Knowledge Tree
Moses Brown
Facts (18)
Sources
Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Brown University slaveryandjusticereport.brown.edu 18 facts
quoteAn anonymous critic warned Moses Brown that a Newport merchant would not easily abandon the lucrative slave trade for the slow profits of a manufactory, stating: “An Ethiopian could as soon change his skin as a Newport merchant could be induced to change so lucrative a trade … for the slow profits of any manufactory.”
claimThe United States Constitution did not preclude legislation prohibiting American citizens from trafficking slaves to foreign ports, a fact confirmed by James Madison to Moses Brown.
claimMoses Brown was the chief sponsor of the American Industrial Revolution, which began near the Brown University campus.
accountMoses Brown wrote in a 1783 letter to Providence merchants John Clark and Joseph Nightingale that the memory of the slave ship Sally weighed heavy on his conscience and that he urged them not to send a ship to Africa, stating that if the Sally had never sailed, he would have been preserved from an evil that left the greatest stain upon his mind.
perspectiveEarly abolitionists, including Moses Brown, believed that the institution of slavery was dependent on the continued importation of Africans and would naturally wither away if the slave trade were stopped.
claimMoses Brown attempted to combat the slave trade by encouraging local manufacturing in Rhode Island, believing that new investment opportunities would incentivize merchants to abandon the slave trade.
quoteMoses Brown wrote to President Manning regarding his proposed essay contest: “How much to the Honour of Rhode Island College would it be if Similar Measures as far as its Infant State would admit were pursued, but I am aware that the Corporation has a few members who would be against the Subject receiving the sanction of the College….”
accountIn 1835, Moses Brown added a codicil to his will bequeathing $500 to the local branch of the American Anti-Slavery Society to fund the publication of pamphlets useful for the abolition of slavery.
claimIn 1774, the Rhode Island Assembly passed a bill, drafted with the help of Moses Brown, that prohibited the direct importation of slaves from Africa into the colony, though the bill included various loopholes and exceptions.
accountIn 1786, Moses Brown proposed a prize for the best student essay on the slave trade at Brown University, an idea inspired by a similar contest held at Cambridge University in England in 1785.
claimFollowing his manumission of enslaved people, Moses Brown participated in the anti-slavery movement by exchanging letters with anti-slavery correspondents in Britain and the Americas, circulating anti-slavery essays and pamphlets, intervening in court cases involving Black people held illegally in bondage, and lobbying others to divest from slavery.
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.
accountIn 1789, Moses Brown launched a textile manufacturing firm in partnership with his son-in-law, William Almy.
quoteMoses Brown lamented that the influence of the mercantile interest in the Rhode Island House of Representatives was greatly exerted, causing the justice of the subject to be overborne.
accountAfter the failure to hold an essay contest at Brown University, Moses Brown proposed endowing similar essay prizes at Harvard, Yale, and the College of New Jersey (Princeton), but these contests also never occurred.
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.
claimMoses Brown founded the Providence Abolition Society in 1789.
claimThe Providence Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, for the relief of Persons unlawfully held in Bondage, and for Improving the Conditions of the African Race was established in 1789 by Moses Brown and other anti-slavery activists.