University of New Hampshire University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository Doctoral Dissertations Student Scholarship Fall 2006 Little short of national murder: Forced migration and the making of diasporas in the Atlantic world, 1745--1865 Jeffrey A. Fortin University of New Hampshire, Durham Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation Recommended Citation Fortin, Jeffrey A., "Little short of national murder: Forced migration and the making of diasporas in the Atlantic world, 1745--1865" (2006). Doctoral Dissertations. 336. https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation/336 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. LITTLE SHORT OF NATIONAL MURDER: FORCED MIGRATION AND THE MAKING OF DIASPORAS IN THE ATLANTIC WORLD, 1745-1865 BY JEFFREY A. FORTIN BA, Boston University, 1996 MA, University of New Hampshire, 2002 DISSERTATION Submitted to the University of New Hampshire In Partial Fulfillment of The Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy In History September 2006 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: 3231349 Copyright 2006 by Fortin, Jeffrey A. All rights reserved. INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. ® UMI UMI Microform 3231349 Copyright 2006 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2006 Jeffrey A. Fortin Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. This dissertation has been examined and approved. 0 Dissertation DirecDirectdrrCynthia J. Van Zandt, Associate Professor of History k ) . _ _____________________________________________________________________ pffrey Bolster, Associate Professor of History Efiga H. Gould, Associate Professor of History Funso Afolayan, Associate Professor of History :________ o' a-l-l— . , William O’Reilly, Professor and University Lecturer, University of Cambridge 7 ? DAT Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The geographic and chronological scope of this project necessitated support from a variety of individuals and institutions. Four years ago, when I first embarked on researching this dissertation, many nights were spent wondering how on earth I would be able to travel to the numerous archives in various countries that held pertinent documents. Thankfully, these concerns were soon put to rest by the generous support of several individuals and organizations. The University of New Hampshire has been particularly helpful through travel grants and summer research fellowships, while the Histoiy Department’s Darrett and Anita Rutman Fellowship enabled me to focus exclusively on writing and researching my project. A special note of thanks must be extended to Morgan Rutman for his continued support of the History Department. I have also benefited from other institutions’ generous aid, including the Mary Catherine Mooney Fellowship at the Boston Athenaeum, Boston, Massachusetts, the Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship at the Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, Massachusetts, and the Batten Fellowship at the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Montieello, Charlottesville, Va., 2005. Each of these institutions offered financial assistance, fostered intellectual growth and provided a setting in which to engage in scholarly debate. Individually, I would like to thank Stephen Nonack, Conrad E. Wright, and Andrew Jackson O’Shaughnessy for their friendliness and encouragement during my fellowship tenures. Furthermore, a variety of individual archivists provided me with leads on material, located documents that escaped my eye, and demonstrated enthusiasm that helped me believe further in my project. Paul Cyr’s knowledge of Special Collections at New Bedford Free Library has proven invaluable, helping me to gain a broader understanding of southeastern Massachusetts during the iv Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. early republic/antebellum periods. Carrie Supple of the Massachusetts Historical Society came to my aid several times while searching through that archive’s vast collections. The Afro-American Museum in Boston and Nantucket, Massachusetts proved generous in giving me permission to use material from the Degrasse-Howard Collections (held at the Massachusetts Historical Society). Various staff at the John Carter Brown Library, Providence, Rhode Island, helped me make sense of the acres of log-books and documents held in the Brown Family collections. Without these fellowships and grants, and the advice of individual archivists and staff members, I could not have conducted research at the wide variety of archives and libraries necessary for the success of the project. I would like to thank the scholars who have provided valuable feedback on my project throughout the research and writing stages. In particular, the participants in Harvard University’s and Bernard Bailyn’s Atlantic Seminar held at CRASSH, University of Cambridge in the spring of 2004, provided me with a forum in which to present early versions of this project. I owe a great deal to my fellow graduate student in arms, Eric Kimball, whom despite defecting to another program has always been willing to read my work, take my phone calls, and provide motivational speeches as needed. Special thanks is reserved for my committee members, Eliga H. Gould, Funso Afolayan, and William O’Reilly, who provided valuable feedback and comments on my dissertation. William’s recent personal tour of Cambridge reminded me of the camaraderie of academe. My dissertation advisor, Cynthia Van Zandt, and W. Jeffrey Bolster provided guidance along the way, making sure the project did not grow too large while simultaneously encouraging me to ‘think big.’ I am indebted to them for believing in this proj ect from the beginning. Finally, my family deserves a special thank you for their support throughout the last six years. Both my parents and my in-laws did not always understand the lengthy process that is studying for a PhD, but they always seemed interested in learning about it and supporting me through the years. Last but not least, Suzanne and Luca deserve the highest praise for excusing my v Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. absence for many days, nights, and weekends. Without them, of course, none of this would have been possible. vi Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS: ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS....................................................................................................... iv ABSTRACT............................................................................................................................ viii CHAPTER PAGE INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................................... 1 PART ONE: THE BRITISH PRECEDENT.............................................................................. 27 ONE IMPERIAL SCHEMES: CREATING REMOVAL POLICY IN THE BRITISH ATLANTIC WORLD, 1745-1754.......................................................................... 30 TWO “NEW HEBREWS BY THE RIVERS OF BABYLON:” ACADIANS IN THE DIASPORA, 1755-1800 ..........................................................................................64 THREE “BLACKENED BEYOND OUR NATIVE HUE:” REMOVAL, IDENTITY, AND THE TRELAWNEY MAROONS ON THE MARGINS OF THE ATLANTIC WORLD, 1796-1800 ........................................................................... 99 PART D: THE AMERICAN EVOLUTION................................................................................154 FOUR “JUSTICE.. .ON THE ONE SCALE, AND SELF=PRESERVATION ON THE OTHER:” ATLANTIC CONVERSATIONS ON COLONIZATION, 1769-1826....158 PART HI: (RE)MAKING THE AFRICAN DIASPORA............................................................. 218 FIVE “TO DISTINGUISH OURSELVES FROM THE WHITE PEOPLE:” CARVING OUT BLACK SPACES IN THE ATLANTIC WORLD, 1780-1798 ........................ 224 SEX PAUL CUFFE AND THE REMAKING OF BLACKNESS IN THE ATLANTIC WORLD, 1810-1817 .................................................................................................265 SEVEN “THE RECEPTACLE OF BLACKS TRANSPORTED HERE:” HAITI AND AFRICAN-AMERICAN EMIGRATION, 1816-1860