Rich MacAllister Session II 9/22/11

“ How the North Promoted, Prolonged and Profited from Slavery” by Anne Farrow, Joel Lang, and Jenifer Frank

Unfortunately a major part of America’s young history is the institution of slavery. It is a topic that is whispered in classrooms and blame for the atrocity is often tossed back and forth between the States. Furthermore, is the lack of responsibility and ownership the Northern states and its educators place into the hands of those who profited behind the scenes. “How the North Promoted,

Prolonged and Profited from Slavery”, provides a rare look at the role northern states played in Americans most controversial and lucrative business.

For many years leading up to the Civil War, had been the nucleus of the slave industry. Some of America’s most notable figures developed their wealth through the use of slavery in some form. Lehman Brothers gained financial ground by helping to develop the New York Cotton Exchange. Junius Morgan, father of J.P.

Morgan was a cotton broker and banker out of and Massachusetts. John

Jacob Astor of the Waldorf‐Astoria outfitted his ships for slave trade and rented them out as carriers of cotton. Charles L. Tiffany used his father money made in cotton mills to establish his store of luxury items. Even Archibald Gracie, whos mansion is used as the home for the major of New York, made his money shipping cotton from plantations to the south to the mills in New York and in Massachusetts.

As abolitionists become more vocal with their cause, New York Mayor Wood proposed succession and felt the Constitution and its protection of citizens property actually supported the institution of slavery. Whether or not he believed this, Wood did recognize New York’s potential to grow through the slave trade. As succession seemingly became more inevitable wealthy New York businessmen organized under the lead of Richard Lathers to attempt a compromise with the Southern States. Despite their pleas no agreement was made.

Even with the promise of a Civil War, New York didn’t slow down their involvement in the cotton trade. The city soon created “Sailing Packets”, shuttles that assured the business world on both sides of the Atlantic of regular delivery of goods, which was the brain child of Jeremiah Thompson. His ships would leave, full of cotton, at regular intervals promising merchants of accurate and continuous delivery. Instead of sailing cotton directly out of the Southern ports, it was taken off in New York, then placed on European bound ships. This made it so New York had control over the shipping industry and was able to make a profit when goods were consistently unloaded and then reloaded at their docks. New York quickly became the center of trade in the America’s and it wasn’t uncommon to see southerners vacationing there to acquire goods, textiles or create business transactions. Behind just London and Paris, New York became the wealthiest city in the western world.

New York today is one of the worlds most intriguing vacation destinations. I know when presenting this information to my students they become shocked and disappointed to hear that one of out nations, and the worlds, most profitably cities got its start from the business of slavery.

New York wasn’t the only state in the north to benefit from the use of slaves.

Massachusetts quickly dominated the textile industry in North American and with the support of mills in Rhode Island made up just over 50% of America’s textiles.

Built by Amos and Abbott Lawrence, Lowell became a marvel of northern

engineering. Since Samuel Slater and Moses Brown brought over the first textile mill

to Francis Cabot Lowell memorizing England’s textile factory designs,

Massachusetts dominated the textile industry. The wealthy owners and investors of

Massachusetts merged together to create the “Boston Associates”, an organization designed to protect the interests of the textile industries and ensure the profits of slavery would remain in Massachusetts. The “Associates” were made up of about 80

members, controlled local wealth by investing in new businesses, railways, banks

and controlled a little over 40% of all insurance capital. Combined, the Association

employed tens of thousands, donated to Harvard and Williams College and helped

fund the origins of Massachusetts General Hospital. Massachusetts was so highly

invested in the slave trade that during the American Revolution sugar and molasses

communities in the British West Indies, who relied on Massachusetts’ textiles and

crops, went hungry. Massachusetts is viewed as a very liberal and accepting state. It

is important for students to recognize that not everything in history is black and

white, and that despite the North fighting against the pro slave Southerners in the

Civil War, many in Massachusetts were racists and some of our states most prized

entities revolve around slavery. I was able to cut out snippets from this book and

present them to my students to prove to them that society as a whole looked down upon blacks, even if they were abolitionists. Unfortunately, in the north we glorify our accomplishments but without understanding the harsh reality of our destructive behavior which created out wealth. The West Indies also heavily relied on the merchants from Connecticut and

Rhode Island. Connecticut had a unique indirect relationship with the slave trade.

Ivory out of Africa’s east coast was a profitable material. Connecticut based companies like Read, Pratt and Co. and Comstock, Cheney and Co. purchased Ivory tusks taken from African elephants. The tusks were carried to the coast by enslaved

Africans, who were then often taken and brought to America with the tusks. David

Livingston, who had lived in Africa as a medical missionary, claimed that for every tusk brought to Connecticut, five slaves were impacted or killed. His estimates, based on Connecticut’s records show over one millions Africans were directly impacted by this trade. Rhode Islands also played a fairly dominant role in the slave trade industry. Many businessmen who traded rum, invested in slavery or were members of the cotton exchanged helped create the thriving shipping town of

Newport. The elite created an organization called the “Fellowship Club”. Similar to the “Boston Associates, they invested in local businesses and helped turn Rhode

Island into a thriving state. Two of its more notable citizens were John and Moses

Brown. John Brown was known as the “Providence Colossus”. He was a shrewd investor, congressman and creator of Brown University. His fellow businessmen,

James DeWolf was equally successful. DeWolf was a wealthy Senator who was known for his cruel treatment of slaves aboard is merchant ships. Reports of him cutting off hands and feet of the sick, before dumping them over board were common, or tying the sick to chairs so they couldn’t stay afloat. His cruel acts were often a demonstration to his cargo as a warning not to rebel.

John Brown unfortunately lacked the same control aboard his ships. His hired Captain Hopkins suffered a terrible revolt and lost over half his cargo. Revolts weren’t uncommon and as the slave trade became more lucrative, stricter measures were taken to maintain order. At one point, DeWolf was accused to cheating the government out of taxes and his ship was auctioned off. John Brown bought off the auctioneers, allowing one of DeWolfs partners to buy the ship back for pennies on the dollar. Illegal activities were not uncommon among the businessmen of Rhode

Island. Both Brown and DeWolf avoided the customs collectors who controlled their districts. President Jefferson even allowed one of DeWolfs former Captains, Charles

Collins to be tax collector in his district, allowing for DeWolf and Brown to monopolize the ports of Rhode Island. It wasn’t until DeWolf became Senator and pushed for abolition, that southerners like William Smith accused him of being a hypocrite, having made his fortune through the slave industry.

Despite John Browns activities as a slave trader, his brother Moses Brown attempted to reduce the slave trade and was an avid abolitionists. Even with his constant criticism of his brother John, Moses may have done even more to fuel the slave industry by helping to bring the textile industries to America, creating a greater need for cotton and a stronger need for the slave trade. Also seemingly ironic was the results of Eli Whitney's cotton gin. Although his intentions were good, his machine took the process of cleaning 1lb of cotton a day by hand, now allowed for one man to clean 50lbs of cotton in a day. This increase allowed southerners to to expand their land, which unfortunately meant increasing the amount of slaves needed per plantation.

Not all of the involvement from your northern states were “behind the scenes” through trade and commerce. Much of northern involvement was direct

with harsh outcomes. One of our greater accounts of the life of a norther slave was

that of Venture Smith. He was born Broteer Furro in west Africa and was held

captive by a neighboring tribe. His family never paid his ransom and he was put on a

ship to be sent to Rhode Island. Once in America, he was purchased by Roberson

Mumford. After changing hands a few times he found himself on Fishers Island in

New York. Venture's accounts show he was often tied up with cattle and when he

broke rules, was regularly beaten. He once grabbed the whip out of his masters

wife's hand when he witnessed an “unacceptable” beating on another slave. Venture was beaten by his master and masters brother, then robbed of his money he had been saving to possibly purchase his own freedom. After the atrocity, Venture was sold to Col Oliver Smith, who was a good friend of George Washington. Col. Smith allowed Venture to hire himself out to hopefully purchase his freedom. He was so grateful for the opportunity that he adopted Smiths last name after gaining his freedom and also buying his 2 sons, daughter and younger sister. As Venture became savvier with his money, he purchased a ship, which sold wood along the northern coast. A piece of the slave trade that is often over looked in US history classes is how the Africans were captured and what role American and British goods played to entice the captors. The narrative of Venture Smith provides a direct look at what life was like for an African to have been captured and brought to the America's.

This would provide an easy read, as well as Douglass' narrative, to provide for the students to get an in depth look at the life of an African American.

Venture's story was not the only one with a positive outcome. There were many other northers who attempted to support the causes of the African community

but faced harsh consequences in the process. Prudence Crandall had created a

school for women, which also accepted black girls. A young African American female

named Sarah Harns approached Crandall and asked to be accepted into her school.

Crandall looked for answers in her Bible and overwhelmingly found the evidence to say yes. Ironically enough, many in the south also used the Bible to justify slavery. A few years before, Connecticut passed a “Black Law” which outlawed the education of blacks. Crandall and he sister Almira were both arrested. In the 1700's it was considered uncouth for a women to spend time in jail, but Crandall was so assured she was doing the right thing, she spent one entire night in prison. The towns folk were horrified by this and rushed to have her case heard. The ultimate decision laid down by Judge Daggett assured the people of Connecticut that under American law,

African Americans were not considered citizens because they were indeed property.

Shortly after, Crandall's school was burnt to the ground and she fled to Kansas.

Although Crandall did not succeed in creating a school for young black women, she did test the law and her story of bravery and defiance pushed the envelope towards abolition. Despite her effort to help rid the African American people of ignorance, her court cases ruling was viewed during the Dred Scott case and sited to show that

African American were property and not citizens.

Another major figure who supported the abolition movement in the north was John Brown. While driving cattle he witnessed, first hand, the atrocity of slave abuse. Brown also bore witness to the death of Minister Lovejoy who had a printing press, where he wrote about the ills of gambling, materialistic ideals and the harsh reality of slavery. Pro slave supporters stole his press and a mob shot him down.

John Brown spoke at his funeral and spoke out against the evils of slavery.

Connecting with Gerrit Smith, Brown helped to establish a community for blacks. He

referred to them by their first name and ate side‐by‐side with them at meals. Brown

moved out to Kansas to support his sons in the abolition movement and was the head orchestrator of the massacre at Pottawatomie Creek. His most notable confrontation was the capturing of Harpers Ferry in , where he hoped to create an army of escaped slaves. He was instead brought down by Robert E. Lee and later hanged for his insurrections. John Brown was marked as a martyr and is credited as one of the key figures in the abolition movement.

Not all who were involved are credited as to having a positive impact on slavery. Capturing freed or runaway slaves in the north was a lucrative business.

Patty Cannon and Joseph Johnson kidnapped blacks and brought them back to the south where they could be sold back into slavery. Cannon and Johnson would lure in black, children and adults and then capture them whether they were free or not. In one instance, Cannon and Johnson kidnapped children in Philidelphia. When the child was sold in the south, he was able to prove his freedom and helped get authorities to begin cracking down on the illegal acts of the Cannon gang. In a panic,

Patty killed several slaves and hid their remains in her barn. When the property was sold and cleaned out, the new owners reported the crime. Patty died in jail, but many report that she was poisoned for her atrocious acts.

Gangs like Patty Cannon's were supported by federal law, like the Fugitive

Slave Act, which forced states to send back escaped slaves to their rightful owners. Court ruling like Prigg vs. Penn, prevented kidnapping but still allowed hired

“catchers” to hunt down their escaped slaves. The African American community was so frantic over these new laws that they'd do anything to avoid capture. In one extreme case, a former slave, Margaret Garner slit the throat of her daughter and tried killing her two sons to prevent them from being caught and sent back down south to bondage.

To make maters worse, the leading scientists of the day all claimed blacks to be inferior to whites. Josiah Nott discovered that Yellow fever came from mosquitoes, Benjamin Rush was the 1st to refer to Alcoholism as a “Disease” and

George Morton was the leading chronologist of his time. All men openly believed

blacks to be inferior to whites. Morton even tried an experiment where he filled

skulls of different ethnic backgrounds with pepper seed, and later lead pellets, to see

which skull was largest and could therefor have greater brain mass. Morton had

Ethiopians at the bottom and put white males at the top. This same experiment was

tried by other scientists who came to the same conclusion although the top of the

list seemed to change depending upon which country the scientist was from. All

research was virtually voided when Charles Darwin wrote, “On the Origin of

Species” proving all men came from the same origins through natural selection.

What makes this book so interesting is how rare it is to see blame placed on those in the north. The tired misconception thrown at students in northern states is that their industrial communities were “good” and fought against the atrocities of evil that only existed and was only utilized in the south. I also like how the book is divided into many short stories, which means copies can be made and given as homework assignments. Although we don't typically have enough time in class to go over everything we'd like as teachers, it is nice to provide some anecdotal stories which give the students an interesting insiders view how history helped shape the world we live in today. I would absolutely recommend this book to any US I History teachers, especially in a northern state, so they students can see a more in depth look at how northerners truly did benefit from slavery.