USA > Rhode Island > Early Rhode Island; a social history of the people > Part 26
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For detail we have in 1779 Nicholas Brown's order to be executed at Amsterdam " for family use," 12 dozen cream colored plates, 2 dozen small do., four sets coffee cups and saucers, four sets tea do., blue and white ; two sugar bowls and two coffee pots, Band W;24 one dozen pint bowls, Band W ; two dozen cream colored " } pint bowls and sau- cers," four dozen fashionable wine glasses, one gray sable muff and tippett, one half dozen black silk mitts, one set house brushes, " { dozen good green tea." And for mar- ket, there was the usual order for dry goods, knives, forks and pen knives. In finance was the curious remit-
24 Band, white and gold probably. This elegant design in white China ran well into the nineteenth century.
1779]
The Fashions
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tance of "Loan Office Certificates," 4600 dollars and 2100, to be sold and invested in goods.
In spite of the losses by war, its stimulating power en- couraged luxury. In 1781, Captain Folger in brig Pol- ley, was to bring from Watson & Co., Nantes, a great variety of staple dry goods and many of the fancy sort. Another order to these factors specifies 6 sable muffs and tippetts, genteel worsted stuffs for "women's gounds," waving " Plooms and Feathers black,". ten dozen paste pins " for Lady Hair," six pieces Crapes, assorted colors "shining like silver," fashionable plated buckles, part small for boys and girls, one-half dozen fashionable silk " women's shoes." In this array of waving plumes and dainty shoes for the fair, masculine appetites were not for- gotten. Good velvet corks "to make storage" were to be packed in for man-wise in his day and generation.
In 1781, the schooner Betsey and appurtenances were sold at Cape Francois for 3877 livres, after disposing of the cargo.
Though occasional ventures were profitable and indi- viduals prospered, the main current of business was in- jured by the war and the people grew poorer. Newport was virtually destroyed. The fact that commercial Provi- dence was ratably poorer than South Kingstown shows the practical pressure of the war.
Children born to the purple had good advantages in the way of tutors as well as schools. Residence in a suitable family was the most favored, as it is the best means of cul- ture in any generation. Nicholas, the son of Nicholas Brown, sojourned at Grafton, Mass., in 1779, with Thomas Ustick, who promised to follow the father's " di- rections as to voice, manners, etc." He was pleased that the boy's " Capacity exceeds my Expectation, his memory is good," and he was docile. Mr. Ustick asked for a par-
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Revolutionary Period
tial remittance in silver, as he had been forced to buy pork in that currency. The daughters had to seek edu- cation abroad, even at stricken Newport, in 1781. Mr. Brown desired to place his daughter Hope and niece Sally, daughter of John, in Mrs. Wilkinson's School there. If she had not accommodation, he intended to place Hope with Mr. Usher at Bristol. The results of such education appear later. Nicholas had been sent likewise to Phila- delphia, center of light and leading in those days. Jo- seph Anthony, merchant and correspondent, harbored him. Nicholas afterward made a visit with his young relatives. Mr. Anthony wrote Oct. 11, 1790, evidently meaning to back up his Brown commissions, with abundant and gra- cious compliments, expressed after the manner of the time. He addressed, My dear Young Friend, and alluded to " those Dear Girls, Miss Hope, I can't forget her." He commented on Nicholas' letter, " I discover you to be per- fect master of the Dash of the pen, you may practice and Qualify yourself for Despatch, but there is Very Lit- tle Room for Improvement-your Entertaining Epistles will bear the most minute Inspection." The agreeable Anthony, if not a lawyer, was at least a Philadelphia Quaker. Nicholas answered Dec. 17, " My Honored Sir, Your favour your meritt Sense and good Hu-
mour
I ever am pleased with reading a Phila.
production." He was expecting a visit from Thomas. " The Girls have fixed a Ball, when they are to show in Providence some few at least Bright and Worthy Ladies." Soon Miss Hope married Thomas P. Ives. The firms Brown & Benson, Brown (Nicholas Younger), Benson & Ives, Brown & Ives, of famous memory, carried for- ward the business. The social arrangement was not brought about without heartburning. Ives was of good family in Beverly, Mass., but he had not fortune to please
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1782]
Domestic Manners
the prudent merchant, who desired that his daughter should marry "a gentleman." "Father, what makes a gentleman? " "Money and manners!" " Well father, you have the money and Tom has the manners." The young woman justified her Power blood and gained her heart's desire.
The nursing of an infant interests every generation. The bill of the nurse, Mrs. Bradford, for " taking care of our child," Dec. 25, 1782, was six weeks at 3 dollars, twenty-eight weeks at 2 dollars and 2s. 23d. " over Gave- im," equalling £222.4. A singular metonymy in the term carpet appeared in house furnishing. Samuel and Seth Yates agreed to paint for Nicholas Brown three " car- pets " good strong color with star in the middle 3s.6d. adding " Flour " in the corner 4s. if Diamonding with differing shades 6s.
The family of a wealthy man afforded comfort not only to his own kinsmen, but to others not as well placed in the world. There is an early record of the son of Elisha Brown "Esq." taken by N. B. as apprentice until he should be twenty-one years and found in his " victuals and close." In 1780, Mr. Brown writes to his correspondent, Christopher Starbuck, at Nantucket, with whom he dealt so largely, for a " poor Honest Boy " to be employed in his family. It would appear that the supply was not so good in Providence; or possibly the merchant thought an immigrant would be more tractable.
Inventories of the period are perplexing from the con- fusion of currencies, and the fact that they are seldom specified in recording prices. Sometimes we get a more trustworthy idea of value from a staple article like a feather bed than from the technical prices. Occasionally there is a definite account, as in Nicholas Clarke's case. 23
25 MS. Probate Rec. Prov., VI., Feb. 7, 1780
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Revolutionary Period
Two beds and furniture £19.5, in silver, £385, in paper currency ; one mahogany table £2.5 in silver, £85 in paper ; six tea spoons 15s. in silver, 15s. in paper. Silver plate was common especially in spoons, and negro slaves often appear. One party has a silver watch at £90, and wear- ing apparel at £830; two stone ware tea pots at £4.
Richard Seaver's personal estate was £55.10, his wear- ing apparel £6, one bed and furniture £5, all in silver. The Widow Abigail Rogers had a "Padasoy full suit" nominally £180, one dozen blue and white China plates £15, six white stone plates £1.4. In one case silver was estimated at 15 for 1, and dollars at 4s. 9, but this cur- rency is not clear, as we shall see one year later.
William Checkley had a personal estate of £379, the prices being apparently in silver. A clock and case £9, a set of Queen's ware £1.5, besides china and glass, 88 oz. wrought plate £45, two leather fire buckets and lanthorn £1.8, Books at £12, including Dictionary, Arts and Sciences, Hutchinson's Mass., also his Collection, Youngs' Poetical Works, Various Sermons, Bailey's Dictionary two Latin do., seven vols. Spectator, three vols. Watts Psalm Book, in addition 60 miscellaneous books, one bed furniture and blankets £13.14, one negro Cato at £45. Looms appear in two estates. A blacksmith had one with wearing apparel at £7.8. silver, and gunsmith's tools, be- sides his regular outfit. He had a warming pan at 9s. and other comforts. This artisan wore silver sleeve but- tons at 2s.
N. B. & Co. made a contract with S. Keith, 6 dollars for 9 lbs. mdse .; 4 dollars for 6 lbs. mdse. ; 2 dollars for 3 lbs. mdse .; 4, 12 or 18, in proportion or paper in proportion. Oct. 22, 1781, there was an auction sale26 of £5591, in "paper " by agreement. This was Continental or State 26 MS. Probate Rec. Prov., VI., 317.
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Auction Prices in Paper
1781]
currency probably. A bed and bolster brought 13043 dollars, another 12022 dollars. It seems people could es- timate differences of quality in this airy medium. A bed- stead was $135, a side saddle $25, a looking glass $250, a warming pan and skimmer $165, an old Bible $30.
Captain Archibald Young had a small wardrobe for a sailor, but all the various silver buckles and stone sleeve buttons. He read good books, Spectator and Guardian, Cato's Letters, Epicurean Philosophy, School of Man, Prior's Works and Hervey's Meditations, Seneca's Mor- als, and Hudibras' Dictionary of the Bible. The apprais- ers could not put a market value on the slaves, but record the facts, showing that this kind of property was fluctu- ating even worse than the currency.
Three Negro Boys " The one Runaway "
One negro Woman " The others loth to stay."
The surrender of Cornwallis in 1781 solved the prob- lem of war, though actual peace was deferred for some two years. The small colony of Rhode Islasd, with Hopkins in council, with Greene, second to Washington only, in the field, with her brave soldiers in battle, had done her full part in the birth-struggles of the nation. Her joy in the result was according to her toil in the painful struggles.
Merchants were obliged to move promptly as well as discreetly to dispose of goods imported at great expense during the war, and to avoid the falling prices. Nicholas and John Brown sought the consumer in various ways. Daniel Gano took a cargo intending to open a store at New Haven or Fairfield; he landed finally at Fishkill. A portion of these goods was returned in 1783. A New London correspondent returned some goods consigned. Goods from Nantes were consigned Tillinghast & Holroyd in Providence to sell at 6 per cent. commission. Other
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Revolutionary Period
parties were employed. From Taunton, Tillinghast & Smith returned goods, which found no market.
The year 1785 brought the death of Stephen Hopkins, the patriot citizen. His biographer, Foster,27 is full and vigorous in panegyric, and no native-born Rhode Islander could exceed this adopted scholar's verdict of praise. Hopkins was a man who would have been extraordinary in any place and time. As I have stated,28 he was the true fruit and resulting consequence of a novel community, in- stituted through Roger Williams' creative system and Charles II.'s political privilege. We cannot reiterate this too constantly, for it is a kernel of history. Moses Brown's diffuse description of Hopkins' style as clear, concise, pertinent, powerful, sometimes energetic, gener- ally " calm, rational and convincing " might be better ex- pressed in the simple statement; the man spoke. Or as Foster puts it, " His hearty frankness and calm dignity of manner " carried his constituency with him. Such a man must be actuated by magnanimity of character, as his con- temporary, Asher Robbins, emphasized. If Hopkins lacked scholastic education, he worked for it as far as pos- sible. Manning brought the broad culture of Princeton into the high New England atmosphere; and Hopkins out of his education by affairs, seconded the scholar. He was the first chancellor of the College in 1764, and as he had worked for books, so he strove for the learned use of books.
The life of Hopkins took in the forming period of Rhode Island's history, when she had worked out of her spasmodic ill-regulated democracy into a form of repre- sentative government ; which carried her through the great struggle for independence, and ultimately after much con- tention aligned her with her fellows in the United States. 27 Hopkins, II., 163.
28 Ante, p 230.
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CHAPTER XI
THE UNION. 1786-1790.
The little state now entered on the worst period of its political history. Separation from the Crown-govern- ment of the mother country had been achieved, but a de- structive revolution is easier than the construction of a new government. The inefficient Congress of the Confed- eracy could not be the basis of a strong government, but served only for a stepping stone toward the larger com- ing structure projected by the genius of Hamilton and inaugurated largely through the facility of Madison and Franklin. Virginia, the great governing member of the Confederacy, called for a convention of the states in 1786, to adopt "a uniform system in their commercial regulations." This meeting failed, but important as might be the field of intercourse with the outward world, it was shut off in Rhode Island, by the domestic economy of the state, which mastered its coarse politically.
There were two main controlling motives at work in our community.1 The natural individualistic spirit of the colony and state revolted against any strong effective federal control. This motive must wear itself out, as it did finally under the inevitable attrition of the whole coun- try, grinding toward a juncture of the parts. Similar principles affected other sections ; and the Shays rebellion in Massachusetts, touching New Hampshire, was an ex- ample of financial discontent revolting against federal authority.
1 Cf. Arnold II. 522; Brigham, p. 253.
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The Union
The other motive, economic in origin, went deeper, · touching the basal organs of all society. The mercantile classes, including dwellers in towns, had greatly improved their condition, and there was a farmer's opposition to every movement toward more effective government, espe- cially in the federal form. We must remember that these troubles began in severe sacrifices of many men and women. Debt filled the social atmosphere, like a black fog that repels all sunlight. The Continental money and the paper issued by the state had depreciated, until they finally became worthless. The farmer brought his bushel of corn to the merchant and trader, who always handled the money of the community, whether of paper or specie. More produce could not be had from the land, but more paper could be readily produced. In vain, merchants and intelligent voters protested that paper must be paid, in order that it serve the uses of a currency. Delusion waxes, while it mocks at wisdom. Pay it with more paper, said the foolish incapable. Take away the influence of mer- chants and money changers, who send specie out of the country to make money scarce and dear ; and all will be well. At first the conservative elements controlled the vote against issuing more paper money. Providence, Newport, Bristol, Westerly stoutly opposed the country party. But the insidious doctrines of inflation sapped their strength; a powerful majority for paper prevailed in May, 1786, and took possession of the government. The Assembly immediately issued £100,000, to be loaned on mortgage for seven years at four per cent, with an annual reduction of the principal. The bills were made a legal tender at par with specie. All sorts of forcing measures supported these processes.
John Brown in the Providence Gazette claimed that the farmers would not take their own medicine, or, in other
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1789]
Currency Chimeras
355
words, would not give up produce for the bills. Some traders were packing their goods, to secure them or to carry them out of the state, while some proposed shutting up their stores. The new Solons would regulate trade and exchange by arbitrary power. All these proceedings were finally stopped by the common law, which could not be created anew in Rhode Island. John Weeden, a butcher of Newport, refused to deliver his meat to one Trevett for paper, who sued him to gain the poor man's rights. General Varnum, the ablest pioneer of Judge Marshall in blazing the way for Constitutional integrity, showed the Court that the legislative must inevitably be subordinated to the judicial power in a stable, free govern- ment. The Court maintained Weeden's rights, and the paper rioters tried ineffectually to turn the Court out of office.
It was even seriously mooted in convention, though the project never fairly reached the legislature, that a com- mission be appointed and empowered, to regulate all trade, to fix prices and compel the transfer of property. Spe- cie especially was to be held in the iron grip of the state and not be freely sent abroad at the will of the owner. These popular delusions gradually declined, and in Oct., 1789, the act forcing the circulation of paper instead of specie was repealed. A modification of the principle was substituted, making property a tender for debt. The mortgages to secure bills issued in 1786 proved to be like straw. Depreciation of this paper was fixed at fifteen for one.
The state suffered accordingly in the opinion of her neighbors and expectant partners in the new union of states. Our delegates in the Continental Congress were deeply wounded when the proceedings of our legislature were " burlesqued and ridiculed." The calm and discreet
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Washington could say, " Rhode Island still perseveres in that impolitic, unjust, and one might add, scandalous con- duct which seems to have marked all her councils of late." General Varnum in 1787, writing Washington, protested that the latter legislation did "not exhibit the real char- acter of the state. He maintained that it was " equally reprobated by the whole mercantile body, by most of the respectable farmers, and mechanics. The majority of the administration is composed of a licentious number of men, destitute of education, and many of them void of principle. From anarchy and confusion they derive their temporary consequence " and try for "the abolition of debts both public and private. With these are associated the disaffected of every description, partic- ularly those who were unfriendly during the war. Their paper money system, founded in oppression and fraud, they are determined to support at every hazard. . These evils may be attributed, partly to the extreme free- dom of our own Constitution, and partly to the want of energy in the federal union. It is fortunate however, that the wealth and resources of this State are chiefly in pos- session of the well affected, and they are entirely devoted to the public good." 2
About all the evils contingent to a body politic came to the surface in this little community on the shores of Nar- ragansett Bay. It was demonstrated that a passion for individual freedom can crystallize itself into the lust for arbitrary power. Yet there was sufficient virtue inherent in this sordid wrangling mob, to throw off the evil at last, and to become a thriving republic. These events must be recorded with shame, but let it not be forgotten that, however rampant the spirit of evil, it did not finally pre- vail over the divine mission of government. Demos lets 2 R. I. H. S. Pub. II. 168.
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Convention Adopts the Constitution
in all the people, but when he reasons and puts forth his strength, that strength is ultimately for good.
The constitution of the United States was not a mirac- ulous issue from the brain of man, as Mr. Gladstone hinted. It was unrolled and unfolded from the historic life of the American colonies, and the interpretation was effected by a singular association of the greatest men the country could afford. Its making and framing were slow; its adoption was painful and protracted. Rhode Island was outside the controversial arguments and struggles, for she was without representation. All efforts failed to get Varnum's anarchical legislature into line. The federal union was virtually decided upon, when New Hampshire voted for the constitution June 21, 1788. The federalists of Rhode Island seized the occasion for popular demon- strations, though they were still in the minority.3 The state was still obstinate in opposition to adoption.
At last the period of agony drew to a peaceful con- clusion. A convention was called for May 24, 1790, and the towns instructed their delegates for or against the union. So severe was the parturition that Providence had provided for a possible separation from the state, if it should not adopt the Constitution. May 29, the in- strument was adopted by a majority of only two votes. So close was the contest between anarchy and order. The momentous event was embodied in the change of in- vocation from " God save the State " to "God save the United States of America."
John Brown had been very energetic in canvassing for the constitution. He built wharves and shipyards at India Point, Providence, and in 1787 sent his ship Wash- ington to India and China-the first oriental voyage from our city. This literally opened a new world for our 3 Brigham, p. 265.
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The Union
commerce. It was prosecuted vigorously and ably in the closing years of the century by his nephews-by kin and marriage-Brown & Ives. Two years later Moses Brown started Samuel Slater at Pawtucket on his career of cotton spinning. These two movements widened out the sphere of Rhode Island, giving the state a new social life according with its new political opportunity.
Brown was always a pioneer in all directions, and as he sent out his oriental ship, he built from plans of his brother Joseph, the house on Power Street at the corner of Benefit. John Quincy Adams noted in his diary that it was " the finest house on the continent." It was worthy of the powerful merchant, and the forerunner of the Colonial or Georgian mansions, which distinguished Provi- dence for a century. The broadening spirit of the eighteenth century had penetrated our community, and Obadiah, the son of Joseph Brown, was a " freethinker " in the language of that day. At a dinner in the new house, this rash innovator gave the toast, " Here's a short respite to the damned in hell." The practically minded John, too much charmed by freedom in the end to balk at the hedgerows of orthodoxy by the way, instantly drank in this wise, " Truly, a most admirable sentiment, gentle- men, and one in which I am sure we can all join."
Shipbuilding and the passage of vessels went forward as of old, in the cove and the stream above Weybosset Bridge. The trade on Cheapside was fed by supplies brought to the docks about Steeple Street. In 1792, North Water (now Canal) Street was established; this marks the relega- tion of commerce to docks below the bridge.
Some six-score years have passed since Rhode Island entered the Union. She has kept pace with the whole country in population, and in wealth per capita is not
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1790]
Our State Contributes the Individual 1
surpassed by any state. In spite of her limited territory, there are nine or ten great states having fewer people. Her people excel in numbers the inhabitants of her sister states Vermont and New Hampshire. This is the social outcome and expression of Roger Williams' and John Clarke's "lively experiment." Quidnuncs, whether of Massachusetts or of London, two and one-half centuries ago, would have said such results would be impossible. I have tried to set forth some of the facts, which made the achievement-if not easy-at least attainable in the or- dinary life of peoples. .
The Virginians contributed to the great purposes going to form America; and Hamilton's incisive intellect pruned them into a possible system of government. Such must be in the end a government of men and women. The in- dividual of the eighteenth century received something creative and peculiar in the soul-liberty of Roger Wil- liams. Though not adopted as a dogma by the whole country until well into the nineteenth century, it was alive and at work. Note Borgeaud's statement in Preface.
Consider the positive acts of rebellion in the little colony. The sinking of the cruiser Liberty, the burning of the Gaspee in 1772, Brown's rebellious seizure of gun- powder in the West Indies ; accompanied by the explicit movement of the colony for a general congress in 1774, the actual earliest renunciation of allegiance to the Crown in May, 1776; all these events were political acts individ- ually conceived and brought to an issue in this home of individualism.
Stephen Hopkins, of marvellous forensic foresight in the pre-revolutionary period, John Brown, with sagacity of a merchant and courage of a corsair, Nathaniel Greene,
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The Union
dropping a smith's hammer to grasp the sword; Weeden, the butcher, resisting arbitrary power at home, worse than the hated " ministerial tyranny " abroad; these men all embodied the spirit of Roger Williams' descendants. These were the types of the men needed throughout the colonies to resist misdirected power in the Crown-govern- ment, and to build and establish a new nation.
INDEX
INDEX
Abbott, Daniel 107 Arnold, Caleb 330
Abbott, Margaret 107 Arnold, Eleazar 121
Adams, Charles Francis, quoted Arnold, Elizabeth 257
15, 23, 25, 49 Arnold, Job 993
Adams, John, 1 325 Arnold, Richard 113, 114, 194
Adams, Samuel
336 Arnold, Stephen, 102, 202; in-
Africa 319 ventory of, 120, 240
Agriculture, 101, 152, 153, see Farming
Arnold, Wiliam 38
Ashley, William 115
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