Tench Coxe (b. 1752 - d. 1824)
MSA SC 3520-15888
Delegate
to Annapolis Convention, from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Biography:
Tench Coxe was a Pennsylvania merchant and national politician, who had substantial connections with the elite families of Maryland's Eastern Shore. Coxe came to prominence during the Revolution, when he was initially a Loyalist to the British government. After being arrested and then acquitted in 1778, he joined the American side. Coxe's political career began soon after the former colonies had established independence. His interests in slavery were conflicting, as were those of many men in the new nation. While at times a slaveowner himself, Coxe was also formally associated with an abolitionist organization for a time. The status of his Maryland relations, the Tilghmans of Kent County and the Hemsleys of Queen Anne's, may have contributed to this ambiguity.1
Coxe had an enduring friendship with William Hemsley, a planter with whom he did business in flour and tobacco. Occasionally, this business would also lead with dealings in human property. In a 1779 letter to Hemsley, Coxe relayed the details of his attempts to recover a fugitive slave. The "negro fellow ... was running away from his Master while the British troops were here, and going off with them." Coxe appears to be acting as an agent for Hemsley, who may have wanted to purchase the man's service. However, there were some peculiar circumstances that made that potential deal more difficult. According to Tench Coxe, the black man was recovered from the British in Rhode Island, but "[the owner] cannot take him home on account of a white girl in their family by whom he has had a child." This situation seemed to allow the slave, and his master, some additional bargaining power. Coxe assures Hemsley that he is healthy and well-built, but that "I am not certain he will consent to go to Maryland. He certainly will not except as a house servant."2
Hemsley owned 45 slaves according to the 1790 Census.3 By 1800 Hemsley's chattel holdings had grown to 79, making him one of the most wealthy men in the region.4 He certainly was not at a disadvantage because of Coxe's inability to acquire the "negro fellow." Business and personal correspondance reveal that there were several other instances where Coxe sought to benefit from the institution. He acted as an intermediary or a direct seller in at least 6 other transactions between 1779 and 1787.5 Coxe would also indirectly influence the development of American slavery later in life by promoting the use of the "Arkwright machine," among southern planters. This machine used a water wheel to ease the process of spinning cotton yarn, and make the work more inexpensive.6 Cotton planters in the deep South were the main recipients of excess slaves from the Chesapeake. Indeed many Eastern Shore slaveholders would sell their chattel to the New Orleans market as the labor force eclipsed its need by the 1820's and 1830's.
Conversely, Coxe had a major role in anti-slavery organizing. He served as the secretary of the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, when Benjamin Franklin was its president in the late 1780's. His previous dealings in slaves became quite controversial as several society members pushed for Coxe to clear his name regarding two female slaves that he had sold off to St. Croix.7 Correspondance does not reveal the outcome of this dispute. It was not uncommon for early abolitionists to display this seeming hypocrisy, especially as compared to their more radical successors in the mid 19th century. In fact, Coxe even owned two slaves in 1790 as a resident of Philadelphia.8 Writing later in the decade, he contended that the best solution would be gradual emancipation of enslaved blacks, coupled with an increase in the white agrarian population. Thereby, southern whites could still feel safe amongst "those unhappy, and once dangerous people."9
Coxe's role in the 1786 "Annapolis Convention" would further strengthen his ties to the Maryland political elite. This event was intended to correct some of the defects of the Articles of Confederation, which had not sufficiently established the capabilities of the federal government. Coxe's efforts to establish interstate trade relations, albeit largely unsuccessful, were a major factor in his selection to the body. However, there is little evidence of his opinions regarding slavery, as it applied to the conversations there. The representatives voted unanimously for another constitutional convention, which the Pennsylvanian did not attend. Coxe did write letters and publish articles promoting the system of central government, with particular emphasis on alleviating the fears of southern planters. In his address to the Virginia Convention, he touted the provision that allowed for three-fifths of the state's enslaved population to count toward representation, while reminding them that amendments could be made in the future if necessary.10
Writing under the pseudonym "An American Citizen" in 1788, Coxe asserted that "a solid foundation is laid for exploding the principles of negro slavery, in which many good men of all parties in Pennsylvania, and throughout the union, have already concurred."11 He would still avoid directly condemning the institution, as the potential success of the nation would require the cooperation of its southern members, whose economies increasingly relied on slave labor. Coxe made no other direct mention of the issue. However, his discussions of interstate commerce and general cooperation between the states may have provided some of the initial precedents for later fugitive slave laws.
Tench Coxe then accepted several positions within the newly formed federal government, while continuing to an innovator in mercantile dealings. He does not seem to have held any slaves beyond 1790. Coxe would continue to write about the institution into the 19th century, especially as it related to federal actions on the matter. During the debates about the entry of Missouri as a slave state, he sided with the pro-slavery forces in defending the state's right to ban emancipation without the consent of owners. Coxe argued that blacks had been constitutionally established as property, therefore undeserving of the consideration extended to white citizens. In later years, he strayed noticeably from his early abolitionist leanings. Coxe saw the potential tide of freed blacks as a distinct threat to the nation's security, and ultimately saw colonization as the most logical solution. He would propose various ideas on how to force these populations to migrate, while allowing those white authorities "most approximate to the grounds of danger," to control their movements.12Footnotes -
1. Jacob E. Cooke. Tench Coxe and the Early Republic. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Caroline Press, 1978.
4. Ancestry.com. 1800 United States Federal Census, Queen Anne's County, Maryland, District Not Stated, p. 18.
5. Cooke, 91.
6. Ibid, 107-8.
7. Coxe Family Papers, 1638-1970, Historical Society of Pennsylvania (Finding Aid).
9. Cooke, 94.
10. Cooke, 121.
11. Paul Leicester Ford. Pamphlets of the Constitution of the United States. Brooklyn, NY, 1881, p. 92.
12. Cooke, 512-5.
Researched and Written by David Armenti, 2012.
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