John Brown I (January 27, 1736September 20, 1803) was an American merchant, statesman and slave trader from

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts ...

. Together with his brothers Nicholas,

Joseph Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...

and Moses, John was instrumental in founding Brown University (then known as the College of Rhode Island) and moving it to their family's former estate in Providence. John Brown laid the cornerstone of the university's oldest building in 1770, and he served as its treasurer for 21 years, from 1775 to 1796. Brown was one of the founders of Providence Bank and became its first president in 1791. He was active in the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...

, notably as an instigator of the 1772 ''Gaspee'' Affair, and he served in both state and national government. At the same time, he was a powerful defender of slavery, clashing aggressively in newspapers, courts and the political system with his brother Moses, who had become an abolitionist. John Brown's home in Providence is now a museum and

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

. Brown's desk and bookcase reside at the

Yale University Art Gallery The Yale University Art Gallery (YUAG) is the oldest university art museum in the Western Hemisphere. It houses a major encyclopedic collection of art in several interconnected buildings on the campus of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. ...

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134 ...

. The desk is attributed to Daniel Spencer, who opened his cabinetmaking studio in

in 1772.

Early life

John Brown was born in Providence in the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, on January 27, 1736, to James Brown II (1698–1739) and Hope Power (1702–1792). His paternal grandparents were Elder James Brown (1666–1716), a pastor at the First Baptist Church, and Mary (Harris) Brown. His father, James Brown II, established himself early in the mercantile business, trading in slaves, rum, molasses, and other goods. His parents, who were married in 1723, had six children, including: Mary Brown (1731–1795), who married Dr. David Vanderlight, James Brown III (1724–1750), the eldest son who was a sea captain and who died young, Nicholas Brown (1729–1791), Joseph Brown (1733–1785), John Brown (1736–1803) and

Moses Brown Moses Brown (September 23, 1738 – September 6, 1836) was an American abolitionist and industrialist from New England, who funded the design and construction of some of the first factory houses for spinning machines during the American industr ...

(1738–1836).

Family

John Brown was a descendant of Chad Brown, a co-founder of Providence and early Baptist minister at the First Baptist Church in America following Roger Williams. His uncle was Obadiah Brown I (1712–1762), who joined Brown's father, James Brown II (1698–1739), in the mercantile trade in cocoa, rum, molasses. He also enslaved and sold men, women and children of African descent. Obadiah's initial role was as master of his brother's shipping vessels in the West Indies trade. After the death of Brown's father in 1739, Obadiah retired from the sea himself, but continued the business. He also helped to raise James' young children, later forming a partnership with James' four surviving sons as "Obadiah Brown & Co." Obadiah Brown I, who married his first cousin, Mary Harris (1718–1805), daughter of Toleration and Sarah Harris, had eight children. All four of their sons died in early childhood, and their four daughters, Brown's first cousins, were Phebe Brown (born 1738), who married John Fenner (brother of Governor Arthur Fenner), Sarah Brown (1742–1800), who married Lt. Gov.

Jabez Bowen Jabez Bowen, Sr. (June 2, 1739May 7, 1815) was an American shipper, slave trader and politician. He was a militia colonel during the American Revolutionary War, and served as Deputy Governor of Rhode Island and chief justice of the Rhode Isla ...

(1739–1815), Anna Brown (1744–1773), who married her first cousin,

, and Mary Brown (born 1753), who married Thomas Arnold (1751–1826). Another uncle was Rhode Island Deputy Governor Elisha Brown and a nephew was Nicholas Brown Jr., the philanthropist and the namesake of Brown University.

Career

Brown went on to own a successful farming and shipping business with his brothers, Nicholas,

, and

. He was active in the

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 ...

and

China trade The Old China Trade () refers to the early commerce between the Qing Empire and the United States under the Canton System, spanning from shortly after the end of the American Revolutionary War in 1783 to the Treaty of Wanghia in 1844. The Old ...

and invested heavily in privateers during the 1760s through 1780s. Brown was a leader in the

Sons of Liberty The Sons of Liberty was a loosely organized, clandestine, sometimes violent, political organization active in the Thirteen American Colonies founded to advance the rights of the colonists and to fight taxation by the British government. It pl ...

and was one of the instigators of the burning of the ''Gaspee'' in 1772. Along with the

Boston Tea Party The Boston Tea Party was an American political and mercantile protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston, Massachusetts, on December 16, 1773. The target was the Tea Act of May 10, 1773, which allowed the British East India Company to sell t ...

, this was one of the first violent acts of defiance to the authority of the British Crown which eventually led up to the

. In 1775, during the

, John Brown sold the United States Navy its first ship, the USS ''Providence'' (previously, the ''Katy''). Brown was named as a delegate for

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 ...

to the Continental Congress in 1784–1785 but did not attend.

Controversy

John Brown was also an active slave trader. On March 22, 1794, Congress passed the

Slave Trade Act of 1794 The Slave Trade Act of 1794 was a law passed by the United States Congress that prohibited American ships from engaging the international slave trade. It was signed into law by President George Washington on March 22, 1794. This was the first of ...

, which prohibited the making, loading, outfitting, equipping, or dispatching of any ship to be used in human trafficking. Subsequently, on August 5, 1797, John Brown was ordered to forfeit his ship . He was tried in federal court as the first American to be tried under the 1794 law. Brown was acquitted, but did not have his ship returned. Brown's involvement in the

Triangular Trade Triangular trade or triangle trade is trade between three ports or regions. Triangular trade usually evolves when a region has export commodities that are not required in the region from which its major imports come. It has been used to offset ...

in enslaving Africans purchased from African tribal chiefs, and financial contribution to the early years of Brown University's development are addressed in the official ''Response of Brown University to the Report of the Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice.''

Business interests

Brown's business interests were varied. In addition to the slave trade he was involved in shipbuilding and real estate speculation. He was also a partner (along with his brother

and Rhode Island Governor Stephen Hopkins) in the Hope Furnace (located in Hope Village on the border of towns of Scituate and Coventry, RI) which made cannons during the American Revolution and through the War of 1812. In 1791 Brown founded Providence Bank - the first bank in Rhode Island, and organizer of the Providence South Bridge Company. After various acquisitions over the next 160 years Providence Bank evolved into

FleetBoston Financial FleetBoston Financial was a Boston, Massachusetts-based bank created in 1999 by the merger of Fleet Financial Group and BankBoston. In 2004 it merged with Bank of America; all of its banks and branches were converted to Bank of America. Histor ...

which, in turn, was absorbed by

Bank of America The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The bank ...

in 2004. Providence Bank is one of the oldest "branches" in Bank of America's "family tree" and is, at least arguably, still a "living" corporate entity. The original Providence Bank building still stands at 50 South Main Street in Providence and is the corporate office of the Brown & Ives Land Company which is another business which can trace its roots to John Brown.

American revolution

John Brown played a leading role in the ''Gaspée'' Affair of 1772 that increased hostilities between the thirteen colonies and the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts e ...

and helped catalyze events leading up to 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 was an active Federalist and pushed against Rhode Island's

anti-federalist Anti-Federalism was a late-18th century political movement that opposed the creation of a stronger U.S. federal government and which later opposed the ratification of the 1787 Constitution. The previous constitution, called the Articles of Con ...

, " Country Party" in getting Rhode Island to become part of federal union. ''Providence'', the first warship to sail for America's Continental Navy, was built in 1768 by John Brown. It was purchased by the colony of Rhode Island after British men-of-war began attacking Rhode Island's shipping lanes. The General Assembly ordered its committee of safety to fit out two ships to defend the lanes, one of which became the ''Providence''. The ship—at one time under the command of

John Paul Jones John Paul Jones (born John Paul; July 6, 1747 July 18, 1792) was a Scottish-American naval captain who was the United States' first well-known naval commander in the American Revolutionary War. He made many friends among U.S political elites ( ...

, considered the father of the American Navy—went on to participate in 60 battles and to capture 40 British ships before it was dismantled in 1779 to prevent it from falling into the hands of the British.

Political activity

Brown was elected to the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

in 1798 and served one two-year term from March 4, 1799, to March 3, 1801. The carriage he travelled to Washington in is referred to as "John Brown's chariot" and is preserved at the John Brown House in Providence.

Death and burial

John Brown died in Providence,

on September 20, 1803, and interred in the Brown family plot in the

North Burial Ground The North Burial Ground is a cemetery in Providence, Rhode Island dating to 1700, the first public cemetery in Providence. It is located north of downtown Providence, bounded by North Main Street, Branch Avenue, the Moshassuck River, and Ceme ...

in Providence.

Personal life

He was married to Sarah (Smith) Brown (1738–1825). Together, they had: * James Brown III (1761–1834) from Rhode Island, who never married, was educated at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

where he graduated in 1780. In 1789, James was elected a member of the Board of Fellows of Brown University, and regularly attended meetings until his death. * Abigail Brown Francis * Sarah Brown Herreshoff (1773–1846), who married Charles Frederick Herreshoff (1763–1819), an engineer derived from Germany. * Alice Brown Mason

Descendants

Brown's grandson John Brown Francis was later a U.S. Senator and

Governor of Rhode Island The governor of Rhode Island is the head of government of the U.S. state of Rhode Island and serves as commander-in-chief of the state's Army National Guard and Air National Guard. The current governor is Democrat Dan McKee. In their capac ...

. His grandson, Charles Frederick Herreshoff (1809–1888), and his sons, James Brown Herreshoff (1834–1930), John Brown Herreshoff (1841–1914), and

Nathanael Greene Herreshoff Nathanael Greene Herreshoff (March 18, 1848 – June 2, 1938) was an American naval architect, mechanical engineer, and yacht design innovator. He produced a succession of undefeated America's Cup defenders between 1893 and 1920. Biography Her ...

(1848–1938) founded the ''Herreshoff Manufacturing Company'', a boat-building establishment in Bristol, Rhode Island.

References

External links

*
Encyclopedia Brunoniana

* ttp://gaspee.org/JohnBrown.htm Biographical notes on John Brown by the Gaspee Virtual Archives
Final report
an

reflecting on the university's historical relationship to slavery (including through John Brown and his family)
Providence Journal (2006) article on the conflict between John and Moses Brown
from a series on Rhode Island's Slave History.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, John 1736 births 1803 deaths Politicians from Providence, Rhode Island American people of English descent Brown University people American slave traders People of colonial Rhode Island University and college founders Patriots in the American Revolution People of Rhode Island in the American Revolution American Revolutionary War prisoners of war held by Great Britain American proslavery activists Baptists from Rhode Island John Brown I Burials in Rhode Island Federalist Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Rhode Island American white supremacists Colonial American merchants