Rhode Island Quakers in a Slave-Based Economy, 1660-1780

FAIN: FB-52417-06

Elizabeth Cazden
Unaffiliated Independent Scholar (Providence, RI 02906-1672)

Despite their belief in universal salvation and high ethical standards, Rhode Island Quakers (Friends), including the applicant’s family, participated in the economy of a colony at the heart of the transatlantic slave trade. Quakers owned slaves, built vessels for the African trade, dominated the legislature that enacted slave codes, and invested in slave voyages. This project will use Quaker records, probate and tax records, and other primary and secondary sources to document and analyze the extent and types of Quaker involvement in the slave-based economy, and to trace the changes in those patterns as Friends came to question the morality of slavery and, by 1773, to ban slave-holding by their members.

Associated Products

"Our Elder Brother": The role of London Yearly Meeting in the American Quaker turn against slavery (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: "Our Elder Brother": The role of London Yearly Meeting in the American Quaker turn against slavery
Author: Elizabeth Cazden
Abstract: In understanding the shift from acceptance to rejection of slavery and slave-trading among American Quakers in the period from 1755-75, a key factor is the influence of the London Quaker hierarchy. The relationship between London Yearly Meeting and the colonial meetings closely resembled that between the central British government and its colonial periphery. Until the 1750s, London Friends signalled strongly that maintaining unity was of primary importance, largely silencing prophetic anti-slavery voices. In 1758, however, London Yearly Meeting issued a strong condemnation of slave-trading, and this directive was a substantial factor in American meetings taking the same stance over the following few years.
Date: 11/5/2010
Conference Name: Quakers and Slavery, 1657-1865 (McNeil Center, Philadelphia)

From slave trader to abolitionist: “Quaker Tom” Robinson of Newport, Rhode Island (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: From slave trader to abolitionist: “Quaker Tom” Robinson of Newport, Rhode Island
Author: Elizabeth Cazden
Abstract: Thomas Robinson (1731-1817), a life-long Quaker, spent six years in his early 20s engaged in trade with England and the West Indies, and sent at least five slaving voyages to the African coast. He stopped suddenly in 1760, and within a few years became an ardent abolitionist. Although family papers document his activities, he never explained how or why he changed his mind about slavery. This paper explores the various factors at work in Robinson's decision, including the disruptions in shipping occasioned by the Seven Years' War and the changing Quaker ethos that led to meeting disciplinary action against another Newport Quaker slave-trader.
Date: 1/7/2011
Conference Name: American Society of Church History

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