James DeWolf (March 18, 1764December 21, 1837) was a
slave trader
The history of slavery spans many cultures, nationalities, and religions from ancient times to the present day. Likewise, its victims have come from many different ethnicities and religious groups. The social, economic, and legal positions of e ...
, a
privateer
A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...
during the
War of 1812
The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...
, and a state and national politician. He served as a state legislator for a total of nearly 25 years, and in the 1820s as a
United States senator
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and powe ...
from
Rhode Island
Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but it ...
for much of a term. Along with the slave trade, DeWolf invested in sugar and coffee plantations in Cuba and became the wealthiest man in his state. By the end of his life, he was said to be the second-richest person in the entire United States. During his lifetime, his name was usually written "James D'Wolf".
Early life
James DeWolf born in
Bristol, Rhode Island
Bristol is a town in Bristol County, Rhode Island, US as well as the historic county seat. The town is built on the traditional territories of the Pokanoket Wampanoag. It is a deep water seaport named after Bristol, England.
The population of ...
, in 1764 to
Mark Anthony DeWolf (8 November 1726 - 9 November 1793) and Abigail Hazel Potter (2 February 1726 - 7 February 1809). He had eight siblings including four brothers: Charles (1745-1820), John (1760-1841), William (1762-1829) and Levi DeWolf (1766-1848).
[DeWolf Papers](_blank)
Rhode Island Historical Society
The Rhode Island Historical Society is a privately endowed membership organization, founded in 1822, dedicated to collecting, preserving, and sharing the history of Rhode Island. Its offices are located in Providence, Rhode Island.
History
Found ...
, accessed 22 July 2014 and DeWolf Family Papers, Bristol Historical and Preservation Society http://www.bhpsri.org, accessed 01 July 2014
James DeWolf went to sea at an early age, shipping as a sailor on a
private armed vessel during the late years of the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
. He participated in several naval encounters and was captured twice by the British.
Slave trade
After the war, DeWolf was selected as captain of a ship in his 20s. He began to engage in commercial ventures, including
slave trading
The history of slavery spans many cultures, nationalities, and religions from ancient times to the present day. Likewise, its victims have come from many different ethnicities and religious groups. The social, economic, and legal positions of en ...
, often purchasing seasoned slaves from
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
and other ports in the
West Indies
The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...
and transporting them primarily to southern markets in the United States. Although Rhode Island outlawed slave trading in 1787, DeWolf and his family continued to finance and command slaving voyages to West Africa.
In 1791, DeWolf was indicted for murder by a grand jury in
Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and northeast of New Yor ...
. The case was widely reported in the New England press.
He was alleged to have directed the murder of a female African slave in 1789 who was sick with
smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...
on the ship ''Polly'', which he commanded; after having been treated to the best of the crew's knowledge, she was bound to a chair and lowered overboard.
[Sowande’ Mustakeem, "‘She must go overboard & shall go overboard’: Diseased bodies and the spectacle of murder at sea," ''Atlantic Studies'' 8:3 (Sept. 2011), 301-316] Such cases were known at the time, as all the persons on a ship were threatened in cases of severe disease outbreaks. The judge in charge of the case ultimately accepted the prosecuting attorney's filing of ''
nolle prosequi,'' a formal declaration "that he did not wish to pursue the case."
When DeWolf heard the indictment, he had immediately left for the
Gold Coast
Gold Coast may refer to:
Places Africa
* Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana:
** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642)
** Dutch G ...
of Africa.
DeWolf was later charged in the case in
Saint Thomas, where he was then living. Two members of the crew, one of whom had taken part in the murder, as he had already had smallpox and was considered immune, said in a 1794 deposition taken in
St. Eustatius
Sint Eustatius (, ), also known locally as Statia (), is an island in the Caribbean. It is a special municipality (officially " public body") of the Netherlands.
The island lies in the northern Leeward Islands portion of the West Indies, s ...
,
Leeward Islands, that the slave had to be thrown off in order to save the remainder of the slaves and crew from the
infectious disease
An infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable di ...
. This was justifiable according to contemporary maritime law.
In 1795 DeWolf testified about the case in court in
Saint Thomas,
West Indies
The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...
, with no one present to oppose his testimony; the Danish judge ruled in his favor.
DeWolf financed another 25 slaving voyages, usually with other members of his family. His father and uncle Simeon Potter were slave traders since 1769.
[Erik J. Chaput, "Book review: In Bristol, building an empire in an outlaw business"](_blank)
''Providence Journal'', 2014, accessed 27 June 2018 His nephew George DeWolf kept it up illegally until 1820.
In total, the DeWolf family is believed to have transported more than 11,000 slaves to the United States before the African slave trade was banned in 1808.
James DeWolf also owned a
rum
Rum is a liquor made by fermenting and then distilling sugarcane molasses or sugarcane juice. The distillate, a clear liquid, is usually aged in oak barrels. Rum is produced in nearly every sugar-producing region of the world, such as the Ph ...
distillery for use in trade in West Africa, and with his brothers and nephews started the Bank of Bristol, with two generations of family, and an insurance company, which together financed and insured their slave ships.
From 1805-1807, their Mount Hope Insurance Company insured 50 slaving voyages.
A family member established a slave auction house in
Charleston, South Carolina, the destination for many of their slave ships.
Other ventures
With wealth gained from the trade, James DeWolf also bought and operated three sugar and coffee
plantations
A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Th ...
in Cuba. Like similar plantations in the US
Deep South, these depended on slave labor.
During the
War of 1812
The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...
, DeWolf fitted out
privateers under the authority of the President of the United States. One of his ships, ''Yankee'', became the most successful privateer of the war, intercepting British ships.
The privateer captured a total of 40 British vessels worth more than $5 million during the war.
At this time, DeWolf also became a pioneer in cotton textile manufacturing, which expanded rapidly in New England. He became a founding member of a consortium that formed the Arkwright Manufacturing Company in 1809. The company built the
Arkwright Mills in
Coventry, Rhode Island
Coventry is a town in Kent County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 35,688 at the 2020 census and is part of the .
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of . of it is land and of it ...
in 1810. The textile mills of New England relied on cotton cultivated by slaves throughout the Deep South and shipped to the North. There were strong economic ties between the regions through the period of the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...
.
Political career
![James DeWolf 1764-1837 painting](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/James_DeWolf_1764-1837_painting.jpg)
DeWolf became active in politics and highly influential in the new state during the decades of the Federal period. He was first elected as a member of the
Rhode Island House of Representatives
The Rhode Island House of Representatives is the lower house of the Rhode Island General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Rhode Island, the upper house being the Rhode Island Senate. It is composed of 75 members, elected ...
in 1798, and served until 1801. He served again from 1803–12, 1817–21, and 1829–37. He was elected as speaker of the House from 1819 to 1821.
DeWolf advanced to national office when elected by the state legislature as a
Democratic-Republican
The Democratic-Republican Party, known at the time as the Republican Party and also referred to as the Jeffersonian Republican Party among other names, was an American political party founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the early ...
(later
Crawford Republican) to the U.S. Senate, as was the procedure before popular election of US senators was authorized by constitutional amendment in the 20th century. He served part of his six-year term, from March 4, 1821, until he resigned on October 31, 1825.
Death
DeWolf died in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
in 1837 at the age of 73, thought to be a millionaire and the second-wealthiest man in the United States. His body was returned to Rhode Island, and he was buried in the DeWolf private cemetery on Woodlawn Avenue in Bristol. His estate included properties in Bristol, New York, Maryland, Kentucky, and Ohio.
Personal life
DeWolf married Nancy Ann Bradford (6 August 1770 - 2 January 1838) of Bristol, R.I., on 7 January 1790. She was the daughter of
William Bradford, deputy governor and a future U.S. senator from Rhode Island.
Nancy and DeWolf had twelve children together.
DeWolf named one of his brigs, the brig ''Nancy'', after his wife.
Relatives
DeWolf is one of the members of the Bristol (or also called Rhode Island) branch of the
DeWolf family
The DeWolf family (also spelled D’Wolf or DeWolfe) is a prominent Canadian and American family that traces its roots to Balthazar DeWolf.
Balthazar DeWolf
Balthazar DeWolf (d. about 1696) is first mentioned in the records of Hartford, Conne ...
.
Legacy
DeWolf is featured prominently in an
Emmy nominated 2008 documentary, ''
Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North'', co-produced and directed by Katrina Browne, a DeWolf descendant, which describes the DeWolf family's major role in the United States
slave trade
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
.
See also
*
DeWolf family
The DeWolf family (also spelled D’Wolf or DeWolfe) is a prominent Canadian and American family that traces its roots to Balthazar DeWolf.
Balthazar DeWolf
Balthazar DeWolf (d. about 1696) is first mentioned in the records of Hartford, Conne ...
References
Further reading
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External links
''Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North'' (2008) a documentary produced/directed by Katrina Browne, about the legacy of the northern U.S. role in slavery and the slave trade, shown on PBS and nominated for an Emmy Award
Thomas Norman DeWolf, ''Inheriting the Trade''(2007), a memoir about the legacy of slave trader James DeWolf and his descendants
Rhode Island Historical Society
James DeWolf Business Records Baker Library, Harvard Business School
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:DeWolf, James
1764 births
1837 deaths
People from Bristol, Rhode Island
People of colonial Rhode Island
DeWolf family
Rhode Island Democratic-Republicans
Rhode Island National Republicans
Democratic-Republican Party United States senators from Rhode Island
National Republican Party United States senators from Rhode Island
Members of the Rhode Island House of Representatives
Speakers of the Rhode Island House of Representatives
American privateers
American slave traders
Continental Navy officers
American Revolutionary War prisoners of war held by Great Britain
American people of the War of 1812
Burials at Juniper Hill Cemetery
United States senators who owned slaves