Neptune's Needle

Son of James Brown and brother of Nicholas, Joseph and Moses Brown, leading Providence merchants. Commercial apprenticeship at sea and in the West Indies representing family interests. John was the most politically outspoken of the brothers in his opposition to Parliamentary restrictions on trade and an instigator of the burning of the British customs sloop Gaspee in Narragansett Bay in June 1772. During the Revolution was engaged in providing the Continental navy with ships. Later financed voyages to China. Unlike his brothers, who left the slave trade after financial reverses in mid-1760s, John remained a committed slaver into the 1790s. He opposed Rhode Island's outlawing of the slave trade in 1787. Openly split with his brother Moses, who became an outspoken critic of the slave trade. Elected to Congress in 1799, John continued his opposition to congressional prohibition of Americans in the foreign slave trade. He left after one term and died two years later.

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Peter Richards