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Paul Cuffe
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Paul Cuffee (January 17 1759—September 9,1817) was an African-American businessman, patriot, and abolitionist. Cuffee built a lucrative shipping empire, even building his first three ships. He also built the first school of Westport, Massachusetts, which was racially integrated. A devout Christian, Cuffee often preached and spoke at the Sunday services at the bi-racial Society of Friends meeting house in Westport, even fronting most of the money to build a new meeting house in 1813.
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Paul Cuffee (January 17 1759—September 9,1817) was an African-American businessman, patriot, and abolitionist. Cuffee built a lucrative shipping empire, even building his first three ships. He also built the first school of Westport, Massachusetts, which was racially integrated. A devout Christian, Cuffee often preached and spoke at the Sunday services at the bi-racial Society of Friends meeting house in Westport, even fronting most of the money to build a new meeting house in 1813. In Africa, Cuffee helped to establish The Friendly Society of Sierra Leone, in an attempt to support the former slave colony.
Early life
Paul Cuffee was born free during the French and Indian War, on Cuttyhunk Island, Massachusetts. Paul was the seventh of eleven children. His father, Kofi (also known as Cuffee Slocum), was a member of the Ashanti ethnic group who had been captured at age ten, and brought to the British colony of Massachusetts to become a slave. Paul's mother, Ruth Moses, was a Native American and a member of the Wampanoag Nation. Kofi was a skilled carpenter who educated himself. He worked long hours and earned enough money to buy his own freedom in 1746. He eventually bought a farm.
While Paul was growing up, there was no Quaker meeting house on Cuttyhunk Island, so the family held religious services in their kitchen with Kofi preaching from the scriptures. The family moved to Dartmouth, Massachusetts when Paul was eight years old. Kofi died when Paul was thirteen. Paul and his brother John took over the responsibility of the farm, and cared for their mother and three younger sisters. Paul resented the fact that their last name was the name of the man who had enslaved his father, so Paul persuaded his brothers and sisters to use their father's English first name, "Cuffee", as their family name.
With the responsibility of caring for a family and managing a farm at such a young age, Cuffee was unable to fulfill his dream of receiving an education and having a sailing career. At the time of his father's death, he knew little more than the alphabet.
The closest mainland port to Cuttyhunk was New Bedford, Massachusetts - the center of the American whaling industry. Whenever Cuffee had time, he would try to learn more about ships and sailing. He would find sailors and pepper them with questions. Eventually, he was given a lesson in navigation by one of the sailors. Although initially discouraged by his difficulty in understanding mathematics necessary to navigate, Cuffee studied whenever he could. Finally, at the age of 16, Paul Cuffee signed onto a whaling ship and, later on, cargo ships, where he learned navigation. During the American Revolution he was held prisoner by the British for a time.
After he was released from prison, Cuffee moved to Westport, Mass. He farmed and studied and saved money from his produce sales. In 1779, he and his brother David built a boat by hand. His brother was afraid to sail in the dangerous seas, so Cuffee went out by himself, in 1780, to deliver his cargo to Connecticut. The boat was lost during a storm. Undaunted, Cuffee built another boat, also by hand. Again he set out to sea alone. During this voyage, his ship and his cargo were seized by pirates. A third time he and David built a boat, and he borrowed money for the cargo. He set off for Nantucket by himself. Pirates chased him and, in his haste to flee them, his ship hit a rock. But he was not captured, and he was able to make it back to Westport. Although Cuffee reached Nantucket, he did not turn a profit on the venture. Finally, he made yet another trip to Nantucket that turned a profit. His brother David then prophesied that Cuffee would be a rich man.
Cuffee finally made enough money to purchase another ship and hired on crew. He soon owned a fleet of ships and bought a farm in Westport, Mass.
At the age of twenty-one, he refused to pay his taxes because he did not have the right to vote. Cuffee believed that he should not have to pay taxes if he was not being represented. In 1780, he petitioned the council of Bristol County, Massachusetts to end taxation without representation. The petition was denied, but it was one of the influences that led the Legislature to grant voting rights to all free male citizens of the state in 1783.
At age twenty-four, he became part owner of a small vessel and married Alice Pequit. Like his mother, Pequit was also a Wamponoag. The couple settled in Westport, Massachusetts, where they raised their eight children. As Cuffee became more successful, he invested in more ships and made a sizable fortune. In the 1790s, he made his money in cod fishing and smuggling goods from Canada. With this money Cuffee bought a large farm along the Westport River and was able to invest in the expansion of his fleet.
Cuffee's Investment in Sierra Leone
Paul Cuffee always felt the need to do something about the demeaning conditions that many African-Americans lived under in the American colonies. Due to his wealth, Cuffee did not live the average life of blacks in America so he sought ways to help others who had not been as fortunate. Unfortunately, most Americans felt that blacks were inferior to Europeans, even in the predominantly Calvinist and Quaker New England. Although slavery continued, some believed the emigration of Blacks to colonies outside the United States was the easiest and most realistic solution to the race problem in America.
Many previous attempts by Europeans and Americans to colonize Blacks in other parts of the world had failed miserably, including the British attempt to colonize Sierra Leone with free African-Americans, criminals, and prostitutes, beginning in 1787, when four hundred people departed from Great Britain and headed for Sierra Leone. The colony was plagued with serious problems from the outset and proved to be a severe disappointment to its London sponsors.
Although colonizing Sierra Leone was an extremely difficult task, Cuffee believed it was a viable option for blacks and threw his support behind the movement. Paul Cuffee stated “I have for these many years past felt a lively interest in their behalf, wishing that the inhabitants of the colony might become established in truth, and thereby be instrumental in its promotion amongst our African brethren.” Cuffee received encouragement to proceed with his project from people in New York, Baltimore, and Boston as well as members of the African Institution. Cuffee mulled over on the logistics and chances of success for the movement for three years before deciding in 1809 to move ahead with the proposed project. He launched his first expedition to Sierra Leone on January 2, 1811.
Cuffee reached Freetown, Sierra Leone on March 1, 1811. During his time there he traveled the area investigating the social and economic conditions of the region. He met with some of the colony’s officials, who opposed Cuffee’s idea for colonization of blacks from America. He sailed to Great Britain to seek help from there.
He met with the heads of the African Institution and was granted permission to continue with his mission in Sierra Leone. Cuffee then left Liverpool and sailed back to Sierra Leone, where he finalized his plans for the colony.
While in Sierra Leone, Cuffee helped to establish the Friendly Society of Sierra Leone, a trading organization run by blacks. He had faith that the Friendly Society would help to establish a far more powerful Sierra Leone economy as well as self-help projects for the residents of the colony. Cuffee’s friends from the African Institution granted the Friendly Society money for these goals. Heartened by London’s response to the Friendly Society, and also by the evident faith Freetown’s inhabitants entrusted in him, Cuffee now believed the trip to Sierra Leone was well worth the sacrifice of time, effort, and money. Although Cuffee viewed the expedition as successful, he feared that once he, along with several other powerful leaders, left, the citizens of the colony would again return to their previous non-Christian religious practices. So, Cuffee left the colony with a message advising them how to behave and warned them that they should not defer from his advisement.
After returning to America in 1812, Cuffee was arrested for bringing British cargo into the United States. His brig, the Traveler, was seized as well. He was summoned to Washington, D.C. for violating trade laws. There he met with the President, James Madison. He was warmly welcomed into the White House by Madison. Madison later decided that Cuffee was not aware of and did not intentionally violate the national trading policy. Madison questioned Cuffee’s experience and the conditions of Sierra Leone and was eager to learn about Africa and the possibility of further expanding colonization. Madison evaluated Cuffee’s plans carefully, but rejected them reluctantly. Madison believed that there would be too many problems in further attempts to colonize Sierra Leone but regarded Cuffee as America’s African authority.
Cuffee intended to return to Sierra Leone once a year but the War of 1812 between the United States and Britain prevented him from doing so. He visited Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York, speaking to groups of free blacks about the colony. He also urged blacks to form organizations in these cities to communicate with each other and to correspond with the African Institution and with the Friendly Society at Sierra Leone. He printed a pamphlet about Sierra Leone to inform the general public of his ideas.
In the spring of 1813, Cuffee suffered several monetary losses because of some unprofitable ventures of his ships; one ship never returned. After getting his finances in order he prepared to return to Sierra Leone. The war between the U.S. and Britain continued, so Cuffe decided he would have to convince both countries to ease their restrictions on trading. He was unsuccessful and was forced to wait until the war ended.
He left on December 10, 1815 with thirty-eight Black colonists and arrived in Sierra Leone on February 3, 1816. Cuffee and his emigrants were not greeted as warmly as before. The authorities were already having trouble keeping the general population in order and were not thrilled at the idea that more emigrants were arriving. Although things did not go exactly as planned, Cuffee believed that once continuous trade between America, Britain, and Africa commenced the society would realize his predicted success. Cuffee left Sierra Leone in April filled with optimism for its future.
Cuffee's later years
In 1816, Cuffee’s vision resulted in a mass emigration plan for blacks. This time around Congress rejected his petition to return to Sierra Leone. During this time period many Black Americans began to demonstrate interest in immigrating to Africa. Cuffee was then persuaded by Reverends Samuel J. Mills and Robert Finley to help them with their colonization plans in the American Colonization Society.
In the beginning of 1817, Cuffee’s health deteriorated. He never returned to Africa and died on September 7, 1817 leaving an estate with an estimated value of $20,000.
See also
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