The Gaspee Affair and Maritime Fugitives in the Anglo–American Atlantic, 1772–1783 Charles R. Foy Charles R. Foy is Associate Professor, Emeritus, at Eastern Illinois University. Dr. Foy has published more than a dozen articles on Black mariners and is the creator of the Black Mariner Database, a dataset of more than 43,000 18th century Black Atlantic mariners. He is completing a book manuscript, Liberty’s Labyrinth: Freedom in the 18th Century Black Atlantic, that details the nature of freedom in the eighteenth century through an analysis of the lives of Black mariners.
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he burning of the schooner Gaspee, on June 10, 1772, has been described as the “first armed confrontation of the American Revolution” and “a singularly important event” in American history.1 Annual celebrations of the affair have helped frame contemporary Rhode Islanders’ view of their ancestors as having played a central role in Americans obtaining independence. The Gaspee Affair played a critical role in spurring colonists from Massachusetts to Georgia to seriously consider breaking away from the British monarch.2 But in combination with the Somerset vs. Stewart decision issued ten days later in London and the outbreak of the American Revolution, the affair also caused enslaved peoples in Rhode Island and elsewhere to see the Royal Navy as an effective means for obtaining freedom and England as a refuge from the harshness of enslavement within the British empire. This essay reframes our understanding of the Gaspee Affair by considering it through the eyes of enslaved people and placing the event within the Atlantic context of Blacks’ struggle for freedom. To do so, it centers the story of Black indentured servant Aaron Briggs of Prudence Island, who provided sworn testimony to British officials regarding the burning of the Gaspee, and other maritime fugitives.3
State of Slavery in Rhode Island Prior to 1772 Prior to the American Revolution, slave labor played a sizable role in Rhode Island’s economy. By 1750, more than 3,300 individuals were enslaved in the colony and constituted ten percent of Rhode Island’s population.4 Special laws singled out Blacks. Lethal force against an enslaved individual was accepted as a “corrective” tool, and Rhode Island masters did not need to fear prosecution for murdering their bondsmen.5 How did enslaved people find freedom in such circumstances? Emancipation was difficult as slave owners were required to post a one-hundred-pound bond for each slave they sought to free. This requirement was to ensure localities did not bear the cost of freed elderly or disabled individuals who could not support themselves.6 In a colony where many residents’ economic well–being relied upon the slave trade and slave labor and slavers “formed the nucleus of Newport society,” petitions such as those submitted by Massachusetts Blacks seeking legislation to free them was not a feasible option. Litigation to challenge one’s enslavement was costly and required access to an attorney. The result was that in the years before American independence, negotiated manumission and flight were the primary means for Rhode Island’s enslaved to find freedom.7
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