to this Province, and the best way to obviate such danger will be by imposing such an additional duty upon them as may totally prevent the evils.”115 A 107. The text of the first act is not extant: cf. Cooper, STATUTES, III. 56. For the second, see Cooper, VII. 365, 367. 108. Cf. Grimké, PUBLIC LAWS OF S. CAROLINA, page xvi, No. 362; Cooper, STATUTES, II. 649. Cf. also GOVERNOR JOHNSON TO THE BOARD OF TRADE, Jan. 12, 1719-20; reprinted in Rivers, EARLY HISTORY OF S. CAROLINA (1874), App., xii. 109. Cooper, STATUTES, VII. 368. 110. Cooper, STATUTES, III. 56. 111. From a memorial signed by the governor, President of the Council, and Speaker of the House, dated April 9, 1734, printed in Hewatt, HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF S. CAROLINA AND GEORGIA (1779), II. 39; reprinted in S.C. Hist. Coll. (1836), I. 305-6. Cf. N.C. COL. REC., II. 421. 112. Cooper, STATUTES, III. 556; Grimké, PUBLIC LAWS, page xxxi, No. 694. Cf. Ramsay, HISTORY OF S. CAROLINA, I. 110. 113. Cooper, STATUTES, III. 739. 114. The text of this law has not been found. Cf. Burge, COMMENTARIES ON COLONIAL AND FOREIGN LAWS, I. 737, note; Stevens, HISTORY OF GEORGIA, I. 286. See instructions of the governor of New Hampshire, June 30, 1761, in Gordon, HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, I. letter 2. 115. Cooper, STATUTES, IV. 187. “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 473 HDT WHAT? INDEX

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prohibitive duty of £100 was accordingly imposed in 1764.116 This duty probably continued until the Revolution.

116. This duty avoided the letter of the English instructions by making the duty payable by the first purchasers, and not by the importers. Cf. Cooper, STATUTES, IV. 187. 474 Copyright  Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX

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1765

The Brown Brothers of Providence, Rhode Island, richie rich, were accustomed to treating persons as things. They routinely had no qualms about exchanging things for persons, and persons for things:

Thus we should treat it as no aberration, no fluke, no mere unfortunate happenstance, that in this year their negrero brigantine Sally experienced difficulties. (When you are accustomed to treating persons as things and vicey versa, for instance treating persons as cargo, cargo being something that is sometimes damaged in transit, you can expect that some of the persons you are dealing in will be damaged or lost in transit. It goes without saying.) For the papers of the Sally, Governor Stephen Hopkins had used the blank back of a pass that had been issued by the British admiralty in regard to another vessel on another voyage quite completed. The front of the parchment having been used, the back was available as colonial document paper. I have inspected that parchment and its seals; it is very much the worse for wear and is now preserved at the John Carter Brown

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Library at Brown University. It reads like this: Uç à{x [ÉÇÉÜtuÄx fàxÑ{xÇ [ÉÑ~|Çá XáÖâ|Üx? ZÉäxÜÇÉÜ? tÇw VÉÅtÇwxÜ [sic] |Ç V{|xy Éy à{x VÉÄÉÇç Éy e{Éwx \áÄtÇwA à{tà à{|á Wtç \ wxÄ|äxÜxw à{|á ctyá àÉ Xyx~ [ÉÑ~|Çá `táàxÜ Éy à{x UÜ|ztÇà|Çx ftÄÄç\ vxÜà|yç ÉycÜÉä|wxÇvx |Ç át|wVÉÄÉÇç Éye{Éwx\áÄtÇw Éy à{xUâÜà{xÇ Éy ÉÇx[âÇwÜxw tÇw àãxÇàç y|äxgÉÇá ÅÉâÇàxw ã|à{f|åZâÇá tÇw Çtä|ztàxw ã|à{ yÉâÜàxxÇ`xÇ? tÄÄfâu}xvàá Éy[|áUÜ|àtÇÇ|v`t}xáàçe{Éwx \áÄtÇw uâ|Äà? tÇw uÉâÇw yÉÜ TyÜ|vt tÇw à{x jxáà \Çw|xáA YÉÜ ã{|v{ ctyá à{x át|w `táàxÜ {tà{ z|äxÇ UÉÇw tÇw àt~xÇ à{x [hole in parchment]btà{ àÉ xÇà|àÄx {|Å àÉfâv{ctyá à{xÜx ux|Çz t Çxã [??]|Ç át|wVÉÄÉÇçA âÇwxÜ Åç [tÇw tÇw fxtÄ tà TÜÅx [??] tà e{Éwx \áÄtÇw à{|á x|z{à{ Wtç Éy fxÑàxÅuxÜZ|äxÇ ÉÇx g{ÉâátÇw fxäxÇ [âÇwÜxw tÇw f|åàç yÉâÜ? tÇw |Ç à{x yÉâÜà{ lxtÜ Éy [|á `t}xáàçá ex|zÇ ZxÉÜzx à{x à{|Üw ^|Çz Éy ZÜxtà UÜ|àt|Ç9vA fàxÑ[ÉÑ~|Çá ((Tax Stamp with “68” and “GR” and a crown and a quite large and ornate “GR”))

Of the 167 Africans she was transporting in chains, 109 were lost.117 THE BROWN BROTHERS THE MIDDLE PASSAGE SLAVERY

117. The other ships were the Mary and the Wheel of Fortune. To repel pirates, the Sally carried 7 swivel guns and a keg of powder, two pairs of ship pistols, 8 “small Arms,” 2 “Blunder Bursers,” and 13 “Cutleshes,” and to keep the male Africans under control, also, 3 long chains with a dozen “pad Locks,” 40 “hand Cufs,” and 40 “Shekels.” We can infer that this ship was not named in honor of Sally Hemings, President Thomas Jefferson’s common-law wife/real-law slave, and mother of a number of his children — as she had not yet been born. 476 Copyright  Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX

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In Rhode Island harbors during this year, it has been estimated by Alexander Boyd Hawes, some 19 vessels were fitted out for the international slave trade. If an average cargo of slaves was 109 –as we have estimated on the basis of a number of known cargos– then a total of more than 2,000 souls were being transported during this year in Rhode Island bottoms alone. Examples from this year include the Rhode Island ship King George, carrying a cargo of 200 slaves, the brig Othello,118 carrying a cargo of 56, and a brig of unknown name carrying 100.

In addition, three vessels brought in slaves, evidently for sale in Newport. They were the sloop Hope (I hope they don’t sell me to some nasty white man!), captained by Nathaniel Mumford, the sloop Three Friends, captained by Captain Toman, and the sloop Fanny, captained by Owen Morris.

(We know that during September of this year, Captain Scofield was reported as having his ship in the vicinity of Cape Mount.)

Meanwhile, someone who had once upon a time been brought over on a Rhode Island ship, at the age of 36, after an African boyhood followed by almost 30 years as an American slave, Venture Smith managed to complete enough of the £85 series of payments to his free black friend, by earning money on outside jobs and by selling produce he grew, so that Colonel Oliver Smith agreed to “eat” the remaining balance and settle for £71 2s. He relocated from Stonington, Connecticut to Paumanok Long Island, New York. He would make his living on Long Island primarily by chopping and cording wood, transporting some of this wood to Rhode Island (his ax is said to have been a large one, weighing nine pounds, appropriately sized for such a large man). Being 36 years old, I left Colonel Smith. My wife and children were yet in bondage. I spent [my next four years on Long Island,] working for various people. In [these] years, what wood I cut amounted to several thousand cords, and the money which I earned I laid up carefully. I bought nothing which I did not absolutely want. Expensive gatherings of my mates I shunned, and all kinds of luxuries I was a stranger to.

118. Othello, what a strange name for a negrero vessel during an era in which, in presentations of Shakespeare’s play, the title role was of necessity being performed by an American white man wearing dark body makeup! –Obviously, some Shakespeare nut in Rhode Island had a considerable sense of humor! –What’s next, the brigantine Gen. Nat Turner? “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 477 HDT WHAT? INDEX

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The duty of sixpence the gallon which had been imposed upon molasses from the sugar islands of the Caribbean, which had spawned a vast American smuggling trade, was lowered to threepence the gallon, but, horror of horrors, steps were taken to actually collect the new lowered duty. Now, Americans could stand any level of taxation — so long as it was not collected! Bear in mind here that in the “triangular trade” it was profits from contraband molasses which were fueling the purchase of slaves from Africa to work in the canefields. Thus when Americans began to protest this lowered but collected duty and assert their ancient English liberties, quote ancient English liberties unquote, precisely what they were asserting was their uncoercible freedom to buy and sell human beings. TRIANGULAR TRADE

In WE THE JURY, issued by Prometheus Books, Godfrey D. Lehman has advanced the preposterous argument that, given time, US juries might have disposed of human enslavement across our nation in the manner in which Massachusetts juries had disposed of human enslavement in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, for instance in the Jenny Slew case dating to 1766 and Quok Walker case dating to 1783. One problem with Lehman’s ingenious argument is that since it is based primarily upon the premise that the notorious Walker case disposed of human enslavement in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, it is based primarily upon a false premise. However, had that little-known Slew case dispose of human enslavement in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts? In this year, Jenny Slew of Ipswich was suing her master for keeping her as a slave for three years, on the idea that since she had been born to a white mother she should not be considered to be a slave.Her

SLAVERY IN MASSACHUSETTS master based his defense on the idea that no such person as this Jenny Slew existed –as a legal entity– and the thing is that, in the lower court, where trial by jury was available, this proved to be the winning argument. Only on appeal to the higher court in the following year, a court in which of course there was no jury, would this decision be reversed, and Jenny awarded four pounds in damages, plus expenses. (Since slaves could not receive such awards, Lehman’s presumption became that before the law she was not a slave. On such a scanty evidentiary basis Lehman infers that slavery had been disposed of — and that it had been juries that had done the deed!)

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Granville Sharp was living with his brother, a surgeon in Wapping, East London, when an abandoned damaged

black slave, Jonathan Strong, came into his brother’s surgery in Mincing Lane. Strong told Sharp that David Lisle had brought him to England from Barbados. Strong’s owner, alleging that he was being but poorly served, had beaten him so severely with a pistol that the metal parts had broken away from the wooden parts. Sharp took Strong to St. Bartholomew’s Hospital to be treated as a charity case, and his injuries proved to be so severe 1 that they kept him there for some 4 /2 months. Strong’s head had swollen and he would almost lose his sight, and would be subject to ague and fever, and then would be more or less lame in both feet for a considerable period. After Jonathan Strong had regained his health, David Lisle paid two men to recapture him. When Sharp heard the news he took Lisle to court claiming that as Strong was in England he was no longer a slave. However, it would not be until 1768 that the courts would rule in Strong’s favour. The case would generate national publicity that Sharp would be able to use in his campaign against the presence of black people on English soil. He would also take up the cases of other slaves, such as Thomas Lewis and James Somersett, and convince the courts that “as soon as any slave sets foot upon English territory, he becomes free.”

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The immediate result of this Somerset decision would be wretchedness, as it effectively deprived all English blacks of all means of support. However, there would immediately be a problem, produced by charity. Sharp desired that all English blacks be deported, expelled, to Sierra Leone on the African coast.

Sierra Leone was a great center of the African slave trade. The most likely outcome, when a victimizable black would be dumped in one of the ports along that coast, would be that that black would be victimized, by being taken into slavery and sold off as yet another slave destined to be worked to death on the sugar plantations on the islands of the West Indies. Granville Sharp would be reduced to distributing “handbills asking London’s gentlemen to cease dispensing charity to poor blacks in order to nudge them toward Africa.”

(Gee, you didn’t know that — did you? You had placed a more benign interpretation on these events — hadn’t you?)

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“EMANCIPATION IN THE BRITISH WEST INDIES”: Granville Sharpe was accidentally made acquainted with the sufferings of a slave, whom a West Indian planter had brought with him to London, and had beaten with a pistol on his head so badly, that his whole body became diseased, and the man, useless to his master, who left him to go whither he pleased. The man applied to Mr. William Sharpe, a charitable surgeon, who attended the diseases of the poor. In process of time, he was healed. Granville Sharpe found him at his brother’s, and procured a place for him in an apothecary’s shop. The master accidentally met his recovered slave, and instantly endeavored to get possession of him again. Sharpe protected the slave. In consulting with the lawyers, they told Sharpe the laws were against him. Sharpe would not believe it; no prescription on earth could ever render such iniquities legal. “But the decisions are against you, and Lord Mansfield, now chief justice of England, leans to the decisions.” Sharpe instantly sat down and gave himself to the study of English law for more than two years, until he had proved that the opinions relied on of Talbot and Yorke, were incompatible with the former English decisions, and with the whole spirit of English law. He published his book in 1769, and he so filled the heads and hearts of his advocates, that when he brought the case of George Somerset, another slave, before Lord Mansfield, the slavish decisions were set aside, and equity affirmed. There is a sparkle of God’s righteousness in Lord Mansfield’s judgment, which does the heart good. Very unwilling had that great lawyer been to reverse the late decisions; he suggested twice from the bench, in the course of the trial, how the question might be got rid of: but the hint was not taken; the case was adjourned again and again, and judgment delayed. At last judgment was demanded, and on the 22d June, 1772, Lord Mansfield is reported to have decided in these words; Immemorial usage preserves the memory of positive law, long after all traces of the occasion, reason, authority, and time of its introduction, are lost; and in a case so odious as the condition of slaves, must be taken strictly; (tracing the subject to natural principles, the claim of slavery never can be supported.) The power claimed by this return never was in use here. We cannot say the cause set forth by this return is allowed or approved of by the laws of this kingdom; and therefore the man must be discharged. This decision established the principle that the “air of England is too pure for any slave to breathe,” but the wrongs in the islands were not thereby touched.

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Before the use of labor-saving machinery, the labor input for a pound of cotton thread was 12-14 days. For an equivalent amount of silk thread, by way of contrast, the labor input was 6 days, for linen thread, 2-5 days, for wool, 1-2 days. Cotton was not the most economical garment material, but, except for fine furs, the very most expensive. However, fine cotton muslin was found to be aesthetically preferable.119 SLAVERY And yet — in fact you need only draw a single thread at any point you choose out of the fabric of life and the run will make a pathway across the whole, and down that wider pathway each of the other threads will become successively visible, one by one. — Heimito von Doderer, DIE DÂIMONEN

At this point all spinning to produce cotton muslin was by hand. However, during the 1770s in England, Richard Arkwright’s spinning machine and James Hargreaves’s patent spinning-jenny with multiple spindles powered by water would be transforming this situation. By 1784 all spinning would be by machine, while the production of cotton cloth would have increased by a multiplier of 24. By 1812 the cost of producing a pound of cotton thread would have declined by one order of magnitude and, by the early 1860s, by two orders of magnitude: 100 times less labor intensive!

February 25: According to the Boston Gazette, the firm of Edes and Gill in Boston was brokering an arrangement whereby an inconvenient Female Negro Child (of an extraordinarily good breed, it needed to be pointed out) was to be repositioned in preparation for its life in America by being given away gratis to anyone who would assume responsibility for the nurture of this slave:

(I made the mistake of giving away a puppy once, back when I was young and stupid, and in so doing acquired a valuable lesson in human nature. The valuable lesson I learned was that when one gives something away for free, one runs a certain risk that the recipient will consider what was given to them to be utterly worthless — and treat it accordingly. –But evidently that sort of truism would not apply to human beings, human life being so precious.)

119. Refer to Henry Hobhouse’s SEEDS OF CHANGE: FIVE PLANTS THAT TRANSFORMED THE WORLD (New York, 1986). 482 Copyright  Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX

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March 17: There was a passenger revolt aboard the brigantine Hope120 while it was bringing slaves from the coast of Senegal and Gambia to Connecticut. How did that happen? –Well, the captain, who had beaten several of his crewmen, had been killed and his body thrown overboard, and so the black cargo, seeing such discord among their captors, figured they maybe had a chance. In their revolt they killed one crew member and wounded several others. On this day their revolt was suppressed by killing seven of them. INTERNATIONAL SLAVE TRADE

March 21: According to an advertisement in the New-York Gazette, a Likely Negro Fellow who was said to be an extraordinary good cook, was “for want of Employ” in need of getting himself a new owner. This person, a 25-year-old probably, was said to understand setting or tending a table very well, and likewise was able at all kinds of housework such as washing, scouring, scrubbing, etc.

(Also being offered for sale was a Negro Wench who was this Likely Negro Fellow’s wife, born in the city of New-York, a 17-year-old probably, who like her husband understood all sorts of housework. The ad refrains from stating, but one gets the idea that the seller would be looking to vend these slaves as a matched set and would only reluctantly sell them off separately if it were possible in that way to realize a greater return on his investment.)

120. “Hope” is the motto of Rhode Island, as in “I hope to make a profit from this human flesh.” Do you suppose this slaver bound for the coast of Connecticut might have been a Rhode Island vessel??? “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 483 HDT WHAT? INDEX

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April 2: Ishmael, an 18-year-old black slave who had soldiered for the English against the native Americans of the Lake Champlain region and had frozen his foot, took custody of a firelock and a blanket and fled his owner, the Reverend Mr. Barret, of Marblehead:

(My gosh, what’s the world coming to — this young man is already as of 1765 acting as if America were the Land of Freedom, when, as we all know, this would not be becoming the Land of Freedom for another ten or fifteen years or so!)

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(The ungrateful Ishmael’s contribution would not be mentioned in the Hollywood movie about this war.)

April 4: In Penn’s Journal a hearty strong young negro wench fit for country work was being offered for purchase:

RACE SLAVERY

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April 25: In the pages of the New-York Gazette, Francis Lewis advertised that he had for sale a choice parcel of Muscovado and Powder Sugars in hogsheads, tierces, and barrels and a supply of something called Ravens Duck (he also indicated that he was offering for sale a Negro Woman and Negro Boy, and that he knew of some real estate that needed a renter):

SLAVERY

May: It was at this point that James Watt achieved his 1st and greatest invention, the separate condenser for steam engines, which he would later patent. STEAM ENGINES

May 21: In Stratford, Connecticut, Zachariah Thomlinson traded a 9-year-old named Job to Joseph Woodruff for eight barrels of good merchantable pork: Know all men by these presents that I Zachariah Thomlinson, of Stratford in the County of Fairfield and Colony of Connecticut in New England, for the Consideration of eight barrels of good merchantable pork already in hand Recd of Joseph Woodruff of Milford which is to my full satisfaction and contentment, Do relinquish, release and pass over to him the said Joseph Woodruff and to his heirs and assigns forever, all my right, title and interest in, and unto the Servitude of one Certain malatto boy named Job, aged nine years, born of an

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Indian woman named Nab, to have and to hold said Malatto by free and clear from all claims and Demands made by me or my heirs and further I the said Zachariah Thomlinson Do for my Self and my heirs Covenant with the said Joseph Woodruff and his heirs that he and they Shall Quietly and peaceably possess and enjoy Said Malatto boy Job without the Least Interruption or molestation from or by me or under me or my heirs forever. In witness whereof I have herunto set my hand and seal, this 21st Day of May 1765. SLAVERY

Early June: When an unsuspecting brig came into Newport harbor after its voyage to Africa, it was boarded from the HMS Maidstone and its entire crew was impressed into the royal navy. There was a public protest that evening, in which Rhode Island citizens dragged one of the Maidstone’s boats up onto the town common and burned it. CRIMPING

August 15: The Pennsylvania Journal carried an advertisement to the effect that 70 new slaves of various ages and genders had just been conveyed over the Middle Passage from the Gold Coast of Africa in the ship Granby, Joseph Blewer master, and could be had either for cash or for country produce:

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August 20: Aboard the Sally along the African coast had been accumulated a cargo of 196 of whom 9 had been resold and 20 had already died, the ship’s cargo standing at 167 souls. Negotiation for slave cargo was concluded by the purchase of an additional woman slave and the release of “1 woman all most dead” to their African interpreter, Anthony. It had taken Captain Esek Hopkins fully nine months to collect, on behalf of the firm of Nicholas Brown and Company of Providence, enough captive black Africans along the coast of Guinea in exchange for Rhode Island triple-distilled spirits of rum, to set his sails to run before the winds over the Middle Passage for the slave plantations of the West Indies. The venture still offered prospects of ample profit. TRIANGULAR TRADE

(In order to hold such a person up for public censure, in 1957 at an otherwise undistinguished traffic intersection we have installed in Providence this statue:

Also, in order to hold such a person up for public censure, we have named a public high school after him.)

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December: James Boswell, in Marseilles, was given an opportunity to inspect the galley slaves: “It was curious to see a little row of booths, with signs, all occupied by slaves, many of whom looked as plump and contented as any decent tradesmen whatever. I went into one of the galleys where the slaves were mostly working in different ways in order to gain some little thing. I was told that many of them make rich, as they are allowed a great deal of time for themselves while lying in the harbours [which they nearly always were]. I talked with one who had been in the galleys twenty years. I insisted with him that after so long a time custom must have made even the galleys easy, and that people who had been long in prison did not choose to come out. ‘Ah,’ said the slaves, ‘it is otherwise here. It is two prisons. If we could escape, we should certainly do it. A bird shut up in a cage desires freedom, and so much the more should a man desire it. At first we shed tears, we groaned, but all our tears and groans availed us nothing.’ I was touched with the misery of these wretches, but appeared firm, which made them not show much grief.... I was much satisfied with having seen a galley. I gave the slaves something to drink.”121 SLAVERY

1766

A slave by the name of “Negro Tom” had attempted, unsuccessfully, to run away from his owner, a plantation master and miller named George Washington. –Well, maybe this wasn’t our founding father, but some other Virginian of the same name?– This slavemaster engaged in the international slave trade by sending this recalcitrant slave off to the West Indies, to be traded fair and square on some escape-proof island. What did this Virginia slavemaster want in exchange for his troublesome human being? — He suggested a hogshead of “molasses, rum, limes, tamarinds, sweet meats, and good old spirits.”

(Was this unusual behavior for Washington? — Was it unusual, for our Founding Father to be equating in such a manner the life of a human being with a hogshead of sweetmeats and spirits? Unfortunately, it was not. For instance, according to Henry Wiencek’s AN IMPERFECT GOD: GEORGE WASHINGTON, HIS SLAVES, AND THE CREATION OF AMERICA, at one point in his life, in need of dental work, he would not be above having sound teeth yanked from the jaw of one of his slaves, without anesthesia, to be fashioned into a denture for him to wear! –But probably it was not Negro Tom but someone else among his numerous slaves, who would supply these sound white teeth for the mouth of the white master.)

121. During this period the Pope himself, in the Papal States, was holding galley slaves to row him to and fro. These slaves might be in one or another of the following categories: “convicted criminals condemned to a life sentence” — “captured non-Christian prisoners of war” — “bonavoglie, so-called ‘volunteers’ who through indigence had sold themselves into slavery, and could be released at the end of their contracted period of service in the galleys on condition of good conduct.” “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 489 HDT WHAT? INDEX

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During this year, in Rhode Island harbors, it has been estimated by Alexander Boyd Hawes, some 15 vessels SWEETS were being fitted out for the international slave trade. If an average cargo of slaves was 109 –as we have WITHOUT estimated on the basis of a number of known cargos– then a total of more than 1,630 souls were transported SLAVERY during this year in Rhode Island bottoms alone. Examples from this year include the Rhode Island sloop Hope, carrying a cargo of 100 slaves, the brig Nelly, carrying a cargo of 130, and a sloop of unknown name carrying 60.

During this year, according to the 1822 revision of the PUBLIC LAWS OF RHODE ISLAND (page 441), we have an indication that the colony’s legislature enacted some sort of “restrictive measure” that had to do with the “Slave Trade.” However, neither the title or the text of this ever having been found — we have no clue as to its substance.

In WE THE JURY, issued by Prometheus Books, Godfrey D. Lehman has advanced the preposterous argument that, given time, US juries might have disposed of human enslavement across our nation in the manner in which Massachusetts juries had disposed of human enslavement in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, for instance in the Jenny Slew 1766 and Quok Walker 1783 cases. One problem with Lehman’s argument is that it is based on the premise that the notorious Walker case disposed of human enslavement in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, which happens to be a false premise. So, did this little-known Slew case dispose of human enslavement in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts? In the previous year, Jenny Slew of Ipswich had sued her master for keeping her as a slave for three years, on the idea that since she had been born to a white mother she should not be considered to be a slave. Her master had based his defense on the idea that no such person as this Jenny Slew existed –as a legal entity– and the thing is that, in the lower court, where trial by jury was available, this had proven to be the winning argument. Only on appeal to the higher court in this following year, a court in which of course there was no jury, was this decision reversed, and Jenny was awarded four pounds in damages, plus expenses. (Since slaves could not receive such awards, Lehman’s presumption would be that before the law she was not a slave. On such an evidentiary basis Lehman infers that slavery had been disposed of — and that it had been juries that did the deed!)

April: In New Jersey, James Anderson and his wife Ann Anderson manumitted Jane, a “Girl Born of the body of a Negroe Woman but supposed to be begotten by a White man which said Girl according to the Custom of the Land is held in Slavery and bondage.” James Anderson was one of the earliest and staunchest followers of the local religious leader Joseph Nichols, who was antislavery, so it is possible that the manumission was due to his influence. Since this happened a couple of months before the arrival of Friend John Woolman, it cannot be said to have been the result of his Quaker antislavery influence.

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May 9: John Leonard Knapp was born at Shenley, Buckinghamshire, England, the youngest son of the Reverend Primatt Knapp, Rector of Shenley, and Keturah French Knapp, 3rd daughter of Nathaniel French, Esquire. After attending school at Thame in Oxfordshire he would go at an early age into the British Navy.

A meeting of Quakers in Golansville, Virginia, between Alexandria and Richmond, issued a call to fellow Quakers to discontinue their slaveholding.

RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS

May 24: In New Jersey, Paris Chipman and Margaret Chipman manumitted Thomas, a Negro boy. The Chipmans, like the Andersons, were followers of the local religious leader Joseph Nichols, who was antislavery, so it is possible that the manumission of a slave was due to his influence. Since this happened prior to the arrival of Friend John Woolman, it cannot be said to have been the result of his Quaker antislavery influence.

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November: The colonial legislature of Virginia proposed an additional import duty on new slaves (if the king would give his consent to this). “An act for laying an additional duty upon slaves imported into this colony.” § 1. “ ... from and after the passing of this act there shall be levied and paid ... for all slaves imported or brought into this colony for sale, either by land or water from any port or place whatsoever, by the buyer or purchaser, after the rate of ten per centum on the amount of each respective purchase over and above the several duties already laid upon slaves imported or brought into this colony as aforesaid,” etc. To be suspended until the king’s consent is given, and then to continue seven years. The same act was passed again in 1769. Hening, STATUTES, VIII. 237, 337. INTERNATIONAL SLAVE TRADE SLAVERY

1767

Flushing Meeting on Paumanok Long Island formally condemned slavery as incompatible with the principles of Christianity.

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Granville Sharp’s A REPRESENTATION OF THE INJUSTICE AND DANGEROUS TENDENCY OF TOLERATING SLAVERY; OR OF ADMITTING THE LEAST CLAIM OF PRIVATE PROPERTY IN THE PERSONS OF MEN, IN ENGLAND.

“EMANCIPATION IN THE BRITISH WEST INDIES”: All the great geniuses of the British senate, Fox, Pitt, Burke, Grenville, Sheridan, Grey, Canning, ranged themselves on its side; the poet Cowper wrote for it: Franklin, Jefferson, Washington, in this country, all recorded their votes.

September 18: Alerted by Granville Sharp to a situation in the Poultney Compter, that an apparently free black man who was accused of no offense had been kidnapped and held there and was being sold for transportation to the plantations of the West Indies, the Lord Mayor of London, Sir Robert Kite, summoned all involved to appear before him. Meanwhile David Lisle had sold his interest in Jonathan Strong to James Kerr, a ship captain, for a mere £30. It was Kerr’s intention to take Strong into custody and transport him to the West Indies for sale to a sugar plantation there. Strong was, however, allowed by the Lord Mayor to depart from this meeting at liberty, since he had not been accused of stealing anything. Lisle would challenge Sharp to a duel and, when rebuffed, would file a lawsuit. Clearly this had departed from the realm of economics and had become a dispute among white men over a matter of principle, as the £30 involved would hardly have been enough to quarrel over in such an expensive manner. The principle seems to have been a man’s right to dispose of his own personal property in any manner in which he chooses so to do. In other words, what we had here was something which today we would have to classify as a “libertarian” issue. Was or was not Captain Kerr, as a British

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subject who was a man of property, to be free? Sharp began to devote all his considerable skills to a proof in court that slavery was not only morally but also legally reprehensible.

This would not be the case which ended slavery in England, as it would be continued and rescheduled on eight successive occasions. However, it was the case which mobilized Sharp, who would turn out to be the most energetic and dedicated and persuasive individual involved in this struggle to end slavery in England. It is to be noted that Sharp, like virtually all white people of his era, was committedly racist. His court arguments would include an offering that it would be bad public policy to continue slavery in England, since this would result in “unnatural increase of black subjects,” and since of course such persons were undesirables. These enslaved minority races, “not only Negroes, but Mulattos, and even American Indians,” would of necessity be filling places of service which would otherwise be available to Apprentices, “healthy and comely boys and girls, the children of our own free fellow-subjects.” Granville Sharp would even make an invidious reference to the “mixed people” who would be “produced by the unavoidable intercourse with their white neighbors,” an argument which surely was not lost upon Lord Mansfield, he who had at home a beloved, adopted niece, Dido Elizabeth Lindsey (at the left in the illustration above — at the right is her biological cousin, Lady

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Elizabeth Murray), who was in fact (as you can clearly see) one of these “mixed people.” EMANCIPATION AMALGAMATION

“EMANCIPATION IN THE BRITISH WEST INDIES”: All the great geniuses of the British senate, Fox, Pitt, Burke, Grenville, Sheridan, Grey, Canning, ranged themselves on its side; the poet Cowper wrote for it: Franklin, Jefferson, Washington, in this country, all recorded their votes.

November 9: A list of the “rateable estate” of Moses Brown, including his share of the property of Nicholas Brown & Co, included not only land, mortgages, and livestock, but also “4 Negro Men and One Girl.” (In the inventory which had been made of his father’s estate, we find listed alongside line items for sundry swine and pairs of oxen a line item for “4 Negros” worth collectively £300 — with no indication of their age or gender or origin, or even their names. We may hypothesize that these four individuals had, at the age of Moses Brown’s majority, been transferred to him with the farm property, and would then be among the slaves whom Friend Moses eventually would manumit, but we do not have evidence for such an identification.) SLAVERY

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November 29: Abraham Pereira Mendez wrote from Charleston, where he had journeyed to better control his cargo of human beings, to the international slavetrader Aaron Lopez at Newport, Rhode Island: “These Negroes, which Captain Abraham All delivered to me, were in such poor condition due to the poor transportation, that I was forced to sell 8 boys and girls for a mere 27, 2 other for 45 and two women each for 35.”

Presumably the damaged-goods-sale amounts mentioned for the slaves are in pounds sterling. Boys and girls aren’t worth much if they aren’t in perfect condition — as anyone who deals in human flesh can tell you. (During this year, in Rhode Island harbors, it has been estimated by Alexander Boyd Hawes, some dozen vessels were being fitted out for the international slave trade. If an average cargo of slaves was 109 –as we have estimated on the basis of a number of known cargos– then a total of more than 1,300 souls were being transported in Rhode Island bottoms alone. Examples from this year include the Rhode Island brig Benjamin carrying a cargo of 115 slaves, the ship Black Prince carrying a cargo of 190, the sloop Isabella carrying 100, the brig Polly carrying 130, the ship Polly carrying 180, the snow Polly carrying 100, the brig Royal Charlotte carrying 105, and the square-rigged brigantine Sally carrying 120.)

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1768

One member of the Jewish congregation in Newport, Aaron Lopez, owned some 30 oceangoing vessels and more than 100 coastal schooners. He had the honor of occupying the special raised President’s Seat at the side of the Touro Synagogue, separate from the other worshipers inside a railing. He and his family involved themselves heavily in the molasses, rum and slave trade.122 The other major American hub of their trading ring was in Charleston, South Carolina.

In Rhode Island harbors in this year, it is estimated by Alexander Boyd Hawes, some 18 vessels were being fitted out for the international slave trade. If an average cargo of slaves was 109 –as we have estimated on the basis of a number of known cargos– then a total of well over 1,950 souls were being transported in Rhode Island bottoms alone. Examples from this year include the Rhode Island brig Hannah, carrying a cargo of 165 slaves, the ship King George, carrying a cargo of 230, the sloop Patty, carrying 130, the brig Polly, carrying 154, and again the brig Polly, on another trip in the same year carrying 130.

Captain John Wilson, of General Gage’s 59th regiment in Boston, attempted to incite servile insurrection among some 300 black slaves in that metropolis by assuring them that the military had seized the port in an attempt to secure their freedom and that if they would fight for their freedom in conjunction with the military,

122. We immediately recollect that in the BIBLE, this man’s namesake had led people out of slavery. “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 497 HDT WHAT? INDEX

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“they would be able to drive the Liberty Boys to the devil.”

January 14, day: Isabel Marchant sold a “Negro Man Slave named Cajoe aged about Thirty three Years” to Governor Samuel Ward of Rhode Island. (Cudgoe would accompany this slavemaster to Philadelphia when this white man would journey there in 1776 to assist in the deliberations of the other white men assembled there in regard to preparation of a Declaration of Independence for these American colonies, and Cudgoe would attend at the deathbed of his slavemaster there in 1776. In 1806, a certificate from the Town Council of Westerly, Rhode Island would name “Cuggo” and “Pegg” as being “in want” and as requiring “some speedy support” from the heirs of Governor Samuel Ward. If Cudgoe had been 33 in 1768, this slave would have reached the age of 71 or 72 in 1806, so it is apparent that Cuggo and Pegg, since as slaves they had never been allowed wages during their working lives, would have needed at that point some assistance, from the community if not from the heirs of their former slavemaster.)

February 20: Pennsylvania re-enacted its Acts of 1761, levying a £10 duty “on Negroes and Mulattoe slaves, imported into this province” and then imposing an additional Prohibitive Duty.

Titles only found. Dallas, LAWS, I. 490; COLONIAL RECORDS (1852), IX. 472, 637, 641. INTERNATIONAL SLAVE TRADE SLAVERY

October: The Selectmen of Boston filed a complaint against the activities of Captain John Wilson of General Gage’s 59th regiment in Boston, in that he was attempting to incite servile insurrection among the some 300 black slaves in that metropolis by assuring them that the military had seized the port in an attempt to secure their freedom and that if they would fight for their freedom in conjunction with the military, “they would be able to drive the Liberty Boys to the devil.” He was arrested and bound over for trial, but British officials were able to arrange the quashing of this indictment. Captain Wilson fled the city.

1769

The New Jersey colony’s law regulating the manumission of slaves was revised in “An Act for laying a Duty on the Purchasers of Slaves imported into this Colony” (New Jersey Archives, Third Series IV:510-512).

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In Rhode Island in this year, it is estimated by Alexander Boyd Hawes, some 16 vessels were being fitted out for the international slave trade. If an average cargo of slaves was 109 –as we have estimated on the basis of a number of known cargos– then a total of well over 1,700 souls were being transported in Rhode Island bottoms alone. An example would be the brig Othello,123 which in this year is known to have transported a cargo of 90 souls.

In the winter of this year John Brown would be fitting out a vessel for another slaving expedition to Guinea, but this time instead of using the Sally he would be using a vessel with a larger carrying capacity, the Sultan. The objective would be to make back all the money that had been lost, and then some.

At about this point in time, the colony of Connecticut was attempting to prohibit all importation of slaves. It was attempting to prohibit this importation not because such was being adjudged to be injurious to the slaves but because such was being adjudged to be injurious to the poor people (poor white people) who needed to compete on the open market with their free labor, and not because such was being adjudged to be inconvenient to the slaves but because such was being adjudged to be inconvenient to the white citizens of Connecticut — the people, after all, who really mattered: Title and text not found. “Whereas, the increase of slaves is injurious to the poor, and inconvenient, therefore,” etc. Fowler, HISTORICAL STATUS OF THE NEGRO IN CONNECTICUT, in LOCAL LAW, etc., page 125.

Two inventions important to the development of the cloth industry occurred during this year. Richard Arkwright developed a water-frame and throstle, and James Watt devised a steam-engine. Because these developments would have an impact on the demand for bales of cotton as a raw material for cloth, it would eventually have an impact on the demand for field labor to grow this cotton, and therefore would have consequences in terms of human slavery — and in terms of the international slave trade.124

W.E. Burghardt Du Bois: The history of slavery and the slave- trade after 1820 must be read in the light of the industrial revolution through which the civilized world passed in the first 123. Othello, what a strange name for a negrero vessel during an era in which, in presentations of William Shakespeare’s play, the title role was of necessity being performed by an American white man wearing dark body makeup! –Obviously, some Shakespeare nut in Rogue Island had a considerable sense of humor! –What’s next, the brigantine Gen. Nat Turner? 124. Bear in mind that in early periods the Southern states of the United States of America produced no significant amount of cotton fiber for export — such production not beginning until 1789. In fact, according to page 92 of Seybert’s STATISTICS, in 1784 a small parcel of cotton that had found its way from the US to Liverpool had been refused admission to England, because it was the customs agent’s opinion that this involved some sort of subterfuge: it could not have originated in the United States. “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 499 HDT WHAT? INDEX

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half of the nineteenth century. Between the years 1775 and 1825 occurred economic events and changes of the highest importance and widest influence. Though all branches of industry felt the impulse of this new industrial life, yet, “if we consider single industries, cotton manufacture has, during the nineteenth century, made the most magnificent and gigantic advances.”125 This fact is easily explained by the remarkable series of inventions that revolutionized this industry between 1738 and 1830, including Arkwright’s, Watt’s, Compton’s, and Cartwright’s epoch-making contrivances.126 The effect which these inventions had on the manufacture of cotton goods is best illustrated by the fact that in England, the chief cotton market of the world, the consumption of raw cotton rose steadily from 13,000 bales in 1781, to 572,000 in 1820, to 871,000 in 1830, and to 3,366,000 in 1860.127 Very early, therefore, came the query whence the supply of raw cotton was to come. Tentative experiments on the rich, broad fields of the Southern United States, together with the indispensable invention of Whitney’s cotton-gin, soon answered this question: a new economic future was opened up to this land, and immediately the whole South began to extend its cotton culture, and more and more to throw its whole energy into this one staple. Here it was that the fatal mistake of compromising with slavery in the beginning, and of the policy of laissez-faire pursued thereafter, became painfully manifest; for, instead now of a healthy, normal, economic development along proper industrial lines, we have the abnormal and fatal rise of a slave-labor large farming system, which, before it was realized, had so intertwined itself with and braced itself upon the economic forces of an industrial age, that a vast and terrible civil war was necessary to displace it. The tendencies to a patriarchal serfdom, recognizable in the age of Washington and Jefferson, began slowly but surely to disappear; and in the second quarter of the century Southern slavery was irresistibly changing from a family institution to an industrial system. The development of Southern slavery has heretofore been viewed so exclusively from the ethical and social standpoint that we are apt to forget its close and indissoluble connection with the world’s cotton market. Beginning with 1820, a little after the close of the Napoleonic wars, when the industry of cotton manufacture had begun its modern development and the South had

125. Beer, GESCHICHTE DES WELTHANDELS IM 19TEN JAHRHUNDERT, II. 67. 126. A list of these inventions most graphically illustrates this advance: — 1738, John Jay, fly-shuttle. John Wyatt, spinning by rollers. 1748, Lewis Paul, carding-machine. 1760, Robert Kay, drop-box. 1769, Richard Arkwright, water-frame and throstle. James Watt, steam-engine. 1772, James Lees, improvements on carding-machine. 1775, Richard Arkwright, series of combinations. 1779, Samuel Compton, mule. 1785, Edmund Cartwright, power-loom. 1803-4, Radcliffe and Johnson, dressing-machine. 1817, Roberts, fly-frame. 1818, William Eaton, self-acting frame. 1825-30, Roberts, improvements on mule. Cf. Baines, HISTORY OF THE COTTON MANUFACTURE, pages 116-231; ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA, 9th ed., article “Cotton.” 127. Baines, HISTORY OF THE COTTON MANUFACTURE, page 215. A bale weighed from 375 lbs. to 400 lbs. 500 Copyright  Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX

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definitely assumed her position as chief producer of raw cotton, we find the average price of cotton per pound, 8½d. From this time until 1845 the price steadily fell, until in the latter year it reached 4d.; the only exception to this fall was in the years 1832-1839, when, among other things, a strong increase in the English demand, together with an attempt of the young slave power to “corner” the market, sent the price up as high as 11d. The demand for cotton goods soon outran a crop which McCullough had pronounced “prodigious,” and after 1845 the price started on a steady rise, which, except for the checks suffered during the continental revolutions and the Crimean War, continued until 1860.128 The steady increase in the production of cotton explains the fall in price down to 1845. In 1822 the crop was a half- million bales; in 1831, a million; in 1838, a million and a half; and in 1840-1843, two million. By this time the world’s consumption of cotton goods began to increase so rapidly that, in spite of the increase in Southern crops, the price kept rising. Three million bales were gathered in 1852, three and a half million in 1856, and the remarkable crop of five million bales in 1860.129 Here we have data to explain largely the economic development of the South. By 1822 the large-plantation slave system had gained footing; in 1838-1839 it was able to show its power in the cotton “corner;” by the end of the next decade it had not only gained a solid economic foundation, but it had built a closed oligarchy with a political policy. The changes in price during the next few years drove out of competition many survivors of the small-farming free-labor system, and put the slave régime in position to dictate the policy of the nation. The zenith of the system and the first inevitable signs of decay came in the years 1850-1860, when the rising price of cotton threw the whole economic energy of the South into its cultivation, leading to a terrible consumption of soil and slaves, to a great increase in the size of plantations, and to increasing power and effrontery on the part of the slave barons. Finally, when a rising moral crusade conjoined with threatened economic disaster, the oligarchy, encouraged by the state of the cotton market, risked all on a political coup-d’état, which failed in the war of 1861-1865.130

The South Kingstown monthly meeting of the Religious Society of Friends was the first group of Quakers in Rhode Island to take the issue of abolitionism in New England to the New England Quarterly Meeting of the Quakers, and then to the New England Yearly Meeting. The Yearly Meeting for 1769 would appoint a committee that, in the following year, would report back a recommendation that Friends manumit all slaves owned by them, excepting only the very old and the very young — and the Yearly Meeting for 1770 would act positively upon this recommendation.

At the age of 40, Venture Smith was able to purchase his two sons Solomon Smith and Cuff Smith, 13 years old and 11 years old, for $200 apiece.

128. The prices cited are from Newmarch and Tooke, and refer to the London market. The average price in 1855-60 was about 7d. 129. From United States census reports. 130. Cf. United States census reports; and Olmsted, THE COTTON KINGDOM. “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 501 HDT WHAT? INDEX

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I was employed in cutting the aforementioned quantity of wood, I never was at the expence of fix-pence worth of fpirits. Being after this labour forty years of age, I worked at various places, and in particular on Ram-Ifland, where I purchafed Solomon and Cuff, two fons of mine, for two hundred dollars each. I will be here remembered how much money I earned by cutting wood in four years. Befides this I had confiderable money, amounting in all to near three hundred pounds. When I had purchafed my two fons, I had then left more than one hundred pounds. SLAVERY

In Rhode Island in this year, it is estimated by Alexander Boyd Hawes, some 16 vessels were being fitted out for the international slave trade. If an average cargo of slaves was 109 –as we have estimated on the basis of a number of known cargos– then a total of well over 1,700 souls were being transported in Rhode Island bottoms alone. An example would be the brig Othello,131 which in this year is known to have transported a cargo of 90 souls.

In the winter of this year John Brown would be fitting out a vessel for another slaving expedition to Guinea, but this time instead of using the Sally he would be using a vessel with a larger carrying capacity, the Sultan. The objective would be to make back all the money that had been lost, and then some.

At about this point in time, the colony of Connecticut was attempting to prohibit all importation of slaves. It was attempting to prohibit this importation not because such was being adjudged to be injurious to the slaves but because such was being adjudged to be injurious to the poor people (poor white people) who needed to compete on the open market with their free labor, and not because such was being adjudged to be inconvenient to the slaves but because such was being adjudged to be inconvenient to the white citizens of Connecticut — the people, after all, who really mattered: Title and text not found. “Whereas, the increase of slaves is injurious to the poor, and inconvenient, therefore,” etc. Fowler, HISTORICAL STATUS OF THE NEGRO IN CONNECTICUT, in LOCAL LAW, etc., page 125.

131. Othello, what a strange name for a negrero vessel during an era in which, in presentations of William Shakespeare’s play, the title role was of necessity being performed by an American white man wearing dark body makeup! –Obviously, some Shakespeare nut in Rogue Island had a considerable sense of humor! –What’s next, the brigantine Gen. Nat Turner? 502 Copyright  Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX

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Two inventions important to the development of the cloth industry occurred during this year. Richard Arkwright developed a water-frame and throstle, and James Watt devised a steam-engine. Because these developments would have an impact on the demand for bales of cotton as a raw material for cloth, it would eventually have an impact on the demand for field labor to grow this cotton, and therefore would have consequences in terms of human slavery — and in terms of the international slave trade.132

W.E. Burghardt Du Bois: The history of slavery and the slave- trade after 1820 must be read in the light of the industrial revolution through which the civilized world passed in the first half of the nineteenth century. Between the years 1775 and 1825 occurred economic events and changes of the highest importance and widest influence. Though all branches of industry felt the impulse of this new industrial life, yet, “if we consider single industries, cotton manufacture has, during the nineteenth century, made the most magnificent and gigantic advances.”133 This fact is easily explained by the remarkable series of inventions that revolutionized this industry between 1738 and 1830, including Arkwright’s, Watt’s, Compton’s, and Cartwright’s epoch-making contrivances.134 The effect which these inventions had on the manufacture of cotton goods is best illustrated by the fact that in England, the chief cotton market of the world, the consumption of raw cotton rose steadily from 13,000 bales in 1781, to 572,000 in 1820, to 871,000 in 1830, and to 3,366,000 in 1860.135 Very early, therefore, came the query whence the supply of raw cotton was to come. Tentative experiments on the rich, broad fields of the Southern United States, together with the indispensable invention of Whitney’s cotton-gin, soon answered this question: a new economic future was opened up to this land, and immediately the whole South began to extend its cotton culture, and more and more to throw its whole energy into this one staple. Here it was that the fatal mistake of compromising with slavery in the beginning, and of the policy of laissez-faire pursued thereafter, became painfully manifest; for, instead now of a healthy, normal, economic development along proper industrial 132. Bear in mind that in early periods the Southern states of the United States of America produced no significant amount of cotton fiber for export — such production not beginning until 1789. In fact, according to page 92 of Seybert’s STATISTICS, in 1784 a small parcel of cotton that had found its way from the US to Liverpool had been refused admission to England, because it was the customs agent’s opinion that this involved some sort of subterfuge: it could not have originated in the United States. 133. Beer, GESCHICHTE DES WELTHANDELS IM 19TEN JAHRHUNDERT, II. 67. 134. A list of these inventions most graphically illustrates this advance: — 1738, John Jay, fly-shuttle. John Wyatt, spinning by rollers. 1748, Lewis Paul, carding-machine. 1760, Robert Kay, drop-box. 1769, Richard Arkwright, water-frame and throstle. James Watt, steam-engine. 1772, James Lees, improvements on carding-machine. 1775, Richard Arkwright, series of combinations. 1779, Samuel Compton, mule. 1785, Edmund Cartwright, power-loom. 1803-4, Radcliffe and Johnson, dressing-machine. 1817, Roberts, fly-frame. 1818, William Eaton, self-acting frame. 1825-30, Roberts, improvements on mule. Cf. Baines, HISTORY OF THE COTTON MANUFACTURE, pages 116-231; ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA, 9th ed., article “Cotton.” 135. Baines, HISTORY OF THE COTTON MANUFACTURE, page 215. A bale weighed from 375 lbs. to 400 lbs. “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 503 HDT WHAT? INDEX

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lines, we have the abnormal and fatal rise of a slave-labor large farming system, which, before it was realized, had so intertwined itself with and braced itself upon the economic forces of an industrial age, that a vast and terrible civil war was necessary to displace it. The tendencies to a patriarchal serfdom, recognizable in the age of Washington and Jefferson, began slowly but surely to disappear; and in the second quarter of the century Southern slavery was irresistibly changing from a family institution to an industrial system. The development of Southern slavery has heretofore been viewed so exclusively from the ethical and social standpoint that we are apt to forget its close and indissoluble connection with the world’s cotton market. Beginning with 1820, a little after the close of the Napoleonic wars, when the industry of cotton manufacture had begun its modern development and the South had definitely assumed her position as chief producer of raw cotton, we find the average price of cotton per pound, 8½d. From this time until 1845 the price steadily fell, until in the latter year it reached 4d.; the only exception to this fall was in the years 1832-1839, when, among other things, a strong increase in the English demand, together with an attempt of the young slave power to “corner” the market, sent the price up as high as 11d. The demand for cotton goods soon outran a crop which McCullough had pronounced “prodigious,” and after 1845 the price started on a steady rise, which, except for the checks suffered during the continental revolutions and the Crimean War, continued until 1860.136 The steady increase in the production of cotton explains the fall in price down to 1845. In 1822 the crop was a half- million bales; in 1831, a million; in 1838, a million and a half; and in 1840-1843, two million. By this time the world’s consumption of cotton goods began to increase so rapidly that, in spite of the increase in Southern crops, the price kept rising. Three million bales were gathered in 1852, three and a half million in 1856, and the remarkable crop of five million bales in 1860.137 Here we have data to explain largely the economic development of the South. By 1822 the large-plantation slave system had gained footing; in 1838-1839 it was able to show its power in the cotton “corner;” by the end of the next decade it had not only gained a solid economic foundation, but it had built a closed oligarchy with a political policy. The changes in price during the next few years drove out of competition many survivors of the small-farming free-labor system, and put the slave régime in position to dictate the policy of the nation. The zenith of the system and the first inevitable signs of decay came in the years 1850-1860, when the rising price of cotton threw the whole economic energy of the South into its cultivation, leading to a terrible consumption of soil and slaves, to a great increase in the size of plantations, and to increasing power and effrontery on the part of the slave barons. Finally, when a rising moral crusade conjoined with threatened economic disaster, the oligarchy, encouraged by the state of the cotton market, risked all on a political coup-d’état, which 136. The prices cited are from Newmarch and Tooke, and refer to the London market. The average price in 1855-60 was about 7d. 137. From United States census reports. 504 Copyright  Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX

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failed in the war of 1861-1865.138

The South Kingstown monthly meeting of the Religious Society of Friends was the first group of Quakers in Rhode Island to take the issue of abolitionism in New England to the New England Quarterly Meeting of the Quakers, and then to the New England Yearly Meeting. The Yearly Meeting for 1769 would appoint a committee that, in the following year, would report back a recommendation that Friends manumit all slaves owned by them, excepting only the very old and the very young — and the Yearly Meeting for 1770 would act positively upon this recommendation.

At the College of New-Jersey, the American Whig Debating Society was formed. PRINCETON UNIVERSITY

In this year or in the following one, Robert Voorhis was born in Princeton, New Jersey “as was my mother (who was of African descent,) in bondage; although my father, as has been represented to me, was not only a pure white blooded Englishman, but a gentleman of considerable eminence.” He would be included in his infancy as a slave “in the patrimonial portion of my master’s oldest daughter, on her marriage to a Mr. JOHN VOORHIS, by birth a German.” HERMITS

In the red-dirt Piedmont hills of North Carolina, Moravian immigrants were trying to determine whether the institution of human enslavement fit in with their purposes for coming to this New World. These Moravians, who owned no black slaves at the time, were considering the purchase of a young man called Sam, someone’s slave whom they had already been renting for nearly four years to do work in their stockyard. To obtain an answer, to determine God’s will in this regard, they turned to a technique they had used before. They put the various possible answers in a bowl –a token marked “yes,” a token marked “no,” and a token that was blank and indicated that they were to defer the question and try again later– and drew one at random. The “yes” token was drawn and Sam would be purchased from his owner by the Moravians, setting a precedent for their religion’s further slave acquisitions.

February 20: A Massachusetts Bill of Sale of a slave by Andrew Boyd, of the black teenage “Girl — Dinah” to John Chandler: Know all men by These presents That I Andrew Boyd of Worcester in the County of Worcester yeoman in Consideration of Forty pounds lawl money paid me by John Chandler of Petersham in said County Esq. which I hereby acknowledge I have this day received of him Have Bargained Sold conveyed & delivered and do hereby bargain sell convey and deliver to the said John Chandler his Executors Administrators or assigns, A, certain Negro Girl Named & called Dinah about seventeen years old, for the said John to have and hold in Servitude as his Slave & Servant during her Natural Life

138. Cf. United States census reports; and Olmsted, THE COTTON KINGDOM. “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 505 HDT WHAT? INDEX

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and hereby Warrant that he may so lawfully hold her and that I have good right to Sell her in manner aforesd. Witness my hand & seal this 20th. day of February AD. 1769 Andrew Boyd Sign’d Seal’d & Deliverd in presence of us. James Putnam Nath Chandler

May 11: In Virginia, the House of Burgesses asked American merchants and traders not to “import any slaves, or purchase any imported after the first day of November next, until the said acts are repealed.” INTERNATIONAL SLAVE TRADE W.E. Burghardt Du Bois: The earlier and largely abortive attempts to form non-intercourse associations generally did not mention slaves specifically, although the Virginia House of Burgesses, May 11, 1769, recommended to merchants and traders, among other things, to agree, “That they will not import any slaves, or purchase any imported after the first day of November next, until the said acts are repealed.”139 Later, in 1774, when a Faneuil Hall meeting started the first successful national attempt at non-intercourse, the slave-trade, being at the time especially flourishing, received more attention. Even then slaves were specifically mentioned in the resolutions of but three States. Rhode Island recommended a stoppage of “all trade with Great Britain, Ireland, Africa and the West Indies.”140 North Carolina, in August, 1774, resolved in convention “That we will not import any slave or slaves, or purchase any slave or slaves, imported or brought into this Province by others, from any part of the world, after the first day of November next.”141 Virginia gave the slave-trade especial prominence, and was in reality the leading spirit to force her views on the Continental Congress. The county conventions of that colony first took up the subject. Fairfax County thought “that during our present difficulties and distress, no slaves ought to be imported,” and said: “We take this opportunity of declaring our most earnest wishes to see an entire stop forever put to such a wicked, cruel, and unnatural trade.”142 Prince George and Nansemond Counties resolved “That the African trade is injurious to this Colony, obstructs the population of it by freemen, prevents manufacturers and other useful emigrants from Europe from settling amongst us, and occasions an annual increase of the balance of trade against this Colony.”143 The Virginia colonial convention, August, 1774, also declared: “We will neither ourselves import, nor purchase any slave or slaves imported by any other person, after the first day of November next, either from Africa, the West Indies, or any other place.”144

139. Goodloe, BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC, page 260. 140. Staples, ANNALS OF PROVIDENCE (1843), page 235. 141. Force, AMERICAN ARCHIVES, 4th Series, I. 735. This was probably copied from the Virginia resolve. 142. Force, AMERICAN ARCHIVES, 4th Series, I. 600. 143. Force, AMERICAN ARCHIVES, 4th Series, I. 494, 530. Cf. pages 523, 616, 641, etc. 144. Force, AMERICAN ARCHIVES, 4th Series, I. 687. 506 Copyright  Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX

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In South Carolina, at the convention July 6, 1774, decided opposition to the non-importation scheme was manifested, though how much this was due to the slave-trade interest is not certain. Many of the delegates wished at least to limit the powers of their representatives, and the Charleston Chamber of Commerce flatly opposed the plan of an “Association.” Finally, however, delegates with full powers were sent to Congress. The arguments leading to this step were not in all cases on the score of patriotism; a Charleston manifesto argued: “The planters are greatly in arrears to the merchants; a stoppage of importation would give them all an opportunity to extricate themselves from debt. The merchants would have time to settle their accounts, and be ready with the return of liberty to renew trade.”145

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June 3: In Rhode Island, Joseph Wanton was in charge.146 From the yard of Friend Stephen Hopkins’s home (erected

1701, altered 1743)147 a group of notables such as Benjamin West the local “philomath” and Joseph Brown observed the transit of the planet Venus across the face of the sun.148

Benjamin West would publish AN ACCOUNT OF THE OBSERVATION OF VENUS UPON THE SUN THE THIRD DAY OF JUNE 1769, and would soon be awarded honorary degrees by both Harvard College and the College of Rhode Island.

In commemoration, Transit Street and Planet Street in Providence would receive their names. –On “Transit Street” between Benefit Street (Back Street) and Main Street (Town Street), an observatory of sorts for the event had been constructed. ASTRONOMY

146. Wanton’s wig, which had been crafted in England in imitation of the wig of the Speaker of the House of Commons, was so immense that it would have seemed preposterous to perch a hat atop it. He therefore was in the habit of carrying his hat under his left arm while holding in his right hand an umbrella (he was the 1st gentleman in Rhode Island to use an umbrella). 147. This structure has been moved a couple of times and I do not presently have the dates of those removes. Initially it stood on South Main Street, then it was moved to 9 Hopkins Street (which may at that time still have been being called Bank Street), and then it was moved to the corner of Hopkins Street and Benefit Street. 148. Would Friend Stephen Hopkins’s slave Toney, whom he was refusing to manumit, have been playing “barista,” and carrying drinks out from the house and respectfully serving these notable gentlemen? 508 Copyright  Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX

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June 12, Monday: Captain Gordon’s armed revenue sloop HMS Victory arrived in Rhode Island, from the coast of Africa.

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June 17, Saturday: Captain Gordon’s armed revenue sloop HMS Victory was scuttled in the harbor of Newport, Rhode Island.

August 29: According to an advertisement that appeared in the Massachusetts Gazette, if one’s skin were the right (wrong?) color then having survived the Small-Pox could add to one’s personal value, on the open market, in Massachusetts’s open market for the selling and buying of enslaved human beings:

Being able to tastefully cook someone else’s meals and efficiently take care of someone else’s housework could also in Massachusetts add to one’s utility and valuation and desirability as someone else’s personal property.

(Bear in mind that the above advertisement was appearing in the year in which, in the case of James v. Lechmere, a Massachusetts slave was obtaining his freedom. Later our local historians would be patriotically asserting that the case of this “James” had rendered slavery illegal in Massachusetts. Giggle. The case in fact would set no such legal precedent, for the simple reason that it was settled by agreement rather than by judicial ruling — and a case settled by mere agreement between the contending parties, without a judicial ruling, as we all are perfectly well aware, never establishes any precedent whatever.)

November 10: A Boston Scotsman by the name of Charles Stewart [Charles Steuart, a British Customs official whose last posting had been in Boston] who worked as a paymaster and cashier returned toward Scotland from Virginia, bringing with him his personal property, a black American known familiarly to him as “Somerset Negro.” On this date this Bostonian duo stepped ashore “in the parish of St. Mary-le-bow in the ward of Cheap,” thus placing their feet squarely upon the free soil of England. That being quite enough to give anyone ideas, of course James Somerset would seize an opportunity — and take himself away.

November 16: The colony of New Jersey imposed a duty of £15 “on the Purchasers of Slaves imported into this Colony.” “Whereas Duties on the Importation of Negroes in several of the neighbouring Colonies hath, on Experience, been found beneficial in the Introduction of sober, industrious Foreigners, to settle under His Majesty’s Allegiance, and the promoting a Spirit of Industry among the Inhabitants in general: In order therefore to promote the same good Designs in this Government, and that such as choose to purchase Slaves may contribute some equitable Proportion of the publick Burdens,” etc. A duty of “Fifteen Pounds, Proclamation Money, is laid.” ACTS OF ASSEMBLY (Allinson, 1776), p. 315. INTERNATIONAL SLAVE TRADE SLAVERY

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1770

In 1760 Naphtali Hart Myers had donated a candelabrum that was being used in the Touro Synagogue of Newport, Rhode Island. In 1765 Abraham Rodriguez Mendez had donated two more, more or less like it. At this point the international slavetrader and commodity trader Aaron Lopez, the President of the synagogue, donated a fourth candelabrum inscribed with his own name, making up an almost matching set of four.149 JUDAISM

(According to Samuel Greene Arnold’s HISTORY OF RHODE ISLAND published in 1859, Volume II, pages 304, 321, and 337, during this year the legislature of Rhode Island considered, but rejected, a bill to prohibit importation of slaves. Since such a bill would have substantially damaged the business activities of Aaron Lopez, it seems at least remotely possible that this fourth candelabrum was donated to the synagogue as a way of petitioning the Deity that the bill in the colonial legislature be defeated, or in expression of gratitude for the defeat of the bill. I interrogated the tour guide as to what would cause a person to donate something inscribed with his own name, to be placed on public view in a public place, and she responded that she simply couldn’t speculate as to motives. –Actually, what I was doing was causing her to focus in on the inscribed name “Aaron Lopez,” because I wanted to find out whether she would take advantage of an opportunity like that to segue into some remarks about the international slave trade. It was my little good-cop interrogation trick — I wanting

149. Where did the money come from, with which to purchase this nice inscribed candelabrum? Was it blood money? In this year, it is estimated by Alexander Boyd Hawes, Rhode Island fitted out 16 negreros for the coast of the continent of Africa to obtain fresh bodies for the international slave trade. Do I have information that any one of these 16 slave ships belonged to or was being fitted out by Aaron Lopez of Newport? I do not. It is very likely that not all 16 of these bottoms were owned by or were being fitted out by Rhode Island Jews. It is rather more than possible, that some of these 16 were owned by or were being fitted out by Rhode Island Quakers. We can estimate roughly that at least 1,700 black Africans were taken over the ocean on the dreaded Middle Passage in this year by these vessels. “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 511 HDT WHAT? INDEX

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to see what she would say and what she wouldn’t.

She didn’t seize this opportunity — which adequately answered the actual question I had been refraining from asking. –She and I agreed, however, that such a circumstance is quite different from the usual sort of inscription, in which something given as a memorial to a deceased loved one is inscribed with “in memory of,” followed by a name.) W.E. Burghardt Du Bois: In 1652 Rhode Island passed a law designed to prohibit life slavery in the colony. It declared that “Whereas, there is a common course practised amongst English men to buy negers, to that end they may have them for service or slaves forever; for the preventinge of such practices among us, let it be ordered, that no blacke mankind or white being forced by covenant bond, or otherwise, to serve any man or his assighnes longer than ten yeares, or untill they come to bee twentie four yeares of age, if they bee taken in under fourteen, from the time of their cominge within the liberties of this Collonie. And at the end or terme of ten yeares to sett them free, as the manner is with the English servants. And that man that will not let them goe free, or shall sell them away elsewhere, to that end that they may bee enslaved to others for a long time, hee or they shall forfeit to the Collonie forty pounds.”150 This law was for a time enforced,151 but by the beginning of the eighteenth century it had either been repealed or become a dead letter; for the Act of 1708 recognized perpetual slavery, and laid an impost of £3 on Negroes imported.152 This duty was really

150. RHODE ISLAND COLONIAL RECORD, I. 240. 151. Cf. letter written in 1681: NEW ENGLAND REGISTER, XXXI. 75-6. Cf. also Arnold, HISTORY OF RHODE ISLAND, I. 240. 512 Copyright  Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX

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a tax on the transport trade, and produced a steady income for twenty years.153 From the year 1700 on, the citizens of this State engaged more and more in the carrying trade, until Rhode Island became the greatest slave-trader in America. Although she did not import many slaves for her own use, she became the clearing-house for the trade of other colonies. Governor Cranston, as early as 1708, reported that between 1698 and 1708 one hundred and three vessels were built in the State, all of which were trading to the West Indies and the Southern colonies.154 They took out lumber and brought back molasses, in most cases making a slave voyage in between. From this, the trade grew. Samuel Hopkins, about 1770, was shocked at the state of the trade: more than thirty distilleries were running in the colony, and one hundred and fifty vessels were in the slave- trade.155 “Rhode Island,” said he, “has been more deeply interested in the slave-trade, and has enslaved more Africans than any other colony in New England.” Later, in 1787, he wrote: “The inhabitants of Rhode Island, especially those of Newport, have had by far the greater share in this traffic, of all these United States. This trade in human species has been the first wheel of commerce in Newport, on which every other movement in business has chiefly depended. That town has been built up, and flourished in times past, at the expense of the blood, the liberty, and happiness of the poor Africans; and the inhabitants have lived on this, and by it have gotten most of their wealth and riches.”156 The Act of 1708 was poorly enforced. The “good intentions” of its framers “were wholly frustrated” by the clandestine “hiding and conveying said negroes out of the town [Newport] into the country, where they lie concealed.”157 The act was accordingly strengthened by the Acts of 1712 and 1715, and made to apply to importations by land as well as by sea.158 The Act of 1715, however, favored the trade by admitting African Negroes free of duty. The chaotic state of Rhode Island did not allow England often to review her legislation; but as soon as the Act of 1712 came to notice it was disallowed, and accordingly repealed in 1732.159 Whether the Act of 1715 remained, or whether any other duty act was passed, is not clear. While the foreign trade was flourishing, the influence of the Friends and of other causes eventually led to a movement against slavery as a local institution. Abolition societies multiplied, and in 1770 an abolition bill was ordered by the Assembly, but it was never passed.160 Four years later the city of Providence resolved that “as personal liberty is an essential part of the natural rights of mankind,” the importation of slaves and the system of slavery should cease in the colony.161 This movement 152. The text of this act is lost (COLONIAL RECORD, IV. 34; Arnold, HISTORY OF RHODE ISLAND, II. 31). The Acts of Rhode Island were not well preserved, the first being published in Boston in 1719. Perhaps other whole acts are lost. 153. E.g., it was expended to pave the streets of Newport, to build bridges, etc.: RHODE ISLAND COLONIAL RECORD, IV. 191-3, 225. 154. RHODE ISLAND COLONIAL RECORD, IV. 55-60. 155. Patten, REMINISCENCES OF SAMUEL HOPKINS (1843), page 80. 156. Hopkins, WORKS (1854), II. 615. 157. Preamble of the Act of 1712. 158. RHODE ISLAND COLONIAL RECORD, IV. 131-5, 138, 143, 191-3. 159. RHODE ISLAND COLONIAL RECORD, IV. 471. 160. Arnold, HISTORY OF RHODE ISLAND, II. 304, 321, 337. For a probable copy of the bill, see NARRAGANSETT HISTORICAL REGISTER, II. 299. “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 513 HDT WHAT? INDEX

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finally resulted, in 1774, in an act “prohibiting the importation of Negroes into this Colony,” — a law which curiously illustrated the attitude of Rhode Island toward the slave-trade. The preamble of the act declared: “Whereas, the inhabitants of America are generally engaged in the preservation of their own rights and liberties, among which, that of personal freedom must be considered as the greatest; as those who are desirous of enjoying all the advantages of liberty themselves, should be willing to extend personal liberty to others; — Therefore,” etc. The statute then proceeded to enact “that for the future, no negro or mulatto slave shall be brought into this colony; and in case any slave shall hereafter be brought in, he or she shall be, and are hereby, rendered immediately free....” The logical ending of such an act would have been a clause prohibiting the participation of Rhode Island citizens in the slave-trade. Not only was such a clause omitted, but the following was inserted instead: “Provided, also, that nothing in this act shall extend, or be deemed to extend, to any negro or mulatto slave brought from the coast of Africa, into the West Indies, on board any vessel belonging to this colony, and which negro or mulatto slave could not be disposed of in the West Indies, but shall be brought into this colony. Provided, that the owner of such negro or mulatto slave give bond ... that such negro or mulatto slave shall be exported out of the colony, within one year from the date of such bond; if such negro or mulatto be alive, and in a condition to be removed.”162 In 1779 an act to prevent the sale of slaves out of the State was passed,163 and in 1784, an act gradually to abolish slavery.164 Not until 1787 did an act pass to forbid participation in the slave-trade. This law laid a penalty of £100 for every slave transported and £1000 for every vessel so engaged.165

161. A man dying intestate left slaves, who became thus the property of the city; they were freed, and the town made the above resolve, May 17, 1774, in town meeting: Staples, ANNALS OF PROVIDENCE (1843), page 236. 162. RHODE ISLAND COLONIAL RECORD, VII. 251-2. 163. BARTLETT’S INDEX, page 329; Arnold, HISTORY OF RHODE ISLAND, II. 444; RHODE ISLAND COLONIAL RECORD, VIII. 618. 164. RHODE ISLAND COLONIAL RECORD, X. 7-8; Arnold, HISTORY OF RHODE ISLAND, II. 506. 165. BARTLETT’S INDEX, page 333; NARRAGANSETT HISTORICAL REGISTER, II. 298-9. The number of slaves in Rhode Island has been estimated as follows: — In 1708, 426. RHODE ISLAND COLONIAL RECORD, IV. 59. In 1730, 1,648. RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL TRACTS, No. 19, pt. 2, page 99. In 1749, 3,077. Williams, HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA, I. 281. In 1756, 4,697. Williams, HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA, I. 281. In 1774, 3,761. RHODE ISLAND COLONIAL RECORD, VII. 253. 514 Copyright  Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX

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In the previous year the South Kingstown, Rhode Island monthly meeting had taken the issue of abolitionism in New England to the New England Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, which had appointed a committee to study the matter and report back in the following year. At this year’s meeting, the committee recommended that all New England Quakers manumit all slaves owned by them, excepting only the very old and the very young. The Yearly Meeting embraced this recommendation.166

Up in the northern reaches of the Rhode Island colony, in Cumberland, motherless Friend Jemimah Wilkinson, age 18, was very happy that this was happening. She was decidedly opposed to human slavery. However, apparently without as much parental guidance as she needed, she was also being caught up emotionally in the religious re-awakening that was following the visits of the Reverend George Whitefield to New England. She would be becoming involved with the New Light Baptists of Ledyard, Connecticut, known also as “Rogerenes.” Her attendance at such meetings would lead in August 1776 to her being disowned by her Quaker meeting, the Smithfield, Rhode Island monthly meeting of the Religious Society of Friends — and then she would in effect transform herself into a New-Age “channeler” for a spirit from the Other World, and create her own religious climate centered around her own person and her own personal whims.167

166. For the benefit of non-Quakers, I need to point out what this means. It means that there was not one single Friend who was so troubled by this as to stand in its way! 167. Examples of this sort of religious misconduct have always abounded. There has been, for instance, in our own time, “Judge” J.F. Rutherford of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society who channeled bigtime by receiving the concealed true meanings of Scripture direct from God as the occasion arose, and there has been the bestselling Jane Roberts, a housewife from upstate New York who was channeling “Seth,” and there has been the touring-circuit phenomenon J.Z. Knight who was channeling a Cro- Magnon warrior who identified himself as “Ramtha,” and of course, there has been the indefatigable and terminally enthusiastic Shirley MacLaine. The spiritual entities channeled have been variously assigned inventive names such as Ashtar, Aurora, Bashar, Emmanuel, Jesus, K17, Kuthumi, Lazarus, Lily, Mafu, Mary, Mentor, Merlin, Monka, Phebious, Ra, Ramtha, St. Germaine, Zolar, Zoosh — and in this indicated early instance in a Quaker or Baptist context, “Divine Spirit.” (You know the old one about how many legs a dog has, if you call its tail a leg, the answer being four and the reason being that calling a tale a leg doesn’t make it a leg? Well, in this context, calling self-privileging by the name “Divine Spirit,” in very much the same manner, doesn’t evade the sin of self-privileging.) “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 515 HDT WHAT? INDEX

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There were an estimated 15,000 African slaves in Great Britain.

The province of Georgia enacted legislation similar to the laws of South Carolina, preventing the education of slaves: Whereas, the having of slaves taught to write, or suffering them to be employed in writing, may be attended with great inconveniences, Be it enacted, That all and every person and persons whatsoever, who shall hereafter teach, or cause any slave or slaves to be taught to write, or shall use or employ any slave as a scribe in any manner of writing whatsoever, hereafter taught to write, every such person or persons shall, for every such offence, forfeit the sum of one hundred pounds current money. — 2 BREVARD’S DIGEST, 243 In Georgia, however, the penalty was to be not £100 current money but £20 sterling.

On Nantucket Island, Friend William Rotch achieved the legal release of a slave named Prince Boston.

Venture Smith “purchased” a black man for £60 to assist him in obtaining his freedom — but then the ungrateful fellow vanished leaving Venture holding the bag. After this I purchafed a negro man, for no reafon than to oblige him, and gave for him fixty pounds. But in a fhort time after he run away from me, and I thereby loft all that I gave for him, except twenty pounds which he paid me previous to his abfconding. The reft of my money I laid out in land, in addition to a farm which I owned before, and a dwelling houfe thereon. SLAVERY

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January 11: Benjamin Cushing of Providence, Rhode Island in consideration of the sum of one Hundred Spanish Milled Dollars cash in his hand, did formally obligate himself to Manumit a slave he had just acquired, named Cesar, “in such manner as the Law Direct,” so that “said Cefar shall thence Forward be forever free from my Service and be free from me at his own Disposal.” The obligation to manumit upon which Mr. Cushing was entering was conditional on this man well and faithfully continuing as his servant for a full five years, until January 10, 1775. This 1770 record would be belatedly entered on the town’s books as of May 21th [sic], 1773, on pages 181 and 182 of Volume 19:

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January 25: The following report of servile insurrection appeared in the Virginia Gazette, a newspaper of Williamsburg: Some time about Christmas last, a tragical affair happened at a plantation in North Wales, Hanover county, belonging to Bowler Cocke, Esq; the particulars of which, according to the accounts we have received, are as follows, viz. The Negroes belonging to the plantation having long been treated with too much lenity and indulgence, were grown extremely insolent and unruly; Mr. Cocke therefore had employed a new Steward. The Steward’s deputy is a young man; had ordered one of the slaves to make a fire every morning very early; the fellow did not appear till sunrise; on being examined why he came not sooner, he gave most insolent and provoking answers, upon which, the young man going to chastise him, the fellow made a stroke at him with an axe (or some such weapon) that was in his hand, but happily missed him. The young

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man then closed with him, and having the advantage, a number of the other slaves came to the negro’s assistance, and beat the young man severely. At last the ringleader (a very sensible fellow) interceded for him, on which they desisted. The young man then made off as fast as he could, to procure assistance to quell them. Whilst he was gone, they tied up the Steward, and also a poor innocent, harmless old man, who over looked a neighbouring quarter, and on hearing the uproar, had paddled across the creek to know the cause of it. These they whipped till they were raw from the neck to the waistband. At that time the young man returned, with about twelve white men, and two little boys carrying each a gun. They released the two unhappy sufferers, and then proceeded to a barn, where they found a large body of the Negroes assembled (some say thirty, some fifty) on whom they tried to prevail by persuasion, but the slaves, dead to all they said, rushed upon them with a desperate fury, armed with clubs and staves; one of them knocked down a white man, and was going to repeat the blow to finish him, which one of the boys seeing, levelled his piece, discharged its contents into the fellow’s breast, and brought him to the dust. Another fellow having also knocked down another of the Whites, was, in the same manner, shot by the other boy. In short, the battle continued sometime desperate, but another of the Negroes having his head almost cut off with a broad sword, and five of them being wounded, the rest fled. The accounts vary; some say three were killed upon the spot, and five wounded, others that two were killed, and five wounded, one of whom died soon after. It is said they had threatened to kill the Steward as soon as he came to the plantation. The ringleader was one of the slain. RACE SLAVERY

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February: The town and county of Warren having subscribed a total of £4,200 toward the erection of a college building, the Rhode Island College Corporation settled on Providence, rather than upon Warren or Newport, as the permanent home of their Baptist institution of higher education, and during the course of this year the building now known as University Hall would be erected by the contractor, Nicholas Brown & Company, in part by the use of slave labor. The pastor of the First Baptist Church of Providence desired to retire from the duties of his office, and that church invited President Manning to preach provisionally for them. Therefore the Reverend James Manning relocated from Warren to preach provisionally at Providence’s 1st Baptist Church as well as

to continue to lead his Latin School. (During this year the Reverend was manumitting his only black slave. His Warren Latin School, which would soon eventuate as the Providence “University Grammar-School,” and is now known as Brown University, now admits black Americans as students: as I write this, a case is pending in regard to three white male students, accused of manhandling a black female student in front of a dorm while informing her that “You’re just a quota.” The black female student had, it would appear, attracted their ire because allegedly she had neglected to hold the door open for another student who was entering the dorm — these three white male students having decided, it would seem, upon an “open door” policy all of their own.)

February 15: According to the Supplement page of the New York Journal, or General Advertiser: WILLIAMSBURG, Jan. 25. Last Tuesday two Negroes then belonging to Mr. James Hubard, of this city, were tried at York for setting fire to the dwelling-house upon his plantation. One of them, named Isaac, was convicted, and is to be hanged on Friday the 2d of next month: the other fellow, named Davie, was cleared. It is very shrewdly suspected, however, that he is the greatest villain of the two, and that though he was not the perpetrator, he instigated the other to this atrocious crime. Last week Mr. Benjamin Warburton, of James City county, attempting to seize a Negro fellow in his kitchen, whom he suspected to be a runaway, was stabbed by him in the side, but not mortally; but had it not been for a faithful dog, who flew at the Negro, and tore his leg almost to pieces, Mr. Warburton, in all probability, would have lost his life. The dog received two wounds in the fray. This fellow was a hymn singer, and had a book of them in his pocket. Some Negroes of Colonel Bowler Cocke’s at a quarter of his in Hanover county, having an overseer set over them lately, whom they understood to be very severe in his discipline, came to a resolution to be before hand with him; and accordingly, when he came into a tobacco house, where they were at work, they seized him, tied him up,

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and whipped him most cruelly. Some of them were even for taking away his life. As soon as he got released he alarmed some of the neighbours, who came armed to the place (where the Negroes still were) and on ordering them to come out, which they refused, and threatening to kill the first man that entered, the people went up to the barn and shot two of them (one the ringleader) dead on the spot. Another was mortally wounded, who died the next day, and some others were wounded likewise. RACE POLITICS RACE SLAVERY SERVILE INSURRECTION

April 16: This is the date on the land deed for the plot on which Concord’s Old Manse stands: Monument Street, Concord, Massachusetts, 01742, USA, phone (508) 369 3909. There may have already been a house on this land and this house may have been expanded to form the wood frame two-story gambrel center-entrance twin- chimney Colonial structure that was once known as the “Old Ripley Mansion,” which we now know courtesy of Nathaniel Hawthorne as the “Old Manse” (“Manse” is a name possibly of Scottish origin, for the residence of the minister of a church). At this early time there was a large barn with associated farmland across the road, which land was being worked by three or more black slaves of the family. Two, named Caesar and Peter, possibly manumitted and possibly not, would live across the road for years.

At this time the predecessor to the Old Manse structure was the only structure in Concord to sport two chimneys.

The household of the Old Manse originally included not only the Reverend and Madam Emerson, but also their indentured servant, Ruth Hunt, their black slave Frank, and frequently Phebe’s mother’s black slave Phillis. The descendants would remember Grandmother Phebe as a “real lady” who “sat in her chair and from it ruled the home.” PHEBE BLISS EMERSON RIPLEY

June 28: Dr. Joseph Warren agreed to pay Joshua Green £30 for a slave Negro Boy, plus a certain amount of “Potters’ Ware” if he considered after three months that the boy was worth keeping. Boston June 28th: 1770. I the Subscriber having this day purchas'd a Negro Boy of Joshua Green have made the followg: condi- tions with him viz. That I will add Ten Pounds Lawfull Money to be paid in Potter's Ware manufactur'd in this Town in three years to the Thirty pounds first agreed for if in 3 Months from this date 520 Copyright  Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX

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I shall think the negro worth the money & if I do not think him worth the addi- tional ten pounds I will reconvey him to sd: Green he returng the two Notes I gave him for the negro, one for 17.£ & the other for 13.£, both of them bearing date herewith. — Joseph Warren It is also further agreed that in case of my decease that the within mention'd negro shall become the property of said Green; he deliverg up my two notes. — [sideways] Dr: Warren's Obl: to pay 10.£ in Pott: Ware June 1773 —

October 10: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was accepted into membership in the Accademia Filarmonica, Bologna.

In Boston, Massachusetts, in the 10th year of His Majesty’s reign, Elizabeth Treat disposed of her 40-year-old Negro Man. The purchase price paid by Samuel Breck, merchant –£26, 19s, 4p– was inclusive of the slave Harry’s clothing.

December 10: The colony of Virginia having sought to raise funds through a tariff on the import of new slaves, King George III in council issued an instruction to Lieutenant Governor William Nelson of Virginia, under his own hand, commanding that governor “upon pain of the highest displeasure, to assent to no law by which the importation of slaves should be in any respect prohibited or obstructed” (Accession 3195 of the Manuscripts Division, Special Collections, University of Virginia Library). INTERNATIONAL SLAVE TRADE W.E. Burghardt Du Bois: In 1760 England, the chief slave-trading nation, was sending on an average to Africa 163 ships annually, with a tonnage of 18,000 tons, carrying exports to the value of £163,818. Only about twenty of these ships regularly returned to England. Most of them carried slaves to the West Indies, and returned laden with sugar and other products. Thus may be formed some idea of the size and importance of the slave-trade at that time, although for a complete view we must add to this the trade under the French, Portuguese, Dutch, and Americans. The trade fell off somewhat toward 1770, but was flourishing again when the Revolution brought a sharp and serious check upon it, bringing down the number of English slavers, clearing, from 167 in 1774 to 28 in 1779, and the tonnage from 17,218 to 3,475 tons. After the war the trade gradually recovered, and by 1786 had reached nearly its former extent. In 1783 the British West Indies received 16,208 Negroes from Africa, and by 1787 the importation had increased to 21,023. In this latter year it was estimated that the British were taking annually from Africa 38,000 slaves; the French, 20,000; the Portuguese, 10,000; the Dutch and Danes, 6,000; a total of 74,000. Manchester alone sent £180,000 annually in goods to Africa in exchange for Negroes.168 168. These figures are from the REPORT OF THE LORDS OF THE COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL, etc. (London, 1789). “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 521 HDT WHAT? INDEX

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1771

As a four or five year old Denmark Vesey was picked out of a cargo of some 400 slaves by a Bermuda slaver named Captain Joseph Vesey who was attracted by the child’s “beauty, alertness and intelligence,” and who would decide to call his acquisition “Telemaque.” This would have been the source of his “Vesey” name, as Telemachus son of Ulysses was in fable perpetually searching for his father. He would sail with Vesey on many slavetrading expeditions. (Connection between Denmark Vesey and Samuel Hoar of Concord: Vesey had been a sailor.)

In the church of Lincoln, 42 persons “who had attained a good degree of understanding in the rules of singing” came to be seated together as a choir on the lower floor. This change was made by vote of the town.

In Concord, Ephraim Wood, John Flint, and Timothy Wheeler were Selectmen.

James Barrett was Concord’s deputy and representative to the General Court.

In Concord, Ephraim Wood would be Town Clerk, until 1795. Also, Abijah Bond would be Town Treasurer, until 1781.

Governor Jonathan Hoar died at the age of 52, while on his passage from England to take up his new governorship of Newfoundland and its neighboring provinces.

JONATHAN HOAR [of Concord],169 son of Lieut. Daniel Hoar, was grad[uated at Harvard College in] 1740. He was an officer in the provincial service during the war from 1744 to 1763. In 1755 he went as Major to Fort Edward, and the next year was a Lieutenant Colonel in Nova Scotia, and aid to Major General Winslow at Crown Point. After the peace of 1763 he went to England and was appointed Governor of Newfoundland and the neighboring provinces but he died on his passage thither in 1771 aged 52.170

By this point, Charles Miles was prominent enough in Concord to be commissioned a militia lieutenant, even though he wasn’t rich enough to be able to own a slave. The first town School [in Acton] was kept in 1741, when it was voted to have a “reading, writing, and moving school for six months.” In 1743 a similar one was established and £18 old tenor, equal to about £3 lawful money, was raised for its support. Whether this afforded the only means of education does not appear. It is probable some schools might have been supported by private subscription. Several youth, as was then customary, resorted to the clergyman, for their education. People, however, enjoyed few other opportunities than were afforded in their own families. In 1760, the town [of Acton] was divided into six school districts, and in 1771 into seven. In 1797 the town [of Acton] was divided into four districts, East, West, South, and 169. Daniel Hoar, a brother of Jonathan Hoar, entered college in 1730 but was not graduated. 170. Lemuel Shattuck’s 1835 A HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF CONCORD;.... Boston MA: Russell, Odiorne, and Company; Concord MA: John Stacy, 1835

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Middle, and several new houses were built. This division has since been continued. The money is divided among the districts in proportion to the taxes. From the return made to the state in 1826, it appears, that the aggregate time of keeping the schools was 28 months, and that they were attended by 412 pupils, of whom 227 were males, and 185 females. 139 were under 7 years of age, 160 from 7 to 14, and 113 from 14 upwards.171

VALUATION.— From the returns of the assessors in the offices of the secretary of the Commonwealth and the town clerk, I [Dr. Lemuel Shattuck] have compiled the following tables, which will afford interesting information, illustrative of the wealth of the town at different periods. The only articles mentioned in the valuations of personal property, taken under the province charter, were horses, oxen, cows, sheep, swine, slaves, and faculty. The total valuation of personal and real estate, in 1706, as reduced to our present [1835] currency nearly according to the received tables of depreciation, was $9,898, and for several subsequent periods, was as follows.172

Year. Polls. Horses. Oxen. Cows. Sheep. Swine. Tot. Value.

1719 310 272 454 704 814 422 $12.695

1725 375 326 562 975 1371 551 12.071

1740 359 278 474 866 —— 550 7.623

1753 442 298 542 1024 1166 510 50.002

1760 335 268 301 813 627 418 44.306

1771 371 216 422 951 706 375 44.940

171. Lemuel Shattuck’s 1835 A HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF CONCORD;.... Boston MA: Russell, Odiorne, and Company; Concord MA: John Stacy, 1835 (On or about November 11, 1837 Henry David Thoreau would indicate a familiarity with the contents of at least pages 2-3 and 6-9 of this historical study. On July 16, 1859 he would correct a date mistake buried in the body of the text.) 172. Lemuel Shattuck’s 1835 A HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF CONCORD;.... Boston MA: Russell, Odiorne, and Company; Concord MA: John Stacy, 1835 (On or about November 11, 1837 Henry David Thoreau would indicate a familiarity with the contents of at least pages 2-3 and 6-9 of this historical study.) “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 525 HDT WHAT? INDEX

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The young slave called Sam whom the immigrant Moravians of the Piedmont district of North Carolina had purchased in 1769 to work in their stockyard became the first African-American convert to their religion in this district. He was given a new name, Johann Samuel, and for years would be allowed to worship alongside white Moravians as they washed one-another’s feet and kissed one another in a religious fellowship of equals before Christ.

During the “War of the Regulation,” legend has it, Loyalist militia cut Cornwallis Road through North Carolina to quell rebellion.

Daniel Boone returned to his family home in North Carolina after two years in Kentucky.

England abolished slavery inside England.

April 12: The Massachusetts Bay Colony’s legislature ordained a bill to prevent any further importation of Negroes — but then this bill was rejected by Governor Thomas Hutchinson. Bill passes both houses and fails of Governor Hutchinson’s assent. HOUSE JOURNAL, pages 211, 215, 219, 228, 234, 236, 240, 242-3. INTERNATIONAL SLAVE TRADE SLAVERY

“When one is happy in forgetfulness, facts get forgotten.” — Robert Pen Warren, 1961 THE LEGACY OF THE CIVIL WAR

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July: The Massachusetts General Court passed an “Act for Enquiring into the Rateable Estates of this Province” requiring that each town elect assessors to prepare valuations. Included among property descriptions was to be an enumeration “of all Indian, negro or molatto servants for life, from fourteen to forty-five years of age.” (Note here that some local historians have proudly asserted that Massachusetts had done away with human slavery within that colony, some two years earlier! –Evidently, these proud local historians had neglected to consult primary sources in their diligent search for the Bay Colony’s slaveholders.) According to the Massachusetts Tax Valuation List for this year, based on the Massachusetts provincial census, 911 white citizens of the Bay colony owned 1,169 adult “servants for life,” presumably black or mulatto rather than native American, and a dozen of these slaves were in Concord: the great freedom fighter, Ensign Nathan Barrett, owned a couple (the name of one of the two was Philip Barrett), and Lieutenant Humphry Barrett, Esquire John Beatton, Phineas Blood, senior, Timothy Hoar (the name of the slave was Brister Freeman), Deacon Simon Hunt (the name of the slave was Caesar), Doctor Joseph Lee (the name of the slave was Cato), George Minott (the name of the slave was Caesar), Colonel Charles Prescott (the name of the slave was Titus), Samuel Whitney (the name of the slave was Casey), and another Samuel Whitney owned one each. We note that “Esquire” Elisha Jones, Thoreau’s rich Tory ancestor, owned two slaves in Weston MA. Here is the complete list:

Samuel Abbott Boston 1 Jonathan Ingals Taunton 1

Samuel Adams Ipswich 1 Duncan Ingraham Boston 1

John Addam Taunton 1 Thomas Ivers Boston 2

Silas Adkins Boston 1 John Jackson Boston 6

Joshua Alger Swanzey 1 Esquire Joseph Jackson Boston 1

John Allen Boston 1 Samuel Jackson Plymouth 1

Jolley Allen Boston 1 Captain Thomas Jackson Plymouth 1

Nathaniel Allen Gloucester 1 David Jeffries Boston 1

Thomas Allen, Jr. Gloucester 1 Ruth Jeffry Salem 1

The Widow Allford Boston 2 Benjamin Jenkins Barre 2

The Widow Deborah Ames Dedham 2 John Jenkins Boston 2

John Amory Boston 1 Levi Jennings Boston 1

Thomas Amory Boston 1 George Jewett Rowley 1

Benjamin Andrews Boston 1 Joseph Johnson Charlestown 1

Benjamin Andrews, Jr. Boston 1 Matthew Johnson Woburn 1

Captain Thomas Anthony Marshfield 2 Solomon Johnson Easton 1

William Apthorp Boston 1 Thomas Johnson Boston 1

Samuel Archer Salem 1 Andrew Johonnot Boston 2

Aaron Ashley Westfield 1 Lieutenant Ebenezer Jones Wilmington 1

Esquire John Ashley Sheffield 8 Esquire Elisha Jones Weston 2

Eleazer Atwood Wellfleet 1 Ens. Isaac Jones Weston 1

Ephraim Atwood Dighton 1 Esquire John Jones Hopkinton 1

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Paul Aucril Middleton 1 Esquire John Jones Hopkinton 1

Esquire Benjamin Austin Boston 1 Josiah Jones Stockbridge 1

The Widow Mary Austin Charlestown 1 Thomas Jones Hull 1

Samuel Austin Boston 1 John Jones, Jr. Hopkinton 1

Nathaniel Austin, II Charlestown 2 Hugh Kanedy Rehobeth 1

John Austin, Jr. Charlestown 1 Abia Keith Bridgewater 1

Job Avery Truro 1 David Keith Bridgewater 1

William Avery and sons Dedham 1 Esquire Benjamin Kent Boston 2

Benjamin H. Babbit Berkley 1 Nathaniel Kent Gloucester 1

Joshua Bachus Sandwich 1 The Widow Ruth Kettell Charlestown 1

Nathaniel Baker Boston 1 Benjamin Kimball Manchester 1

James Baldwin Woburn 1 Benjamin King Salem 1

Esquire William Baldwin Sudbury 1 Bohan King Westfield 2

The Widow Anna Ball Waltham 1 Reverend John King Raynham 2

Josiah Ball Mendon 1 Joseph Kingsley Swanzey 2

Robert Ball Boston 1 Lieutenant William Kitteredge Tewksbury 1

John Ballard Boston 1 Bartholomew Kneeland Boston 1

Samuel Ballard Boston 1 Thomas Knop Boston 1

John Bancroft Westfield 1 James Lamb Boston 1

Esquire Samuel Bancroft Reading 1 Elizabeth Lambert Reading 2

The Widow Desire Bangs Harwich 1 Thomas Lambert Rowley 1

Elkanah Bangs Harwich 1 William Lander Salem 1

Samuel Bangs Boston 1 Nathaniel Lane Gloucester 1

Samuel Barnaby Freetown 1 Rachel Lane Gloucester 1

Henry Barnes Marlborough 2 John Lane, Jr. Bedford 1

Esquire John Barratt Boston 1 Samuel Larkin Charlestown 1

Lieutenant Humphry Barrett Concord 1 John Larkin, II Charlestown 2

Ensign Nathan Barrett Concord 2 Deacon John Lathe Woburn 1

James Barrick Boston 3 Henry Laughton, Sr. Boston 1

John Bartlet Plymouth 1 David Lawrence Littleton 1

Captain Nicholas Bartlett Marblehead 2 Lazarus Lebaron, Jr. Plymouth 1

William Bartlett Marblehead 2 Esquire Richard Lechmere Boston 2

Captain John Bartoll Marblehead 1 Esquire Jeremiah Lee Marblehead 2

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Esquire Samuel Barton Salem 1 Esquire John Lee Manchester 3

Samuel Bascom Western 1 Doctor Joseph Lee Concord 1

John Bassett Lynn 1 Captain Samuel Lee Manchester 3

Nathaniel Battle Dedham 1 Samuel Lee Swanzey 1

Bellshazer Bayerd Roxbury 2 Asaph Leonard Springfield 1

Thomas Bayley Hull 1 Colonel Daniel Leonard Taunton 1

John Beacham Charlestown 1 Esquire George Leonard Norton 1

Esquire John Beatton Concord 1 Esquire George Leonard, Jr. Norton 1

Jeremiah Belknap Framingham 1 Thomas Leverett Boston 1

Joseph Belknap Boston 1 Deacon John Lewis Lynn 1

James Bennet Woburn 1 Edmund Lewis +son Lynn 1

Prudence Benson Mendon 1 Henry Liddle Boston 1

Peter Bent Sudbury 1 George Lincoln Taunton 1

Elizabeth Berry Ipswich 1 Captain John Lion Rehobeth 2

Abigail Bicknal Rehobeth 1 Captain Nathaniel Little Kingston 1

Amos Bicknal Petersham 1 Samuel Lock Lexington 3

David Bicknell Weymouth 1 Esquire Walter Logan Roxbury 1

Ebenezer Bicknell Weymouth 1 Lieutenant Thomas Loring Plympton 1

Zachariah Bicknell, Jr. Weymouth 1 Loring Roxbury 1

Timothy Bigelow Worcester 2 John Louden Dartmouth 1

Lieutenant Fellows Billing Sunderland 1 Captain Solomon Lovell Weymouth 1

Reverend John Billings Stoughton 1 James Low Boston 2

Richard Billings Boston 1 Henry Loyde Boston 1

John Bishop Medford 1 Doctor James Loyde Boston 3

James Black Barre 1 Esquire Robert Luscombe Taunton 2

Esquire Joseph Blaney Salem 1 David Luther Swanzey 1

Abiah Bliss Rehobeth 1 Esquire Benjamin Lynde Salem 1

Thomas Bliss Brimfield 1 Joseph Lynde Malden 2

Timothy Bliss Springfield 1 Nathan Lynde Malden 2

Captain Seth Blodgett Medford 1 Jabez Lynde, Sr. Malden 1

Phineas Blood, Sr. Concord 1 Daniel Maccarty Boston 1

William Boden Marblehead 1 Mungo Maccoy Boston 1

Thomas Bootman Marblehead 1 William Mackintire Salem 2

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John Bourne Sandwich 2 Stephen Macomber Taunton 1

Nathan Bourne Salem 2 Isaac Mallet Charlestown 1

Nathan Bourne Salem 1 Robert Mann Dedham 3

Esquire Silas Bourne Sandwich 1 Hannah Manning Salem 1

Esquire Thomas Bourne Sandwich 2 Daniel Marsh Boston 1

Timothy Bourne Sandwich 1 John Marston Boston 1

Esquire Joseph Bowditch Salem 1 James Mason Swanzey 1

Esquire Nathaniel Bowen Marblehead 1 Jonathan Mason Boston 1

Benjamin Bowers Swanzey 2 Esquire Thaddeus Mason Charlestown 1

David Bowers Swanzey 2 Thomas Mason Salem 1

Henry Bowers Swanzey 4 Daniel Mattoon Salem 1

Captain Joseph Bowers Billerica 1 William Maxwell Boston 1

Mary Bowers Swanzey 1 Ephraim Mayhew Chilmark 1

John Box Boston 3 Thomas Mayhew Plymouth 2

James Boyce Milton 1 Murtagh McCarrill Boston 2

Daniel Boyer Boston 1 Captain Daniel McClean Milton 1

Joshua Boylston Brookline 1 John Mcclinch Boston 1

Nicholas Boylston Boston 2 Doctor William McInstry Taunton 1

Richard Boylston Charlestown 1 Neil McIntyre Boston 2

William Boys Boston 2 Archibald McNeil Boston 2

Joshua Brackett Boston 1 Captain McNeil Roxbury 2

Billings Braddish Salem 1 John Mecleanthan Rutland 1

James Braddish Charlestown 1 Joseph Meeds, Jr. Bedford 3

Jonathan Braddish Charlestown 1 John Mellage Boston 1

Job Bradford Boston 1 Thomas Mellen Hopkinton 2

Captain John Bradford Boston 2 John Melony Boston 1

The Widow Sarah Bradstreet Charlestown 1 James Merrick Monson 1

Perservid Brayton Rehobeth 1 Samuel Messer Methuen 1

Josiah Breed Lynn 1 Joseph Miller Springfield 1

Nathan Briggs Berkley 2 Christopher Minott Boston 2

Hannah Brigham Marlborough 1 George Minott Concord 1

George Brightman Freetown 1 Samuel Minot Boston 1

John Broadstreet Ipswich 1 Samuel Mirick Springfield 1

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Benjamin Brooks Townsend 1 John Moffatt Boston 1

Ebenezer Brooks Medford 1 William Molineaux Boston 1

Samuel Brooks Worcester 1 Jeduthan Moore Rutland 1

Thomas Brooks Medford 1 Joseph Moors Groton 2

Timothy Brooks Lincoln 1 Hugh More Boston 1

Abraham Brown Boston 1 Captain George Morey Norton 1

Adam Brown Ipswich 1 Samuel Morey Norton 1

Benjamin Brown Ipswich 1 John Morey and son Roxbury 1

Esquire Daniel Brown Sandisfield 1 Jemima Morong Salem 1

Jesse Brown Rehobeth 1 James Mortimore Boston 1

Nathaniel Brown Wenham 3 Peter Mortimore Boston 1

Thomas Brown Sandisfield 1 John Mosley Westfield 2

William Brown Boston 1 Joseph Munroe Billerica 1

William Brown Dighton 1 Bartlett Murdock Plympton 1

William Brown Hopkinton 1 James Murdock Plympton 1

Elek Brown, Jr. Swanzey 1 Esquire James Murray Milton 3

Joseph Bubier Marblehead 1 Esek Needham Wrentham 1

Benjamin Buckman Malden 1 Jeremiah Nelson, Jr. Ipswich 1

Jonathan Bullard Weston 1 Eliphalet Newell Charlestown 1

Doctor Thomas Bullfinch Boston 1 Thomas Newell Boston 1

Abraham Burbank Springfield 1 Timothy Newell Boston 2

Reverend Joseph Burbeen Woburn 1 Ezekiel Newton Southborough 1

Joseph Burt, Jr. Berkley 1 Rachel Newton, Jr. Southborough 1

Elnathan Bust Egremont 1 Esquire Ebenezer Nichols Reading 1

Francis Cabot Salem 2 Nichols Milton 2

George Caldwell Barre 1 Abigail Noble Sheffield 1

John Caldwell Barre 1 David Northey Salem 1

Robert Calef Boston 2 William Norwood Gloucester 2

Samuel Calf Boston 1 John Noyes, Jr. Sudbury 1

Winter Calf Boston 1 Jonathan Nutting Salem 1

Caleb Call Charlestown 1 Joseph Nye, III Sandwich 1

Thomas Cane Middleton 1 Samuel Oakman Marshfield 1

Captain William Canedy Taunton 3 John Orne Lynn 1

“Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 531 HDT WHAT? INDEX

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Hopestill Capon Boston 1 Jonathan Orne Salem 1

Edward Carnes Boston 2 Hugh Orr Bridgewater 1

Benjamin Carver Westford 1 David Osgood Lancaster 1

Jonathan Cary Boston 1 Isaac Otis Bridgewater 2

Nathaniel Cary Boston 2 Zachariah Packard Bridgewater 1

Richard Cary Charlestown 2 William Pain[e] Boston 2

Simeon Cary Bridgewater 1 Esquire Timothy Paine Worcester 2

The Widow Cary Boston 1 William Palfery Boston 1

Esquire Gardiner Chandler Worcester 3 Warwick Palfray Salem 2

Esquire John Chandler Worcester 2 Daniel Parker Boston 1

Abel Chapin Springfield 1 Jonas Parker Lexington 1

Lieutenant Japhet Chapin Springfield 1 Matthew Parker Dracut 1

Joseph Chapin Springfield 1 Thomas Parker Boston 2

Aaron Charles Brimfield 1 William Parker Boston 1

George Chase Freetown 2 Zenas Parsons Springfield 1

George Chase Freetown 1 Edmund Patch Ipswich 1

Nathan Chase Littleton 1 John Patch Ipswich 1

Josiah Chauncey Amherst 1 John Patch, Jr. Ipswich 1

David Cheever Charlestown 1 John Paull Berkley 2

William Downe Cheevers Boston 2 Edward Payne Boston 1

Esquire Peter Cherdon Boston 1 Frances Peabody Middleton 1

Thomas Child Bridgewater 3 John Pearson Newburyport 1

Esquire Francis Choate Ipswich 1 John Peck Boston 1

John Choate Ipswich 1 Josiah Peck Rehobeth 1

Thomas Choate Ipswich 1 Thomas H. Peck Boston 1

Margaret Clap Westfield 1 Isaac Peirce Boston 2

John Clark Marblehead 1 Josiah Peirce Woburn 1

Richard Clark Milton 1 William Peirce Milton 1

Seth Clark Medfield 1 Tamer Pell Sheffield 1

William Clark Plymouth 1 Richard Penhallow Boston 1

William Clarke Boston 1 Thomas Penny Boston 2

William Clift Marshfield 1 Esquire William Pepperell Roxbury 3

Ephraim Cobb Plymouth 1 Francis Perkins Bridgewater 2

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Esquire Thomas Cobb Taunton 1 James Perkins Boston 1

John Coburn Boston 1 Joseph Perkins Malden 1

Robert Coburn Dracut 2 Doctor Nathaniel Perkins Boston 1

Captain Timothy Coburn Dracut 1 Robert Perkins Ipswich 1

Isaac Codman Charlestown 1 William Lee Perkins Boston 2

John Codman Charlestown 1 Hannah Peters Middleton 1

Peter Coffin Gloucester 2 Charles Phelps Hadley 1

William Coffin, Jr. Boston 1 Deborah Phelps Sandwich 1

Jonathan Cogswell Ipswich 2 Benjamin Phillips Boston 2

Doctor Nathaniel Cogswell Rowley 1 The Widow Phillips Boston 1

Jonathan Cogswell, Jr. Ipswich 1 William Phillips Boston 1

Samuel Collins Chatham 1 Aaron Phips Holliston 1

Gamaliel Collins, Jr. Truro 1 Thomas Pickard Salem 1

The Widow Elizabeth Coming Dunstable 1 Esquire Benjamin Pickman Salem 2

William Conanct Charlestown 1 John Piemont Boston 1

Samuel Conant Charlestown 4 Richard Pike Salem 1

Stephen Cook Hopkinton 1 Esquire James Pitts Boston 4

Cord Cordis Boston 1 David Plumer Gloucester 1

Samuel Cottnam Salem 1 Simeon Polley Boston 1

Samuel Cotton Springfield 2 Eliphat Pond and son Dedham 1

Theophilus Cotton Plymouth 1 Isaac Pool Gloucester 1

Rebecca Coward Gloucester 2 Zachary Pool Medford 2

Thomas Cowden Fitchburg 2 The Widow Bethiah Porter Bedford 1

Caleb Coye Wenham 1 Esquire John Powell Boston 1

Joseph Cozens Holliston 1 Isabella Pratt Roxbury 1

Deacon Ebenezer Crafts Roxbury 1 Amos Prescott Acton 1

Francis Craigie Boston 2 Colonel Charles Prescott Concord 1

Gershom Crane, Jr. Berkley 1 Doctor Oliver Prescott Groton 1

Gersham Crocker Sandwich 1 John Preston Boston 1

Anstiss Crowningshield Salem 2 Samuel Preston Littleton 1

Clifford Crowningshield Salem 2 The Widow Price Boston 1

George Crowningshield Salem 1 Job Prince Boston 1

Jacob Crowningshield Salem 2 Edward Proctor Boston 1

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John Crowningshield Salem 1 Bartholomew Putnam Salem 1

Ephraim Cummings Westford 1 Ebenezer Putnam Salem 1

Major Joseph Curtis Sudbury 1 Ezra Putnam Middleton 1

Esquire Samuel Curwin Salem 1 Esquire James Putnam Worcester 1

Jonas Cutler Groton 1 Josiah Quincy Boston 1

George Cutter Charlestown 1 Esquire Samuel Quincy Boston 1

Thomas Dagget Tisbury 1 Esquire Isaac Rand Charlestown 1

James Daggett Rehobeth 1 George Reed Woburn 1

Thomas Dakin Boston 1 Oliver Reed Freetown 1

Benjamin Daland Salem 1 Swethan Reed Woburn 1

Captain Thomas Damon Sudbury 1 The Widow Renkin Boston 1

Robert Dane Ipswich 1 Abraham Rice Marlborough 1

David Daniels Mendon 1 Lemuel Rice Worcester 1

Seth Daniels Wrentham 1 Thomas Rice Boston 1

Benjamin Davis Boston 1 Joseph Richards + son Roxbury 1

Deacon E. Davis Brookline 1 James Richardson Boston 3

Edward Davis Boston 1 Esquire Thomas Robie Marblehead 1

Joshua Davis Boston 1 John Robins Westford 1

Solomon Davis Boston 2 Robert Robins Boston 1

Thomas Davis Oxford 2 Daniel Robinson Middleton 1

William Davis Boston 2 Esquire Ebenezer Roby Sudbury 1

Richard Day Manchester 1 Timothy Rogers Tewksbury 1

Captain William Day Sheffield 1 Zebediah Rogers Billerica 1

Jonathan De Silveir Boston 1 Ens. Aaron Root Sheffield 1

John Dean Boston 1 Azariah Root Sheffield 1

Reverend Josiah Dean Raynham 1 David Ropes Salem 2

Gilbert Deblois Boston 1 Esquire Isaac Royall Medford 5

Lewis Deblois Boston 1 Reverend William Royall Stoughton 4

The Widow William Denny Boston 1 Esquire John Ruddock Boston 1

Eliot H. Derby Salem 2 Rebecca Ruggles+son Jos Roxbury 1

Richard Derby Salem 1 John Russell Littleton 1

Esquire Richard Derby, Jr. Salem 2 John Russell Marblehead 1

Richard Devens Charlestown 1 Joseph Russell Dartmouth 2

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David Dewey Westfield 1 Zebidiah Sabin Williamstown 1

Captain John Dexter Malden 1 William Sacket Westfield 1

Nathaniel Dickinson Deerfield 1 Nathaniel Safford Ipswich 1

Daniel Diman Plymouth 1 Thomas Safford Ipswich 1

William Dinsmore Lancaster 1 Sampson Salter Boston 1

The Widow Mary Dizar Charlestown 1 Reverend Cornelius Sampson Kingston 1

Lieutenant Isaac Dodge Ipswich 1 The Widow Sanders Westminster 1

Jacob Dodge Wenham 1 Richard Sarcum Boston 2

Jonathan Dodge Ipswich 1 Esquire Epes Sargent Gloucester 1

Richard Dodge Wenham 2 Winthrop Sargent Gloucester 2

Robert Dodge Ipswich 1 Samuel Savage Weston 1

Stephen Dodge Wenham 1 Josiah Sawtell Groton 1

Benjamin Dolbeare Boston 2 Samuel Sayward Gloucester 1

William Dolbeare Marblehead 1 Esquire John Scollay Boston 1

Edmon Dole Rowley 1 Esquire Joseph Scott Boston 1

Moses Dole Rowley 2 William Scott Boston 1

Stephen Dole Rowley 1 Daniel Sears Rowley 1

Esquire Joseph Donst Salem 1 Esquire William Seaver Kingston 1

Thomas Doty Stoughton 1 Reverend Theodore Sedgwick Sheffield 1

William Doust Salem 2 William Shaw Dartmouth 1

The Widow Downe Boston 1 Lieutenant Jonathan Shead Tewksbury 1

Nathaniel Dowse Charlestown 2 Nathaniel Sheaffe Charlestown 1

Ebenezer Draper Dedham 1 Robert Shearman Swanzey 1

Samuel Dunber Bridgewater 1 Joseph Sherburn Boston 2

Deacon Samuel Eames Woburn 1 Joseph Shipman Salem 2

Joshua Eaton Reading 1 Noble Simmons Swanzey 1

Noah Eaton Woburn 1 Silvester Simmons Swanzey 1

Thomas Eaton, III Reading 3 Benjamin Simonds Williamstown 1

The Widow Sarah Eddy Taunton 1 John Skinner Boston 2

Isaiah Edes Charlestown 2 Joseph Skinner Woburn 2

Esquire Timothy Edwards Stockbridge 2 Richard Skinner Marblehead 1

Rachel Eliot Middleton 1 Peleg Slead Swanzey 1

Stephen Eliot Middleton 1 Phillip Slead Swanzey 2

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John Elkins Salem 1 Rebecca Slocum Dartmouth 3

Nathaniel Ellery Gloucester 1 Captain Braddyll Smith Weston 2

William Ellery Gloucester 2 Henry Smith Boston 1

William Ellery, Jr. Gloucester 1 Esquire Isaac Smith Boston 2

Simon Elliott Boston 2 Captain Job Smith Taunton 1

James Ellis Medfield 2 Lieutenant Joseph Smith Sudbury 1

Samuel Emms Boston 1 Josiah Smith Weston 2

John Erving Boston 1 Richard Smith Boston 1

Benjamin Eustis Boston 1 Susanna Smith Ipswich 1

William Evans Boston 1 Gamaliel Smithurst Marblehead 1

Elizabeth Eveleth Gloucester 1 Jonathan Snell Bridgewater 1

Esquire Timothy Fales Taunton 2 Josiah Snell Bridgewater 1

Ezra Fellows Sheffield 1 Samuel Somerbee Newburyport 1

Captain Jonathan Fellows Sheffield 2 John Soring Boston 2

Paul Field Northfield 1 Nathaniel Souter Charlestown 1

Esquire Samuel Fitch Boston 1 Captain Daniel Souther Hull 2

Jeremiah Fitts Ipswich 1 Nathan Spears Boston 2

Earl Flagg Petersham 1 Derrick Spoor Sheffield 1

Pelatiah Fletcher Westford 1 Doctor John Sprague Dedham 1

James Fosdick Boston 2 Doctor John Sprague Dedham 1

Edward Foster Boston 2 Doctor John Sprague Dedham 1

Robert Foster Kingston 1 Doctor John Sprague Dedham 1

Esquire Thomas Foster Plymouth 1 John Sprague Newburyport 1

William Foster Boston 1 Phineas Sprague Malden 1

Daniel Fowler Westfield 1 Jeremiah Stamford Ipswich 1

Esquire Jacob Fowls Lynn 2 Thomas Stanton Charlestown 1

John Foye Charlestown 1 Deacon Josiah Starr Weston 1

Captain John Frazier Boston 2 The Widow Abigail Stevens Charlestown 3

Nathan Frazier Boston 1 John Stevens Gloucester 3

Reuben French Salisbury 1 John Stevens, Jr. Gloucester 1

John Frothingham Charlestown 2 Elizabeth Stevenson Plymouth 1

Nathaniel Frothingham, Sr. Charlestown 1 John Stimpson Charlestown 1

Peter Frye Salem 1 After Stoddard Boston 1

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James Gardner Boston 3 Asa Stoddard Boston 1

John Gardner Boston 1 The Widow William Stoddard Boston 1

Joseph Gardner Boston 2 Abner Stone Framingham 5

Captain Peleg Gardner Swanzey 2 John Stone Newburyport 1

Captain Peleg Gardner Swanzey 1 Esquire Nathaniel Stone Harwich 1

Doctor Samuel Gardner Milton 1 The Widow Stoneman Boston 1

John Gardner, Jr. Salem 1 Ebenezer Storer Boston 2

Martin Gay Boston 1 The Widow Storer Boston 2

Captain Robert Gibbs Swanzey 1 Captain Jacob Storey Ipswich 3

Lieutenant Daniel Gidding Ipswich 1 The Widow Rebekah Sumner Taunton 1

Jonathan Gilbert Gloucester 1 Samuel Swan Charlestown 1

Perez Gilbert Berkley 1 John Swetland, Jr. Attleborough 1

Seth Gilbert Norton 1 Moses Swift Sandwich 1

Thomas Gilbert Freetown 1 Truman Taber Dartmouth 1

Edward Giles Boston 1 Samuel Talbot Dighton 1

Moses Gill Boston 2 Hugh Tarboll Boston 3

John Gilmore Raynham 1 William Tay, Jr. Woburn 1

Esquire George Godfrey Taunton 1 Nathaniel Taylor Boston 1

Ezekiel Goldthwait Boston 1 Captain Phineas Taylor Stow 1

Joseph Goldthwat Weston 1 Esquire Robert Temple Charlestown 2

Elisha Goodenow Sudbury 1 Solomon Terry Freetown 1

George Gooding Dighton 1 Abiel Terry, II Freetown 2

John Goodwin Reading 2 Oxenbridge Thatcher Milton 1

Deacon Nathaniel Goodwin Plymouth 3 Gideon Thayer Boston 1

Caleb Goold Hull 1 Esquire John Thomas Kingston 1

Esquire John Goold Hull 2 Josiah Thompson Medford 1

Jacob Goote Weymouth 2 Dan and William Tidd Lexington 1

William Gordon Dunstable 2 James Tileston Boston 1

John Gore Boston 1 John Timmins Boston 1

John Gould Boston 1 The Widow Mary Tisdail Taunton 1

Joseph Gould Lynn 1 Benjamin Tompson Wilmington 1

Robert Gould Boston 1 William Tompson Billerica 1

William Graham Dedham 1 Mary Toppan Salem 1

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Samuel Grant Boston 1 Esquire William Blair Townsend Boston 1

Esquire Harrison Gray Boston 1 John Tucker Milton 3

James Gray Stockbridge 1 Benjamin Tufts Medford 1

William Gray Boston 1 Esquire Cotton Tufts Weymouth 1

John Green Reading 1 David Turner Plymouth 1

Joseph Green Boston 1 Simon Tuttle Acton 1

Nathaniel Green Boston 1 Joseph Tyler Boston 1

Samuel Green, Jr. Malden 1 Deacon John Tylor Western 1

Esquire Benjamin Greenleaf Newburyport 1 Esquire Eleazer Tyng Dunstable 3

John Greenleaf Boston 1 Esquire John Tyng Boston 1

Esquire Richard Greenleaf Newburyport 1 Joseph Upton Reading 1

The Widow Sarah Greenleaf Newburyport 2 Major Joseph Varnum Dracut 1

William Greenleaf Boston 1 Esquire William Vassall Boston 3

Benjamin Grinnal Freetown 2 Fortesque Vernon Boston 2

Benjamin Guild Wrentham 1 William Vernon Boston 1

The Widow Gwin Boston 1 Jonathan Very Salem 1

Esquire Anthony Gwynn Newburyport 2 Esquire Josiah Walcott Oxford 1

John Hadley Lincoln 1 Adam Walker Worcester 1

Joseph Hager, Jr. Waltham 1 ColonelBenjamin Walker Dighton 1

Caleb Hall Methuen 1 Captain John Walker Rehobeth 1

Jacob Hall Medford 1 John Walker Worcester 2

Stephen Hall Boston 2 Joseph Walker Billerica 1

Willis Hall Medford 1 Timothy Walker Wilmington 1

Benjamin Hallowell Boston 4 Joshua Ward Salem 2

Charles Hammock Boston 1 Myles Ward Salem 1

Esquire John Hancock Boston 2 Samuel Warden Boston 2

John Hancock Charlestown 1 Lydia Ware Dighton 1

Daniel Harriden Gloucester 1 Samuel Ware New Braintree 1

Daniel Harrington Waltham 1 Wareham Warner New Braintree 1

Isaac Harrington Weston 1 Doctor Joseph Warren Boston 1

John Harris Charlestown 3 Aaron Warriner Springfield 1

Lieutenant Robert Harris Springfield 1 Samuel Waterhouse Boston 1

Samuel Harris Boston 1 Nathaniel Waterman Boston 1

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Nathaniel Harskell Gloucester 1 Esquire George Watson Plymouth 1

William Harskell Gloucester 2 Esquire William Watson Plymouth 2

Moses Hartshorn Medfield 1 John Webb Boston 1

Joseph Hartwell Bedford 1 Eleazer Weld Roxbury 1

Joseph Harwood, Jr. Littleton 2 Esquire Arnold Welles Boston 1

Hubbard Haskell Gloucester 1 Thomas Wellington Waltham 1

Philip Godfred Hast Boston 1 The Widow Mary Welsh Charlestown 1

Edward Hatchett Boston 1 Oliver Wendell Boston 2

Benjamin Hathaway Dartmouth 1 Reverend Charles Wentworth Stoughton 1

John Hathaway Berkley 1 Reverend Charles Wentworth Stoughton 1

Ambrous Hathway Freetown 1 Timothy Wesson Lincoln 1

Jale Hathway Freetown 1 Samuel West Salem 1

Lot Hathway Freetown 3 Lieutenant Daniel Wetherbee Stow 1

Phylip Hathway Freetown 2 Nathan Wheeler Newburyport 1

John Haven Athol 1 Richard Wheeler Bedford 1

Elkanah Haven[s] Framingham 1 Job Wheelwright Boston 1

Jesse Haward Bridgewater 2 Esquire Abijah White Marshfield 2

Joshua Haward Easton 1 Captain B. White Brookline 1

Adam Hawkes Lynn 1 David White Springfield 1

Josiah Hayden Bridgewater 1 John White Boston 1

Elijah Hayward Bridgewater 1 John White Charlestown 1

John Head Boston 1 Paul White Marshfield 2

Captain Richard Heard Sudbury 1 Esquire William White Boston 1

Jacob Hemenway Worcester 1 John White, Jr. Salem 1

Daniel Henchman Boston 1 John White, Jr. Salem 1

Benjamin Henderson Boston 1 Asa Whiting Wrentham 1

Esquire Samuel Henley Charlestown 2 Ebenezer Whiting Roxbury 1

John Henry Barre 1 Leonard Whiting Littleton 1

Lee Henry Barre 1 Deacon Charles Whitman Stow 1

Joseph Henshaw Boston 2 Ebenezer Whitman Bridgewater 1

William Henshaw Boston 1 Nathan Whitman Bridgewater 1

Joshua Henshaw, Sr. Boston 1 Samuel Whitney Concord 1

Captain Edward Hercom Reading 2 Samuel Whitney Concord 1

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Jonathan Herrington Lexington 1 Frances Whittman Boston 1

Robert Herrington Lexington 1 Samuel Whitwell Boston 1

Joseph Herskins Boston 2 William Whitwell Boston 1

Samuel Hews Boston 1 Doctor Miles Whitworth Boston 2

William Hickling Boston 1 Thomas Willbur Swanzey 1

Ezra Hickok, Jr. Sheffield 1 Captain George Williams Taunton 1

Henry Hill Boston 1 Captain Gershom Williams Dighton 1

Thomas Hills Malden 1 John Williams Deerfield 2

George Hitch Dartmouth 1 John Williams Deerfield 1

Thomas Hitchburn Boston 1 Jonathan Williams Boston 2

John Hoar Lincoln 2 ColonelJoseph Williams Roxbury 1

Timothy Hoar Concord 1 Robert Williams Roxbury 1

Joseph Hobbs Middleton 1 William Williams Roxbury 1

John Hodger Salem 1 John Willis Bridgewater 1

Joseph Hodger Salem 2 Samuel Willis Bridgewater 1

Abijah Hodges Taunton 1 Esquire John Wilson Hopkinton 1

Edmund Hodges Petersham 1 William Wingfield Boston 2

Priscilla Hodges Salem 2 Deacon Timothy Winn Woburn 1

Thomas Hodson Boston 1 Esquire Edward Winslow Plymouth 1

Captain William Holbrook Weymouth 1 Esquire John Winslow Marshfield 1

John Holemberg Egremont 1 Esquire Kenelm Winslow Harwich 4

Esquire William Homes Norton 2 Nathaniel Winslow Marshfield 1

Robert Honnours Gloucester 1 Kenelm Winslow, Jr. Harwich 2

The Widow Hough Boston 1 Esquire Samuel Winthrop Boston 1

Daniel Howard Bridgewater 1 David Wood, Sr. Charlestown 1

Edward Howard Bridgewater 1 Benjamin Wood, III Salem 1

Jonathan Howard Bridgewater 1 David Wood, Jr. Charlestown 2

Mary Howard Boston 1 Jahleel Woodbridge Stockbridge 2

Isaac Howland Dartmouth 1 Thomas Woodbridge Newburyport 1

Tuthill Hubbard Boston 1 William Wyatt Salem 1

Esquire Henry Hullon Brookline 2 William Wyer Charlestown 1

Thomas Hulmes Boston 1 Elijah Wyman Woburn 1

Isaiah Hunt Rehobeth 1 Joshua Wyman Woburn 1

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John Hunt Rehobeth 1 Nathan Wyman Woburn 1

Peter Hunt Tewksbury 2 Deacon Samuel Wyman Woburn 1

Deacon Simon Hunt Concord 1 Thomas Yates Attleborough 1

William Hunt Salem 2

Esquire Eliakim Hutchinson Roxbury 1

Esquire Thomas Hutchinson, Jr. Boston 1

“It is simply crazy that there should ever have come into being a world with such a sin in it, in which a man is set apart because of his color — the superficial fact about a human being. Who could want such a world? For an American fighting for his love of country, that the last hope of earth should from its beginning have swallowed slavery, is an irony so withering, a justice so intimate in its rebuke of pride, as to measure only with God.” — Stanley Cavell, MUST WE MEAN WHAT WE SAY? 1976, page 141

30th day of 7th month: The meeting for business of the Smithfield, Rhode Island monthly meeting of the Religious Society of Friends issued a query: Are friends clear of Importing, Buying or any way purchasing disposing or holding of Mankind as Slaves, And are all those who have been held in a State of Slavery discharged therefrom. INTERNATIONAL SLAVE TRADE MANUMISSION SLAVERY

1772

In the case Somerset v. Stewart, Massachusetts outlawed the forced removal of slaves. (Later it would be averred, patriotically if very falsely, that this case had abolished the institution of slavery in Massachusetts.)

Rutherford and Priestley discovered nitrogen.

John Walsh experimented on electric torpedo fish.

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In this year the American Friend John Woolman wrote A EPISTLE TO THE QUARTERLY AND MONTHLY 173 MEETING OF FRIENDS. SLAVERY

No image of Friend John ever was made

RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS “It is simply crazy that there should ever have come into being a world with such a sin in it, in which a man is set apart because of his color — the superficial fact about a human being. Who could want such a world? For an American fighting for his love of country, that the last hope of earth should from its beginning have swallowed slavery, is an irony so withering, a justice so intimate in its rebuke of pride, as to measure only with God.” — Stanley Cavell, MUST WE MEAN WHAT WE SAY? 1976, page 141

April 1: The House of Burgesses sent a petition to King George III of England, asking that no more new black slaves be shipped from Africa to Virginia, referring to the international slave trade for some reason as “a very pernicious commerce.” (We might be tempted to suppose that these white-guy Virginia slavemasters were having an attack of human benevolence or of indigestion, unless we hark back to their debate of 1757 in which the primary consideration had been that possibly they could make better profits by breeding slaves locally than by shipping them in, and in which the secondary consideration had been that possibly a tariff on these imports would be a good source of income for their colonial government, and in which there had been no tertiary consideration whatever of humanity or human benevolence.) “ ... The importation of slaves into the colonies from the coast 173. JOURNAL, Chapter XI 1772 Embarks at Chester, with Samuel Emlen, in a Ship bound for London. Exercise of Mind respecting the Hardships of the Sailors. Considerations on the Dangers of training Youth to a Seafaring Life. Thoughts during a Storm at Sea. Arrival in London. JOURNAL, Chapter XII 1772 Attends the Yearly Meeting in London. Then proceeds towards Yorkshire. Visits Quarterly and other Meetings in the Counties of Hertford, Warwick, Oxford, Nottingham, York, and Westmoreland. Returns to Yorkshire. Instructive Observations and Letters. Hears of the Decease of William Hunt. Some Account of him. The Author’s last Illness and Death at York. JOURNAL, Appendix I. Testimony of Friends in Yorkshire concerning John Woolman JOURNAL, Appendix II. Testimony of Friends in Burlington concerning John Woolman 542 Copyright  Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX

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of Africa hath long been considered as a trade of great inhumanity, and under its present encouragement, we have too much reason to fear will endanger the very existence of your majesty’s American dominions.... Deeply impressed with these sentiments, we most humbly beseech your majesty to remove all those restraints on your majesty’s governors of this colony, which inhibit their assenting to such laws as might check so very pernicious a commerce.” JOURNALS OF THE HOUSE OF BURGESSES, page 131; quoted in Tucker, DISSERTATION ON SLAVERY (repr. 1861), page 43.

June: Only a couple of two weeks after purchasing some fresh slaves to use on his estates, George Washington affixed his signature to a document drafted by the “Association for the Counteraction of Various Acts of Oppression on the Part of Great Britain.” The signers were pledging that “we will not import or bring into the Colony, or cause to be imported or brought into the Colony, either by sea or land, any slaves, or make sale of any upon commission, or purchase any slave or slaves that may be imported by others, after the 1st day of November next, unless the same have been twelve months upon this continent.” –This resolution may well have been intended as economic retaliation, with the blacks in question mere pawns in a white power struggle, as the document displays no moral disapproval of slaveholding, or of the domestic slave trade, or of the international slave trade. THE MIDDLE PASSAGE

June 22: With Westminster Hall full of kibitzers for an important trial, the gallery was crammed with anxious black Britons. James Somerset, one of the some 10,000 black slaves in Britain, has escaped and been apprehended. After some hesitation, the Lord Chief Justice of England, William Murray, Baron Mansfield, ruled that “as soon as any slave sets foot in England he becomes free.” The justice declared the institution of slavery to be so “odious” that it could have no basis in the common law or in its precedents, but could be rendered legal only were it made so by the “positive law of England,” that is, by specific legislative act.174 At the conclusion of the trial, Lord Mansfield declared that “the Man must be discharged.” [Relevant materials from Gerzina, Gretchen. BLACK LONDON: LIFE BEFORE EMANCIPATION. New Brunswick NJ: Rutgers UP, 1995, pages 131-4 are extracted on the following screen.]175

“EMANCIPATION IN THE BRITISH WEST INDIES”: “I was a slave,” said the counsel of Somerset, speaking for his client, “for I was in America: I am now in a country, where the common rights of man- kind are known and regarded.”

EMANCIPATION

July 31: Thomas Jefferson tasted potatoes grown by his slaves.

174.In England as in America, the condition of slavery was a common-law reality, a phenomenon of local practice and local perception, rather than ever having been awarded any sort of legislated status, so to annul its common law basis was to remove every shred of legitimacy. 175.In England as in America, the condition of slavery was a common-law reality, a phenomenon of local practice and local perception, rather than ever having been awarded any sort of legislated status, and therefore to annul the common law basis for such praxis would effectually remove every shred of legitimacy. Therefore it has been offered in numerous supposedly scholarly publications that what happened on this date was that the Lord Chief Justice of England declared the institution of slavery to be so “odious” that it could have no basis in the common law or in its precedents, but could be rendered legal only were it made so by the “positive law of England,” that is, by specific legislative act. In fact the Earl of Mansifield would spend the remainder of his life expressing that he had done no such general thing. He had, he said, decided only one case — and on its own peculiar merits. “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 543 HDT WHAT? INDEX

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1773

Venture Smith hired out his son Solomon Smith, age 17, for a one-year whaling expedition, to Charles Church of Rhode Island, for “twelve pounds plus the opportunity of getting some learning.” Unfortunately, Solomon would die at sea of scurvy. At the age of 44, Venture came to be able to purchase his wife Margaret “Meg” Smith from Thomas Stanton, then pregnant with their 4th child, for £40. Forty four years had then completed their revolution fince my entrance into this exiftence of fervitude and misfortune. Solomon my eldeft fon, being then in his feventeenth year, and all my hope and dependence for help, I hired him out to one Charles Church, of Rhode-Ifland, for one year, on confideration of his giving him twelve pounds and an opportunity of acquiring fome learning. In the courfe of the year, Church fitted out a veffel for a whaling voyage, and being in want of hands to man her, he induced my fon to go, with the promife of giving him on his return, a pair of filver buckles, befides his wages. As foon as I heard of his going to fea, I immediately fet out to go and prevent it if poffible. But on my arrival at Church’s, to my great grief, I could only fee the veffel my fon was in almoft out of fight going to fea. My fon died of fcurvy in this voyage, and Church has never yet paid me the leaft of his wages. In my fon, befides the lofs of his life, I loft equal to feventy-five pounds. My other fon being but a youth, ftill lived with me. About this time I chartered a floop of about thirty tons burthen, and hired men to affift me in navigating her. I employed her moftly in the wood trade to Rhode-Ifland, and made clear of all expences above one hundred dollars with her in better than one year. I had then become fomething forehanded, and being in my forty-fourth year, I purchafed my wife Meg, and thereby prevented having another child to buy, as fhe was then pregnant. I gave forty pounds for her. During my refidence at Long-Ifland, I raifed one year with another, ten cart loads of water-melons, and loft a great many every year befides by the thieveifhnefs of the failors. What I made by the water-melons I fold there, amounted to nearly five hundred dollars. Various other methods I purfued in order to enable me to redeem my family. In the night time I fifhed with fetnets and pots for eels and lobsters, and fhorthly after went a whaling voyage in the fervice of Col. Smith. After being out feven months, the veffel returned, laden with four hundred barrels of oil. About this time, I become poffeffed of another dwelling-houfe, and my temporal affairs were in a pretty profperous condition. This and my induftry was what alone faved me from being expelled that part of the ifland in which I refided, as an act was paffed by the felect-men of the place, that all negroes refiding there fhould be expelled. SLAVERY

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All over Britain and America, slaves, abolitionists, lawyers and judges cited the Somerset case as ending slavery in Britain, a precedent which many saw as applying to America as well: slaves who crossed into free states with their masters, even temporarily, tested the legality of slavery. Despite Mansfield’s many pains to reassert the deliberate narrowness of his decision, he seemed powerless to stem the tide of misinterpretation, demonstrating “a legal world where things are not as they seem, a world of deceptive appearances and unforeseen consequences.” ... Despite the decision, slaves were still sold and sent out of the country for years afterward, often quite openly.... In the end it didn’t really matter what Lord Mansfield had said, or what actually happened to James Somerset. The case became legend and to this day is still erroneously referred to as ending slavery in England. As long as everyone believed that slaves were free, it served as de facto freedom. John Riddell of Bristol wrote to Charles Stewart on 10 July 1772, that one of his servants had run off after the decision. He told the servants that he had rec’d a letter from his Uncle Sommerset acquainting him that Lord Mansfield had given them their freedom & he was determined to leave me as soon as I returned from London which he did without even speaking to me. I didn’t find that he had gone off with anything of mine. Only carried off all his own cloths [sic] which I don’t know whether he had any right so to do. I believe I shall not give my self any trouble to look after the ungrateful villain. In only three weeks the Somerset case had passed from the legal to the apocryphal. All over England, and sometimes in America, the “nephews” of James Somerset left their masters and struck out on their own.... The timing of the Somerset case affected both countries in ways that Sharp probably never anticipated. While he and others were fighting to resolve the issue of freedom for British slaves, the American colonists adopted similar rhetoric to agitate for white colonists’ freedom from England. The hypocrisy of whites proclaiming themselves “enslaved” by the British government and declaring a few years later the “self- evident” truth “that all men were created equal” was lost on neither American nor British slaves. In Boston and elsewhere the Declaration of Independence in 1776 sparked a series of petitions, leaflets and newspaper announcements from free and enslaved blacks challenging those white who demanded either liberty or death to free the real slaves. One fifth of the colonial population was black and the colonists, with some reason, began to fear a racial insurrection parallel to their own political one.

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Flushing Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends on Paumanok Long Island urged its members not to purchase slaves. Just say no to your friendly neighborhood pusher. Don’t go there. “It is simply crazy that there should ever have come into being a world with such a sin in it, in which a man is set apart because of his color — the superficial fact about a human being. Who could want such a world? For an American fighting for his love of country, that the last hope of earth should from its beginning have swallowed slavery, is an irony so withering, a justice so intimate in its rebuke of pride, as to measure only with God.” — Stanley Cavell, MUST WE MEAN WHAT WE SAY? 1976, page 141

The Testimony of Friends in Yorkshire at their Quarterly Meeting, held at York, England the 24th and 25th of the Third Month, 1773, in regard to American Friend John Woolman, recently deceased: The TESTIMONY of Friends in Yorkshire at their Quarterly Meeting, held at York the 24th and 25th of the Third Month, 1773, concerning John Woolman, of Mount Holly, in the Province of New Jersey, North America, who departed this life at the house of our Friend Thomas Priestman, in the suburbs of this city, the 7th of Tenth Month, 1772, and was interred in the burial-ground of Friends the 9th of the same, aged about fifty-two years. THIS our valuable friend having been under a religious engagement for some time to visit Friends in this nation, and more especially us in the northern parts, undertook the same in full concurrence and near sympathy with his friends and brethren at home, as appeared by certificates from the Monthly and Quarterly Meetings to which he belonged, and from the Spring Meeting of ministers and elders held at Philadelphia for Pennsylvania and New Jersey. He arrived in the city of London the beginning of the last Yearly Meeting, and, after attending that meeting, traveled northward, visiting the Quarterly Meetings of Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, and Worcestershire, and divers particular meetings in his way. He visited many meetings on the west side of this country, also some in Lancashire and Westmoreland, from whence he came to our Quarterly Meeting in the last Ninth Month, and, though much out of health, yet was enabled to attend all the sittings of that meeting except the last. His disorder, which proved the smallpox, increased speedily upon him, and was very afflicting, under which he was supported in much meekness, patience, and Christian fortitude. To those who attended him in his illness, his mind appeared to be centred in divine love, under the precious influence whereof we believe he finished his course, and entered into the mansions of everlasting rest. He was a man endued with a large natural capacity, and, being obedient to the manifestations of divine grace, having in patience and humility endured many deep baptisms, he became thereby santified and fitted for the Lord’s work, and was truly serviceable in His Church. Dwelling in awful feel and

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watchfulness, he was careful in his public appearences to feel the putting forth of the divine hand, so that the spring of the gospel ministry often flowed through him with great sweetness and purity, as a refreshing stream to the weary travellers towards the city of God. Skilful in dividing the Word, he was furnished by Him in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, to communicate freely to the several states of the people where his lot was cast. His conduct at other times was seasoned with like watchful circumspection and attention to the guidance of divine wisdom, which rendered his whole conversation uniformly edifying. He was fully persuaded that, as the life of Christ comes to reign in the earth, all abuse and unnecessary oppression, both of the human and brute creation, will come to an end; but under the sense of a deep revolt and an overflowing stream of unrighteousness, his life has often been a life of mourning. He was deeply concerned on account of that inhuman and iniquitous practice of making slaves of the people of Africa, or holding them in that state, and on that account we understand he hath not only written some books, but travelled much on the continent of America, in order to make the negro masters (especially those in profession with us) sensible of the evil of such a practice; and though in this journey to England he was far removed from the outward sight of their sufferings, yet his deep exercise of mind and frequent concern to open the miserable state of this deeply injured people remained, as appears by a short treatise he wrote in this journey. His testimony in the last meeting he attended was on this subject, wherein he remarked that we as a Society, when under outward sufferings, had often found it our concern to lay them before those in authority, and thereby, in the Lord’s time, had obtained relief, so he to our notice, that we may, as way may open, represent their sufferings in an individual if not in a Society capacity to those in authority. Deeply sensible that the desire to gratify people’s inclinations in luxuries and superfluities is the principal ground of oppression, and the occasion of many unnecessary wants, he believed it to be his duty to be a patter of great self-denial with respect to the things of this life, and earnestly to labour with Friends in the meekness of wisdom, to impress on their minds the great importance of our testimony in these things, recommending to the guidance of the blessed truth in this and all other concerns, and cautioning such as are experienced therein against contenting themselves with acting by the standard of others, but to be careful to make the standard of truth manifested to them the measure of their obedience. For, said he, “that purity of life which proceeds from faithfulness in following the spirit of truth, that state where our minds are devoted to serve God, and all our wants are bounded by His wisdom; this habitation has often been opened before me as a place of retirement for the children of the light, where they may stand separated from that which disordereth and confuseth the affairs of society, and where we have a testimony of our innocence in the hearts of those who behold us.” We conclude with fervent desires that we as a people may thus

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by our example promote the Lord’s work in the earth, and, our hearts being prepared, may unite in prayer to the great Lord of the harvest, that as in His infinite wisdom He hath greatly stripped the Church by removing of late divers faithful ministers and elders, He may be pleased to send forth many more faithful labourers into His harvest.

No image of Friend John ever was made

January 6: In the 1st of 8 such petitions during the revolutionary period, Massachusetts slaves asked the legislature for their freedom. (Note here that some local historians have proudly asserted that Massachusetts had done away with human slavery within that colony, some four years earlier! –Evidently, these proud local historians had neglected to consult primary sources.)176 SLAVERY

176. They supposed the hostilities to have something to do with freedom. A cumulating total of eight such petitions would be submitted during the period of the revolutionary war. Find these petitioners in the fresco by Brumidi on a wall of our federal capitol:

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January 28: A couple of Quaker men who had been delegated to visit Governor Stephen Hopkins, and elder him about his not as yet having manumitted his black servant in accordance with the Quaker Query as to Noninvolvement SLAVERY in Slavery, reported back to the Smithfield, Rhode Island monthly meeting of the Religious Society of Friends that the governor “desires Friends not to act hastily.” (Does that mean “Can’t you wait until the polls close”?) QUAKER DISOWNMENT

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February 5: In Providence, Rhode Island, Anna Brown, wife of Moses Brown, who had collapsed some five months earlier, died.

In Newport, Captain Pollipus Hammond died shortly before midnight. This 72-year-old’s eyes were closed by his friend, the Reverend Ezra Stiles. The gravestone of this negrero skipper still stands for our edification in the Common Burying Ground:

“Here lieth the body of the ingenious Capt. Pollipus Hammond who died February 5, 1773. The hoary head is a crown of glory if it be found in the way of righteousness.”

(His friend the Reverend Stiles, pastor of the 2d Congregational Church on Clarke Street in Newport, had invested in a slave trading voyage in 1756 that had returned him a 10-year-old boy. The Reverend would not free his slave until becoming president of Yale College in 1777. Noting that Hammond had disengaged himself from the international slave trade during his mid-50s, this slaveholding Reverend reassured himself with the conceit that had his dead friend “his Life to live over again, he would not choose to spend it in buying and selling the human species.”) THE TRAFFIC IN MAN-BODY

February 26: At this point Pennsylvania imposed an additional £10 poll tax, over and above all the previous duties, on the importation into the colony of new slaves. “An Act for making perpetual the act ... [of 1761] ... and laying an additional duty on the said slaves.” Dallas, LAWS, I. 671; ACTS OF ASSEMBLY (ed. 1782), page 149. INTERNATIONAL SLAVE TRADE SLAVERY

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March: The voters of Lincoln pledged, as they had in 1770, to honor the Boston boycott on the import of foreign goods.

John Jack died. His memorial is in the Old Hill Burying Ground near Concord’s Milldam:

“GOD WILLS US FREE; — MAN WILLS US SLAVES. I WILL AS GOD WILLS; GOD’S WILL BE DONE. HERE LIES THE BODY OF JOHN JACK, A NATIVE OF AFRICA, WHO DIED MARCH, 1773, AGED ABOUT SIXTY YEARS. THOUGH BORN IN A LAND OF SLAVERY, HE WAS BORN FREE. THOUGH HE LIVED IN A LAND OF LIBERTY, HE LIVED A SLAVE; TILL BY HIS HONEST THOUGH STOLEN LABOURS, HE ACQUIRED THE SOURCE OF SLAVERY, WHICH GAVE HIM HIS FREEDOM: THOUGH NOT LONG BEFORE DEATH, THE GRAND TYRANT, GAVE HIM HIS FINAL EMANCIPATION, AND PUT HIM ON A FOOTING WITH KINGS. THOUGH A SLAVE TO VICE, HE PRACTICED THOSE VIRTUES, WITHOUT WHICH KINGS ARE BUT SLAVES.”

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Professor Elise Lemire’s mom, Virginia Lemire, took a photo in Sleepy Hollow recently, getting the lettering of John Jack’s 1835 replacement memorial stone to stand out admirably by rubbing it with snow (see blowup on following screen).

8th day of 4th month: During this year the Reverend Samuel Hopkins of the 1st Congregational Church in Newport and President Ezra Stiles of Yale College were urging that freed Africans be resettled in West Africa. The Rhode Island Quarterly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends issued a query: Are friends clear of Importing, Buying or any way purchasing disposing or holding of Mankind as Slaves, And are all those who have been held in a State of Slavery discharged therefrom. INTERNATIONAL SLAVE TRADE SLAVERY EMANCIPATION

May: The Rhode Island Quarterly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends proposed to the New England Yearly Meeting that slaveholding be forbidden to any Quaker — and the same pointed query was issued by that larger group: Are friends clear of Importing, Buying or any way purchasing disposing or holding of Mankind as Slaves, And are all those who have been held in a State of Slavery discharged therefrom. INTERNATIONAL SLAVE TRADE EMANCIPATION SLAVERY

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June 29: The monthly preparatory meeting of the Religious Society of Friends at Newport, Rhode Island recorded that it was continuing to labor with the consciences of members “who still have slaves.” No progress would be recorded in this during the remainder of the year. However, a committee was collecting the “names of those who still hold slaves” in order to “report same to each Monthly Meeting in New England,” and “Visitors” were delegated to make official visits of remonstrance to each such household. SLAVERY

September 10: Captain Thomas Rogers of the Polly purchased 65 slaves from Henry Woortman, the Dutch governor at Apam on the coast of Africa, in exchange for 15,000 gallons of Rhode Island rum.

27th day 9th month, 13th year of the Reign over England of King George the Third: Friend Jeremiah Browning of Charleston, Rhode Island Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends unconditionally manumitted his black slave “Richard.”

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1st day 11th month, 14th year of the Reign over England of King George the Third: Friend John Knowles of the South Kingstown, Rhode Island Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends manumitted his Negrow Woman named Phillis and her two children the One named [Ceafar? Casper?] the other Judith. The enslaved mother became immediately and unconditionally free while the two children were to be bound to be apprenticed until they reached proper age.

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November 4: In Providence, Rhode Island, Friend Mary Brown, sister-in-law of prominent businessman Moses Brown who had also converted from the Baptist Church, convinced that “the holding of Negros in slavery however kindly used by their masters and mistresses has a tendency to incourage the iniquitous practice of importing them from their native country, and is contrary to that justice, mercy and humanity required of every christian,” made out for her slave Eve, with Eve’s child also bearing the name Eve, “being all I am possessed off of that Nation and Colour,” a manumission document:

j{xÜxtá \ tÅ fxÇy|uÄx à{x [ÉÄw|Çz Éy axzÜÉxá |Ç YÄtäxÜç [ÉãxäxÜ ^|ÇwÄç hyxw uç à{x|Ü `tyàxÜá tÇw `|yàÜxyáxá {tá t gxÇwxÇvç àÉ \ÇvÉâÜtzx à{x \Ç|Öâ|àÉâá cÜtvà|vx Éy \ÅÑÉÜà|Çz à{xÅ yÜÉÅ à{x|Ü atà|äx VÉâÇàÜç tÇw \á vÉÇàÜtÜç àÉ à{tà ‰ ]âyà|vx `xÜvç tÇw [âÅ|Ä|àç exÖâ|Üxw Éy XäxÜç V{Ü|yà|tÇ \ wÉ uç à{xyx ‰ `tÇÇâÅ|à tÇw fxà yÜxx yÜÉÅ Åç yxÄy Åç [x|Üá Xäx tÇ axzÜÉ jÉÅtÇ ‰ j|à{ {xÜ V{|Äw Xäx ux|Çz tÄÄ \ tÅ cÉyáxyáxw Éyy Éy à{tà atà|ÉÇ tÇw VÉÄÉâÜ tÇw [“ordain” has been written between the lines, in pencil] yÜÉÅ t f|Çvx Éy wâàç yÉÜ {xÜ _ÉÇz tÇw yt|à{yâÄ YxÜä|vx \ {xÜxuç bÜtÇ W|Üxvà tÇw \Ç}É|Ç hÑÉÇ `ç [x|Üá àÉ àÜxtà {xÜ ^|ÇwÄç tÇw ÉÇ tÄÄ bvvty|ÉÇá Tyá|yà tÇw fâÑÑÉÜà {xÜ ã|à{ à{x axxwyâÄ VÉÅyÉÜàá Éy à{|á _|yx gÜâyà|Çz |Ç {xÜ VÉÇà|Çâxw XÇwxtäÉâÜá yÉÜ[xÜfâÑÑÉÜà |Ç[ÉÇÇxyà_tuÉâÜ tá ytÜ tá[“Labour” marked out]tzx tÇwV|ÜvâÅyáàtÇqvxá j|ÄÄ twÅ|à TÇw |Ç exyÑxvà àÉ à{x çÉâÇz V{|Äw uÉÜÇ |Ç `ç ytÅ|Äç \ wxy|Üx tÇw W|Üxvà y{x Åtç ux uÜÉ:à âÑ tÇw Xwâvtàxw fâ|àtuÄç yÉÜ {xÜ yâàâÜx `t|Çàt|ÇtÇvx tÇw wâx \ÅÑÜÉäxÅxÇà Éy à{x wätÇàtzx [sic] Éy t yÉuxÜ tÇw exÄ|z|Éâá Xwâvtà|ÉÇ \Ç j|àÇxyá j{xÜxÉy g{xÜâÇàÉ fâuyvÜ|ux Åç atÅx tÇw Tyy|åà Åç fxtÄ à{|á ‰ [“This” marked out] yÉÜÜà{ [sic] wtç Éy à{x XÄxäxÇà{ `ÉÇà{ TWDJJF \Ç ÑÜxyxÇvx Éy j„ÅUtÜ~xÜ `tÜç UÜÉãÇ [LL] `Éyxá UÜÉãÇ Ü exvÉÜwxw aÉäA DIADJJF Uç ] TÇzxÄÄ VÄxÜ~

(Refer to Moses Brown Papers, Msc. MSS, B-814, Box 2.)

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November 10: Prominent businessman Moses Brown, owner or part owner of ten human beings other than himself (Moses Brown Papers, II, 18), stricken with grief at the premature death of his wife (his 1st cousin Anna Brown, daughter of Obadiah Brown, who had died on February 5th), on his way to becoming a Quaker, made out a manumission document for his slaves awarding them the use of one acre each of his 200-acre farm

MOSES BROWN “Elmgrove” on the back side of Prospect Hill for their sustenance (Bonno, about 34 years of age, Ceafer, 32 years of age, Cudge,177 27 years of age and born in Rhode Island, Prime, about 25 years of age, Pegg, 20 years of age and born in Providence, and Pero, about 18 years of age), and also for all slaves in whom he held a part interest (Yarrow, about 40 years of age,178 Tom, about 30 years of age, Newport, about 21 years of age, and Phillis, about 2 years of age, who had been born in his family):

177. A grandson of Cudge, William J. Brown, would describe Moses Brown as a person who “considered himself a Christian man,” choosing that description over the simpler “Christian man” or the more specific “Quaker.” Why would he write in such manner, in regard to this benevolent rich white man who had freed his grandfather? William would point out that Moses had come to believe that Cudge had paid for himself by his satisfactory labor and that it would therefore be improper to hold him any longer in slavery, despite the fact that Cudge was “his property.” Professor Joanne Pope Melish’s explanation of this would rely upon the concept of compensated emancipation: “Like most antislavery advocates of his time, Moses Brown believed that slavery was sinful but could not conceive of slaves as having rights to freedom that superseded the property rights of their owners. Moses Brown freed his slaves in an act of compensated emancipation — after the labor of his slaves had ‘paid off’ their purchase price.” 178. Yarrow had been owned jointly by the Brown brothers, who worked him at their spermacetti candle works in today’s Fox Point. Moses released his quarter share but John Brown of course refused to reciprocate. From his deathbed Yarrow would have the last word: “Tell him to come and take his quarter or I shall soon be free.” “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 557 HDT WHAT? INDEX

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j{xÜxtá \ tÅ vÄxtÜÄç vÉÇä|Çvxw à{tà à{x Uç|Çz tÇw fxÄÄ|Çz Éy `xÇ Éy ã{tà VÉÄÉâÜ fÉxäxÜ tá fÄtäxá |á VÉÇàÜtÜç àÉ à{x W|ä|Çx `|Çw ÅtÇ|yxáà |Ç à{x VÉÇyx|xÇvxá Éy tÄÄ `xÇ? {ÉãxäxÜ áÉÅx Åtç áÅÉà{xÜ tÇw ÇxzÄxvà |àá exÑÜÉä|Çzá? tÇw ux|Çz tÄáÉ Åtwx fxÇá|uÄx à{tà à{x [ÉÄw|Çz axzÜÉá |Ç fÄtäxÜçA {ÉãxäxÜ ^|ÇwÄç gÜxtàxw uç à{x|Ü `tyàxÜá {tá t ZÜxtà gxÇwxÇvç àÉ \ÇvÉâÜtzx à{x \Ç|Öâ|àÉâá gÜtyy|v~ tÇw cÜtvà|vx Éy \ÅÑÉÜà|Çz à{xÅ yÜÉÅ à{x|Ü atà|äx VÉâÇàÜç? tÇw |á vÉÇàÜtÜç àÉ à{tà ]âáà|vx? `xÜvç tÇw [âÅ|P PÄÄ|àç \Ç}É|Çw tá à{x wâàç Éy xäxÜç V{Ü|áà|tÇA \ Wb à{xÜxyÉÜx uç à{xáx ÑÜxyxÇàá yÉÜ Åç fxÄy Åç [x|Üá 9vA `tÇÇâÅ|à tÇw áxà YÜxx à{x yÉÄÄÉã|Çz axzÜÉá ux|Çz tÄÄ \ tÅ cÉyáxyáxw Éy ÉÜ tÅ tÇç ãtçá \ÇàxÜxáàxw |Ç i|éA UÉÇÇÉ tÇ TyÜ|vtÇ tzxw tuÉâà FGM çxtÜá VxtyxÜ tzxw FEA çxtÜáA Vâwzx tzxw EJA çxtÜá UÉÜÇ |Ç à{|á VÉÄÉÇçA cÜ|Åx tÇ tyÜ|vtÇ tzxw tuÉâà EHA çxtÜáA cxÜÉ tÇ TyÜ|vtÇ tzxw tuÉâà DKA çxtÜáA cxzz UÉÜÇ |Ç à{|á gÉãÇ tzxw ECM çxtÜáA TÇw bÇx dâÜàxÜ ux|Çz à{x ÑtÜà \ ÉãÇ Éy à{x à{Üxx YÉÄÄÉã|Çz tyÜ|vtÇá ä|é‰ ltÜÜÉã tzxw tuÉâà GCM çxtÜáA gÉÅ tzxw tuÉâà FCM çxtÜáA tÇw axãÑÉÜà„ tzxw tuÉâà EDM çxtÜበTÇw t V{|Äw c{|ÄÄ|á tzxw tuÉâà gãÉ çxtÜá uÉÜÇ |Ç Åç YtÅ|Äç? á{x {tä|Çz à{x átÅx atàâÜtÄ e|z{à? \ {xÜxuç z|äx {xÜ à{x átÅx ÑÉãxÜ tá Åç ÉãÇ V{|ÄwÜxÇ àÉ gt~x tÇw hyx {xÜ YÜxxwÉÅ \Ç}É|Ç|Çz âÑÉÇ Åç [x|Üá t vtÜxyâÄ ãtàv{ ÉäxÜ {xÜ yÉÜ {xÜ ZÉÉw? tÇw à{tà à{tç |Ç vtyx \ ux àt~xÇ {xÇvx? z|äx {xÜ fâ|àtuÄx Xwâvtà|ÉÇ? ÉÜ |y á{x ux uÉâÇw Éâà à[hat] à{xç àt~x vtÜx |Ç à{tà tÇw Éà{xÜ ÜxáÑxvàá tá Åâv{ tá àÉ j{|àx V{|ÄwÜxÇ {xÜxuç xåÑÜxyÄç ÑÜÉ{|u|à|Çz Åç fxÄy tÇw Åç [x|Üá yÜÉÅ TyáâÅ|Çz tÇç yâÜà{xÜ ÑÉãxÜ ÉäxÜ? ÉÜ ÑÜÉÑxÜàç |Ç {x܉ TÇw tá tÄÄ qÑÜâwxÇà ÅxÇ _tç âÑ |Ç g|Åxá Éy {xÄà{ tÇw fàÜxÇzà{ áÉ Åâv{ Éy à{x|Ü [ÉÇÇxáà XtÜÇ|Çzá tá |á ÉäxÜ tÇw tuÉä[e] à{x|Ü ÇxxwyâÄ xåÑxÇvxá yÉÜ VÄÉtà{|Çz 9v? áÉ |à |á Åç w|Üxvà|ÉÇ tÇw twä|vx àÉ çÉâ à{tà çÉâ wxÑÉyá|à |Ç Åç [tÇwá áâv{ t ÑtÜà Éy çÉâÜ jtzxá tá |á ÇÉà yÜÉÅ à|Åx àÉ g|Åx jtÇàxw? àt~|Çz Åç exvx|Ñà à{xÜxyÉÜ? àÉ Ñâà àɉ \ÇàxÜxáà tÇw àÉ tÑÑÄç |à yÉÜ çÉâÜ fâÑÑÉÜà ã{xÇ à{ÜÉâz{ f|v~Çxyá ÉÜA Éà{xÜã|áx çÉâ Åtç ux âÇtuÄx àÉ fâÑÑÉÜà çÉâÜ fxÄäxá? ÉÜ àÉ ux tÑÑÄçw àÉ à{x hyx Éy çÉâÜ V{|ÄwÜxÇ ;|y YÜxx< tÇw |y ÇÉà àÉ à{x ÑâÜv{ty|Çz à{x|Ü YÜxxwÉÅ tÇw |y ÇÉà ãtÇàxw yÉÜ à{xáx hyxáxá àÉ ux Z|äxÇ |Ç çÉâÜ j|ÄÄá àÉ áâv{ ÑxÜyÉÇá ÉÜ yÉÜ fâv{ hyxá tá çÉâ Åtç à{|Ç~ ÑÜÉÑxÜA TÇw yÉÜ çÉâÜ \ÇvÉâÜ|zxÅxÇà àÉ áâv{ fÉuxÜ cÜâwxÇvx tÇw \ÇwâáàÜçA \ {xÜxuç Z|äx àÉ à{x Y|áà f|å ÇtÅxw ;à{x Éà{xÜ à{Üxx {tä|Çz ZÉÉw gÜtwxá< à{x âyx Éy [one] tvÜx É[f] ÄtÇw tá ÅtÜ~xw Éyy ÉÇ Åç YtÜÅ tá ÄÉÇz tá çÉâ \ÅÑ[rove] \à gÉ ZÉÉw ÑâÜÑÉáxA \ ÇÉã ÇÉ _ÉÇzxÜ vÉÇá|wxÜ çÉâ tá fÄtäxá ÇÉÜ Åç fxÄy

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tá çÉâÜ `táàxÜA uâà çÉâÜ YÜ|xÇw? tÇw áÉ _ÉÇz tá çÉâ ux{täx ãxÄÄ Åtç çÉâ xåÑxvà Åç yâÜà{xÜ VÉâÇàxÇtÇvx áâÑÑÉÜà tÇw Tyá|áàtÇvx? TÇw tá çÉâ ã|ÄÄ vÉÇá|wxÜ à{|á tá tÇ \ÇáàÜâÅxÇà Éy xåàxÇw|Çz çÉâÜ _|uxÜàç? áÉ \ {ÉÑx çÉâ ã|ÄÄ tÄãtçá exÅxÅuxÜ tÇw cÜtvà|vx à{|á Åç xtÜÇxáà wxá|Üx tÇw twä|vx à{tà tvvÉÅÑtÇçá |à? à{tà çÉâ âáx ÇÉà à{x _|uxÜàç {xÜxuç zÜtÇàxw çÉâ? àÉ _|vxÇv|ÉâáÇxyáA ÇÉÜ àt~x Évtà|ÉÇ ÉÜ ÉÑÑÉÜàâÇ|àç à{xÜxuç àÉ zÉ |ÇàÉ ÉÜ ÑÜtvà|vx à{x _âáàá Éy à{x YÄxá{? à{x _âáàá Éy à{x Xçx? ÉÜ ÑÜ|wx ÉÇ tÇç bvtà|ÉÇ ÉÜ gxÅÑàtà|ÉÇ? uâà ux ÅÉÜx vtâá|Éâá à{tÇ {xÜxàÉyÉÜx? tÇw ã|à{ _Éäx áxÜäx ÉÇx tÇÉà{? tÇw tÄÄ `xÇ? ÇÉà ÉÇÄç àÉ ÑÄxtáx `xÇ? uâà tá YxtÜ|Çz tÇw exäxÜtÇv|Çz à{tà [ÉÄç ZÉw ã{É fxxá tÄÄ à{x fxvÜ|à Tvà|ÉÇá Éy `xÇ TÇw Üxvx|äx çÉâÜ _|uxÜàç ã|à{ t [âÅuÄx áxÇvx Éy |àá ux|Çz t YtäÉÜ yÜÉÅ à{x ZÜxtà ^|Çz Éy [xtäxÇ tÇw XtÜà{? ã{É à{ÜÉâz{ {|á _|z{à à{tà f{|Çxá âÑÉÇ à{x VÉÇá|vxÇvxá Éy tÄÄ `xÇA UÄtv~ tá ãxÄÄ tá j{|àx? tÇw à{xÜxuç á{xãxà{ âá ã{tà |á ZÉÉw? tÇw à{tà à{x _ÉÜwá ÜxÖâ|Üx|Çzá Éy xtv{ Éy âá àÉ wÉ ]âáà|vx? àÉ@ _Éäx `xÜvç tÇw àÉ jtÄ~ [âÅuÄç ã|à{ ÉâÜ ZÉwA gÉ à{x Vtâáx Éy à{|á Åç Wâàç àÉ çÉâ? ux à{xÜxyÉÜx jtàv{yâÄ tÇw TààxÇà|äx àÉ à{tà W|ä|Çx gxtv{|Çz |Ç çÉâÜ ÉãÇ `|Çwá? à{tà vÉÇä|Çvxá çÉâ Éy f|Ç? tÇw tá çÉâ WâàxyâÄÄç butç |àá xÇÄ|z{àÇ|Çzá tÇw gxtv{|Çzá |à ã|ÄÄ ÇÉà ÉÇÄç vtâáx çÉâ àÉ täÉ|w bÑxÇ cÜÉytÇxÇxyá tÇw j|v~xwÇxyá? tá fàxtÄ|Çz? _ç|Çz? fãtÜ|Çz? WÜ|Ç~|Çz _âáà|Çz tyàxÜ jÉÅtÇ? YÜÉÄ|v~|Çz tÇw à{x _|~x f|ÇyâÄ VÉâÜáxá? uâà ã|ÄÄ gxtv{ çÉâ tÇw _xtw çÉâ |ÇàÉ tÄÄ à{tà |á axvxyátÜç yÉÜ çÉâ àÉ ^ÇÉã? tá çÉâÜ Wâàç àÉ à{x ZÜxtà `táàxÜ Éy tÄÄ `xÇ? yÉÜ {x {tá yt|w ÜxáÑxvà|Çz `tÇ~|Çw @@ hÇ|äxÜytÄÄç? \ ã|ÄÄ Ñâà Åç _tã |ÇàÉ à{x|Ü \ÇãtÜw ÑtÜàá? tÇw jÜ|àx |à |Ç à{x|Ü [xtÜàá tÇw à{tç á{tÄÄ tÄÄ ^ÇÉã Åx yÜÉÅ à{x _xtáà àÉ à{x ZÜxtàxáà? 9 à{xÜxyÉÜx çÉâ vtÇà ÑÄxtw \zÇÉÜtÇvx à{tà çÉâ wÉÇà ~ÇÉã çÉâÜ Wâàç àÉ à{x ZÉw à{tàA Åtwx çÉâA uxvtâáx çÉâ vtÇà tÄÄ Üxtw {|á `|Çw tÇw j|ÄÄ |Ç à{x fvÜ|ÑàâÜxá? ã{|v{ |á |Çwxxw t zÜxtà YtäÉÜ tÇw UÄxyá|Çz àÉ à{xÅ à{tà vtÇA hÇwxÜáàtÇw tÇw butçN Uâà à{xÜx |á t UÉÉ~ ã|à{|Ç çÉâ à{tà |á ÇÉà vÉÇy|Çxw àÉ à{x XÇzÄ|á{ ÉÜ tÇç _tÇzâtzx? tÇw tá çÉâ á|ÄxÇàÄç tÇw exäxÜxÇàÄç ãt|à yÉÜA |àá ÉÑxÇ|Çzá tÇw \ÇáàÜâvà|ÉÇá |à ã|ÄÄ gxtv{ çÉâ tÇw çÉâ ã|ÄÄ ux xÇtuÄxw àÉ âÇwxÜáàtÇw |àá _tÇzâtzx? tÇw tá çÉâ tÜx vtÜxyâÄÄ àÉ ux buxw|xÇà à{xÜxàÉ tÇw byàxÇ f|ÄxÇàÄç Üxtw |à? çÉâ ã|ÄÄ ux tuÄx àÉ fÑxt~ |àá _tÇzâtzx@@ ã|à{ TyÜ|vtÇ tá ãxÄÄ tá XÇzÄ|á{ gÉÇzâxá àÉ çÉâÜ ÑÉÉÜ YxÄÄÉã VÉâÇàÜçÅxÇ gÉ à{x ZÄÉÜç Éy {|Å ã{É {tá jÜÉâz{à çÉâÜ WxÄ|äxÜtÇvx yÜÉÅ fÄtäxÜç gÉA ã{Éáx ZÜtv|Éâá VtÜx tÇw ÑÜÉàxvà|ÉÇ \ VÉÅÅ|à tÇw YxÜäxÇàÄç exvÉÅÅxÇw ‰‰‰‰‰‰‰‰‰‰‰‰‰‰‰‰‰‰‰‰‰‰‰‰‰‰‰‰‰‰ exvÉÅÅxÇw çÉâ tÇw u|w çÉâ YtÜxãxÄÄ f|zÇxw à{|á DCMà{ Éy à{x DDMà{ `ÉÇà{MDJJF `Éyxá UÜÉãÇ |Ç ÑÜxyxÇvx Éy `tÜç UÜÉãÇ } exvÉÜwxw aÉäÜADEMà{DJJF

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November 12: Prominent businessman Moses Brown, on his way to becoming a Quaker, placed the manumission deed he had made out on all his slaves, and on all slaves in whom he held a part interest, on file on page 73 in volume 6 of the Providence, Rhode Island probate records.

November 16: Mary Brown, sister-in-law of prominent businessman Moses Brown, placed the manumission deed she had made out on her slaves on file on page 75 of volume 6 of the Providence, Rhode Island probate records.

According to Mack Thompson’s MOSES BROWN, RELUCTANT REFORMER (Chapel Hill NC: U of North Carolina P, 1962, pages 107-9):

THE A MERICAN REVOLUTION presented members of the Society of Friends with a terrible dilemma: whether to remain faithful to their religious principles as Quakers or to their political principles as Englishmen or Americans. As Quakers they condemned war as morally and spiritually evil; it resulted in hatred and bestiality and could not possible solve anything - good could not come from evil. In Pennsylvania as early as 1756 many Quakers had withdrawn from participation in political affairs because of the government’s policy of violence toward the Indians and its involvement in the French and Indian War.179 Although Quakers had become unpopular because of their pacifism they had not been molested. In Rhode Island they had fared pretty much the same. The approaching conflict with England, however, placed Quakers throughout American in a much more difficult position. Both royal and revolutionary governments began to question the sincerity of Friends’ neutrality, and the Quaker elders and ministers began to enforce more strictly the Society’s testimony against war. Unlike Friends in the middle colonies, New England Quakers had no great leaders such as the Pembertons to hold the members steady. When the war broke out in New England, Friends there began to grope for leadership and guidance. For Moses Brown the decision as to what course to follow was not an easy one. Privately he sympathized with the American cause. This was to be expected. He had been deeply involved in agitation against British policy during the preceding decade, and it would have been odd indeed if he had become a Tory. Had he not become a Quaker, he would probably have joined his brothers in their support of the Revolution. His position was therefore a difficult one, and he stated his views on public events carefully. In a long letter to his good friend James Warren, member of the Massachusetts revolutionary Provincial Congress, he tried to define his position: “My religious principles thou art I presume sinsible does not admit of my interfering in war, but my love for my country, and sence of our just rights is not thereby abated, and if my poor abilitys could be aney way subservient to a happy change of affairs nothing on my part shall be wanting.”180 Publicly, Moses was until early 1776 an advocate of compromise and 179. Thayer, Theodore. ISRAEL PEMBERTON: KING OF THE QUAKERS (Philadelphia PA, 1943, pages 18-96, 113-22) 180. May 11, 1775. MOSES BROWN MSS (John Carter Brown Library, Providence, Volume II, page 32) 560 Copyright  Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX

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reconciliation. He sounded more like a British sympathizer than a neutral Quaker. In April 1775 he pleaded for “a restoration of all those benevolent and kind offices that hath for more than a century subsisted between this and our mother country.”181 In an appearance before the Providence town meeting he endorsed the sentiments of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, the Earl of Dartmouth, who urged an “accomodation of the unhappy differences subsisting between the two countries.” At the same meeting he persuaded the council to postpone the erection of an artillery battery until the General Assembly could meet to discuss proposals for reconciliation. At one point in his campaign he traveled to Boston to lay before the Massachusetts military governor, General Gage, more than half a dozen letters from men in Providence and Newport urging peaceful reconciliation.

November 27: Captain William Moore dispatched a piece of exceedingly good news to Aaron Lopez & Company of Newport, Rhode Island about his brigantine Ann: “I wish to advise you that your ship ‘Ann’ docked here night before last with 112 slaves, consisting of 35 men, 16 large youths, 21 small boys, 29 women, 2 grown girls, 9 small girls, and I assure you this is such a one rum-cargo [distilled spirits from the distilleries along the shore of Narragansett Bay in exchange for black slaves at one or another port along the west coast of Africa] which I have not yet encountered, among the entire group there may be five to which one could take exception.”182

TRIANGULAR TRADE

181. Roelker, William Greene. “The Patrol of Narragansett Bay (1774-76),” Rhode Island History 8 (1949): 45-63 182. In this year, it has been estimated by Alexander Boyd Hawes, 17 ships sailed from Rhode Island for the coast of the continent of Africa to obtain fresh bodies for the international slave trade. If an average cargo of slaves was 109 –as we have estimated on the basis of a number of known cargos– then a total of more than 1,850 souls were being transported in Rhode Island bottoms alone. In this year, Hawes reports, Aaron Lopez of Newport, Rhode Island owned or loaded the following ships to sail from Rhode Island for the coast of the continent of Africa to obtain fresh bodies for the international slave trade: the Charlotte, under the command of Captain Shearman, the Active, under the command of Captain Taggart.

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December 23: In Russia, Catherine II issued a manifesto against the rebellious Pugachev.

The Rivington’s Gazetteer printed the news that “Last Monday, the anniversary of St. Nicholas, otherwise called Santa Claus, was celebrated at Protestant Hall, at Mr. Waldron’s; where a great number of sons of the ancient saint [the Sons of Saint Nicholas] celebrated the day with great joy and festivity.” At about this same point in time, the New-York Gazette contained a reference to this figure as “otherwise known as St. A. Claus.”183

The following vignette of American slavery appeared in the Virginia Gazette (Purdie & Dixon) of Williamsburg, Virginia: Mr. PURDIE, By giving the enclosed a Place in your Gazette you will oblige a Customer, and a Friend. Should it be the Cause of alleviating the Torments of some of our Fellow Creatures, by putting a Stop to the Practices of a cruel and savage Master, it will fully compensate me for the small Trouble I have been at in writing, and you, I make no Doubt, for publishing it.

LUCIUS. A CIRCUMSTANCE hath happened, which makes it necessary that the Eyes of the Publick should be, for once, turned upon the Conduct of a certain R.M. of A----a; who, it is said, has been, for several Years, wantonly, cruelly, and inhumanly, imbruing his Hands in the Blood of his miserable Slaves, and is still suffered to add Crime to Crime with Impunity. Some Time last Summer, a Negro Woman of his, not able any longer to stand the Scourge, which was daily inflicted upon her, contrived to make her Escape, and took Refuge in the Quarter of a Gentleman, who declared to me that the Abuse she had received far exceeded any Thing of the Kind he had ever seen, and that, although he was forced to send her off his Plantations, he could not find in his Heart to send her back to her barbarous Master. The poor unhappy Creature was soon after taken up, and carried home; and, lacerated as she was, the inhuman Monster, not fully satiated with the Blood of her Brethren, tied her up and tortured her to Death. This is but one of the many Crimes this Tyrant has been guilty of; the following instance is, if possible, of a deeper 183. Although we have no historical document for Nicholas, we believe him to have been bishop of Myra in Lycia in what is now Turkey during the 4th Century CE. The tradition has it that he had been born in the ancient Lycian seaport city of Patara and had traveled in Palestine and Egypt before beginning his role as bishop. Imprisoned during the emperor Diocletian’s persecution of Christians and released under Constantine, in 325 CE he was able to attend the 1st Council of Nicaea. He is depicted in early Greek icons as tall and thin. His initial burial was in his church at Myra but in 1087 CE some Italian sailors or merchants seized upon what they took to be his remains and installed them in Bari, Italy, which consequently became a pilgrimage center. For what it’s worth, the relics, what these thieves had construed to be his remains, are still in a closed, amply decorative box in the 11th-century basilica of San Nicola in Bari. Nicholas is said to have given some gold to three girls who without dowries would have needed to become prostitutes, and to have reassembled and reanimated the chopped-up bodies of three children found in a butcher’s tub of brine. This reputation for acts of generosity and kindness, acts always in short supply, led, in the Middle Ages, to Nicholas becoming the patron saint of Russia and of Greece. Beginning in the 6th Century with a church erected in Constantinople by the emperor Justinian I, literally thousands of European churches would come to be dedicated to him. His spiritual influence was associated with charitable fraternities and guilds, and with children, sailors, unmarried girls, merchants, and pawnbrokers. He became especially popular in Fribourg, Switzerland and in Moscow, Russia. Nicholas’s traditional feast day, December 6th, would become the occasion for the ceremonies of the Boy Bishop (a boy would be elected to reign as bishop until December 28th, Holy Innocents’ Day). Although Nicholas’s cult would diminish in all Protestant countries of Europe except Holland –where he would become Sinter Claes or Sinterklaas– eventually this figure would morph also into the Father Christmas of England, the Pere Nöel of France, and the Weinachtsman of Germany. The Dutch colonists to the New World would take Sinterklaas with them to their New Amsterdam and he would be adopted by North America’s English-speaking majority as Santa Claus. 562 Copyright  Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX

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Dye, and marks the unrelenting Spirit of the savage Monster. Poor Hampsin, after undergoing the Lash repeatedly, had his Ears cut off, both his Legs, and underwent Castration; and, mutilated as he was, his Master still continued to abuse him so inhumanely that he was at last obliged to contrive Means for his Escape, and in that mutilated Condition, collecting Strength from Fear, he reached the Distance of between fifty and sixty Miles from home, but was taken up and committed to Charlotte County Jail. There he cried out, that rather than he be carried back he would choose to die; and that the only Alternative left him was to perish by his Master’s Hand, or be his own Executioner. He chose the latter; for the first Night of his Confinement he set Fire to the Prison, and perished in the Flames. Can the Annals of ancient or modern Times produce two Instances more replete with Barbarity? No, surely; very few, I believe, can be found equal to such horrid and infernal Practices. Were a Stranger to come here, and be told that the Perpetrator of such Deeds remains unpunished, would he not suppose that there did not exist a Law for bringing the Murderer to Justice? But it is well known that our Legislature have provided in such Cases, making the wilful Murder of Negroes a capital Crime, and Blood to go for Blood. Some People say (and very justly too, I think) that the Gentlemen of A----a are quite inexcusable for not taking Cognizance of such Matters; that they appear destitute of Humanity, as well as neglectful of their Duty, or they would not have suffered the Blood of so many friendless Creatures to cry in vain for Protection. The Law points out a Mode of Information to the Coroner, or one of the Magistrates of the County; but perhaps no such Notice has been given, and they wait for it. They must know, however (or at least ought) that if there be Cause to suspect any Person, white or black, to be murdered in their County, it is the Business and Duty of the Coroner, or any of the Magistrates who may receive Information, to summon a Jury and view the Body; and if they had but acted in that Manner when R.M. buried a Negro, I am persuaded Marks of Violence would have been found. For it is strange, passing strange: that upwards of fifty Slaves should all die, on one Plantation, of natural Deaths, in the space of fifteen or twenty Years, and in so healthy a Part of the Country too. This Circumstance, joined to many others, equally pregnant with Truth, would, I should think, be sufficient to induce any Officer, who possessed the least Spark of Benevolence or Pity, to issue his Warrant, and proceed as agreeable to his Duty; and although the Proof might not be sufficient to bring the guilty Person to that Punishment he has long since deserved, it might be productive of one good Effect, that of deterring him from committing any more such Cruelties, and relieving, in some Degree, the unhappy few [illegible] that remain his Property. Although the said R.M. has hitherto eluded the Force of the Laws, he has not been able to escape the all- seeing Eye of that kind Being who is a Friend to the Friendless, and who, it would seem, has already begun to reward him for all his Misdeeds. For, let it be remembered, that although this Man was born to an affluent Fortune, Poverty now stares him in the Face, and his Situation is not far from Beggary, with a Number of heavy Debts hanging over his Head, ready to plunge him into

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that Obscurity where happy it would have been for the Race of Cain had he been originally placed. But, alas I this Circumstance, grating as it is, only forebodes those Torments and Misery that await him, and which, for his unparalleled Barbarity, he is doomed to suffer, when Time shall be no more.

27d day 12th month, 14th year of the Reign of King George the Third: Friend Stephen Richmond of Exeter, Rhode Island, a Quaker, manumitted his Negrow Woman commonly called, or known by the name of Pegg. The formerly enslaved mother became immediately and unconditionally free while her two children were bound to be apprenticed until they had reached a proper age.

1774

Venture Smith purchased a black man for $400, but then this man desired to return to his previous master and was allowed to go. He purchased another black man for £25 and shortly thereafter parted with him. Next after my wife, I purchafed a negro man for four hundred dollars. But he having an inclination to return to his old mafter, I therefore let him go. Shortly after I purchafed another negro man for twenty-five pounds, whom I parted with fhortly after. SLAVERY

During this year and the next, the Norfolk, Virginia newspaper was using a woodblock, for its runaway ads, that showed a devil behind the runaway slave — suggesting that it was the devil that was making them do it.

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“It is simply crazy that there should ever have come into being a world with such a sin in it, in which a man is set apart because of his color — the superficial fact about a human being. Who could want such a world? For an American fighting for his love of country, that the last hope of earth should from its beginning have swallowed slavery, is an irony so withering, a justice so intimate in its rebuke of pride, as to measure only with God.” — Stanley Cavell, MUST WE MEAN WHAT WE SAY? 1976, page 141

According to the census, Cuba has a total population of 172,620 inhabitants: 96,440 whites, 31,847 free blacks, and 44,333 black slaves.

Friend John Woolman’s JOURNAL was published. Warner Mifflin of Delaware, convinced by Friend John, became the first of our slavemasters to voluntarily manumit all his slaves.

Walter Mifflin of Delaware was a true son of liberty. He fired a shot heard round the world.

(The Reverend William Ellery Channing, not born yet, would say of Friend John’s journal that “The secret of Woolman’s purity of style is that his eye was single, and that conscience dictated his words.” The Reverend might have said this precise thing of his contemporary Henry Thoreau’s JOURNAL –had he been privileged to see it– for it is a remark quite as true of our friend Henry as it is of this Quaker saint. Henry would be faulted in his own day for saying, in effect, that he had no more time for making pencils once he had made some of

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the best, but of course Friend John had made precisely the same decision in the previous century when his success in the merchandising business had begun to threaten him with what he termed “outward cumbers.” When Waldo Emerson got on Thoreau’s case for feeling that no one person had any greater right to the earth’s richness than any other, and that therefore really there was no such thing as trespass, Waldo might as well have

Notice the barriers been criticizing the John Woolman whom he was professing so much to admire, saying of Friend John’s JOURNAL that “I find more wisdom in these pages than in any other book written since the days of the Apostles.” In Friend John’s writings we see that he had been consumed by two great causes, slavery and poverty — and Thoreau in the following century of course the same. Friend John had said that the solution lay in recognizing the superiority of the spiritual over the temporal values, and the need to shun luxury — and in the following century Thoreau likewise.)

A TESTIMONY of the Monthly Meeting of Friends, held in Burlington, NJ; Read and approved at our Quarterly Meeting, held the 29th of Eighth Month, 1774 A TESTIMONY of the Monthly Meeting of Friends, held in Burlington, the First day of the Eighth Month, in the year of our Lord 1774, concerning our esteemed friend, John Woolman, deceased. HE was born in Northampton, in the county of Burlington and province of West New Jersey, in the Eighth Month, 1720, of religious parents, who instructed him very early in the principles of the Christian religion as professed by the people called Quakers, which he esteemed a blessing to him even in his younger years, tending to preserve him from the infection of wicked children. But, through the workings of the enemy and the levity incident to youth, he frequently deviated from those parental precepts, by which he laid a renewed foundation for repentance that was finally succeeded by a “godly sorrow not to be repented of”; and so he became acquainted with that sanctifying power which qualifies for true gospel ministry, into which he was called about the twenty-second year of his age; and by a faithful use of the talents committed to him he experienced an increase, until he arrived at the state of a father, capable of dividing the word aright to the different states he ministered unto, dispensing milk to babes and meat to those of riper years. Thus he found the efficacy of that power to arise, which, in his own expressions, “prepares the creature to stand like a trumpet through which the Lord speaks to His people.” He was a loving husband, a tender father, and was very humane to every part of the creation under his care. His concern for the poor and those in affliction was evident by his visits to them, whom he frequently relieved by his assistance and charity. He was for many years deeply exercised

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on account of the poor enslaved Africans, whose cause, as he mentioned, lay almost continually upon him; and he laboured to obtain liberty for those captives both in public and in private, and was favoured to see his endeavours crowned with considerable success. He was particularly desirous that Friends should not be instrumental to lay burdens on this oppressed people, but should remember the days of suffering from which they had been providentially delivered, that, if times of trouble should return, no injustice dealt to those in slavery might rise in judgment against us, but, being clear, we might on such occasions address the Almighty with a degree of confidence for His interposition and relief, being particularly careful as to himself not to countenance slavery even by the use of those conveniences of life which were furnished by their labour. He was desirous to have his own mind and the minds of others redeemed from the pleasures and immoderate profits of this world, and to fix them on those joys which fade not away; his principal care being after a life of purity, endeavouring to avoid not only the grosser pollutions, but those also which, appearing in a more refined dress, are not sufficiently guarded against by some well-disposed people. In the latter part of his life, he was remarkable for the plainness and simplicity of his dress, and as much as possible avoided the use of plate, costly furniture, and feasting, thereby endeavouring to become an example of temperance and self-denial which he believed himself called unto; and he was favoured with peace therein, although it carried the appearance of great austerity in the view of some. He was very moderate in his charges in the way of business, and in his desires after gain; and though a man of industry, he avoided and strove much to lead others out of extreme labour and anxiety after perishable things, being desirous that the strength of our bodies might not be spent in procuring things unprofitable, and that we might use moderation and kindness to the brute animals under our care, to prize the use of them as a great favour, and by no means to abuse them; that the gifts of Providence should be thankfully received and applied to the uses they were designed for. He several times opened a school at Mount Holly, for the instruction of poor Friend’ children and others, being concerned for their help and improvement therein. His love and care for the rising youths among us was truly great, recommending to parents and those who have the charge of them to choose conscientious and pious tutors, saying, “It is a lovely sight to behold innocent children”; and that to “labour for their help against that which would mar the beauty of their minds is a debt we owe them.” His ministry was sound, very deep and penetrating, sometimes pointing out the dangerous situation which indulgence and custom led into, frequently exhorting others, especially the youth, not to be discouraged at the difficulties which occur, but to press after purity. He often expressed an earnest engagement that pure wisdom should be attended to, which would lead into lowliness of mind and resignation to the divine will, in which state small possessions here would be sufficient. In transacting the affairs of the discipline, his judgment was

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sound and clear, and he was very useful in treating with those who had done amiss; he visited such in a private way in that plainness which truth dictates, showing great tenderness and Christian forbearance. He was a constant attender of our Yearly Meeting, in which he was a good example and particularly useful, assisting in the business thereof with great weight and attention. He several times visited most of the meetings of Friends in this and the neighbouring provinces, with the concurrence of the Monthly Meeting to which he belonged, and we have reason to believe he did good service therein, generally or always expressing at his return how it had fared with him and the evidence of peace in his mind for thus performing his duty. He was often concerned with other Friends in the important service of visiting families, which he was enabled to go through to satisfaction. In the minutes of the meeting of ministers and elders for this quarter, at the foot of a list of the members of that meeting, made about five years before his death, we find in his handwriting the following observation and reflections: “As looking over the minutes made by persons who have put off this body hath sometimes revived in me a thought how ages pass away, so this list may probably revive a like thought in some, when I and the rest of the persons above named are centered in another state of being. The Lord who was the guide of my youth hath in tender mercies helped me hitherto; He hath healed my wounds; He hath helped me out of grievous entanglements; He remains to be the strength of my life, to whom I desire to devote myself in time and in eternity. “John Woolman” In the Twelfth Month, 1771, he acquainted this meeting that he felt his mind drawn towards a religious visit to Friends in some parts of England, particularly in Yorkshire. In the First Month, 1772, he obtained our certificate, which was approved and indorsed by our Quarterly Meeting, and by the Half-Year’s Meeting of ministers and elders at Philadelphia. He embarked on his voyage in the Fifth Month, and arrived in London in the Sixth Month following, at the time of their Annual Meeting in that city. During his short visit to Friends in that kingdom, we are informed that his services were acceptable and edifying. In his last illness he uttered many lively and comfortable expressions, being “resigned, having no will either to live or die,” as appears by the testimony of Friends at York in Great Britain, in the suburbs whereof, at the house of our friend Thomas Priestman, he died of the smallpox, on the 7th of the Tenth Month, 1772, and was buried in Friends’ burial-ground in that city, on the 9th of the same, after a solid meeting held on the occasion at their great meeting-house. He was aged near fifty- two, having been a minister upwards of thirty years, during which time he belonged to Mount Holly particular meeting, which he diligently attended when at home and in health of body, and his labours of love and pious care for the prosperity of Friends in the blessed truth, we hope may not be forgotten, but that his good works may be remembered to edification.

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Signed in and by order of the said meeting, by SAMUEL ALLISON, Clerk. Read and approved at our Quarterly Meeting, held in Burlington the 29th of the Eighth Month, 1774. Signed by order of the said meeting, DANIEL SMITH, Clerk.

Friends were beginning to encourage one another to bring their African-American servants to meeting for worship, to see to their education, and to arrange special meetings for them.

The New York Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends was beginning to ban its members from owning slaves but Friend Elias Hicks was noting “a great unwillingness in most of them to set their slaves free.” In his Jericho meeting for worship on Paumanok Long Island in this year, he spoke for the first time.

The New England Yearly Meeting appointed a committee to recommend new laws that would “tend to the abolition of slavery.” Friend Thomas Hazard III of the South Kingstown monthly meeting, and Friends Moses Farnum and Thomas Lapham of the Smithfield monthly meeting, were on this committee.

Construction of the Quaker school at Nine Partners northeast of Poughkeepsie, New York would be delayed for five years, between 1775 and 1780, because Quakers sensed the Revolutionary War coming and resolved not to place themselves under any obligation by soliciting funds from any person who might not be able to maintain, in the face of such a popular cause, an attitude of Quaker pacifism. Warner Mifflin of Delaware, convinced by Friend John Woolman, became the first of our slaveholders to voluntarily manumit all his slaves. He was a true son of liberty. He fired a shot heard round the world. Colonel Elisha Jones, a wealthy landowner and slaveholder of Newton MA, was an active Tory with 14 sons and one daughter (Mary Jones –> Mary Jones Dunbar –> Mary Jones Dunbar Minot, Henry David Thoreau’s maternal grandmother).

After the Revolutionary War, eight of these sons would be banished for loyalty to England, and all Jones property in the new United States of America would be confiscated. Two sons would be put in the Concord lockup as Tories, but they would escape when sympathizers smuggled them a file in their food. Thoreau would find it worthy of note that one of the other prisoners in the Concord lockup with his relatives was named Hicks. Find these American loyalists who would sacrifice everything, in the fresco by Brumidi on a wall of our federal capitol:

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The descendants of the native Americans who had been enslaved after “King Phillip’s War” were manumitted in Connecticut and Rhode Island.184

The Connecticut and Rhode Island colonies prohibited further importation of slaves. When New Jersey’s assembly, however, proposed a prohibitive duty, its Council refused to go along.185 “A Bill for laying a Duty on Indian, Negroe and Molatto Slaves, imported into this Colony.” Passed the Assembly, and was rejected by the Council as “plainly” intending “an intire Prohibition,” etc. N.J. ARCHIVES, 1st Series, VI. 222. INTERNATIONAL SLAVE TRADE W.E. Burghardt Du Bois: Connecticut, in common with the other colonies of this section, had a trade for many years with the West Indian slave markets; and though this trade was much smaller than that of the neighboring colonies, yet many of her citizens were engaged in it. A map of Middletown at the time of the Revolution gives, among one hundred families, three slave captains and “three notables” designated as “slave-dealers.”186 The actual importation was small,187 and almost entirely unrestricted before the Revolution, save by a few light, general duty acts. In 1774 the further importation of slaves was prohibited, because “the increase of slaves in this Colony is injurious to the poor and inconvenient.” The law prohibited importation under any pretext by a penalty of £100 per slave.188 This was re-enacted in 1784, and provisions were made for the abolition of slavery.189 In 1788 participation in the trade was forbidden, and the penalty placed at £50 for each slave and £500 for each ship engaged.190 W.E. Burghardt Du Bois: In 1652 Rhode Island passed a law designed to prohibit life slavery in the colony. It declared that “Whereas, there is a common course practised amongst English men to buy negers, to that end they may have them for service or slaves forever; for the preventinge of such practices among us, let it be ordered, that no blacke mankind or white being forced by covenant bond, or otherwise, to serve any man or his assighnes longer than ten yeares, or untill they come to bee twentie four yeares of age, if they bee taken in under fourteen, from the time of their cominge within the liberties of this Collonie. And at the end or terme of ten yeares to sett them free, as the manner is with the English servants. And that man that will not let them goe free, or shall sell them away elsewhere, to that end that they may bee enslaved to others for a long time, hee or they shall forfeit to the Collonie forty pounds.”191 This law was for a time enforced,192 but by the beginning of the eighteenth century it had either been repealed or become a dead letter; for the Act of 1708 recognized perpetual slavery, and laid an impost of £3 on Negroes imported.193 This duty was really 184. As of the Year of our Lord 1781, freedom would come to visit the descendants of the native Americans who had been enslaved in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as well. Work gangs of these race slaves had been utilized throughout New England to construct much of that attractive, mossy old stone walls, field fencing which today we fancy to have been constructed through the dedicated labor of “our” stereotypically sturdy and industrious –because white– Yankee-farmer forebears. 570 Copyright  Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX

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a tax on the transport trade, and produced a steady income for twenty years.194 From the year 1700 on, the citizens of this State engaged more and more in the carrying trade, until Rhode Island became the greatest slave-trader in America. Although she did not import many slaves for her own use, she became the clearing-house for the trade of other colonies. Governor Cranston, as early as 1708, reported that between 1698 and 1708 one hundred and three vessels were built in the State, all of which were trading to the West Indies and the Southern colonies.195 They took out lumber and brought back molasses, in most cases making a slave voyage in between. From this, the trade grew. Samuel Hopkins, about 1770, was shocked at the state of the trade: more than thirty distilleries were running in the colony, and one hundred and fifty vessels were in the slave- trade.196 “Rhode Island,” said he, “has been more deeply interested in the slave-trade, and has enslaved more Africans than any other colony in New England.” Later, in 1787, he wrote: “The inhabitants of Rhode Island, especially those of Newport, have had by far the greater share in this traffic, of all these United States. This trade in human species has been the first wheel of commerce in Newport, on which every other movement in business has chiefly depended. That town has been built up, and flourished in times past, at the expense of the blood, the liberty, and happiness of the poor Africans; and the inhabitants have lived on this, and by it have gotten most of their wealth and riches.”197 The Act of 1708 was poorly enforced. The “good intentions” of 185. In this year, it has been estimated by Alexander Boyd Hawes, 24 ships sailed from Rhode Island for the coast of the continent of Africa to obtain fresh bodies for the international slave trade. If an average cargo of slaves was 109 –as we have estimated on the basis of a number of known cargos– then a total of more than 2,600 souls were being transported in Rhode Island bottoms alone. This, in fact, was nearly a record, as it was exceeded only in the year 1772 when 28 such Rhode Island vessels had been engaging in the triangular trade.

Examples would be the Rhode Island brig Othello, which in this year is known to have transported a cargo of 52 souls, and Aaron Lopez of Newport’s brigantine Ann, which transported 112.

To be quite legal, after 1774 a Rhode Island vessel engaged in the international slave trade would need to dispose of all its cargo of new African slaves in the West Indies and along the American coastline, and be entirely clear of that business before coming to anchor in its home port. (However, until 1820, there would be no real need to be quite legal or to be entirely clear of that business before sailing into a Rhode Island port, as through the manipulations of John Brown of Providence and President Thomas Jefferson, the US Customs House in beautiful downtown Bristol would remain safely under the control of a DeWolf in-law who had significant investments in the illicit trade.) “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 571 HDT WHAT? INDEX

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its framers “were wholly frustrated” by the clandestine “hiding and conveying said negroes out of the town [Newport] into the country, where they lie concealed.”198 The act was accordingly strengthened by the Acts of 1712 and 1715, and made to apply to importations by land as well as by sea.199 The Act of 1715, however, favored the trade by admitting African Negroes free of duty. The chaotic state of Rhode Island did not allow England often to review her legislation; but as soon as the Act of 1712 came to notice it was disallowed, and accordingly repealed in 1732.200 Whether the Act of 1715 remained, or whether any other duty act was passed, is not clear. While the foreign trade was flourishing, the influence of the Friends and of other causes eventually led to a movement against slavery as a local institution. Abolition societies multiplied, and in 1770 an abolition bill was ordered by the Assembly, but it was never passed.201 Four years later the city of Providence resolved that “as personal liberty is an essential part of the natural rights of mankind,” the importation of slaves and the system of slavery should cease in the colony.202 This movement finally resulted, in 1774, in an act “prohibiting the importation of Negroes into this Colony,” — a law which curiously illustrated the attitude of Rhode Island toward the slave-trade. The preamble of the act declared: “Whereas, the inhabitants of America are generally engaged in the preservation of their own rights and liberties, among which, that of personal freedom must be considered as the greatest; as those who are desirous of enjoying all the advantages of liberty themselves, should be willing to extend personal liberty to others; — Therefore,” etc. The statute then proceeded to enact “that for

186. Fowler, LOCAL LAW, etc., page 124. 187. The number of slaves in Connecticut has been estimated as follows: — In 1680, 30. CONNECTICUT COLONIAL RECORD, III. 298. In 1730, 700. Williams, HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA, I. 259. In 1756, 3,636. Fowler, LOCAL LAW, etc., page 140. In 1762, 4,590. Williams, HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA, I. 260. In 1774, 6,562. Fowler, LOCAL LAW, etc., page 140. In 1782, 6,281. Fowler, LOCAL LAW, etc., page 140. In 1800, 5,281. Fowler, LOCAL LAW, etc., page 141. 188. CONNECTICUT COLONIAL RECORD, XIV 329. Fowler (pages 125-6) says that the law was passed in 1769, as does Sanford (page 252). I find no proof of this. There was in Connecticut the same Biblical legislation on the trade as in Massachusetts. Cf. LAWS OF CONNECTICUT (repr. 1865), page 9; also COLONIAL RECORD, I. 77. For general duty acts, see COLONIAL RECORD, V 405; VIII. 22; IX. 283; XIII. 72, 125. 189. ACTS AND LAWS OF CONNECTICUT (ed. 1784), pages 233-4. 190. ACTS AND LAWS OF CONNECTICUT (ed. 1784), pages 368, 369, 388. 191. RHODE ISLAND COLONIAL RECORD, I. 240. 192. Cf. letter written in 1681: NEW ENGLAND REGISTER, XXXI. 75-6. Cf. also Arnold, HISTORY OF RHODE ISLAND, I. 240. 193. The text of this act is lost (COLONIAL RECORD, IV. 34; Arnold, HISTORY OF RHODE ISLAND, II. 31). The Acts of Rhode Island were not well preserved, the first being published in Boston in 1719. Perhaps other whole acts are lost. 194. E.g., it was expended to pave the streets of Newport, to build bridges, etc.: RHODE ISLAND COLONIAL RECORD, IV. 191-3, 225. 195. RHODE ISLAND COLONIAL RECORD, IV. 55-60. 196. Patten, REMINISCENCES OF SAMUEL HOPKINS (1843), page 80. 197. Hopkins, WORKS (1854), II. 615. 198. Preamble of the Act of 1712. 199. RHODE ISLAND COLONIAL RECORD, IV. 131-5, 138, 143, 191-3. 200. RHODE ISLAND COLONIAL RECORD, IV. 471. 201. Arnold, HISTORY OF RHODE ISLAND, II. 304, 321, 337. For a probable copy of the bill, see NARRAGANSETT HISTORICAL REGISTER, II. 299. 202. A man dying intestate left slaves, who became thus the property of the city; they were freed, and the town made the above resolve, May 17, 1774, in town meeting: Staples, ANNALS OF PROVIDENCE (1843), page 236. 572 Copyright  Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX

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the future, no negro or mulatto slave shall be brought into this colony; and in case any slave shall hereafter be brought in, he or she shall be, and are hereby, rendered immediately free....” The logical ending of such an act would have been a clause prohibiting the participation of Rhode Island citizens in the slave-trade. Not only was such a clause omitted, but the following was inserted instead: “Provided, also, that nothing in this act shall extend, or be deemed to extend, to any negro or mulatto slave brought from the coast of Africa, into the West Indies, on board any vessel belonging to this colony, and which negro or mulatto slave could not be disposed of in the West Indies, but shall be brought into this colony. Provided, that the owner of such negro or mulatto slave give bond ... that such negro or mulatto slave shall be exported out of the colony, within one year from the date of such bond; if such negro or mulatto be alive, and in a condition to be removed.”203 In 1779 an act to prevent the sale of slaves out of the State was passed,204 and in 1784, an act gradually to abolish slavery.205 Not until 1787 did an act pass to forbid participation in the slave-trade. This law laid a penalty of £100 for every slave transported and £1000 for every vessel so engaged.206

203. RHODE ISLAND COLONIAL RECORD, VII. 251-2. 204. BARTLETT’S INDEX, page 329; Arnold, HISTORY OF RHODE ISLAND, II. 444; RHODE ISLAND COLONIAL RECORD, VIII. 618. 205. RHODE ISLAND COLONIAL RECORD, X. 7-8; Arnold, HISTORY OF RHODE ISLAND, II. 506. 206. BARTLETT’S INDEX, page 333; NARRAGANSETT HISTORICAL REGISTER, II. 298-9. The number of slaves in Rhode Island has been estimated as follows: — In 1708, 426. RHODE ISLAND COLONIAL RECORD, IV. 59. In 1730, 1,648. RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL TRACTS, No. 19, pt. 2, page 99. In 1749, 3,077. Williams, HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA, I. 281. In 1756, 4,697. Williams, HISTORY OF THE NEGRO RACE IN AMERICA, I. 281. In 1774, 3,761. RHODE ISLAND COLONIAL RECORD, VII. 253. “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 573 HDT WHAT? INDEX

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The ladies of Edenton, North Carolina, led by Mistress Penelope Barker, confronted British rule by putting away their teapots — this would become known as the “Edenton Tea Party.”

“Thanks, but no thanks.” During this year one of the Virginia slaveholders, Thomas Jefferson, was preparing an anonymous tract SUMMARY VIEW OF THE RIGHTS OF BRITISH AMERICA, by which of course he meant the rights of white men of property and of proper English culture in the British colonies of North America. All and only white. All and only men. All and only propertied. All and only of proper English culture. –No others need apply. Jefferson had not been asked to draft these instructions — he had a way of producing documents in the hope they might be adopted, which in this case did not happen. His friends nevertheless published his text.

A list of some of the slaves that our hero-of-freedom TJ was holding on his plantation Monticello is shown on the following screen, as a way graphically to illustrate the sad fact that indeed he did mean, and only mean, the rights of white men of property and of proper English culture in the British colonies of North America. All and only white. All and only men. All and only propertied. All and only of proper English culture. –No others need apply. (You will search in vain on this list for the name of dashing Sally Hemings, although she had been born a slave in the previous year.207)

We say that in this year Jefferson unsuccessfully planted olive cuttings at Monticello — we do not mean to imply by that, however, that he ever had or ever would hold a spade or hoe in his own hand. (Unaware that the

207. And why was that, we wonder? Why would Dashing Sally, as an infant, not be listed in Jefferson’s FARM BOOK? –Was it, perchance, that since this little almost-white girlie was not yet old enough to perform work and not yet old enough to be marketed and not yet old enough to be sexually entered, she was of no particular interest? –Or would there be some more benign explanation for this neglect? 574 Copyright  Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX

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Padres who had established missions along the coast of California were already cultivating olives there by 1769, in 1791 he would have several hundred cuttings sent from France to South Carolina, only to be disappointed when they wouldn’t bring in a lot of money.) PLANTS

Word that he was the author of such a treatise would be spread by the Virginia legislature, and the reputation which he would achieve in this manner would help him, in a few years, gain appointment to the drafting committee of the Continental Congress for the writing of a Declaration of Independence. Samuel Ward, representative from Rhode Island to the convention, would describe Jefferson, on the basis of this pamphlet, as “a very sensible spirited fine Fellow,” and one may suppose that indeed he was a very sensible spirited fine Fellow —he certainly did possess the ability and energy to beget slave children, offspring with whom he then was too busy about our nation’s business to spend very much of his quality time with. For the remainder of his life this founding father would be able to use his past membership on this committee, and his skills as a scribe assembling draft material for the consideration of others, as his main claim to immortality.

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A slaveholder of Jamaica, Edward Long, argued in his HISTORY OF JAMAICA (which would for the most extended period be considered an authoritative source) that “there are extremely potent reasons for believing that the White and the Negro are two distinct species.” These extremely potent reasons of Long’s seem actually

to have had little to do with the slavemaster’s conviction that his African blacks represented “the vilest of the human kind, to which they have little … pretension of resemblance,” for he was arguing that this was demonstrated by the putative fact that his mulattoes, crosses between white and blacks, ordinarily turned out to be sterile. Not only were the African women he owned “libidinous and shameless as monkeys, or baboons” (not only do they fuck like monkeys, we would say) but also they fuck monkeys, admitting “these animals frequently to their embrace.” For all the various false facts of this ilk to be found in this 1774 tome, Paul Fryer has recently awarded to Long a title of sorts: “the father of English racism.”208 What is noticeable here, as at almost every point, is Long’s predilection for expressing his racist views through comments about a repugnant sexuality.… 19th-Century theories of race did not just consist of essentializing differentiations between self and other: they were also about a fascination with people having sex — interminable, adulterating, aleatory, illicit, inter-racial sex. The Abbé Guillaume-François Raynal and his ghost-writer Denis Diderot put out their L’HISTOIRE DES DEUX INDES, in which they raised the spectre of a black avenger for the racial sins of the whites in the New World. The colonies of “fugitive negroes” which, they indicated, had become established in Jamaica and in Guyana, were to be regarded as “flashes of lightning” preceding “the thunder.” [T]he negroes lack only a chief courageous enough to drive them to revenge and to carnage. Where is he, this great man whom nature owes perhaps to the honor of the human species? Where is this new Spartacus?209 Note that precisely when we of the British colonies in North America were casting our lot with France (the nation that was on its way to maintaining slavery in the Caribbean region of the New World for as long as it could), in order to defy our mother country England (the nation that was on its way toward eventual elimination of slavery in its portion of that region), these French apologists for human slavery Raynal and Diderot were praising us to the skies for having “refused slavery,” for having “burned our chains.”

–Of course, there was a reason why this was being said. The reason was that such badly needed to be proclaimed, it functioning as the Big Lie, the precise opposite of the truth of what we were doing, as a mask and a shield for the shameful truth of our maneuver. It is, in fact, inversion.

208. Fryer, Paul. STAYING POWER: THE HISTORY OF BLACK PEOPLE IN BRITAIN. London: Pluto Press, 1984, page 70. It is worth noting, however, that this is a disputed title, for Philip Curtin, in THE IMAGE OF AFRICA. BRITISH IDEAS AND ACTION 1780-1850 (Madison WI: U of Wisconsin P, 1964, page 377) awards it to Doctor Robert Knox of Edinburgh for his 1850/1862 treatise THE RACES OF MEN: A PHILOSOPHICAL ENQUIRY INTO THE INFLUENCE OF RACE OVER THE DESTINIES OF NATIONS (London: Renshaw). Young, Robert J.C. COLONIAL DESIRE: HYBRIDITY IN THEORY, CULTURE AND RACE. London: Routledge, 1995 (page 151, page 181). “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 577 HDT WHAT? INDEX

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January: “A View of the Town of Boston with several Ships of War in the Harbour” was prepared by Paul Revere as the frontispiece for The Royal American Magazine, a Universal Repository of Instruction and Amusement. Revere based this engraving un his earlier engraving depicting the landing of British troops in October 1768. This should be available as a 13” x 20 1/2” reproduction in black and white on cover stock paper in a heavy mailing tube, from Historic Urban Plans, Inc., Box 276, Ithaca NY 14851 (607 272-MAPS), for roughly $14.00 inclusive of postage.

209. The authors of this histoire, clearly, have bought into the fantastical “Spartacus model” of the slave fighting for freedom, according to which this slave, rather than struggling to make himself the slavemaster, is dreaming a grand dream of the utter demise of all human slavery:

“...the slave, dreaming of the death of slavery...” — Kirk Douglas, preparing himself to play the title role in the 1961 Hollywood movie “Spartacus”

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This was Revere’s Boston Harbor:

Colonel Elisha Jones, maternal grandmother Mary Jones’s wealthy father, a landowner and slaveholder in Newton, Massachusetts and an active Tory with 14 Tory sons, persuaded the town of Weston, Massachusetts to refrain from the Committees of Correspondence, and the Continental Congress, which were the precursor bodies of revolution. DUNBAR FAMILY Thoreau was “clear Jones” in one respect at least ...

It wasn’t all that unusual for Americans of this period to be in favor of peace and of the seeking of mutual accommodation with the mother country. For instance, the construction of the Quaker school at Nine Partners northeast of Poughkeepsie, New York was being delayed for five years, between 1775 and 1780, merely because the Quakers sensed this Revolutionary War a-coming and were resolved that they were not about to place themselves under any obligation by soliciting funds from persons who might not be able to maintain, in the face of such a popular cause, an attitude of Quaker pacifism.

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I’ll task you to find these American pacifists in this fresco by Brumidi on a wall in our federal capitol:

Don’t think of these continental congresses as innocuous. For instance, the 1st Continental Congress would not merely deal with weighty issues of freedom, but also would ban horseracing, the theater, and gaudy attire. CONTINETAL CONGRESS

February 11: Joseph Holloway sold Charles, a Negro man, to Aaron Lopez, international slavetrader. NEWPORT RHODE ISLAND

February 14: Aaron Lopez, international slavetrader, transferred Charles, a Negro man whom he had three days earlier purchased from Joseph Holloway, to Captain Daniel Holloway, Mariner.210 NEWPORT

March, June: The legislature of Massachusetts argued out bills that would prohibit importation of any more black slaves, finally achieving a consensus — but then these measures would fail to gain the assent of the governor. Two bills designed to prohibit the importation of slaves fail of the governor’s assent. First bill: GENERAL COURT RECORDS, XXX. 248, 264; MASS. ARCHIVES, DOMESTIC RELATIONS, 1643-1774, IX. 457. Second bill: GENERAL COURT RECORDS, XXX. 308, 322. INTERNATIONAL SLAVE TRADE

210. We notice, of course, that in this year Rhode Island was forbidding the further importation of slaves. There’s nothing out of order here: export’s not import, so get a clue — the exportation of slaves could remain perfectly legal. 580 Copyright  Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX

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April: In a revival at the First Baptist Church of Providence, Rhode Island, a squat structure of oak, 40 feet by 40 feet, the hard benches of which had served the Baptists of Providence for nearly half a century, there had recently been a grand total of 104 conversions. The enlarged congregation of the Reverend James Manning would require a newer, larger church — the one that is now standing at the foot of College Hill in Providence, its white spike steeple rising almost to the level of the top of the hill. This building would purposely be made large enough to function as a commencement hall for the College of Rhode Island. A Baptist Benevolent Society of eleven men was created to oversee this project, led by John Brown. Joseph Brown and Joseph Hammond would be sent to Boston to look at the churches there. The final design would be chosen from James Gibbs’s BOOK OF ARCHITECTURE. The structure would be crafted by shipbuilders thrown out of work by the British naval blockade of the recalcitrant port of Boston. BROWN UNIVERSITY

May-September: The Intolerable Acts effectively required that Boston be closed as a port as of July 1st. This means that, although Massachusetts would not formally ban the African slave trade until the revolution and would allow the persistence of slavery despite its constitution of 1780 and despite the judicial determinations in the Quock Walker cases of 1781 and 1783, effectively its importation of black slaves ceased at this point.

May 17: Pugachev’s forces captured Fort Magnitnaia (Magnitogorsk).

Carrying a much more aggressive colonial policy, General Thomas Gage arrived in Boston to take up the post of royal governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, replacing Thomas Hutchinson (this former royal governor would depart for England, where he would act as an adviser to King George III and the British ministry on American affairs, uniformly counselling moderation).

A former resident of the Caribbean island of Antigua named Jacob Schoemaker, a slaveholder who had for a time been living in Providence, Rhode Island off the earnings of a black father named Tom whom he had rented out, had died intestate. Tom, therefore, along with his wife and their four young children, had therefore by default become the property of the town. Moses Brown had therefore petitioned the town meeting, to set free this family of six. On this day an emergency meeting of the citizens was called to consider the new Boston Port Bill, which had closed the harbor of Boston pending reimbursement to the East India Company for the cargo of tea it had lost in the Boston Tea Party. Moses Brown managed to get the two issues, of freedom for Americans and of freedom for Tom and his family, tied together in the minds of the citizens attending the town meeting, by proclaiming how very “unbecoming” it would be for American freemen to be, simultaneously, American enslavers. The resolution voted therefore contained a clause, “and they do hereby give up all claim of right or property in them.” Going even beyond that particular, “Whereas the inhabitants of America are engaged in the preservation of their rights and liberties; and as personal liberty is an essential part of the natural rights of mankind, the deputies of the town are directed to use their endeavors to obtain an act of the General Assembly prohibiting the importation of Negro slaves into this colony; and that all Negroes born in the colony, should be free, after obtaining to a certain age.” This was the first such call by any assembly in the American colonies. The new Quaker, Friend Moses, would soon be sitting down with the recently disowned Quaker, Stephen Hopkins, to craft a bill banning the slave trade in Rhode Island, and this is the language which the two of them would come up with: “Whereas the inhabitants of America are generally engaged in the preservation of their own rights and liberties ... as those who are desirous of enjoying all the advantages of liberty themselves, should be willing to extend personal liberty to others; Therefore, be it enacted ... that for the future, no Negro or mulatto slave shall be brought into this colony; and in case any slave shall hereafter be brought in, he or she shall be, and are hereby, rendered immediately free.” THE TRAFFIC IN MAN-BODY FREE PAPERS

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June: Friend Moses Brown and the recently disowned Quaker governor Stephen Hopkins took the language of their proposed slave-trade bill to the assembly in Newport, Rhode Island: “Whereas the inhabitants of America are generally engaged in the preservation of their own rights and liberties ... as those who are desirous of enjoying all the advantages of liberty themselves, should be willing to extend personal liberty to others; Therefore, be it enacted ... that for the future, no Negro or mulatto slave shall be brought into this colony; and in case any slave shall hereafter be brought in, he or she shall be, and are hereby, rendered immediately free.”211 THE TRAFFIC IN MAN-BODY FREE PAPERS SLAVERY “An Act prohibiting the importation of Negroes into this Colony.” “Whereas, the inhabitants of America are generally engaged in the preservation of their own rights and liberties, among which, that of personal freedom must be considered as the greatest; as those who are desirous of enjoying all the advantages of liberty themselves, should be willing to extend personal liberty to others; — “Therefore, be it enacted ... that for the future, no negro or mulatto slave shall be brought into this colony; and in case any slave shall hereafter be brought in, he or she shall be, and are hereby, rendered immediately free, so far as respects personal freedom, and the enjoyment of private property, in the same manner as the native Indians.” “Provided that the slaves of settlers and travellers be excepted. “Provided, also, that nothing in this act shall extend, or be deemed to extend, to any negro or mulatto slave brought from the coast of Africa, into the West Indies, on board any vessel belonging to this colony, and which negro or mulatto slave could not be disposed of in the West Indies, but shall be brought into this colony. “Provided, that the owner of such negro or mulatto slave give bond to the general treasurer of the said colony, within ten days after such arrival in the sum of £100, lawful money, for each and every such negro or mulatto slave so brought in, that such negro or mulatto slave shall be exported out of the colony, within one year from the date of such bond; if such negro or mulatto be alive, and in a condition to be removed.” “Provided, also, that nothing in this act shall extend, or be deemed to extend, to any negro or mulatto slave that may be on board any vessel belonging to this colony, now at sea, in her present voyage.” Heavy penalties are laid for bringing in Negroes in order to free them. COLONIAL RECORDS, VII. 251-3. [1784, February: “It is voted and resolved, that the whole of the clause contained in an act of this Assembly, passed at June session, A.D. 1774, permitting slaves brought from the coast of Africa into the West Indies, on board any vessel belonging to this (then colony, now) state, and who could not be disposed of in the West Indies, &c., be, and the same is, hereby repealed.” COLONIAL RECORDS, X. 8.] 211. The bill would, of course, be gutted. Its practical import would be nil. 582 Copyright  Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX

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Governor Stephen Hopkins’s biographer William Eaton Foster would in 1883 totally misconstrue this, perpetrating any number of blunders. In his “Appendix U” to STEPHEN HOPKINS, A RHODE ISLAND STATESMAN, entitled “Stephen Hopkins’s Connection with the Society of Friends,” on page 247, he would misrepresent Hopkins as the sole author of this legislation, misrepresent the enactment of the legislation as effective when in actuality it changed nothing, misrepresent the Religious Society of Friends as a group that had “membership” when in fact in this century there was never any such a thing as a membership list, misrepresent the Quaker process of disownment as a cancellation of membership (which it most decidedly never was), pretend there to be an equivalence between societal policymaking (freeing other white people’s black slaves at these other people’s expense) and personal estate planning (freeing one’s own black slaves at one’s own expense) when in fact there was never any such equivalence, and pretend that simply because the governor continued to call himself a Friend after his disownment, he could not have been struggling to free himself from religious influence in the sphere of political decisionmaking. Stephen Hopkins was in 1774 the author of the humane act of legislation by which the enslaving of negroes for the future was prohibited in Rhode Island. In 1772, however, a strong pressure had been brought to bear on him to set at liberty one of his own slaves. He did not accede to this demand. Subsequent efforts, continued from month to month, appear to have been equally unavailing. Final action was taken by the Society of Friends, March 25, 1773, when his membership was cancelled. What may have been the ground for Stephen Hopkins’s refusal is not easy to determine. It was apparently not a disapproval of emancipation, as is seen by his action elsewhere. Nor can it be set down to a desire to break with the Friends, for he still continued to call himself a Friend. This is almost, but not quite, as egregious as a lecture I went to in April 2007 at the Moses Brown School, offered by a Quaker genealogist who suggested that Hopkins’s heart had been in the right place because 1.) allegedly at one time in his earlier life he had manumitted one of his slaves (providing no evidence whatever that this assertion was accurate, over and above offering no argument whatever that this actually demonstrated Hopkins’s good-guy status), because 2.) allegedly Hopkins was refusing to manumit only one slave, who was a woman named Hannah (according to the census of 1774, he owned six), and refused freedom to her only because this would not have served the needs of her two small children (offering no evidence whatever that the number was singular rather than plural, or that the person was female, or that the name this genealogist assigned was accurate, or that said children actually existed), and because 3.) in Hopkins’s will his slaves were to be set free upon his death (offering no evidence whatever that this will mentioning the liberation of an indefinite but plural number of slaves was effectively implemented, when we know very well that in the process known as probate no mere statement of intention could have manumitted a slave unless and until all creditors to the estate had previously been paid off, and paid off in full).

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June 1: Letter from Lieutenant-Governor Colden to the Earl of Dartmouth. READ THE FULL TEXT

The Providence, Rhode Island Baptists broke ground for a new meetinghouse, with Mr. Sumner as the chief architect. Some of the principal men had obtained a charter of incorporation as “The Charitable Baptist Society” so that this corporation could function as the legal entity owning this grand structure. (The facility would be opened for public worship on May 28, 1775, though work was still ongoing.)

In Massachusetts, Benjamin Williams of Roxbury paid £58 to Benjamin Dolbeare of Boston, the administrator of the estate of Nathaniel Loring, for a slave named Boston Loring (this transaction may, or may not, have amounted to a manumission — there seems no way now to decypher this). Know all men by these presents, That I Benjamin Dolbeare of Boston in the County of Suffolk & Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England Mercht. Administrator of the Estate of Nathaniel Loring of Boston aforesaid Intestate, for & in Consideration of Fifty Eight pounds . . . . . Lawfull money to me in hand; at and before the ensealing & delivery of these presents well and truly paid by Benjamin Williams of Roxbury in the county aforesaid Yeoman the receipt whereof to full content and satisfaction is hereby acknowledged Have, granted bargained and Sold & by these presents Do Grant bargain sell & confirm unto the said Benjamin Williams a Negro man called & known by the name of Boston belonging to sd. Loring’s Estate To have and to Hold the said negro man unto the said Benjamin Williams his heirs Executors Administrators & Assignes to his & their own Sole & proper use benefit & behoof forever, & the said Benja. Dolbeare in his capasity as Administrator aforesaid covenant, grant, & agree to, & with the sd. Benja. Williams his Executors Administrators & assignes in manner following That is to say that he the said Benjamin Dolbeare in his capasity as Adminr. aforesaid, hath full power & lawfull authority to dispose of the said Negro man in manner as — aforesaid, and the said Benjamin Dolbeare in his capasity as Adminr. doth further covenant, grant, and agree To Warrant & defend the said negro man from all persons claiming from by, or under him, in his capasity as Administrator aforesd. In Witness whereof the said Benjamin Dolbeare hath hereunto set his hand & seal this Ninth first day of June 1774 In the thirfourteenth year of His Majesty s Reign Benja: Dolbeare Administrator Signed Sealed & Delivered In presence of us The Rasure in the sixth line, & the words to said Lorings Estate, between the thirteenth &

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fourteenth line from the top, being first made Chas. Coffin Wm Williams Copy Suffolk ss Boston June 2d. 1774 — Then the within named Benja. Dolbeare Acknowledged this Instrument to be his Act & Deed Before me Belcher Noyes Justice a Peace [over] Benjamin Williams’s Manumission &c &c to Boston Loring June 2d. 1774 —

June 28: Evidently there had been some problems in the friendly persuasion of those Rhode Island Quakers who still held slaves and had been refusing to manumit them, because the official visits that appointed “Visitors” had been making to the households of these Quakers were at this point indefinitely “suspended.” QUAKER DISOWNMENT

August: Friend Moses Brown petitioned that the town meeting of Providence direct the delegates that town would send to the General Assembly of Rhode Island, to support the bill he had authored in suppression of the participation of local citizens in the international slave trade, and local abolition of slavery, and manumission of existing local slaves. The town meeting rejected his abolitionist petition, instancing that such a proposal contained “matters of great importance” that might well “materially affect the property of individuals” — and that therefore “the freemen of the town” deserved to have more time to organize themselves in opposition to it, and protect their property rights and their American freedoms.

Fall: The enslaved man Tom, along with his wife and their four young children, had been freed in May by order of the Providence, Rhode Island town meeting after their slaveholder owner, Jacob Schoemaker, had died there intestate. However, it came to appear that that town action had been premature: creditors from the island of Antigua in the Caribbean claimed this family as part of the Schoemaker estate there. If they had belonged to the estate rather than to the town of Providence, they could not be set free by the town, and still were slaves, and pertained to new white inheritors. The creditors wanted this New England town to return their property. Papers were served upon John Brown who left it to his brother Nicholas Brown to handle the matter. Nicholas consulted with brother Moses Brown and composed a letter of response. THE BROWN BROTHERS

What these inheritors in Antigua were told was that “there is no getting possession of them without an expensive suit” which, at least in the case of the four minor children, would be unlikely to succeed before a New England jury. Nicholas intimated that his brother Moses had “told me lately, he would be at the expense of a lawsuit himself before they should be carried away to the West Indies as slaves.” He added (how truly or falsely not now known) “Brother John Brown much of the same way of thinking.” FREE PAPERS

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September 12: The town meeting of Providence, Rhode Island repudiated Friend Moses Brown’s petition that the town’s delegates to the General Assembly be instructed to support the bill he had authored in suppression of the slave trade, and abolition of slavery, and freeing of slaves. The town meeting rejected this by voting “that no instructions be given to the representatives of this town regarding the slave import bill.” Of course, no on the manumission of local slaves. Of course, no on the local abolition of the institution of human enslavement. But also, no on the suppression of local participation in the international slave trade. No, no, and no. There was something very fundamental about the concern that the white citizens of Providence had about liberty, that Moses simply had not grasped. What he had not grasped was that their concern about liberty was entirely a concern about their own liberty, and not at all a concern about somebody else’s liberty.

October: The Provincial Congress, held in Concord, had as two of its members Colonel Francis Faulkner and Ephraim Hapsgood representing nearby Acton.

In the colony of Connecticut, any further importation of Indian, Negro, or Molatto [sic] Slaves was prohibited. They were not to be brought in by sea. They were not to be brought in by land. They were not to be brought from any place or places whatever. They were not to be disposed of in Connecticut. They were not to be left in Connecticut. Did we mention that they were not to be sold within Connecticut? No. No. Definitely not. They could of course continue to be passed from white hand to white hand for good and valuable consideration, within Connecticut. Of course. “ ... no indian, negro or molatto Slave shall at any time hereafter be brought or imported into this Colony, by sea or land, from any place or places whatsoever, to be disposed of, left or sold within this Colony.” This was re-enacted in the revision of 1784, and slaves born after 1784 were ordered to be emancipated at the age of twenty-five. COLONIAL RECORDS, XIV. 329; ACTS AND LAWS OF CONNECTICUT (ed. 1784), pp. 233-4. INTERNATIONAL SLAVE TRADE

In Providence, Rhode Island, Nicholas Brown needed to pay for a shipment of pearl ash. He therefore sent off “a Negro boy,” in partial payment, to the Massachusetts enterprise to which he owned this business debt. SLAVERY

October 12, Wednesday: The Continental Congress resolved that “We will neither import, nor purchase any Slave imported after the First Day of December next; after which Time, we will wholly discontinue the Slave Trade, and will neither be concerned in it ourselves, nor will we hire our Vessels, nor sell our Commodities or Manufactures to those who are concerned in it.” CONTINETAL CONGRESS THE TRAFFIC IN MAN-BODY W.E. Burghardt Du Bois: The first Continental Congress met September 5, 1774, and on September 22 recommended merchants to send no more orders for foreign goods.212 On September 27 “Mr. Lee made a motion for a non-importation,” and it was unanimously resolved to import no goods from Great Britain after December 1, 1774.213 Afterward, Ireland and the West Indies were also 212. JOURNALS OF CONGRESS, I. 20. Cf. P.L. Ford, THE ASSOCIATION OF THE FIRST CONGRESS, in Political Science Quarterly, VI. 615-7. 213. John Adams, WORKS, II. 382. “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 587 HDT WHAT? INDEX

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included, and a committee consisting of Low of New York, Mifflin of Pennsylvania, Lee of Virginia, and Johnson of Connecticut were appointed “to bring in a Plan for carrying into Effect the Non-importation, Non-consumption, and Non-exportation resolved on.”214 The next move was to instruct this committee to include in the proscribed articles, among other things, “Molasses, Coffee or Piemento from the British Plantations or from Dominica,” — a motion which cut deep into the slave-trade circle of commerce, and aroused some opposition. “Will, can, the people bear a total interruption of the West India trade?” asked Low of New York; “Can they live without rum, sugar, and molasses? Will not this impatience and vexation defeat the measure?”215 The committee finally reported, October 12, 1774, and after three days’ discussion and amendment the proposal passed. This document, after a recital of grievances, declared that, in the opinion of the colonists, a non-importation agreement would best secure redress; goods from Great Britain, Ireland, the East and West Indies, and Dominica were excluded; and it was resolved that “We will neither import, nor purchase any Slave imported after the First Day of December next; after which Time, we will wholly discontinue the Slave Trade, and will neither be concerned in it ourselves, nor will we hire our Vessels, nor sell our Commodities or Manufactures to those who are concerned in it.”216 Strong and straightforward as this resolution was, time unfortunately proved that it meant very little. Two years later, in this same Congress, a decided opposition was manifested to branding the slave-trade as inhuman, and it was thirteen years before South Carolina stopped the slave-trade or Massachusetts prohibited her citizens from engaging in it. The passing of so strong a resolution must be explained by the motives before given, by the character of the drafting committee, by the desire of America in this crisis to appear well before the world, and by the natural moral enthusiasm aroused by the imminence of a great national struggle.

214. JOURNALS OF CONGRESS, I. 21. 215. JOURNALS OF CONGRESS, I. 24; Drayton; MEMOIRS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, I. 147; John Adams, WORKS, II. 394. 216. JOURNALS OF CONGRESS, I. 27, 32-8. 588 Copyright  Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX

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October 14, Friday: The 1st declaration of colonial rights in America: the Declaration and Resolves of the 1st Continental Congress. READ THE FULL TEXT

In Providence, Rhode Island as duly attested on page 262 in Volume 19 of the town records for such property transactions, Jofeph Crawford had chosen this as the day to manumit “Five Negroes to wit One Negro Man named Anthony aged twenty one Years and upward One Negro Woman named Patience aged Seventeen Years and upward One Negro Boy named Manuel aged about fifteen Years One other Negro Boy named Primus aged about twelve Years and one Negro Girl named Peggy aged ten year and upward all which faid Five Negroes are now deemed my Slaves”:

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SLAVERY

Meanwhile, this above manumitted Anthony a Negro Man of Providence, the Son of Anthony Kinnicut, a Labourer, was on that day formally binding himself as Apprentice to the service of the faid Jofeph Crawford, “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 589 HDT WHAT? INDEX

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Yeoman, unless Jofeph Crawford should sooner Deceafe, until the faid Anthony arrived at the age of 25 Years (which the indenture document states would be on July 31, 1778). On his own part Jofeph Crawford “doth promife and engage to find and provide for his faid Apprentice Sufficient Meat Drink wafhing Lodging and Apparel and all other Necefsaries fitting for fuch an Apprentice during said Term”:

ã|àÇxyáxà{ à{tà TÇà{ÉÇç t axzÜÉ `tÇ Éy cÜÉä|wxÇvx |Ç à{x vÉâÇàç Éy cÜÉä|wxÇvx g{|á_tuÉâÜxÜ |ÇwxÇàâÜx tÇw fÉÇ Éy TÇà{ÉÇç ^|ÇÇ|vâà Éy yt|w cÜÉä|wxÇvx {tà{ Ñâà {|ÅáxÄy tÇw uç à{xyx cÜxyxÇàá uÉà{ äÉÄâÇàtÜ|Äç tÇw Éy {|á ÉãÇ yÜxx ã|ÄÄ tÇwTvvÉÜw Ñâà tÇw u|Çw {|ÅáxÄyATÑÑÜxÇà|vx àÉ]ÉyxÑ{VÜtãyÉÜw Éy yt|w cÜÉä|wxÇvxlxÉÅtÇ tÇw tyàxÜ à{x`tÇÇxÜ Éy tÇ TÑÑÜxÇà|vx àÉ yxÜäx {|Å? à{x yt|w ]ÉáxÑ{ rrrr yÜÉÅ à{x Wtç Éy à{x Wtàx {xÜxÉy |Ç yâv{ gÜtwx tÇw Uây|Çxyá tá {x à{x yt|w ]ÉyxÑ{ y{tÄÄ w|Üxvà âÇà|Äq {x à{x yt|w TÇà{ÉÇç y{tÄÄ tààt|Ç àÉ à{x Tzx Éy gãxÇàç Y|äx lxtÜá ã{|v{ ã|ÄÄ ux ÉÇ à{x à{|Üàç y|Üáà Wtç Éy ]âÄç TAWA DJJK ÉÜ âÇà|Ä à{x Wxvxtyx Éyq {|Å à{x yt|w ]ÉáxÑ{ VÜtãyÉÜw ã{|v{ Éy à{x àãÉ y{tÄÄ y|Üyà {tÑÑxÇ WâÜ|Çz ã{|v{ gxÜÅ Éy g|Åx à{x yt|w TÑÑÜxÇà|vx {|á yt|w `tyàxÜ yt|à{yâÄÄç y{tÄÄ yxÜäx {|á fxvÜxàá——— ~xxÑ {|á ÄtãyâÄ vÉÅÅtÇw zÄtwÄç Éuxç [x y{tÄÄ ÇÉà tuyxÇà {|ÅáxÄy uç Wtç ÉÜ uç a|z{à yÜÉÅ {|á yt|w `tyàxÜËá fxÜä|vx ã|à{Éâà {|á _xtäx uâà |Ç tÄÄ g{|Çzá ux{täx {|ÅyxÄy tá t yt|à{yâÄ TÑÑÜxÇà|vx Éâz{à àÉq wÉ wâÜ|Çz yt|w gxÜÅ TÇw à{x yt|w ]ÉyxÑ{ VÜtãyÉÜw wÉà{ ÑÜÉÅ|yx tÇw xÇztzx àÉ y|Çw tÇw ÑÜÉä|wx yÉÜ {|á yt|w TÑÑÜxÇà|vx fâyy|v|xÇà `xtà WÜ|Ç~ ãty{|Çz _Éwz|Çz tÇw TÑÑtÜxÄ tÇw tÄÄ Éà{xÜ axvxyátÜ|xá y|àà|Çz yÉÜ yâv{ tÇ TÑÑÜxÇà|vx wâÜ|Çz át|w gxÜÅA ã{xÜxÉy à{x ctÜà|xá àÉ à{xyx cÜxyxÇàá {täx {xÜxâÇàÉ |ÇàxÜv{tÇzxtuÄç yxà à{x|Ü [tÇwá tÇw fxtÄá à{x yÉâÜàxxÇà{\Çgxáà|ÅÉÇç Wtç Éy bvàÉuxÜ |Ç à{x yÉâÜàxxÇà{ çxtÜ Éy à{x ex|zÇ Éy ÉâÜ fÉäxÜx|zÇ _beW ZxÉÜzx à{x à{|Üw uç à{x ZÜtvx Éy ZÉw Éy ZÜxtà— UÜ|àt|Ç 9 vA ^|Çz TAWA DJJG f|zÇxw fxtÄxw tÇw wxÄ|äxÜxw |Ç à{x cÜxyxÇvx Éy } ((L.S.)) ]tÅxá TÇzxÄÄ ]ÉyxÑ{ VÜtãyÉÜw fxÇxÜ ZA UÜÉãÇ } exvÉÜwxw `tç DC? DJJHA uç ;tÇw]tÅxá Å|Çâàxw TÇzxÄÄàÉ ux xÇàxÜxw à{xÇ< VÄ~

On page 265 the process of indenture of manumitted persons continues with Patience a Negro fingle Woman and Daughter of Anthony Kinnicut who voluntarily and of her own free Will and Accord by and with the Confent of her faid Father was binding herfelf to perform the Houfehold Bufinefs of faid Jofeph until she reached the age of 25:

ã|àÇxyáxà{ à{tà ctà|xÇvx t axzÜÉ jÉÅtÇ ÇÉã Éy cÜÉä|wxÇvx |Ç à{x VÉâÇàç Éy g{|á\ÇwxÇàâÜxcÜÉä|wxÇvx y|ÇzÄx jÉÅtÇ tÇw Wtâz{àxÜ Éy TÇà{ÉÇç ^|ÇÇ|vâà Éy yt|w cÜÉä|wxÇvx _tuÉâÜxÜ {tà{ Ñâà {xÜyxÄy tÇw uç q à{xyx cÜxyxÇyxwÉà{ äÉÄâÇàtÜ|Äç tÇw Éy {xÜ ÉãÇ yÜxxj|ÄÄ tÇwTvvÉÜw uç tÇw ã|à{ à{xVÉÇyxÇà Éy {xÜ yt|wYtà{xÜ Ñâà tÇw u|Çw {xÜyxÄyTÑÑÜxÇà|vx àÉ]ÉyxÑ{VÜtãyÉÜw Éy yt|wcÜÉä|wxÇvxlxÉÅtÇ tÇw tyàxÜ à{x`tÇÇxÜ Éy tÇTÑÑÜxÇà|vx àÉ yxÜäx {|Å à{x yt|w]ÉyxÑ{VÜtãyÉÜw yÜÉÅ à{xWtç Éy à{xWtàx {xÜxÉy |Ç yâv{[Éâyx{ÉÄwUây|Çxyá tá {x à{x yt|w ]ÉyxÑ{ á{tÄÄ ÉÜwxÜ yÜÉÅg|Åx àÉg|Åx âÇà|Ä y{x à{x yt|wctà|xÇvx y{tÄÄ tààt|Ç àÉ à{xTzx ÉygãxÇàç y|äxlxtÜá ã{|v{ ã|ÄÄ ux ÉÇ à{x à{|Üàç y|ÜyàWtç ÉyTâzâyàTAWADJKE ÉÜ âÇà|Ä à{xWxtà{ Éyq {|Åà{x yt|w]ÉyxÑ{VÜtãyÉÜw ã{|v{ Éy à{x àãÉ y{tÄÄ y|Üyà {tÑÑxÇWâÜ|Çz tÄÄ ã{|v{g|Åxq f{xà{x yt|wTÑÑÜxÇà|vx {xÜ yt|w`tyàxÜ yt|à{yâÄÄç y{tÄÄ yxÜäx {|áfxvÜxàá ~xxÑ {|á ÄtãyâÄVÉÅÅtÇwá zÄtwÄç Éuxç f{x y{tÄÄ ÇÉà tuyxÇà {xÜyxÄy uçWtç ÉÜ uça|z{à yÜÉÅ {xÜ yt|w`tyàxÜËáfxÜä|vx ã|à{Éâà {|á_xtäx uâà |Ç tÄÄg{|Çzá ux{täx {xÜyxÄy tá t yt|à{yâÄ TÑÑÜxÇà|vx Éâz{à àÉ wÉ wâÜ|Çz à{x ã{ÉÄx yt|wg|Åx TÇw]ÉyxÑ{VÜtãyÉÜw à{x`tyàxÜ wÉà{ {xÜxu牉‰‰ ÑÜÉÅ|yx tÇw xÇztzx àÉ y|Çw tÇw ÑÜÉä|wx yÉÜ {|á yt|wTÑÑÜxÇà|vx yâyy|v|xÇà`xtàWÜ|Ç~jty{|Çz_Éwz|Çz tÇwTÑÑtÜxÄ tÇw tÄÄ Éà{xÜaxvxyátÜ|xá y|àà|Çz yÉÜ yâv{ tÇTÑÑÜxÇà|vx wâÜ|Çz à{x ã{ÉÄx Éy yt|wg|Åx ã{xÜxÉy à{xctÜà|xá àÉ à{xyxcÜxyxÇàá {täx {xÜxâÇàÉ |ÇàxÜv{tÇzxtuÄç yxà \Çgxyà|ÅÉÇçà{x|Ü[tÇwá tÇwfxtÄá à{x yÉâÜàxxÇà{Wtç ÉybvàÉuxÜ |Ç à{x yÉâÜàxxÇà{lxtÜ Éy à{xex|zÇ Éy ÉâÜfÉäxÜx|zÇ _ÉÜwZxÉÜzx à{x à{|Üw uç à{xZÜtvx ÉyZbW ÉyZÜxtàUÜ|àt|Ç9A^|ÇzTÇÇÉÖâxWÉÅ|Ç|DJJGA f|zÇxwfxtÄxw tÇw wxÄ|äxÜxw |Ç à{xcÜxyxÇvx Éy } ]ÉyxÑ{VÜtãyÉÜw ((L.S.))

]tÅxáTÇzxÄÄ `|Çâàxw àÉ ux Üxvx|äxw`tçDCADJJH ZAUÜÉãÇ } tÇw ÜxvÉÜwxw uç ]tÅxáTÇzxÄÄVÄ~ } For some reason not immediately evident, as you will notice above, these 1774 manumissions and their 590 Copyright  Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX

HUMAN ENSLAVEMENT ETC.

accompanying indenture would not be placed on record immediately in the town books, but the recording of them would be delayed until May 10, 1775.

ã|àÇxyáxà{ à{tà`tÇâxÄ taxzÜÉ UÉç Éy vtÄÄxw ÇÉã ÉycÜÉä|wxÇvx |Ç à{x g{|á\ÇwxÇàâÜxVÉâÇàç ÉycÜÉä|wxÇvx_tuÉâÜxÜ tÇw áÉÇ ÉyTÇà{ÉÇç^|ÇÇ|vâà Éy yt|wcÜÉä|wxÇvx {tà{ Ñâà {|ÅyxÄy tÇw uç à{xyx cÜxyxÇàá wÉà{ äÉÄâÇàtÜ|Äç tÇw Éy {|á ÉãÇ yÜxxj|ÄÄ tÇwTvvÉÜw uç tÇw ã|à{ à{xVÉÇyxÇà Éy {|á yt|w ytà{xÜ Ñâà tÇw u|Çw {|ÅyxÄyTÑÑÜxÇà|vx àÉ]ÉyxÑ{VÜtãyÉÜw Éy yt|wcÜÉä|wxÇvxlxÉÅtÇ tÇw tyàxÜ à{x`tÇÇxÜ Éy tÇTÑÑÜxÇà|vx àÉ yxÜäx {|Å à{x yt|w]ÉyxÑ{VÜtãyÉÜw yÜÉÅ à{xWtç Éy à{xWtàx {xÜxÉy |Ç yâv{gÜtwx tÇwUây|Çxyá táq {xà{x yt|w]ÉyxÑ{ y{tÄÄ ÉÜwxÜ tÇw w|Üxvà âÇà|Äq {xà{x yt|w`tÇâxÄ y{tÄÄ tààt|Ç âÇàÉ à{xTzx Éy àãxÇàç y|äxlxtÜá ã{|v{ ã|ÄÄ ux ÉÇ à{x y|ÜyàWtç Éy fxÑàxÅuxÜ |Ç à{xlxtÜ Éy ÉâÜ_beWTAWADJKG ÉÜ âÇà|Ä à{xWxtà{ Éy {|Å à{x yt|w]ÉyxÑ{ VÜtãyÉÜw ã{|v{ Éy à{x àãÉ y{tÄÄ y|Üyà {tÑÑxÇ WâÜ|Çz tÄÄ ã{|v{ g|Åx à{x yt|w TÑÑÜxÇà|vx {|á yt|w `tyàxÜ yt|à{yâÄÄç á{tÄÄ yxÜäx {|á fxvÜxàá {|á ÄtãyâÄ VÉÅÅtÇwá zÄtwÄç Éuxç {x y{tÄÄ ÇÉà tuyxÇà {|ÅyxÄy uç Wtç ÉÜ uç a|z{à yÜÉÅ {|á yt|w `tyàxÜá fxÜä|vx ã|à{Éâà {|á _xtäx uâà |Ç tÄÄ à{|Çzá ux{täx {|ÅyxÄy tá t yt|à{yâÄ TÑÑÜxÇà|vx Éâz{à àÉ wÉrrrrrr wâÜ|Çz yt|wq gxÜÅ Éyg|ÅxTÇw]ÉyxÑ{VÜtãyÉÜw à{x`tyàxÜ wÉà{ ÑÜÉÅ|yx tÇw xÇztzx àÉ y|Çw tÇw ÑÜÉä|wx yÉÜ {|á yt|w TÑÑÜxÇà|vx yâyy|v|xÇà`xtàWÜ|Ç~jty{|Çz_Éwz|Çz tÇwTÑÑtÜxÄ tÇw tÄÄ Éà{xÜaxvxyátÜ|xá y|àà|Çz yÉÜ yâv{TÑÑÜxÇà|vx WâÜ|Çz à{x j{ÉÄx Éy yt|w g|ÅxA ã{xÜxÉy à{x ctÜà|xá àÉ à{xyx cÜxyxÇàá {täx {xÜxâÇàÉ |ÇàxÜ v{tÇzxtuÄç yxà à{x|Ü[tÇwá tÇwfxtÄá\Çgxáà|ÅÉÇç à{x yÉâÜàxxÇà{Wtç ÉybvàÉuxÜ |Ç à{x yÉâÜàxxÇà{lxtÜ Éy à{xex|zÇ Éy ÉâÜfÉäxÜx|zÇ= ZxÉÜzx à{x à{|Üw uç à{x ZÜtvx Éy ZÉw Éy ZÜxtà UÜ|àt|Ç 9 ^|Çz TÇÇÉÖâx WÉÅ|Ç| DJJG f|zÇxw YxtÄxw tÇw wxÄ|äxÜxw |Ç cÜxyxÇvx Éy ]ÉyxÑ{ VÜtãyÉÜw((L.S.))

]tÅxá TÇzxÄÄ `|Çâàxw àÉ ux Üxvx|äxw `tç DCA DJJH Z UÜÉãÇ } tÇw ÜxvÉÜwxw uç]tÅxá TÇzxÄÄ VÄ~

On page 266 the process of indenture of manumitted persons continues with Primus a Negro Boy and Son of Anthony Kinnicut who voluntarily and of his own free Will and Accord by and with the Confent of his faid Father was binding himfelf Apprentice of faid Jofeph and Sufanna his Wife until he reached the age of 25:

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“Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 591 HDT WHAT? INDEX

HUMAN ENSLAVEMENT ETC.

attain the Age of 25 Years on October 2, 1789: ã|àÇxyáxà{ à{tàcxzzç taxzÜÉ Z|ÜÄ ÇÉã ÉycÜÉä|wxÇvx |Ç à{xVÉâÇàç ÉycÜÉä|wxÇvx g{|á\ÇwxÇàâÜxtÇwWtâz{àxÜ ÉyTÇà{ÉÇç^|ÇÇ|vâà Éy yt|wcÜÉä|wxÇvx {tà{ Ñâà {xÜáxÄy tÇw uç à{xyxcÜxyxÇàá wÉà{ äÉÄâÇàtÜ|Äç tÇw Éy {xÜ ÉãÇ yÜxx ã|ÄÄ tÇwTvvÉÜw uç tÇw ã|à{ à{xVÉÇyxÇà Éy {xÜ yt|wYtà{xÜ Ñâà tÇw u|Çw {xÜyxÄyTÑÑÜxÇà|vx àÉ]ÉyxÑ{VÜtãyÉÜw Éy yt|wcÜÉä|wxÇvxlxÉÅtÇ tÇwfâytÇÇt {|áj|yx tÇw tyàxÜ à{x`tÇÇxÜ Éy tÇTÑÑÜxÇà|vx àÉ yxÜäx {|Å à{x yt|w]ÉyxÑ{ VÜtãyÉÜw tÇwfâytÇÇt {|áj|yx yÜÉÅ à{xWtç Éy à{xWtàx {xÜxÉy |Ç yâv{[Éâyx{ÉÄwUây|Çxyá tá {x à{x yt|w]ÉyxÑ{ tÇwfâytÇÇt yÜÉÅg|Åx àÉg|Åx á{tÄÄ ÉÜwxÜ tÇw w|Üxvà âÇà|Ä y{x à{x yt|wcxzzç y{tÄÄ tààt|Ç àÉ à{xTzx ÉygãxÇàç‰ Y|äxlxtÜá ã{|v{ ã|ÄÄ ux ÉÇ à{x yxvÉÇwWtç ÉybvàÉuxÜ |Ç à{xlxtÜ Éy ÉâÜ_ÉÜwbÇxg{ÉâytÇwfxäxÇ[âÇwÜxw tÇw X|z{àç Ç|Çx ÉÜ âÇà|Ä à{xWxtà{ Éy à{x ÄÉÇzxyàfâÜä|äÉÜ Éy à{xÅ à{x yt|w]ÉyxÑ{ tÇwfâytÇÇt ã{|v{ Éy à{xgãÉ f{tÄÄ y|Üyà {tÑÑxÇ WâÜ|Çz tÄÄ ã{|v{ g|Åx à{x yt|wcxzzç {xÜ yt|w`tyàxÜ tÇw`|yàÜxyá yt|à{yâÄÄç y{tÄÄ yxÜäx à{x|ÜfxvÜxàá ~xxÑ à{x|Ü ÄtãyâÄVÉÅÅtÇwá zÄtwÄç Éuxç f{x y{tÄÄ ÇÉà tuyxÇà {xÜyxÄy uçWtç ÉÜ uça|z{à yÜÉÅ {xÜ yt|w`tyàxÜ ÉÜ`|yàÜxyáxá fxÜä|vx ã|à{Éâà à{x|Ü_xtäx uâà |Ç tÄÄg{|Çzá ux{täx {xÜyxÄy tá t yt|à{yâÄTÑÑÜxÇà|vx Éâz{à àÉ wÉ wâÜ|Çz à{x ã{ÉÄx Éy yt|wg|Åx tÇw à{xYt|w`tyàxÜ wÉà{ ÑÜÉÅ|yx tÇw xÇztzx àÉ y|Çw tÇw ÑÜÉä|wxqÉÜyâyy|v|xÇà`xtàWÜ|Ç~jty{|Çz_Éwz|Çz9TÑÑtÜxÄ vtâyx àÉ ux yÉâÇw9ÑÜÉä|wxw tÇw tÄÄ Éà{xÜaxvxyátÜ|xá y|àà|Çz yÉÜ yâv{ tÇTÑÑÜxÇà|vx wâÜ|Çz à{x ã{ÉÄx Éy yt|wg|Åx ã{xÜxÉy à{xctÜà|xá àÉ à{xyxcÜxyxÇàá {täx {xÜxâÇàÉ |ÇàxÜv{tÇzxtuÄç yxà à{x|Ü[tÇwá tÇwfxtÄáTÇw à{x yÉâÜàxxÇà{Wtç |Çgxyà|ÅÉÇç ÉybvàÉuxÜ |Ç à{x yÉâÜàxxÇà{lxtÜ Éy à{xex|zÇ Éy ÉâÜfÉäxÜx|zÇ_ÉÜwZxÉÜzx à{x à{|Üw uç à{x ZÜtvx Éy ZbW Éy ZÜxtà UÜ|àt|Ç9^|Çz TAWADJJG f|zÇxw yxtÄxw tÇw wxÄ|äxÜxw |Ç cÜxyxÇvx Éy ]ÉyxÑ{VÜtãyÉÜw ((L.S.)) } ]tÅxá TÇzxÄÄ `|Çâàxw àÉ ux Üxvx|äxw`tçDCADJJH ZA UÜÉãÇ tÇw ÜxvÉÜwxw uç ]tÅxáTÇzxÄÄVÄ~

November: Information had been received that King George had declared the American colonies to be in a state of rebellion, when the General Assembly of the colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations met. The Rhode Islanders had to face the prospect of being vulnerable to the depredations of the British navy. With this in prospect, there was no time or energy to be wasted on abstract issues such as the nicey-nice agendas of the local abolitionists. A decision was reached that to manumit a slave, a citizen would be required to post a deposit of £1,000, an extraordinary sum, to ensure the town against that freed person becoming “chargeable,” that is, becoming an expense item on the town’s charity rolls. It was a resounding defeat, replicated throughout the colonies: on the eve of a Revolution fought in the name of freedom and liberty, the popular movement against slavery crested, then collapsed. The legislature in Massachusetts considered several abolition bills, but with British troops and ships massing in Boston harbor, the representatives passed the question on to the new Congress, where it languished: John Adams, among others, considered it too “divisive” to pursue. Quakers in New Jersey presented “a flood” of petitions in 1774 seeking abolition and an end to the slave trade, but as in Rhode Island, the resulting bills were riven with amendments; before the abolitionists could demand reconsideration, the government there had collapsed. In Philadelphia in 1774, the immigrant polemicist Thomas Paine made his American debut by publishing an acerbic attack on slavery, and Anthony Benezet organized the world’s first abolition society, the Society for the Relief of Free Negroes, Unlawfully Held in Bondage. But the society shut down after only four meetings, its legislative agenda abandoned for another five years.

592 Copyright  Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX

HUMAN ENSLAVEMENT ETC.

December 15: On page 315 of Volume 19 of the property transactions of the city of Providence, Caleb Greene, Merchant of Rhode Island, under a Sense of the Opprefsion and Injustice of Buying and Selling of Men as Slaves and a Defire to remove as far as may be the evil Practice hereof by complying with the Manifestations of that divine Light which has fhined and is fhining in the Minds of Men, to bring them out of Darknefs, and if adheard to, will lead them into all Truth, did in the presence of Friend Moses Brown and of Friend Job Scott (1751-1793), give up his partial rights in the person of a certain Indian or Mulattoe, Peter, and give up his partial rights in the person of a Negro Man, Venter, thus manumitting the faid Peter and Venter and confirming their Freedom to the fullest (admittedly only partial) extent within the faid Caleb Greene’s power: cxÉÑÄx àÉ ã{ÉÅ à{xyx cÜxáxÇàá y{tÄÄ vÉÅx à{tà\VtÄxu ZÜxxÇxgÉ tÄÄ ÉycÜÉä|wxÇvx |Ç à{xVÉÄÉÇç Éye{Éwx\áÄtÇw?`xÜv{tÇà?^ÇÉãlx âÇwxÜ tfxÇáx Éy à{xbÑÑÜxyá|ÉÇ tÇw\Ç}âáà|vx ÉyUâç|Çz tÇwfxÄÄ|Çz Éy`xÇ táfÄtäxá tÇw tWxy|Üx àÉ ÜxÅÉäx tá ytÜ tá Åtç ux à{x xä|ÄcÜtvà|vx {xÜxÉy uç vÉÅÑÄç|Çz ã|à{ à{x`tÇ|yxáàtà|ÉÇá Éy à{tà w|ä|Çx _|z{à ã{|v{ {tá y{|Çxw tÇw |á y{|Ç|Çz |Ç à{x`|Çwá Éy`xÇ? àÉ uÜ|Çz à{xÅ Éâà ÉyWtÜ~@ Çxyá? tÇw |y tw{xtÜw àÉ? ã|ÄÄ Äxtw à{xÅ |ÇàÉ tÄÄ gÜâà{ tuyÉÄâàxÄç ÜxÄxtáx? ÅtÇâÅ|à tÇw w|áv{tÜzx yÉÜxäxÜbÇxdâtÜàxÜctÜà WÉÉy à{xg|Åx {xÜxuç tÇwfxÜä|vx Éy t vxÜàt|Ç\Çw|tÇ ÉÜ`âÄtààÉx Éy ã{tàatà|ÉÇ {x ‰Åtç ux vtÄÄxw tÇw ~ÇÉãÇ uç à{x atÅx ÉycxàxÜ Éy ã{ÉÅeÉuxÜà_|ä|ÇzáàÉÇ tÇw]tÅxá_Éäxà vÄt|Åá à{x Éà{xÜ à{ÜxxdâtÜàxÜá A TÇw tÄyÉ ÉÇx {tÄyctÜà ÉyaxzÜÉ`tÇ ÇtÅxwixÇàxÜ à{x Éà{xÜ [tÄy ux|Çz vÄt|Åxw uç]tÅxá_Éäxà? {xÜxuç yâÄÄç vÉÇy|ÜÅ|Çz àÉ à{xÅ à{x yt|wcxàxÜ tÇwixÇàx܉‰ à{x|ÜYÜxxwÉÅ yÉ ytÜ tá à{xctÜàá tyÉÜxát|w yÜÉÅ à{xVÄt|Å tÇw WxÅtÇw Éy tÄÄcxÜáÉÇá uç? yÜÉÅ ÉÜ âÇwxÜ à{xNWxy|Ç|Çz à{x|Ü[xtÄà{ tÇwcÜÉáÑxÜ|àç\ à{x yt|wVtÄxuZÜxxÇx {täx {xÜxâÇàÉ áxà Åç[tÇw tÇwfxtÄ à{|á y|yàxxÇà{Wtç Éy à{x àãxÄyà{ `ÉÇà{DJJGA f|zÇxwfxtÄxw9WxÄ|äxÜxw ((L.S.)) |ÇcÜxyxÇvx Éy VtÄxu ZÜxxÇx `ÉáxáUÜÉãÇ g{x yÉÜxzÉ|Çz |á t àÜâxVÉÑçAexvÉÜwxwDFà{`tçDJJK ]ÉufvÉàà j|àÇxyág{xÉwÉÜxYÉáàxÜ gÉãÇVÄxÜ~ (interconnecting script)ë

December 27: The Quakers dissolved their old, inactive committee to visit the homes of slaveholding Friends and remonstrate with them, appealing to their consciences, and a new such committee was appointed. Although members would be granted plenty of time, if they did not eventually manumit their black slaves they would be disowned. RHODE ISLAND

CONTINUE TO READ CHRONOLOGICALLY

“Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 593 HDT WHAT? INDEX

HUMAN ENSLAVEMENT ETC.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE: In addition to the property of others, such as extensive quotations and reproductions of images, this “read-only” computer file contains a great deal of special work product of Austin Meredith, copyright 2012. Access to these interim materials will eventually be offered for a fee in order to recoup some of the costs of preparation. My hypercontext button invention which, instead of creating a hypertext leap through hyperspace —resulting in navigation problems— allows for an utter alteration of the context within which one is experiencing a specific content already being viewed, is claimed as proprietary to Austin Meredith — and therefore freely available for use by all. Limited permission to copy such files, or any material from such files, must be obtained in advance in writing from the “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project, 833 Berkeley St., Durham NC 27705. Please contact the project at .

“It’s all now you see. Yesterday won’t be over until tomorrow and tomorrow began ten thousand years ago.” – Remark by character “Garin Stevens” in William Faulkner’s INTRUDER IN THE DUST

Prepared: December 31, 2012

594 Copyright  Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX

HUMAN ENSLAVEMENT ETC.

ARRGH AUTOMATED RESEARCH REPORT

GENERATION HOTLINE

This stuff presumably looks to you as if it were generated by a human. Such is not the case. Instead, upon someone’s request we have pulled it out of the hat of a pirate that has grown out of the shoulder of our pet parrot “Laura” (depicted above). What these chronological lists are: they are research reports compiled by ARRGH algorithms out of a database of data modules which we term the Kouroo Contexture. This is data mining. To respond to such a request for information, we merely push a button.

“Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 595 HDT WHAT? INDEX

HUMAN ENSLAVEMENT ETC.

Commonly, the first output of the program has obvious deficiencies and so we need to go back into the data modules stored in the contexture and do a minor amount of tweaking, and then we need to punch that button again and do a recompile of the chronology — but there is nothing here that remotely resembles the ordinary “writerly” process which you know and love. As the contents of this originating contexture improve, and as the programming improves, and as funding becomes available (to date no funding whatever has been needed in the creation of this facility, the entire operation being run out of pocket change) we expect a diminished need to do such tweaking and recompiling, and we fully expect to achieve a simulation of a generous and untiring robotic research librarian. Onward and upward in this brave new world.

First come first serve. There is no charge. Place your requests with . Arrgh.

596 Copyright  Austin Meredith