Stephen Hopkins Quotes
Without this trade, it would have been and will always be, utterly impossible for the inhabitants of this colony to subsist themselves, or to pay for any considerable quantity of British goods
This was an expression of concern from the merchants of Rhode Island to England regarding curtailing aspects of the slave trade. Ironically, this Remonstrance is one of the first documents objecting to the management of America’s affairs by England when America had no representation. Therefore it played a part in the process which culminated in the American Revolution and freedom from England. And yet the subject was not freedom at all but just the opposite—the prerogative of maintaining the slave trade. Note that the appeal to the Board of Trade was not couched in ethical or political argument but as a mercantile argument—Rhode Islander’s would import less British goods.
Stephen Hopkins, 1707–1785, Governor of Rhode Island, First Chancellor of Brown University, “Remonstrance of the Colony of Rhode Island to the Board of Trade”, 1764
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
This was one of the first and is considered the best of the Colonial arguments against taxation without representation. The argument here about exports also affected other commodities—see {636866}. Despite this, Dulany is not well known in American history because when the Revolution finally came he was a loyalist.
This historical quotation enables us to date the importation of slaves into Massachusetts to as early as 1638. It also shows us that even though the Spanish had enslaved Negroes from Africa, when English ships raided Spanish ships and seized their booty, they considered the slaves as property and took them to then sell for the money. Had they had a different point of view, they might have freed the Back slaves who had been captured by their enemy, the Spanish. But they did not and money and money was the major motivation.
He was asking for permission to issue more paper currency.
The French had a much different agenda in the new world than the British who wanted to create residential colonies. The French were more interested in trade—not in establishing permanent colonies. The result was that the French were in many ways better trading partners for the Indians than the English. They came without women, intermarried among the Indians and learned the languages; they did not contest for land, and they paid the Indians more for pelts and furs than the English were willing to. At the same time they exacerbated conflicts with the colonists, and encouraged Indian attacks on settlers as that kept competition out. They were not above giving Indians alcohol and encouraging them to rob the furs and/or kill their English competitors. So on two levels, they had to be removed. See the military view of Robert Rogers: {614122}.
Downing was the brother-in-law of the Governor. Many people think that the Puritans were very moral people but they were not that so much as rigid. There was no moral compunction for example against slavery as this letter shows.
“Laid up” means “saved”. “Commutable”means fungible—gold and silver can buy anything else.
It is very easy for an American company to make parts in the United States, ship them to Mexico for assembly and bring the finished product back. However, for counties like France it is much more difficult.
Stephen Hopkins is a Jamaican-born British-Australian director and producer of film and television. He directed Predator 2, A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child, Blown Away, The Life and Death of Peter Sellers, and the Jesse Owens biopic Race. He also produced and directed several episodes of the first season of 24.
