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slavery during the
Revolutionary War, in the company of ministers and teachers from the college in Providence which had closed temporarily because British troops were billeted in its campus. Brown renewed his efforts against the slave trade after the war ended. He unsuccessfully petitioned the General Assembly in 1783, wrote frequently in the local press, and helped distribute antislavery pamphlets throughout New England. He was instrumental in the 1787 passage of a law banning the participation of Rhode Islanders in the slave trade. In 1789, he helped found the Providence Society for Abolishing the Slave Trade with Quaker and non-Quaker associates to help enforce recently passed anti-slave trade legislation. He later helped pass a law in Congress to forbid foreign slave ships from being equipped in American ports.
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the creation of a school on this land. He provided important financial assistance, and also donated his impressive book collection to the school library. His son
Obadiah joined him as a major supporter of this effort until his untimely death in 1822. Moses Brown served as the school's treasurer until shortly before his own death in 1836 at the age of 98. The school was renamed in his honor in 1913 as the
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September 23, 1738, the son of James Brown II and Hope Power Brown. He was the grandson of Baptist minister James Brown (1666–1732), and his father was a prosperous merchant. The family firm was active in distilling rum, owned an iron furnace, and took part in a wide variety of merchant activities
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Brown played a significant role in the revival of the New
England Yearly Meeting School. It had existed intermittently in the 1770s and 1780s, but died out through lack of interest. In 1814, Brown presented the Yearly Meeting School with 43 acres of land in Providence, and worked diligently toward
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in
Providence on September 6, 1836. He left few family members, having outlived three wives, all three of his children, and three of his four stepchildren. At his death, his only descendants were his granddaughter Anna (Almy) Jenkins (1790–1849) and her children. He also left much of his estate to
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Brown then moved on to a variety of new activities. He played a role in Rhode Island's ratification of the U.S. Constitution in 1790. He also became interested in agricultural experiments on his
Providence farm, and helped found the Rhode Island Agricultural Society in 1800. He served on the first
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Moses broke with his brothers and refused to continue any involvement in the slave trade. He began a long crusade against slavery after becoming a Quaker, and he became Rhode Island's leading opponent of the slave trade. He freed the last of his own slaves in 1773. He solidified his opposition to
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In 1788, Brown returned briefly to the business world, embarking on a textile venture in partnership with his cousin Smith Brown and his future son-in-law
William Almy. Brown became interested in recent British attempts to use water power in their textile mills, and he hired English immigrant
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in 1765. In 1769, he participated in efforts to move the college in the
English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations to Providence from Warren, Rhode Island. The four Brown brothers donated family land passed down from Chad Brown for the new campus.
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Brown married his cousin Anna Brown (daughter of his uncle
Obadiah) in 1764. They had two surviving children: Sarah (1764–1794, married William Almy) and Obadiah (1771–1822), as well as a daughter who died young. Brown served as a deputy to the
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Brown played an important role in collecting documents relating to colonial Rhode Island, many of them inherited through his own family. He collected biographical information about his contemporary and fellow abolitionist who was known as the
352:. Moses' son Obadiah Brown soon replaced Smith Brown as a partner, and Samuel Slater was taken in as well to create the firm of Almy, Brown & Slater. Brown soon withdrew from active involvement in the firm but remained a partner.
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Brown was a pacifist, and he was inspired by the War of 1812 to work on behalf of peace; he was instrumental in founding the Rhode Island Peace
Society in 1818. He promoted the Quaker position that Quakers should resist war taxes.
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in 1764, in which at least 109 Africans died. Moses Brown's father died in 1739, and Moses was raised in the family of his uncle Obadiah Brown, who was primarily responsible for running the firm's
861:- an address by Brown President Ruth J. Simmons at St. John's College, Cambridge University on the occasion of the bicentenary of the Act of Parliament abolishing the British slave trade
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Brown's second wife Mary died in 1798, and he married widow Phebe (Waterman) Lockwood in 1799. Phebe died in 1809, and Brown remained unmarried for the last 27 years of his life.
317:. Moses and Joseph Brown delivered a proposal to the English in Boston that Rhode Island's preparations to resist royal authority would be stopped if John Brown was released.
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works. Obadiah died in 1762, and Moses served as executor of his estate. Shares in the farming and shipping business were divided among Moses and his brothers
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399:. His son Obadiah had married but left no children. Brown is buried in the Quaker section of the North Burial Ground at 5 Branch Avenue, Providence, RI.
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348:. In 1793, the factory became the first water-powered spinning mill in America, a seminal event generally considered the birth of the American
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691:"Sons of Providence: The Brown Brothers, the Slave Trade, and the American Revolution - Arts & Leisure - International Herald Tribune"
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Company. During the yellow fever epidemic of 1797, he was a strong advocate of sanitation practices. He later introduced
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In 1779, Brown married his second wife Mary Olney, a fellow Quaker. They were married for 18 years and had no children.
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Brown's wife Anna died in 1773. He gradually retired from the family business and began his involvement with of the
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206:(September 23, 1738 – September 6, 1836) was an American abolitionist and industrialist from
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was one of the state's leading slave traders and the first person prosecuted under the
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Sons of Providence: The Brown Brothers, the Slave Trade, and the American Revolution
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the children of his stepdaughter Sarah (Lockwood) Harris (1773–1832) and to the
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John and Moses Brown reviewed in the Providence Journal with portraits of both
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including sponsoring the ill-fated and notorious voyage of the slave ship
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who funded the design and construction of some of the first factories for
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Report of the Brown University Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice
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College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
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board of directors of the Providence Bank, and was treasurer of the
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Pioneer Prophetess: Jemima Wilkinson, the Publick Universal Friend
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Claus Bernet (2010). "Moses Brown". In Bautz, Traugott (ed.).
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from 1764 to 1771, and he served on a committee to oppose the
828:(in German). Vol. 31. Nordhausen: Bautz. cols. 220–224.
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Hidden in Plain Sight: Slavery and Justice in Rhode Island
446:, and remains a leading preparatory school in the U.S.
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Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL)
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803:Rhode Island Historical Society Moses Brown Papers
232:Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
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616:. Brown University Scholarly Group. October 2006
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742:. Cornell University Press. pp. 3 and 10.
636:"The Voyage of the Slave Ship Sally: 1764-1765"
614:"The Voyage of the Slave Ship Sally: 1764-1765"
222:which was the first modern factory in America.
763:American Antiquarian Society Members Directory
661:"John Brown, American Raider on English Ship
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979:People of the American Industrial Revolution
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969:Members of the American Antiquarian Society
417:federal laws prohibiting slave importation
230:Moses Brown was born in Providence in the
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964:History of religion in the United States
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49:of all important aspects of the article.
329:Moses Brown in later life; portrait by
16:American abolitionist and industrialist
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816:(Simon & Schuster, New York: 2006)
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45:Please consider expanding the lead to
924:American manufacturing businesspeople
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939:18th-century American slave traders
884:Swarthmore College Peace Collection
570:Thompson, Mack (December 1, 2012).
142:Phoebe Lockwood (m. 1799 – d. 1808)
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717:American Quaker War Tax Resistance
580:University of North Carolina Press
379:. He was a founding member of the
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974:People from colonial Rhode Island
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344:to help build a similar mill in
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1004:19th-century American merchants
994:University and college founders
914:Abolitionists from Rhode Island
909:18th-century American inventors
781:. September 10, 1836. p. 3
736:Wisbey, Herbert A. Jr (2009) .
576:Moses Brown: Reluctant Reformer
381:Rhode Island Historical Society
66:For the basketball player, see
37:may be too short to adequately
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216:American industrial revolution
140:Mary Olney (m. 1779 – d. 1798)
138:Anna Brown (m. 1764 – d. 1773)
47:provide an accessible overview
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281:Rhode Island General Assembly
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919:American Christian pacifists
719:(2008) pp. 173-174, 176-177
385:American Antiquarian Society
313:which helped to trigger the
72:Moses Brown (disambiguation)
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999:Inventors from Rhode Island
789:– via Newspapers.com.
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808:Moses Brown School History
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315:American Revolutionary War
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779:The United States Gazette
599:– via Google Books.
411:In contrast, his brother
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848:Brown University Charter
671:. Joseph Bucklin Society
129:Providence, Rhode Island
112:Providence, Rhode Island
68:Moses Brown (basketball)
954:Brown University people
843:Encyclopedia Brunoniana
377:Public Universal Friend
346:Pawtucket, Rhode Island
944:American tax resisters
775:"Death of Moses Brown"
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70:. For other uses, see
959:Converts to Quakerism
934:American slave owners
640:cds.library.brown.edu
435:Further information:
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403:Abolitionist activity
350:Industrial Revolution
328:
984:Quaker abolitionists
572:"The Apprenticeship"
478:North America portal
464:United States portal
362:smallpox vaccination
331:Martin Johnson Heade
306:was arrested in the
989:Quaker slave owners
880:Emlen Family Papers
520:Christianity portal
506:Rhode Island portal
299:American Revolution
812:Charles Rappleye,
695:The New York Times
552:Moses Brown School
547:Brown Square House
492:New England portal
444:Moses Brown School
437:Moses Brown School
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431:Moses Brown School
423:Moses Brown School
397:Society of Friends
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181:John Brown Francis
835:978-3-88309-544-8
749:978-0-8014-7551-1
364:to Rhode Island.
212:spinning machines
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122:September 6, 1836
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176:Joseph Brown
124:(1836-09-06)
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34:lead section
904:1836 deaths
899:1738 births
675:January 27,
669:Gaspee.Info
620:January 27,
220:Slater Mill
214:during the
208:New England
204:Moses Brown
150:Sarah Brown
83:Moses Brown
893:Categories
558:References
321:Later life
304:John Brown
269:Chad Brown
241:spermaceti
226:Early life
171:John Brown
163:, ancestor
161:Chad Brown
104:1738-08-23
55:March 2024
701:April 19,
387:in 1815.
285:Stamp Act
188:Signature
178:, brother
173:, brother
168:, brother
157:Relatives
135:Spouse(s)
39:summarize
450:See also
245:Nicholas
147:Children
645:June 4,
308:Gaspee
293:Quakers
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785:May 9,
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663:Gaspee
595:May 9,
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310:affair
263:after
251:, and
249:Joseph
882:from
237:Sally
830:ISBN
787:2021
744:ISBN
721:ISBN
703:2022
677:2015
647:2023
622:2015
597:2021
584:ISBN
413:John
253:John
119:Died
98:Born
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
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