All Men Are Created Equal Except...

Additional Travelers at the Inn

Abigail: In 1779, when the British were raiding Connecticut's shores and burning towns, your master and his family loaded up their belongings into wagons to move to a safer area. Taking advantage of the melee, you loaded your children into another wagon and took them to a different place. Although your master tried to reclaim you several times, you maintained your status as a free black woman. In fact, in 1781, a South Carolina slaveholder bought you by claiming to be from Connecticut, and tried to steal you south. While you had agreed to move to Connecticut, you did not wish to move south, so you escaped. Later that year your case came before the state legislature and a law was passed as a result preventing slaves from being sold out of state.

John Brown: You have advocated the legality and righteousness of the African slave trade since the 1760s. For you, the trade is a matter of property rights and free trade—and the freedom to do whatever you want. After your brothers stopped sending ships to Africa, you continued. You think government should stay out of regulation of private businesses, regulation which limits the freedom of individuals. You believe it is unfair to deny Americans the benefits of a trade which is allowed Europeans, and morally wrong to leave Africans in Africa, because bringing them to the Caribbean or the United States will improve their condition. Additionally. you believe that the trade is a financially prudent activity and assists the United States Treasury.

Moses Brown: After your wife Anna's death in 1773 you became a Quaker and began a lengthy anti-slavery effort. You believe Anna's death was a punishment for your previous slave-trading and owning years, and you freed your slaves when she died. Since then you have been working to end slavery in Rhode Island. The bill now before the legislature was partly written by you. Slavery, in your mind, is ungodly and goes against the rights of man as newly laid out in the Declaration of Independence. You believe black people need help to become full and useful members of society, and it is your duty as an educated and powerful person to assist them.   

Mark Anthony D'Wolf : You have been a slave ship captain since 1769. In the last ten years you have been instructing your son in the tricks of the trade and have taken him along on at least seven voyages. You sail these ships from Bristol, Rhode Island to the Coast of Africa and then to Cuba, where you own a plantation. The plantation grows sugar cane, which you eventually turn in to rum in your distillery in Bristol. The rum then goes back to Africa to be traded for slaves. You plan to accumulate great wealth in this business, and think that the idea of emancipating slaves or prohibiting the slave trade would hinder the progress of your family and of Bristol. It appears to you that your son James has particular aptitude for slave voyages.

Margaret (Peggy) Harrison : A former slave of Moses Brown, you attended church with him and even continued to be a member of the Baptist church after Moses converted to Quakerism and freed you in 1774. You recently moved to Boston but keep in regular touch with Moses. Despite your freedom, you always address your letters to him “Dear Master.” As a devout Christian, you follow the tenets of servitude and believe that hardship is a part of life that must be endured, not overcome.

Levi Hart: You are a member of the clergy in nearby Connecticut. You communicate frequently with people in Rhode Island. You believe slavery is a violation of natural law, but that freeing slaves without compensating their masters or providing for the slaves' welfare would be unfair. You believe that the entire community—those who have owned slaves and those who have not—are guilty of participation in slavery because the elected legislature allowed it. Therefore the government should compensate the owners of slaves for the work that would be lost to owners when the slaves were freed. You also believe that the community will have a responsibility to support and assist former slaves once they become free, because slavery breaks the spirit.

Lemuel Haynes : Because your mother was white and your father black, you were abandoned as an infant. A few months later you were bound to service until the age of twenty-one to a man in Connecticut. Following your service you entered the militia to fight in the Revolution. Later, you trained to become a minister and preached in a white congregation in southwestern Massachusetts. You married a white schoolteacher named Elizabeth. You greatly admired George Washington and the ideals for which he fought. In 1776 you wrote a manuscript in which you condemned slavery and noted the irony of slaveholders' fights for freedom from Britain when they did not provide it to others.

Esek Hopkins: A white Providence native, brother of Governor Stephen Hopkins, you were Commander-in Chief of the continental navy during the Revolution. Before that, you   were a sea captain who took many voyages on behalf of the Brown family business. You are skilled in the West Indies trade which brings tobacco, candles, lumber, fish, farm goods and animals to the West Indies in exchange for molasses and indigo. The brothers entrusted you with much responsibility for purchase and trade and you proved reliable and loyal. Because of their trust in you, the Browns chose you as Captain of the Sally against the advice of more experienced slave traders who advised against sending a captain who had no experience in the Guinea trade.

Stephen Hopkins: At seventy-six, you have had a long career in public service. You have been a governor of Rhode Island, a member of the Continental Congress, and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. A descendant of Benedict Arnold, you were one of the earliest to protest British actions to limit the colonies' rights before the war. You helped to found the Providence Gazette , and were the first chancellor of Rhode Island College, which was founded in 1764. In 1773 you freed your slaves and supported the measure in the Rhode Island legislature a year later to ban the importation of slaves into the (then) colony.

Cesar Lyndon: You are the slave to Mary Lyndon, widow of the former governor of Rhode Island. When your master was alive you served as his secretary and clerk. You are a very good manager and investor. You earn money and spend it on extravagant and beautiful things like ivory-handled knives, silver, and china. You have many friends in the area, both slaves and free blacks, and you   enjoy entertaining when you can. You are very careful to respect the hierarchical system of slavery and always sign letters with such words as “your obedient servant.” You believe that continued work will gain you your freedom.

Sarah Osborne: Devoted to Scripture, you pray for several hours a day and believe in predetermination. You live in Newport, Rhode Island, and you run religious services for slaves and free blacks with your friend Susanna Anthony. Normally it would be unheard of for a woman to preach publicly, but since, as you've said, “the servants appear to me no otherwise...than children,” you are generally left alone to attend to the religious and spiritual needs of the Negroes in your community. Your own slave's mother attends your services. You believe in the concept of a strict social order and do not wish to disrupt the norm. While slaves appreciate the opportunity you provide them to meet together as they are often isolated in households, you require them to ask their masters' permission to attend.

Venture Smith: Born in west Africa, you were brought to America when you were about seven years old. You have been bought and sold three times in New England and New York, and in the interim have married and had several children. While with your third master you were able to hire yourself out on occasion and earn money to put toward your freedom. It took many years to free yourself (you were thirty-six when you gained your freedom), your wife, your children, and two other acquaintances. You have since been fortunate to gain some wealth and land in Connecticut, but have been treated poorly and unjustly several times by both blacks and whites. You resent having had to buy your freedom.

Lodowick Updike: Your family has lived on its 3000 acre plantation in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, for three generations. You have had a dairy on the farm and you sell the cheese widely. The horses you breed, called Narragansett Pacers, are in demand in the West Indies and the Southern states. You also grow crops, including various grains which you both export to distant parts and use locally. Your land is divided up into several plots and managed by different people. You are one of the largest slave owners in the Narragansett area. During the Revolutionary War your son Daniel (one of eleven children) enlisted, though you were not a supporter of the war as it disrupted trade routes. You fear that a movement toward emancipation will cripple your farm, rid you and your family of its livelihood, and prevent Rhode Island from becoming prosperous in the future. Even now, heavy taxes on land has you worried about your ability to survive.