Widow Payson

July 4

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

Who was the subject of an advertisement in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Providence Gazette (July 4, 1772).

“RAN away … a Negro Man Servant, named CAESAR … sometimes pretends to be free.”

On July 4, 1772, American colonizers did not know that on that day just four years later the Continental Congress would declare the independence of a new nation.  They did know that for the better part of a decade they experienced an increasingly turbulent relationship with Great Britain.  Following the empire’s victory in the Seven Years War and the expulsion of France from North America, the George III issued the Royal Proclamation of 1763.  In it, the king decreed colonizers were not to settle west of the Appalachians.  Instead, he reserved that territory for the crown’s new Indian subjects.  Colonizers felt betrayed.  They fought and died to gain access to that land, but the king chose favor the Indians who allied with the French.  After the war, Parliament sought to regulate trade more systematically, imposing first the Stamp Act in 1765 and the Townshend Acts a few years later.  Colonizers responded with protests of various sorts, including boycotts of imported goods.  In addition, Britain quartered troops in American cities.  On March 5, 1770, some of those troops fired into a crowd in Boston, killing several people.  Colonizers continued to protest, sometimes resorting to violence.  On June 9, colonizers in Rhode Island boarded and burned the Gaspee, a British customs schooner, when it ran aground in Narragansett Bay.

Throughout this period, colonizers discussed their rights and demanded their freedom.  They did so in the town square, in taverns, in coffeehouses, in newspapers, and in petitions.  Simultaneously, enslaved people liberated themselves throughout the era of the American Revolution.  Black men and women “RAN away” from their enslavers rather than endure bondage.  Caesar, “a Negro Man Servant” enslaved by “Mrs. Payson, Widow,” in Woodstock, Connecticut, liberated himself in June 1772.  He “RAN away” at the same time that word spread about colonizers striking a blow against Britain by burning the Gaspee.  The Providence Gazette carried Caesar’s story, at least a truncated version of it as written by enslavers and their accomplices, in an advertisement that ran for several weeks, including on July 4.  That notice described Caesar, “a Fellow well made, about 5 Feet 8 Inches high, between 50 and 60 Years of Age, his Hair grey, speaks tolerable good English,” and offered a reward for his capture and return.  In so doing, the advertisers encouraged colonizers to participate in the surveillance of Black men they encountered to determine if any of them matched the description in the newspaper.  They also threatened legal penalties for anyone who assisted Caesar, warning that “All Persons are hereby strictly forbid to entertain or employ the above described Negro, as they would avoid being prosecuted with the utmost Rigour of the Law.”

The advertisement also mentioned that Caesar “sometimes pretends to be free.”  As colonizers proclaimed that they deserved freedom from British oppression and participated in protests of various sorts, Caesar determined that he was done pretending.  He did not need a Declaration of Independence to assert his freedom.  Instead, he declared independence by refusing to remain enslaved in Woodstock.  He was one of countless enslaved men, women, and children who liberated themselves in the eighteenth century.

For other stories of enslaved people liberating themselves originally published on July 4 during the era of the American Revolution, see:

June 20

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

Who was the subject of an advertisement in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Providence Gazette (June 20, 1772).

“A Negro Man Servant, named CAESAR … sometimes pretends to be free.”

If readers perused the June 20, 1772, edition of the Providence Gazette from the first page to the last, the first advertisement they encountered concerned “a Negro Man Servant, named Caesar” who “RAN away” earlier in the month.  On behalf of Mrs. Payson, a widow in Woodstock, Connecticut, Paul Tew placed a notice that described Caesar, offered a reward for his capture and return, and threatened anyone who assisted him with prosecution.  That advertisement appeared immediately below a short news article about a spinning bee that took place in Barrington, Rhode Island, a few days earlier.  Even as John Carter, the printer of the Providence Gazette, celebrated the industriousness and patriotism of “a Number of Ladies” who participated in safeguarding liberty by producing linen yarn as an alternative to imported textiles, he disseminated an advertisement that sought to deprive Caesar of his liberty.  The revenue Carter generated from that advertisement helped to make coverage of the spinning bee possible.

Tew provided an extensive description of Caesar that included his age, physical characteristics, linguistic ability, and clothing.  He invited colonizers in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island who read the Providence Gazette, whether or not they were enslavers themselves, to participate in the surveillance of Black men to determine if anyone they saw or met matched the description in the newspaper.  Tew encouraged colonizers to take note of the appearance, comportment, and speech of Black men, judging for themselves what constituted “speak[ing] tolerable good English.”  Complicity in perpetuating slavery extended beyond Tew, the widow Payson, and the printer of the Providence Gazette to include readers who scrutinized Black men and, especially, those who confronted and detained anyone they suspected of being Caesar.  Tew reported that Caesar “sometimes pretends to be free,” but even being free did not protect Black men and women from inspection and harassment by colonizers accustomed to slavery as part of everyday life, even in New England, during the colonial era.