Passage V

James Forten, Revolutionary Sailmaker

[1]

“I have been taken prisoner for the liberties of my country, and never will prove a traitor to her interests.’’ [A] Before entering a British-run prison during the American Revolution prisoner of war, James Forten, said these words as a patriotic rejection of his British captor’s offer to free him and educate him in England.

[2]

(62) He knew his chance of surviving imprisonment were slim. Forten also knew that if released at the war’s end or as part of an exchange, he, a free black man, might be captured and sold into slavery as he journeyed home to Philadelphia. Forten not only survived but became one of the most successful businessmen and ardent abolitionists in the United Stales. (65)

[3]

Forlen’s rise to prosperity began upon his return home when a sailmaker hired him to design, mend, and sew sails. Forten’s knowledge of ships, gained from his experiences as a sailor during the war, paid off. He rose to the position of foreman, and in 1798, Forten bought the sailmaker’s business. [B]

[4]

Employing thirty-eight workers, white and black, Forten held his employees to a high standard. Viewed as a professional academy, his business produced skilled apprentices who constructed sails for dozens of vessels. The bulk of Forten’s business records was probably lost after the business was sold. (68) Soon, many regarded Forten as the city’s premier sailmaker in Philadelphia.

[5]

A savvy businessman, Forten supported abolitionist causes. When the War of 1812 closed the port of Philadelphia, Forten used his profits in real estate and lending to support his sailmaking enterprise. When the need for smaller, quicker vessels changed sail design, he adapted. One thing Forten refused to do, however, was fit a slave ship with sails.

[6]

In fact, historians estimate that the sailmaker invested over greater than half his fortune in work to abolish slavery. [C] One of the wealthiest men in Philadelphia, Forten helped finance the Liberator, a powerful abolitionist newspaper. [D] The Revolutionary War veteran, who served in this war, believed that the United States owed all residents the right to freedom.