James DeWolf N Rhode Island Slave – Cynthia Mestad Johnson

DeWolf had to contend with the legal regulations of Newport’s customhouse, which Ellery was increasingly determined to enforce. Shortly upon his return to Bristol, DeWolf became aware that his competitor John Brown had decided to run for political office.181 In 1798, Brown ran a successful campaign for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives for the state of Rhode Island.

Immediately upon his win, Brown began working on legislation that promoted the building of a third customhouse and another revenue district for the tiny state.182 Bristol was the proposed location—a highly accessible port for both Brown and DeWolf.183 Brown’s request was approved, but until a new customhouse could be built, all vessels, including those owned by DeWolf, continued to register in Newport and had to contend with Collector Ellery.184 Although Ellery had been ineffective up to this point in stopping most slaving vessels, DeWolf certainly must have been concerned that the collector would become more powerful given the fact that the law remained on his side.

Collectors are appointed by the president and sworn in by Congress. As a collector, one is responsible for upholding the law, both domestic and internationally. This was difficult to achieve, as the U.S. government did not allocate resources to enforce laws related to the slave trade.185 This, in part, had to do with the limited size of the U.S. naval fleet, which held six frigates in 1794 and was greatly outnumbered by slaving vessels.186 Slavers such as Brown and DeWolf were well aware of the weaknesses in the enforcement of laws related to the trade.

Customhouses charged revenue that was garnered for both local and federal funding. Districts were determined by population and divided up accordingly. Brown’s petition for the creation of yet another revenue district for Rhode Island and a new customhouse ensured continued financial stability for the state and helped increase accessibility at the ports for his ships. It also confirmed the profound number of vessels that sailed in and out of Rhode Island.

Front cover, top: Watercolor of the Macdonough by Jonathan Alger Jr. Photo taken by author, with permission from the Bristol Historical and Preservation Society. Bottom: Bristol harbor and town. This is a very large original painting, artist W.E. Howe, 1931. Photo taken by author with permission from the Bristol Historical and Preservation Society. First published 2014 e-book edition 2014 ISBN 978.1.62585.015.7 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Johnson, Cynthia Mestad. James DeWolf and the Rhode Island slave trade / Cynthia Mestad Johnson. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index.

print edition ISBN 978-1-62619-479-3 1. DeWolf, James, 1764-1837. 2. Slave traders–Rhode Island–Biography. 3. Slave trade–Rhode Island–History. 4. United States. Congress. Senate–Biography. 5. Rhode Island–Biography. I. Title. F83.D49J64 2014 306.3’6209745–dc23 2014002587 Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the author or The History Press.

The author and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. OceanofPDF.com This is dedicated to my dad. It’s the personal journey and the legacy that matter. OceanofPDF.com CONTENTS Preface Acknowledgements Introduction 1. Murder on the High Seas 2. The Golden Rock 3.

Laws and Economics 4. The Pious Brother 5. DeWolf’s Nemesis 6. Indians and Kidnapping 7. Politics 8. Slave Trade Accelerates 9. Frustration with the Law 10. Slaves and Cuba Epilogue. The Demise of a Slave Trader Appendix. Slave Trade Laws Notes Bibliography About the Author OceanofPDF.com PREFACE I once saw two beautiful children playing together. One was a fair white child; the other was her slave, and also her sister.1 James DeWolf, of Bristol, Rhode Island, was a nefarious and wealthy slave trader.

As an infamous early figure in the American slave trade during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, DeWolf emerged as a major entity, rivaling the even more famous John Brown of Providence, Rhode Island. Yet this narrative remains undocumented in our nation’s historical record. Throughout this book, I will show how DeWolf continued to prosper and pursue his trading ventures despite the increasing restrictions on the international trade imposed by the nation’s new federal government.

This Rhode Islander was able to evade the local and federal authorities by wielding power that he amassed through his central role in sustaining Bristol’s economy.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

Book Information

• Unique ID: ac0d6af984729a0b
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 6,237,927 bytes (5.949 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• ISBN: 9781626194793
• Pages: 185
• Language: English (en)

Reading & Word Statistics

• Estimated Reading Time: 236.38 minutes
• Total Words: 47,275
• Total Characters: 293,287
• Average Words per Page: 255.54
• Average Characters per Page: 1585.34

Most Frequent Words

dewolf (646), slave (344), trade (265), slaves (260), bristol (235), island (211), rhode (206), james (162), ellery (150), family (147), dewolf’s (141), new (134), law (128), letter (124), collins (114), vessel (112), vessels (109), one (107), levi (103), business (96), also (94), states (91), port (91), time (90), many (85), collector (81), united (77), state (75), stated (75), federal (74), cargo (73), laws (72), american (70), two (68), voyage (66), ship (65), west (64), act (62), historical (61), crew (61), cuba (60), slaving (59), illegal (58), regarding (57), however (57), william (56), continued (55), captain (55), indies (54), years (53), africa (53), history (51), made (50), ibid (50), press (49), john (48), york (48), owned (47), papers (47), mss (47), local (46), became (46), correspondence (45), rihs (45), first (44), havana (44), ships (44), congress (43), written (43), well (42), dewolfs (42), taken (41), society (41), wrote (41), deposition (41), author (39), slavery (38), thomas (38), bosworth (38), com (37), place (37), remained (36), customhouse (36), bradford (36), jefferson (36), political (35), members (35), university (35), records (34), house (34), financial (34), newport (34), three (34), sugar (34), town (33), june (33), home (33), result (33), captains (33), statia (33).

PDF Download