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Monthly Archives: April 2009

Transported Convicts in the New World: At Auction

Note: This post is part of a series on Convict Transportation to the American colonies. Once transported convicts arrived in America and were prepared for sale, prospective buyers were invited on board to enjoy some rum punch and inspect them. The Sale Potential buyers examined the convicts in the same way as they did slaves: […]

Transported Convicts in the New World: Arrival in America

Note: This post is part of a series on Convict Transportation to the American colonies. At the end of their voyages across the Atlantic, most convict ships entered the Chesapeake Bay and headed for a port in Virginia or Maryland. The captain then sent for the factor, an American representative of the convict merchant, who […]

Convict Voyages: Convict Passengers on the Jonathan

Note: This post is part of a series on Convict Transportation to the American colonies. Many of the surviving accounts of events involving transported convicts tend to focus on unusual circumstances or notorious criminals. Most of the convicts sent overseas, however, were minor criminals who committed petty acts of crime. These common criminals did not […]

EAC Reviews: Defying Empire by Thomas M. Truxes

Defying Empire: Trading with the Enemy in Colonial New York by Thomas M. Truxes (New Haven: Yale UP, 2008), 288 pp. Defying Empire: Trading with the Enemy in Colonial New York by Thomas M. Truxes is about British attempts to stop trade between New York City merchants and the French during the Seven Years’ War […]

Convict Voyages: James Dalton and the Escape to Vigo

Note: This post is part of a series on Convict Transportation to the American colonies. James Dalton vividly experienced the strong arm of the law at a young age when he sat between the knees of his father, who was riding in a cart that was taking him to the gallows to be hanged for […]