Early American Crime

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 […]

Note: This post is part of a series on Convict Transportation to the American colonies. Knowing the volatile nature of their cargo, captains of convict ships were careful not to allow convicts much freedom during their voyage to America for fear they could take over the ship. Still, insurrection did occur. In 1751, The Virginia […]

Note: This post is part of a series on Convict Transportation to the American colonies. Even though external threats, such as bad weather and pirates, could seriously jeopardize convict voyages across the Atlantic, the most persistent sources of agony for convicts were internal to the ship. Transported felons received poor and scanty provisions throughout their […]