entity

John Brown

Facts (19)

Sources

Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Brown University slaveryandjusticereport.brown.edu Brown University 19 facts

accountJohn Brown was acquitted in his federal trial for illegal slave trading, and the court issued a judgment for costs against the Providence Abolition Society.

claimJohn Brown justified his participation in the slave trade by stating that it was permitted by the 'Supreeme Governour of all things' and by all nations of Europe, asserting he would only desist if convinced it was wrong in the sight of God.

claimJohn Brown argued in 1789 that the Providence Abolition Society's support for cotton manufacturing was contradictory because the cotton used in these mills was produced by enslaved labor.

accountJohn Brown, the treasurer and a chief benefactor of the College of Rhode Island, returned to the African slave trade in 1795 by dispatching the ship 'Hope' to the Gold Coast.

quoteJohn Brown wrote: “I hope the abolition society will promote our own manufactories; especially the cotton manufactory, for which great experience has accrued and is accruing. This is most certainly a laudable undertaking, and ought to be encouraged by all; but pause a moment — will it do to import the cotton? It is all raised from the labour of our own blood; the slaves do the work. I can recollect no one place at present from whence the cotton can come, but from the labour of the slaves.”

claimJohn Brown justified the slave trade in November 1786 by arguing that Black people were an inferior race incapable of surviving as free people, that enslaved people were better off in America exposed to Christianity and civilization than in Africa, and that the slave trade was the most lucrative commerce in the world.

claimJohn Brown became the first Rhode Islander and the first American prosecuted in federal court for illegal slave trading, following a prosecution brought by the Providence Abolition Society.

measurementThe slave ship 'Hope', dispatched by John Brown in 1795, loaded 229 Africans, of whom 198 survived to be sold in Cuba.

accountJohn Brown mounted an African slaving voyage in 1785, his first since before the American Revolution.

quoteJohn Brown argued that the slave trade was permitted by the 'Supreeme Governour of all things' and by all nations of Europe, and therefore he would not desist from the trade until convinced it was wrong in the sight of God.

accountJohn Brown, the older brother of Moses Brown, was a vocal defender of the slave trade and led the opposition to the anti-slave trade bill in the Rhode Island legislature in 1784.

accountJohn Brown successfully steered a bill through the U.S. Congress declaring Bristol a separate customs district to prevent the U.S. customs inspector in Newport from enforcing federal anti-slave trade laws.

claimJohn Brown, writing under the pseudonym 'A Citizen,' publicly attacked the founders of the Providence Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery in the local press, labeling them religious fanatics and thieves who were attempting to impose their personal morality and deprive citizens of their lawful property.

accountJames and Charles D’Wolf, along with John Brown, visited the federal official tasked with bidding on a confiscated slave ship in Bristol, Rhode Island, on the evening before the 1799 auction.

claimJohn Brown, a slave trader and treasurer of the College of Rhode Island, argued that trafficking enslaved people was 'right, just and lawful,' comparing the act of bringing a cargo of slaves to bringing a cargo of jackasses.

measurementThe decade between John Brown’s acquittal and the 1807 Congressional act abolishing the transatlantic slave trade was the peak of the Rhode Island slave trade, with as many as fifty ships per year clearing for Africa.

accountThe brig Providence, a ship dispatched by John Brown to the Gold Coast, acquired 88 Africans, of whom 72 survived to be sold in Hispaniola.

claimMoses Brown attributed the acquittal of his brother, John Brown, to the 'Peculiar Turn' of the Newport jury and favoritism from the presiding judge, Benjamin Bourn, and federal prosecutor, Ray Greene.

claimBenjamin Bourn and Ray Greene, who presided over and prosecuted the trial of John Brown respectively, were longtime allies of John Brown and had served with him on the Corporation of the College of Rhode Island.