Prudent
In 1800, 17 enslaved African(s) were “liberated” in a state-run scheme usually resulting in involuntary indentures, conscription, or re-enslavement. Under the jurisdiction of 7, Case ID LA-E-3551 occurred via the United States District Court for the District of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
Case Details
| UID | LA-E-3551 |
|---|---|
| Case Name | Prudent |
| Year | 1800 |
| Government Department | Justice and State Departments, United States of America |
| Court | United States District Court for the District of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia |
| Trial Outcome | Condemned |
| Enslaved Total | 39 |
| Liberated Africans Total | 17 |
| Registered Total | 16 |
| Notes | Captured as prize during the Quasi War and under the terms of a law passed on May 10 1800, namely "An Act in addition to the act intituled "An Act to prohibit the carrying on the Slave Trade from the United States to any foreign place or country," which was initially passed in 1794. A special meeting of the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery was called at the suggestion of the committee on the slave-trade; their minutes were produced, by which it appears that two American vessels, having on board a considerable number of black people, supposed to have been bound to the Havanna, had been captured by one of the armed vessels of the United States, and sent into this port; and that the said black persons are now in circumstances demanding the attention of this Society. A committee was appointed to watch over their situation, and that of any others who may be hereafter brought in under the acts of Congress, against the slave-trade, and to afford them such assistance and protection, by co-operating with the officers of the General and State Governments, as may be necessary, and to provide places for such as are found to be free. That committee subsequently reported, that at the request and under the direction of the Marshal of the United States for the District of Pennsylvania, they had placed out, principally in the country, one hundred and twenty-six persons, the survivors of the cargo of slaves taken from the schooners Phoebe and [Prudent]. The Pennsylvania Abolition Society took charge of the 126 survivors, whom they indentured for periods of eight years. These people were resettled in various counties in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. |
| Sources | Edward Needles, An Historical Memoir of the Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of Slavery… (Philadelphia: Merrihew and Thompson, 1848), 46-47; Michael Kearney, dir., The Ganges Families History Project, https://thegangesfamilies.com/, (accessed 2022); SlaveVoyages, www.slavevoyages.org (accessed 2020), Voyage ID: 36707. |
| Cite as: | Lovejoy, H. B. (2024). Conceptualizing ‘Liberated Africans’ and Slave Trade Abolition: Government Schemes to Indenture Enslaved People Captured from Slavery, 1800–1920. Past & Present, 1-69. https://doi.org/10.1093/pastj/gtae019 Chadha, K. (2024). Regenerated Identities: A Collaborative Web-based Content Management System for Digital Humanities. International Journal of Computer Applications, 186(29), 28–33. https://ijcaonline.org/archives/volume186/number29/regenerated-identities-a-collaborative-web-based-content-management-system-for-digital-humanities/ |
Event Details
| UID | LA-E-3551 |
|---|---|
| Case Name | Prudent |
Departure from Africa
| Date | |
|---|---|
| Region | West Africa (unspecified) |
| Place | Unspecified |
| Enslaved Total | 39 |
Capture
| Date | 1800-07-19 |
|---|---|
| Location | 23°30'0" N., [no long.]; 10 miles off the coast of Cuba near Matanzas |
| Navy | USA |
| Ship | Ganges |
| Captain | John Mullonwy |
| Supporting Ships |
Trial
| Sentence Date | 1800-08-15 |
|---|---|
| Government Department | Justice and State Departments, United States of America |
| Court | United States District Court for the District of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia |
| Trial Outcome | Condemned |
| Date | 1800-08-04 |
| Region | East Coast North America |
| Place | Philadelphia |
| Liberated Africans | 17 |
| Registered | 16 |
People Details
| UI | Name | Age | Sex | Height (ft) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VI000001 | Peter | View Details | |||
| VI000002 | Abia | View Details | |||
| VI000003 | John | View Details | |||
| VI000004 | Abraham | View Details | |||
| VI000005 | Charles | View Details | |||
| VI000006 | Mary | View Details | |||
| VI000007 | Carny | View Details | |||
| VI000008 | William | View Details | |||
| VI000009 | George | View Details | |||
| VI000010 | Furry | View Details | |||
| VI000011 | Demau | View Details | |||
| VI000012 | Nackey | View Details | |||
| VI000013 | Mira | View Details | |||
| VI000014 | Miza | View Details | |||
| VI000015 | Nandura | View Details | |||
| VI000016 | Mary | View Details |
List of Source(s)
Disclaimer:
There are currently no digital resources available for this particular case. The intention is to provide access to digitized archival materials relevant to each case, as well as link each case to the appropriate legislation. We are currently seeking more support to add these records, which require much time and effort to input and create metadata on a document-by-document basis. For examples of available digital materials, please refer to the cases related to the courts of Freetown, Sierra Leone between 1808 and c. 1850. For further access, please refer to the sources cited for this particular case.