Sons of Providence : the Brown brothers, the slave trade, and the American Revolution

by Charles Rappleye

Other authorsKarolina Harris (Designer), Tulsa Kinney (xxxOTHERxxx)
Hardcover, 2006

Status

Available

Call number

B BROWN, J&M RAP

Publication

New York : Simon & Schuster, mapmaker

Original publication date

2006-05-09

ISBN

9780743266871

Description

"In 1774, as the new world simmered with tensions that would lead to the violent birth of a new nation, two Rhode Island brothers were heading toward their own war over the issue that haunts America to this day: slavery." "Set against a colonial backdrop teeming with radicals and reactionaries, visionaries, spies, and salty sea captains, Sons of Providence is the biography of John and Moses Brown, two classic American archetypes bound by blood yet divided by the specter of more than half a million Africans enslaved throughout the colonies. John is a profit-driven robber baron running slave galleys from his wharf on the Providence waterfront; his younger brother Moses is an idealist, a conscientious Quaker hungry for social reform who - with blood on his own hands - strikes out against the hypocrisy of slavery in a land of liberty." "Their story spans a century, from John's birth in 1736, through the Revolution, to Moses' death in 1836. The brothers were partners in business and politics and in founding the university that bears their name. They joined in the struggle against England, attending secret sessions of the Sons of Liberty and, in John's case, leading a midnight pirate raid against a British revenue cutter. But for the Browns as for the nation, the institution of slavery was the one question that admitted no middle ground. Moses became an early abolitionist while John defended the slave trade and broke the laws written to stop it. The brothers' dispute takes the reader from the sweltering decks of the slave ships to the taverns and town halls of the colonies and shows just how close America came to ending slavery eighty years before the conflagration of civil war." "This dual biography is drawn from voluminous family papers and other primary sources and is a dramatic story of an epic struggle for primacy between two very different brothers. It also provides a fresh and panoramic view of the founding era. Samuel Adams and Nathanael Greene take turns here, as do Stephen Hopkins, Rhode Island's great revolutionary leader and theorist, and his brother Esek, first commodore of the United States Navy. We meet the Philadelphia abolitionists Anthony Benezet and James Pemberton, and Providence printer John Carter, one of the pioneers of the American press. For all the chronicles of America's primary patriarch, none documents, as this book does, George Washington's sole public performance in opposition to the slave trade." "Charles Rappleye brings the skills of an investigative journalist to mine this time and place for vivid detail and introduce the reader to new characters from the members of our founding generation. Raised in a culture of freedom and self-expression, Moses and John devoted their lives to the pursuit of their visions of individual liberty. In so doing, each emerges as an American archetype - Moses as the social reformer, driven by conscience and dedicated to an enlightened sense of justice; John as the unfettered capitalist, defiant of any effort to constrain his will. The story of their collaboration and their conflict has a startlingly contemporary feel. And like any good yarn, the story of the Browns tells us something about ourselves."--BOOK JACKET.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member WisteriaLeigh
SONS OF PROVIDENCE, The Brown Brothers, The Slave Trade, and The American Revolution
Charles Rappleye,
Simon and Schuster
Hardcover, 416 pages
0743266870.

John and Moses Brown, two incongruous brothers were loyal to Britain. Yet, when a series of revenue raising taxes descended on the colonies, the
Show More
Browns saw it as economic servitude to England. Charles Rappleye presents a history of Rhode Island and the Slave Trade through his research of primary documents and through letters of correspondence between the Brown brothers. Most people would be surprised to read about the significance of the Browns, and the relationship Newport and Providence and all Rhode Island had in the slave trade.

John and Moses Brown were originally were collaborators in the slave trade, but their legacies would diverge and history would remember their roles differently. Where John was an avid proponent of slavery and compulsive capitalist. Moses turned Quaker and was equally an unshakable abolitionist and social reformer. They polar opposites in values and appearance and they were stubborn in their ideals of liberty.

The Gaspee incident in Narragansett Bay, was a significant event led by John Brown that would establish Rhode Island equal to Boston as a rebellious colony. Also, throughout New England, slavery was most widespread in Rhode Island and the slave trade would remain entrenched in their harbors for many years.

John and Moses Brown were prominent business leaders in many areas. John was an investor in real estate, Moses was credited with establishing one of America’s first banks and introducing textile technology that allowed New England to compete with England as the Industrial Revolution moved forward. They both collaborated to establish Brown University where it is today.

Rhode Island is a familiar setting to me and this history provided a valuable addition to my existing schema. Charles Rappleye humanizes this history lesson from two opposing viewpoints and the insight of first hand witnesses. Sons of Providence clarifies many misconceptions in history and furnishes a glimpse into the tenets of the time period. Highly recommended.

Disclosure: This book was a self-purchase.
© [Wisteria Leigh] and [Bookworm's Dinner], [2008-2013].
Show Less
LibraryThing member JBD1
A solid, if fairly conventional, joint biography of John and Moses Brown of Providence, using the useful hook that the two came down on very different sides of many issues. I did wish for better citations throughout, though.

Call number

B BROWN, J&M RAP

Barcode

6169
Page: 0.2816 seconds