James DeWolf

American slave trader and politician

James DeWolf went to sea at an early age, shipping as a sailor on a private armed vessel during the late years of the American Revolutionary War. He participated in several naval encounters and was captured twice by the British.

After the war, DeWolf was selected as captain of a ship in his 20s. He began to engage in commercial ventures, including slave trading, often purchasing seasoned slaves from Cuba and other ports in the West Indies and transporting them primarily to southern markets in the United States. Although Rhode Island outlawed slave trading in 1787, DeWolf and his family continued to finance and command slaving voyages to West Africa. In 1791, DeWolf was indicted for murder by a grand jury in Newport, Rhode Island. The case was widely reported in the New England press. He was alleged to have directed the murder of a female African slave in 1789 who was sick with smallpox on the ship Polly, which he commanded; after having been treated to the best of the crew's knowledge, she was bound to a chair and lowered overboard. Such cases were known at the time, as all the persons on a ship were threatened in cases of severe disease outbreaks. The judge in charge of the case ultimately accepted the prosecuting attorney's filing of nolle prosequi, a formal declaration "that he did not wish to pursue the case." DeWolf financed another 25 slaving voyages, usually with other members of his family. His father and uncle Simeon Potter were slave traders since 1769. His nephew George DeWolf kept it up illegally until 1820. The textile mills of New England relied on cotton cultivated by slaves throughout the Deep South and shipped to the North. There were strong economic ties between the regions through the period of the American Civil War.

DeWolf became active in politics and highly influential in the new state during the decades of the Federal period. He was first elected as a member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives in 1798, and served until 1801. He served again from 1803 to 1812, 1817–21, and 1829–37. He was elected as speaker of the House from 1819 to 1821. DeWolf advanced to national office when elected by the state legislature as a Democratic Republican (later Crawford Republican) to the U. S. Senate, as was the procedure before popular election of US senators was authorized by constitutional amendment in the 20th century. He served part of his six year term, from March 4, 1821, until he resigned on October 31, 1825.

DeWolf died in New York City in 1837 at the age of 73, thought to be a millionaire and the second wealthiest man in the United States. His body was returned to Rhode Island, and he was buried in the DeWolf private cemetery on Woodlawn Avenue in Bristol. His estate included properties in Bristol, New York, Maryland, Kentucky, and Ohio. Nancy and DeWolf had twelve children together. DeWolf named one of his brigs, the brig Nancy, after his wife.

DeWolf is one of the members of the Bristol (or also called Rhode Island) branch of the DeWolf family.

DeWolf is featured prominently in an Emmy nominated 2008 documentary, Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North, co produced and directed by Katrina Browne, a DeWolf descendant, which describes the DeWolf family's major role in the United States slave trade.