CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY SAN MARCOS THESIS SIGNATURE PAGE THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULLFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE MASTER OF ARTS IN IDSTORY THESIS TITLE: James DeWolf: Slaving Practices, Business Enterprises, and Politics, 1784-1816 AUTHOR: Cynthia Mestad Johnson DATE OF SUCCESSFUL DEFENSE: April29,2010 THE THESIS HAS BEEN ACCEPTED BY THE THESIS COMMITTEE IN PARTIAL FULLFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN IDSTORY. Dr. Jill Watts THESIS COMMITTEE CHAIR Dr. Peter Arnade THESIS COMMITTEE MEMBER Dr. Anne Lombard o'Uf 'lj:Jot t! THESIS COMMITTEE MEMBER James DeWolf Slaving Practices, Business Enterprises, and Politics, 1784- 1816 Cynthia Mestad Johnson Department of History California State University San Marcos ©2010 3 Contents Acknowledgments............................................................... 5 Dedication........................................................................ 7 Introduction. .. 8 Chapter One....................................................................... 29 A Slaver's Entrepreneurial Spirit Chapter Two...................................................................... 52 The Ambitious Ventures ofan Exiled Captain Chapter Three.................................................................... 73 Political Manipulation and Ascendancy to Public Office Chapter Four..................................................................... 92 The Continuance ofIllegal Slaving Despite Federal Regulations Conclusion....................................................................... 111 Appendices...................................................................... 116 1. Slave trade laws, 1784 - 1819 2. Map ofNarragansett Bay, Rhode Island 3. Custom Map of De Wolfs Triangle Trade route 4. New evidence on the Amastad and Minerva 5. New evidence on the Andromache 6. De Wolf family cemetery 7. De Wolfs tomb 8. De Wolf warehouse, side view 9. De Wolf warehouse, front view 10. Sample of a DeWolf slave ledger 11. One ofDeWol:Ps family homes 4 Bibliography.................................................................... 131 Abstract.. 140 5 Acknowledgements I am honored to have worked with a group of highly respected, published historians as my committee members and recognize that I experienced a unique opportunity. I would like to thank each one and acknowledge that, with your help, this thesis developed into something more than I could have ever imagined. Dr. Jill Watts, thesis and graduate chair, and of whom I have the utmost respect, guided me with unbelievable commitment and patience in helping me craft this thesis into a respectable piece of research. Her calm and supportive demeanor raises her to a level of professionalism that is not easily matched. It was my distinct pleasure to work with a historian who shared my passion for this topic. Dr. Peter Arnade, Department Chair and committee member, joined this dedicated group of three professors even though he is a late medieval and early modern European historian. I depended on his vast knowledge of history and his reputation for "attention to detail" in editing to make this thesis a complete and cohesive unit. Dr. Ann Lombard, committee member, has a wealth of knowledge for both legal and constitutional history and the early American and Revolutionary era. Her legal expertise was helpful. Additionally, I would like to thank the follow specialists whose diligent e-mail correspondence and telephone conversations helped me immensely in expanding my knowledge and with my sources. Ray Batcher, curator, Bristol Historical and Preservation Society Patty Canas, History Department Administrative Coordinator, CSUSM Judith Downie, Humanities and Government Documents Librarian, CSUSM Nancy Kougeus, archivist, Bristol Historical and Preservation Society Mary Millard, DeWolf descendent, Linden Place, Bristol, Rhode Island Ron Wetteroth, database historian, St. Eustatius Historical Foundation Thank you also to the members of my graduate cohort for their encouragement, support, and for continually asking "are you done yet?" My life has benefitted tremendously as a result of your friendships that I look forward to maintaining for a lifetime. 6 Mike Dolan - You have the honor of holding the title, "first to graduate" from the CSUSM History graduate program. You meticulously and painstakingly paved the way for me and future graduates, particularly those who will create digital theses. Your insight, support and advice were, for me, undeniably priceless. Thank you! Finally, it is because of my family that I was able to accomplish this lifelong dream. I love them all from the deepest part of my heart, and they know this. My thesis is the epitome of an unconditional team effort! Bill Johnson, husband! Thanks for bringing me coffee, sending me text messages of encouragement, taking over the household responsibilities and listening to me when you didn't know what or who I was talking about but pretended so brilliantly that you did. Tim Clinton, younger son, for keeping me technologically in the "now," Thanks for making sure that my computer knowledge improved and that I had the latest in technology. You saved my life and the life of my thesis more times than I can remember which helped to maintain my sanity. Thanks for perfecting my appendices (and for the chocolate!). You are an incredibly gifted young man! Matt Clinton, oldest son, fellow graduate student, educator, reader, confidant, carpool buddy, and future historian. I loved attending class with you and having you as a part of this with me. Thank you for being my sounding board, your emotional support is invaluable as was sharing this experience! Elysse Clinton, most awesome daughter-in-law, when you joined our family, it felt like you were always there. Thank you for helping ALL of us with whatever we need, whenever we call. Dr. Orv and Shirley Mestad, parents! The support you gave to me throughout this process was unquestionably the most unselfish parental contribution towards my future that I could have ever imagined. Other children should be so lucky! 7 Dedication I dedicate this thesis to my Dad! His daily example of how he lives his life has taught me the value of hard work, integrity, commitment to family, and most importantly, faith. 8 INTRODUCTION Many citizens from the tiny state of Rhode Island were responsible, directly or indirectly, for the delivery of more than 106,000 slaves to the United States between the years 1650 and 1808. According to historian Lorenzo Johnston Greene, "It is evident that the involvement of Rhode Island citizens in the slave trade was widespread and abundant."1 For select Rhode Islanders, the commercial success that came with their participation in the trade yielded tremendous economic stability both for themselves and their communities. During the eighteenth century and into the early nineteenth century, Rhode Island slave traders purchased and sold more slaves than all other slavers in the United States. By 1750, Rhode Island was recognized as the nation's most active trading center for slaving? By 1774, Newport, Rhode Island became "the most guilty, respecting the slave trade, of any town on the continent."3 Jay Coughtry writes in The Notorious Triangle that from 1725 to the end of 1807 in "both relative and absolute terms ... Rhode Island was the most important American carrier of African slaves."4 While a number of Rhode Island families participated in the trade, including the famous Brown family, among the most successful was the DeWolf 1 Lorenzo Johnston Greene, The Negro in Colonial New England, 1620-1776 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1942), 30. 2 Daniel P. Mannix, A History of the Atlantic Slave Trade: Black Cargoes (New York: The Viking Press, 1962), 164. 3 Mannix, History of the Atlantic, 165. 4 Jay Coughtry, The Notorious Triangle, Rhode Island and the African Slave Trade 1700-1807 (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1981), 25. 9 family. 5 Their longevity in the trade was predicated on the lasting participation of central figure James DeWolf, who did almost anything to continue amassing political and economic power. The DeWolf story begins in 17 44 with Simeon Potter, a Rhode Island slave trader who, by the age of twenty-four, held a captain's license. Potter was remembered as the "most contentious and ornery Bristolian in the colonial century, if not in the town's whole history" according to George Howe, a DeWolf descendant. In his book Mount Hope (1959), Howe documented the DeWolf family history, often with his own personal flair and embellishments.6 Although ridden with inaccuracies, Howe's book correctly asserts that Potter's success in the Sugar Islands trade was based on slave trafficking. During one of his slaving voyages, Potter landed on the French Island of Guadeloupe and there signed on an inexperienced but enthusiastic new crew member, seventeen-year-old Mark Anthony DeWolf. Although DeWolf's grandparents were born in Connecticut, they eventually immigrated to Guadeloupe where Mark Anthony was raised with religious and American traditions, and trained to read and write in several languages including his parents' native language of English. Potter took an immediate liking to Mark Anthony because of his extensive education. It was just what the captain, who was illiterate, needed; someone to read 5 The DeWolf family name made several spelling transitions ending with the present spelling. Variations of the name can be found throughout multiple sources with references on the transitions