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1712 New York Slave Revolt |
The Creole case was the result of a slave rebellion in 1841 on board the Creole, a ship involved in the United States coastwise slave trade. The trade flourished for a half century or longer. In 1841, a brig named Creole (also known as USS Creole) was transporting 135 slaves between Hampton Roads, Virginia and New Orleans. Led by Madison Washington, nineteen slaves on board the Creole revolted, and directed the ship to be taken to Nassau on the island of New Providence in the Bahamas, then a British colony. During the slave revolt a white slave trader, John Hewell, was killed, and a slave died later of heavy wounds (Schoenherr). According to international law, the slave revolt on this ship was not piracy, but a mutiny, and fell under the jurisdiction of the local authority where the crime occurred (Schoenherr).
The Creole case generated diplomatic tension between Great Britain and the United States, and political rumblings within the United States itself. The Creole revolt ignited the attack on slavery by northern abolitionists in 1842 (Schoenherr). In a New York Evangelist newspaper story, “The Hero Mutineers,” Madison Washington was named the ‘romantic hero.’ This is so because Madison showed his empathy towards the white crew members on the Creole. He stopped his fellow slave mates from murdering them, and even dressed the sailors’ wounds after the revolt (Schoenherr).
Secretary of State Daniel Webster stated that the slaves were legal properties and demanded their return. By this time, Great Britain had ended slavery in its nation and its colonies, so the British ignored the US claim. Representative Joshua Reed Giddings of Ohio introduced a series of nine resolutions in the United States House of Representatives that argued that Virginia state law did not apply to slaves outside of Virginian waters, and that the US federal government should not act to protect the rights of the slaveholders in this case. The resolutions provoked strong emotions. The House censured Giddings, who promptly resigned. The voters of Ohio reelected him soon afterwards.
Though either the United States or the British might have raised the issue during the discussions that produced the
The British arrested and incarcerated the 19 rebellious slaves in Nassau and held them on a charge of murder. The remaining 116 slaves achieved freedom immediately. The arrest of the conspirators may have sufficiently placated the American public and government, as it dropped its claims. Because the British sympathized with the rebellious slaves, they released the captives to freedom after several weeks' imprisonment.
A similar slave rebellion and takeover of a ship took place on the high seas in 1839 on board the Amistad.
Crew and passengers on the Creole
Officers:
- Robert Ensor, of Richmond, VA, captain, wounded
- Zephaniah C. Gifford, first mate, wounded
- Lucius Stevens, second mate
Crew:
- Blinn Curtis, wounded
- William Devereux, free man of color, cook and steward
- Francis Foxwell
- Jacques Lacombe, French helmsman
- Jacob Leitener, Prussian cook
- John Silvy (Antonio)
- Henry Sperk
Passengers:
- Captain's wife, baby and niece
- John Hewell, slave trader, killed
- Thomas McCargo, slave trader
- Theophilus McCargo, son of Thomas
- Lewis, an old slave of Thomas McCargo
- William Merritt, slave trader
Ringleaders of the slave revolt:
- Madison Washington
- Ben Blacksmith
- Elijah Morris
- Doc Ruffin
The Giddings Resolutions
- Resolved, That, prior to the Adoption of the Federal Constitution, each of the several States composing this Union exercised full and exclusive jurisdiction over the subject of slavery within its own territory, and possessed full power to continue or abolish it at pleasure.
- Resolved, That, by adopting the Constitution, no part of the aforesaid powers were delegated to the Federal Government, but were reserved by and still pertain to each of the several States.
- Resolved, That, by the 8th section of the 1st article of the Constitution, each of the several States surrendered to the Federal Government all jurisdiction over the subjects of commerce and navigation upon the high seas.
- Resolved. That slavery, being an abridgment of the natural rights of man, can exist only by force of positive municipal law, and is necessarily confined to the territorial jurisdiction of the power creating it.
- Resolved, That when a ship belonging to the citizens of any State of the Union leaves the waters and territory of such State, and enters upon the high seas, the persons on board cease to be subject to the slave laws of such State, and therefore are governed in their relations to each other by, and are amenable to, the laws of the United States.
- Resolved, That when the brig Creole, on her late passage for New Orleans, left the territorial jurisdiction of Virginia, the slave laws of that State ceased to have jurisdiction over the persons on board such brig, and such persons became amenable only to the laws of the United States.
- Resolved, That the persons on board the said ship, in resuming their natural rights of personal liberty, violated no law of the United States, incurred no legal responsibility, and are justly liable to no punishment.
- Resolved, That all attempts to regain possession of or to re-enslave said persons are unauthorized by the Constitution or laws of the United States, and are incompatible with our national honor.
- Resolved, That all attempts to exert our national influence in favor of the coastwise slave trade, or to place this nation in the attitude of maintaining a "commerce in human beings", are subversive to the rights and injurious to the feelings of the free States, are unauthorized by the Constitution, and prejudicial to our national character.
References
- Johnson, Walter. "White lies: Human property and domestic slavery aboard the slave ship Creole", Atlantic Studies (ISSN 1478-8810), v. 5, no. 2 (Aug. 2008), pp. 237-263.
- Schoenherr, The Creole Slave Ship Revolt. 09 FEB 2000. San Diego State University. 26 Jul 2009. http://history.sandiego.edu/GEN/civilwar/03/creole4.html.
- Jones, Howard. "The Peculiar Institution and National Honor: The Case of the Creole Slave Revolt," Civil War History, 1975, pp. 28-50.
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