Federalist Tycoon : The Life and Times of Israel Thorndike 9780761865711, 9780761865704

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Federalist Tycoon The Life and Times of Israel Thorndike Timothy H. Kistner

University Press of America,® Inc. Lanham • Boulder • New York • Toronto • Plymouth, UK

Copyright © 2015 by University Press of America,® Inc. 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706 UPA Acquisitions Department (301) 459-3366 Unit A, Whitacre Mews, 26-34 Stannary Street, London SE11 4AB, United Kingdom All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available Library of Congress Control Number: 2015932170 ISBN: 978-0-7618-6570-4 (cloth : alk. paper)—ISBN: 978-0-7618-6571-1 (electronic) Cover image: Israel Thorndike’s portrait by Gilbert Stuart, circa 1820, showing one of New England’s wealthiest men in old age. Courtesy of Massachusetts Historical Society. TM

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

To my wife Alex

Contents

List of Illustrations

vii

Acknowledgments

ix

Prologue: October, 1814

1

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

A Colonial Childhood, 1755–1775 Revolution and Riches, 1775–1792 The Wealthy Merchant, 1792–1802 War Again, 1802–1807 Embargo and Politics, 1807–1812 I Would Spend All My Wealth, 1812–1815 New Horizons, 1815–1820 Final Years of an Industrialist, 1821–1832

5 15 41 61 85 111 137 157

Bibliography

171

Index

173

v

List of Illustrations

Hugh Hill, privateer captain, 25 A young Israel Thorndike, probably in his early thirties, 29 The Beverly Cotton Manufactory, 36 Israel Thorndike’s Beverly mansion, 42 The Alexander Hodgdon, 66 Letter from Thorndike to Timothy Pickering, October 1814, 131 Israel Thorndike’s portrait by Gilbert Stuart, circa 1820, 158

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Acknowledgments

Any acknowledgments must begin with my wife, Alex, who has put up with two years of incessant talk about Israel Thorndike and his contemporaries. Throughout it all she has been unflinchingly kind by indulging my interest, and to her I owe the most for the completion of Federalist Tycoon. The staff at the Baker Library’s Historical Collections at Harvard Business School have earned by outmost gratitude, dealing with my numerous research visits (and occasionally cancellations) throughout the winter and spring of 2013. The vast bulk of Israel Thorndike’s papers are held there, and consequently the majority of my research was conducted there. I am indebted to the Baker staff for their help. I also owe a debt of gratitude to the Beverly Historical Society, and in particular Terri McFadden, for many of the images reproduced in this work, and for exceptional a prompt assistance whenever I had any research to conduct or questions to ask. The staff of the Massachusetts Historical Society, as well, were always helpful with my research there, and provided some of the images for the book. In addition to those who assisted with the research, I must thank several more people. Professors William Fowler, Benjamin Carp and Daniel Vickers all read portions of the manuscript and gave helpful suggestions to this first time author about both the drafts and the publishing process, as did Lynn Rhoads of the New England Quarterly. Christian Samito gave stellar advice about writing history for those outside of academia. My editor, Julia Manzella, spent countless hours examining my final drafts and vastly improved my writing. William Martin, an accomplished novelist, gave helpful suggestions for improving the style. In addition, I wanted to thank John Thorndike for his consistent interest in the book’s progress and subject matter, my parents for their wonderful example, and the rest of my family for their support.

ix

Prologue October, 1814

Colonel Israel Thorndike strode down the sidewalk on India Wharf. To his right, the street opened onto the water, where tall-masted brigs and whitesailed sloops bobbed with the tides. U.S. Navy frigates moved slowly and silently between them, guarding the vessels from attack, while screeching gulls hovered and swooped from above. Just to his left rose a large stone building, jutting over a thousand feet out into Boston Harbor, housing dozens of stores. Coffee, pepper, and other spices were piled high throughout. Their delicious and varied scents wafted across the wharf, mixing with the salty harbor air and the smell of dead fish, carrying a new sensation to Thorndike’s nostrils with each step. The men on the wharf, looking up from their labors, recognized the stocky, 59-year old Thorndike. Some had met him personally, or worked for him; others knew his reputation. He was one of Boston’s richest men, a shipping merchant who had built a fortune in global trade. A cold, hard manager, said some, who cherished only the numbers in his ledger. No, thought others, he was a kind employer, who cared about the men who worked for him, and supported their families if poverty hit. Both views were true. Thorndike’s sharp mind focused intently on the figures in his books, and he had no patience for fools and swindlers. But he sympathized with his employees and their families, too. Born poor, Thorndike lost his own father at six years old and was raised by a single mother in a dirty, drafty farmhouse by the coast. Colonel Thorndike, who had received his military title from long-past militia service in the American Revolution, had just returned from a tour of the Boston Harbor defenses. It was an early October day in 1814, the time of 1

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the season when weather is fickle, and the temperature shifts between reminders of summer’s warmth and cold forebodings of winter. Arriving at his destination, he turned left through a wooden door that opened directly onto the sidewalk. This place, 45 India Wharf, was Thorndike’s global headquarters, his private office, and his storefront, all rolled into one. He marched across the sparsely decorated room, his steps reverberating on the floorboards. At his desk, he sat, was handed paper by a clerk, and prepared the ink-and-quill for a letter. He was sending his assessment of the Harbor defenses to Washington, D.C., as a member of the committee to oversee their construction. But the letter was not addressed to the War or Navy Departments. It was to “Hon. Mr. Pickering” that Thorndike wrote, a radical Federalist member of the House of Representatives. For over two years, the United States had been at war with Great Britain. The conflict had devastated Thorndike’s business. For decades, his commercial partners had been in London. Vast stores of his wealth, much of it in silver, were kept in the British capital. Now the British navy harassed American ships crossing the Atlantic, while great English ports like London and Liverpool were closed to Thorndike’s trade. One of his sons, studying abroad in Edinburgh, had been seized and deported back to the United States. Thorndike made contingency plans, of course, investing in a well thought out scheme to build textile factories in New England. Perhaps, in years to come, that enterprise would prove fruitful. But at the moment, Thorndike craved an end to conflict with Britain. “Boston, 8th October 1814” Thorndike scribbled across the top of the page before writing the salutation “Dear Sir.” Pickering, to whom Thorndike wrote, was the most radical Federalist in high political office. Tall, slim, and spare, Pickering had served under both Washington and Adams as Secretary of State, but he thought his duty was to the interests of New England and Massachusetts before those of the Union. Now, rumors of New England secession swirled across the country, centered inevitably on Pickering. “The works on Nodles Island are nearly finished, and so are those on Dorchester Heights,” wrote Thorndike. “But those on Dorchester Point, and those on the Neck, are barely begun. I have, with Gen. Brooks and Col. Perkins, been on the different grounds proposed to be fortified several times. The profiles were put up on the neck some time since, and the plan you recommended has been adopted. I have also visited Governors Island, where much has been done and more doing. I think that Forts Warren and Independence will be so strong that they will be able to repel any force that can come against them.” 1 Thorndike continued his report for several pages, filling multiple sheets front and back. Towards the end of the letter, Thorndike turned to the state militia. He told Pickering he opposed their being commanded “by the officers of the United States, and organized agreeable to the arrangement made

Prologue

3

by the War Department,” in part because “the whole system is very unpopular with the militia of this state.” Then, hinting at some hidden scheme, Thorndike made a final suggestion. “I do not see,” he wrote, “but we must organize some state force for present defense, saying nothing of ulterior objects.” 2 Thorndike’s career stood at a crossroads, and New England’s future lay in doubt. NOTES 1. Letter from Israel Thorndike (IT) to Timothy Pickering, October 8, 1814 (Pickering Papers, MHS). 2. Letter from IT to Timothy Pickering, October 8, 1814 (Pickering Papers, MHS).

Chapter One

A Colonial Childhood, 1755–1775

Colonial Massachusetts possessed a small and dispersed population whose inhabitants pursued primarily farming and maritime careers. Boston, perhaps the pre-eminent city in British North America, boasted only 15,000 inhabitants. Small pockets of wooden houses, spread out far from tiny village centers, marked the colony’s northern shore. A traveler on the dirt roads connecting the villages would occasionally pass farm homesteads, often marked by old, brown, salt-box houses with long, back-sloping roofs. It was from Beverly, one of the many small villages, that the future Colonel Thorndike emerged. Some of its inhabitants objected to the name, though, because some nearby persons had nicknamed the village “Beggarly.” 1 Beverly had been settled by Puritans around 1630, part of their large scale emigration in the decade prior to the English Civil War. Over the next century, it grew into a small village of sailors, farmers, and fisherman, located at the southernmost point of Cape Ann, a large peninsula jutting into the Atlantic north of Boston. The town possessed a small harbor open to the sea. Across the harbor lay the much larger town of Salem, whose inhabitants were preoccupied by seagoing concerns. The two towns’ citizens were often connected by business and by marriage, though for the moment, they were disconnected by water. To move from Salem to Beverly and back again, one would have to ferry across the harbor, or ride west to skirt the river near the infamous Salem Village, since renamed Danvers, site of the Witch Trials of 1692. Israel Thorndike was born in Beverly on April 30, 1755, the fourth child and fourth son of Andrew and Anna Thorndike. His great-great-grandfather, John Thorndike, had arrived in North America with John Winthrop on the Arabella fleet in 1630 and helped settle Massachusetts’ north shore. A man 5

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of property, he established the area of Beverly known as “The Cove,” and maintained powerful connections back in England, where his brother Herbert was the Canon of Westminster Abbey. 2 A century after John arrived, Israel’s father Andrew had not inherited much. He owned a small Beverly farm, and scratched what he could from the rocky New England soil. When time and opportunity arose, he ferried across Beverly Harbor to Salem, where he could obtain employment as a seaman aboard coastal trading vessels. By Andrew’s time, the family was little different from the other farming and seafaring families of the region. 3 Fathers in northeastern Massachusetts expected their sons to work. Many boys began contributing to the farm work at the young age of seven. By their teens, they were cutting thatch, picking apples, and plowing fields. They would drive cattle to market and be hired out to neighbors to earn some extra income. Often it was the oldest son who supervised the younger ones; the little boy Israel probably found himself ordered around the fields by his older, bigger brothers, Luke and Joseph. 4 Like others in the region, the Thorndike farm where Israel spent his formative years was small, dirty and drafty. They lived in a “half-house.” Visitors to the Thorndikes saw one doorway near the home’s corner, with two windows to the other side. When they entered, they would have first noticed the large fireplace. It served dual uses, for cooking in all seasons and for heating the house in the dreadfully cold New England winters. In summer, the heat from the fire made the home swelteringly hot. The smell of animals, sweat and wood ash pervaded its every corner. At night, the family slept together in one or two beds on uncomfortable, lumpy mattresses stuffed with straw; a chamber pot would be at the ready in case nature called. Privacy was at a minimum. Nevertheless, young Israel caught glimpses of a more prosperous world flourishing around him. Beverly was not all wooden farmhouses. It enjoyed a population of about 2,500. Approximately a dozen warehouses lined the street along Beverly Harbor, where local merchants and fishermen conducted their businesses. On this street, his nostrils assaulted by the smell of fish and salt water, Israel could look across the harbor to see the many masts that towered over Salem, rising from ships that sailed the world. If he looked away from the water, up a hill to the west, he could see the mansion of William Browne. Browne was a Harvard graduate, member of the Massachusetts General Court, and one of nearby Salem’s most eminent citizens. His house commanded an impressive view of the small village below. The twostory mansion centered on a long, seventy-foot hallway and was flanked by two perpendicular wings. The size of the home, and the wealth it exuded, could not have escaped the young Israel’s notice. In it, he could glimpse the world’s possibilities. 5

A Colonial Childhood, 1755–1775

7

If the glories of mature wealth were on display to Israel, so was the everpresent specter of early death. Two of Israel’s older brothers died before Israel turned nine: Luke in 1763 and Paul, just five years old, in 1757. Most devastating, however, was the death of his father in 1761, caught in a raging Atlantic gale on board a ship returning from Philadelphia. Israel was only six, and he received a marginal inheritance–one pound and four shillings, which would not become his until he reached twenty years old. 6 What little education Israel obtained came from Beverly’s lone public school, housed in a small, one-room schoolhouse. A single schoolmaster instructed children of all ages. Beverly required the teacher to submit the names of the children who attended; the village then taxed those parents accordingly. If any parents couldn’t pay, their young offspring were forbidden to warm themselves by the schoolhouse fire on cold days. 7 How long Israel attended the local school is unknown, but he certainly never advanced beyond a brief primary education. His immense intelligence was apparent from an early age, and so he likely found school interesting. But Israel’s future success would be determined more by action and street smarts than by anything he could have gained from advanced schooling, and he stopped attending school early. He never considered pursuing higher education. Only eleven men in Beverly’s history had ever graduated from college. A degree was not a prerequisite for success. 8 Instead, Israel’s mother apprenticed him to a cooper at an early age, but the monotonous labor of barrel-making was not to his liking. Instead, Israel turned his considerable energy to the sea. His first encounter with seaborne employment was almost certainly as a fisherman, the primary vocation of Beverly seamen. A fisherman’s life was hard. Most began as teenagers, and the law required them to give their salaries to their parents until they reached twenty-one. The trade entailed many years of training, and each season lasted nine to ten months annually. A successful young fisherman could find himself promoted to skipper, with the possibility of commanding a merchant vessel in coastal or international trade in the future. His unsuccessful brethren would, by their forties, find themselves unemployed, as more physically capable young men filled their old jobs. Their retirements would be spare, hard, and short. Even for the most successful, however, the possibility of a cold, wet death in the Atlantic Ocean always lurked. Indeed, over one fiveyear period in the 1760s, forty two vessels from Essex County sank into the Atlantic darkness, carrying with them the lives of three hundred men. 9 In Israel’s childhood, Beverly was not a seafaring town. The few fishermen typically sailed from Salem. These trips to sea were usually side gigs for the men, secondary to their land-based jobs as farmers, artisans or laborers. In 1763, only nine vessels operated out of Beverly. But the sea’s profit potential was tempting, and the men of Beverly, hoping to limit their reliance on Salem, began launching their own vessels. Over the next decade, the

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number of fishing vessels more than quadrupled. For the young Israel, the timing could not have been better. The sudden explosion of seaborne business offered boundless opportunities for ambitious, adventure-seeking youngsters. 10 Israel probably began earlier than his peers. He may have become a ship’s boy as early as twelve. He immediately attracted attention by virtue of his considerable energy, an intellect of great range, an instinct for diligent preparation, and the vigor with which he pursued each task. He received rapid promotion. Israel’s mother and stepfather appear to have allowed him to manage his own money, and to make his own investments. Such autonomy for a teenager was remarkable and is a testament to the extraordinary talent which he must have exhibited at such an early age. By fifteen or sixteen, he was already purchasing his own ships, hiring his own crews, and commissioning his own skippers. Sadly, the precise details of how he built his early business are lost to the sands of history. But this much is clear: as a teenager, Thorndike was already on the road to fortune. 11

Beverly did not lack role models for ambitious youngsters, and a number of locals were also moving into the shipping trade. Josiah Batchelder was such a man. He went to sea at an early age. Smart, hard-working and charismatic, he quickly rose to be named a ship commander. In 1761, when Batchelder was twenty-five, he had been captured by French privateers while sailing from Georgia to St. Kitt’s. After one day’s imprisonment, he managed to haggle with the privateers and obtain the release of his ship for 2,300 “pieces of eight.” The French sent his crew off to recover the sum but kept Batchelder as a hostage, holding him in a filthy prison cell on Martinique until his sailors returned. Upon his release, Batchelder went straight to the French governor to protest his treatment. Back in Beverly, he built a diversified fleet, and opened an inn for further income. 12 Joseph Lee, eleven years older than Israel, paved a path that the young Thorndike would trace. At thirteen he had gone to sea. Precocious and possessing excellent business instincts, he had become commander of several ships engaged in trade with Spain and the West Indies. By the time Lee entered his late twenties, his future appeared bright. 13 Henry Herrick was another of the town’s most prominent personages. A colorful man with a gift for agitation, Herrick served in the local militia. He was often present at town meetings, and as the 1760s wore on, became increasingly noticeable for his protests against the policies of the British parliament. 14 Joseph Wood, born in 1740, was a young, public-spirited man, who was long considered one of the town’s more upstanding citizens. Beginning in the late 1760s, he served in numerous public roles, including as a town select-

A Colonial Childhood, 1755–1775

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man, and later as a representative to the Massachusetts legislature. Thorndike would often utilize him as a notary public when the need arose. Beginning in 1771, Wood became the town clerk in 1771; he would occupy the office for nearly four decades, not relinquishing it until his death. 15 The Cabot brothers were also emerging as leaders in the rapidly growing shipping business. The brothers were Salem natives, sons of a wealthy seamerchant who had moved them to Beverly as children. Two of the older brothers, John and Andrew, opened a shipping firm in Beverly called J. & A. Cabot, while George, three years Thorndike’s senior, went into the shipping business with Joseph Lee. Thorndike would have long-lasting relationships with all the Cabot brothers. John was the oldest, Andrew was a lively and social man who enjoyed the company of others, while George was the youngest and most impressive of the three. After a false start at Harvard, George followed family tradition and instead went to sea. He captained his own vessel at the age of eighteen in 1771, and sailed to many ports of Europe. His mind was sharp and contemplative, and he was more tightlipped and careful with his words than his older brother Andrew. Physically, he stood tall and possessed an almost Washingtonian dignity. George was clearly one of the most promising young men in the town. 16 As the 1770s dawned, however, it may have been the young Thorndike— a broad-shouldered man, five feet, seven inches, with dark hair and complexion—whose future shone brighter than anyone else’s in the small town. The Cabot brothers came from a family with a long maritime history. George Cabot, like his brothers, had received £600 as his inheritance at his father’s death, dwarfing Thorndike’s patrimony. But Thorndike’s own advantages, his intelligence and drive, had fashioned a rapid ascent. By 1772, at seventeen, he possessed the largest and most valuable fishing fleet in the town, surpassing the Cabots, Batchelder, and other longtime Beverly merchants. Thorndike had expanded beyond fishing, too, owning a small trading fleet of two vessels. In Beverly, the Cabots were the only others to own multiple trading ships. In total, Thorndike’s diversified fleet was valued at £1,500. This ranked him among the wealthiest one percent of New England’s population—the cutoff for that distinction two years later was £1,100. It is sad for the historian that no documentation of Thorndike’s astonishing early accumulation of wealth exists. In three years, he would receive his pitiful inheritance of just over £1. When he did, one imagines he may not have noticed. 17 The young Thorndike’s tenacity impressed long-term residents and new arrivals alike. Moses Brown, arriving in town in 1772, promptly noticed the talented teen. Brown, a 24-year old Harvard graduate and a Massachusetts native, had heard of Beverly’s growing maritime business, and moved there to start his own enterprise. The two young men quickly took to each other and soon decided to combine their operations. Their partnership, Brown & Thorndike, would be enduring and fruitful. 18

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As Brown & Thorndike was born, however, the immediate future looked uncertain. The American colonists, particularly those in Massachusetts, grew increasingly restless under the policies of the British government. The political disagreement was reaching into the lives and consciousness of every American colonist. What started as a squabble among peoples of common heritage was rapidly threatening to upend the established order.

The trouble began with the Stamp Act. In March 1765, Parliament levied a tax on the American colonists requiring stamps to be fixed to all sorts of documents, ranging from newspapers to legal documents to advertisements. The stamps could be purchased at cost. Given the widespread use of written materials by American colonists, and the economic malaise which existed in the aftermath of the French & Indian War, the tax was not insignificant. The Act would go into effect in November. In Massachusetts, colonists erupted in disapproval. The main opposition in Essex County centered in Newburyport, where residents denounced the imposition of taxes without their consent. Other nearby towns were similarly enraged. Throughout the summer, angry protests rocked the colony, threatening mob violence. Some activists, looking to harness the emotions, formed a secret network of opposition called the Sons of Liberty. In October, many of the colonies sent representatives to New York to adopt a “Declaration of Rights and Grievances.” The residents of Boston began a boycott of British goods, which spread to the north shore of Massachusetts by the end of 1765. The economic pressure had the desired effect. Under pressure from English shippers and workers, Parliament repealed the Stamp Act in March, 1766. Celebrations broke out throughout Massachusetts. In Beverly, a great bonfire was built and fireworks were lit to mark the occasion. The colonists celebrated their political victory as much as the renewed affection between colonists and mother country. The young Israel, just shy of eleven, surely attended the celebration with his widowed mother, who was then likely in the early stages of a courtship with Joshua Dodge, whom she married later that year. 19 The British government, however, did not believe this ended of the matter. Still needing to raise revenue to pay debts from their recent war, they imposed duties on items imported into the colonies. The duties, enshrined in the Townshend Acts, passed in 1767. Many merchants attempted to evade the duties by smuggling their goods into port. One year later, a sloop belonging to Boston’s most prominent merchant, John Hancock, was seized after trying to smuggle Madeira wine past the customs inspectors. A riotous mob of Americans stormed and seized the sloop in return. The British government was not amused. In response, they stationed a thousand British troops in Boston, further outraging the colonists, who called for a Massachusetts Convention. Beverly sent Henry Herrick, but despite his presence, the convention

A Colonial Childhood, 1755–1775

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adopted a relatively moderate declaration, insisting on loyalty to the King and protesting the use of standing armies in peacetime. 20 Nevertheless, the threat of mob violence lingered, sometimes bursting forth within sight of the young Thorndike’s home. Across the water in nearby Salem, a customs employee named Thomas Row was brutally tarred and feathered for reporting a ship that evaded duties. Further north, a ship’s carpenter in Newburyport, Joshua Vickery, was placed in the stocks, pelted with eggs and stones, and then confined in prison. Merchants in Boston and Salem once again agreed to a boycott of British goods. Beverly followed suit in 1770. Nonetheless, British troops remained in Boston, where violence finally erupted. Eight British soldiers outside the Custom House in Boston found themselves confronted by an unruly mob. In the confusion, a shot was fired, followed by more. Five men were killed, and news of the Boston Massacre spread across the colonies. To calm the rapidly deteriorating state of affairs, the British government finally repealed most of the Townshend Acts. 21 The storm abated for three years when the British government, apparently undaunted, passed the Tea Act of 1773, giving the British East India Company a monopoly on the importation of tea to the colonies. Opposition to the measure arose once more, spreading quickly through the committees of correspondence. A committee composed of certain patriotic citizens existed in each town and village, creating a network of communication among the towns to coordinate responses and share plans. Thorndike was a member of Beverly’s committee at various times, though likely not a participant in 1773. That November, Beverly’s committee of correspondence (most likely including both Herrick and Batchelder) issued one of the most radical statements yet seen in the American colonies: a “strict union of all the colonies for a redress of the many grievances” which had arisen from the acts of the British government. In essence, the patriots of Beverly were calling for the colonies to band together in opposition to the British government’s policies. Such a unified approach would not be widely seen until the next summer. Thorndike came of age in this milieu and amongst this talk. The radical ideas sank deep into the young Thorndike’s mind, establishing the foundation of his political thought. 22 One month later, a group of Boston men dressed as Mohawk Indians marched down to the Boston piers, stormed a British ship carrying tea, and dumped all 342 chests of it into the harbor. The residents of Beverly approved the Boston Tea Party, but the British response was swift and harsh. They closed the port of Boston to all trade until the East India Company was repaid for the tea, gave the Royal Governor sole discretion to appoint colonial officials, allowed royal officials to be tried for crimes in England instead of Massachusetts, and allowed British soldiers to be quartered in American homes. In response, the colonies convened a Continental Congress—the first

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of many—which adopted a further boycott of all British goods coupled with a demand to return to the legal system that had existed before 1763. In Massachusetts, tensions rose. The Royal Governor, Thomas Gage, began to fortify Boston in the fall of 1774. The townspeople of Beverly, assembled in a Town Meeting, affirmed their solidarity with Boston. Towns across the colony prepared their own local militia, known as Minute Men, ready to respond to any provocation from the British government at a moment’s notice. They stockpiled weapons and powder, and waited. 23 The winter passed, and turned to spring. NOTES 1. Stone, Edwin M., History of Beverly, Civil and Ecclesiastical, from Its Settlement in 1630 to 1842, Boston, James Munroe & Co., 1843, p 17. 2. Stafford, Morgan Hewitt, Descendents of John Thorndike of Essex County, Edwards Bros., Ann Arbor, Mich., 1960, p. 1 (hereinafter “Thorndike Genealogy”). 3. Thorndike genealogy, p. 1. 4. Vickers, Daniel, Farmers and Fisherman: Two Centuries of Work in Essex County, Massachusetts, 1630-1850, University of North Carolina Press, 1994, pp. 219–21. 5. Stone, History of Beverly, pp 6–7. 6. Thorndike genealogy, pp. 41–42; Forbes, J.D., Israel Thorndike: Federalist Financier, Exposition Press, 1953, p. 14. 7. Stone, History of Beverly, p. 113. 8. Stone, History of Beverly, p. 120. 9. Vickers, Farmers and Fishermen, pp. 173–83. 10. Vickers, Farmers and Fishermen, p. 193. 11. Vickers, Farmers and Fishermen, pp. 173–74— it should be noted that most did not become employed until they were about 17, by which time Israel already had one of the largest fleets in the town. Ships boys are mentioned as having been employed as early as 11–12. It seems probable that this was Israel’s case. It would have taken a few years at least to build up his fleet. 12. Stone, History of Beverly, pp. 97–98. 13. Stone, History of Beverly, pp. 132–33. 14. Stone, History of Beverly, pp. 55, 66, 88. 15. Stone, History of Beverly, pp. 96–97. 16. Stone, History of Beverly, pp. 123–29; Morrison, Samuel Eliot, Harrison Gray Otis, 1765-1848: The Urbane Federalist, Boston, Houghton Mifflin Co., 1969, p. 359. 17. Lodge, Henry Cabot, Life and Letters of George Cabot, Little Brown & Co., Boston, 1878, pp. 8–9; Howe, Octavius Thorndike, Beverly Privateers of the American Revolution, Reprinted from The Publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, Vol. XXIV, John Wilson & Son, Cambridge, 1922, p. 319–20; Fichter, James, So Great a Proffit: How the East Indies Trade Transformed Anglo-American Capitalism, Harvard University Press, 2010, p. 116. 18. A letter from Edward Ingersoll Browne, a grandson of Moses Brown (and who was, coincidentally, was a law partner with Israel Thorndike’s grandson, Charles, in a new partnership Browne & Thorndike), written about 1885, places the formation of the partnership in 1776. Browne’s letter is located in the Israel Thorndike Collection, Baker Library, Harvard University. But Moses Brown was serving in the Continental Army at the Siege of Boston or in the New York and New Jersey campaigns for almost all of 1776, and would have had little time to start a mercantile concern. Other evidence tends to place the partnership’s creation prior to the outbreak of the Revolution. This seems most probable.

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19. Tagney, Ronald N., The World Turned Upside Down: Essex County During America’s Turbulent Years, 1763-1790, Essex County History, 1989, pp. 40–41. 20. Tagney, The World Turned Upside Down, pp. 47–48. 21. Tagney, The World Turned Upside Down, pp. 52–53. 22. Tagney, The World Turned Upside Down, pp. 74–79. 23. Tagney, The World Turned Upside Down, pp. 120–125.

Chapter Two

Revolution and Riches, 1775–1792

Monday, April 19, 1775 started quietly in Beverly. Farmers woke, fisherman made their way down to the wharf and Beverly Harbor in preparation for the day, and housewives began their normal routines with the rising sun. The week was beginning anew after the day of rest still observed on Sundays in colonial Massachusetts. The morning was mild and the temperature hinted at the lure of summer. The sun rose into the clear blue sky, with no clouds to block her rays. Suddenly, there were whispers in the streets down by the wharf. Men and women began to gather at street corners, discussing rumors in hushed tones. Something was amiss. The rumors soon were confirmed. A dispatch rider came hurrying through the town atop his horse, dust billowing behind him, yelling out the news as he went: a detachment of British soldiers had left Boston last night and was en route to Concord to seize radical leaders and stores of weapons and ammunition. The British had decided to strike a blow. The effect on the village of Beverly, as one historian described, was electric. 1 Joseph Rea, recently appointed a captain of a Beverly militia company, leapt to his horse without a word and began riding out towards the farms on the town’s outskirts. Like the rider who so suddenly disturbed Beverly’s peace, he proclaimed the news of the British army’s advance as he went. Soon Caleb Dodge, another militia captain, rode off in another direction shouting the same. A few others followed, and soon all of Beverly’s residents were aware of the emerging crisis. The farmers left their ploughs in the fields, the fishermen brought in their boats. Soon all the men of the town were forming into their militia units. The young Thorndike, just days shy of his twentieth birthday, was probably among them. By the time the first militia company from Beverly marched 15

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out, early in the afternoon, the British had already been defeated at the North Bridge in Concord and were retreating back to Boston. Nevertheless, they had a long march back, and swarms of Minute Men from towns across Massachusetts were moving to stop them. By 3pm, nearly all the men of Beverly were on the march, leaving town’s remaining population overwhelmingly female. Some of the women openly worried that they would have no protection if British soldiers were to arrive in Beverly, but their fears were assuaged by Hannah Batchelder, Josiah’s wife, who simply stated “Let them come. And if they do not behave themselves, we’ll take our brooms and drive them out of town.” 2 The British soldiers never did come to Beverly that day. Instead they hurtled in headlong retreat back towards Boston. The roused Minute Men harassed them along the way, and some of the Beverly men managed to get in on the action. Ebenezer Francis, a local businessman and captain of a group of twenty-five Minute Men from Beverly, had been among the first to respond to the alarm once it reached Beverly. His men combined with a force from Danvers en route to Menotony, near Spy Pond and Alewife Brook in modern-day Arlington. When Francis’ men arrived around 2pm, having made the 16-mile march in only four hours, they linked up with others from Lynn, Dedham, Needham and Menotony itself. They gathered to wait in the front yard of a farmhouse overlooking the road, opening fire on the redcoats when the British approached. But the British ambushed them from the rear— a number of redcoats had flanked the Minute Men and approached from behind the farmhouse. Reuben Kennison, a Beverly farmer, was shot in the front yard and repeatedly bayonetted by the frightened British soldiers. Just hours before, Kennison had kissed his young wife goodbye. They had been married less than a year. 3 Fierce hand-to-hand combat ensued, and a number of the Beverly Minute Men found refuge in the cellar. One redcoat tried to follow them in, but was shot and killed on the stairs. His companions decided to keep moving. Most of the rest of the militia and the Beverly Minute Men ran across the road towards the woods, jumping behind a stone wall for protection and firing their muskets as the British desperately tried to move past them on the road back to Boston. Nathaniel Cleaves, another Beverly man, had his finger shot off while attempting to reload. Two others from Beverly were also wounded. The British made it through, but continued to be harassed by men from other towns until they reached Charlestown. 4 The record is silent about the young Thorndike’s role on the fateful Nineteenth of April. Just days shy of his twentieth birthday, with a predilection for the era’s revolutionary activity, he was probably a member of either the local militia or the Minute Men. Most likely, he was off at sea, as were most of the young men from Beverly. If not— and it is possible that his position as owner allowed him more time to spend in Beverly—he may have been

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(along with his business partner, Moses Brown) with the fifty-man group from the Lower Parish under the command of his cousin, Larkin Thorndike. Captain Larkin Thorndike’s contingent marched out, muskets in hand and hats on head, to harass the British soldiers on their return route. The Beverly men marched twenty-four miles to Lexington, arriving the next day only to find that the British had long since left for Boston. Having missed the action, the group turned back to Beverly, arriving early on the morning of Thursday, April 22. Whether young Thorndike was with this group will probably never be known, though it seems the most likely possibility if he was not at sea. But the spark of revolution had been lit, and for the young man of action, other opportunities to serve the American cause beckoned. 5

The British army was bottled up on the Shawmut peninsula in Boston, under the watchful guard of local colonists commanded by the Virginian George Washington, but the British still commanded the sea. No American navy existed. But in Beverly, Salem, and elsewhere, local merchants began to remedy the lack of naval power, and commissioning privateers to disrupt British merchant ships. A small number of privateers began to operate out of Beverly shortly after the battles of April. They were not uniformly successful. That autumn, one small schooner sailed out of Beverly Harbor and encountered a large British warship, the Nautilus, after a brief time at sea. The Nautilus chased the schooner back into Beverly harbor and fired her cannons at the town meeting house, damaging some of the neighboring houses and scattering most of Beverly’s residents into hiding. Henry Herrick, not to be undone, appeared in a conspicuous military costume and rallied some marksmen to return fire with muskets. Some patriotic men of Salem opened fire on the Nautilus with cannon, who soon found herself in a precarious position. Before the British captain realized what was happening, the tide receded, stranding the Nautilus in the mudflats of the harbor. The entire crew was forced to hide below deck, until darkness and a rising tide enabled them to make good their escape. Despite an apparent victory, Beverly decided soon afterward to build fortifications to give the town added protection. 6 The failure of one voyage and the continued presence of the British navy, the world’s most formidable maritime force, did not stop Beverly’s merchants from privateering. Thorndike was one of the first to leap at the prospect. He recognized privateering’s capacity to quench a young man’s thirst for adventure and his desire to help the American cause, while opening an opportunity for profit. His partner, the ruddy-faced Moses Brown, chose a different route, joining the Continental army. He raised a company of militia in Beverly that autumn, and marched south to join General Washington’s ragtag force at Cambridge in January, 1776, where the British lay besieged in

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Boston. Brown would remain at arms for the next few years, following Washington through New York and New Jersey, where he served at the Battle of Trenton. He would not return until 1777. 7 Privateering carried significantly higher risks than those encountered by a regular sailor in the navy. In addition to the normal dangers—shipwreck, disease, and death in battle, among others—a privateer also had to confront the possibility of economic ruin. If no enemy vessels were captured, the sailors and officers would receive no money. The navy sailor, by contrast, relied on a salary and maintained opportunities for professional advancement. Moreover, privateers were often not accorded the status of normal prisoners of war, and could be subject to significantly worse detention and punishment if captured. 8 The goal of privateering was to capture enemy vessels—to destroy them brought no economic benefit. Even when successful, however, more dangers lurked. With each new ship brought under command, the captain would have to divide his own crew in order to man the new prize. The division of the crew compounded with each additional capture. The privateers also had to carry the crew members and passengers of the opponent’s ship with them. At a certain point, any captain would have to be concerned that the increasing number prisoners lurking about in their hull might overpower the skeletal crews and retake command of the ships. Indeed, a privateering vessel that captured more enemy ships than guns she carried was considered to be in particular danger, and approaching this tipping point was thought to be courting a worse fate than failing to seize anything at all. 9 In the fall of 1776, Thorndike was recruited by Josiah Batchelder to command a fifty-ton schooner called the Warren. She was one of just three privateers setting sail from Beverly that year. In peaceful times she was one of Batchelder’s merchant vessels. For war, she was outfitted with five mounted guns, and ten lighter swivel guns. She carried a crew of fifty sailors. For such a young man—Thorndike was now twenty one—being selected as the captain was an impressive accomplishment. Most of the schooner’s crew was undoubtedly older than him. 10 Sadly, the records of the privateering vessels are scant and slight, so what we know is often gleaned only through pieced-together bits of information. Thorndike likely captained the Warren on a successful voyage. He had been instructed to cruise to Maryland or Virginia, so she did not go deep into the Atlantic. Given the length of her time at sea and the overall havoc American privateers brought to British shipping, it is reasonable to assume she took at least one or two prizes. 11 Still, the Warren was small. If she encountered any larger craft, her crew would be in for trouble, so consequently Thorndike and his men tended to prey on smaller vessels. Thorndike spent his winter off the American coast. He relinquished his command in the spring of 1777, in search of new ways to

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serve the American cause. A later captain of the Warren did not handle her with as much skill or luck—some months later, the Warren was found at sea by a large British warship, whose heavy guns blasted apart her mainmast. The crew managed to limp away and escape briefly before being captured and imprisoned in Liverpool. 12 In March, having earned distinction as a privateering captain, Thorndike joined the newly created Massachusetts State Navy in search of a more official position. He received a commission as the first lieutenant on the Tyrannicide, a two-masted brigantine carrying ten guns. She had been active just under a year. Thorndike’s position was highly placed—the new commander, Jonathan Harraden, had been promoted from first lieutenant that month. Harraden was no slouch of a commander. Thirty-two years old, he was born in Gloucester and moved to Salem as a boy, where he worked for the Cabot brothers’ father. He possessed immense talent, with one author calling him “one of the most daring and skillful navigators that ever sailed from Salem.” Another said that “amid the din of battle he was calm and selfpossessed. The more deadly the strife, the more imminent that peril, the more terrific the scene, the more perfect seemed his self-command and serene intrepidity. He was a hero among heroes, and his name shall live in honored and effective remembrance.” 13 Commission in hand, Thorndike left Beverly and journeyed south along the dirt roads to Boston. The Tyrannicide, though a privateer, was sailing under the official sanction of the Massachusetts government as a member of her navy. The government gave the crew their orders: sail to the coast of Europe, alongside the brigantine Massachusetts, to capture British shipping. The Freedom, yet another brigantine, already had a few weeks head start. 14 The Tyrannicide and the Massachusetts sailed from Boston Harbor on March 24. Looking back across the water, Thorndike watched the Boston hills and the harbor islands steadily diminish on the horizon before vanishing from sight. Nothing but blue could be seen in any direction. The water stretched flat to the horizon, and while the sky encompassed the rest. Only the nearby Massachusetts provided any reminder of civilization. Both vessels carried large white sails that billowed in the ocean wind. The flapping of the sails, coupled with the splash of ocean waves, the whipping of ocean wind, and the creaking of the ship’s wood offered the only sounds to be heard out in the midst of the Atlantic. 15 It took just over a week for the vessels to encounter their first enemy, about five hundred miles southeast of Newfoundland. They captured her, a British ship called Chaulkly, with some ease. Six days later, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, halfway between Massachusetts and Portugal, the Tyrannicide and Massachusetts came across two other vessels sailing together. The Massachusetts gave chase to one, while the Tyrannicide pursued the other. The Tyrannicide fired shots at the Lonsdale, a large, three-masted ship, giv-

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ing chase for three hours before forcing her to succumb. Harraden and Thorndike’s crew had now taken their second prize on the voyage, just halfway across the Atlantic. The Massachusetts returned and the two vessels rendezvoused. Harraden and Thorndike learned that the Massachusetts had failed to capture the Lonsdale’s sailing partner; she had gotten away. 16 The two American warships continued on an easterly course. Day after day passed with nothing but endless, blue expanse. No other ships emerged on the horizon. Then, on the 22nd of April, just eight days before Thorndike’s twenty-second birthday, they spotted a fleet of nine British ships off in the distance. Two of them were warships, including one enormous brig carrying sixty cannons. The other seven were transport vessels. They had departed from Plymouth, England, bound for New York City, filled with fresh Hessian mercenary troops for the fight against the American rebels. The Massachusetts and Tyrannicide wisely kept their distance, and the two groups warily passed each other by, aided by a wind that made confrontation difficult. But the last of the transport ships fell behind her convoy. Like predators attacking the weakest of the pack, the two American ships swept in and easily captured the vessel without a fight. On board, they found 63 Hessian soldiers bound for the American battlefields, complete with muskets, powder and ammunition. The Hessians found themselves suddenly under guard of American sailors, who sailed the ship alongside the Massachusetts as their growing convoy sailed towards Europe. 17 As they approached Europe, another British vessel, sailing alone, was spotted to the east at 9 am on the morning of May 17th. Both Tyrannicide and Massachusetts undertook the chase once again. They made a good pace against her, and were within two miles of the British vessel by three in the afternoon, despite her captain’s desperate attempts to escape. Suddenly, three ships appeared to the northeast, headed directly toward the Americans. As the crews watched, one of them raised an English flag and went right for both American brigantines. She had the wind in her favor. Harraden and Fisk, the captain of the Massachusetts, both made the decision to flee. As they had done to their prey in the morning, the two American ships now found themselves rapidly overtaken. Within six hours the English vessel had gained considerably on their sterns. In the approaching darkness, Harraden and Fisk agreed to separate. The Massachusetts proved the luckier of the Americans, for the English warship decided to continue its chase against the Tyrannicide instead. Fisk and his crew watched with concern. Within forty minutes, the Tyrannicide receded into the darkness under British pursuit, and the Massachusetts found itself alone, but safe, in the dark Atlantic night. Around 10pm, a brief reminder of the chase emerged when the crew of Massachusetts saw flashes of red against the sky, an indication of cannon fire in the distance. But the sound did not reach them. 18

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Meanwhile, on the Tyrannicide, Harraden and Thorndike’s crew raced desperately to escape the approaching British ship. Captain Harraden, perhaps in consultation with First Lieutenant Thorndike, decided to lighten the ship. The British vessel was nearly within range. At one point, the British ship swung round, thinking she had pulled close enough. The loud booms of the British cannon were accompanied by red flashes in the night sky, and fortunately for the Americans, by a nearby splash of ocean water. The crew of Tyrannicide set to work. They seized all guns and provisions that they would not need to complete the voyage and tossed them overboard. The process was long, but it was desperately important work. Fortunately for Thorndike, and the rest of the men on board, it was successful. The abandonment of many of the ship’s guns and stores lightened Tyrannicide to the point where they could make a successful escape into the night. Soon the British warship was out of sight, disappearing into the blackness. When the sun rose in the morning, the ocean’s horizons were clear and empty. 19 Within a few days, the Tyrannicide made port in Spain, at Bilbao. The city of Bilbao is located on the country’s northern coastline, near the French border. It has a mild climate, and in summertime the temperatures often reach no higher than the upper 70s. Rain is an abundant and frequent feature. Before the war, Bilbao was a leading port for Massachusetts traders; now, the Beverly privateers and Massachusetts Navy would use its harbor as a base of operations. Here Thorndike, along with the rest of the ship’s crew, spent nearly two months in the summer of 1777. The Massachusetts, by contrast, had docked only a few weeks at Nantes in France before returning towards Boston. The delay is probably best explained by the Tyrannicide’s narrow escape from the British warship, days before her arrival—the Tyrannicide had to procure a large store of provisions and weapons before returning to the Americas. They may have needed to make repairs to the ship as well, had it been damaged in the pursuit. Lieutenant Thorndike, who may have captained commercial voyages to the West Indies and thus had experience obtaining provisions, was likely tapped by Captain Haraden to help. But their progress was slow. The men of the crew probably passed their ample time in the tradition of sailors at foreign ports, pursuing rum and women. They also traded stories with the American merchant vessels that still made their way across the Atlantic despite the ongoing conflict. One such vessel would bring word to a relieved Captain Fisk on the Massachusetts that the Tyrannicide had indeed survived the battle. For his own part, when not engaged in official duties, Thorndike spent the long delay thinking of a young woman back in Beverly. Time eventually solved their concerns, and around mid-July the Tyrannicide sailed west toward home. The return voyage was apparently uneventful. On August 30, the brigantine arrived in Boston Harbor. Captain Haraden immediately began readying her to sail again, barking orders to purchase

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provisions and refit Tyrannicide for months on the ocean. But Thorndike would not go with them. Instead, he left Boston and traveled home to Beverly. He had been gone nearly six months. Now, Thorndike had another priority on his mind. 20

Mercy Trask was twenty years old. She had been born in Beverly on November 14, 1756, a younger daughter of Osman Trask, now in his sixties. The Trask family had lived in Beverly for decades. Tantalizingly little is known about her outside of vital dates. But from the scraps of information littering the historical record, some sort of narrative can be arranged. Mercy and Israel probably knew each other from childhood; Beverly was small enough that most everyone was acquainted. Their proximity in age made an early acquaintance even more likely. In 1774 Thorndike’s partner Moses Brown married Mercy’s older sister, Elizabeth, establishing with near certainty that they had met by this time. In January 1776, when Brown departed with other Beverly soldiers to fight the British army on American soil, he left behind his young wife. Perhaps Brown asked Thorndike to watch after her in his absence: later in life, Thorndike was known for taking care of his sailors’ wives when the husbands were off at sea. Such an arrangement would have brought Israel and Mercy into closer contact. In that remarkable year of 1776, a courtship almost certainly began between the young man and woman, caught up in the storms of rebellion and war. Thorndike took command of the Warren in the fall of that year. He returned to Beverly only briefly, around early March, before taking up his commission in the Massachusetts Navy and spending six months privateering on the Tyrannicide. That interim period during Thorndike’s short return home seems the most likely time for him and Mercy to have reached an understanding about their future together, even if they did not make a formal engagement. One imagines they had decided, should Thorndike return from the Tyrannicide’s voyage alive, that the two should marry. When Thorndike returned to Boston on Tyrannicide on August 30, 1777, he made no effort to rejoin the crew, instead traveling north to Beverly. Probably then, in the late summer before the leaves began to turn, Israel and Mercy became officially engaged. Engagements lasted just a short while, and the two were married in Beverly on October 9. Moses Brown had recently returned from service in the Continental Army, where he had fought under General Washington in the disastrous New York campaign, and at Trenton when Washington famously crossed the Delaware River on Christmas Day. Brown and Thorndike, heretofore partners in business, were now brothers-inlaw.

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Thorndike left little time for a honeymoon, but the young couple enjoyed their brief days together. Exactly nine months after the wedding, on July 8, 1778, Mercy gave birth to a daughter, their first child, named Elizabeth. 21

Brown and Thorndike probably renewed their business partnership in that fall of 1777. The partnership had taken a back seat to the Revolution, but with both men now settled, they would spend less time away from Beverly. Nevertheless, in November, only a month after his wedding, Thorndike took command of a privateering vessel once again. This time, Thorndike and Josiah Batchelder went in together as partners, commissioning a merchant vessel called the Scorpion, a small, 50-ton craft with a crew of 40 men, 14 swivel guns, and two carriage guns. Thorndike was named the captain. The Scorpion was the last privateer to sail from Beverly Harbor that year, and was successful. On Friday, February 20, 1778, Thorndike returned to Beverly, having captured a 140 ton English brig carrying “bale goods.” He had loaded the Scorpion with as much as his vessel could hold, and sent the English brig to another port. When he arrived home, Mercy was visibly pregnant. Thorndike may have now felt that his presence was required in Beverly. He had made enough money on his three privateering voyages that he no longer needed to go to sea as captain. Instead, he could contribute to the Revolution, be available to his young wife, and earn profits to provide for his new family—all while staying at home. For the rest of his life, he would remain essentially a sedentary merchant, rarely leaving Massachusetts. 22 That fall of 1777, while still in Beverly, Thorndike and Brown pooled resources with other prominent Beverly shipowners to fund more advanced privateering. Until now, they had merely been outfitting pre-existing merchant vessels with guns and armaments. Now, Thorndike, Brown, Batchelder, the three Cabot brothers, two Lovetts, and Thorndike’s cousin Larkin conceived of building a much larger vessel, more akin to a warship, for privateering. Along with other Salem merchants, they asked William Swett of Salisbury to build a 220-ton, rigged ship carrying 18 guns and a crew of 130. They dubbed her the Black Prince. Construction continued through the winter and into the spring. Amidst the constant hammering and shouting of the construction crew, the hull came together, the masts were raised, and sails were procured. After many months, the Black Prince was ready and a crew was hired. On June 17, 1778, just a few weeks before Mercy gave birth to her daughter, the Black Prince slipped into the water. She was the fastest, largest, most heavily-armed privateer built in Massachusetts during the war. 23 The owners commissioned Elias Smith as captain. Throughout the summer and fall, Smith successfully piloted the Black Prince and captured several prizes, bringing a profit to the owners. Smith was succeeded by Nathaniel

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West, of Salem, in late October, and the Black Prince continued its record of success. Thorndike, now with a young infant, welcomed the profit. 24 Privateer construction continued with increasing frequency. The dry docks of the north shore echoed day after day with salty language and the loud noises of shipbuilding. In the summer of 1777, the Cabot brothers had invested heavily in the construction of a vessel called the Pilgrim. The brothers solicited Brown & Thorndike, along with a few other relatives, to contribute more capital. Slightly smaller than the Black Prince at 200 tons, she carried 16 nine-pound guns and a crew of 140 men. For captain, the owners picked a man who played the part of privateer to perfection. Born in Carrickfergus, Ireland, in 1740, Hugh Hill was a cousin of Andrew Jackson who had joined the British Navy at an early age. After leaving the navy, Hill settled in Marblehead, Massachusetts, where by the start of the Revolution he had risen to the position of a ship captain. Hill was an immense man, six feet six inches, 300 pounds, thick with muscle, courageous in the face of danger, rash in disposition—a buccaneer through and through. Hill was also known to be “courteous to the fair sex.” On one occasion he insulted a Frenchman, who demanded a duel the following day. Hill immediately drew two pistols from his belt, and extended one to the insulted man. “What is the matter with here and now?” Hill asked. The Frenchman backed down. 25 At the outbreak of the war, Hill had been returning from Turks Island in the West Indies with a cargo of salt when he and his crew were captured, near Boston Harbor, by the British schooner Hope. His captors did not hold him for long, however; Hill escaped from jail after a few days, managed to sneak through British lines out of Boston, and returned to the North Shore. There, for the next year and a half, he commanded a privateer named Dove which captured over a dozen British vessels. His success was thus well known, and the Cabots, Thorndike and Brown wanted him to command the Pilgrim, currently drydocked in Newburyport. Hill demanded a large price, however—three-eighths of the prize money, significantly higher than the normal one-sixth rate for privateer captains. The partners agreed. 26 Construction took longer than expected, however, and it was not until September 1778 that Hill and the Pilgrim departed Beverly. She carried 16 guns and 140 seamen. Departing Beverly harbor, Hill tested his cannons and hoisted a Pine Tree flag, popular in New England during the Revolution. The Pilgrim sailed for the Irish coast, and then to Europe. In a period of just six weeks, Hill and the Pilgrim captured ten prizes. Three of the ships each contained 200 red-coated British soldiers, bound for the American shore as reinforcements. Such large groups of soldiers were impossible for Hill and his crew to properly garrison. Instead, they found remote, uninhabited spots along the Irish coast, upon which they deposited the soldiers. Their former captives, stranded on the cold, wind-swept coastline, would have to start walking and hope to find their way home. 27

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Hugh Hill, privateer captain. Courtesy of the Beverly Historical Society.

The last prize of the expedition was the British brigantine Hope, not to be confused with the British warship of the same name that captured Hill at the war’s outset. The Pilgrim chased the Hope and engaged her. A short battle ensued, causing several fires to break out aboard the British vessel. At that

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point her captain made the decision to strike her colors, and she was captured by the Pilgrim. Hill placed some of his crew aboard the Hope, and sent the brigantine back to the United States. At this point, however, having captured ten vessels, it became apparent to Hill that he no longer had enough of his own men to garrison and sail other ships he captured. It was time, then, to sail home. They arrived in Beverly on January 13, 1779, after a few months at sea. 28 The Pilgrim sailed again from Beverly for Ireland in April, still with Hill as captain. The voyage was lucrative, if somewhat less successful than the first adventure. En route to Ireland, she captured three merchant ships without firing a shot – they apparently lacked an armed escort—before sailing around the northern coast of Ireland and into the North Channel. There, the Pilgrim captured the brig Success and her 30 men after a brief resistance. After a few more captures, she sailed to the French port of L’Orient, where the crew re-outfitted for the voyage home. En route back to Massachusetts in August, she captured the brig Gold Wyre, and sailed with her back into Beverly harbor, arriving at the end of the summer. 29 Thorndike, upon Hill’s arrival, was probably too disturbed to be particularly excited about the new profits arriving with him. He had been roped into another expedition that he probably did not wish to be a part of, and which ended disastrously. Thorndike’s thoughts would have been not on Hill’s success, but on a devastated flotilla to the north, in the District of Maine.

In June, 1778, Captain West of the Black Prince had recently returned from another successful voyage. The summer sun shone brightly, its bright rays shimmering off the blue ocean water. The captain, his crew members, and the Black Prince’s owners were celebrating its success, while preparing the ship to sail again. But their plans were derailed on June 30, when some representatives of the Massachusetts government arrived in Beverly. The government had heard about the Black Prince and sent representatives to procure her use in a military expedition to the District of Maine. The privateer owners were unmoved by the government’s request. They had built the Black Prince to both make money and contribute to the success of the Revolution, and did not like the idea of forgoing the money-making aspect of the enterprise. Despite the owners’ opposition, the government still managed to obtain the Black Prince, and gave the owners an insurance policy as consolation. 30 The expedition left that summer, but languished under the poor morale of impressed seamen, the state’s jealousy toward the Continental Navy, and the dreadful leadership of Dudley Saltonstall. By mid-August, the expedition to the Penobscot River had turned into a confused and disorganized mess, ending in a British rout of the Americans. The Black Prince and another vessel,

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the Defense, were beached on the shore of the river and set on fire by their own crews, who then had to travel back over land through New Hampshire to return home. The event discredited the Massachusetts Navy and surely caused Thorndike some sleepless nights. 31 In September, Thorndike made sure to write the state government to collect on the insurance policy. 32

Despite the failure of the Penobscot expedition, the privateers were causing a devastating impact on British shipping and the British economy. The number of American privateers had totaled 136 in 1776, before dropping the following year to 73. From there, the numbers rose steadily, as the wealth obtained by the owners allowed for continued construction of more and more vessels to harass the British. In 1779, there were 167 American privateers that took to sea; by 1780, there were 228; and by 1781, a full 449 American privateers sailed to attack British shipping. That same year, the entire Continental Navy operated just nine vessels. Between the privateers and the Navy, the Americans over the course of the war seized about eight hundred British vessels worth $23.8 million, harassed many others, and captured 16,000 prisoners. 33 The British noticed. Many merchants, their businesses in disarray, presented memorials to Parliament urging peace to stop the destruction of British shipping by privateers. Insurance rates skyrocketed, particularly for ships traveling without armed escorts. One Englishman, writing from Grenada in the southern Caribbean, said in 1777 that “everything continues exceedingly dear, and we are happy if we can get anything for money, by reason of the quantity of vessels taken by the Americans. A fleet of vessels came from Ireland a few days ago. From sixty vessels that departed … not above twenty-five arrived in this and neighboring islands. The others, it is thought, [were] all taken by the Americans. God knows, if this American war continues much longer we shall all die from hunger.” 34

The war ended, for all intents and purposes, with Washington’s victory at Yorktown in 1781. The final peace treaty, signed at Paris, came two years later. The colonies had achieved independence from Britain, and the privateers of Beverly and Salem had acquired fortunes. Before the war, Beverly had been a small, sleepy fishing and farming village, closely packed with small, creaking wooden houses, where large displays of wealth were impossible because no wealth existed to display. The war had changed the town, and the leading privateers of the city, Thorndike included, now possessed wealth scarcely imaginable less than a decade before.

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The Cabot brothers, John and Andrew mainly, but also George, had done best of all. One jealous Loyalist commented in 1780 that “the Cabots of Beverly, who, you know, had but five years ago a very moderate share of property, are now said to be by far the most wealthy in New England.” Thorndike, too, had done quite well; he partnered with the Cabots in many of their adventures, and had started the war with a fleet of similar size, though his total wealth after the Revolution may not have matched the brothers. 35 With the war’s end approaching, Thorndike and his partner, Moses Brown, reinvested their profits in foreign imports. From their store on Beverly wharf, they now marketed wholesale: broadcloth, shaloons, napkins, silk, linens, calicos, lace, and wine glasses were among the many products they brought for sale. In only his late twenties, Thorndike numbered among the wealthiest citizens of one of the new country’s most populous states. John Cabot, flush with cash, built a large Georgian mansion just north of the harbor. It was the first brick mansion ever constructed in the town itself, and presented an imposing front, three stories tall, with a center entrance flanked by white ionic columns. Thorndike, for the time being, contented himself with a wooden house, though he had long since moved out of the home of his mother and stepfather. 36 But Thorndike’s economic success did not coincide with personal happiness. His two-year old son, Israel, Jr., fell ill and died on November 2, 1782. Less than a year after her young son’s death, Israel’s wife Mercy also passed away on October 20, 1783. The 28-year old Thorndike, newly rich and respected, now adjusted to life as a single father. Temporarily, at least, he was alone with his daughter, Elizabeth, who was just five. The gulf between his personal and the professional lives could not have been starker. In a few short years, he had risen from poor village boy to wealthy businessman, nattily dressed and respected by his peers. But he had also lost both his son and his wife.

Thorndike quickly remarried. Just over a year after Mercy’s death, on Sunday, October 31, 1784, he married Anna Dodge, a 19-year old girl from Salem. The wedding took place across the water in her hometown. She was one of the younger daughters of George Dodge, a prominent sea captain. In addition to his titular role, Captain Dodge also owned a small fleet of merchant vessels which brought him a steady income. The Dodges were well-todo, and Anna’s older sister, Lydia, had married Andrew Cabot some years before. Thorndike’s economic successes brought acceptance into the new social hierarchy of post-Revolutionary Massachusetts. The old Tories, who had heretofore dominated the social scene, had fled to England and Nova Scotia. Their place was taken by men like Thorndike, the fourth son of a poor sailor and farmer with virtually no inheritance. He was now marrying into a

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A young Israel Thorndike, probably in his early thirties. This miniature may have been created for his wife, Anna Dodge, around the time of their marriage. Courtesy of the Beverly Historical Society.

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prosperous family whose in-laws were busy building brand new brick mansions with their newfound wealth. A little over a year later, on December 2, 1785, Anna gave birth to their first son, another Israel, Jr. Unlike Thorndike’s first marriage, his union with Anna would last decades. She was an excellent manager of household affairs. She kept the home running smoothly, despite the fact that ten of her twelve children were boys—probably creating a very raucous home environment. 37

There is little lasting documentation of Thorndike’s trading enterprises during the 1780s, but we can glean a general picture of his activities. Thorndike’s trading enterprise in this time period was split somewhat evenly between foreign trade and domestic activities such as fishing and coastal carrying. In years to come, both of the domestic activities would diminish in importance relative to the size of his foreign trading business, but that transformation was in its embryonic stage. He continued his partnership with Moses Brown, typically conducting business under the moniker Brown & Thorndike. Their vessels were small, generally 60 or 70 tons, and they always purchased coverage. A 60 ton fishing schooner, not suitable for long trading voyages, could fetch a 300 pound insurance policy. One schooner, called the Sally, was insured by Brown & Thorndike in 1788 for £350 for her trading venture to the West Indies. Brown & Thorndike could claim the policy “if there be no tidings of said Schooner for six months after sailing from any port.” This would be considered proof of loss. 38 Most of Thorndike’s foreign trading in his early career was with the West Indies. Typically, his ships would load up in Beverly Harbor with consumer goods to supply the large slave plantations that drove the West Indian economy at the time. These might include items such as dried fish, soap, candles, flour, gin, and lumber. Glassware, shoes, and hats were sometimes shipped south as well. Thorndike, in keeping with the actions of many of his peers, preferred to employ his captain as the voyage’s supercargo. The supercargo was the owner’s business agent, authorized to sell and to buy goods. Thorndike, like others, preferred to combine the two positions into one person, thus minimizing the total wages he and his partner had to pay. In the West Indies, the captain would purchase new goods to bring back to the United States. On Thorndike’s vessels, these were typically sugar, molasses, rum, and coffee. 39 Thorndike occasionally engaged in a darker trade as well—the sale of slaves. In a 1791 letter to his cousin, Nicholas Thorndike, who was often employed as captain and supercargo, Brown & Thorndike gave the following orders for his voyage: If unsuccessful at all [the prior stops on your voyage], proceed to Cap-Francis and see if anything can be acquired on the south side, and let your cargo be

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sold where it may. Purchase five to fourteen good negroes, and feed them and preserve their health, then proceed to Havanna and sell them, and buy as much molasses as your vessel can stow. 40

Thorndike did not engage in the slave trade on a mass scale. It provided a particularly small amount of his income, which was primarily gained from the sale of consumer goods acquired at other ports. He did not participate in the triangle trade, sending ships to Africa to purchase slaves from the continent and bring them to the Americas for bondage. Instead, he engaged in what might be dubbed an “internal” slave trade. In the earlier years of his career, through the early 1790s, he authorized his captains to purchase slaves from one West Indian slave market and carry them to another, hoping to profit on the resale. Though less barbaric than the trade which brought slaves to the Americas from Africa, it still strikes the modern mind as morally reprehensible and indefensible.

In addition to expanding his business with Brown, and occasionally dabbling in the slave trade, Thorndike also became involved in local civic affairs. He was affluent, remarried and planning to increase the size of his family—everything a man of substance should be. In the summer of 1787, Thorndike and two of the Cabot brothers (John and George) partnered with two men from Salem, John Fiske and Joseph White, to create a new corporation known as the Proprietors of Essex Bridge. Their business plan was to construct a bridge across the narrow straits between Beverly and Salem from which they could then draw revenue by charging tolls. The bridge would, in time, supplant the ferry service that had previously been the quickest way to move between the two towns. The bridge, of course, would be even quicker. On November 17, the Massachusetts state legislature granted the Proprietors their charter of incorporation. Corporations at the time were considered more like arms of the state than independent businesses, and many charters were issued for internal improvement projects like the bridge. By the following month the Proprietors began to meet regularly, often at the Sun Tavern in Salem, to oversee the bridge’s progress. In May of the following year, Thorndike also became Beverly’s official representative supervising the bridge’s progress, which was completed and in operation by the next summer. The bridge’s tolls brought tidy profits to its proprietors. It was one of numerous advancements the young nation was making, an early and raw version of capitalism paving the way for internal improvements. But though it was a step forward for Beverly to be connected with the mighty and famous town of Salem, Thorndike was at the same time involved at the same time in events much more momentous and important. 41

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Politics were on everyone’s lips in the fall of 1787. The subject of the newly proposed Constitution filled every conversation, and passions ran deep. The supporters, who felt a stronger national government was required to ensure the success of the American experiment in freedom, were known as Federalists. Its opponents, who feared that a strong central authority could trample the rights so dearly fought for, were the Anti-Federalists. The Constitution had been proposed in Philadelphia that September. Congress sent it to the individual states to be ratified. If nine out of thirteen voted their assent, the Constitution would become the law of the land. Thorndike was an ardent Federalist. In Beverly, he was not alone in his political leanings. The town, and Essex County in general, was a hotbed of support for the new Constitution. But it was not universal. The Beverly lawyer Nathan Dane, recently elected to Congress in Philadelphia, was a noted opponent. Dane had attempted to block the submission of the Constitution to the states by Congress, believing that it subverted the Articles of Confederation. He was unsuccessful, but he hoped to win election to the Massachusetts Ratification Convention, where he could continue his fight against the Constitution. Massachusetts’ role in the ratification process was pivotal. By the end of 1787, four states had already ratified the Constitution, but their assents had all been foregone conclusions. Three of the four—Delaware, Georgia, and New Jersey—had voted unanimously for ratification. Pennsylvania had also approved the new Constitution by a large margin, and on January 9, 1788, Connecticut joined as the fifth state to ratify the Constitution by a greater than three-to-one margin. In Massachusetts, however, ratification was not a certainty. The results of its convention would provide a key signpost to the other states. Rhode Island, wary of heavy central power, was considered likely to reject the Constitution. New York and Virginia, two large and crucial states, were thought to be wavering. If Massachusetts rejected the Constitution, the others might too, and the future of the American union would be in doubt. Each town elected delegates to the state convention, set to convene on January 9, 1788 in Boston. Beverly’s results brought some surprise, failing to elect Congressman Dane to the Convention. Beverly was rabidly pro-ratification, and even their most prominent political figure could lose when at odds with the town’s majority opinion. Instead, they selected other residents, all well-to-do. George Cabot, the youngest and brightest of the wealthy brothers, was one. He had previously served in the state legislature, and could provide political experience in Dane’s absence. Joseph Wood, very active in the town’s affairs, was another. Israel Thorndike was the third. Heretofore, Thorndike had hardly been involved in political bodies. He preferred his business affairs to public life. But he did not hesitate to involve himself when he thought the stakes high enough.

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The three men left Beverly for Boston. Over three hundred delegates joined them on the roads to Boston from across Massachusetts, arriving in coaches or on horseback, covered in heavy clothes and blankets to guard against the winter cold. On January 9, a Wednesday, the Beverly delegates found themselves squeezed in amongst the crowded multitude of new arrivals in the Massachusetts State House. 42 The delegates chose a moderator, briefly adjourned, and then returned later in the afternoon to select John Hancock as the Convention’s President. Hancock was an interesting choice; he had not yet taken a position on ratification one way or the other. The early outlook was poor. While it is impossible to determine the exact composition of the delegates’ positions on January 9, the general tenor of observers and participants was that opponents of ratification outnumbered those in favor. The state could, generally, be divided into four regions, with varying levels of support. The first was eastern Massachusetts, the wealthiest and most populated area of the state, comprising about forty percent of the population. This region, with strong fishing and shipping industries, had the highest support for ratification. Essex County, in particular, was overflowing with Federalists. On the other end of the spectrum was central Massachusetts. The people there were barely connected to the large towns and shipping industries of the coast. They were primarily farmers. A large number of the men of Shays’ rebellion had come from this region; several of them were even delegates to the Convention itself. Central Massachusetts, and especially Worcester County, was overwhelmingly against the ratification of the Constitution. To the west of the Connecticut River lay the third region, western Massachusetts. Here, too, there was solid opposition, though not so fierce as their counterparts on the other side of the river. Indeed, a number of persons from there had opposed Shays’ uprising. If sufficient numbers from western Massachusetts could be persuaded, ratification’s proponents had a better chance of success. These two regions comprised perhaps thirty percent of the state’s population. The balance of power, however, seemed to lie with the state’s fourth region. Maine, separated from the rest of Massachusetts by a small strip of New Hampshire coastline, would not achieve its own independent statehood for several decades. Approximately thirty percent of the state’s population lived here, mostly strung along the rocky, wave-battered coastline. Unlike their brethren to the south, though, they did not have large concentrations of wealth and shipping interests that made them natural allies to the supporters of ratification. They may have felt that the new Constitution made the prospects of independent statehood difficult to achieve. But on the whole, the Mainers were not settled in support or opposition. If the Constitution’s supporters could persuade enough of the Maine delegates, the Constitution might live. 43

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One of the Convention’s earliest preoccupations was finding a proper location. The State House was too small, too cramped. On Thursday, January 10, they moved to the nearby Brattle Street Church. The church was much more spacious, with large galleries for guests to listen to deliberations and debates. Crucially for Boston in January, the church had stoves for heat, keeping the delegates warm and sheltered from the winter chill. But the church, like the State House, proved unworkable. The acoustics were lacking. Even the delegates themselves, seated below the galleries, had difficulty hearing the speakers. On Saturday, the Convention moved back to the State House. They lasted another five days, but the “Noxious & disagreeable” air and the tendency of spectators to push onto the already crowded floor made the State House again untenable. Finally, on Thursday, January 17, the Convention moved one last time, to a Congregational Church on Long Lane. 44 To make the Church suitable, additional stairwells were erected to the galleries to keep spectators from crowding the floor, and a group of Bostonians donated a stove to provide warmth to the participants. The Convention would remain at the Congregational Church until the end. 45 The job of winning ratification in Massachusetts was fought on two fronts: first, by the noted speakers and orators whose powerful voices filled Long Lane Church, and second, with the behind-the-scenes work of persuasion and political maneuvering. Thorndike was one of the latter. He had no taste for oratory or for public acclaim. But he always drove a hard bargain, and was remarkably persuasive in one-on-one meetings. His talents would be needed, for early on, the Federalist cause appeared shaky. On January 22, nearly two weeks after the Convention opened, one delegate estimated that 144 delegates favored ratification, while 192 opposed. The debate dragged on, each sentence and paragraph of the proposed Constitution analyzed and dissected. This tactic strengthened the anti-Federalists—it is easier to tear apart a document than to defend every word. Rufus King, who kept in constant touch with James Madison about the Convention’s progress, believed a general fear existed that people’s liberties would be trampled, coupled with a distrust of the elitist elements—merchants, lawyers, and the educated—who were the Constitution’s primary supporters. 46 In the final week of January, however, the mood shifted. Where before, each session had groaned beneath a painstaking dissection of every clause, now the pace quickened. Behind-the-scenes negotiators like Thorndike appeared to have whipped enough delegates into supporters, and the Federalists hoped to speed through each Article in the hopes of bring the Constitution to a vote. As part of the negotiated solution, the Federalists—who had won John Hancock and Samuel Adams to their cause—allowed the proposal of Amendments to the Constitution, hoping to placate those who worried about

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potential loss of liberty. By early February, the vote was at hand; both Federalists and anti-Federalists claimed to have the necessary votes. Late on the afternoon of Monday, February 4, a committee recommended adoption of the Constitution, along with proposed amendments. They sent their recommendation to the full Convention. The vote was fifteen in favor and seven opposed, a margin that heartened the Federalists. Over the next few days, the Federalists maneuvered to get a final vote. Finally, at 4pm on Wednesday, February 6, the roll call began. The speaker went down the roll, recording six votes per minute, and it was all over within an hour. Spectators and delegates alike doubtlessly kept tally with pencil and paper as the delegates stated their final position. The vote ended with 187 in favor, 168 opposed. Had just ten men voted the other way, they would have defeated the Constitution. Thorndike, of course, voted yes; indeed, 38 out of 44 delegates from Essex County were in the affirmative. Worcester County, the center of opposition, had cast 43 of its 51 votes in the negative. The district of Maine, comprising several counties, and thought to be in opposition early on, had ended with 25 votes in favor to 21 against. As the news spread from Long Lane to the various corners of Boston, the city’s people began to pour into the street to celebrate—Boston had been a hotbed of pro-ratification sentiment. The ring of church bells began to be heard, first a few, growing louder and louder until the clanging reverberated against itself. Massachusetts breathed life into the Constitution. 47 Thorndike was not one of the Convention’s prominent speakers. He never once rose to voice his opinion publicly. But while the more prominent orators took to the floor to argue before the public about various provisions, Thorndike worked the back rooms. Though a wealthy man now, he came from humble origins, and could speak on equal terms with delegates from all backgrounds. He prospered in informal conversations between two or three men, planting seeds in the minds of wavering delegates that could blossom into a yea vote. The work did not give Thorndike fame or publicity, but it helped to advance the Constitution’s cause, one delegate at a time. Sadly, the full extent of Thorndike’s impact is lost to time, but one report hints at his role: “He was as efficient as any man in that body; not that he made long and learned speeches, but that he talked with the yeomanry of that body in a style of common sense which they understood, and his arguments had the desired effect.” 48 Thorndike was making a mark for himself. Already wealthy from privateering and trade, he was now active in the public realm. Other businessmen increasingly sought him out to partner in new ventures, and his vision and foresight was considered exceptionally sound. Given his increasing stature, it was no surprise whatsoever that in May, 1788, the citizens of Beverly elected Thorndike to the Massachusetts House of Representatives, along with his cousin Larkin and Joseph Wood. 49

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At this stage, Thorndike focused his business on trade with the West Indies and Spain. But his sharp business acumen recognized other opportunities. In 1785, an Englishman named Thomas Somers had arrived in Massachusetts with the idea that cotton factories, like those built in England, could be constructed in the young United States. In Beverly, he found the town’s retired privateers ready to invest. Thorndike, with his partner Moses Brown, John, Andrew and George Cabot, Isaac Chapman, and Henry Higginson joined together in a partnership, planning to build a cotton factory, the first ever on American soil. Thorndike took a ten percent ownership stake, as did Brown, Henry Higginson, and George Cabot. Andrew Cabot invested just five percent, while his brother John had the largest investment, with 25 percent of the total capital. 50 In 1786, the group had petitioned the Massachusetts legislature to incorporate the Beverly Cotton Manufactory. They requested financial assistance from the state, but received only a small sum. Instead, the partners sank $14,000 of their own money into the project. They bought a six-acre lot just outside Beverly, called “Baker’s Corner,” lying at the intersection of Birchplain and Ipswich roads. Here they built a three-story brick factory, assembled the machinery, and hired workers. 51 By 1788, the factory was operating, turning raw cotton from the West Indies and South America into yarn that could then be hand-woven on looms.

The Beverly Cotton Manufactory. Courtesy of the Beverly Historical Society.

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The factory employed nine women to handpick the black cotton seeds from the white fiber, and 31 other workers to assist in running the spindles and cylinder machines. The machinery power came not from water power or steam, but from a more traditional source. Two horses in the basement walked in circles, turning the upright shaft which started the machinery. If the horses began spinning too fast, the Englishman Somers yelled out the window to slow them down. 52 Soon after the factory opened, a prominent visitor arrived. President Washington, inaugurated in April 1789, was conducting a grand tour of the United States. He traveled the road north from Boston, and on Friday, October 30, breakfasted with George Cabot at Cabot’s Beverly home. Cabot invited the President to inspect the new mill, the first baby step of American industrialization. Washington’s own description, marked down in his diary, provides perhaps the best depiction: In this manufactory they have the newly invented carding and spinning machines. The cotton is prepared by these machines by being first (lightly) drawn to a thread on the common wheel. There is also another machine for doubling and twisting the threads for particular cloths. This also does many at a time. For winding the cotton from the spindles, and preparing it for the warp, there is a reel which expedites the work greatly. A number of looms (15 or 16) were at work with spring shuttles, which do more than double work. In short, the whole seems perfect and the cotton stuffs which they turn out are excellent of their kind. 53

A few months later, President Washington stood in front of Congress to deliver the nation’s first State of the Union address. He had been impressed by what he saw in Beverly, and told Congress that the country must increase their manufacturing capabilities, in part for military supplies. Washington continued his praise, saying that he could “not forbear intimating to you the expediency of giving effectual encouragement as well to the introduction of new and useful inventions from abroad.” In only the first year of his Presidency, the Beverly Cotton Manufactory had given Washington a glimpse of the American future, a future the President wished to encourage. 54 But there were problems that Washington could not see. The company was undercapitalized, and much of the equipment functioned poorly. The horses, moving in circles, were inefficient. In spite of this, George Cabot continued to move forward with the project, and had high hopes for the factory’s future. He wrote to Alexander Hamilton of the need to use nativeborn Americans as factory workers, rather than rely on foreigners and imports. Despite Cabot’s enthusiasm, the factory’s output remained poor. Thorndike, keenly able to recognize poor business prospects, pulled his ownership stake within a few years. The last of the Cabot brothers was out in 1798, when the entire factory was sold for $2,630.29, a fraction of the initial

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investment. The nation’s first cotton mill continued to stumble along before being shuttered in 1807. 55 For Thorndike, the lesson was clear: the industrial revolution was not yet ready for the United States. For the foreseeable future, wooden sailing vessels and their bountiful cargoes would continue to provide the bulk of his income. This business was profitable and offered ample opportunity for expansion. The partnership of Brown & Thorndike now decided to purchase a substantially larger vessel for their fleet. Until now, Brown & Thorndike had owned 60 and 70 ton schooners—small craft, and somewhat unsuitable for voyages to the Far East. In 1789, however, the partners bought a large, fullrigged ship called the Fabens, totaling 243 tons, newly built at Salisbury, Massachusetts. The Fabens was their largest investment to date, signaling that the duo had done well in the post-Revolutionary years, and were poised to continue their growth into the following decade. 56

The Thorndike family also continued to grow. Israel and Anna’s union was prolific. On July 16, 1787, Anna gave birth to a second son, named George, but he died within a year. A third son was born on January 6, 1789, and was given the name of his deceased elder brother. The following summer, on August 28, 1790, yet another son, Andrew, entered the world. A daughter, Anna, came in 1792, but she died before her second birthday. For years to come, the Thorndike household would continue to echo with the screams and shouts of young boys. Their home for the moment, like almost everyone in Beverly save the Cabots, was a wooden house. Located on the east side of Bartletts Lane, it was a short walk every morning to his harborside counting house. 57 Now in his late thirties, with a growing family, Thorndike looked with pride on his success. Born into a poor family in a small town, with dim prospects, he had used his own talents to build up a small fleet and had taken advantage of the American Revolution’s opportunities, adding to his capital through privateering ventures. His prominence brought him the title of Colonel Thorndike, conferred due to his service in the state militia. He wore the title with pride, and would be known by it until his death. Thorndike’s wealth compounded year by year, and his success was well known. Locally, his enterprises were considered nearly mystical—Thorndike had the Midas touch. In years to come, his neighbors in Beverly began to circulate an envious proverb: if Thorndike were to put a pebble on a shingle and send it out to sea, it would return in the shape of a dollar. 58 NOTES 1. Stone, History of Beverly, p. 61.

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2. Stone, History of Beverly, p. 62. 3. Tagney, The World Turned Upside Down, pp. 137–39. 4. Tagney, The World Turned Upside Down, p. 141. 5. Tagney, The World Turned Upside Down, p. 146; Vickers, Farmers and Fishermen, p. 193. 6. Stone, History of Beverly, pp 64–66. 7. Stone, History of Beverly, p. 129. 8. Edgar Stanton MacLay, History of American Privateers, Sampson Low, Marston & Co., London, 1900, pp. 22–27. 9. MacLay, History of American Privateers, pp. 22–27. 10. Howe, Beverly Privateers, pp. 337–40. 11. Howe, Beverly Privateers, 337–40; Instructions for the Warren, December 1776 (Beverly Historical Society). 12. Howe, Beverly Privateers, p. 339–40. 13. MacLay, History of American Privateers, p. 138–39. 14. Allen, Gardner Weld, Naval History of the American Revolution. Vol. I, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston and New York, 1913, p. 234. 15. Allen, Naval History of the American Revolution, p. 234. 16. Allen, Naval History of the American Revolution, pp. 234–35. 17. Allen, Naval History of the American Revolution, p. 235. 18. Allen, Naval History of the American Revolution, p. 235. 19. Allen, Naval History of the American Revolution, p. 236. 20. Allen, Naval History of the American Revolution, p. 236. 21. Thorndike Genealogy, p. 66. 22. Howe, p. 344; report of Captain Israel Thorndike’s return to Beverly, February 20, 1778 (Beverly Historical Society). 23. Howe, Beverly Privateers, p. 347–48. 24. Howe, Beverly Privateers, p. 347–48. 25. Howe, Beverly Privateers, p. 349. 26. McManemin, John A., Captains of the Privateers During the Revolutionary Wars, Spring Lake, NJ, Ho Ho Kus Publishing Co., 1985; Howe, Beverly Privateers, pp. 349–50. 27. McManemin, Captains of the Privateers, 1985; Howe, pp. 349–50. 28. McManemin, Captains of the Privateers, 1985; Howe, pp. 349–50. 29. McManemin, Captains of the Privateers, 1985. 30. Forbes, Israel Thorndike, p. 20–21. 31. Forbes, Israel Thorndike, p. 20–21. 32. Forbes, Israel Thorndike, p. 20–21. 33. MacLay, History of American Privateers, pp. viii-ix. 34. MacLay, History of American Privateers, p. xii. 35. Adams, Russell, The Boston Money Tree, Crowell, 1977, p. 35. 36. Tagney, The World Turned Upside Down, p. 393; Beverly Historical Society, http:// www.beverlyhistory.org/houses/cabot.html. 37. Thorndike genealogy, p. 67. 38. Writ of Insurance for Brown & Thorndike, March 4, 1788. Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School; Forbes, Israel Thorndike, p. 28–29. 39. Forbes, Israel Thorndike, pp 28-29; Fichter, So Great a Proffit, p. 119; Testimony of Samuel Ingersoll, Nov. 27, 1790. Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 40. Orders from Brown & Thorndike to Nicholas Thorndike, October 11, 1791 (Beverly Historical Society). 41. For the two paragraphs discussing the bridge, see Forbes, p. 24–25, and see The Proprietors of Essex Bridge, Salem Mercury, November 27, 1787, Issue 59, p. 2. 42. Today, the building is known as the Old State House and is located near the intersection of State and Congress Streets in Boston.

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43. For the lead-up to the Massachusetts Ratification Convention, and the regional differences, see Pauline Maier, Ratification: The People Debate the Constitution, Simon & Schuster, 2011, pp. 157–162. 44. Long Lane in Boston is today’s Federal Street, per the Norman Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library compared with a modern map of Boston. 45. Maier, Ratification, pp. 166–67. 46. Maier, Ratification, p. 186. 47. Maier, Ratification, pp. 206–07; Online Library of Liberty, http://oll.libertyfund.org/? option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=1906&chapter=112217&layout=html& Itemid=27 (last accessed Dec. 30, 2013). 48. Hunt’s Merchant Magazine, Vol. II, Freeman Hunt, 508–09 (1839). For the section on the ratification of the Convention, see Maier, Ratification, and see Israel Thorndike by Forbes. 49. For his election to the legislature, see Massachusetts Centinel, May 21, 1788, Vol. IX, Issue 19, p. 77, Boston, Mass. 50. Rosenberg, Chaim, The Life and Times of Francis Cabot Lowell, Lexington Books, 2011, pp. 202–05; Batchelder, Samuel, Introduction and Early Progress of Cotton Manufacturing in the United States, Boston, Little Brown & Co., 1863, pp. 28–29. 51. Rosenberg, Francis Cabot Lowell, pp. 202–05; Stone, History of Beverly, p. 85. 52. Rosenberg, Francis Cabot Lowell, pp. 202–05. 53. Rosenberg, Francis Cabot Lowell, quoting Washington, pp. 203. 54. George Washington State of the Union, http://ahp.gatech.edu/first_state_union_1790. html (accessed Dec. 30, 2013). 55. Rosenberg, Francis Cabot Lowell, pp. 202–05. 56. Forbes, Israel Thorndike, p. 28. 57. Thorndike Genealogy, p. 68; see October 29, 1793 bill of sale for dwelling home from Israel Thorndike to Hale Hilton (Beverly Historical Society). 58. Fichter, So Great a Proffit, p. 96; Quincy, Josiah, Figures of the Past from the Leaves of Old Journals, Boston, Roberts Brothers, 1884, p. 139; Forbes, Israel Thorndike, p. 26.

Chapter Three

The Wealthy Merchant, 1792–1802

Israel Thorndike’s first open declaration of advancing prosperity came in 1792. Andrew Cabot, the liveliest of the Cabot brothers, had died the year before at 41. His widow, Lydia, wanted to sell Beverly’s finest mansion, and found a willing buyer in her sister’s husband. Thorndike, with a growing family, purchased the imposing three-story, white-brick house for £1400 (or about $6,200). He sold his wooden home to Hale Hilton, another local merchant for £190—a clear indication of Thorndike’s growing fortune. 1 His new estate included 21 acres of land. Forty-foot white pines, apple and fruit trees, and large and spacious gardens filled with fragrant flowers covered the estate. Gravel walkways lined the grounds, so Thorndike could leisurely peruse his prosperity. Past the garden, the green fields extended pleasantly to the shore, where a small beach halted the rolling waves. In springtime, the waves’ dull crashing sound contrasted neatly with birds’ chirping. But the fields, of course, did not exist only for the view. Thorndike hired Beverly locals to plow and farm it, bringing him additional income. 2 Visitors entering the house stepped foot into an imposing front hall, ringed with a large staircase complete with square landings and ornate moldings on the railings. Thorndike spent liberally to outfit the house with the finest furniture and china. For decades, the house would echo with the high pitched voices of his and Anna’s children. Visitors to Beverly saw the merchant father’s prosperity, both financial and domestic. Thorndike probably wanted them to notice. 3 Observations of Thorndike’s success and prosperity were not limited to Beverly, and he began to develop a national reputation. His name extended to the notice of President Washington himself, whom Thorndike had likely met on Washington’s visit to the Beverly Cotton Manufactory a few years before. 41

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Israel Thorndike’s Beverly mansion. Courtesy of the Beverly Historical Society.

Washington’s private secretary, Tobias Lear, wrote in June 1792 that based on his own interactions with Thorndike, Lear was “persuaded that he is a man of great worth” and someone with whom Lear could do business. Thorndike’s prominent status was probably responsible for his entrance into the great political issue of the day. 4 Alexander Hamilton, Washington’s Secretary of the Treasury, was insistent on establishing a National Bank. He hoped it would ensure the credit of the United States and create a powerful federal government that would bind the states closer together. An ardent Federalist, Thorndike agreed with Hamilton in both his methods and aims. It was the same logic that had driven him to support the federal Constitution at the Ratification Convention in Boston four years before. Thus Thorndike, like many of his associates in Massachusetts, stood firmly against Hamilton’s opponents, the Republicans, led by Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson. Hamilton had succeeded in establishing his National Bank with the second Congress, in 1791, and in 1792 the federal government opened a Boston branch. Thorndike was named as one of the branch Directors by President Washington, firmly establishing himself as a prominent Federalist in the state where Federalism found the most favor. 5

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Thorndike’s growing status and increasing wealth led him to enter business for himself. He and Moses Brown had partnered together for nearly two decades. Brown, several years older, likely served as a mentor of sorts in Thorndike’s early years. The two of them later became in-laws, each marrying one of Osman Trask’s daughters. But the family tie was eventually lost; Mercy Thorndike died in 1782, and her sister Elizabeth Brown died several years later. Brown himself was content to lead a comfortable retirement, having made a fortune through his partnership with Thorndike. Thorndike, by contrast, was congenitally driven to make money. A comfortable retirement, as he neared 40 years of age, was not a consideration. 6 Consequently, Thorndike and Brown went their own ways. On February 19, 1793, they dissolved their partnership. Thorndike now had greater leeway to plan, outfit and commission global voyages. Until the 1790s, the partnership of Brown & Thorndike had concentrated primarily on fishing and trade with the Caribbean and Europe. Now, in business on his own, Thorndike cast his eye eastward, to the enormous and exotic markets of the East Indies— modern day China, India and Indonesia. Thorndike and Brown would occasionally continue to pool their resources, sometimes along with other merchants, in joint seagoing ventures. But their official business relationship was dissolved forever, and Thorndike would develop a strong personal reputation beyond that as the junior member of a partnership. Meanwhile, European events were swirling to create a lucrative environment. That environment would last for years, and helped Thorndike become one of the wealthiest men in the United States. 7

As the year 1793 opened, revolutionary and military fervor rocked the normally placid and aristocratic Europe. The French Revolution, which began innocently and inauspiciously four years earlier with the calling of the Three Estates to meet at Versailles, had transformed France into a bloody, dystopian killing zone. For several years, the kingdoms and empires of Europe kept their distance, hoping that the fiery passions would burn themselves out, and order would be restored. Two years earlier, it appeared that the revolution might take a reasonable, orderly course, perhaps modeled on the American experience. The French National Assembly proclaimed a constitutional monarchy and King Louis XVI, his hand possibly forced, accepted the new document. The legislators applauded the King. The French experiment appeared to be working. But the new order in France disintegrated. The legislature was inept at governing, and the King won himself no friends by vetoing their legislation. A constitutional crisis spread throughout France, and the national mood turned radical. In August, 1792, a mob stormed the Tuileries Palace in Paris, massacred the guards, and seized the royal family as prisoners. A new legis-

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lature, the National Convention, was chosen by an electorate composed of universal male suffrage. In September, they abolished the monarchy. King Louis, imprisoned along with his family, was placed on trial, convicted, and by a narrow margin was sentenced to execution. On January 21, 1793, the disgraced King was marched to the guillotine, forced to kneel, and killed with a swift blade through the neck. France had declared war on Austria and Prussia in April. The abolition of the monarchy, followed by the sentencing and execution of the king, rallied the rest of Europe against the tumultuous French nation. Spain, the Netherlands, the Kingdom of Naples, and Portugal were all at war with France by early 1793, along with the world’s greatest seapower—Great Britain—which entered the war on February 1. Thorndike was 37 years old as these events sped along. Overlooking the calm harbor waters from his Beverly counting house, the European tumult seemed far away. But Europe was the center of gravity for the international trading system, and events there had inevitable impacts on Thorndike’s affairs, as Thorndike well knew. But he, along with the rest of the world, had no idea how deep and long-lasting their influence would be. The wars persisted, sometimes low in intensity, sometimes fevered, as years turned into decades.

In the winter of 1793-94, Thorndike prepared a merchant vessel called The Three Brothers for a typical Caribbean trading venture. He solicited George Dodge, his father-in-law, as a partner. Thorndike maintained a threefourths ownership stake; Dodge took the rest. They loaded the Three Brothers with fish, flour, oil, candles, and soap, and hired William Abbott, a local sailor and ship captain. They gave him instructions in February. The primary target was St. Lucia, an island under French control in the southern Caribbean, north of modern day Venezuela (part of what was then called the Spanish Main). Thorndike instructed Abbott to sell the cargo if prices were favorable, but if not, to sail on to nearby Martinique and trade there instead. If Martinique too should prove unfavorable, then Abbott should sail to English-controlled islands. After selling the cargo, Thorndike ordered Abbott to use the proceeds to purchase local goods to carry to Massachusetts—molasses, sugar, coffee, cotton, and cocoa. 8 The state of the oceans remained in disarray due to the ongoing conflict between the British and French. Thorndike thus instructed Abbott that their “particular orders are that you do not take on board any property or passengers belonging to any of the subjects of the powers at War.” 9 As a result, Thorndike stated, neither the French nor British navies would have reason to detain the Three Brothers. Thorndike and Dodge also procured the standard insurance policy for the ship and its cargo, and crossed out the contract’s

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boilerplate language prohibiting recovery if “War or Hostilities should commence during the Voyage.” 10 The Three Brothers sailed from Beverly shortly thereafter. In March, Abbott and his crew of four men and one boy arrived at St. Lucia, in the city of Souffriere. St. Lucia is a tropical island, lush and green, with a series of mountains running north to south along its spine. The mountains, steep and covered with dense vegetation, inhibit transportation around the island by any mechanism besides water. Towering over Souffriere, Abbot and his crew could see St. Lucia’s Grand Pitons, two sharply peaking mountains formed by volcanic activity. When they arrived, the island was in upheaval. One year before, the French governor had abolished slavery on the island, dealing a serious economic blow to the island’s plantation owners. The surge of liberty that had begun in Massachusetts less than two decades ago, and spread to France, now manifested itself at tropical island outposts. 11 Abbott and his crew remained in Souffriere for several weeks. They attempted to sell their cargo at a reasonable price, and to purchase the local goods Thorndike had requested. Under palm trees and the blistering tropical sun, they chatted amiably with the local merchants and tried to keep their northern skin from burning. But on April 4, the calm environment in port was shattered. A large British fleet and army force, commanded by the King’s son, Prince Edward, landed on the island and hoisted the British flag at Morne Fortune. Terror-stricken, many French soldiers and the former slaves fled from the coastlines and cities into the interior mountains, where they began waging a guerilla campaign. 12 The quick military action brought disarray to Abbott and his crew, and they took refuge on the Three Brothers in the harbor. On April 12, the captain wrote Thorndike that he was seriously uncertain as to the future of the enterprise. Throughout Souffriere rumors spread among the American sailors regarding British intentions. Abbott probably hoped that, because he had followed Thorndike’s instructions not to transport any foreign passengers or goods, the British would let him sail away. But his faith was misplaced. Two days after Abbott’s letter to Thorndike, British soldiers rowed up to the Three Brothers while it lay anchored in the harbor and ordered Abbott and his crew out of the vessel. Transported under guard to a British prison ship, they would be detained for the foreseeable future. The prison ship sailed to another port 20 miles from Souffriere, where Abbott and his crew awaited trial and verdict. 13 Thorndike, in his instructions, had ordered Abbott to lodge a protest if he were seized by either the British or the French. Abbott did so, and after some time was released from prison to pursue the legal battle. Unfortunately for Abbott and Thorndike, warring nations are not always inclined to defer to the legal rights of others. The British argued they had the right to seize French vessels, due to a proclamation issued by King George. The Three Brothers,

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therefore, could be confiscated and condemned because it was anchored within French territory. The British court sided with their brethren against Abbott’s protest. On May 14, the court stated that “in defiance of these instructions, [Abbott] by his own deposition has been supplying the Enemies of Great Britain in support of a War fraught with the most Dangerous Consequences to the peace and Tranquility of Mankind in General.” The ship and its cargo, therefore, were “rightly and deemly seized by his Majesty’s arms.” 14 The Three Brothers went up for auction. On May 28, Abbott wrote Thorndike that he had saved all the money in his possession, intending to repurchase the ship and its cargo. Should he succeed, Abbott claimed he would sail to a neighboring island to try to sell the rest of the cargo and then “make the best of my way home.” In early June, Abbott managed to repurchase the ship for 31 sous, about two thirds of the money he had on hand. By then, the crew had agonized over their fate for two months. 15 By the time he reacquired the Three Brothers, Abbott had changed his mind about trying to procure other goods for resale in Massachusetts. The outbreak of hostilities in the Caribbean spooked him. Now, he said, the French had attacked Guadeloupe, and an embargo was placed on Martinique. Fearful of being detained again, Abbott decided against any further expeditions and instead sailed as quickly as he could back to Massachusetts. 16 Thorndike did not take setbacks philosophically. When Abbott returned, Thorndike spoke with him and decided to outfit the Three Brothers once more. He again named Abbott as the captain and on August 7 gave him instructions to return to St. Lucia and once again try to sell the cargo, worth in total about $4,600. Thorndike also decided to pursue a further legal claim to recover the lost cargo from the original voyage. Around this time, he began to employ an agent in London named Thomas Dickason to manage his foreign holdings and cases, and with Dickason’s assistance filed a lawsuit in England for recovery. In any event, his stubbornness and unwillingness to write off St. Lucia as a market proved successful. Abbott’s second journey went well, and Thorndike turned a large profit on the entire expedition. 17

The British military policy that hindered the Three Brothers voyage was intended to target the French economy—they would confiscate any American ships engaged in trade with the French West Indies. Many Americans viewed the seizures as an affront to national dignity, and some even began to clamor for war. Thorndike was more pragmatic, probably believing that war would be far more destructive to his business than the occasional capture of trading ships. This was an attitude he maintained throughout the years of conflict, doing his best to navigate around the belligerents’ ever-varying policies while lending his expertise to recommend

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against engaging in military conflict. Nevertheless, on the heels of ship seizures like the one Thorndike had suffered, many felt that the best course for the United States was to enter the fray. In Philadelphia, the growing war fever concerned President Washington. Ever prescient, he was aware that the country almost certainly could not defeat the British in a war fought on even terms. Washington felt that the United States would need another two decades before the country could possibly hope to perform well against the British. Even more ominous for the young nation, a British army stood on the United States’ northwestern frontier, just over the border in Canada, hanging over the country like a knife ready to plunge. Washington wanted to dampen the war fever. He dispatched John Jay, previously Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, to negotiate a treaty with Britain. When Jay returned in 1795, Republicans were furious and Federalists merely accepting. The treaty was not favorable to the United States. While the British committed to withdrawing their armies from the northwestern frontier, and agreed to arbitration for captured American vessels, the Americans were forced to acknowledge British command of the seas to such an extent that they appeared to be siding with the British in the war. Some Republicans felt that the treaty merely confirmed the United States neocolonial status to the superior British. Despite its drawbacks, Thorndike supported the treaty. He knew war meant serious disruption of his business, and that the United States would probably lose the war decisively anyways. Moreover, the timing of a potential conflict was poor, for it emerged as Thorndike was attempting to expand his business globally. Thorndike’s enterprise profited from the war in Europe, but only as long as the United States remained neutral. In Beverly, he led supporters of the treaty, and in April 1796 was selected by the town as a member of the five-person committee charged with drafting a document of support, which the town sent as their official statement to the U.S. Congress. Shortly afterward, the Senate did narrowly ratify Jay’s treaty. Thorndike, ensconced in the protection of neutrality, could continue on a massive expansion of his shipping empire. 18

The 1790s were perhaps Thorndike’s golden decade, when he reaped a greater increase in his personal wealth than any time until the Industrial Revolution, many decades in the future. The reason lies at the intersection of Thorndike’s own personality, the exploding conflict in Europe, and the new openings in eastern trade. First and foremost, Thorndike’s primary concern was making money. This strain was deeply ingrained in his personality, perhaps stemming from his poor childhood. As a result, he habitually monitored future prospects. He

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possessed an excellent grasp of the current state of his accounts, who had paid him, who owed him money, and the fluctuating market values of consumer goods and raw materials. But while he devoted his attention to current business, he was always thinking and planning ahead, considering how markets might evolve in years to come. He devoted himself not simply to the micro-view of the future—will this ship’s voyage be successful, and how can we improve its prospects?—but to the macro-view. He relentlessly debated with himself and his business partners whether new markets and new industries might be worthwhile investments. Thus he had invested in the Beverly Cotton Manufacturing Company: he could see that the American economic future might one day include textile manufacturing and felt it was important to get in on the ground floor. Even though it had failed once, that did not mean Thorndike would avoid another opportunity to invest with an enterprising manufacturer, if his proposal was sound. Consequently, Thorndike perceived the extensive possibilities for increased profits the European wars brought to American traders. As a neutral nation, American merchants had access to a far greater number of ports than did traders from belligerent countries. While a British ship would be barred from French ports, and vice versa, Thorndike could trade with both Marseilles and London, and draw profit from both. Countries like the Netherlands had previously been commercial powerhouses; now, with the Netherlands allied with France, the British Navy bottled up Dutch trading vessels in continental ports. Moreover, as war continued and trade decreased, the products Thorndike could bring to Europe—like coffee, molasses, and cotton— would be in ever-increasing demand. The countries which had used their own vessels to supply foreign goods like spices, sugar, and cloth now had to rely on neutral ships, primarily American. Thorndike could turn a larger profit on each voyage. The war thus helped shut out foreign competitors for Thorndike’s trade, while increasing the value of what he was selling. As the years dragged on, more and more major ports became ensnared in the conflict. In the small town of Beverly, far from the turmoil and massive battles, the poor farmer’s son and former privateer looked to reap a windfall. 19 In addition to the wars, trade with the East Indies and China, recently opened to the west, offered a treasure trove of riches for those Americans adventurous enough to take advantage. Independence had recently freed the American traders from the British East India Company’s monopoly, and in 1783, after the conclusion of the Treaty of Paris, the first American trading ship had sailed to Asia. Called the Empress of China, her voyage was hailed by the American press. Throughout the 1780s and into the 1790s, American trade with China increased, focused on its foreign trading port at Canton. As the wars in Europe expanded and opportunities for European ships to get to China decreased, the number of American ships heading to Canton rose

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significantly. Thorndike was too savvy a businessman to fail to take advantage of this opportunity. 20 American ships heading to India typically went to Calcutta. Located on the eastern side of the Indian subcontinent, the city sat 100 miles upriver from the ocean. Ships moved north up the Hooghly River, passing large mansions with lawns stretching to the river’s edge, displaying a picture of extraordinary wealth to the new arrivals. The human element was present, too. Boatmen paddled up to the ships to offer passage upriver, swindlers presented goods for sale, and hucksters offered umbrellas for protection against the sun and lodging at exorbitant prices. 21 In China, the primary export was tea. It could be procured at Canton, the only city where the Chinese government permitted foreign merchants. Unlike in the Caribbean, where consumer goods were resold for cash to purchase local products, American merchants usually offered only silver in exchange for tea. American merchant ships arrived at the mouth of the Pearl River, which emptied into the South China Sea, and sailed a few days up the river to reach Canton. There they competed with monopolistic corporations chartered by European governments for trading. As in India, their trade grew as more and more European nations were drawn into the wars. 22 The American trade in the East showed that state-backed monopolies, such as the British East India Company, could not long compete with private individuals. Thorndike, like with other American merchants, partnered with his London agent, Thomas Dickason, to send Thorndike’s American ships from London to the East, despite the British East India Company’s monopoly on the trade. This was of dubious legality, but Thorndike, Dickason and others persisted in doing so. English merchants could make more money by sending American ships to India to procure Indian goods, rather than purchasing them from the East India Company and re-selling them. They could also send American ships from Britain to the European continent, even after Britain ordered a continental blockade. The prices fetched by Americans were cheaper, and thus more attractive, than those of British smugglers. This calculus demonstrated clearly that independent, private business owners could create a better market, and better prices, than a state-backed incorporated monopoly. In Thorndike’s decisions, the glimmers of capitalism’s oncoming dominance can be glimpsed. 23

It was around this time that Thorndike appears to have ceased active participation in the slave trade. His reasons are unclear; but all references to slavery save one disappear from his correspondence after 1793. 24 Perhaps it was not worth the trouble, or the vast riches flowing from the East Indies trade enabled him to extricate himself from the marketplace. In 1791 his cousin, Nicholas Thorndike, wrote upon his arrival in Cap-Francois in His-

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paniola that the slave revolution then gripping the island had decimated trade there, and that no new slaves were available for purchase because the revolution had caused importation to cease. Two years later, cousin Nicholas once again wrote that the “present situation” was “not altogether favorable.” He had an offer for his slaves of $1,695, which he accepted, but that “gross sales slaves are very dull at present.” Perhaps Thorndike had some moral qualms about dabbling in human trafficking. More likely, he found that it was no longer profitable, and abandoned it as an active part of his enterprise. 25

Closer to home, Thorndike worried about his children’s education. He wanted them to receive better schooling than he enjoyed. In June 1795, he sent his eldest son, Israel, Jr., now ten, to a Billerica boarding school run by Ebenezer Pemberton, during which the young boy would stay with Joshua Abbott. He remained there through October, and then returned in December. Israel, Jr. continued to board with Abbott and receive instruction from Pemberton for the next few years. Thorndike paid for the school supplies of the day—quills, ink, and paper—and also sent extra money during Israel, Jr.’s frequent illnesses. Despite his poor health, Israel, Jr. was well received, and was considered very well behaved. Thorndike’s second son, George, also began receiving instruction from a private tutor in the spring of 1796, at the age of seven. As George’s education continued, he accumulated a decently sized library, fitted to the schooling of the era’s children. It included an English Dictionary and English Grammar; Greek Lexicon and Greek Grammar; a Latin Dictionary and the great Latin authors Virgil, Cicero, Ovid, Horace and Sallust; and some modern fare, including Webber’s Mathematics, the Art of Speaking, and Washington’s Legacies. Andrew, one year younger than George, would start school soon as well. 26 The Thorndike family continued to grow. Anna spent a number of years in a near-constant state of pregnancy. In 1794 the family welcomed another son, named Edward. In 1795 Charles was born, followed two years later by another boy, the couple’s sixth, named Augustus. Anna spent most of her time consumed with the management of the large household within the Thorndike mansion. She did much of her shopping in nearby Salem, crossing the new bridge over the harbor. There, she frequented the local store Andrews & Beckford, purchasing shoes and slippers. Many of her other household items came from local women. From Priscilla Abbott, she purchased fur, trimming and sewing silk. From a Mrs. Murray came most of the groceries—eggs, bread, and more bread—along with candles. From a Mrs. Campbell, she purchased all sorts of items—bowls, pots, lemons, nutmegs and raisins for the kitchen, ribbon and cotton for sewing, cards for playing, and diapers for the infants. 27

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Thorndike did not care just for his own family. Though he had a reputation as a difficult boss, who held his employees to high standards, he also made sure to take care of their families if dire circumstances arose. Included in his business correspondence are letters from his employees’ wives, who suffered their husbands’ long absences at sea while on trading missions commissioned by Thorndike. The letters did not always demonstrate the highest literacy. One from Elizabeth Swan in February 1799 spoke thusly: Sir I have taken the freddum to right a line to you and I should call my self very much obliged Sir if you would be so kind as to send me a line to let me know how the news came from my husband. Sir my nessety obliges me to make my Wonts known to you. I am out of health my self and stand in great Need of monne and if you will be so kind as to relive me I shuld call my self mush obligd to you. 28

Thorndike, despite his reputation for penny-pinching, often answered these letters in the affirmative, and made sure to donate enough money to keep his sailors’ widows from slipping into poverty. Thorndike, after all, knew that story well. He had been six years old when his own father was lost at sea, and his mother remained a widow and cared for her family on her own for several years. Thorndike appreciated the difficulty of single-motherhood, and in this realm he allowed his tender side to win.

War with France now threatened to upend Thorndike’s burgeoning success in global trade. In the aftermath of the Jay Treaty with Britain, France announced that all American merchant ships carrying British goods were subject to seizure, and that all American sailors impressed onto British naval ships would be treated as pirates. This began a long, back and forth treatment of American merchant vessels by both the British and the French. Conversely, while it became increasingly difficult for Thorndike’s ships and cargoes to navigate the sea, American neutrality still brought significant advantages over the merchants from other countries. If Thorndike had not yet devised strategies for navigating this difficult situation, he would soon, and would be able to trade as a neutral American with all the ports of Europe and Britain— despite the attempts of the French and British governments to stop him. The new French policy increased anti-French sentiment among the Federalists, which reached a fevered pitch after the XYZ Affair—in which French diplomats demanded a bribe from American envoys as a precursor to negotiation—became public. In 1798, Congress sanctioned what became known to history as the “Quasi-War.” It created an embargo on all trade with France, and allowed American naval vessels to attack armed French ships that were seizing American merchant ships. It also announced a large buildup of the

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naval forces. The Quasi-War continued until early in the year 1800, when envoys sent by President Adams signed a new treaty with France. 29 Thorndike’s precise thoughts on the events of the Quasi-War are unknown, but we can hazard a guess. He probably approved of the naval buildup, as did most Federalists and merchantmen. The navy would provide protection for American vessels. It seems doubtful, however, that he supported the trade embargo with France. France was a source of imports and a destination of exports for Thorndike; removing French ports would hurt his income. In general, Thorndike was an ultimate pragmatist. He recognized that war between European powers offered him opportunities for profit, so long as the United States remained neutral. If the United States were to enter into the conflict, however, it could be disastrous; regardless of which side they chose, many foreign ports would be closed to Thorndike’s vessels.

By 1799, Thorndike continued to make profits, though not without difficulty. In March, he partnered with George Dodge, his father-in-law, to send a schooner named Hope on a trading mission to Monte Cristo in the Mediterranean, commissioning Tarbox Moulton to be the captain. Moulton was one of Thorndike’s favorite captains. He repeatedly hired him to command Caribbean expeditions. On the high seas, the Hope encountered the British naval warship HMS Pelican, whose crew discovered a valuable cargo of coffee, sugar, cocoa, and molasses. Commander Philpet of the Pelican determined that the cargo was French in origin, and she was libeled a prize. She was carried into Kingston, Jamaica, one of the largest cities in the British Caribbean. Thorndike and Dodge pressed their claims. They hired an agent in Kingston, William Savage, to represent them before the British Court of Vice Admiralty. They also appealed to Samuel Cabot, a younger of the Cabot brothers with whom Thorndike had engaged in trade. Samuel was then living in London and acting as an American representative there for merchants who believed their ships had been wrongly seized. In May, Thorndike and Dodge won their case before the British court in Kingston. But the captors appealed the verdict, and the partners would not recover their property until December. The following year, Thorndike and Dodge finally received damages of approximately $45,000. Savage explained why they had to proceed cautiously, including the “uncertainty of what length of time Great Britain and America may remain on amicable terms.” 30 It was not just the threat of capture on the seas that threatened Thorndike’s trading empire. In late 1799, the economic situation in Europe—the prime market for many of Thorndike’s goods—was tenuous at best. In October, Thorndike’s primary agent in Copenhagen, Ryberg, wrote to Beverly of the precarious economy. “The prices of American and West Indian produce

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have [gradually declined] during the summer, [and] are now reduced to a very low ebb indeed.” Ryberg noted that “Sugars and Tobacco” in particular faced a terrible market, but it was not those products alone—”at present there is not the least demand for any article whatsoever. The general scarcity of ready money in Europe, and the many failures in Hamburg, London and other places have caused a stop to all mercantile speculations… We are afraid it will be sometime before trade will acquire new life, at least… not … until next spring.” Ryberg was no alone in his analysis. Thorndike’s agent in Hamburg, a Mr. Wortmann, wrote to Beverly in November. Everything would hinge on what happened with the war, he said. If there was a continental peace—but war continued between England and France—then the price of coffee would be favorable. But a general peace, Wortmann told Thorndike, would offer few opportunities. 31

Late that same year, an event occurred in France which changed the course of the wars that had lasted nearly the entire decade of the 1790s. Since 1795, France had been governed by a group known as the Directory—La Directoire—consisting of five men running the executive branch of government. The Directory ushered in a period of reaction. The excesses of the French Revolution from 1792 to 1794, culminating in Robespierre’s Reign of Terror, had been swept away by the Directory’s more conservative governance. The Directory inherited a brutal financial situation: France was nearly bankrupt, credit froze, and inflation was rampant. The country continued to fight wars on all fronts. The Directory added to its woes by engaging in legendary levels of corruption. A government that oversees a dismal economy while engaging in corruption on a mass scale is a government whose unpopularity is certain. With everyone assuming that the Directory was ripe to fall, the question merely became who or what would take its place. Many eyes in France began to turn towards a potential savior: a young, small, brilliant general who was just returning from a lackluster campaign in Egypt, but whose exploits were already reaching legendary proportions. The short, frail, intense man was just 30 years old, but carried himself with the authority of a world-historical figure: Napoleon Bonaparte. Having returned to France, Bonaparte set about preparing his move. The conspiracy was put in place, and rumors spread throughout Paris that a coup was imminent. On November 9—known to the French Revolutionary Calendar as 18 Brumaire—Bonaparte launched his coup, which appeared to go off without a hitch. The following day, however, the successful venture nearly faltered and France’s Council of the Five Hundred briefly appeared as though it might briefly halt Bonaparte’s seizure of power. But the militia forces sided with Bonaparte and the young general became France’s head of state.

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The rise of Bonaparte carried earth-shaking consequences which were felt the world over. Thorndike’s career, too, would be heavily influenced by the actions of the little Corsican general. France, possibly the most powerful country in the world at the turn of the nineteenth century, would have her foreign policy completely embodied by Bonaparte. The wars and economic policies of France, and her archenemy Britain, would shape American politics and the American economy for as long as the battle for Europe continued. Thorndike’s economic fortunes were entirely shaped by the forces Bonaparte unleashed. Even though Thorndike did not know it at the time, 18 Brumaire was a pivotal moment in his own career. 32

Thorndike had agreed to partner with Thomas Dickason, his London agent, in constructing a new ship, called the Cyrus. Both Thorndike and Dickason would take 15 shares of the venture, while William Leech, a local man whom Thorndike hired to be captain, would own two shares. Construction of the Cyrus began in earnest in early 1800, with the masts raised into their positions, the sails hung aloft, and the wooden hull laboriously hammered together with copper bolts supplied by Paul Revere. Provisions of food, water, and alcohol were lowered into the hold for the crew’s long voyage. The ship was armed with cannons to ward off pirates and privateers, and possessed a cargo of tremendous value, over $61,000 worth of silver— dwarfing the $4,600 cargo Thorndike’s vessel Three Brothers had carried to the Caribbean seven years earlier. By July, the Cyrus was ready. 33 The Cyrus represented a new type of structure in the shipping trade. Thorndike, naturally, wanted to limit his risk. He was loading the Cyrus with numerous kegs of his own silver, with which to purchase Indian cloth. While consumer goods from Massachusetts did not find many buyers in the East Indies—unlike in the Caribbean—silver did. But Thorndike did not want to risk too much of his own silver on one venture, and consequently he rented out space aboard the Cyrus for other persons who could not afford to procure their own ships for the East Indies trade. John Lowell, Jr., Thomas Winthrop, and Daniel Gilman each placed thousands of dollars of silver aboard the Cyrus. As payment, Thorndike received a 2.5 percent commission, and “one third of the net profits which this adventure may provide,” deducting the charges minus insurance, and the premium. As noted by James Fichter, this fee structure resembles the two-and-twenty of modern day hedge funds. By renting out the space, Thorndike minimized his own risk even further. If Lowell, Winthrop and Gilman’s silver resulted in a total loss, Thorndike still obtained his commission; if the silver purchased goods which were sold at a net profit, Thorndike received one-third of it. For Thorndike, it was a no-lose proposition. 34

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News traveled only as fast as a horse could gallop or a ship could sail. With each day the Cyrus travelled further away, the amount of time for communications from Thorndike to reach Captain Leach increased, and viceversa. Consequently, Thorndike gave Leech a set of detailed instructions at the outset, before the Cyrus left Beverly Harbor, announcing the desired itinerary, how to manage any varying contingencies that would arise, and how to operate the ship in a day to day manner. A great deal of flexibility, of course, was placed in the hands of the captain, and a great deal of trust as well. 35 The journey’s intended target, Thorndike stated, was Calcutta. Thorndike’s ships had already been plying these trade routes; two years before, a ship wholly owned by Thorndike had loaded up on 231,000 pounds of sugar in the Indian city. En route, Leech was to ensure that the sailors and ship stayed clean; every few days, he should maneuver a sail to force fresh air into the ship’s hold, to keep it cool. In good weather, Leech should let some sea water fill the hold and then manually pump it out again, to keep the wood from rotting. Once in Calcutta, he should check the price of Spanish Dollars, and take advantage of any difference in the exchange rate he might find. 36 Having taken advantage of any potential currency fluctuations, Leech was obliged to purchase whatever goods he could if they could be fetched at a reasonable price and sold at a profit back home. He should take very careful note of everything he purchased, Thorndike told him, including its length, width and breadth, to ensure that it was the proper size. “Bandanno Hankerchiefs,” for example, could be purchased if they measured seven yards long and one yard wide. 37 For the return voyage, Leech should make sure to stock up on six months’ worth of provisions before departing. Once at sea, a sailor must be posted every day as a lookout on the mast’s crow’s nest. Caution was the most important concern—Thorndike was principally worried about the ship being captured. Leech should “run from everything you see the moment you discover them.” If any other vessel was spotted on the horizon, Leech was not to let them close, for even a ship that might appear friendly from a distance may in fact be a “Wolf in Sheeps Cloathing.” 38 If the journey made good time, Thorndike requested that Leech make a quick stop at the city of Saranpore, a Danish settlement in the vicinity of Calcutta. Thorndike wanted him to gather intelligence; Leech was not authorized to purchase or sell anything there. Instead, the Captain was to make a report about the settlement, detailing what they imported and what they exported, how their customs system operated, and whether or not good business could be conducted there. 39 Importantly—despite the long delay in communications—Leech was instructed to write as often as possible, whenever he made harbor, and post the

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letter with a ship returning towards Beverly. Thorndike wanted to be kept updated as much as was humanly possible from the other side of the world. 40 The Cyrus sailed out of Beverly Harbor in July of 1800, and made it safely around the Cape of Good Hope and across the Indian Ocean to Calcutta, passing through the low-lying Ganges Delta and underneath the British fortresses at Fort William. Once arrived, she sold her cargo and loaded up with a large haul of cotton. The return journey was safe as well, and Captain Leech encountered no foreign ships that tried to seize his vessel. When the Cyrus returned to Beverly twelve months later, Thorndike realized a profit of nearly $25,000—a colossal sum. 41

Thorndike’s relationships with other people varied. To some he was a harsh taskmaster, a cold man of numbers. To others he was a good manager, a man who understood when things went wrong. He made decisions quickly, and stuck by them. He was not easily provoked to anger, generally keeping his cool; but that anger, once aroused, was fierce. As one article later recalled, “when he considered himself imposed upon, he was terribly passionate. Rage could hardly have expressed it.” Nevertheless, those occasions were rare, and he got along well with many people. One of his warmest business relationships was with his London agent, Thomas Dickason. Dickason did not just handle Thorndike’s business requests, ensuring that money came in and went out when it should—though he did that, too. Dickason was also Thorndike’s most trusted advisor. 42 Thorndike and Dickason appear to have begun their business relationship at some point in the mid-1790s. Scarcity in the record makes an exact pinpoint impossible. Dickason was headquartered in London. With his proximity to Europe, he had earlier knowledge of the events of Thorndike’s trading there than Thorndike did back in Beverly. He sometimes relayed his opinions about the caliber and activities of the various captains Thorndike employed. Dickason’s letters provided Thorndike with additional intelligence about the goings-on of Europe outside of what his captains reported, important for someone who placed such a high premium on knowledge of economic conditions and personal relationships. Beyond providing his friend with intelligence and news, Dickason held vast sums of Thorndike’s money in deposit in London. Much of Thorndike’s considerable fortune remained under Dickason’s watchful eye, and Thorndike often instructed his captains to remit any proceeds of their European ventures to London. Dickason also was under instructions to grant extensive credit to Thorndike’s captains sailing the Mediterranean and the North Sea to European ports. The credit was extensive enough that merchant-houses throughout Europe wrote often to Thorndike in Beverly, offering him their services in whatever city they conducted business.

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Dickason was more than Thorndike’s point man, however. With Moses Brown settling into retirement, Dickason became Thorndike’s most trusted business confidante. Thorndike ran new ideas by Dickason in nearly every letter. Plans of expansion, more voyages to the East Indies, and new direction for his business were all sent to Dickason. The two developed such a close relationship that in October 1801, Dickason crossed the North Atlantic to visit Thorndike in person. He brought his wife with him, who apparently got along well with Anna. The two men spent much time discoursing on the future of Thorndike’s business, and each enjoyed the others company. They traveled to Boston to meet with David Sears, another wealthy ship merchant, and agreed to outfit a new brig called Rambler with him. The three men would be drawn into an increasingly close business relationship in the years to come. Sears, headquartered in Boston, replaced Brown as Thorndike’s primary American partner on international voyages. He also drew Thorndike increasingly into Boston’s orbit, away from Beverly. 43 When Dickason left on November 2, sailing from Boston, Thorndike missed his company. Within a day, he was slipping into sentimentality, entirely outside his normal style. Writing to Dickason that he presumed “that the fine westerly wind of this pleasant day has born you” far into the Atlantic, and placed “the American shore quite out of your view,” he once again turned quickly to confirming details of everything they had discussed in Massachusetts, and giving instructions for new ventures. Thorndike’s sentimentality lasted only briefly before business returned to his thoughts. 44

On Christmas Day, 1801, Thorndike sat down at his desk in Beverly, commanding a view of Beverly Harbor’s blue, choppy winter water, and churned out a series of letters that would be sent to all corners of the world. Each letter contained a similar sentiment. Thorndike was liquidating the vast majority of his business. New ventures and new opportunities now beckoned his attention. 45 What prompted Thorndike’s decision to nearly dissolve the business he had built over several decades? The answer, simply put, was impending peace. In November, the British government dispatched the Lord Cornwallis, who had presided over the surrender at Yorktown 20 years before, to negotiate a peace with the French. Britain and France were the only warring countries left in Europe. The expectation among Britons was that peace was at hand, after nearly a decade of warfare. This widespread belief quickly crossed the Atlantic to Thorndike’s Beverly counting house. Turning over the prospect in his mind, and perhaps prodded by Dickason during his visit, Thorndike decided quite suddenly that his best business prospects lay elsewhere.

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That Christmas, Thorndike wrote to Captain Leech, among others. He told Leech that he hoped the cargo of the Cyrus, which Leech then commanded, would be sold as swiftly as possible. Thorndike wanted to get out of the business quickly, before the market turned in a direction he thought would be disadvantageous. He explained his reasoning to Leech: I am now more than ever impressed with the idea that money will be constantly growing, both here and in Europe, & of course that trade generally will leave a loss to those who pursue it. Therefore, I should greatly prefer having the Cyrus sold in Europe if a tolerable price could be obtained for her, and proceed if her & her cargo could be placed in London or elsewhere in perfect safety and without much loss. 46

To Captain John Thissel, he wrote a similar missive: There now being a profound peace in Europe, money will be constantly growing, & of course every species of Merchandize will be selling here & in Europe… Therefore there will be a great risk of losing money by trade. 47

Thorndike believed that the interruption of hostilities in Europe would decrease the value of American exports to the continent. Within a few months, he believed he had been proven correct. Writing to Dickason in February, 1802, Thorndike stated that he had previously “thought shipping would be low in this Country. I am still of the opinion, and the sales that have been made since the Peace justify it.” The only remaining option was to limit the scope of his business to “3 or 4 ships in the Cotton trade,” which Thorndike believed might remain profitable, and enter a leisurely mini-retirement. 48 The Peace of Amiens was signed in March, 1802, ending a decade of warfare on the European continent. Thorndike assumed this would conclude his run of good fortune in European and East Indies trading, where the war positioned him to reap huge rewards. Now, his thoughts turned to new ventures. He believed cotton was the future, and began to look to the American continent for new investments. He now had time to re-enter politics, dismayed as he was by the Federalist defeats in the election of 1800. Thorndike’s many sons, too, were getting older. Israel, Jr. was now 16 and though not destined for college, it was almost time for him to enter the family business. George, 12 and precociously intelligent, could begin to think about higher education. The others had boarding school in their future. In the spring of 1802, Thorndike was content. He had made his fortune, and now that peace was at hand, he thought he could finally relax.

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NOTES 1. Forbes, Israel Thorndike, p. 80; receipt for sale of home to Hale Hilton, October 29, 1793 (Beverly Historical Society). 2. The house still exists. It is currently Beverly City Hall. See Forbes, Israel Thorndike, p. 80. 3. Forbes, Israel Thorndike, pp. 78–80. 4. Forbes, Israel Thorndike, p. 27. 5. The Gazette of the United States.; January 18, 1792, Vol. III, Issue 76; p. 303, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 6. Thorndike Genealogy, pp. 66. 7. The Salem Gazette.; Feb 26, 1793; Vol. VII; Issue 333, p. 4, Salem, Massachusetts. 8. (IT papers Box 1); http://www.un.int/stlucia/consularservices/history.htm. 9. Letter from IT to William Abbott, Feb. 3, 1794. Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 10. Insurance policy from Feb 14, 1794. Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 11. Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School; http:// www.un.int/stlucia/consularservices/history.htm. 12. Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School; http:// www.un.int/stlucia/consularservices/history.htm. 13. Letter from Abbott to IT, April 12, 1794. Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School; letter from Abbott to IT, May 28, 1794. Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 14. Court ruling, May 14, 1794, C. Johnson, deputy registrar. Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School; letter from Abbott to IT, May 28, 1794. Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 15. Letter from William Abbott to IT, May 28, 1794. Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School; Letter from Abbott to IT, June 15, 1794. Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 16. Letter from Abbott to IT, June 15, 1794. Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 17. Letter from IT to Abbott, August 7, 1794. Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 18. Forbes, Israel Thorndike, pp. 44. 19. For the effect of the European wars on trade, see Fichter, So Great a Proffit, pp. 1–4, 57–58. 20. Fichter, So Great a Proffit, pp. 47-49, 206–07. 21. Fichter, So Great a Proffit, pp. 187–88. 22. Fichter, So Great a Proffit, pp. 205–06. 23. For more on monopoly and American-British trading with the continent, see Fichter, So Great a Proffit at 109–110. 24. There is one solicitation of Thorndike by a prospective agent named Woodville in Havanna in 1801 who discusses the prospect for importing slaves from Havanna to the United States; it is unknown to the author whether Thorndike was still active in trading slaves or if this was part of the agent’s typical routine. Letter from Woodville to IT and John Lovett, December 16, 1801 (Beverly Historical Society). 25. Letter from N Thorndike to Brown & Thorndike, December 14, 1791 (Beverly Historical Society); letter from N Thorndike to Brown & Thorndike, May 1, 1793 (Beverly Historical Society). 26. For the section on education, see Bills for boarding, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School; Catalogue of G. Thorndike’s books, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 27. Thorndike genealogy, p. 68; Various bills, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School.

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28. Letter from Elizabeth Swan to Thorndike, Feb 21, 1799, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 29. For a discussion of the Quasi-War, see Gordon Wood, Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789-1815, Oxford University Press, 2011, pp. 239–75. 30. For the Hope, see the following: Letter to Thorndike & Dodge from Jamaica, April 12, 1799; letter from Savage to Thorndike & Dodge, December 6, 1799; letter from Samuel Cabot to Thorndike & Dodge, Dec 23, 1799; letter to Thorndike & Dodge from Jamaica, January 6, 1800; letter to Thorndike & Dodge from John Murray, March 5, 1800; letter to Thorndike & Dodge, March 25, 1800. All in Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 31. Letter to Thorndike from Ryberg, October 9, 1799, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School; Letter to Thorndike from Wortman, November 28, 1799, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 32. For the section on The Directory and Napoleon’s coup of 18 Brumaire, see Frank McLynn, Napoleon: A Biography, Arcade Publishing, New York, 1997, p. 208–19. 33. For the section on the Cyrus, see Forbes, Israel Thorndike, pp. 46–54; IT letter to Captain Leech, July 9, 1800 Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 34. Bill of Lading, Thos. L. Winthrop, June 30, 1800 (IT Papers ,Box 3); Bill of Lading, John Lowell Jr., July 1, 1800, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School; Bill of Lading, Daniel Gilman, July 1, 1800, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 35. IT letter to Captain Leech, July 9, 1800, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 36. IT letter to Captain Leech, July 9, 1800, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 37. IT letter to Captain Leech, July 9, 1800, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 38. IT letter to Captain Leech, July 9, 1800, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 39. IT letter to Captain Leech, July 9, 1800, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 40. IT letter to Captain Leech, July 9, 1800, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 41. For the section on the Cyrus, see Forbes, Israel Thorndike, pp 46–54; IT letter to Captain Leech, July 9, 1800, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 42. Forbes, Israel Thorndike, p. 151. 43. Letter from IT to Dickason, November 8, 1801, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School; Letter from IT to Dickason, October 25, 1801, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 44. Letter from IT to Dickason, November 8, 1801, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 45. Various letters from IT, December 25, 1801, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 46. Letter from IT to Leech, December 25, 1801, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 47. Letter from IT to John Thissel, December 25, 1801, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 48. Letter from IT to Dickason, February 23, 1802, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School.

Chapter Four

War Again, 1802–1807

The wars’ end and the changing economic environment allowed Thorndike to pursue other opportunities. He had dabbled in politics during the Constitutional Convention and in the early days of the Washington Administration. Over the past decade, however, he had been absent from the public scene, concentrating his energy on the East Indies trade, which by 1801 had become his main source of income. Now the boom was over, and Thorndike’s party, the Federalists, had lost power for the first time. With the defeat of John Adams by Thomas Jefferson in the presidential election of 1800, the Republican party had won control of the federal government. The Federalists adjusted themselves to the role of opposition party. 1 On May 10, 1802, the men of Beverly assembled for their Town Meeting in one of the local churches. There they elected three men to represent the town in the Massachusetts House of Representatives in Boston. When the vote concluded—in the open, no secret ballot—they had selected Thorndike to go to the State House for the first time in over a decade. He remained in the legislature, in one capacity or another, for many years, eventually becoming one of Massachusetts’ more powerful behind-the-scenes political figures. 2 But for now, Thorndike was just another freshman legislator. His gift, as had been noted during the Ratification Convention of 1788, was not in oratory or public speaking, but in the hard labors of committee work and behindthe-scenes vote whipping. Long accustomed to handling large sums of money, his labor in the first session tended towards the financial. He helped issue a report requesting the federal government reimburse Massachusetts for the value of stores taken when Boston Harbor’s Castle Island was ceded to the national government in 1798. He also served on several incorporation com61

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mittees, which incorporated new companies such as the Essex Fire and Marine Insurance Company, the Middlesex Canal Company, and the Boston Bank. 3 Thorndike’s political positions on the larger national issues in the early years of the century have not entirely survived. Those that have are, interestingly enough, contained in a letter to his British friend and agent, Thomas Dickason, and then only briefly. He decried to his friend that “party spirit rather increases in this country.” He worried about the state of the federal treasury, noting that the Federalists were not pleased with the Republican government: “the present ruling party are losing the confidence of the Federalists daily, nor does Gallatin’s report or his and the party’s official conduct inspire additional confidence in our public funds.” In particular, Thorndike despised the Republicans’ repeal of several Federalist measures, including the midnight judges appointed by Adams in the final days of his presidency, and the internal excise tax. 4 Despite the setbacks, the Federalists had high hopes for the future. Thorndike’s election to the legislature in May, 1802, had been part of a groundswell of public opinion in favor of the Federalists in Massachusetts, where the party was led, for the moment, by Governor Caleb Strong. Thorndike trusted that the Federalist loss of power was temporary. He hoped his party would soon return to full control of the national government, as they had been for the first twelve years after the Constitution’s adoption.

Thorndike’s business successes resulted in part from the notoriously intense expectations he placed on his employees. While he gave great latitude to those captains he trusted—indeed, he oftentimes had little choice given the great distances—he could be harsh in retribution when crossed or failed. His agents abroad consequently tended to give their best efforts in pursuing the highest value for Thorndike’s goods. In the winter of 1801–02, while attempting to almost fully retire from the trading business, Thorndike became increasingly dissatisfied with the conduct of one of his agents in Hamburg, the trading house of Rucker & Mortmann. The agents had multiple opportunities to sell the ship Mary’s cargo at a profit, but failed to do so. When they finally managed to sell Thorndike’s goods, they did so at remarkably low prices that cost their owner a significant sum of money. Thorndike wrote to them, expressing his clear dissatisfaction and demanding the profit he could have received but for the agents’ folly. “[I am] much dissatisfied respecting the sale of the Mary’s cargo,” Thorndike wrote. He stated “that I have a demand on you for a large sum of money, in consequence of your holding that cargo through much good opportunities for sale.” He believed the men were “guilty of gross negligence,” and consequently he had “a clear remedy for damages.” Thorndike outlined the sub-

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stances of his charge. “I will mention only two instances in point: One, that the Captain of the Mary sold what little coffee was consigned him for more than double what you sold a considerable part of mine…. [Two], George Smith & Co. sold the Friendship’s cargo that arrived the same day with the Mary for about double what you sold mine at, and I might quote many other instances in Hamburg to the same effect.” 5 Thorndike was prepared to be magnanimous, however, and offered Rucker & Mortmann a deal. Thorndike owed Rucker & Mortmann some money from a prior transaction; he proposed to wipe away both sides of the ledger, and “close all accounts between us.” In this way, they could avoid litigation, and prevent any future association. No further letters are found in Thorndike’s papers on the subject; perhaps the two sides settled without going to court. The incident reveals the close eye that Thorndike kept on all aspects of his dealings. He remained informed of the outcomes of his own trading ventures as well as those of other merchants. A constant stream of data flowed to his sparsely furnished Beverly counting house, sent by agents in merchant houses across Europe and elsewhere. In this way, he remained remarkably well informed of economic and market forces in cities and ports around the world, while rarely leaving Beverly’s borders. 6

Around the turn of the century, a young nephew of Thorndike’s arrived in Beverly. Thorndike, who habitually gave highly placed jobs to family members, made the nephew a ship’s captain. Andrew Thorndike had been born in Jaffrey, New Hampshire, in 1778. His father was Thorndike’s older brother Joseph, who had left Beverly for the interior at the outbreak of the Revolution. As a teenager, Andrew had helped his father run the farm and their small local business concerns in the remote New Hampshire town, but the lure of the sea proved too much for him. He returned to the Thorndike ancestral home, where he joined his Uncle Israel’s flourishing shipping enterprise. 7 Andrew was precocious, eager to please, hopeful for success. He lacked, however, his uncle’s far-reaching intelligence, business sense and good luck. Still, for a few years Thorndike was willing to give him opportunities. One of his first assignments, in 1801, was to sell the cargo of several ships that returned to Europe from the East Indies, packed full with pepper. The assignment was not entirely successful. Dickason wrote Thorndike in early 1802 that Andrew had “fallen into bad hands” while selling his cargo. 8 Andrew never told his uncle the specifics, but whatever happened, the incident affected Andrew and he decided that the life of a ship’s captain might not be for him. He wrote Thorndike that he would prefer to enter the dry goods business upon returning home, a scheme that was one of many new ideas that

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spilled from Andrew’s mind. Thorndike responded in May 1802, with some friendly career advice. “If you should determine on going into the dry goods business at home,” Thorndike wrote, “you can, while in London under the patronage of Mr. Dickason, make arrangements as to your connections in any importations as will be very much for your interest.” Thorndike thought a stint in England might be helpful for Andrew. “I should think you ought to remain a while in London and go from thence to some of the manufacturing towns. If, however, you determine not to [captain a ship] again, nor enter into the Dry Goods business at home, I should advise you to take a Plantation in our Cotton Country, which bids fair and more.” Thorndike had strong feelings about cotton’s future, his conscience unaffected by cotton’s reliance on slavery. “[It] is becoming one of our greatest staples for exportation.” 9 Thorndike concluded his career advice by joking that if Andrew were to purchase a cotton plantation in the South, he would “soon become a member of Congress.” Thorndike, as usual, was prescient in picking future economic winners—in decades to come, the cotton trade would completely overtake tobacco as the prime American export from the south, and become so powerful that it received its own moniker: King Cotton. Passing quickly over his predictive prowess, Thorndike then switched to a more serious note in relating bad news, with little hint of concern. “Your cousin Jacob Oliver is no more. He was shipwrecked about 12 months since, and he with his whole crew perished. W.D. can give you all the particulars.” 10 By the time Andrew returned to Beverly on July 27, 1802, he had not yet made up his mind about his future. His Uncle Israel apparently believed this meant Andrew was still amenable to captaining a long voyage to the East. By making Andrew a captain again, he ignored the advice of Thomas Dickason in London, who through his network had discovered that Andrew had done a poor job of selling Thorndike’s cotton. When informed of it, Thorndike had dismissed Dickason’s concern by saying it was just Dickason’s own opinion, and that Andrew “has said nothing about it himself.” If Thorndike had one soft spot, it appears to have been with members of his own family. He spoiled his children, too. 11 At first, however, Andrew was reticent. Thorndike had a ship and crew already picked out, but Andrew demurred, perhaps noting his cousin’s death at sea. He tended to make excuses, to delay action until every condition was favorable. He was the kind of person who missed out on good prospects. On the current voyage, he refused to take command unless the seamen on the ship were made “more respectable”—a dubious prospect. 12 Thorndike and David Sears were the largest investors, each taking 25 shares out of the 78 that were issued. In total, $80,000 was invested in the venture. On board, they stocked 50 boxes, filled to the brim with silver Spanish dollars—60,000 in all. The owners named 24-year-old Andrew,

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whose will was overrun, as supercargo but not as captain, a break from Thorndike’s usual practice of combining the positions. Although one might consider that they were losing faith in the young man, it appears the opposite was true. Thomas Dickason had changed his mind about Andrew since the spring, and Thorndike was pleased that Dickason “express[ed] so high an opinion of AT.” Thorndike and Sears drew up the contract on August 2, less than a week after Andrew’s return. As an inducement, they gave Andrew a three percent commission on the purchase of pepper, three percent privilege on what the ship actually carried in cargo, 1.5% of any European sales if they occurred, and 1.5% if the ship—the Alexander Hodgdon—was sold. 13

Thorndike, meanwhile, continued to downsize his fleet in anticipation of the peace, while moving exclusively into the cotton trade. In the spring of 1802, one of his ships, the Arab, had returned to Boston, and instead of sending her to Europe, he had sold off both her cargo and the ship itself. Thorndike assumed that he could dispose of both for a total of $93,000, which would leave him $2,000 in the red on the voyage as a whole. He took the loss philosophically, however, writing to Dickason that “we have this consolation that if the war had continued, we would have done well.” He forgave Dickason for selling off the Cyrus for $10,000, when in reality it may have fetched close to $18,000 in Boston—after all, Dickason had done what he thought was best. Thorndike planned to sell other ships, the Ganges and the Eliza, both of which he assumed would cause a net loss. Neither of them were large enough for the cotton trade—Thorndike estimated that he would need one or two ships of between 400 to 450 tons. He thought the cotton business would “make a good peace profit… say 12 to 15 [percent annually] after paying insurance and… other charges.” He knew that this was a significantly lower rate of return compared to wartime profits (a fact that reveals in stunning clarity how high the average rate of return was during the wars) but wrote to Dickason that they must simply accept that days of easy profits were behind them: “This I suppose you would call miserable after what [we have experienced], but those times have passed, not to return to us.” 14

In September, 1802, the Alexander Hodgdon sat in Boston Harbor, her hull brimming with dozens of boxes filled with silver. For this East Indies voyage, the owners did not adhere to the standard model of trade Thorndike used in the Caribbean, which involved selling consumer goods and spending the proceeds to buy local products for resale. Instead, the Alexander Hodgdon’s investors were sending over vast amounts of silver currency to pur-

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The Alexander Hodgdon, apparently after a storm. Courtesy of the Beverly Historical Society.

chase pepper, which they could then resell either in Europe or at home. Asia had no demand for New England consumer goods. 15 Thorndike journeyed down to Boston with his nephew Andrew to draw up, with Sears, the instructions for the young man’s voyage. Andrew should pursue pepper and direct Captain Nehemiah Skilling to sail the Alexander Hodgdon to Sumatra, where most pepper exported to the United States came from. There, “you will direct the… ship to be loaded with good, clean heavy pepper in bulk, at the cheapest sale possible.” But he should not accept “a higher price than nine cents per English pound, until you have fully satisfied yourself that it cannot be obtained on the island cheaper.” As usual, Thorndike’s orders allowed for a great deal of leeway based on the circumstances that they found. “If you should find that you cannot obtain pepper there, proceed… to Borneo.” Before going to Borneo, however, Andrew should be sure to “procure such additional number of men who will, in your opinion, be necessary to defend the ship against any attacks of the natives.” Not everyone on the far side of the world accepted the benefits of western trade. 16 If Andrew was able to load the ship with only pepper, the owners wished that the remaining silver be invested in other currency, because they thought the exchange rate would be favorable. If Andrew were to add coffee to his pepper purchases, Thorndike and Sears gave careful instructions about how to keep the two separate and prevent them from getting wet over the course of the voyage. They told him that the best course of action was most likely to sell the cargo in Europe. Nevertheless, because of the peace, “we anticipate

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pepper being a dull sale in Europe.” Thus, when he arrived at Cadiz, in Spain, Andrew should first check with their agent, James Duff, for “letters of advice from us and from our other friends in different parts of Europe… advising as to the best markets.” From there, the most likely outcome would be to leave the pepper “at Cadiz in the hands of some good responsible man” who could handle the sale. And because Thorndike still fancied that he was getting out of the business altogether, he and Sears told Andrew that “after discharging the cargo in Europe, it is our wish that the ship should be sold also, and the whole proceeds of the ship and cargo remitted to our friend Thomas Dickason of London.” The Alexander Hodgdon came in at 377 tons, still lower than the 400 or 450 tons that Thorndike believed were required for the cotton trade. 17 With instructions in hand—the outline for a successful voyage given to him by one of the world’s foremost practitioners of the merchant’s craft— Andrew Thorndike stepped aboard the Alexander Hodgdon in Boston on September 25, 1802, and set sail for Sumatra.

Though he continued to send ships like the Alexander Hodgdon on large trading missions to the East Indies, Thorndike liked to think of himself as now retired from business. Thorndike’s “Roaring Nineties” decade was behind him. No longer could he send out ship after ship with a near guarantee of enormous profits that would vastly exceed the 12 to 15 percent return which he expected to receive in the “miserable” cotton trade—miserable not because of cotton’s deep association with slavery, but because its remarkable rate of return could still not hope to match those from the war years. Dickason was bugged by his own mini-retirement, and implored Thorndike to travel to London and reminisce about the good old days of East India profits. In the spring of 1803, he told Thorndike “I am already turned into the humdrum merchant of London, looking neither to the right nor to left transacting the business of our correspondents… Pray, come here and enliven the scene, with conversation at least, about [East Indies] voyages.” Though Thorndike wrote to one associate “I am much retired from business at present, and the enormous price of shipping, sailors and wages, and everything appertaining to navigation almost discourages me from having any further concern in it,” he still found himself missing old times, and could not help but want to still play the game. “But if I could get a good vessel soon, on reasonable terms, I would send her around the Cape of Good Hope with a small stock.” 18

On April 26, 1803, Thomas Dickason sat down in his London office and quickly scribbled out a note to his friend Thorndike in the United States. His message was to the point:

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The day before, thousands of miles away in the middle of the Indian Ocean on the Isle de France, 20 Andrew Thorndike also sat down to write a letter to his Uncle Israel. Andrew’s letter was more soulful. The journey of the Alexander Hodgdon had been less than successful, and Andrew took the setback personally. Prior letters outlined the problems. After a four month journey, the Alexander Hodgdon had landed in Sumatra on January 26. There, he found other idle vessels, all of which were waiting for the next crop of pepper to arrive. Two ships had been anchored in the harbor for four months, just waiting for sugar. Because of the large backlog of goods, the contract rates for pepper and sugar had gone through the roof. Andrew decided to try his luck at other Sumatran ports, but to no avail. Everywhere, he found the same problem; American ships waiting for months on end for their cargo. In one port alone there were 13 American vessels, with seven or eight more expected to arrive at any time. So Andrew decided to proceed south to the island of Java, and try its ports, including the principal Dutch trading port of Batavia. If unsuccessful there, he planned to go to India. 21 En route to Batavia, things were little better. Sailing through the Straits of Sunda, the Alexander Hodgdon had lost a cable and an anchor. 22 At Batavia, he was able to procure pepper, but no coffee. From Batavia, he sailed to the Isle de France in the middle of the Indian Ocean for a stopover. He was clearly upset at the voyage’s limited success, now eight months since leaving Boston, and his emotions spilled out in a letter to Thorndike and Sears dated April 25. He first noted that some persons—whom he does not name—had ill notions of his conduct during the voyage, “which has been attended with many difficulties, anxiety, and trouble.” He then gave an indication of his intentions for the remainder of the voyage. He would see it through until the end: …You can well imagine my present determination is not to return to the U. States until I have made one more voyage round the [Cape of Good Hope] into the Eastern Seas. I shall therefore be induced to wind up this concern entirely, and connect myself in a more simple, and I hope, profitable manner…. 23

He then continued, thanking his uncle for the trust placed in him and the advice given, whether or not it would lead him to success: I am not accustomed to complain. I only wish to acquit myself honorably and fully to your satisfaction. I am proud to have gained your confidence… Your friendly admonitions and advices have been of use to me. If my exertions…

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have not acquitted me, let the lasting and grateful sensations which these hours impress us in some measure make up for it. 24

He concluded his letter with his hopes for the future. Clearly, he was a young man who wished to succeed in business, and had taken his uncle as a model. But Uncle Israel had luck and timing – Andrew, it appears had neither. I am heartily tired of this kind of life. But [I] promise … to return to [the United States] once more if I can connect myself to advantage in Europe. In order that I may be enabled to return home, denying the easy and material life of a farmer, where there is no challenge but the rocks and the ploughshare, the anxiety but the season…. Please to inform my family that I am well. 25

The young Andrew sent the letter, waiting for further instructions from his uncle on what to do. Sitting on the Isle de France in the middle of the Indian Ocean, he was oblivious to the fact that France and Britain were speeding towards war once again.

The bulletins from Europe were arriving rapidly at Thorndike’s Beverly counting house, from Leghorn and Rotterdam. From Barcelona came requests for business, colored by the joyous news that the resumption of hostilities would lead to better business prospects: Should war unfortunately break out again between France and England, in which this country [Spain] would undoubtedly be involved, your codfish would fetch more at this market, and we suppose you might continue – the same as the last war – to send here for sale cocoa, sugar, [and] produce of Spanish America and Islands. 26

From John H. Rogers & Company in Alicante, also in Spain, came a brief missive: “Because of the possibility of war between England and France, we inform you that [West Indies] produce is taking favor. Liquors are calm.” 27 Another, in typed print rather than handwritten, came from Michael Richardson, an agent of Thorndike’s in Liverpool. It carried the urgent news that the prospects of large profits for American merchants had returned. The boom years were back: By this morning’s post we have official intelligence that the negotiation between this country and France is broke off, and that both Ambassadors are returning to their respective courts. War now seems inevitable, and we are of the opinion that every description of American and West Indian produce will advance in this market, and give a large opening for extended trade with the United States... The Mediterranean trade must now be chiefly in the hands of the American merchants, as it will be absolutely impossible for British mer-

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Richardson then solicited Thorndike’s business, while also noting the fact that they had provided in advance for Napoleon’s potential plans of conquest. Strongly impressed with this opinion, we again take liberty of drawing your attention to our establishment at Naples, under the firm of Richardson, Timmins and Mendham….[And] for the greater convenience of shipping Sicilian produce, and to afford a safe depot for the property of ourselves and friends in case of the French invading the Kingdom of Naples, we have established a branch of our house at Messina, in Sicily, which … we fully expect will be protected by a large squadron of ships. 29

On April 28, three days after his last letter, Andrew wrote to Sears & Thorndike. He had contracted with a merchant at the Isle de France to sell most of his pepper at Marseilles. On that day, the Alexander Hodgdon began its journey of many months to the French port on the Mediterranean. 30

With war imminent, Thorndike leapt into action, abandoning his scheme to sell off most of his shipping fleet and downsize into the cotton trade. Among his earliest steps was to get in touch with his nephew, Andrew, to ensure that he did not sell the Alexander Hodgdon. A 377-ton ship was ideal for voyages to the East and West Indies, now profitable once again. On April 29, one day after Andrew had written from the other side of the world that he was departing the Isle de France, Thorndike wrote him another letter. These letters took weeks or months to reach the recipient. “We find, contrary to our expectations, that the shipping keeps up here higher than expected; or, in other words, money keeps down,” Thorndike wrote. “We therefore alter our opinion as to the sale of the ship, and think she had better take freight at a low rate, or come home with a cargo of salt, unless you can sell the ship for a great price—say $20,000, provided she is in good order.” 31 He then gave Andrew his analysis of the unfolding European situation: “Our last accounts from England,” wrote Thorndike, “indicates a renewal of war betwixt England and France, in which case Spain and Holland will be obliged to participate. This event would render business more precarious, and perhaps more profitable—but it would require more circumspection.” He then reiterated his instructions about the ship: “And should war actually take place, we think it would be best not to sell the ship, but well to load her with Brandy.” 32 On June 1, he wrote to Dickason of his thoughts on what the outbreak of war was doing to the American economy. “Everything,” Thorndike wrote,

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was “in suspense owing to the uncertainty of peace or war in Europe.” Commerce had slowed, and so the “solid people of this country have so large capital, they are in great difficulty how to employ it.” The result, Thorndike said, was a bank bubble: “They are Bank Mad and are … establishing Bank upon Bank, which makes it more easy than ever for people of little capital to obtain money on loans. And this, of course, keeps real estate of many other species of property up to a most enormous price, even beyond what they were when you left this country.” Thorndike worried about the bubble, which caused overinvestment. “Even shipbuilding is higher than it was before peace took place,” Thorndike told Dickason, an astonishing case given how lucrative seagoing trade had been prior to the Peace of Amiens. 33

The bulletins continued to arrive in Beverly that summer of 1803. The war was back on, and there were profits to be made. Merchant houses across Europe solicited the business of Israel Thorndike, by now one the most prominent merchants in the United States. From Preble & Company, in Havre, France, June 12: “We … hand you the enclosed price current, which will point out to you the rise that has taken place at this market in consequence of the war between England and France.” 34 From Rotterdam, in the Batavian Republic (today’s Netherlands), June 21: “The renewed hostilities between France and England, in which unfortunately this country is also engaged, will most certainly reanimate the commercial intercourse between our two countries.” 35 From Bremen, June 26: “We take the liberty to inform you of a considerable advancement in the prices of West India and American products, which is taken place in consequence of the renewal of hostilities between England and France.” 36 From one Duamonte, in St. Petersburg, Russia, August 7: “We trust, however, as war is now declared, and as this circumstance will now give additional life to your commerce, that our produce will soon come to a good market.” 37

On September 9, Thorndike wrote Dickason with his thoughts. “Now as the war betwixt your country and France has actually taken place, we on this side of the water think it will be a considerable time before peace will be permanently settled again. Under these impressions, our India speculation are again in operation, and our friend Sears and myself have undertaken in some lately, and are about extending it further.” Thorndike concluded his letter with a friendly request: “[I] hope that I shall have the pleasure of seeing you in this country again with your family.” 38

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Within days came news from abroad reflecting the darker side of what war meant to international commerce. Thorndike learned that the Alexander Hodgdon, along with his nephew Andrew, had been captured by a British sloop of war at the end of July. 39

The Alexander Hodgdon’s voyage from the Isle de France was uneventful. Over three months, they sailed south past the eastern coast of Africa and the vast island of Madagascar, turned west to skirt southern Africa and the Cape of Good Hope, and then sailed north through the cold Atlantic waters. Andrew, who had taken over command of the Alexander Hodgdon as captain, was unaware that he was sailing toward a Europe once more at war. So far as he knew, the peace was still on. Somewhat astonishingly, he did not learn the news as he approached. He may not have stopped at many ports, or encountered other vessels. 40 On July 25, they were sailing off the Portuguese coast, intending to pass through the Strait of Gibraltar and deliver their cargo at Marseilles, as Andrew had contracted for in April. Suddenly, a British sloop of war, the HMS Victorious, appeared off the horizon and approached quickly. Andrew ordered the Alexander Hodgdon’s pilot not to flee, but fall in with the Victorious. He was unsure of the British sloop’s intentions. 41 The British commander boarded the Alexander Hodgdon and informed Andrew that “it was war.” The British commander said that “he should send me in for trial … in consequence of having come from, and being bound to, an enemy’s port, [with] suspicion of having an enemy’s property on board.” Andrew “insisted on being sent into Gibraltar,” the “nearest and most eminent port, according to Treaty.” The commander refused. Instead, he moved the Alexander Hodgdon’s crew to the Victorious, where they were “quartered and compelled to do duty on board the Sloop of War.” Andrew was left on board, along with the Alexander Hodgdon’s officers, carpenter, and cook. Two British officers and 12 British sailors joined them and operated the ship, while the Americans remaining on board were quarantined below deck. Andrew, outraged at the treatment, wrote his Uncle Israel that “this unfortunate detention [has been] aggravated by the most flagrant, unjust, and arbitrary proceedings on the part of the Captors.” 42 Instead of Gibraltar, as Andrew hoped, the British commander set sail for Plymouth, England. They arrived there 11 days later, on August 5. Upon their arrival, Dickason heard of their predicament. He began organizing a legal team on behalf of the crew, cargo and ship, but Andrew and his fellow sailors remained quarantined aboard the Alexander Hodgdon until August 9. During the intervening days, Andrew was deprived of any communications with persons in England, and was not “supposed to send or receive any letter or writing on board without its being previously examined by the Prize

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Master.” To Andrew’s disgust and dismay, the ship’s papers were “taken out without being sealed in my presence,” which Andrew believed signaled a potential fraud by the British captors. 43 The situation did not improve. On the 10, Andrew was summoned with only thirty minutes notice before the commissioners in Plymouth, who gave him “the usual interrogatories” and then forwarded the documents to the Court of Admiralty in London. Andrew wanted to go to London to press his claims, but problems with his crew demanded he remain in Plymouth. Some of the sailors had been pressed into British naval service. The rest of the crew had voluntarily joined the navy, or been encouraged to commit fraud, said Andrew: “They have been tampered with by the Captors for evidence, and, sailor-like, swear to anything directed them.” The British captain, Andrew believed, thought the Alexander Hodgdon would be a good prize and would stop at nothing to see her libeled. 44

Shortly before he received the news of Andrew’s capture, Thorndike had received a letter written by Andrew in Batavia the previous March, in which Andrew said that he had loaded the ship with pepper. On September 9, Thorndike wrote Dickason that he was displeased, because he did not think pepper would be profitable in Europe in the current state of affairs. “We were in hope the ship would have been laden with coffee,” Thorndike told him. 45 Within a few weeks, Thorndike learned that the British had captured the Alexander Hodgdon. Having recently discovered his nephew’s purchase of pepper, though, Thorndike took the news with a dose of optimism. In October, he wrote Dickason that he believed the capture might prove advantageous, because he had expected the pepper cargo would lose money for the ship owners: I thank you for your attention to A. Thorndike, and for your offer of further services in this unfortunate concern….I presume we are absolved from the contract respecting the pepper, in consequence of the capture. [It] may perhaps be a fortunate thing, considering the present state of things in France. 46

Thorndike was probably disappointed, then, to hear that his nephew won the court case against the captors of the Alexander Hodgdon. After the trial on September 30, the ship and cargo were restored to Andrew. His appeal for costs and damages, however, was rejected. Nevertheless, Andrew apparently understood his uncle’s hesitancy about the European markets and the Alexander Hodgdon’s prospects. “All vessels coming in having touched at an English port will not be admitted into France….Very nearly the same regulations have been adapted by the Batavian Republic….If I attempt any part of France (which is the best market), the ship is liable to be turned away.” Andrew was

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concerned that while they could not access Marseilles under French law due to the capture, they also could not break the contract he had signed for the pepper in the Isle de France. Sadly, Andrew concluded, “the Mediterranean is a dismal market for the Alex Hodgdon.” 47 Nevertheless, Andrew settled on sailing for the Mediterranean anyways, after “mature deliberation.” He was determined to sell the pepper and win his uncle’s esteem and approval. Thorndike, who had more difficulty criticizing his family members than other employees, eventually gave Andrew his approval to sail to the Mediterranean, though not until after Andrew had already departed. The Alexander Hodgdon sailed from Plymouth, landing in Gibraltar on November 10, where Andrew was told that Marseilles was not safe, but that Leghorn, on the Italian coast, would be a great market for his pepper. “Unfortunately,” Andrew wrote his uncle from the Italian port, “on the day of my arrival two whole cargoes of pepper came in.” Consequently, he could not sell the cargo at a profit. Andrew cheekily told his uncle that their European agents had not properly apprised Thorndike of the decline of pepper in the markets—though of course the order to purchase pepper came during the peace, as Andrew well knew. 48 Andrew, still determined and perhaps afraid of his uncle’s disappointment, decided he would try the whole thing again. He “discharged and paid off” the ship’s crew, “except the two officers, sailmaker, and cook.” He was thus “enabled to return to the East Indies with the ship for a cargo of coffee and sugars, touching at the Isle of France on my way out to see if anything can be done … and if not, proceed to Batavia, there load if possible, and return direct to Boston.” He concluded his last letter from Europe with a final dig at those who served on his crew, who often met his disapproval: “As none of my officers understand my business, and people sometimes die at Batavia, I shall think it prudent to take some young man with me, to guard against any accident of that kind.” 49 And so, by February, the Alexander Hodgdon was once again bound for the East Indies. When he arrived in the Isle de France, he found himself sued for breach of contract due to his failure to unload the pepper at Marseilles. He spent the summer of 1804 engaged in the litigation; once more, he emerged unscathed. 50 Andrew did eventually return to the United States, albeit briefly. He married, and eventually had two sons. But having discovered his poor luck as a ship’s captain, he returned to Europe within a few years, and opened his own merchant house in Spain. There, he would try his hand as a sedentary merchant, not unlike what his Uncle had become in Beverly. The years to come would tell whether his poor luck in business would follow him. The voyage of the Alexander Hodgdon demonstrated many of the problems that Thorndike’s ventures faced. The outbreak of war; the potential of capture by foreign navies; unforeseen competition for the same goods from

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other merchants; crews whose loyalty lay only in payment; quick resort to litigation; shifts in market value that occurred faster than communications. These dangers accompanied all of Thorndike’s ventures, and each one combined to make the Alexander Hodgdon’s voyage a dismal failure. Perhaps the only disasters the Alexander Hodgdon avoided were the ultimate ones— piracy and shipwreck. But despite these potential setbacks, Thorndike continued forward, because the profit margins on most of his voyages were so substantial that each successful venture typically brought home a small fortune. And so by 1803, Thorndike had acquired an immense fortune, which he estimated to be around $400,000. 51

Aiding in Thorndike’s business was a constant flow of information from European cities and West Indian ports. Thorndike was kept readily apprised of prices current in all cities, and received written reports about economic conditions across the world. Particularly in Europe, Thorndike maintained relationships with agents in mercantile houses that were centered in major ports. These men wrote to Thorndike constantly, and those whom the Beverly merchant trusted were employed to help Thorndike’s supercargoes. They performed other functions as well—finding suitable attorneys when litigation arose, providing letters of introduction between Thorndike’s supercargoes and other important mercantile houses, and even offering credit when necessary. They rarely wasted time when communicating with Thorndike. Personal concerns were limited, with the exception of Dickason, to whom Thorndike took a personal liking. The rare personal information that was included was usually related to the business. In November, 1802, Harris Brothers & Company wrote Thorndike with news that one of the partners was no longer with the firm: “It is with the deepest concern we have to inform you of the death of our brother and partner, Mr. Richard Harris, caused by a stone thrown at him by some unknown person.” Despite the presence of anonymous murderers lurking on European streets, the Harris Brothers proceeded to inform Thorndike that their business was still in excellent hands and would act with the same “diligence, attention and punctuality” as before. They then immediately discoursed on the local market, which they predicted would be excellent for shipments of “Indian corn” in the coming year. 52

Thorndike’s business problems were not limited to the dangers of capture, the impossibility of maintaining adequate market information, or the potential incompetence of his agents abroad. Weather, too, could cause trouble. Around 1802, one of Thorndike’s preferred captains, John Thissel, loaded his ship Mary with fish (primarily cod) and set sail for Genoa in Italy. While

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crossing the Atlantic, Thissel’s ship was caught in a major storm. Thissel and the crew worked hard in the lashing rain and pounding surf to keep the Mary afloat. The storm battered the upper works of the ship; the wood buckled but did not break. Water poured into the seams of the hull, and seeped down the interior. Running the pumps at full strength, Thissel was able to keep the ship on course, and made it through the storm intact. When Thissel arrived in Genoa, however, he discovered that much of the seawater from the storm had run across the ship’s beams and into the crates of fish, which had been salted before the voyage to keep them dry and preserved. The seawater had ruined the cargo, soaking into the crates and rotting the fish. Although a contract had been made with Genoese merchants before the crossing, the Genoans now refused to purchase the fish. Thissel tried to salvage portions of the fish that were less rotten, but found few takers. Much of the fish had to be thrown overboard. Thissel sold the rest at knock down prices. As a result, the voyage incurred a sizable loss for Thorndike. Thissel wrote a full account of the difficulties to his boss, as Thorndike was surely displeased; he often ordered his captains to store the cargo onboard in areas of the hull where water damage was least likely. 53 Thissel himself compounded his errors the following year by returning from Europe with an empty cargo hold, thus bringing nothing to resell in Massachusetts. This was the final straw for Thorndike, and he fired Thissel. Though he could be lenient and understanding with his own family members—like his nephew Andrew, and his sons—he was quicker to find fault with his other employees. His agents in Alicante, from where Thissel had returned to the Americas, were terrified of Thorndike’s response to them as well and wrote him that they had tried to convince Thissel not to return home empty. They placed the blame solely on the disgraced captain. “We are very sorry to learn that Capt. John Thissel’s conduct in his last voyage had met your disapprobation and got him dismissed out of your employ,” they anxiously wrote Thorndike. “But we hope the blame will not extend to us, for we told him we thought you would not be satisfied to see him return with empty room….Being without instruction from you, we could only give our opinion.” They insisted that Thissel had refused to listen to them because he was “such a mistrustful man,” who believed they gave advice only “with a view of getting a Commission.” This, they added, “is below our character.” 54 Thorndike’s reputation was far-reaching. He was thought by some to be lucky, but his luck compounded in part because of the high standards he set for those in his employment. If any persons failed to meet his standards on more than a handful of occasions—and Thissel’s transgressions, it must be noted, were below the competence expected of a captain—Thorndike did not hesitate to fire him. Those involved would quickly close ranks against the disgraced person, lest they too be suspected of incompetence by Thorndike—

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a man who had significant self-assurance in his own ability and business sense.

Thorndike’s two oldest sons, meanwhile, were moving into the world. Israel, Jr., had graduated from Phillips Exeter and gone to Europe as an agent for his father’s business. He most likely first went to Leghorn, in Italy, around 1804, on the recommendation of one of Thorndike’s agents. There, he probably worked with John Webb, a wealthy and respected merchant of the house Webb & Holmes Co, before moving north and working with merchant houses associated with Thorndike at various German ports. Thorndike liked to send family members abroad to gain business experience. Around the same time, he also sent his nephew, Robert Cabot, as supercargo aboard his ship Rebecca. Robert was the son of the late Andrew Cabot and his wife Lydia, who was the sister of Thorndike’s wife Anna. 55 George, his second son, was academically inclined, and had gone to college. The first member of his family to do so, George’s accomplishment impressed his father. In September 1802, the 13-year-old George enrolled at Bowdoin College, recently established in the District of Maine, as a member of the college’s first class, along with seven other boys. At Bowdoin, George became a part of school lore. The story began after the first chapel service in the college’s history. George, walking out of the chapel with some of his newfound companions, spotted a small acorn lying by the side of the path. The acorn startled George, who apparently had some arboreal knowledge, because the region was populated almost entirely by pine trees, which do not produce acorns. The young boy picked up the acorn and pocketed it. He then borrowed a drumstick from the college president’s son, and used it to dig a hole where he deposited his discovery. By the following spring, the acorn had sprouted quite impressively, and George moved it to the college president’s garden, where the sapling soon grew into a large oak tree. In 1806, when George and his friends became the first graduates of Bowdoin College, they met under the oak to say farewell before commencement. This act became tradition, and every subsequent Bowdoin class met under what became known as the Thorndike Oak. 56 The younger children, too, were beginning to receive an education. Charles, born in 1795, and Augustus—known as Gus, born in 1797—were sent away to boarding schools in Massachusetts at a young age. In 1805, when Charles was ten and Gus eight, they entered Lynn Academy, in the town by that name south of Beverly, where they received instruction from Francis Moore. Tuition cost Thorndike ten dollars per academic quarter for each of his sons. Edward and Andrew Thorndike were both less intelligent than the older brothers, Israel and George, and the younger, Charles and Gus. They attended school in Salem, where tuition cost slightly less, at nine dol-

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lars a quarter. In the summer of 1805, Andrew had been moved to the school in Salem from another in Billerica, possibly for disciplinary reasons; he apparently pocketed (or “lost”) the tuition money sent by Thorndike to the school’s proprietor, Samuel Whiting. More intelligent and less troublesome, Charles and Gus continued at Lynn Academy for several years, before Gus was sent off to Phillips Exeter at the age of 11. 57

Thorndike was re-elected to the state legislature annually, chosen at the Beverly Town Meeting in the spring of 1803, 1804, 1805 and 1806. 58 Though the Federalists remained strong in Massachusetts, retaining control of both houses of the legislature and the governorship, they continued to slip on the national stage as the party became increasingly dominated by regionalized New England mercantile interests—of whom Thorndike was a perfect representative. Those regionalized interests became increasingly distraught when, in 1803, President Jefferson announced that he had purchased the vast Louisiana Territory from France, more than doubling the size of the United States and extending it westwards into land unknown to Europeans. Most Federalists were displeased with the purchase. In Massachusetts, the reaction was notably fierce, particularly among a small group of persons whom some called the Essex Junto. The Junto, such as it was, comprised primarily persons from Essex County, who had deep New England roots and whose business interests were tied to the sea and international trade. They included politicians like Timothy Pickering and Fisher Ames, lawyers like Theophilus Parsons, John Lowell, Jr. and Nathan Dane, as well as merchants like Thorndike and Stephen Higginson. George Cabot, Thorndike’s old business partner and Beverly political ally at the Ratification Convention, was considered an associate of this informal group, but brought a moderating influence. The Louisiana Purchase, and the mounting power of Jefferson in the face of the waning influence of the Federalist Party, was the first spur that caused this homogeneous group to slowly coalesce around dangerous propositions. Ames called Louisiana “a great waste, a wilderness unpeopled with any beings except wolves and wandering Indians.” 59 Lowell would later call it too diverse, “composed of a heterogeneous mixture of French, Spanish, Creoles and almost every nation under heaven, many of whose ideas are violently opposed to republican government.” Many believed that the Louisiana Purchase was a deliberate attempt to enhance the power of the slaveholding southern states at the expense of the commercial northeast. Lowell believed that it rendered New England “an insignificant part” of the country, 60 while Higginson thought it was “a deliberate plan to govern and depress New England, and this eagerness to extend our territory and create new states is an essential part of it.” 61

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Pickering, at the time at United States Senator from Massachusetts, perhaps went furthest and began to propose to those in the Junto’s inner circle that New England secede. He wrote to George Cabot in January 1804, insisting that secession was the only reasonable option. “Mr. Jefferson’s plan of destruction has been gradually advancing,” wrote Pickering. “Must we with folded hands wait the result, or timely think of other protection? This is a delicate subject. The principles of our Revolution point to the remedy—a separation.” Having broached this delicate topic, Pickering considered its chances of success. “That this can be accomplished, and without spilling one drop of blood, I have little doubt....The people of the East cannot reconcile their habits, views, and interests with those of the South and West.” 62 Pickering wrote Theodore Lyman, too, suggesting which states might join the new confederacy. Massachusetts, being the most powerful, should take the lead. Connecticut would “instantly join,” and Vermont would probably follow with “no great difficulty.” New York would probably also secede, while New Jersey and the eastern half of Pennsylvania were viable possibilities as well. Pickering’s belief in the possibility of a large secession movement demonstrated how narrow the Massachusetts lens was through which he viewed the world. At the very least, he was joined by Connecticut Senator Roger Griswold, who also favored a northern confederacy. 63 But cooler heads prevailed. Chief among them was George Cabot, Thorndike’s long-time friend and associate from Beverly. Cabot wrote an eminently reasonable letter to his friend, Senator Pickering, outlining the folly of secession and the underlying philosophical and moral reasons why New England must remain in the Union. “I greatly fear that a separation would be no remedy, because the source of [the remedy] is in the political theories of our country, and in ourselves,” an open-minded Cabot wrote. “A separation at some point not very remote may probably take place … but I cannot flatter myself with the expectation of essential good to proceed from it.” He then reminded Pickering that his narrow New England focus may have blinded him to the greater reality: “Even in New England, where there is among the body of the people more wisdom and virtue than in any other part of the United States, we are full of errors, which no reasoning could eradicate if there were a Lycurgus in every village.” 64 Despite his opposition, Cabot did allow that separation could at some point be both necessary and feasible, but only with a legitimate reason. “Separation … is not practicable without the intervention of some cause which should be very generally felt and distinctly understood as chargeable to the misconduct of our Southern masters,” Cabot told Pickering. “Such, for example, as a war with Great Britain, manifestly provoked by our rulers. But they will not hazard a war.” 65

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Thorndike, at this time, was probably closer to Cabot’s point of view than to Pickering’s. A few years earlier, Thorndike had purchased large tracts of land in the territory of Ohio, which had recently become the nation’s seventeenth state. He thus had business interests tied up in the land west of the Appalachians. Moreover, he thought the cotton trade, centered in the southern states, would be America’s greatest source of wealth going forward, and had positioned himself to take advantage of that business. In addition, an independent New England was likely to be drawn into a military alliance with Britain, defeating the neutrality upon which Thorndike relied to gain an advantage in global trade. That neutrality was paramount, as Cabot had hinted in his letter to Pickering. A New England confederacy, at least in 1804, was not in Thorndike’s best interests. 66

1804 was a presidential election year anyway, so the Federalists had an opportunity to remove Jefferson as their president at the ballot box, rather than relying on secession. They nominated Charles Pinckney of South Carolina for President, and Rufus King of New York for Vice President. King had been on the receiving end of Pickering’s musings about separation, but had not taken the bait. In any event, the election results revealed the extent to which Pickering’s delusions of grandeur wilted beneath the force of popular opinion. When the election results were tallied in the fall, Jefferson had won an overwhelming victory. He had even carried Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, and New York, all states which Pickering assumed would fly to secession without a hint of bloodshed. In total, Jefferson won 162 electoral votes to Pinckney’s 14. Pinckney carried only Connecticut, Delaware, and two of Maryland’s eleven electoral votes. 67

Thorndike continued his basic work in the legislature, still refraining from firebrand politics while operating in committee and behind-the-scenes persuasion. But he was not one of the legislature’s leaders. Indeed, he appears to have spent as much of his time and energy in the years 1805-06 as the town of Beverly’s Fire Warden as well as a member of the legislature. In the former position, he played an active role at the Town Meeting where the citizens debated whether to purchase a fire engine. He would remain the town’s Fire Warden for six years. 68 Once again re-elected to the state legislature in the spring of 1806, Thorndike likely dedicated even less time to his committee work, as that year the Republicans won control of the state legislature, leaving Thorndike and the Federalists in the minority. The party’s fortunes were receding to an increasingly low ebb. As a result, Thorndike continued to spend most of his time and effort overseeing his seagoing trade. He had purchased lands in Ohio and

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in Maine, but they were mostly unsettled and took up little of his time. It was sloops and brigs and masts and sails and the East India trade that consumed Thorndike’s daily thoughts—from when he woke in the morning at his Beverly mansion, to his walk down to the counting house at Beverly Harbor, to when his head hit the pillow at night next to his wife Anna. 69 In the spring of 1807, Thorndike received another honor when he was nominated by the Federalists of Essex County for a position as one of the county’s six state senators. He managed to win election to the upper house of the legislature, moving up after five years in the House. Nevertheless, the Federalists continued to suffer setbacks. They failed to win back control of either house of the Massachusetts legislature, and had now lost the governorship as well. Caleb Strong, after seven consecutive one-year terms in office, had lost to Republican James Sullivan. Even in staunchly Federalist Massachusetts, the Republicans now controlled both houses of the legislature and the governor’s office. It seemed that the Federalists were on the verge of disappearing; only a disastrous political move on the part of the Republicans could revive their fortunes. 70

In the spring of 1807, Thorndike turned 52. He possessed a considerable fortune, and could count himself among the wealthiest men in Massachusetts and the United States as a whole. Having risen from humble origins, he had survived privateering in the Revolution and the turbulent business of international trade during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He now controlled a global shipping enterprise with worldwide contacts, and owned a large and handsome mansion in Beverly. He served in the state legislature, was one of the most respected men in his home state, and had fathered a sizable family of young children who were receiving the education he never did. 71 The decade opening before him, however, would be perhaps the rockiest of Thorndike’s life. The difficulties he had faced before were minor by comparison to the events of the next ten years, as violence on the seas, war, and new industries would all test the mettle of the poor boy from Beverly. NOTES 1. Letter from Thorndike to persons in Malaga, November 1801, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School (“My concerns being chiefly to the East Indies…”). 2. Forbes, Israel Thorndike, p. 101–02. 3. Forbes, Israel Thorndike, p. 101–02. 4. IT to Dickason, March 5, 1802, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School; Forbes, Israel Thorndike, p. 101–02. 5. IT to Rucker & Mortmann, February 24, 1802, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School.

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6. IT to Rucker & Mortmann, February 24, 1802, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 7. Thorndike Genealogy, p. 98. 8. IT to Dickason, March 5, 1802, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 9. IT to Andrew Thorndike, May 7, 1802, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 10. IT to Andrew Thorndike, May 7, 1802, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 11. For discussion of AT falling into bad hands, see IT to Dickason, March 5, 1802, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 12. IT to Dickason, August 10, 1802, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 13. Contract for Andrew Thorndike as supercargo of Alexander Hodgdon, date unknown; contract for the subscribers interested in the ship Alexander Hodgdon, August 6, 1802; IT to Dickason, September 28, 1802. All in Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 14. IT to Dickason, May 31, 1802; IT to Dickason, August 10, 1802. Both in Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 15. Contract for the subscribers interested in the ship Alexander Hodgdon, August 6, 1802; Instructions from Israel Thorndike and David Sears to Andrew Thorndike, September 18, 1802. Both in Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 16. Instructions from Israel Thorndike and David Sears to Andrew Thorndike, September 18, 1802 Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School; Fichter, So Great a Proffit, p. 84. 17. IT to Dickason, September 28, 1802, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 18. Forbes, Israel Thorndike, pp. 60-61; letter from Dickason to IT, March 8, 1803, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School; letter from IT to Edward Fettyplace, May 18, 1803, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 19. Dickason to IT, April 26, 1803, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 20. Modern-day Mauritius. 21. Letter from Andrew Thorndike to IT and Sears, February 2, 1803, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 22. Letter from Andrew Thorndike to IT and Sears, February 28, 1803, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 23. Letter from Andrew Thorndike to IT, April 25, 1803, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 24. Letter from Andrew Thorndike to IT, April 25, 1803, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 25. Letter from Andrew Thorndike to IT, April 25, 1803, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 26. Letter from Barcelonan merchant to IT, May 24, 1803, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 27. Letter from John H Rogers & Co. to IT, May 25, 1803, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 28. Letter from Michael Richardson to IT, May 16, 1803, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 29. Letter from Michael Richardson to IT, May 16, 1803, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 30. Letter from Andrew Thorndike to Sears & IT, April 28, 1803; Letter from IT to Dickason, September 9, 1803. Both in Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School.

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31. Letter from IT & Sears to Andrew Thorndike, April 29, 1803, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 32. Letter from IT & Sears to Andrew Thorndike, April 29, 1803, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 33. Letter from IT to Dickason, June 1, 1803, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 34. Letter from Preble & Co. to IT, June 8, 1803, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 35. Letter to IT, June 21, 1803, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 36. Letter to IT, June 26, 1803, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 37. Letter to IT, August 7, 1803, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 38. Letter from IT to Dickason, September 9, 1803, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 39. Letter from Dickason to IT, August 6, 1803; letter from Andrew Thorndike to IT, August 15, 1803. Both in Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 40. Letter from AT to IT, August 15, 1803, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 41. Letter from AT to IT, August 15, 1803, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 42. Letter from AT to IT, August 15, 1803, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 43. Letter from AT to IT, August 15, 1803, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School; Letter from Dickason to IT, August 6, 1803, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 44. Letter from AT to IT, August 15, 1803, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 45. Letter from IT to Dickason, September 9, 1803, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 46. Letter from IT to Dickason, October 10, 1803, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 47. Letter from AT to IT, October 15, 1803, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 48. Letter from AT to IT, October 28, 1803; letter from AT to IT, January 6, 1804; letter from AT to IT, February 22, 1804. All in Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 49. Letter from AT to IT, January 27, 1804, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 50. Letter from AT, June 30, 1804; Letter from AT, July 15, 1804. Both in Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 51. Letter from IT to Dickason, Sept. 9, 1803, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 52. Harris Bros & Co., November 11, 1802, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 53. See letter of John Thissel, c 1799–1802, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 54. Letter from Stember & Rosell to IT, December 1803, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 55. Letter from AT to IT, February 22, 1804, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School; Letter from IT to Van Staphorst & Co., January 28, 1804, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School; list of Beverly residents who attended Exeter (Beverly Historical Society).

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56. For the Thorndike Oak, see http://www.bowdoin.edu/news/archives/1bowdoincampus/ 000399.shtml; http://www.bowdoin.edu/magazine/blogs/2010/Acorns-Oaks.shtml. 57. Various bills and receipts from Israel Thorndike to the preceptors of different schools, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School; see also Forbes, Israel Thorndike, pp. 85–87. 58. Forbes, Israel Thorndike, p. 103. 59. Gordon Wood, Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789–1815, Oxford University Press, 2011, p. 369. 60. Lowell, John, A Massachusetts Farmer, Thoughts in a Series of Letters in Answer to a Question Respecting the Division of the States, 1813, pp. 7–8. 61. Wood, Empire of Liberty, p. 370. 62. Letter from Pickering to Cabot, January 29, 1804 (published in Henry Adams, ed., Documents Relating to New England Federalism, 1800–1815, 1878, p. 339). 63. Letter from Pickering to Theodore Lyman, February 11, 1804 (Adams, New England Federalism, pp. 344–45); Letter from Roger Griswold to Oliver Wolcott, March 11, 1804 (Adams, New England Federalism, pp. 354–55). 64. Cabot to Pickering, Feb 14, 1804 (Adams, New England Federalism, pp. 346–47). 65. Cabot to Pickering, Feb 14, 1804 (Adams, New England Federalism, pp. 346–47). 66. Forbes, Israel Thorndike, p. 88–89. 67. Letter from Pickering to King, March 4, 1804 (Adams pp. 351–52); uselectionatlas.org. 68. Forbes, Israel Thorndike, p. 103. 69. Forbes, Israel Thorndike, p. 103. 70. Forbes, Israel Thorndike, p. 103-104; Newburyport Herald, page 3, volume X, issue 97, March 13, 1807. 71. Bills sent to Israel Thorndike; letter from Samuel Whiting to IT, July 19, 1805. Both in Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School.

Chapter Five

Embargo and Politics, 1807–1812

In 1807, another of Thorndike’s nephews journeyed to Beverly from his father’s New Hampshire farm to engage in Uncle Israel’s shipping business. This nephew, Luke, was four years younger than his brother Andrew, whose performance to date had been substandard. Nevertheless, with Israel Thorndike, family counted. Bloodlines were one of the few things that could trump his pursuit of money. Luke, like his brother, was given command of ships sailing to Europe for trading. That spring, Luke commanded a brig called Hector. They crew initially anchored in Marseilles, where Luke conducted business with Liquier, Bonhomme & Company. While there, he obtained a passport to proceed from Marseilles to the city of Trieste, on the Adriatic Sea. But Thorndike had instructed his nephew to use the passport as a ruse; instead, Thorndike told him to sail for Smyrna, part of the Ottoman Empire on the Turkish coast. Thorndike later recalled why: “The reason for this was to conceal the real destination of the vessel, lest other Americans should follow it and thereby affect the market.” Always looking for an edge, Thorndike had no qualms about procuring false documents in order to beat his competitors to the market place. As Luke piloted the Hector into the warm waters of the Smyrna Gulf on June 1, a Russian frigate called Venus set upon them and brought the Hector alongside. The papers were deemed out of order, as was clearly the case. Oftentimes, when a ship was seized by a foreign navy, the captain had the opportunity to protest in an admiralty court. The Russian admiral in command, however, felt no need for formalities. Instead, he decided to hold a trial, with himself as judge, aboard the Russian frigate. He convened a “Committee of Prizes” in the Admiral’s quarters to the stern. Luke, a young captain 85

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at 24, protested—surely he should be able to present his own evidence—but the Russian admiral barred him from the hearing. Luke skulked around the Venus’s deck, unable to influence the proceedings. When the Russian admiral emerged from his quarters, resplendently clad in his aristocratic uniform, he announced that the cargo would be confiscated by the Russian navy and the Hector itself destroyed. Thus Thorndike’s stealthy attempt to gain advantage at the Smyrna market ended in total loss. Thorndike, of course, was not easily defeated when it came to losing money. For years, he pursued his claim for damages on the Hector with the Russian government, doggedly pursuing every angle, courting Senators and Ambassadors. Eventually it paid off—in 1828, a full 21 years later, the Czar personally reviewed the file and ordered a settlement for Thorndike. Luke was not around to see it. While the loss of the Hector did not end his young career, disease soon did. Four years later, Luke captained a ship he owned, the Rambler, on a voyage to the West Indies. At Guadaloupe, he fell ill with yellow fever. The disease was a painful one—fever, chills, nausea, and headache were followed by the deadly toxic phase, in which liver damage jaundices the skin to a sickly yellow. Luke sank deeper into the illnesses grip, before dying on the tropical island far from home, on September 14, 1811. He was 28, and suffered an unfortunate but not uncommon fate. 1

By 1807, the capture of Thorndike’s ships around Europe was an increasingly common occurrence, as the battle for supremacy amongst European powers deepened and expanded. Just days before the Russians seized Hector off the Turkish coast, another ship owned by Thorndike had been taken by the British HMS Seahorse. Thorndike had employed John Gardner as captain of the Pembroke, and sent Ernest Plummer alongside to offer business advice. They sailed the Mediterranean for Gallipoli, part of the Ottoman Empire in the Dardanelles straits. There they loaded up with 230 casks, some carrying oil, and stamped on them “IT” and “EAP” to mark ownership. As Plummer recalled, he had recommended to Gardner that the ship sail for London to sell the casks. Off they went. In their way was the isle of Corsica. To sail south of it, the Pembroke risked capture by the Barbary pirates, who preyed on American and European shipping in that region. The Pembroke crew had recently been warned by Commander Campbell of the USS Constitution to avoid the Barbary coast, and so they instead sailed northwards to skirt the island at Cap Corse. En route, the HMS Seahorse, a 38-gun, 146-foot long British frigate, hailed and boarded the Pembroke. While heading north around Corsica, the Pembroke had actually been sailing directly toward France’s southern shore. In the eyes of the British commander, John Stuart, the Pembroke apparently intended to trade with the French, and was therefore ripe for confiscation.

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The British stationed several red-coated marines and plains-clothed sailors on the American merchant vessel and escorted the crew to the rock of Gibraltar, where the British Vice Admiralty court for the Mediterranean heard their case on May 27. Thorndike’s crew members cooled their heels in Gibraltar for nearly a month before receiving the court’s decision. Judge Robert Wright handed down his opinion on Thursday, June 25—he did not believe Plummer’s testimony whatsoever, and because he thought the Pembroke was indeed headed for France, he condemned the ship and its cargo as a “good and lawful prize to our Sovereign Lord the King.” As a result, Thorndike’s crew needed to find their own way home, obtaining passage on other ships as they passed through Gibraltar on their way across the Atlantic to the United States. 2 The British were not alone in seizing American vessels, of course. Napoleon’s France did the same, and the two superpowers launched into escalating economic warfare. In November 1806, Napoleon issued the Berlin Decree, which forbade all trade with Britain, ordered that all goods from the British Empire would be confiscated—even if owned by neutrals like the Americans—and ordered seizure of every ship that had landed in Britain or its colonies. The British responded by blockading all ports from which they were excluded and requiring that neutral ships who wished to trade within Europe stop in Britain first to pay a duty. If the vessel paid the duty to Britain, of course, the French would confiscate it when it entered European ports. For merchants like Thorndike, it was a lose-lose situation. 3 Napoleon escalated the economic warfare even further in December 1807 with the Milan Decree. Any neutral ship, said the French Emperor, could be seized by the French if she submitted to British regulations, or even allowed a British search party to board. Even unwanted contact with the British rendered all of a merchant’s property liable to capture by France. 4

The continued seizure of American vessels by the British Navy inflamed tensions between the two countries. Many Republicans felt that the British actions threatened to subject the Americans to a neo-colonial status. The Federalists argued that France, too, seized American vessels, and there was no particular need to take sides. For men like Thorndike, neutrality was paramount; no need to press against either side too aggressively. Nonetheless, Thorndike and his fellow merchants were in the minority. The British Navy’s size and power enabled Britain to capture many more American vessels than the French. By 1805 and 1806, about one of every eight Americans vessel that took to sea were seized by the British. Moreover, Britain insisted on the policy of impressment, in which persons born in Britain were liable to be forced into naval service—even if they were natural-

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ized American citizens. According to the British, the law was simple: once an Englishman, always an Englishman. 5 On June 22, 1807, the U.S. Navy’s frigate USS Chesapeake sailed from Norfolk, Virginia, en route to the Mediterranean to fight the Barbary pirates who had spooked Thorndike’s ship Pembroke earlier that year. After noon, she sighted the HMS Leopard, a 50-gun British warship, and the Leopard spotted her. The Leopard hailed the Chesapeake, who heaved to and listened to the message from the Leopard’s commander, Commodore James Barron. Barron wished to board the Chesapeake and search for deserters. The American commander, Captain Charles Gordon, rightly denied Barron’s request. 6 After several minutes of shouted conversations, Commodore Barron ordered his men to fire a warning shot and then a full broadside at the Chesapeake. The American frigate, who had not uncovered her guns, could not respond and struck her colors. Three of her crew were dead, and 18 were wounded—eight seriously. The British sent over a boarding party, and seized four men they called deserters from the British navy. While one was a deserter and a British subject, the other three were not. Outrage swept across the United States. 7

The international situation was worsening, particularly from the American perspective, by the end of 1807. The British Navy had seized the neutral Danish fleet in their own capital of Copenhagen, setting a chilling example for the neutral United States. Napoleon announced he was extending his Berlin Decree and banning all British imports to all nations, including the United States. Ships thus bound for the United States were subject to French seizure as well. The British government, instead of making concessions to American concerns about impressment, ordered all British subjects—defined the British way—to be seized from both merchant vessels and warships. In Washington, President Jefferson pondered a course of action. Clearly some sort of response was required. American merchant vessels were subjected to seizure by the British, the French, and everyone else, it seemed, with impunity. The British showed no signs of backing down on their policy of impressment, caring little about the rights of persons who were in fact American citizens. Now, British warships were even firing on American naval vessels. Something needed to be done. 8 Above all, Jefferson wished to avoid war, and thought he might be able to gain concessions from the British and French governments by bringing economic pressure to bear, or at least allow the threat of war to pass while the United States steered clear of possible entanglements. On December 18, he sent a message to Congress requesting what became known as the “Embar-

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go.” Congress passed it quickly and with little debate, and on December 22, Jefferson signed the bill into law. The Embargo forbade all American ships to leave American ports to engage in foreign trade. For a merchant like Thorndike, this essentially outlawed his entire business. Foreign ships were allowed to enter the United States, but were forbidden from carrying American exports back to sea, rendering the voyage unappealing to most foreign merchants. From a man like Jefferson, who preached the ballad of a limited national government, it was a stunning move. Jefferson had badly miscalculated. The United States’ economy was still small compared with those of Britain and France, and with those two nations locked in a life or death struggle for supremacy, the Embargo was essentially an annoyance to be endured until the main fight ended. Moreover, while the policy did achieve Jefferson’s objective of keeping American sailors out of harms way, the economic consequences to the United States were dire. Merchantmen could not undertake voyages, ships rotted in harbors, sailors found themselves stranded on land, and planters and farmers had no outlets for their goods. The economy rapidly collapsed, and the effects were hardest felt in the commercial northeast. In Massachusetts, the reaction was fierce. 9

Federalist fortunes in Massachusetts had been at a low ebb. James Sullivan, a Republican, had been elected Governor in the spring of 1807. The Republicans also controlled the legislature. In that deepest Federalist stronghold of Massachusetts, the party’s power appeared to be waning—at least until Jefferson signed the Embargo into law. 10 The Republicans in Massachusetts misread their local situation. Massachusetts’ economy was overwhelmingly dependent on maritime trade. This was true not just for the wealthy merchants like Thorndike, who earned fortunes amidst the global wars; all classes of people, including sailors, ropemakers, carpenters, coopers, fishermen, and their families, owed their livelihoods to the sea. The Republicans in the Massachusetts legislature reacted in a clearly partisan manner when they approved the Embargo, giving Jefferson’s leadership and the federal government a vote of confidence. Thorndike, in the State Senate, voted nay. The Republican misstep would prove a boon to the Federalists in the state elections the upcoming spring, and they made large gains in the state legislature. The Republican Governor Sullivan, however, remained in office. 11

Thorndike’s nephew Andrew had gone to Barcelona, Spain, in 1807 and opened his own merchant house. He had acquired a property of about

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$20,000 through his employment with his uncle, and partnered with John Leonard, the American Consul there, who contributed significantly more property to the venture. They made business deals with southerners, intending to enter the cotton trade, as Thorndike had suggested to his nephew a few years before. Their business opened under the name of Thorndike, Leonard & Company. The name Thorndike came first, despite Leonard’s consular status and greater investment, because the Israel Thorndike’s reputation for wealth and stability was so widespread. A letter from Francis Lowell, a merchant and younger brother of John Lowell, Jr., indicated the company’s credit and status could be secured in Spain by Israel Thorndike’s reputation. Andrew, wrote Lowell, was “esteemed as a man of good mercantile habits, principles, and integrity….He has an uncle Israel Thorndike of Beverly, a man of very large fortunes. [Andrew is thus] a safe man for any amount of money and is in good credit here.” 12 Andrew and Leonard got along well for a little while, but by August 1 the partnership had been dissolved. Thorndike had hired the company to sell his property in Barcelona, and it was that connection upon which both Andrew and Leonard depended. Leonard, recognizing his potential problem, wrote to Thorndike that the nephew was to blame: “I relate to you finding it quite impossible to live in harmony with Mr. T., from an imperious demeanor with which he conducted himself in general, both in words and actions so indecorous, as to border frequently on insult.” 13 Andrew sold off much of the partners remaining cargo, which had been consigned either to him or to William Goodwin, a former clerk of Thorndike, Leonard & Co. He then hired Goodwin to load up the rest of the cargo to return to the United States for resale. In order to depart Barcelona, however, they needed official paperwork signed by Leonard in his position as American Consul. Leonard dawdled for months, however, consistently refusing to sign the paperwork. Andrew, for his part, never paid Leonard the “considerable sum” that he owed as part of their partnership. 14 Leonard eventually sued Andrew for the profits. In January, 1808, he wrote Thorndike “with true regret” that due to his “nephew’s unparalleled, dishonorable and illegal conduct towards me, and his endeavoring to dispose me of my proportion of the gains made by the house… I have been forced to summon him before a tribunal of law.” Recognizing that Thorndike was more likely to side with Andrew than with Leonard due to their family connection, Leonard wrote Thorndike that “his impudent conduct towards me… never resulted from his own mind, but from the nefarious designs of one Mr. Goodwin, who has long since been planning to effect this scheme. I have another criminal action against this Goodwin on another score which I have now commenced.” He was certain, too, that Thorndike would eventually see it his way: “The impropriety of the conduct and the unjustness of the attempts made by your nephew on me is, rest assured, will be blamed as

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much by you, as it is by all those who have a knowledge of the circumstances.” 15 Leonard was right, at least to a point. He won the lawsuit against Andrew, and the court decreed that Andrew owed Leonard $50,000, a significantly larger sum than Andrew had entered the business with. Upon receiving the verdict, Andrew “somewhat suddenly” left the country, perhaps going to Buenos Aires, where he would live out his days still attempting to build a fortune. Leonard was wrong, however, if he thought that Thorndike would see it his way. Two years later, in January 1810, Thorndike would write to Senator Pickering in Washington that John Leonard “has in his consular capacity conducted in a very improper manner, and has in cases of my own refused to give his Consular certificates….In consequence of his refusal to do his duty in this respect, my agent was obliged to procure his certificates and all other Consular papers from the foreign resident Consuls.” Clearly, Thorndike was capable of holding a grudge over the course of a few years, even though the courts had vindicated Leonard’s original position. “I forbear,” he wrote Pickering, “to say anything of Mr. Leonard’s character as a factor, or a man of honest and fair dealing. This can, if necessary, be shown by all the masters and factors who have had any dealings with him.” If the President decided to remove Leonard, Thorndike thought the ideal replacement was William Goodwin—the man whom Leonard believed had precipitated the scheme to displace him. If Leonard thought that his successful lawsuit would turn Thorndike against a member of his own family, he was very mistaken. 16

1808 was a presidential election year. Jefferson, whose policies had inspired the wrath of the Massachusetts merchants and spurred Thorndike back into politics after a long absence, was following Washington’s example by retiring to Virginia after two terms in office. The tall, gaunt hero of the revolution was now 65, and wanted nothing more than to return to his mountain plantation at Monticello. His retirement brought hope to the Federalists, whose electoral fortunes had been much diminished during his presidency. The disastrous Embargo policy emboldened them, particularly in Massachusetts. In the spring, Thorndike left the State Senate and returned to the Massachusetts House of Representatives, again representing Beverly. He was anxious for a Federalist return to power, because Jefferson’s Embargo had caused a significant decline in his business. The early returns, it seemed, were favorable. In the spring elections of 1808, the Federalists had regained both houses of the Massachusetts state legislature. Federalist enthusiasm was slightly tempered, however, because the Republican Governor Sullivan won re-election. 17 Certainly, the Embargo had radicalized New England. One New Hampshire ditty effectively captured the region’s mood:

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Despite the creative opportunities the Embargo offered, its effects were deadly serious to the merchants of Massachusetts. Where once enormous profits had poured into their coffers from abroad, now their ships lay permanently anchored in harbors up and down the rocky coastline, masts bobbing with the tides, sails rolled up and packed away, the wooden hulls rotting and decaying. The Embargo precipitated a major economic depression, harming not just merchants like Thorndike but American farmers as well, whose produce could no longer legally reach foreign markets. From 1807 to 1808, American exports decreased from $108 million to $22 million. Imports underwent a similar decline, dropping from $138 million to $57 million. 19 It was on Massachusetts’ north shore, however, where opposition to the Embargo and the Republican administration was reaching a fever pitch. A shadowy cabal of wealthy men existed whose immediate aim was to destroy the Embargo and help return the presidency to the Federalists, but whose longer-term agenda would grow and morph in directions yet unforeseen. Thorndike was one of the wealthiest and most radical men of the group. The men, whose activities and influence were often hidden from public view, were known to opponents as the Essex Junto. The Junto was not an organization with any particular structure; instead, it was an association of wealthy men who communicated often and plotted political strategy. While Thorndike was one of the most radical, he was not alone. Another important member included Timothy Pickering of Salem. “Tim Pick,” 63 years old in 1808, had served as U.S. Secretary of State under Presidents Washington and Adams, and currently occupied a seat in the U.S. Senate. Tall, spare, and lacking both a sense of humor and an instinct for compromise, Pickering was the group’s most prominent political figure. In 1801, Thorndike had been among thirty-four wealthy men in Massachusetts who had bought Pickering’s Pennsylvania lands, enabling him to return from a self-imposed exile. Thorndike and Pickering would begin a correspondence that lasted as long as Pickering held political sway. The Beverly merchant’s political views were sometimes as radical, and perhaps moreso, than Pickering’s. 20 John Lowell, 39, was a small and voluble lawyer. Though he lived on a Roxbury farm, he had been born and raised on the North Shore in Newburyport. His father, also John, had been a wealthy lawyer whose early loyalty to American independence was questioned. He quickly made up for it by working as the primary lawyer for many of the privateers who raided British shipping during the war and serving in the Congress of the Confederation in

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the 1780s. He was rewarded by President Washington with the first appointment as a judge on the federal bench in Massachusetts in 1789, and served until his death in 1802. The younger John Lowell possessed a brilliant mind, trained in a spectacularly successful academic career at Phillips Andover and Harvard College. He combined his brilliance with a nervous temperament that often manifested itself in extensive and eloquent denunciations of Republican policies and their inherent injustice. Having inherited a large sum from his father, he had retired from active practice of the law after his failure to save the life of a teenaged client drove him nearly mad, and now spent his time tending his farm and writing voluble screeds against the Republicans. Theophilus Parsons, 58, was a lawyer and, like Lowell, a Harvard graduate. He had launched a long and successful legal practice in Newbury. In 1788, he had served alongside Thorndike as a delegate to the Massachusetts Ratification Convention for the U.S. Constitution. While there, he authored Conciliatory Resolutions, a work sometimes credited with winning the support of John Hancock and Samuel Adams for approving the Constitution. In 1800, he had moved to Boston, where opportunities were more widespread than in Essex County. His proximity to the state capital paid dividends for him, and in 1806 he was named Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. In addition to these particularly radical members of the Junto, a few others possessed a less radical and more conciliatory outlook. George Cabot, Thorndike’s old contemporary, was one. They had owned privateering vessels together during the Revolution, had attended the Massachusetts Ratification Convention as delegates from Beverly, and had both been prominent investors in the failed Beverly Manufacturing Company. While Thorndike remained firmly entrenched in his shipping career, Cabot had moved on from the business world to become more politically active, serving in the U.S. Senate for a term during the Washington administration. Another man associated with the Junto was Nathan Dane, the Beverly lawyer whom Thorndike had defeated in 1788 during the election of delegates to the Massachusetts Ratification Convention. He had urged caution about ratifying the Federal Constitution 20 years before; now, he was a moderating voice among Essex County’s zealous radicals.

On March 15, 1808, a short, balding 41 year old senator from Massachusetts entered the White House for an audience with President Jefferson. Jefferson received the Federalist politician, one of few remaining in Washington for a meeting that rattled Jefferson’s faith in the Embargo policy. Years later, Jefferson described the effect of the meeting: “That interview I remember well; not, indeed, in the very words which passed between us, but in their substance, which was of a character too awful, too deeply engraved in my

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mind, and influencing too materially the course I had to pursue, ever to be forgotten.” 21 The senator was John Quincy Adams, eldest son of the former President. Though a Federalist, he was deeply alarmed by the course upon which some other Federalist leaders in Massachusetts were embarking. The summer before, Adams had been horrified to enter a public insurance office in Boston and see John Lowell, slender lawyer and former competitor to Adams at the bar, openly justifying to all within earshot the British actions during the incident between the Leopard and Chesapeake—why, of course the British had the right to board American vessels and seize escaped sailors! But now, Adams worried that vocal support for the British was slowly metastasizing into the possibility of action. He wished to warn the president of the disastrous effects of the Embargo on the loyalties of New Englanders. He had recently seen a letter written from the British Governor of Nova Scotia to a leading man in Massachusetts, whose intent, Adams believed, was to stir up the notion that Jefferson desired a war between the United States and Great Britain. Jefferson’s intention, so the rumors went, was to spark a revolution in the United States that would result in overwhelming French influence on the North American continent. The charge was not unusual in the context of Federalist denunciations of Jefferson’s administration. What was unusual was that the letter was sent from a British governor, and was being circulated amongst the leading men of Massachusetts – in particular, members of the Essex Junto. Adams told Jefferson of his fears, which he claimed were well-founded— namely, that certain members of the Essex Junto had designs on seceding from the Union and setting up a northern or New England confederacy. There had long been opposition in New England to Jefferson’s purchase of the Louisiana territory, which many felt would lessen New England’s influence upon the national government. Now, Adams feared, the situation had grown significantly worse and more dangerous; talk of secession and alliance with Britain was circulating. Both Jefferson and Adams knew, without having to say it, that traveling down that long, dark road could lead to civil war. 22

John Quincy Adams was making himself unpopular in Massachusetts. Though opposed to the Embargo, he did not share the radical sentiments of many of the state’s Federalist leaders. He viewed the Federalists as a party of “secession, disunion, subservience to Britain, and the end of American independence.” He felt “most completely deserted” by his old friends in Boston and in the state legislature. Adams was almost certainly right; most Massachusetts Federalists now viewed him as an apostate. He had even received

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one vote for the Republican vice-presidential nomination at the Republican caucus that January which nominated their candidates for the executive. 23 The Federalists had swept back into power in the Massachusetts legislature. Thorndike, now back in the House of Representatives, traveled to Boston in May along with other Massachusetts legislators to select Adams’ successor in the Senate—at that time, the legislature had control over the election of U.S. Senators—and obviously Adams himself was not in the running. They chose James Lloyd, a member of the State Senate, and sent instructions to Pickering and Adams, who still had nine months remaining in his term, to vote to repeal the Embargo. Adams resigned instead, stating that the Federalists were requiring him to “aid them in promoting measures tending to dissolve the union and to sacrifice the independence of the nation.” His political career in Massachusetts appeared finished, while the Federalist radicals, led by the Essex Junto, were gaining strength in New England. 24

The Republicans nominated Jefferson’s Secretary of State, James Madison, to replace Jefferson in the White House, and proposed that George Clinton, the incumbent Vice President, retain his office. In September, the Federalists countered with Charles C. Pinckney of South Carolina, a former general in the Revolution and Minister to France, for the Presidency and Rufus King of New York, a former U.S. Senator and Minister to Great Britain, for the Vice Presidency. The Federalist ticket featured the same pairing as four years before, when the ticket had won only 14 electoral votes, primarily from Connecticut and Delaware. Even Massachusetts had gone Republican then. The Federalists obviously believed that the Embargo’s remarkable unpopularity was sufficient to discredit Republican policies and return the Federalists to power in Washington. 25 In Essex County, delegates from several districts assembled in Topsfield for a caucus on October 6. They met at the Topsfield Stage House to discuss the “alarming and ruinous condition of public affairs.” Four men, in particular, were said to espouse particularly radical views – Tim Pickering, Theophilus Parsons, John Lowell, and Israel Thorndike. Nathan Dane and George Cabot were, by their nature, more cautious, but supported a Federalist victory nonetheless. From November 4 to December 6, the 17 states employed various methods to select electors, who cast their ballots on December 7. Despite the Federalist enthusiasm, however, the Republican Madison won a relatively easy victory, winning 122 electoral votes to Pinckney’s 47. It was still a sizable improvement for Pinckney, who won every state in New England except for Vermont and added Delaware along with several electors from Maryland and North Carolina to his tally. The results also showed the Federalists retained strength in New England. Nevertheless, for men like Thorndike, the outcome was disappointing; Madison would occupy the White

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House, and the Republicans still controlled Congress, where only seven out of 34 Senate seats were occupied by Federalists. 26

Despite the disappointing returns, Thorndike continued to push for the Embargo’s repeal. In one of his more important political roles, he began acting as an advisor of sorts to Senator Pickering, with whom he shared political common ground. During the election, Thorndike gave Pickering a detailed outline of the disasters American maritime trade would face if the Embargo continued, which Pickering quoted verbatim on the Senate floor in November, promising prosperity if the Embargo were repealed. Thorndike also kept Pickering informed of the political goings-on in Massachusetts. “Our state legislature has lately been in session about 8 days, during which they chose the electors for President and Vice President and passed resolutions respecting the Embargo,” Thorndike had written from Beverly in late November. “And although few of the [Republican] members voted with the Federalists, yet I do believe that their confidence in the administration of the general government [is] shaken and fading… You may, I think, count on a favorable change in the public sentiments of this state. I hope it will not come too late.” 27 With the election results in, he continued to feed Pickering information and act as an economic advisor of sorts, sending him anecdotes and information so that Pickering could continue to fight for the Embargo’s repeal in Washington. “The suffering of the people in this town is extreme,” Thorndike wrote him on New Year’s Eve, “the common people being mostly seamen.” The people in Beverly were desperate for some method of remuneration. “Should the government want vessels to enforce… the Embargo, the Beverly people will be very glad to tender their vessels and service,” he wrote. “I will ensure that they will faithfully discharge their duty, not because they like the Embargo, but because they want bread.” 28 Thorndike believed that they were the victims of a partisan assault by their own government, and the Republican administration did not care for Beverly’s fate. He thought the government had forsaken them. The men of Beverly, Thorndike told Pickering, had “always contributed their full share to the support of government, and have hitherto [been] without a single violation, submitted to the Embargo laws, and have of course as strong a claim to government patronage… as any other men in the United States.” He closed his New Year’s letter with his deep frustration veiled as a question: “Are we in the end to have war with Great Britain or not?” 29

As the Embargo dragged on deep into its second year, the echoes of secession were felt ever more keenly, and the assistance of the British

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government was apparently sought. It is difficult to know who, precisely, was involved, but John Quincy Adams later suggested that it was certain members of the Essex Junto, most of whom—but not all—were dead by 1828. But someone was making overtures to the British, preparing for the possibility of secession should events continue to turn sour. 30 John Henry was a British agent in Boston, who communicated with the British Governor of Nova Scotia about the political tremors in Massachusetts. In early March, 1809, he wrote the governor that he had made sufficient contacts with the important people in Massachusetts who were “qualified to act on behalf of the Northern States” should events require it. He also communicated that, if a war should break out between the United States and Great Britain, the British government need not fear Massachusetts: the legislature would seek out the tone of the neighboring states, establish a new Congress composed of those in which Federalists were predominant, and would “erect a separate government for their common defense and common interest.” 31 Closer and closer, the rich men of Massachusetts moved to rebellion.

The Republican unity on the Embargo issue began to crack in early 1809. Both the incoming and outgoing presidents were opposed to its repeal, believing it still needed time to work. But the tensions in the north were problematic. That January, Jefferson wrote that he believed the “Massachusetts legislature, which is to meet in the middle of this month, it is believed will call a convention to consider the question of a separation of the Union, and to propose it to the whole country East of the North river, and they are assured of the protection of Great Britain.” Of course, the legislature did no such thing. But the Republicans were afraid of the radical Federalists, and did not want to risk a disunion that could drive New England and New York into a separate confederacy, allied with Britain. Jefferson, Madison, and the Republicans still feared Britain most of all. 32 The Republican Congress therefore repealed the Embargo in President Jefferson’s last days in office, and it finally lapsed on March 4, 1809, the same day James Madison was inaugurated as the fourth President of the United States. For the moment, the causus belli for Federalist separation was removed. As George Cabot had mentioned five years earlier after the Louisiana Purchase, it might take a war with Great Britain to finally push Federalist New England over the edge. 33

Augustus, known to the family as Gus, was one of Thorndike’s favorite children. Like his father, he was extremely intelligent. Thorndike spared little expense to give his children the educational benefits he had lacked. This was

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particularly true for Augustus, who, though spoiled, had a sharp mind and a gift for scholarship. Europe still stood head and shoulders above the United States as a center of education. Instead of sending Augustus to a New England boarding school or arranging a private tutor, as he had for some of his other children, Thorndike sent this son abroad. Shortly after the end of the Embargo, in 1809, the 11-year old Augustus bid farewell to his mother and father and boarded a ship bound for Scotland. He made the long, six-week journey, landing finally in Edinburgh, where his father had arranged for someone to meet him. Augustus would spend five years in Scotland. His studies began with Reverend David Irving, one of the more distinguished classical scholars of the time probably handpicked by Thorndike himself. During this time, Augustus lived under the Reverend’s own roof. The young boy’s progress was impressive, and he was soon able to enter the prominent Royal High School of Edinburgh. The High School was far older than anything that could be found in Augustus’ young, native country. Founded in 1128, when Scotland was still independent, it remains one of the world’s oldest schools. When Augustus arrived in Scotland, Alexander Adam, one of the era’s foremost writers on Roman antiquities, was finishing up four decades as the school’s rector. Given the preeminence of classical study in the educational world of the time, it was impressive company indeed. Augustus received a mixed welcome. He impressed his elders far more than his peers. Through his introduction into Edinburgh society with Reverend Irving, Augustus quickly became the favorite of several notable figures in Scotland. Francis Jeffrey, editor of the Edinburgh Review and later Lord Advocate of Scotland, showed much kindness to the young American student. The Earl of Buchan, a friend to George Washington and a notable eccentric, took quickly to him, calling him “Little Thorndike” and counseling him on his educational progress. His fellow students were less enamored. Many of the students at the High School were the sons of noblemen and likely resented the young American as an upstart. The United States and Great Britain had certainly not reconciled since the days of the Revolutionary War. Presidents Jefferson and Madison had been ardent supporters of France and foes of Britain during the days of the French Revolution. In addition, the recent affairs of the Chesapeake and the Embargo had further dampened relations between the United States and Great Britain. Whatever the reason, the other students heaped rudeness and insult upon Augustus as he walked the halls of the High School. One young noble, the son of a Duke, was his worst tormenter and the leader of the bullies. Augustus, like many boys his age, suffered in silence. Eventually, the burden became too much for him to hold inside and he spoke of the trouble to one of

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his elders. This mentor, the Earl of Buchan, responded positively to Augustus’ plight and gave him the advice that many adults have given to victims of bullying—fight back. Sure enough, the bully treated the young American with scorn once again. This time, Augustus challenged him to settle their fight with fists. One can imagine the look on the young nobleman’s face, afraid to enter a physical contest but unable to back down for fear of losing his position atop the school’s social herd. He had to accept the challenge. Many of the other students insisted on doing the fight properly, forming a ring around the two boys in the schoolyard, no doubt cheering on their British schoolmate and encouraging him to put an end to the young American’s impertinence. The fight began. Augustus apparently had some talent for boxing. The nobleman’s son, despite his impressive birth, had less ability. Augustus’ first punch fell, then another, and then another. Soon, the young Briton was on the ground and crying for surrender. He had taken a tough punishment at the hands of the American boy. The bullying stopped, and Augustus no longer had to fear the insults of the other students. 34

Beginning in 1808, the number of ships seized by foreign navies continued to increase. Not all of them were taken by the British; between 1808 and 1811, eight of Thorndike’s vessels were captured by French or continental navies. Two were seized by France, one by the Dutch, and two by the Danes. The Neapolitans, ruled by Napoleon’s brother-in-law, Joachim Murat, seized three of Thorndike’s vessels in the year 1809 alone. One, the Mary, was commanded by Henry Larcom, who was approached and captured by two Neapolitan gunboats while sailing off Tunis on the North African coast. They claimed the Mary as a prize because she was cleared for Sardinia, but in August, Larcom won the case—temporarily—after Mr. Webb, Thorndike’s agent in Leghorn, sent an attorney. Another brigantine, called Two Brothers, was seized by the Neapolitans while carrying an enormously valuable cargo of $150,000. The total sum of Thorndike’s cargoes seized by between 1808 and 1811 totaled over $419,000. The most valuable ship seized, as far as Thorndike was concerned, however, was the brig Suwarrow, commanded by Thorndike’s longtime captain, William Leech. It was valuable because it also carried Thorndike’s second-oldest living son, George. 35 George turned 20 in 1809, three years removed from his graduation from Bowdoin College. In the spring, he joined with Robert Rogers, the supercargo of the Suwarrow, bound for the Baltic Sea. William Leech, Thorndike’s old favorite, captained the ship. The voyage went without incident until they were just a few leagues off the Norwegian coast, near their intended destination. It was a Sunday morning, the last day of April. The crew were probably

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readying for prayers when, at eight in the morning, the breeze died away. Suddenly, wrote Rogers, “a number of privateers were seen already out from the land, and when they came near, 3 of them fired upon us and soon came along side of us, boarded us, and in true piratical style demanded our papers and carried us by force” into the local port. There, Rogers told Thorndike, they said “that they had orders to carry in all neutrals on suspicion of their being from England.” If true, this would be problematic for all of Thorndike’s Baltic trade—every vessel he ever sent could be subjected to capture without cause. 36 The Norwegians made it worse, however, when they demanded the Suwarrow be sent to trial. Rogers was angry and flummoxed, astonished that even though “our papers were found perfectly clear, having been neither boarded nor spoken by any cruiser since we left America,” the Norwegians decided, “contrary to all laws, orders, and decrees [to detain] us and bring us to trial at Christiana,” known today as Oslo. Had the Norwegians allowed them to continue, after reviewing their papers, the detention would have been a minor inconvenience. But if every American vessel bound for the Baltic Sea was subject to capture and a long detainment, Thorndike’s trade there would suffer significantly. 37 On May 10, the privateers conducted their first examination before a Court of Justice. Rogers thought it was a kangaroo court, because it consisted “of the Notary Clerk, the Agent, and owners of the privateer, who sat as inquisitors, interpreters, and judges in their own cause.” They waited while the privateer judges approved the captures of two other vessels, and then called the crew of the Suwarrow. “The sailors,” wrote Rogers, “were first examined separately by the piratical geniuses without allowing Cap. Leech or myself to be present, although [we] repeatedly demanded.” Toward the end of the proceeding, they finally called Rogers in to be interrogated. “When they began to question me,” said Rogers,” I politely begged their Honor permission to ask a few questions before I answered any interrogation, which after a short deliberation was granted.” Rogers wanted to question the court’s legitimacy. “I then enquired whether the King’s notary or justice of the peace was present. They answered that the clerk acted in his stead. I asked whether there was a sworn interpreter present, and was answered in the negative. I asked whether they were clothed with any authority from his Majesty which justified them in acting in their present capacities, and whether they intended that the present interrogation should be made the basis of a trial which should decide the fate of Brig and Cargo.” Rogers was probably astonished to hear them answer “that they were not vested with legal authority, but by all means intended that the fate of the Brig should be decided according to the present interrogation.” At this point, Rogers said, “I refused to answer any question until I was brought before legal authority, and most solemnly protested against the whole of this proceeding.” Rogers’ tactic

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succeeded. “Finding themselves detected, they consulted a few moments and closed their books….Finding them determined to rob us of our property, I resolved to go to Christiana to ascertain the reasons for our capture and detention.” 38 Rogers arrived in Christiania, the Norwegian capital, where a governor ruled on behalf of the Danish king – Norway was a province of the Kingdom of Denmark. “On my arrival,” Rogers said, he “found the Governor and almost every other man of property engaged in privateering and determined if possible to condemn our vessels.” It was as though all of Norway had been turned into a den of pirates. “Every specie of falsehood and villainy were adopted to facilitate and accomplish this unparalleled robbery.” Thorndike, reading Rogers indignation in Beverly, may have recalled life in Beverly 30 years earlier during the American Revolution, when privateering employed much of the town. 39 Rogers did not believe he had much of a chance, as most American vessels that were seized were condemned by the Prize Court. Nevertheless, he found and hired two attorneys who “had been successful in clearing Capt. Patrick of Marblehead.” Even with attorneys, they would have to wait. “Such is the state of corruption and the absolute depravity of the laws that the privateermen and their agents have been suffered to detain peoples, and harass us for five or six weeks” before letting them know that there would even be a trial. 40 One problem was that the Norwegian courts were waiting to hear whether or not the United States would enter the war, and on whose side. “If the result be peace,” Rogers told Thorndike, “our vessel and cargo may be restored, but if war there be little doubt they will be confiscated if the politics of the north do not undergo a change.” Twenty-six American vessels lay in the harbor at Christiania, unable to leave, and Rogers said he “should not be surprised if the number was doubled within one month.” On July 4, America’s Independence Day, the Suwarrow was finally brought to trial and was condemned. Rogers was furious; he believed the privateersmen had altered the Suwarrow’s papers to make them look more incriminating. Rogers appealed to the High Court of Admiralty, “but unfortunately the agents for the privateersmen can put the trial off for a number of months if they choose to do it.” Even that might not be helpful, because, as Rogers told Thorndike, “the French consul here has declared that no American property will be permitted at present to leave Norway, even though cleared by this court… It will be detained until the will of the Emperor [Napoleon] releases it.” The crew, therefore, were “very uneasy as the object of our voyage is totally defeated,” but they could not leave the Brig and get home due to the prohibition on the departure of Americans. “In the meantime,” Rogers said, “I shall attempt to lay the case before His Majesty [the King of Denmark] in Copenhagen, if I can possibly obtain a passport.” 41

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Rogers gave Thorndike his advice on the trade, which Thorndike probably heeded. “In consequence of these proceedings,” said Rogers, “our navigation in the North Sea is much more hazardous than if we were at war. The privateers have orders to bring in every vessel which they capture at sea. Therefore, my good sir,” Rogers wrote Thorndike, “as you would wish to preserve your property, send no more here at present, unless you can send guns to protect it.” Thorndike did not want to have to arm his vessels and subject his crews to armed conflict. Therefore, his Baltic trade—one of the most important regions of his business—ground to a halt because of the wars. 42

In July, Rogers obtained a passport and headed off to Copenhagen, hoping to obtain an interview with a member of the royal family. He remained there for about a month before gaining an audience with the King of Denmark, Frederick VI, who had been on the throne just over a year. King Frederick did promise what Rogers termed “prompt and speedy justice on my return to Norway,” and, Rogers said, “sent a positive Order to the Court here, to let the American causes be brought forward and decided immediately.” King Frederick did decide to call off all the privateers, except those around the island of Heligoland, near the German coast. But the king still refused to release the captured American ships, which, as Rogers put it, “have been detained by the piratical villains.” In addition, they remained cut off from many of the events of Europe. “I have heard nothing of your son Israel,” engaged in mercantile pursuits on the continent, wrote Rogers, even though he wrote him persistently. 43 Rogers returned to Christiania. He, George Thorndike, Captain Leech, and the crew remained there for months. The Suwarrow’s trial finally came up on October 16, but it was postponed for two weeks due to a request of the privateers’ attorney. On October 30, it was postponed yet again. “How long they will continue to procrastinate our business,” Rogers wrote Thorndike, God only knows,” despite the King’s promise to him. “His Royal Orders,” Rogers thought, “are no more regarded here than the squallings of an impotent suckling.” George, meanwhile, was growing restless in Christiania and wished to return home. Thorndike gave orders to a Captain Beckford to bring George back to Massachusetts, but neglected to inform Rogers. Rogers refused to let George depart, because he had received no orders from Thorndike. “George is very desirous of taking passage in this ship, which is about to sail for Norfolk in Virginia,” said Rogers, “but as he would go with an entire stranger, I believe it would not meet your approbation, however you may wish for his return….I cannot give my consent.” Later, in December, the brig Ann would attempt to make a winter crossing back to Boston, though Rogers once

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again demurred from allowing George to sail with it because it was too dangerous. “Were it not for the dangers of navigation in the North Sea, at this infernal season, the severity of a northern passage, and the hazards of Boston Bay, I should think it my duty to send George,” Rogers wrote the concerned father. “But as a number of vessels already here lost in the seas at the present season, I cannot make up my mind to send him, but have concluded that he must be content to share the same fate with myself, for the present.” 44 George had reason to be upset, for he had accidentally allowed new charges to be brought against the Suwarrow by the privateers. As Rogers told it, the captors had discovered George’s commencement exercise from Bowdoin—a sort of senior thesis which George had presented during graduation—entitled A Dissertation on the Influence of Commerce on Public Manners. “The subject” of the exercise, Rogers said, “was trade, in which, they say, he speaks very disrespectfully of Napoleon. The privateers took this from George, together with all his private papers, which I had no suspicion that he brought with them.” The privateers now offered as evidence that George’s criticism of Napoleon was conclusive proof that the ship was English. Further proof came from the ship’s name, because “the Russian General, Suwarrow, was a great friend to the English,” and according to Rogers, the privateers believed that “none but an Englishman would have given his name to his vessel.” Foreigners had great difficulty telling the Americans from the British. 45 As November dragged into December in the cold, dark, Baltic winter, Rogers continued to wait for the Suwarrow to finally come to trial. He gained reason for optimism upon learning that a Boston brig was acquitted and her property returned. Rogers believed that John Quincy Adams had helped procure the acquittal. Adams, having left the Senate, had been appointed by President Madison as Minister to Russia, and had helped smooth over some ruffled feathers when he stopped in Copenhagen en route to St. Petersburg. Rogers continued to report to Thorndike on political rumors and events, including the dangerous news that American property was being seize in Hamburg by French order. Israel, Jr., who had been operating out of Hamburg, probably decided at this point to return home to Massachusetts. Thorndike, receiving the news in Beverly, was doubtlessly worried. If American property in Europe was not safe from French confiscation, then a major destination of Thorndike’s exports would be eliminated. The neutrality upon which Thorndike had relied on to accumulate such tremendous wealth now appeared irrelevant. 46 Finally, on the day after Christmas, Rogers received a verdict from the court – and he was not pleased. The court brought down a “most unjust and aggravating sentence of condemnation,” wrote Rogers to Thorndike from Christiania. The main charge was that Captain Leech tried to sail her toward an English frigate, a charge which Rogers claimed was “founded in false-

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hood.” He stated that “there was no ship or vessel in sight, except the Good Friends, which was captured about an hour after us. The ship was 4 to 6 miles off from the coast, and those privateers were streaking out towards her.” Rogers claimed that “the Captain and Supercargo of this ship both declared that they saw no English Frigate or ship of War,” but that had not swayed the court, despite support from the King of Denmark. “His Majesty’s Orders are not in the smallest degree respected by the courts here.” 47 Worse news came three days later. The Danish King, whom Rogers had insisted was on their side, issued an order confiscating all American property. Napoleon continued to wreak havoc throughout Europe, Rogers said, making business nearly impossible. “The King of Holland,” he wrote on December 29, “is ordered to resign the crown of Holland, to accept the crown of Switzerland. Holland is to be united with France. Denmark appears to be a tool in this business, and when she has accomplished the designs of her master [Napoleon],” Rogers continued, “she will probably be no longer a Kingdom. Changes are so sudden and frequent that we can form no opinion today of what may be our situation tomorrow.” 48 Events in Europe were clearly taking a turn for the worse, led by Napoleon’s expanding empire. Another of Thorndike’s vessels, the Mary, had been seized by the Neapolitans. The vessel and cargo were condemned and sold at auction in Civita Vecchia, in Italy, in January 1810. The captain, Henry Larcom, deemed it “inexpressibly aggravating.” He told Thorndike that because Civita Vecchia had recently been annexed to the French Empire, they could expect a number of American vessels to be seized. American property was not safe in Europe. Thorndike, at home in his Beverly counting house, must have realized that so long as the wars continued, his business was in trouble. The wars that had benefitted him a decade before now wrought havoc.

In 1810, Thorndike turned 55 years old. He had lived his entire life in Beverly, other than stints at sea both in commercial ventures and as a privateer during the American Revolution. But over the past few years he had traveled with increasing frequency to Boston, for political reasons and to attend sessions of the Massachusetts legislature, but also because more of his business affairs were run from there. Boston, too, continued to grow. It was the center of the Massachusetts economy, and it increasingly dominated the other, smaller ports and harbors along the Massachusetts coastline. Boston offered greater business opportunities, and not just in shipping. To Thorndike, concerned about the future viability of the shipping industry, Boston was an enticing place. So, in 1810, Thorndike moved to Boston permanently. He would keep his Beverly mansion, with its long, rolling lawn and gardens extending to the

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sea, as a summer home. But Boston was increasingly where the action was, and to where the action was, Thorndike would go. He purchased a small farm a short distance from Boston Common, near modern Downtown Crossing, and built a large white brick mansion in the Federal style which bore a strong resemblance to his Beverly home. The new mansion received the address 6 Summer Street, on the east corner of Summer and Arch. In the rear was an open lot which became known as Thorndike’s pasture, where he kept donkeys that often caused passersby to complain of the smell. The area of the city where Thorndike had moved had not been heavily developed. Thorndike saw a business opportunity. 49 The move meant he could not stand for election to the legislature in 1811, as he no longer lived in Beverly and had not yet established residency in Boston, but that was no matter to him. Thorndike was now, permanently, a Bostonian.

After the incident with the Suwarrow, George had grown tired of idleness in Europe, and returned to the United States, probably setting himself up in Boston alongside his father. In 1810, he journeyed north to his alma mater, Bowdoin College, where he was awarded an honorary A.M. degree. But he did not remain long in the United States, and the thrill of foreign lands and the possibilities of adventure pulled him eastwards once again. He sailed, again as an agent of his father, for Europe. While Israel, Jr. tended to focus on central Europe and the German states, George was more oriented to the Baltic ports of northern Europe. It was to there that he returned. Unbeknownst to both George and his father, they would never see each other again.

Israel Thorndike Jr. had not gone to college like some of his younger brothers. Instead, when he was about 16 or 17, he had left behind formal education and gone into the shipping business with his father. Like his older cousins, Andrew and Luke, he captained several voyages, and acted as his father’s agent in central Europe for a number of years. He acquired an excellent social sense and wonderful manners. Upon his permanent return to Massachusetts from his European travels in about 1810, he was considered one of the most well-bred young men in Boston. This brilliant personality, combined with his excellent prospects in business and the substantial fortune he stood to inherit from his father, made him one of the prize young bachelors of Massachusetts. Israel, Jr. set his eyes on an equally eligible young lady. Sally Ann Otis was 17 years old. Her father was the immensely well-respected Harrison Gray Otis, a wealthy lawyer, former Congressman, and the king of Boston’s

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polite society. Otis was habitually good-natured, and held frequent dinner parties to which he invited the upper crust of Boston. Thorndike, Sr. almost certainly became a frequent attendee after his move from Beverly to Boston. Israel, Jr. was invited along after returning from Europe, and it is at the Otis’ mansion at 45 Beacon Street in Boston that the courtship likely began. From his father’s imposing brick mansion on Summer Street, Israel, Jr. would walk north to the Boston Common at Park and Tremont, then cut diagonally across the green expanse in the direction of the Otis home, passing in front of the gold dome of the recently completed Massachusetts State House. There, he would cross Beacon Street, looking both ways to ensure no carriage ran him down, before reaching the 45 Beacon’s front door. The house was done up in the finest style. From the windows, one could view the Blue Hills across the Back Bay, a large blue expanse of water that approached to within two hundred yards of the home. A garden surrounded it on three sides, with only the front portion lying directly on the street. Two rooms flanked the front door, Mr. Otis’ library on the left and office on the right. In one of these rooms, certainly, Israel, Jr. asked if he could take Sally’s hand in marriage. Otis had no objection; he believed Israel, Jr. to be “the most uniformly well-bred and respectable young man of his age I have ever seen.” The young lady evidently agreed with her father’s assessment. 50 Time, then, for a society wedding. The date was set for the summer of 1811, on July 17, a Wednesday. Despite the fact that most wealthy Boston families retired to the countryside during the summer to escape the heat and potential for disease, the wedding was held in the city, most probably at the Brattle Street Church, where 23 years earlier Thorndike, Sr. had worked a few days during the battle to ratify the U.S. Constitution. But now it was a place for family and celebration, instead of politics and intrigue. Ten months later, the first Thorndike-surnamed grandchild came into the world. On May 21, 1812, a daughter was born to Israel, Jr. and Sally Ann; she was named Sally Ann Thorndike, for her mother. 51

Despite the happiness around Israel, Jr.’s wedding, and the eventual birth of a granddaughter, the years 1811–12 were not easy ones for Thorndike. Death stalked the family. George, the second son, had returned to the Baltics after a sojourn home following the Suwarrow incident. He sailed to St. Petersburg, the Imperial Russian capital, one of a small circle of Americans living in that beautiful northern city. While there, he likely had an audience with John Quincy Adams, who as American minister to the Czar had been successfully pushing the Russians to pressure the Danes and others to release captured American merchant ships. But he would never leave the Russian capital. George fell ill, and on December 23, 1811, two days before Christmas, George died at eleven in the morning. He was 22. Ernest Plummer

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visited Minister Adams at his home to confirm funeral arrangements. Three days later, on December 26, the funeral was held at six in the evening, amidst the near-perpetual blackness that envelops St. Petersburg at that time of year. The few Americans in St. Petersburg were in attendance at the church. From there, the procession headed toward the graveyard. “I followed the procession as far as the bridge,” John Quincy Adams wrote in his diary, “and then returned home.” The other Americans, too, shuffled through the cold, dark, Russian night, after burying George Thorndike far, far from home. 52 Eight months later, on August 12, 1812, Francis Thorndike, just six years old and the youngest child in the family, passed away in Massachusetts. Two sons were gone in the span of a few months. 53

The elections of 1811 had turned out the Republicans and their governor, Elbridge Gerry, from office in Massachusetts. Nevertheless, they still took the opportunity on their way out to rig the system to their benefit. The new census required reapportionment of districts within the state, and the Republicans endeavored to draw at least one new district on the north shore which would give them an electoral advantage. On February 11, 1812, Governor Gerry signed the reapportionment into law. The new district began in Lynn and moved north, skirting to the west of Beverly through Andover, and circumventing most of northern Essex County before snaking back east towards the sea through Salisbury and Amesbury. About a month later, a typically large number of Federalists gathered at Thorndike’s Summer Street mansion for dinner, drink and discussion. Thorndike had quickly grown accustomed to hosting the gatherings since moving to Boston, and his new home had become one of the centers of Federalist politics after only two years in the city. Joseph Cogswell, a young lawyer from Ipswich, recently engaged to the daughter of a former New Hampshire governor, presented the map of the new district from a recent publication to the party. Those gathered were both aghast and amused at the district’s new shape. One man said that it needed wings, so it would truly resemble a prehistoric monster. An artist, Elkanah Tisdale, stepped forward pen in hand and obliged him. Now it resembles a salamander, said another. “No,” guffawed one more, “more like a Gerrymander.” In the days to come, Tisdale enhanced his work, adding feet, a head and a forked tongue to the image. On March 26 it was published in the Boston Gazette with the heading “The Gerrymander.” Gerry, the Gazette noted, sounded very close to the French word for war, appropriate given the Republicans’ headlong rush to do battle with the British. Thus was the term Gerrymander born—in Thorndike’s parlor. 54

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Over the last five years, Thorndike’s business had taken a hit. The continually escalating conflict in Europe had upended his advantage as a trader from a neutral nation. Now, neutral vessels had become legitimate targets, and whole swaths of Europe were no longer safe for American property. In addition, there loomed the possibility that the United States could be dragged into the conflict on one side or another—most likely against the British, with the Republican Madison occupying the White House. The international shipping trade, which for two decades had been so lucrative, now looked shaky. If Thorndike wanted to continue to make money, he would need to find new ventures. The next few years, though turbulent, would present opportunities. NOTES 1. Thorndike Genealogy, p. 66; letter from William Allen to IT, Jr., July 2, 1807, Harrison Gray Otis Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society; letter from IT to HG Otis, January 11, 1819, Harrison Gray Otis Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society; Forbes, Israel Thorndike, p. 70–72. 2. Submissions to the Vice Admiralty Court, Gibraltar, May 27, 1807; Opinion of the Magistrate, Vice Admiralty Court, Gibraltar, June 25, 1807. Both in Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 3. Wood, Empire of Liberty, p. 646. 4. Wood, Empire of Liberty, p. 646. 5. Wood, Empire of Liberty, p. 646; Borneman, Walter, 1812: The War that Forged a Nation, Harper Perennial, 2005, pp. 19–20. 6. Wood, Empire of Liberty, p. 647; Borneman, 1812, pp. 21–23. 7. Wood, Empire of Liberty, p. 647; Borneman, 1812, pp. 21–23. 8. Wood, Empire of Liberty, 648–49. 9. For the section on passage of the Embargo, see Wood, Empire of Liberty, p 649–58; Meachem, Jon, Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power, Random House, 2012, pp. 429–433. 10. Forbes Israel Thorndike, pp. 104–05. 11. Forbes, Israel Thorndike, pp. 105–06. 12. Rosenberg, Francis Cabot Lowell, pp. 152-53; Forbes, Israel Thorndike, p. 73. 13. Letter from Leonard to IT, September 8, 1807, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 14. Letter from Leonard to IT, September 8, 1807; Letter from Leonard to IT, January 3, 1808. Both in Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 15. Letter from Leonard to IT, January 3, 1808, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 16. Rosenberg, Francis Cabot Lowell, pp. 152–53. 17. Forbes, Israel Thorndike, pp. 105–06. 18. Boller, Paul F., Presidential Campaigns, revised edition, New York, Oxford University Press, 1996, p. 23. 19. Wood, Empire of Liberty. 20. Forbes, Israel Thorndike, p. 108 (on Pickering exile). 21. William B. Giles to the Richmond Inquirer, Oct. 24, 1828, The Washington Expose, in Documents Relating to New England Federalism, 1800–1815, ed. Henry Adams, 1877, Boston: Little Brown & Co., p. 29. 22. For the section on Adams’ March 15, 1808 meeting with Jefferson, see New England Federalism, ed. Henry Adams. 23. Unger, John Quincy Adams, p. 143.

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24. Unger, John Quincy Adams, p. 143–44. 25. Boller, Presidential Campaigns, pp. 22–24. 26. Boller, Presidential Campaigns, pp. 22–24; Forbes, Israel Thorndike, p. 107. 27. Letter from IT to Timothy Pickering, November 23, 1808. Timothy Pickering Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society; Forbes, p. 108. 28. Letter from IT to Timothy Pickering, December 31, 1808. Timothy Pickering Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society. 29. Letter from IT to Timothy Pickering, December 31, 1808. Timothy Pickering Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society. 30. For those interested in speculation, members of the Essex Junto who were dead by 1829 include Timothy Pickering, Theophilus Parsons, George Cabot, Fisher Ames, Benjamin Goodhue, and Samuel Dexter. Those who were still living include John Lowell, Israel Thorndike, and Nathan Dane. 31. Adams, Documents Relating to New England Federalism, 1800–1815, p. 118. 32. Meachem, Thomas Jefferson, pp. 434–435; Wood, Empire of Liberty, pp. 656–58. 33. Wood, Empire of Liberty, 656-58; Cabot to Pickering, Feb 14, 1804 (Adams, New England Federalism, pp. 346–47). 34. For the section on Augustus Thorndike’s schooling in Edinburgh, see Obituary of Augustus Thorndike, in Palmer, Joseph, Necrology of alumni of Harvard College, 1851–52 to 1862–63, John Wilson & Son, Boston, 1864, pp. 258–265. 35. List of ships seized between 1808 and 1811 and their values, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School; Letter from Henry Larcom to IT, August 20, 1809. 36. Letter from Robert Rogers to IT, July 18, 1809, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 37. Letter from Robert Rogers to IT, July 18, 1809, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 38. Letter from Robert Rogers to IT, July 18, 1809, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 39. Letter from Robert Rogers to IT, July 18, 1809, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 40. Letter from Robert Rogers to IT, July 18, 1809, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 41. Letter from Robert Rogers to IT, July 18, 1809, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 42. Letter from Robert Rogers to IT, July 18, 1809, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 43. Letter from Robert Rogers to IT, Sept. 9, 1809; Letter from Robert Rogers to IT, Nov. 2, 1809. Both in Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 44. Letter from Robert Rogers to IT, Nov. 10, 1809; Letter from Robert Rogers to IT, Dec. 22, 1809. Both in Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 45. Letter from Robert Rogers to IT, Nov. 3, 1809, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School; Newburyport Herald, Sept. 12, 1806, Vol. X, Issue 45, p. 1, Newburyport MA. 46. Letter from Robert Rogers to IT, Dec. 13, 1809; Letter from Robert Rogers to IT, Dec. 22, 1809. Both in Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 47. Letter from Robert Rogers to IT, Dec. 26, 1809, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 48. Letter from Robert Rogers to IT, Dec. 29, 1809, Israel Thorndike Collection. Baker Library, Harvard Business School. 49. Bond, Henry, Old Summer Street, Boston, in New England Magazine, New Series Vol. 19, Sept. 1898, p. 348–49; The New England Historical and Genealogical Register and Antiquarian Journal, vol. XXVII, Boston, 1873, p. 421. A picture of Thorndike’s mansion at 6 Summer is available in the Bond article, where it is identified as the home of John Tappan, who purchased the house from Thorndike in the 1820s. 50. Morrison, Harrison Gray Otis, p. 316.

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51. Thorndike Genealogy, p. 101; Morrison, Harrison Gray Otis. 52. Thorndike genealogy, p. 68; Diary of John Quincy Adams, December 23, 1811; Diary of John Quincy Adams, December 27, 1811 (accessed online at the Massachusetts Historical Society). 53. For the dates, see Thorndike genealogy, p. 68. 54. Griffith, Elmer Cummings, The Rise and Development of the Gerrymander, Chicago, Scott Forsman & Co., 1907; Clark, George L., Ph.D., Stealing our Votes: How Politicians Conspire to Control Elections, and How to Stop Them, Pittsburgh, Dorrance Publishing Co., Inc. 2004.

Chapter Six

I Would Spend All My Wealth, 1812–1815

The British naval policy against American vessels, taken alone, was probably sufficient justification for war. But the British provoked their former colonists in other ways, too, by encouraging Indian attacks against settlers along the western frontier. Shipping merchants like Thorndike, heavily reliant on both British trade and on the United States’ neutral status, could stomach these policies so long as war was prevented. Other Americans, however, thought otherwise. Those living on the western frontier began to cast a covetous eye northward to the British dominion of Canada. They thought it would be a perfect addition to their expanding republic. With Britain focused squarely on its campaign with France, perhaps the time was ideal to snatch away the northern territory. Others were so adamant about righting the wrongs done to American ships at sea that they proposed declaring war not just on the British, but the French too. Taking on one superpower is always a dicey proposition. Taking on two is something else altogether. President Madison, meanwhile, vacillated between declaring war and pushing for peace. On the side for war, Madison counted the national dishonor occasioned by the British naval policy, as well as the numerous western electoral votes he could gain in that year’s presidential election by pushing for war. On the side for peace stood the United States’ sheer unpreparedness—the U.S. Army’s effective strength was only about 4,000 men, although Congress was attempting to enhance that number through the use of volunteer militias. Nevertheless, a war with Britain, even a distracted Britain, was no sure victory. Of course, when war fever picks up—in this case encouraged by Great Britain’s continual, unending disrespect—policymakers begin to overesti111

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mate their capacity for victory. Many inexplicably thought that a war against Britain would be an easy win. Madison finally decided to send a message to Congress on June 1, requesting a declaration of war. He may have thought the Senate, supposedly sporting the cooler heads in the legislature, would vote it down, thus giving him the electoral support from the western states he needed while relieving him of the responsibility of actually fighting the war. The House, whom most assumed would vote for war, did just that three days later by a relatively large 79-49 margin. The hopes of many moderates—that the Senate would save the country from itself—were dashed shortly afterward. A number of more moderate proposals falling short of war failed in narrow votes, and finally, on June 17, the Senate voted 19–13 for a war declaration. Madison’s face was said to have turned white when he heard the news, though the Federalists would have been hard-pressed to believe it. 1

In Boston, Thorndike and the Federalists had spent the spring of 1812 organizing to prevent the war. That April, Thorndike stood for election to the State Senate, this time from Boston. Along with four other Federalists— Harrison Gray Otis, John Phillips, John Welles, and Peter Brooks—he won one of the five seats from Suffolk County, coming in with 3,820 votes. The highest vote total for a Republican candidate was 1,826, giving Thorndike a comfortable margin of victory. Caleb Strong was returned to the Governor’s office, winning over Elbridge Gerry, much maligned for his redistricting plan. Strong won Suffolk County by a margin of 3,830 votes to 1,833. The similarity to Thorndike’s margin indicates just how strict the party line voting was. 2 On the morning of June 11, six days before the Senate passed the declaration of war, the Federalists convened a citywide meeting at Faneuil Hall in Boston. The assembly adopted two resolutions: first, that war with England must be avoided, and second, that a committee of 12 persons be created to report on how the citizens of Boston could prevent the outbreak of war. Thorndike was naturally appointed. But the Congressional declaration of war preceded any committee recommendations. 3 Thorndike was furious. His once-flourishing shipping business was unraveling before his eyes, succumbing under the strains of global and national political events he seemed powerless to prevent. At a gathering in August, Gerry’s Lt. Governor, the Republican William Gray, rose and proposed that “he would willingly expend all his wealth” in defense of the United States government. Thorndike did not subscribe to Gray’s patriotic platitudes. Rising in reply, Thorndike said he would willingly spend all of his wealth to oppose it. 4

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The United States’ initial military plan was to launch a three-pronged assault on Canada. The westernmost attack would come from Detroit into modern Ontario. A second also aimed for Ontario, but would march across the Niagara River between Lakes Erie and Ontario. The last was aimed at Montreal, and was designed to sever British control of the St. Lawrence River. All three resulted in disaster. The United States military was dismally prepared for such a campaign—the entire War Department comprised just 12 men, including the Secretary—and coordination was nil. The Detroit campaign brought initial but fleeting success. American soldiers managed to plant the American flag on the Canadian side of the river, but follow-up proved difficult, in part because the Ohio militiamen brought along for the fight refused to serve outside the United States’ borders. Their position soon soured. The British threatened from the north, when they seized the American outpost at Fort Mackinac, and from the south, where the British Navy controlled Lake Erie. British soldiers and Canadian militia awaited them to the east, and the threat of an Indian uprising in the west finalized their precarious position. In August, the commanding general, William Hull, felt sufficiently uneasy to order the small American detachment at Fort Dearborn (modern Chicago), which included nine women and 18 children, to move east nearer to him. Shortly after leaving the fort, while traversing a series of sand dunes, the group fell under assault from Indian tribes. A large number died in the ensuing massacre, including 12 of the children. Around the same time, Hull withdrew American soldiers from Canadian soil, prompting the British army to the east to attack Detroit itself. The British didn’t need to apply much pressure. One day of occasional cannon fire on the American city was enough to trigger Hull’s surrender, without bothering to consult his officer corps. The easy march into Canada envisioned by western warmongers had not come to fruition. On August 16, just shy of two months since the declaration of war, the city of Detroit lay in British hands. The other two attacks—near Niagara, where the Americans intended to seize York, and the other northward from New York at Lake Champlain, intending to cut off the St. Lawrence River—also brought little success. Ironically, the only real victory from the war’s first year came not from the westerners whose zeal had brought the war to fruition, but from a U.S. Navy frigate built in Boston. The wooden-hulled, 204 foot long USS Constitution carried a crew of four hundred, forty four guns and three wooden masts, with the tallest topping off at an impressive 233 feet. Ordered to sail north from her port in Annapolis, the Constitution was intercepted by four British warships, but after a few dicey days was able to escape and avoid destruction.

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After refitting in Boston, the Constitution sailed northeast toward the Canadian coast, and on August 19 encountered another British warship, this time alone. The Constitution had the wind at her back and gave chase to the HMS Guerriere, but the American captain, Isaac Hull, was a bit overeager and lost his advantage. His ship’s design helped his cause, however, when at one point the cannonballs from a strong British broadside smashed into Constitution’s sides, failed to penetrate, and fell harmlessly into the ocean. A crew member shouted “Hurrah, her sides are made of iron,” and the legend of Old Ironsides was born. Soon thereafter, a series of American broadsides devastated the Guerriere and toppled one of her masts. The British captain, when asked if he had “struck his flag,” cheekily said he couldn’t be sure because their masts had all been destroyed. The capture of the Guerriere in and of itself was of little consequence, but provided a tremendous psychological boost for the Americans, who were desperate for any sort of victory. It also signaled to the British that after years of unbroken success at sea, they might need to pay more attention to their former colonists than they had before. Charles Francis Adams, with only some hyperbole, later cited the exact moment when the United States became a world power—Wednesday, August 19, 1812, at 6:30 p.m, the moment the Guerriere surrendered to the Constitution. That October, the Constitution increased her Old Ironsides legend with the capture of yet another British frigate, the HMS Java. Now under the command of William Bainbridge (Hull had taken a brief leave of absence), she suffered heavier damage than in her previous engagement, but eventually her superior firepower came to bear, the Java’s masts came down, and Old Ironsides won another victory. Even in Massachusetts, Federalists opposed to the war could not help but celebrate the Constitution’s achievements, and in March 1813 a great dinner was held in Boston to honor her sailors. Christopher Gore, the former Massachusetts Governor and soon-to-be United States Senator, presided over the ceremonies. Thorndike and the moderate Federalist Harrison Gray Otis were selected to be Vice Chairs of the event along with Peter Brooks, who had made a fortune in marine insurance, William Sullivan, a radical Federalist, and Thomas Winthrop. Commodore Bainbridge and the Constitution’s crew were paraded through the city of Boston, accompanied by the Boston Light Infantry and the Winslow Blues. They then assembled at the Exchange Coffee House for a “sumptuous” entertainment. Before the dinner, a Reverend Holley offered prayers, and during dinner “all the hilarity which the occasion could inspire was indulged, without offense to decorum.” They were so taken with the Constitution’s victories and the happiness of the party that after dinner, they even managed to choke down a toast to President Madison, whose second inauguration was only two days away. 5

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Madison, despite the war, had won re-election in 1812. Thorndike, along with other Federalists, had considered their position to be too weak to mount a serious challenge to the President. The war, however, offered a potential opportunity to nominate an antiwar Republican who could receive Federalist support and siphon off votes from Madison. Thorndike was elected to a political convention of Federalists in New York City, and traveled there early in the fall of 1812 in the hopes of finding such a candidate. 6 The Convention met from September 15–17. John Marshall, the Chief Justice, was perhaps the only Federalist with enough national appeal to win, but as a Virginian most considered him unlikely to carry New York—a state crucial to victory. Most of the seventy delegates consequently backed an antiwar Republican, DeWitt Clinton of New York. With Clinton as their choice, the Federalists then had to decide whether to announce their support. Rufus King, also of New York, urged them to announce their support of Clinton. Nevertheless, under leadership from Harrison Gray Otis, the Convention decided to adjourn without declaring their support for a candidate. This was what Clinton wanted; he thought that the open support of the Federalist Party would cost him too much Republican support. Thorndike, often allied with Otis, probably supported this course of action. The Federalists in New England would encourage the election of Clinton in secret. 7 Thorndike had been named as one of the twenty-two electors from Massachusetts, and joined the rest of his state’s electors in casting his vote for Clinton. Clinton, however, could not save the Federalists and the New England merchants. Trying to appeal to all sides, Clinton told supporters of the war that he supported it, and opponents of the war that he opposed it. Voters noticed the double-dealing, and it cost Clinton dearly. He went down to defeat by an electoral margin of 128 to 89. Though it was the closest presidential election in over a decade, the Federalists were still downcast. The war looked as if it would drag on into another year. 8

Despite occasional victories like the Constitution’s, Thorndike remained desperate for an end to the conflict, which continued to thoroughly disrupt his business. To that end, he submitted testimony to the United States Congress in the spring of 1813, insisting that impressment of American sailors— the British action which gave the Americans cause for war—was massively overblown in the popular imagination. He probably hoped that the previous year’s defeats meant that the American people would soon tire of the war, and be brought to reason. This was wishful thinking; the reverses had had little effect Madison’s large re-election margin. 9

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Thorndike’s testimony gives an interesting insight into the scope of his business over the past years. “I have,” Thorndike said, “for a considerable part of the time for 10 or 12 years past (excepting the time of the embargo), usually employed on an average more than 200 seamen, annually, on board my vessels, and those which I have had under freight and charter.” This made him the second-largest maritime employer in Massachusetts, behind only William Gray. “The average length of the voyages, I should think, was about 6 to 8 months.” In all that time, and with all those sailors, Thorndike continued, “I have not had more than 6 or 7 men, to my recollection, impressed from my vessels and those vessels employed by me during that period.” 10 Thorndike then recited the instances. “I cannot now recollect the names of the men. The names of the vessels were the ship Alexander Hodgdon,”— which his nephew Andrew Thorndike had commanded— “from which 2 or 3 men were taken about the year 1805 or 1806. They were, as I understand from the captain, all foreigners.” Thorndike’s recollection was not all that sharp: “I think they were shipped in Leghorn, and I think they were impressed on a voyage from that place to the East Indies. I do not know whether they had any protections or documents, or not—and have not since heard of them.” 11 Thorndike continued, reiterating that nearly all of that small number were foreigners. “The Brig Hector had one man impressed from her,” Thorndike said, “off the Isle of France, about 1803 or 1804. He was, as I am informed by the captain, a Frenchman.” On a voyage to Russia in 1811, “the brig Gilpin had two men taken from her,” Thorndike said. “These two men were both foreigners, as I have been informed—I have heard nothing of them since—nor do I know whether they had any protections or not.” Another man, aboard a brig whose name Thorndike could not recall, was seized “in Liverpool, about 1809. His name was Neptune, an African, and he had there entered into the British service, while in a state of intoxication, as I was informed by the supecargo. The man had formerly been a servant in my family. I have not since heard of him.” 12 Only one person who had even lived on American soil had ever been impressed from one of Thorndike’s ships. “Daniel Parker,” Thorndike said, was “a British subject, who had a wife and family in Beverly,” and had been pressed from one of Thorndike’s vessels at an English port about 20 years before. An officer on Thorndike’s vessel suggested Parker “declare that he was an American; but he said he would not deny his country, and surrendered himself.” Nevertheless, the story had a happy ending. “He has since returned to his family in Beverly,” said Thorndike, “about 12 or 15 years since.” 13 All in all, Thorndike was saying, the alleged reason for the war was a canard. Anecdotally, one of America’s largest shipping merchants could count all the men who had been impressed from his vessels, over two decades, on his two hands. The war was harming the very merchants it was

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meant to protect. But as he might have expected given Republican control of the government, his testimony proved to have little effect. The Constitution’s victory had given the nation some hope, and the Federalists had little power in altering the government’s functioning. The war continued.

Thorndike’s shipping business was not totally destroyed by the war, though it was significantly diminished. In April 1813, his store at the head of Russell’s Wharf in Boston offered a wide variety of goods for sale, demonstrating the global reach of Thorndike’s business even amidst the conflict: First and second quality Russia Duck – Ravens do. – Russia Sheetings – Diapers Crash – Drillings – Old Sable Iron – Swedes do. – Swedish Steel – Hemp – white Havana Sugar – Coffee in hhds. – 2d, 3d and 4th proof W. I. Rum – Brandy – Linseed Oil, for painters – sweet Olive do. – Yellow Ochre – Liquorice Paste – Manina flakey – Opium – Montivideo Ox Hides – Salpetre – Lisbon Salt – Roll Brimstone. Also, now landing and for sale, Flag, Bandanna, and Madras Hankerchiefs. 14

Meanwhile, his eldest son, Israel, Jr., had also begun operating as a sedentary merchant in Boston, having earned and received enough capital to start up his own merchant house. But the young Thorndike clearly had a long way to go to match the volume and reach of his father’s enterprise. From a store at 35 India Wharf, he could offer only the following: St. Petersburg Hemp, of best quality; Old Sable and Archangel Iron, Sailcloth, &c. 15

Although Thorndike could still bring international goods to sale in Boston, his business suffered, as did the business of most New England merchants. Neutrality had been a key ingredient for the success of American merchants over the past two decades, as had the desire of British businessmen to work with private merchant houses rather than with the British East India Company’s state-backed monopoly. Now, both of those elements were gone, and the latter was gone forever. In 1813, Parliament revoked the East India Company’s monopoly, motivated in part by the runaway success of merchants like Thorndike. By 1806, Americans had exported more from the Company’s territories in India than the Company itself, and by 1809, Americans were importing more into the Company’s Indian territories. American merchants like Thorndike had demonstrated the success of free trade. Now, the British saw the advantage and entered the game themselves. 16

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The days of quick and easy profits in the shipping business, therefore, were over for the Americans. Thorndike probably sensed it, and his sixth sense for good business opportunities would serve him well once more. The ensuing decades would see Massachusetts’ economic landscape dramatically altered, sparking the American Industrial Revolution. This titanic and epochal shift began with commercial espionage. Francis Lowell was a Boston merchant who, like Thorndike, had prospered in the East India trade, though not nearly to the same degree as the Beverly native. His older brother John was the radical Federalist and member of the Essex Junto. In 1810, at the age of 35, Lowell had gone abroad with his wife and four young children. A Harvard graduate with a well-endowed mind, Lowell had a gift for mathematics. He was determined to uncover the secret to England’s industrial technology and bring it to the United States. This was a tricky endeavor, because Britain treated the technology as an important state secret, and exporting any information about it was forbidden. Lowell believed that if he could somehow get the technology to the United States, however, New England waterways could power the factories. Combining the Northeast’s geography with the South’s cotton, Lowell thought he could build an industrial revolution on the American continent. 17 Lowell spent several years in England ingratiating himself into British society. At one point, in 1811, he gained the opportunity to tour the new textile mills in Lancashire, which he did for several weeks. How he managed to gain access remains unknown, but he asked many questions of the mill operators. He wrote nothing down, and sent no messages home to the United States or to friends in other countries on the workings of the mills. Francis and his family left Britain and returned to their home the following year. The British may have assumed that their technological secrets remained safe on their island, but they were wrong. The technical details of industrial power travelled with Francis across the Atlantic, hidden in his impressive mind. Lowell had memorized the technology. 18 Returning to Boston, Lowell set about raising the money to build a mill. He estimated that the entire enterprise would require about $400,000, but that only $100,000 was needed at the beginning to build and operate one mill. The rest of the money could be raised if the venture was successful. To acquire the necessary cash, he turned primarily to wealthy East India merchants. He approached Thorndike, whose reputation as a financier and man of wealth was well established. Despite his negative experience with the Beverly Manufacturing Company a quarter century before, Thorndike decided to invest in Lowell’s venture. He may have suggested that Israel, Jr., too, would be a worthy investor. Lowell made an excellent choice in Thorndike. He had wide contacts throughout the state, and could help bring in smaller investors, expanding the company’s access to capital. Initially, the investors were kept to a small group of the wealthy and affluent, giving the

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company “an image of wealth and prudence”—crucial for such a risky venture. 19 Lowell called his new business the Boston Manufacturing Company (BMC). In addition to its ambitious scope, the company was noteworthy even by its formation. Lowell had solicited 11 other men as investors, and they chose a novel way of structuring the company: they incorporated the BMC, and issued shares of stock to the investors, a new innovation in the United States. Corporations had, historically, been state-run or state-backed enterprises. Most private ventures were typically partnerships, like the old Brown & Thorndike of Beverly years past. The BMC’s high level of capitalization and a complex organization probably led the investors to favor the corporate form. 20 On October 18, 1813, Thorndike strode into an office at 72 Broad Street in Boston, a short walk from his counting house on India Wharf. There, a first meeting of the investors was held. They agreed to issue the first $100,000 worth of stock. Thorndike and his son, Israel, Jr., combined for a $20,000 investment, giving them a 20% ownership stake in the company. Patrick Tracy Jackson, Lowell’s brother-in-law, also invested $20,000, while Lowell himself invested $15,000. Jackson’s two brothers, Charles and James, combined for another $15,000. John Gore invested $10,000, while James Lloyd, Nathan Appleton, and Uriah Cotting invested $5,000 apiece. Benjamin Gorham and Warren Dutton, two other Lowell brothers-in-law, combined for the final $5,000. They also voted a further $300,000 in authorized stock, which could be raised by forcing the existing shareholders to make additional payments; if they refused, they would forfeit their stock. The investors could thus get out of the venture if they felt it would be unsuccessful, but invest more if it appeared to be a success. The authorized stock could bring the company’s capitalization to the $400,000 limit that Lowell believed was necessary to fully run the company. For now, however, they would stick with the $100,000 start-up cost, and because the merchants did not always have barrels of cash lying around they allowed the first stocks to be paid off in installments. 21 The investors also voted to elect a Board of Directors, who would oversee the company’s long-term business strategy. James Lloyd was chosen as president. Patrick Tracy Jackson was named treasurer, giving him a large role in the company’s day-to-day management. Lowell, Appleton, and Thorndike rounded out the board. The shareholders set the first Tuesday in October, at ten in the morning, as the date and time for their annual meeting. With that, they adjourned. 22 A new chapter in American business had begun.

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Augustus Thorndike remained in Scotland for the first year of the war, and appears to have passed it in comfort amongst the usual friends and companions he had made while in Edinburgh. By the summer of 1813, however, his American citizenship brought him trouble. On August 14, Lord Sidmouth, the British Home Secretary, issued a decree ordering the detention of American citizens. Augustus himself may have been detained, a prisoner now in a land that must suddenly have seemed far from home. 23 The detention was only intended to be temporary, and a Swedish captain of a ship called the Neptunus was found to carry the Americans home. The Neptunus was a typical wooden, masted vessel. On September 28, after a month in limbo, 42 Americans were loaded onto the ship, docked in Liverpool. Their homes ranged from Baltimore to Maine. Augustus was only 16 years old, and made the journey alone, without any particular person to look after him. 24 The Neptunus sailed a full 36 days—just over five weeks—before arriving and anchoring in Boston Harbor on November 4, two weeks after Augustus’ brother and father had attended the first meeting of the BMC shareholders. The journey had actually been quicker than normal; an Atlantic crossing from England to Boston could easily stretch to six or even seven weeks. They had encountered no difficulties, no privateers or pirates who chased them and made them run. After nearly five years abroad, Augustus had finally returned to Boston. When he had left for Europe, the family seat was in Beverly. Loading his luggage into a horse-drawn coach, he discovered only a short drive from the wharf through the winding city streets to his father’s whitebrick mansion on Summer Street. His father had owned the house for three years now, but due to his long absence Augustus had never seen it. 25

The war dragged on throughout 1813, and the Federalists grew increasingly radicalized as northeast commerce ground to a halt. John Lowell, the lawyer and brother of the intrepid businessman, Francis, was a continual explosion of ideas, and had already written several lengthy pamphlets. Lowell was perhaps the primary intellectual force behind the Federalist party’s most radical elements, and it seems likely that Thorndike’s views were probably close to Lowell’s. One of Lowell’s recently published pamphlets, Mr. Madison’s War, assailed both the war and the notion that he and others in Massachusetts must patriotically join the fight. He openly opposed the notion that once war had been declared, “it is your duty to submit, and aid as much as possible in the prosecution of the war.” Lowell believed that opposition itself was patriotic: “if we are bound forever to approve of this war, because a majority of six senators only … saw fit to declare it in complaisance to the president, why we may as well give up the right of suffrage at once to this oligarchy, and let them save us the trouble of future election.” Lowell gave

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no indication of surrendering his opposition: “those who conscientiously opposed [this war’s] declaration have a right, and … are bound to endeavor to bring about a peace by showing the folly, the wickedness, and the evils of the war.” 26 Now, John Lowell came up with one of his more outrageous and remarkable ideas. He proposed to kick the west out of the union. Between April 25 and May 13, 1813, Lowell wrote a series of six letters that were subsequently published under the ominous and verbose title Thoughts in a Series of Letters, in Answer to a Question Respecting the Division of the States. In these letters, Lowell contemplated a division of the federal union, indicating that disunion in some form was circulating among the Massachusetts Federalists’ radical wing. The separation that Lowell contemplated, however, was not the commonly feared secession of New England. Instead, Lowell promoted the idea that all states but the original thirteen be expelled from the United States. 27 Are we not in general agreed in the integrity of the states, although we may be divided on other political questions? To this I answer, Yes. And allow me here to premise that the division here advocated is not a division of the original thirteen United States. No; palsied be the hand that would attempt to hold the pen to effect so vile a purpose. The division here advocated is a division from the illegitimate states beyond the Allegany mountains and Louisiana, which are adverse to our prosperity; whose interests, habits and pursuits are diverse from ours, and never can coalesce. 28

Lowell supported his proposal using six distinct arguments. The first was that the country was simply too vast to support a viable republican government. The original thirteen states, wrote Lowell, were three-eighths the size of the entire Louisiana Purchase, a fact even more remarkable when one considered the vast size of the original thirteen colonies. In his farewell address, President Washington had stated that experiment would answer the question as to whether a “common government” could “embrace so large a sphere” as the original territory of the United States. To Lowell, this indicated that even President Washington was uncertain whether even the original thirteen could be governed as a republic due to its vast size, and that the father of his country would have balked at adding such a large territory to the west. 29 Secondly, said Lowell, the original thirteen states had no economic need for the additional states to the west beyond the mountains. The original thirteen produced “so great a variety of climate, furnishing almost every necessary and luxury, and in an abundant manner the most substantial articles of life.” Perhaps unconsciously, Lowell then described in detail the many economic interests that gave self-sufficiency to the original republic— all of which, it so happened, were located in New England. Because the south

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and the north complement each other and support each other economically, Lowell wrote, there is “irresistible evidence that it was designed to constitute one great whole, and that any addition would be redundant.” 30 Third, Lowell appealed to the reader’s religious side by discussing the self-evident “design of Providence” in the creation of the United States. Lowell believed it apparent that the “all wise Being had… some design when he formed such stupendous mountains, running nearly parallel with one seacoast, and nearly two hundred miles distant from it, so that they should describe some great national line of demarcation.” The mountains themselves were unfit for cultivation, but rivers running eastward allowed for all the bounty of the coastal regions to be shipped around the world in wealthproducing commerce. Lowell revealed some of his true anxiety when he asked whether the “annexation of territory violate[s] the great original compact, and totally change[s] our relative situation as a nation” and rendered New England “an insignificant part.” Clearly, Lowell worried that New England’s national influence was on the wane, and sought to eliminate a part of it to retain that influence. He also addressed the constitutional question contravening his providential argument: that the Constitution allowed for the admission of new states. True, Lowell allowed, but he quoted Josiah Quincy for the proposition that public opinion in 1787 only contemplated new states in territory then possessed by the United States, and not territory later acquired. 31 Fourth, Lowell disparaged the Louisiana Purchase as policy on a number of grounds. He believed that a “more despotic government” run by “viceroys or satraps” was best suited to so large a territory as Louisiana, while the United States’ republican style of government in which “general opinion governs” required that the “people should be less extended, and more enlightened, and that there should be some similarity in their manners, habits and pursuits.” Louisiana, conversely, was too diverse, “composed of a heterogeneous mixture of French, Spanish, Creoles and some of almost every nation under heaven, many whose ideas are violently opposed to republican government.” Lowell cited Aaron Burr’s recent conspiracy to seize power using Louisiana as a base as an illustration of the dark potential for despotism that lurked in the Louisiana territory. He also noted that the original thirteen states were primarily commercial, while those “beyond the mountains” were agricultural, and “can supply us with no article we want.” They were, Lowell believed, a drain on the states of the original union. 32 Lowell turned in his fifth section to the feasibility of separation. He believed that the greatest danger to New England (or the original thirteen states) lay with the western states, instead of foreign powers: Can it be rationally supposed that we are not in ten times the danger from a settled, determined opposition to the measures by which we pursue our inter-

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ests and prosperity? Can it be supposed that the western country and Louisiana will ever consent to assist in maintaining such a navy as would be thought necessary to protect our commerce and establish our rank among the maritime powers? Or is it not more probable that all their measures will be contrived to depress and embarrass us… 33

He went on to say that the United States should swallow the cost of purchasing the Louisiana territory, for it would be significantly less than the costs so far incurred from “nonintercourse, embargo, nonimportation, and… this calamitous war,” a war that ended the neutrality which was so monetarily beneficial to American merchants. Feasibility to Lowell, it appears, revolved more around the necessity of a course than its chances of being put into action. 34 Lastly, Lowell argued that the separation must take place, and that “the sooner it takes place, the easier it will be effected.” Standing on quite the wrong side of history, he stated that “the idea that we must extend our government over a whole continent to render ourselves safe from bad neighbors is a chimera formed in the head of Thomas Jefferson.” For all the foregoing reasons, Lowell argued, the original thirteen states must cast out the new states and divest themselves of the Louisiana territory. “To a true American,” concluded Lowell, “the union of the states has deservedly had a peculiar charm, and some have appeared to suppose, that like the wand of a magician, it would shield them from every danger. But if this union is experienced, through certain deleterious qualities a part possesses, to be destructive of the rest, it must be given up.” 35 Lowell’s arguments in Division of the States were obviously extreme, and were as far as he ever went toward proposing a division of the union during the War of 1812. Because of Lowell’s prominence within radical Federalist circles, one must consider it likely that he was not the only one to harbor such views. Indeed, in the extreme context of the Federalist opposition to the war— where the Massachusetts state legislature was growing increasingly radical, and only the intercession of moderates like Harrison Gray Otis and James Lloyd kept the radical talk from boiling over—Lowell’s Division of the States begins to take on some qualities of the dog-whistle. His reasoning applied equally—and in some cases, more strongly—to arguments suggesting New England secession instead of merely tossing out the post-1789 interlopers. In discussing the self-sufficiency of the original thirteen states, he launched into rhapsodies about the “unbounded fisheries on the New England coast,” the tremendous commercial advantages those fisheries brought, and the country’s powerful shipping, while saying not a word about advantages brought by the South. Later, he discussed the distinction between the original thirteen states and the rest by stating that “the thirteen United States,

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except Vermont, may all be still commercial states,” whereas the rest of the United States was agricultural. He apparently forgot that Vermont was not one of the original thirteen states; the sentence actually reads more correctly if one substitutes “New England” for the phrase “the thirteen states.” He wrote of the enormous tax burden that Massachusetts carried on behalf of the union vis-à-vis the western states—Massachusetts paid nearly $26.5 million into the federal treasury between 1800 and 1810, while Kentucky, Tennessee and Ohio combined to pay under $10,000 for the same period. Lowell made no mention of the other original states’ tax burdens, for his audience was clearly in Massachusetts. He noted his particular concern that New England’s influence would wane with the admission of new states. He even engaged in attacks on the southern states, whose presidents (Jefferson and Madison) he so opposed, but whom he apparently still would stoop to retain in the union: the “advantage gained by the slave holding states in the original compact, in allowing the owner of every five slaves three votes, is such a one as those states who have abolished slavery consider unjust in principle and practice.” Lowell was careful to note, however, that he would retain those southern states in the union, but alter the Constitution to eliminate the three-fifths rule. 36 Taken at face value, of course, Lowell’s Division of the States did not demand a New England republic. Indeed, letters between Pickering and Lowell from late in 1814 suggest that they contemplated the expulsion of the western states as a legitimate course of action, and not merely a pretext. Nevertheless, Division of the States was a step in the direction of disunion; and Lowell, who was in fact quite brilliant, must have at least recognized that he could not go so far as to openly call for secession in 1813. But perhaps he thought he could begin to move the needle in that direction, to lay the groundwork so that division of the union was a feasible possibility. 37

In 1813, the war dragged on, with fighting primarily occurring in the American northwest, around the Great Lakes region. Command of those waterways was crucial. Soldiers commanded by William Henry Harrison, an American general, battled those of British Colonel Henry Procter and Tecumseh, an Indian chief, in the Ohio territory. Harrison tried but failed to retake Detroit, resulting in a massacre of some sixty Americans by Tecumseh’s men at River Raisin. Harrison retreated back into Ohio, where the British and their Indian ally pursued them. Harrison’s armies held out in various frontier forts, however, and by the end of the summer had forced Procter and Tecumseh to retreat back into Michigan. 38 In September, however, Oliver Hazard Perry, an American naval commander, won a notable victory over the British Navy on Lake Erie, giving the Americans control of the lake. The British position in Michigan thus became

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untenable, forcing them to abandon Detroit. General Harrison was able to launch an invasion of Upper Canada to the north of Lake Erie, winning a victory at Chatham in which Tecumseh was killed. Tecumseh’s death, and the American position in Upper Canada, effectively ended participation in the war by American Indians. 39 Meanwhile, the Americans continued to assault British positions near Niagara. They launched a brief but ultimately doomed invasion of Upper Canada from the east (Harrison having invaded from the west), and by the end of the year had been forced to abandon their Canadian occupations in the territory near Lake Ontario and Niagara. As the year came to a close, on December 30, the British attacked and burned Buffalo to the ground, leaving only three buildings still standing. 40 The war would continue, with little advantage gained.

In the midst of war, the Boston Manufactory Company was moving ahead with its plans. Francis Lowell wrote to Paul Moody, a machinist living in Amesbury, and asked him to help construct the machines that Lowell had memorized in England. Moody was an inspired choice, and it was his engineering and machine skills that would help put the BMC’s dreams into action. 41 At the inaugural shareholder meeting in October, 1813, Thorndike, Lowell, and Nathan Appleton had been appointed to find a suitable location for the factory, “for the purposes of commencing and prosecuting the business of the company.” Horse power, which Thorndike had seen used at the Beverly Manufacturing Company, was inadequate and impractical for the type of factory the BMC looked to build. In addition, the United States did not yet have the technology for steam power, so they needed to use water to power the mill. Throughout the winter of 1813-14, Thorndike, Lowell and Appleton searched for a location, finally finding their spot in the small town of Waltham, seven miles west of Boston. There, in the Charles River, lay a 15-foot waterfall that could provide enough power to turn the factory’s planned waterwheel. Patrick Tracy Jackson was authorized, as treasurer, to purchase the 77-acre site in April, 1814. Construction of the red-brick factory began soon afterwards, and Moody set to work building the spinning machines and looms. With the war still ongoing, the dozen wealthy Boston merchants who had invested in the BMC hoped they had found a new way to make money. 42

Young Augustus assumed his place in Boston as a wealthy heir. Having managed to return from Scotland despite the ongoing war, he began his preparation for Harvard College. Applicants were younger then. Most persons receiving their Bachelor’s degrees were somewhere between the ages of

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17 and 20, and students often graduated in less than four years. Harvard was just one of a few colleges even in existence in the United States at the time; at the turn of the century, the number of institutions of higher learning stood in the twenties. 43 Attending Harvard was a high honor. Nevertheless, few Americans even contemplated attending college at the time, and so the competition for admission was less fierce for those who could afford it. Harvard, too, had not yet emerged as the academic powerhouse it would become. Instead, it was a relatively provincial college, dominated by Federalists and Unitarians, which catered to the regional elite. The class lists of the time contained a seemingly endless repetition of upper crust Bostonian last names—Lowells, Peabodys, Crowninshields, and Cabots. This generally held true of colleges across the nation. The elite of Virginia had William & Mary and Hampden-Sydney; those of Philadelphia attended Dickinson and Penn; in New York, they enrolled at Columbia; and in Connecticut, they went to Yale. It would not be until the presidencies of Charles Eliot and Lawrence Lowell, well over a half-century from Augustus’ time at the college, that Harvard would emerge as one of the most progressive and dynamic educational forces in the world. To gain admission, students prepped with recent young graduates to study for Harvard’s examination. These were the forerunners of the prep schools that emerged in Boston in the mid-nineteenth century for the sole purpose of providing local boys with the ability to enter Harvard. Augustus followed the tradition of his time and spent several months studying under the tutelage of George Morey. Morey had graduated from Harvard in 1811, and was currently studying with a local attorney to gain admission to the bar—no law schools had yet been established. He was apparently a good teacher, and Augustus a good pupil. On February 9, 1814, only three months after his return from Scotland, Augustus took his examination and passed with flying colors. Now 16 years old, he received a unanimous vote of the examiners and was admitted as a member of Harvard’s sophomore class. He began his classes shortly thereafter. 44 Augustus immediately took a conspicuous place among the students enrolled at Harvard. His five years abroad had marked him out as someone slightly different than the typical student in Cambridge. His dress and mannerisms were somewhat flamboyant, and his Greek and Latin pronunciation in class was quite different from his contemporaries, perhaps influenced by his Scottish education. While some teenagers find themselves the butt of jokes and the object of teasing as a result of their differences, Augustus’ personality had the opposite effect. Dramatic retellings of his time abroad and at the Royal High School, coupled with his other affectations, brought him a rather devoted following among many of the other students. His following even included upperclassmen, who are not always well-disposed towards brash newcomers. 45

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Augustus adopted an air of superiority from his British years. He may have felt superior to the more provincial city and college where he found himself. The affectation drew others to him at Harvard. But the sense of superiority led him to push the envelope, and his fellow students encouraged him. In conversation, he often disdained Harvard’s rules, declaring those of Edinburgh to be far superior. Augustus became the ringleader of a group of trouble-makers. Harvard, more puritanical than the Royal High School across the Atlantic, was not ready for Augustus’ arrival and subsequent disdain for moral restraint. His gang contained a fair number of South Carolinians, who felt less compunction to conform than did many of their brethren raised in reserved New England. One mother, so distraught at her son’s falling in with Augustus’ clique, noted to her brother that parents should be careful about sending their children to school in Edinburgh, because clearly an education at the Royal High School was “extremely hazardous to the morals of the young.” Quickly, though, Augustus went too far. He broke one rule too many, or maybe gave insufficient attention to his studies. Whatever the reason, the faculty suspended Augustus on November 6. He had been admitted just nine months before. 46 If Augustus thought Cambridge was rustic, his next stop—punishment, it might seem—must have seemed the middle of nowhere. Thorndike insisted he return to Morey to redeem himself and prepare for a return to Harvard. Morey, however, had since left Boston and was pursuing his law studies at a small office in Groton, Massachusetts. Even today, two centuries later, Groton feels rural. It lies over 30 miles northwest of Boston, near the New Hampshire border. When Augustus arrived, farming was the almost exclusive occupation of Groton’s residents. He came in the winter, when the town was at its sleepiest and most frigid. It must have been a sore shock to the young man. 47 Augustus, apparently chastened by his rustication, rededicated himself to his studies under Morey once again. But he would not return immediately; a full six months would pass before he could try for readmission at Harvard. The dark, cold New England winter months passed slowly, before the green warmth would begin to creep into the small town. All the while Augustus continued to ply his studies with Morey. 48

Some wealthy Federalists decided upon a novel scheme for disrupting the war effort that fell short of outright rebellion but still hampered the government. The United States government issued bonds to help fund the wars. A number of Federalists, sitting on large piles of accumulated cash, decided they could not in principle purchase the bonds, which subsidized a war they despised. Without wealthy buyers, the government bonds began to depreciate. 49

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Thorndike, however, opposed the scheme. In April 1814 he found himself in Philadelphia where he “had much conversation about the loans,” and wrote to Harrison Gray Otis of his own opinion. “I believe that a peace will actually take place before next fall, indeed I think it almost certain,” Thorndike said, “and if I am right in this opinion, can it be for the interest of any set of men in this country, who have anything at stake, to destroy public credit?” Such actions, Thorndike believed, would “lessen the value of all property, and extend its effects to private credit.” He was concerned that objecting to the purchase of government bonds could have damaging effects on the larger economy. 50 “Under those circumstances,” Thorndike continued, “the question presents itself whether Federalists can, without any dereliction of principle, can take part in the loan. And if they can, whether it will be for their interest to do it. For my own part,” Thorndike said, “I should think they might, on the belief that peace is certain and that the public and private interest would be promoted by it.” Nevertheless, Thorndike recognized that it might be hard to convince radical Federalists of this course. “The only difficulty … is to reconcile the apparent inconsistency of the thing, and to satisfy the Federal party generally that it was right in principle” This, Thorndike said, “I am aware would be difficult to do.” On the issue of purchasing government bonds, Thorndike sided with Otis, a moderate Federalist, against some of the radicals. Thorndike, believing for the moment that peace would be at hand within a few months, was willing to fund the war in order to preserve public and private credit. 51 But in 1814, he was not really a moderate. He told Otis his return to Boston was uncertain, mainly due to “the state of the roads, which are horrid beyond description.” He also let Otis know with whom he would return. “I shall have on this Monday morning in my own carriage with post horses. Colonel Pickering,” the lead radical, “accompanies me.” 52

The war was not going well. After two years of defeats and pyrrhic victories, Napoleon had abdicated in April, allowing the British to concentrate their forces against the Americans. The United States had barely been able to fight evenly with Britain while she focused almost all her energy on France; it seemed unlikely they would be more successful against a more dedicated British military. At Niagara that summer, the Americans held off a large British force at the Battle of Fort Erie on Canadian territory, but eventually had to abandon the fort and retreat back into the United States. 53 To the south it was worse. The British had decided to retaliate against the Americans for the burning of York (modern day Toronto) during the American invasion of Canada the year before. A force of British soldiers sailed from Bermuda, determined to strike at Washington, D.C. They landed

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in Maryland and marched towards the capital. A hastily-assembled American militia force assembled at Bladensburg, northeast of the city, to defend Washington. The hot August day brought temperatures approaching 100 degrees, and the militia were easily routed by the British soldiers, who marched into Washington and set fire to the city. The night sky turned an ominous red, painted by the flames engulfing the Capitol, Treasury building, and the White House. The Americans, too, contributed to the conflagration, setting fire to the Washington Navy Yard to prevent its stores and munitions from falling into British hands. Only the arrival, the following afternoon, of thick, dark black clouds carrying a brutally violent thunderstorm put an end to the fire, and kept the American capital from disintegrating into piles of ash. 54 President Madison was forced to flee Washington ahead of the British advance. It was the low point of the war.

In the spring, Thorndike had predicted to Otis that the war would be over by the fall. The disastrous summer had proven him wrong. With the war now looking like it might drag on for years, Thorndike was appointed to a committee to oversee the defense of Boston, and they began to fortify the city. On October 8, Thorndike wrote to Pickering that “the works on Nodles Island are nearly finished, and so are those on Dorchester Heights. But those on Dorchester Point, and on the neck, are barely begun.” He continued that he had, “with General Brooks and Colonel Perkins, been on the different grounds proposed to be fortified several times.” He had “also visited Governors Island, where much has been done and more doing….I think that Forts Warren and Independence will be so strong that they will be able to repel any force that can come against them.” 55 While Thorndike and the other leaders of Massachusetts fortified their territory, many in the United States were concerned that the states of New England, and perhaps others, were ready to finally secede. The rumors ran rampant. Pickering was often considered the leading agent for secession. Blue Light Federalists, so called because they were said to warn British warships of American vessels by flashing blue lights, subverted the war at every turn. Some thwarted subscriptions to war loans, though Thorndike had disapproved of that in the spring. Others urged people to withhold federal taxes, and discouraged enlistments in the military. The War Department had tried to requisition state militias, but the Federalist governors in New England refused. In Massachusetts, Governor Strong even entered into secret negotiations with Britain, offering part of Maine in return for peace. With the end of the war seeming to recede into the distant future, Thorndike appears to have retreated from his common ground with Otis and returned to the radical camp. 56

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That fall, he complained to Pickering about the government’s policy toward the state militia. He opposed the Massachusetts state militia being commanded “by the officers of the United States, and organized agreeable to the arrangement made by the War Department,” in part because the “whole system is very unpopular with the militia of this state.” Then, Thorndike made a suggestion. “I do not see but we must organize some state force for present defense, saying nothing of ulterior objects.” 57 Two hundred years later, the modern historian can only wonder what “ulterior objects” Thorndike had in mind when he suggested organizing an independent Massachusetts army. Obviously, he did not mean defense of the state, given that it formed the first part of Thorndike’s statement and thus was not ulterior. Nor is it remotely likely that the militia would be used for some offensive invasion of British territory in Canada. The only feasible possibility, it appears, is that Thorndike was suggesting the force be created in case Massachusetts seceded from the union. 58 Four days later, Thorndike voted with the majority of the Massachusetts State Senate to send a delegation of 12 men to a convention of New England states at Hartford, Connecticut. The rest of the country held its breath, scared the convention would bring disunion. 59

The Hartford Convention was held in secret, adding to the sense of unease surrounding the proceedings. John Lowell’s scheme, to kick the western states out of the union, was widely promoted in the Federalist platform— every Federalist newspaper in Boston considered it as a platform for the delegates convening it at Hartford. Other radical proposals were even more dangerous—that the states should seize customs houses, impound federal revenues, declare neutrality in the war, and nullify conscription. These suggestions fell short of total disunion, but, as the historian Samuel Eliot Morrison noted, they “portend[ed] the firing on Fort Sumter.” To men like Lowell, Pickering, and Thorndike, representing the more radical elements of the Federalist party, these actions were certainly on their minds, even if they never went so far as to endorse them. 60 John Quincy Adams, for his part, thought that the convention was the result of a secessionist conspiracy. Adams was probably wrong, although Pickering had lobbied for secession in years past. Pickering wrote to Lowell that he hoped the Massachusetts delegates “may now prove their readiness to act as well as to speak. I consider the destiny of New England, and, in the result, of the United States, to be placed in the hands of the proposed Convention.” Pickering noted, however, that he hoped a victory at the convention would “be used not to destroy, but to recover and confirm the Union of the States on more equal, solid, and durable bases.” The object of the convention, so Pickering thought, was not disunion. But the convention’s failure

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The letter from Thorndike to Timothy Pickering, October 1814, in which Thorndike talks about the “ulterior objects” for creating a state army. Massachusetts Historical Society.

could lead to secession. “I have uniformly disclaimed every idea of a separation of the states while the liberty and safety of the parts can be maintained in a union of the whole,” Pickering told Lowell. “At the same time, I have

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considered that there may be evils more to be deprecated than a separation.” 61 The more moderate Federalists, however, hoped to use the Hartford Convention as an outlet for the pent-up anger, while keeping the radicals at bay. Harrison Gray Otis—whom Lowell called “naturally timid, and frequently wavering, today bold, and tomorrow like a hare trembling at every breeze”— led the moderate Federalists of Massachusetts, and was selected as one of the delegates. Otis said the purpose of the Convention was just to “let off steam.” George Cabot, Thorndike’s old friend and partner from Beverly, was chosen as the chair of the Massachusetts delegation. He told one extremist that “we are going to keep you young hot-heads from getting into mischief.” Old John Adams, for his part, saw a different motive: “George Cabot’s close-buttoned ambition has broke out at last. He wants to be President of New England, sir!” 62 Despite the elder Adams’ impression, men like Otis and Cabot really did want to move the Convention along a moderate course, and prevent the radicals from shifting New England towards secession. The radicals, for their part, knew the moderates would probably win. Lowell, reviewing the roster of delegates, concluded that the “Convention would not go far enough.” Men like Otis and Cabot were suitable for “measures of wisdom and prudence….But they are not calculated for bold measures.” Lowell ended his review by stating that “it is to be regretted that we have not chosen two or three such persons as Daniel Sargent, William Sullivan, and Colonel Thorndike. I do not know that we have among the delegates a single bold and ardent man.” Lowell was aware that “it will be said that such men are not the fittest for counsel. That is perhaps true in common times; but in times of great trouble they are often the most proper, and indeed, the only ones fit to direct and manage affairs.” 63 The Convention assembled in mid-December and concluded its business on January 5, 1815. Their conclusions were not as far-reaching as men like Pickering, Lowell, and Thorndike would have hoped. They called for new amendments to the Constitution. These included eliminating the three-fifths representation of slaves in Congress (not out of moral indignation at treating slaves as three-fifths of a person, but because the fraction increased southern representation in Congress), creating greater difficulty in passing future embargos and in admitting new states, requiring a two-thirds vote in Congress for any declaration of war, and ending the Virginia dynasty of presidents by prohibiting one state from providing successive White House occupants. There would be no kicking the west out of the union, however. 64 From the moderate Federalist perspective, the Convention was a success. The radical Federalist newspapers in Boston ceased calling for “action,” and the Federalists generally applauded the Convention’s proposals. Governor Strong, in Massachusetts, handed over munitions to federal authorities in

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January, and abandoned his secret negotiations with Britain. As the year 1815 dawned, the Hartford Convention had let off the steam, and extremist Federalism dissipated. 65

The problem for the Federalists, however, was that the timing of the Hartford Convention could not have been worse. The Convention issued its demands just before two events completely reversed public opinion about the war, leading to widespread support of the government’s conduct. In New Orleans, General Andrew Jackson, allied with the Louisiana pirate Jean Laffite, won a massive victory over British forces, just three days after the Hartford Convention concluded. News of the Convention was thus quickly followed by news of Jackson’s overwhelming victory. Then, in mid-February, news arrived from Europe: the American peace ministers, led by John Quincy Adams, had been successful and signed a peace treaty with the British at Ghent. The treaty had actually been signed the previous December, but the news took weeks to cross the Atlantic. The Federalists, therefore, had convened in Hartford amidst fears they would vote to secede, emerged with a list of demands, and were immediately followed by a brilliant American victory and the announcement of peace. They appeared to be a very unpatriotic group. The Federalist party, which had been in decline for years, would not long survive this public relations disaster. For the moment, though, New England could celebrate the peace. 66

Throughout the summer and fall of 1814, construction had proceeded on the Boston Manufacturing Company’s factory in Waltham, as well as the equipment necessary to operate it. By the start of 1815, the company was read to begin. Three hundred workers had been hired to work the 3,000 spindles and the one power loom. The red brick building stood five stories high and ran 90 feet parallel to the Charles River. The factory was capable of producing 4,000 yards of cloth a week. 67 Until now, the 100 cotton mills that existed in the United States had only done the spinning. The weaving was done separately, on hand looms. In England, the power looms were also housed elsewhere. The BMC, by contrast, was a new innovation. The raw southern cotton came in one side of the building, and powered by the most efficient loom in the country, went out the other side fully converted into finished cloth. For the first time, the entire operation was housed in one factory building. 68 The industrial revolution had come to America.

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NOTES 1. Borneman, 1812. 2. Columbian Centinel, April 11, 1812, Issue 2923, p. 1, Boston MA. 3. Forbes, Israel Thorndike, p. 110–11. 4. Forbes, Israel Thorndike, p. 110–11. 5. Boston Daily Advertiser, March 3, 1813, Vol. 1, Issue 1, p. 2, Boston, MA. 6. Forbes, Israel Thorndike, p. 111. 7. George C. Daughan, 1812: The Navy’s War, Chapter 12. 8. Boller, Presidential Campaigns; Connecticut Herald, Dec. 8, 1812, Vol. X, Issue 8, p. 3, New Haven, CT. 9. Federal Republican and Commercial Gazette, April 2, 1813, Vol. VII, Issue 950, p. 1, Georgetown, DC. 10. Federal Republican and Commercial Gazette, April 2, 1813, Vol. VII, Issue 950, p. 1, Georgetown, DC; Forbes, p. 73. 11. Federal Republican and Commercial Gazette, April 2, 1813, Vol. VII, Issue 950, p. 1, Georgetown, DC. 12. Federal Republican and Commercial Gazette, April 2, 1813, Vol. VII, Issue 950, p. 1, Georgetown, DC. 13. Federal Republican and Commercial Gazette, April 2, 1813, Vol. VII, Issue 950, p. 1, Georgetown, DC. 14. Advertisement, New England Palladium, Apr. 2, 1813, Vol. XLI, Issue 27, p. 3, Boston, MA. 15. Advertisement, The Repertory & General Advertiser, Jan. 19, 1813, Vol. X, Issue 6, p. 4, Boston, MA. 16. Fichter, So Great a Proffit, p. 232. 17. Rosenberg, Francis Cabot Lowell. 18. Rosenberg, Francis Cabot Lowell. 19. Rosenberg, Francis Cabot Lowell, pp. 233-37; Fichter, So Great a Proffit, pp. 264–68; Dalzell, Robert, Enterprising Elite: The Boston Associates and the World They Made, WW Norton & Co., 1987, pp. 26–27. 20. Rosenberg, Francis Cabot Lowell, pp. 233–37; Fichter, So Great a Proffit, pp. 264–68; Dalzell, Enterprising Elite, pp. 26–27; Forbes, Israel Thorndike, p. 138. 21. Rosenberg, Francis Cabot Lowell, pp. 233–37; Dalzel, Enterprising Elite, pp. 26–27; Forbes, Israel Thorndike, p. 138. 22. Rosenberg, Francis Cabot Lowell, pp. 233–37; Fichter, So Great a Proffit pp. 264–68; Dalzel, Enterprising Elite, 26–27; Forbes, Israel Thorndike, 138. 23. War Journal, Nov. 12, 1813, Vol. I, Issue 36, p. 2, Portsmouth, NH. 24. City Gazette and Commercial Daily Advertiser; Nov. 17, 1813, Vol. XXXIII, Issue 10842, p. 3, Charleston, SC. 25. City Gazette and Commercial Daily Advertiser; Nov. 17, 1813, Vol. XXXIII, Issue 10842, p. 3, Charleston, SC. 26. Lowell, John, A New England Farmer, Mr. Madison’s War, Boston, Russell and Cutler, 1812, p. 48, 50, 59. 27. Lowell, John, A Massachusetts Farmer, Thoughts Respecting a Division of the States, pp. 4-5. 28. Lowell, Division of the States, pp. 4–5. 29. Lowell, Division of the States, pp. 4–5. 30. Lowell, Division of the States, p. 5. 31. Lowell, Division of the States, pp. 6–7. 32. Lowell, Division of the States, pp. 8–9. 33. Lowell, Division of the States, p. 11. 34. Lowell, Division of the States, p. 12. 35. Lowell, Division of the States, p. 14–16. 36. Lowell, Division of the States, pp. 5, 7, 9, 18, 22.

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37. Letter from Timothy Pickering to John Lowell, November 28, 1814, Timothy Pickering Papers. Massachusetts Historical Society. 38. Borneman, 1812, pp. 153–57. 39. Borneman, 1812, pp. 119-135, pp. 157–62. 40. Borneman, 1812, pp. 162–72. 41. Rosenberg, Francis Cabot Lowell, pp. 238–39. 42. Rosenberg, Francis Cabot Lowell, pp. 239–40. 43. Obituary of Augustus Thorndike, in Palmer, Joseph, Necrology of alumni of Harvard College, 1851-52 to 1862-63, John Wilson & Son, Boston, 1864, pp. 258–265. 44. Obituary of Augustus Thorndike, pp. 258–265. 45. Obituary of Augustus Thorndike, pp. 258–265. 46. Skemp, Sheila, First Lady of Letters: Judith Sargent Murray and the Struggle for Female Independence, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2009, p. 354; Obituary of Augustus Thorndike, pp. 258–265. 47. Obituary of Augustus Thorndike, pp. 258–265. 48. Obituary of Augustus Thorndike, pp. 258–265. 49. Forbes, Israel Thorndike, p. 111. 50. Letter from IT to Harrison Gray Otis, April 23, 1814, Harrison Gray Otis Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society). 51. Letter from IT to Harrison Gray Otis, April 23, 1814, Harrison Gray Otis Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society. 52. Letter from IT to Harrison Gray Otis, April 23, 1814, Harrison Gray Otis Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society. 53. Borneman, 1812, pp. 196–98. 54. Borneman, 1812, pp. 218–232. 55. Letter from IT to Timothy Pickering, Oct. 8, 1814. Timothy Pickering Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society. 56. Wood, Empire of Liberty, 692–93. 57. Letter from IT to Timothy Pickering, Oct. 8, 1814. Timothy Pickering Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society. 58. Letter from IT to Timothy Pickering, Oct. 8, 1814. Timothy Pickering Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society. 59. Forbes, Israel Thorndike, p. 120. 60. Morrison, Harrison Gray Otis, pp. 352–66. 61. Morrison, Harrison Gray Otis, pp. 352–66; Letter of Pickering to Lowell, Nov. 7, 1814 (in Henry Adams’ New England Federalism, p. 405–06) ; Letter of Pickering to Lowell, Nov. 28, 1814 (in Henry Adams’ New England Federalism, p. 407). 62. Morrison, Harrison Gray Otis, pp. 352–59. 63. Letter of Lowell to Pickering, Dec. 3, 1814 (in Henry Adams’ New England Federalism, pp. 410–12). 64. Morrison, Harrison Gray Otis, pp 372–82; Wood, Empire of Liberty, p. 694. 65. Morrison, Harrison Gray Otis, pp. 395–96. 66. Morrison, Harrison Gray Otis, p, 396; Borneman, 1812, pp. 271–93. 67. Rosenberg, Francis Cabot Lowell, p. 247–48. 68. Rosenberg, Francis Cabot Lowell, p. 247–48.

Chapter Seven

New Horizons, 1815–1820

With the fighting over, the economic situation changed drastically. Britain, whose energies had been so caught up in the war effort, now began dumping its manufacturing exports into the United States. In 1814, total imports into the United States had been just over $12.9 million. In 1815 they rose to $83.4 million, and by 1816 would nearly double, to $151.4 million, more than ten times the sum two years before. The pressure from British manufacturers caused 60,000 New England factory workers to lose their jobs. Unable to compete with British industry, the nascent American Industrial Revolution was being snuffed out in its crib. 1 Amidst this shift, Thorndike fell ill and spent much of the summer, fall, and winter of 1815–16 indoors and out of society, attempting to recover his ill health. He was now 60 years old, after all, and his illness precipitated a withdrawal from active participation in politics. While recovering, he was surprised to receive a letter from the Republican Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Dallas. Dallas wanted to hear Thorndike’s thoughts on establishing a protective tariff for American industry. The mood of the country had shifted with stunning swiftness in the war’s aftermath. Just months before, Thorndike had been a dangerous radical; now he was being asked to advise the Republican White House. Thorndike thought about how to respond. “After much reflection,” he wrote to Pickering, “I made up my mind to answer his letter, and to answer it in the same manner, and the same temper, as though we had a Federal administration.” With the great issues of the past 20 years behind them, the two sides could reconcile and work together. 2 On December 5, 1815, in his message to Congress, President Madison proposed what would be known as the Tariff of 1816. The tariff had wide southern and western support. Though they lacked manufacturing, they 137

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thought they would soon build factories. A wave of nationalism had swept the country in the war’s aftermath. Two of the leading sponsors of the Tariff were Henry Clay, the western war hawk from Kentucky, and John Calhoun, the aristocratic slave owner from South Carolina. Clay and Calhoun believed that the tariff was necessary to protect American industry from foreign competition. 3 Much of the opposition actually centered in New England, even though the region hosted most of America’s factories. Despite the remarkable economic disruption of the past decade, one in seven people in New England still made their livelihood from shipping and trade. Men like John Lowell believed that the tariff would damage the New England economy—he and the prominent merchants wanted to keep the sea lanes open, instead of closing them off. They worried it would be another version of the embargo. 4 It is a measure of his eye for economic trends, therefore, that Thorndike was a supporter of the Tariff, if done properly. He wrote to Dallas outlining a detailed series of duties on Baltic, European, West Indian and Chinese products. He believed that a high tariff should be placed on wool, because it is a “raw material which would be difficult to import in time of war,” and farmers would be induced to enhance the size of their flocks if they knew they would be protected by a tariff. 5 As for cotton, however, Thorndike was opposed. He believed that duties on cotton textiles would be ruinous to the China trade. As he told Pickering, “I am a considerable proprietor in a cotton factory (with Mr. F. Lowell and others), and I am decidedly of the opinion that it would not be for the permanent interest of that or any other of the kind to prohibit the importation of this fabric.” He went on to say, however, that if tariffs were to be introduced, there should at least be some exceptions made for ships which had already left the United States for the Pacific. “Those persons who are employed in foreign voyages, and have already given orders which cannot be revoked have a right to claim protection from the government to save them from impending ruin.” He concluded that he believed “that a law so unjust will never pass without this saving clause, at least.” Pickering agreed with Thorndike’s assessment, and pushed Congress to amend the legislation with Thorndike’s suggestion. 6 Thorndike’s business partner, Francis Lowell, who had succeeded James Lloyd as president of the Boston Manufacturing Company, supported the legislation, and in the spring traveled to Washington to lobby in support of the Tariff. While there, he spent a lot of time conversing with a young New Hampshire Congressman named Daniel Webster. Webster was fighting to bring down the proposed tariff on cotton from Dallas’ proposed 33.3% to 25%, in order to support the East India merchants like Thorndike. Webster and Lowell got on well, and Webster inserted into the final bill a minimum value of 25 cents on every square yard of cloth, which would help to keep out

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the BMC’s primary competition, cloth from India. The tariff passed in April, and was signed into law by President Madison. 7 Much taken with the young Congressman, Lowell invited Webster to come to Boston and open his law practice there. In August, after voting in support of the Tariff, Webster resigned from Congress and moved to Boston. He purchased a house on Beacon Hill and opened a law office on State Street, where he became the BMC’s attorney, representing them in six patent infringement suits. Soon, Webster was earning $20,000 a year as a lawyer. Webster and Thorndike, too, quickly became good friends, and Thorndike soon became one of Webster’s benefactors. 8

Augustus had returned to Harvard, but though an intelligent young man, his work was not impressive enough to receive honors. He spent the next year working more diligently than the year before, and joined the Porcellian Club, one of Harvard’s most prestigious Final Clubs. Porcellian had been started by Francis Lowell and his friends, when Lowell was a student there about a quarter century earlier. To be invited to join was a mark of social prestige, and Augustus’ inclusion marked him out as a man of high society. The distinction, of course, was due almost entirely to his father’s wealth and status. Had Thorndike remained a lower-class Beverly fisherman, Augustus would have had a hard time winning an invitation. 9 Despite his admission to Boston’s social heights, Augustus apparently disdained the city as provincial and wished to escape it. He stuck around just long enough to graduate, which he did with the class of 1816. He was just shy of his 19th birthday. Degree in hand, he immediately set off for Europe. After five years abroad and two at home, Augustus had decided which he preferred. 10

Israel, Jr.’s family continued to grow. Now in his early thirties and permanently settled in Boston, he and wife Sally now had four children. The first, Sally Ann, had been born in 1812. Two more daughters had followed: Elizabeth Frances, born in October, 1813, and Sophia, named for her vivacious aunt, was born in April, 1815. Finally, in 1816, came the long awaited Thorndike grandson, born in December: the ill-fated Israel Augustus Thorndike.

By 1816, the Federalist party was nearing its end, but it staggered forward, nearly dead, into one more Presidential election. This time around, there wasn’t much of a campaign. The war was over, President Madison had supported the creation of a national bank (long the Republican party’s bugaboo) and the Tariff had helped to protect the growing New England manufac-

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turing industry. As the old President John Adams noted, “our two great parties have crossed over the valley and taken possession of each other’s mountain.” 11 The Republicans nominated the incumbent Secretary of State, James Monroe, to be Madison’s White House successor. The Federalists didn’t nominate much of anybody; the Boston Daily Advertiser noted resignedly that “we do not know, nor is it very material, for whom the Federal electors will vote.” Thorndike, as he had been four years before, was chosen by the Massachusetts legislature to be one of the electors that November, representing Suffolk County. Harrison Gray Otis, the moderate Federalist who had attended the Hartford Convention, demonstrated the changed national mood when he announced that if chosen as an elector, he would vote for Monroe. “Our party are down,” Otis said, “and it is folly to further contend.” Needless to say, the Federalist legislature in Massachusetts declined to select him. 12 Thorndike dutifully cast his electoral vote for Rufus King, the Federalist vice presidential candidate from 1808. He was joined by the other electors from Massachusetts as well as those from Connecticut and Delaware. King, the last nominee of the near-dead Federalist party, won 34 votes. Monroe, as everyone expected, coasted to the White House with 183, the third straight Virginian to occupy the presidential chair. 13

Nearly two decades before, Thorndike had made a large real estate investment in the Ohio territory, the distant frontier of the young American nation. In 1798, Thorndike and his partners, John Wyles and William Prescott, Jr., purchased 14,392 acres in Portage County, south of modern Cleveland. Because a large part of the allotment turned out to be swampland, they were later awarded another 7,380 acres in nearby Geauga County. In 1807, the partners purchased even more land in Medina County, a little bit further to the west. Thorndike saw that the frontier offered development opportunities, and was willing to purchase lands there in a long term bid to realize a profit. 14 For many years, however, Thorndike had virtually ignored his frontier lands. In the spring of 1815, however, with the war over, he finally resolved to put the lands to use. He sought out yet another nephew and son of his older brother Joseph, named Henry, who was a lawyer in Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire. Henry found the lure of the frontier appealing, and managed to convince his wife, Harriet, who was childless, to accompany him. Thorndike agreed to sell Henry half of his landholdings—4,185 acres. Henry went westward that summer, presenting his land claims at the courthouse in Cleveland. He settled in Portage County. 15 The following year, in November 1816, two more family members travelled west to Portage County: Edward, Thorndike’s own son, was 22.

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Thorndike’s youngest nephew, another son of Joseph, named Israel Augustus Thorndike, was 29. Accompanying them was John Wyles, Thorndike’s business partner in the land deals. They joined up with Henry in the swampy region in western Portage County, where the small frontier village that had emerged amidst the wilderness was called Swamptown—for obvious reasons. Israel Augustus and Edward, channeling Thorndike’s recent industrial investments, built a saw mill and a nail factory, but both failed and left them relatively impoverished. 16 Over the next few years, the names of the frontier town changed several times, shifting to Beartown, Greenbrier, and Wylestown. In 1817, Thorndike, eager to promote the town’s settlement, offered 80 acres to the first white child born within its borders. One man, Alpheus Andrews, was a nearby deacon whose wife was about to give birth; he quickly moved to the town, hoping to collect the prize. His son was born, but died soon after. Because the child died young, Thorndike reduced Andrews’ prize to 40 acres. A year later, Thorndike offered land for a public square at the town center, still hoping to encourage the town’s development. But the offer came with a caveat—they must name the town after him. And so they did, and for over a decade the town would bear the name Thorndike, Ohio. 17 Henry Thorndike, for his part, found some success on the frontier. As a Dartmouth educated lawyer, he was about the only person in the region to whom anyone could turn for legal advice. The cash he received from his legal practice enabled him to build an iron foundry, which he ran with some success. He would remain there until his death, 16 years later. Israel Augustus, for his part, would pass away much younger, dying at only 39 years old in the town named Thorndike. 18 Thorndike’s son Edward, however, suffered the worst fate. Having failed with the saw mill and the nail factory, he married a local woman on the frontier, the daughter of a man called “Squire Rice.” They had two boys in quick succession, Edward, Jr. and Charles. The latter was posthumous, because Edward, Sr. would be dead by 1821, at the age of just 27. The young boys’ grandfather, in his will, would give them some of his land in Ohio; but they would receive none of his vast fortune, and would spend their lives as day laborers. Due to Thorndike’s parsimony toward them, they were an early and sad example of the American expression “from shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations.” 19

The presidency of James Monroe was perhaps the least acrimonious in the nation’s history. Monroe, a Virginian like his two predecessors, took office on March 4, 1817 after a long and distinguished diplomatic and political career that included stints as Ambassador to France, Governor of Virginia, and Secretary of State. The Federalist party, which had once controlled all

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the levers of government and maintained particular sway in New England, had almost totally disintegrated following its members disastrous lurch toward secession in 1814. Its nominee against Monroe in the presidential election of 1816 carried only three states. Two years later their Congressional representation fell to only 25 members in the House out of 183. By the time Monroe ran for re-election in 1820, they were virtually extinct, and failed to even muster a nominee. Monroe won his second term the easy way—unopposed. The country, for the moment, seemed united. Thorndike, the former arch-Federalist, helped to usher in the new era of cooperation. Even New England, the bastion of Federalism, demonstrated good will to the new president when he took office. Monroe, sensing the opportunity to improve his political standing throughout the country, went on a tour that took him into New England that summer. On the tour he spent a great deal of time in Boston, receiving lavish entertainments from, among others, Timothy Pickering and Harrison Gray Otis. Thorndike was one of the nearly two dozen wealthy men selected to serve on the welcome committee. After Boston, President Monroe departed to journey north to Portsmouth, New Hampshire. 20 En route to Portsmouth, President Monroe passed through Beverly. Thorndike invited Monroe to breakfast with him at his mansion, and the president accepted. Thorndike spared no expense to ensure that the president was well-received, and personally financed the town of Beverly’s reception. The bridge through town that Monroe passed over was ornamented and decorated, he was saluted by ships in the port, and cannons lining the shore were fired, the loud booms and black smoke paying their respects to the president. The breakfast itself was not a small affair, but a full-fledged party, with over 300 guests teeming through Thorndike’s Beverly mansion. The poor boy with little schooling was showing his hometown that he had made something of himself. 21

A few days before the reception in Beverly, on July 4, 1817, President Monroe had been taken on a tour of the Boston Manufacturing Company’s textile mills in Waltham, probably accompanied by Thorndike. Francis Lowell was not with them when the tour happened. Lowell, who was habitually ill, had left for the Niagara region to try and recover his health. In May, Thorndike had been elected president of the corporation at the shareholders meeting, replacing the sickly Lowell. Thorndike would hold the position for 14 years. For Thorndike, the visit and tour must have reminded him of the reception given to President Washington 28 years before, when Washington had visited and toured the Beverly mill. The Beverly mill had failed utterly, however, and for that reason the Cabot brothers and many of their family

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members had refused to invest in what they considered to be Lowell’s illfated enterprise. At the time, observers would have noticed that the company was facing difficulties might not survive. In 1815, the company’s first year in full operation, they had managed to unload only $412 worth of goods. In March 1816, the company had nearly $4,000 in cash on hand; by April 30, it had declined to just over $1,000, and on August 31, its cash account had dropped to $8.46. Lowell loaned $3,000 to the company to keep it afloat, and the BMC continued to borrow from the bank to meet their expenses. A crisis was brewing. Thorndike, accompanied by his son, Israel, Jr., rode to the home of Nathan Appleton on a cold February night in 1817 to meet with other board members, including Francis Lowell, Charles and Patrick Jackson, and Benjamin Gorham. A gloom settled over the room as the men considered a course of action. Lowell, ill but still a true believer in the enterprise, agreed to loan a further $20,000 to keep the company afloat. The meeting adjourned, its attendees moods improved. But the belief in ultimate success was not yet universal. Lowell left during the summer of President Monroe’s visit to recover his health, and returned in August to Massachusetts. But his health was not improved; and when he came to Boston, he soon slipped into an ever-worsening state. Surrounded by his friends in bed, he eventually lost the ability to speak with them as his energy levels dipped. Lowell slipped away and died on August 10, 1817, aged just 42 years. But his company lived on. That summer, the BMC had raised capital to increase their capabilities, enlarging the amount of stock from 100 shares to 571. Just before he died, Lowell had been the largest shareholder with 115 shares. The Thorndikes combined for 110 shares (60 for the father and 50 for the eldest son), while Patrick Tracy Jackson owned 90. Thorndike had, just a few months before, replaced Lowell as president of the company. In this capacity, he played a leading role in the BMC’s development. He left the day to day management of the company to Jackson. But as he was wont to do, he worked behind the scenes as a moderator, smoothing out disputes, while presiding over the annual shareholder meetings and chairing the board of directors. In this capacity, he played a major role in setting the company’s strategic direction, lending his wisdom gleaned from decades of business experience to the company’s younger investors. 22

Augustus Thorndike’s destination in Europe was Göttingen, a German city in Saxony. At the time, the city was a part of the Kingdom of Hanover, whose monarch was in fact the same man Israel had fought to be free of four decades earlier—the English King George III. By this time, however, King George had descended fully into madness, and the Prince of Wales reigned

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over the United Kingdom in London. Göttingen, meanwhile, was in the process of establishing itself as one of the premier educational centers of the world. The University of Göttingen, only recently established by George III’s grandfather in 1737, was by 1816 held in the highest esteem of any university in Europe, and possibly the world. Napoleon himself had remarked that Göttingen belonged to the whole of Europe. But it belonged to more—early in the nineteenth century, it became a fashionable destination for wealthy young Americans to travel for further study and to spend their youth. Two other young Bostonians would become Gus’s companions. The first, with whom he resided, was the Joseph Cogswell who had attended Thorndike’s “gerrymander” party a few years before. Cogswell was 11 years Augustus’ senior, and had graduated from Harvard a decade earlier. Born in Ipswich and educated at Phillips Exeter, after Harvard he had traveled as far afield as India, studied and practiced the law, and married the daughter of New Hampshire’s governor. Neither of the latter two ended well. Cogswell found the law was not for him and abandoned the profession. Far worse, his young wife died only one year into their marriage. Finding his life in shambles, Cogswell returned to Harvard as a tutor for two years. Finally, having resolved to enter academia and desiring to further his knowledge, he too set sail across the Atlantic in the dark, dreary year of 1816, with Göttingen as his final destination. Another young Bostonian who arrived at Göttingen and became part of the Boston clique was George Ticknor. Ticknor was younger than Cogswell but older than Augustus. Born in Boston in 1791, he graduated from Dartmouth at 16 and studied the classics for several years before gaining admission to the bar in 1813. Like Cogswell, he found the law unsuited to his taste and in 1815 traveled to Göttingen to further his education in the hopes of becoming a college professor. He was already well-situated in the German city by the time Augustus and Cogswell arrived. Augustus’ motives are somewhat more difficult to ascertain. It is possible that he hoped to become a professor; he had already shown a facility for the classics, which he maintained for the rest of his life. Nevertheless, if that was his aim, it was not one he ever achieved. His father may have wanted him to obtain a more substantive education than Harvard offered, although not all Augustus’ siblings did so. More likely is that he preferred Europe to the United States, and possessed an intellectual disposition towards enjoying the classics and the knowledge they brought, but had little desire to make their study his lifelong pursuit. As a young man with an extremely wealthy father, he could look forward to a life of leisure without the need to adopt a profession. Cogswell had been employed by Thorndike for the express purpose of acting as Augustus’ tutor while the young man was abroad. Thorndike of-

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fered to pay him $1,500 a year for salary and expenses, an exceptional sum for a young man. The two sailed together across the Atlantic, spending some time first in England before crossing the Channel over to Holland in September. In the darkness during their crossing, the ship’s captain lost his location when he mistook the lights on the shore of England. A heavy storm overtook the vessel, but the captain continued forward. At one crucial moment, Cogswell emerged from below deck and quickly noticed the captain’s mistake regarding their location. Recognizing their true disposition, he saw looming disaster—the ship was on the verge of being wrecked on the Goodwin Sands along the shore. Cogswell urgently pointed out the mistake to the captain, who to his credit quickly corrected course and saved the ship. Over one hundred ships were lost in the Channel storm that night. 23

Having landed safely in Holland, Augustus and Cogswell continued onward to Göttingen, a ponderous trip along the Rhine River. They did not arrive at their final destination until November 1. From there, the two settled into a routine of quiet academic study, with Cogswell working on his German while simultaneously instructing Augustus and taking advantage of the University’s impressive library of over a quarter million volumes. Augustus had apparently matured from his Harvard days. Cogswell reported that his young student and companion behaved with “perfect propriety,” was attentive to his studies, and gave him no difficulties whatsoever. For much of that first year Augustus tended to his studies in Göttingen, with Cogswell at his side. Both he and his tutor rose early, Augustus usually hitting the books beginning at five in the morning. Cogswell proved the more adventurous of the two, more willing to travel to various parts of the continent and take part in strenuous exploration. One day, he and a companion undertook a tour of the Harz Mountains in Lower Saxony, and invited Augustus along. The young man declined—he was averse to physical labor and didn’t like foot expeditions. 24

The Tariff of 1816 had proven beneficial to the Boston Manufacturing Company. The trade barriers it introduced allowed the BMC to compete with British textile manufacturers. Perhaps more importantly for the BMC, an economic downturn that lasted from 1817 until 1820 actually benefitted the company by eliminating competition. Because the BMC was backed by large amounts of capital from wealthy shareholders like Thorndike, the company could weather the poor economy in ways that other, smaller mills could not. Most mills had failed to undersell English cottons in the brief boom period following the war’s end. Beginning in 1817, the small concerns disappeared

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amidst the downturn; most of the larger concerns did as well. But the BMC, protected by the Tariff and the wealth of its investors, emerged unscathed. 25 In 1817, the directors met and decided to build a second mill, so encouraged were they by the early results of the enterprise and the Tariff of 1816. Another brick building was built along the Charles River in Waltham, 150 feet in length and housing 3,584 spindles. The building doubled the BMC’s manufacturing capacity. While other companies floundered, the BMC continued to flourish. In February, 1819, the BMC ran its local rival, Waltham Cotton & Wool, out of business, and subsequently bought it out. The directors tore down the wooden building and built a third mill carrying two thousand spindles. This third mill produced even finer quality goods than the two originals. 26

On October 7, 1817, the Boston Manufacturing Company held its fifth annual meeting, the first one presided over by Thorndike in his capacity as president. The shareholders walked or took carriages from their Boston mansions down toward Thorndike’s counting house at 45 India Wharf, overlooking Boston Harbor and the tall masts that bobbed in the water. There, flush with success after a near disaster earlier in the year, they decided to issue their first dividend. The amount was astounding—$170 per share, a full 17% return on the initial share price. Thorndike, it seemed, had found a new way to make money hand over fist. Before, the wars in Europe had brought him astounding profits. Now the budding Industrial Revolution proved that Thorndike had struck gold again. 27 The astonishing dividends continued—$125 per share in 1818, $125 per share in 1819, and $150 per share in 1820. They would not stop there, either—good news for Thorndike. He was the second-largest shareholder in the BMC, trailing only Patrick Jackson, who ran the company’s day-to-day operations. 28

Earlier that year, on August 5, 1817, Anna Thorndike had died at the mansion in Beverly, where the family was spending the summer, after “a short illness.” She was 52 years old. For over three decades, she had been a strong companion to her husband and had run the household well, managing its accounts, while raising 13 children. 29 Now a widower for a second time, Thorndike began to search for another match. He needed someone to run his large household while he focused his energies on his business pursuits. Perhaps coincidentally, perhaps not, his pursuit of a young woman named Sarah Dana, known to her friends as Sally, coincided with his largest philanthropic venture by far. Thorndike enlisted his son Augustus, still studying abroad in Germany, to help.

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Christopher Ebeling had long been a professor of history in Hamburg. Over the course of a half-century, beginning before the American Revolution, Ebeling had acquired an enormous library devoted purely to the subject of Americana. The library covered all conceivable topics, from general geography to the expeditions of Columbus to the Indian tribes to ecclesiastical history. The collection even included three volumes about Russian colonies. Its size and scope was immense. Ebeling had acquired over 3,300 volumes, including 601 folios and 352 newspaper volumes. 30 Thorndike heard that Ebeling passed away, and that his library would be going up for auction in 1818. The prior summer, Thorndike’s son Augustus and his tutor Cogswell had visited Ebeling in Hamburg, and spent a great deal of time with him, and thus were in prime position to bid for the collection. The library’s thoroughness, along with the sheer rarity of many of the volumes (a number of which were lone editions), made it a prize. The Thorndikes faced stiff competition. Their competitors included the U.S. Secretary of State, John Quincy Adams, who wished to purchase the volumes for inclusion in the Library of Congress, and Frederick William III, the King of Prussia and father to the future German Emperor. Nevertheless, Thorndike wrote to Harvard College that he was “determined upon purchasing it.” 31 In an indication of the new direction the world was taking—first noticed in the American and French Revolutions—Thorndike won the auction. Money talked. No longer did national prestige, or royal pedigree, guarantee the victory. The Ebeling auction was an illustration of a quite new phenomenon. Three men had vied for the prize. The first was a king with a royal heritage traced deep into the Middle Ages. The second was the son of a president, highly educated, a minister of state representing a country. The third was merely a man of means acquired through his own skill and determination, whose father had died at the age of six and left him a pittance. In years and centuries past, the first would surely have triumphed; the second may have had a chance. But this time the third man won, because he had the power of money—a new and growing power. The massive collection was shipped across the Atlantic to Massachusetts, where Thorndike presented it to Harvard College in Cambridge, stating that it was “a mark of the great esteem I feel for those who compose the government of that seminary, and of veneration for its great antiquity and usefulness.” Whether the generosity helped his cause with the young Sarah Dana is unknown, but the two were married in Marblehead, on July 6, 1818. They would remain married until Thorndike’s death, but some of his children never quite accepted her, and tension remained between them and their stepmother for years to come. 32

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Despite his illness in the year following the war, Thorndike recovered enough to continue to play an active role on the Boston social scene. His day always began at his large, white stone mansion on Summer Street, where he would dress. It was not unusual in those days for the wealthy men of Boston to go grocery shopping early in the morning for the day’s meals. They were not aristocrats in the European sense, disdaining the serfs; men like Thorndike had no problem walking down the street with the city’s middle class and poor. One man recalled how “almost any morning might be seen….Israel Thorndike and other wealthy townsfolk, trudging homeward for their eight o’clock breakfast with their market baskets containing their one o’clock dinner.” The stocky Thorndike would reenter the front door of his house and eat breakfast with his wife; sometimes they would throw breakfast parties, or visit the Otises or another neighbor’s house. 33 After finishing breakfast, Thorndike would leave his home and walk down to his counting house on India Wharf, which jutted far out into Boston Harbor, and where each day tall ships would both dock and depart, bound for the East Indies and the spice lands. The counting house itself was sparsely decorated, with a small amount of run down furniture, and perhaps a dilapidated map hanging on the wall. There was a desk for Thorndike himself, certainly, and perhaps a few standing desks for his clerks. Thorndike wished to give the impression of being tight-fisted; this encouraged investors to trust him with their money. In the loft and cellar were kept the bags of coffee, pepper, and eastern spices, whose delicious smell permeated the office and hinted at the owner’s global enterprise. He remained at the counting house until noon, or shortly thereafter, perusing his investment accounts, which were by now considerably diversified. 34 After noon, Thorndike and the other merchants, lawyers, and professionals of Boston left their offices for a period called “Change.” If the weather was warm and sunny, they would stroll up and down State Street, saying hello. If the weather was cold or inclement, they would go to the Exchange Coffee House, or another insurance office. “Change” lasted an hour; the men gossiped, made deals, and talked politics. By two o’clock everyone had left to go home for dinner. Thorndike probably walked when he felt well, and took a carriage or buggy whenever his increasing age made the mile-long walk difficult. 35 Dinner lasted a couple of hours and often included members of the family and other guests. Thorndike had many friends and associates with whom he could dine. Otis, as mentioned, lived just across the Common. It was a short walk from Thorndike’s home on Summer Street to John Lowell’s, at the corner of Tremont and West Street on Thorndike’s side of the Common. If Thorndike turned right on Tremont, away from the Common, he would quickly find himself entering the mansion of Gardiner Greene, another wealthy merchant, whose home on Pemberton Hill commanded a breathtak-

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ing view of the harbor and was surrounded by the city’s most elegant gardens. Thomas Perkins, Peter Brooks, and David Sears, too, were all just short walks away. In the winter, dinner usually concluded in time for the sunset, and candles would be lit to provide dim lighting. In the other seasons, when the sun set later, the merchants of Boston would sometimes drive out to a country estate for tea, perhaps John Lowell’s in Roxbury, George Cabot’s in Brookline, or Theodore Lyman’s in Waltham. In all seasons, a hearty supper was taken at eight or nine o’clock in the evening. Then, with the darkness dimly lit only by a handheld candelabra, Thorndike would climb into bed, blow out the candles, and fall asleep. 36

On December 2, 1819, Israel, Jr.’s 34th birthday, his wife Sally died. She probably passed away at their home on Summer Street, very close to her father-in-law’s large mansion on the corner of Summer and Arch. Israel, Jr., the young heir and wealthy businessman in his own right, was left with four very young children. The oldest, named for her mother, was just seven years old. Israel Augustus, the youngest, was not yet three. 37 Harrison Gray Otis, Sally’s father, received the news in Washington, where he was serving in the U.S. Senate. He was filled with grief. To help clear his sorrow, he wrote to Sally’s sister. The only reason he found “sufficient composure to write you a line,” Otis told his daughter, “consists in my forbearing to give vent to expressions which would in any measure correspond with the feelings of my broken heart. Our dear angel is in heaven, but my anxiety is most heavy for my angels left on earth.” 38 But Otis’ grief paled in comparison to Israel, Jr.’s. The young widower fell into a deep depression, finding it hard to cope with his loss. Unlike his father, Israel, Jr. would not remarry for many years, showing an uncommon devotion to his departed love. But his grief was so intense that it caused family members to worry. His depression lasted for months, and there were odd concerns that he was becoming too closely attached to his children. The family elders wanted to take the children away from Israel, Jr., believing they needed a motherly figure. “He is deeply affected and seems to wish for no other… than his love, and the virtues and sweetness of the character he mourns,” Otis’ wife wrote in April. “Never has a man more sincerely lamented a similar misfortune, and never was there one who more rigidly observed the [course of action] which he believed would have been approved or adopted by the dear object of his departed love.” Nevertheless, wrote Mrs. Otis, “I talk with him and… can get no other direct reply, except the one that he cannot be separated from his children; that there is no necessity for a change and… that he wishes to remain where he is.” Mrs. Otis decided not to force any change upon Israel, Jr., until Senator Otis returned from Washing-

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ton. She noted, too, Thorndike’s concern—”his father is more interested about him than anything at present.” 39 Father-in-law Otis, for his part—though a family man—was unsure. “If Thorndike is intent upon keeping his children together, and it is thought best to gratify him, still I should think his establishment would be too large and unwieldy,” Otis wrote his wife. Nevertheless, Otis might reconsider his position if Israel, Jr. “could find a suitable hostess.” But as was common in those days, he felt it would be better if Israel, Jr. remarried. “In due time, I shall be glad to see him united with a fit companion for himself, and mother for his children.” Nevertheless, Otis thought a remarriage unlikely, due to Israel, Jr.’s extraordinary fidelity to his deceased wife. “With his recollections of what she was, and the little likelihood which exists of his ever finding such another … of angelic quality … the chances would seem to be much against his ever being happy [in another marriage.]” 40 Senator Otis was essentially correct in his analysis. Israel, Jr. would not remarry right away; nor, indeed, would he remarry for many years. It would be about 12 years before he did so, at which point his daughters were late in their teenage years. Such a long widowhood, while not unheard of, was not the norm either. It was a measure of Israel, Jr.’s true devotion to his wife and his children that he remained a widower as long as he did and resisted the calls of family members to break up his children. So far as we know, the children remained together. 41

After four years abroad, Augustus was ready to return home. He left Tours in late 1819 and journeyed to Paris, where he and Cogswell spent the winter and spring of 1820. Paris was still a medieval city. Only six years had passed since Napoleon’s reign and only a few decades since the bloodthirsty, murderous days of the French Revolution. The city’s modern redesign under Haussman was decades in the future. The Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower, the wide boulevards and sidewalk cafes—none of this would have been familiar to the Parisians of the time. Springtime in Paris had not yet achieved its romantic allure. 42 In May the two journeyed back across the English—less drama this time around—and rendezvoused with Augustus’s younger brother, Oliver, who had been studying in Scotland for a few years and was himself heading toward the continent for further studies. Oliver would achieve a unique distinction among Thorndike’s sons by becoming a physician and was awarded an M.D. by Aberdeen College in Scotland. His promising young career was tragically cut short, however, when two years later he drowned in a shipwreck en route to Amsterdam. Like his older brother George, he was but 22. 43

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On June 2, Augustus sailed from Liverpool, in much better circumstances than he had seven years before. After spending ten of his last dozen years abroad, he was now returning to the land of his birth. For the first extended period since his childhood, he would make the United States his home.

The proprietors of the Boston Manufacturing Company were probably aware of the squalid conditions in which millworkers labored in England, where entire families migrated to the new industrial centers and worked together. Though they had appropriated the English technology through Lowell, they had no desire to import the English labor system. In close-knit New England, the people who would work in the factories were their neighbors. Many of the new industrialists had not been born to wealth; Thorndike had even been born poor. In the past, he had shown great concern for the families of the sailors he employed, and subsidized them in case of accidents. 44 The BMC proprietors, therefore, sent men across New England in search for “well educated and virtuous” young daughters of respectable farmers.” They required that the girls “be of good moral character and industrious.” Those who maintained “the habit of profanity and Sabbath breaking” were not hired. The mill owners did not wish to exploit these young women, in the manner of the English mills, nor did they seek the poorest of the poor, those whom poverty had driven to industrial labor. The young women were often the daughters of prosperous, but not wealthy, farmers. The work in the mills was considered a temporary period between their adolescence and marriage. Few planned to remain more than a few years (most contracts lasted only a year or two), and few did. Some arrived wearing the most recent “outlandish fashions,” while others wore “the plainest of homespuns,” looking as though they had borrowed their grandmothers’ clothes. They came for different reasons—some for independence, or to save up some cash for a dowry and fancy clothes. Others came to help their families, saving money to pay off the mortgage on the family farm or support a brother away at school. For many women, generally between the ages of 16 and 22, the move to the mills was an exciting time, where they could live on their own and escape the drudgery of farm life. 45 The women lived in boarding houses near the factories, under the supervision of older matrons, who supervised meals, living conditions, and daily life. The first bell rang at 4:30am, signaling that it was time to get up; a second bell sounded at 4:50 for the slow risers. The first shift began at five and continued for two hours, when the women took a half hour break for breakfast. At 7:35, work started again, and continued until 7:00pm, interrupted only by a forty-five minute lunch break at noon. For the next three hours, the women ate supper and had time to themselves; they could read,

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write letters, and go shopping. On Sundays, the Sabbath, there was no work. 46 While the schedule may seem grueling by modern standards, the jobs were sought-after positions for the young women of New England. The hours and the tedium were not much different from work on the farm; here, at least, they gained independence for a few years in early adulthood. The leaders of the BMC ensured that the women were well taken care of, thus keeping their promises to the women’s parents, who were, after all, just like their neighbors: old, Yankee New England stock. 47

Although the family tie between the Otises and the Thorndikes had been broken with Sally Thorndike’s death, another of Thorndike’s sons endeavored to renew it. At 21, Sophia Otis was “petite, pretty and vivacious” and had many suitors in Boston, Philadelphia and Washington. Charles Thorndike, 25, was an eligible bachelor if for no other reason than the size of his likely inheritance. The two became engaged in 1819, and preparations began for yet another society wedding. Like his older brother Israel, and unlike his younger brother Augustus, Charles had not gone to college or received higher education. But unlike Israel, Jr., and like Augustus, Charles was spoiled. Not everyone approved of the match; one woman in Baltimore, upon hearing of Sophia’s engagement to Charles, expressed her views to Sophia’s father: “The Baltimore ladies,” she told him, “are not so easily won!” 48 In the spring of 1820, after Charles continued to give a series of negative impressions—the precise nature of which are uncertain—Sophia took the remarkable step of breaking the engagement, as one author put it, “on the ground that the young man was dissipated.” Sophia’s father, for his part, immediately took the side of his daughter against his one-time future son-inlaw. “The conduct of [Charles Thorndike] would have appeared to be very extraordinary a [while] ago, but I have long since made up that he is not a man of much heart,” wrote Otis. The young man was “of a queer and peculiar cast, very fanciful and capricious and liable to sudden impressions, and in reality most exceedingly conceited and vain.” To his daughter, Otis wrote that Charles “has, I am yet disposed to think, amiable and good qualities; but the basis of the character is frivolity, and he has not the heart capable of a real and exalted affection.” The backlash caused a social flap in Boston, with many wondering whether Mrs. Otis should call on Mrs. Thorndike, and whether Sophia should be allowed to reappear in society. 49 Thorndike, as usual, was passionate about his children. He broke off relations with Otis, even though he was the incumbent senator in Washington. Seven months later, Otis wrote, Thorndike had still “never written to me a word, nor even authored a letter that was of no moment.” The old man did not easily forgive slights to his family. 50

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Toward the end of 1820, Thorndike, now sixty-five years old, engaged in his last explicitly political role. That year, Massachusetts held a Constitutional Convention to consider possible amendments to their original state constitution. That original constitution, nearly 40 years old, had been the brainchild of John Adams. Adams, now in his mid-80s, was elected a delegate by the people of Quincy. Thorndike, twenty years younger, was selected as a delegate by the voters in Boston—one of 46 from the city, including Peter Brooks and Daniel Webster. Beverly sent only four delegates, including Nathan Dane, the anti-Federalist whom Thorndike had defeated in the election to the Massachusetts Ratification Convention for the federal constitution over three decades before. Thorndike, as one of the city’s premier hosts, invited the former President Adams to a dinner party at his Summer Street home. Adams accepted, and a number of the Boston elite gathered in Thorndike’s mansion for the occasion. The elderly Adams was clearly beyond his better years. “I dined with him at a party at Colonel Thorndike’s,” wrote Robert Rantoul. “It was apparent that his mind was somewhat impaired by age.” 51 The Convention convened on November 15, and continued for about one month before Thorndike began to take an active, public role. For the first time in his career, it seems, he made speeches, instead of working the back rooms. On Tuesday, December 12, the delegates convened at 9am and voted for an amendment to divide the state into Senate districts containing an equal number of inhabitants, which would be changed every ten years to reflect the shifting populations. The debate then moved to a newly proposed amendment—that “paupers and persons under guardianship shall not be entitled to vote for any officer under the government.” It was a democratic age, to the chagrin of the old Federalists, and the amendment was an attempt to hold off the specter of universal male suffrage. 52 Thorndike was the fourth man to rise and address the subject, and he spoke in favor of retaining a minimal property requirement for voting. As the Boston Daily Advertiser reported, Thorndike “rose to speak only of the practical effect of this provision of the constitution.” Thorndike reportedly “had long been acquainted with the sea-faring men” of Beverly and had witnessed the difference between farmers and seamen. “Young men engaged in agricultural pursuits,” Thorndike argued, “were generally anxious to amass the little property necessary to give them the right of voting, and this anxiety had a favorable effect on their habits and character.” Sailors, however, were different. According to the Daily Advertiser, Thorndike believed sailors were “men who scatter a great deal of money, and do not save enough to make them voters under the constitution. The votes of seamen,” therefore, “ought not to be received. They were the votes of their owners, or of intriguing men who wish either to get into office themselves or get their friends in.” Thorn-

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dike was worried that sailors would be easily susceptible to bribery in the absence of a property requirement for voting. The amendment would eventually be adopted—all male citizens of 21 years of age and upward who met the residency requirements, except paupers and persons under guardianship, would be entitled to the vote in Massachusetts. 53 One week later, Thorndike rose again, this time to oppose a motion proposing that the Governor’s Council be elected by popular vote, instead of by the legislature. “The question,” the Daily Advertiser said Thorndike discussed, “was the best mode of selecting seven counsellors, so as to obtain men best qualified.” Others, Thorndike said, “had contended that [selection by the legislature] was liable to abuses.” But Thorndike “had for many years had a seat in the legislature, and he had seen no such abuses. It was most simple, and, he thought, most satisfactory mode.” The members of the legislature could easily judge the qualifications of those who stood for election far better than the people. “It was a power little likely to be abused,” Thorndike is reported as saying. “It was the first act performed by them after coming together from among their constituents. If they did not consult the wishes of their constituents in the election of counsellors, as well as in their other duties, they would not be again elected to their seats.” This popular check, Thorndike said, “would give them a sufficient interest in consulting the wishes of the people.” Thorndike failed in his opposition to the amendment, however, and henceforth the Governor’s Council would be elected by popular vote. 54 Thorndike continued in his fight against excessive popular suffrage. In early January, he joined with Daniel Webster to propose that the amendment supporting universal suffrage be limited only to those who paid a “state or county tax of the commonwealth.” The purpose, so said Webster, was that “every person who contributes to the support of government shall be entitled to vote—but the principle was departed from if they were not required to pay a tax to the commonwealth.” Thorndike spoke in support of the amendment, which brought “considerable debate.” Another delegate rose to oppose Webster—”he hoped that we should not always have to pay a commonwealth tax.” If the state did one day abolish the tax, “we should none of us be voters.” Webster’s humorous reply won support to his side: “we always had been obliged to pay state taxes,” said Webster, “and he presumed that until the millennium, we always should.” The amendment passed. 55 Thorndike, in his final political act, supported the notion that a better government is produced when chosen by men of property. But this did not mean Thorndike supported a perpetual aristocracy. Poor boys, like he had been, were capable of acquiring the little property necessary through hard work. Indeed, Thorndike had said, this desire “had a favorable effect on their habits and character.” But Thorndike, long wealthy and far removed from his poor origins, clearly saw himself as superior to those who had not been as

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successful as he. Around this time, Thorndike told one of his captains that, although he did not doubt the man’s integrity, he believed him “too independent for a man of [his] class.” 56 NOTES 1. Rosenberg, Francis Cabot Lowell, pp. 260–61. 2. Forbes, Israel Thorndike, pp. 122–123; letter from IT to Pickering, Dec. 31, 1815, Timothy Pickering Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society. 3. Rosenberg, Francis Cabot Lowell, p. 261. 4. Rosenberg, Francis Cabot Lowell, p. 268. 5. Forbes, Israel Thorndike, pp. 125–26. 6. Forbes, Israel Thorndike, pp. 125–26; letter from IT to Pickering, April 1, 1816, Timothy Pickering Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society.. The language is from an April 1 letter, which Pickering would not have received when he pushed to amend the bill. But Thorndike had made much the same recommendations in earlier letters. 7. Rosenberg, Francis Cabot Lowell p. 265–66. 8. Rosenberg, Francis Cabot Lowell pp 268–69. 9. Obituary of Augustus Thorndike, pp. 258–265. 10. Obituary of Augustus Thorndike, pp. 258–265. 11. Boller, Presidential Campaigns, p. 29–30. 12. Boller, Presidential Campaigns, p. 29-30; Boston Daily Advertiser, Nov. 15, 1816, Vol. XV, Issue 40, p. 2 (Boston, Mass); Vermont Gazette, Nov. 5, 1816, Vol. VIII, Issue 10, p. 3. 13. Boller, Presidential Campaigns, p. 29–30. 14. Forbes, Israel Thorndike , p. 89–90. 15. Thorndike Genealogy, pp. 98-99; Forbes, Israel Thorndike pp. 91–92. 16. Thorndike genealogy, pp. 98-106; Forbes, Israel Thorndike pp. 92–93. 17. Forbes, Israel Thorndike, p. 92; Thorndike genealogy, pp. 100-101. The town of Thorndike is now called Brimfield. 18. Thorndike genealogy, p. 99–100. 19. Thorndike genealogy, p. 105; census documents relating to Edward Jr. and Charles 20. Columbia Centinel, July 2, 1817, Issue 3468, p. 2, Boston, Mass. 21. Forbes, Israel Thorndike, pp. 128–29; Daniel Preston, The Papers of James Monroe: A Documentary History of the presidential tours of James Monroe, 1817, 1818, 1819, Greenwood Press, 2003, p. 254–55. 22. For this section on Monroe and the BMC, see Forbes, Israel Thorndike, p. 139; Adams, Russell, The Boston Money Tree, Crowell, 1977, pp 63–67; Rosenberg, Francis Cabot Lowell, p. 252–53, 256 and 274–76; Fichter, pp. 268–69. 23. Cogswell, Joseph Green, Life of Joseph Green Cogswell as Sketched by his Letters, privately printed, Riverside Press, Cambridge, 1874, p. 48–50. 24. For all the sections on Cogswell and Augustus Thorndike in Europe, see Cogswell, Life of Joseph Green Cogswell; Obituary of Augustus Thorndike. 25. Dalzell, Enterprising Elite, pp. 36–38; Rosenberg, Francis Cabot Lowell, pp. 252–54. 26. Rosenberg, Francis Cabot Lowell, pp 254–55. 27. Forbes, Israel Thorndike,p. 140. 28. Forbes, Israel Thorndike,p. 140; Fichter, So Great a Proffit, p. 269. 29. Franklin Herald, August 12, 1817, Vol. XXVI, Issue 340, p. 3, Greenfield, Mass. 30. The Philadelphia Register and National Recorder, Vol. I, January-June 1819, Little & Henry, Philadelphia, p. 88. 31. Josiah Quincy, The History of Harvard University, Vol. II, 1840, Cambridge, p. 596–97; The Philadelphia Register and National Recorder, Vol. I, January–June 1819, Little & Henry, Philadelphia, p. 88. 32. Quincy, History of Harvard, Vol. II, p. 596–97; Thorndike genealogy, p. 66. 33. Morrison, Harrison Gray Otis, pp. 206–09.

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34. Morrison, Harrison Gray Otis, pp 206–09; Forbes. Israel Thorndike, p. 76. 35. Morrison, Harrison Gray Otis, p 209. 36. Morrison, Harrison Gray Otis, p 209. 37. Thorndike genealogy. 38. Letter from Harrison Gray Otis to Sophia Otis, December 8, 1819, Harrison Gray Otis Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society. 39. Letter from Mrs. Otis to Harrison Gray Otis, April 11, 1820, Harrison Gray Otis Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society. 40. Letter from Harrison Gray Otis to Mrs. Otis, April 16, 1820, Harrison Gray Otis Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society. 41. Thorndike genealogy. 42. Cogswell, Life of Joseph Green Cogswell pp. 118–121. 43. Cogswell, Life of Joseph Green Cogswell, pp. 122–127. 44. Gordon, Wendy M., Mill Girls and Strangers: Single Women’s Independent Migration in England, Scotland, and the United States, 1850–1881, State University of New York, 2002, pp. 60–63. 45. Rosenberg, Francis Cabot Lowell, pp. 249–51; Gordon, Mill Girls and Strangers pp. 6063. 46. Rosenberg, Francis Cabot Lowell, pp. 249–51. 47. Rosenberg, Francis Cabot Lowell, pp. 249–51. 48. Morrison, Harrison Gray Otis, pp. 542–43. 49. Morrison, Harrison Gray Otis, pp. 542–43; Letter from Harrison Gray Otis to Mrs. Otis, April 30, 1820 Harrison Gray Otis Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society; Letter from Harrison Gray Otis to Sophia Otis, May 3, 1820, Harrison Gray Otis Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society. 50. Letter from Harrison Gray Otis to Mrs. Otis, January 29, 1821, Harrison Gray Otis Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society. 51. David McCullough, John Adams, Simon & Schuster, 2002, p. 631; Boston Daily Advertiser, Journal of Debates and Proceedings in the Convention of Delegates, published 1821; Forbes, Israel Thorndike, p. 130. 52. Journal of Debates and Proceedings in the Convention of Delegates, p. 122. 53. Journal of Debates and Proceedings in the Convention of Delegates, p. 124, p. 277. 54. Journal of Debates and Proceedings in the Convention of Delegates, p. 156, p. 277. 55. Journal of Debates and Proceedings in the Convention of Delegates, p. 249, p. 281. 56. Forbes, Israel Thorndike, p. 81.

Chapter Eight

Final Years of an Industrialist, 1821–1832

In his final years, Thorndike continued to plan the textile industry’s expansion. Sales from the Boston Manufacturing Company’s three Waltham mills had reached $260,658 in 1820, and the dividends continued to astonish, increasing year after year. They rose from $150 in 1820 to $200 in 1821, $275 in 1822, $250 in 1823 and 1824, and $300 in 1825. Meanwhile, the demand for “Lowell sheeting” continued to increase, growing as quickly as the supply, while the price of Waltham cloth continued to decrease, dropping 57 cents in seven years. This occurred even though new companies continued to enter the field, spurred on by the Tariff of 1816 and the profits being turned by the BMC. The number of BMC shareholders was increasing, too, as Thorndike and the others began to let down the gates and allow other men of wealth—whose judgment could be trusted—purchase shares. The BMC, as one writer put it, was “one of the most successful companies out of the gate in the history of industry.” 1 The situation obviously encouraged the BMC shareholders to expand their operations. But they had a problem—by 1821, the three Waltham mills were consuming all the water of the Charles River, and no fourth mill could be built there without undermining the others’ operations. Thorndike, Jackson, and Nathan Appleton all served on the shareholder committee designated to find a location to build new mills. Their eyes wandered northward, eventually settling on the Merrimack River just south of the New Hampshire border. The Merrimack River provided significantly more water power than the Charles did; it behooved the investors to start buying up land to build factories along the Merrimack before some other enterprising businessman figured it out. 2 157

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Israel Thorndike’s portrait by Gilbert Stuart, circa 1820, showing one of New England’s wealthiest men in old age. Massachusetts Historical Society.

An agreement was finally hashed out authorizing capital at $600,000, with shares costing $1,000 each. Fourteen men were listed on the articles of association, including Daniel Webster, who took four shares. The new com-

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pany, which would be named the Merrimack Manufacturing Company, put together a complicated series of cash payments and stock transactions to compensate the BMC for patents and the services of Paul Moody, the brilliant machinist. The BMC shareholders were granted the option to purchase stock in the new company. Surprisingly, Thorndike decided not to go in on the initial investment, and was not one of the company’s original investors. Perhaps the complexity of the transactions scared him off. In any event, he eventually did invest in the Merrimack Manufacturing Company, and on his death, it would comprise his largest overall investment in textiles. 3 Construction of a new town to support the large scale industrial factories began in 1822. They widened and deepened the pre-existing canal along the site they had bought and built a machine shop, housing for workers, an Episcopal church, and numerous roads to connect their enterprise to the wider world. They also, of course, built a large textile mill, which began operating in September 1823, nearly ten years after the first shareholder meeting on Broad Street in Boston had launched the investors on this path. In honor of the man whose idea had sparked the American Industrial Revolution, the investors named their new town Lowell. 4

Augustus Thorndike, now in his early twenties and returned to Massachusetts, avoided politics and instead focused on the social whirl and the task of finding himself a suitable bride. He found her quite quickly and quite far from his native city. Henrietta Steuart was from Maryland. Her family was prominent in the state, and possessed an unfortunate tendency to pick the wrong side in great historical clashes. Henrietta’s great-grandfather, George Steuart, had crossed the Atlantic from Scotland about one hundred years before. He purchased a plantation on Chesapeake Bay and used it to grow tobacco and breed thoroughbred horses, much in the manner of the plantation gentry of his time. He was one of the most prominent men in colonial Maryland, twice representing Annapolis in the legislature. 5 Henrietta had grown up amidst this planter society. If the Thorndikes were emblematic of the staunchly Federalist, mercantile and shipping-driven New England business class that quickly rose following the Revolution, the Steuarts illustrated the Southern plantation-owning class, with its almost knightly devotion to chivalry, military service, and the economic institution of slavery. Henrietta’s brother, George, raised a company of Maryland volunteers that joined the Fifth Maryland Regiment during the War of 1812, to help defend his home state against British invasion. With George serving as a captain, they fought at the disastrous Battle of Bladensburg, where despite their best efforts, they were routed by the British and forced to retreat in disorder. The aftermath had been the burning of Washington. 6

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The young Thorndikes appear to have spent some time in Baltimore society; Charles had developed something of a reputation there. It was probably in Maryland that Augustus and Henrietta met. They married about a year following Augustus’ return from Europe, in Henrietta’s native city, on Friday, September 1, 1821. They moved north to Boston, where Augustus made a brief early attempt at entering the world of business, establishing a merchant office on the Central Wharf with his older brother Charles. Augustus was 24, Henrietta about 18. 7

Thorndike’s lifeblood had long been the shipping trade, but for some time he had speculated in Boston real estate. Now, with additional profits to invest, he expanded his holdings. Summer Street ran southeast from near Boston Common down toward the southern docks, but had long been a relative backwater in the city, dotted with small farms. When Thorndike moved to Boston in 1810, he built his mansion there, at the corner of Arch Street, away from the packed and crowded tenements near the waterfront and in the city’s North End. In the 1820s, however, Thorndike grew interested in developing his street into a wealthy residential neighborhood. Thorndike began to purchase numerous lots that ran toward the southern waterfront, and developed them into a new residential area. The old, sometimes dilapidated farm buildings disappeared. Thorndike replaced them with large, Federal-style brick homes, sometimes on individual lots, sometimes as double mansions. The number of homes lining the picturesque street rapidly increased. Tree-lined sidewalks shaded the front views, while gardens to the rear gave the residents privacy. Thorndike’s new development quickly became Boston’s most desirable neighborhood. By the middle of the 1820s, Thorndike’s real estate holdings amounted to nearly $200,000. In November 1824, Thorndike sold one of his newly finished homes to Massachusetts’s most promising political star. Over a decade before, Thorndike had befriended Timothy Pickering, the Commonwealth’s crotchety and regionalist Senator. With Pickering having faded from the political scene, Thorndike became close with the new powerhouse, a man in his early forties who already boasted legendary oratory and legal skill. Daniel Webster had been born in New Hampshire in 1782 and had started his political career there as a Federalist. But like Thorndike, Webster realized that the center of gravity lay to the south and, at Francis Lowell’s urging, had moved his law practice to Boston. He entered the House of Representatives from Massachusetts in 1823, and would win election to the Senate four years later. For decades to come, he would be a passionate defender of New England’s regional interests, particularly those of the shipping industry. 8 Thorndike was thus a natural ally. The two men developed a close friendship, by all appearances. Thorndike had sold Webster the house at 11 Sum-

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mer Street, just shortly down from Thorndike’s own address at Number 6. They eventually became neighbors, when Thorndike moved his own household (which by now consisted only of Thorndike and his third wife Sally) to the adjoining mansion at 10 Summer Street. After a year or two, Thorndike sold his original Boston mansion to John Tappan for $21,000. 9 The year 1825 marked the Battle of Bunker Hill’s fiftieth anniversary. At 70 years old, Thorndike was perhaps one of the few living who could recall the events with clarity, even though he had been living in Beverly at the time. Another old veteran of the Revolution, the famed French hero Marquis de Lafayette, now 67, returned to Boston for the celebration. The city’s wealthy citizens, Thorndike included, raised money for the construction of a large obelisk to be mounted atop Bunker Hill to commemorate the battle. On June 17, the day of the fiftieth anniversary, the cornerstone was laid. Congressman Webster was the afternoon’s featured speaker. That evening, Thorndike and Webster threw the city’s biggest party in their adjoining mansions. A large hole was cut in the wall between the reception halls in each house to double the party’s capacity. Lafayette and Webster stood side by side, greeting the many guests as they swarmed into the mansions’ now cavernous space. The homes were filled to capacity, as people came from dozens of miles away for the ceremony and celebration. The new generation, comprising politicians like Webster, and industrialists like Thorndike’s son Israel, Jr., were saluting the passing of the old. 10

Though he had initially avoided investing with the Merrimack Manufacturing Company, Thorndike continued to invest in new textile enterprises. The first was one he helped to start without the support of any other shareholders of the BMC. At a meeting of BMC directors on December 19, 1822, chaired by Thorndike, the BMC authorized two men from Taunton, Massachusetts to use the BMC’s patents to build textile machinery. One month later, in early 1823, the Taunton Manufacturing Company was incorporated by the state legislature. Only two BMC shareholders were listed on the incorporation documents – Thorndike and his son, Israel, Jr. Harrison Gray Otis, Jr., Israel, Jr’s brother-in-law, was named the clerk and a member of the Board of Directors. Being merely silent investors, neither of the Thorndikes participated in the day-to-day or long-term strategic operations of the company. The evidence suggests that Thorndike used his influence to help get a family member, Harry Otis, Jr., started in business, by helping him procure use of the patents. This assistance to his family was in keeping with Thorndike’s longstanding practice. 11 In 1824, Thorndike renewed his involvement with the new manufacturing enterprises along the Merrimack River in the town of Lowell. He invested in the Locks and Canals Company, whose organization marked the beginning

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of a new phase of development there. The Locks and Canals Company controlled much of the land and waterpower rights in the area, and could distribute those rights to new startup textile companies as it saw fit. The following year, Thorndike, along with other original shareholders of the BMC, invested in the Hamilton Company, another textile manufacturing company to be operated in Lowell. The expansion was rapid, but Thorndike probably subscribed to the attitude expressed by Nathan Appleton: “It is true that a good deal of capital is going into this business, but so wide is the field before us that I think it will not be soon overdone.” 12

By the late 1820s, Thorndike was New England’s richest man and largest textile manufacturer, having invested, according to a Beverly historian, “a greater amount of capital in [manufacturing] than any other individual in New England.” His large financial base, procured through shipping during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic period, had now been sunk heavily into the new field of industry. As much as 40% of his wealth probably derived from textile manufacturing at his death, and at its peak, his investments in the industry probably totaled over $500,000. His initial investment with Lowell in 1813 had been only $10,000. 13 Thorndike was thus the nation’s first great industrialist. It is this aspect of his life which is least well-known, as Thorndike is generally thought of as being primarily a shipping merchant. While shipping was how his career began, it was not how it concluded. Upon his death, he owned large amounts of stock in no fewer than 11 companies: the BMC, Merrimack, Chicopee, Cocheco, Hamilton, Lowell, Appleton, Suffolk, Cabot, and Taunton Manufacturing Companies, along with the Locks and Canals Company that had helped control the development of Lowell. He had invested in other largescale ventures too, and with the merchant Thomas Perkins (and others) had founded the Massachusetts Bay Canal Corporation in 1818, planning to dig a canal through Cape Cod (nothing much came of it). Thorndike was the early Industrial Revolution’s leading venture capitalist. In that revolution’s first decade-and-a-half, his wealth played a major role in guiding its direction. His well-known financial solidity and his highly-regarded business sense allowed him to play a critical role in the early years of the textile industry’s development. For this, he was well compensated. 14

In October 1828, John Quincy Adams was the incumbent president, though his time left in the White House was short: he would soon be turned out by Andrew Jackson. In the midst of the presidential campaign, he allowed a journalist named William Giles to publish an account of the Embargo in which Adams stated that he informed President Jefferson that a “con-

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tinuance of the embargo” would have been “met by forcible resistance” in New England, and that “it would produce a civil war.” Moreover, Adams had told Jefferson, the leaders of the Federalists “would secure the co-operation with them of Great Britain, [and] their object was, and had been for several years, a dissolution of the Union, and the establishment of a separate confederation.” He was accusing the old Federalists, 20 years after the fact, of plotting to secede, though the long march of time had caused him to lose the actual evidence. 15 In Boston the reaction was predictably stunned. The old Federalists who were still living, and the sons of those who had passed, gathered together to issue a response. They had no desires to be painted with secession’s brush. The slow march of time had shown that course of action to be short-sighted and wrongheaded, no matter how negatively the national government’s policies had impacted New England’s economy. The country was now united, strong, and prosperous. The old Federalists did not wish to be seen as men who had tried to sabotage it. 16 Thirteen men would attach their name to the letter: Harrison Gray Otis, Israel Thorndike, Thomas Perkins, William Prescott, Daniel Sargent, John Lowell, William Sullivan, Charles Jackson, Warren Dutton, and Benjamin Pickman had all been staunch Federalists at the time. Three sons signed for their deceased fathers: Henry Cabot for his father George, C.C. Parsons for his father Theophilus, and Franklin Dexter for the late Samuel. Timothy Pickering was still alive, but death was just months away, and he did not participate. They wrote Adams, quite indignantly, that the assertions of disloyalty were “now deliberately repeated, and brought before the public under the sanction of your name, as being founded on unequivocal evidence within your knowledge.” They disclaimed that they were ever “leaders of any party in Massachusetts,” but that they “were associated in politics with the party prevailing here at the period referred to….Some of us concurred in all the measures adopted by that party, and we all warmly approved and supported those measures.” They asked Adams for a “full and precise statement of the facts and evidence relating to this accusation,” and requested that Adams give the names of those whom he believed were involved. 17 Adams refused to name names. “Suppose, then, that in compliance with your call, I should name one, two, or three persons as intended to be included in the charge,” Adams wrote. “Suppose neither of those persons to be one of you. You, however, have given them notice that I have no evidence against them which is provable… Does your self-respect convince you that the persons so named, if guilty, would furnish the evidence against themselves which they have been notified that I do not possess? Are you sure that the correspondence which would prove their guilt may not, in the lapse of twenty-five years, have been committed to the flames?” Adams went on to state

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that he did not, in his “most distant imagination,” intend to offend or injure any one of the signatories. He authorized the statement only “for the purpose of expressly disavowing a charge which was before the public, sanctioned with the name of Mr. Jefferson, imputing to certain citizens of Massachusetts treasonable negotiations with the British government during the war, stating that he had received information of this from me.” Adams only meant to assert that he had no knowledge of treasonous negotiations during the war, only during the Embargo. Throughout his reply, he never absolved any of the signatories from pursuing treasonous ends. 18 The spat sparked a public debate over the issue, with both the old Federalists and Adams trading barbs over the subject. But it was a debate about distant arguments—old men re-fighting the battles of their heyday, one last time.

One final business venture beckoned Thorndike: railroads. The great steam-driven machines promised to transform transportation across the country, and Thorndike as usual recognized the opportunity. He decided to invest in their construction, knowing that he would not be around to see the final profits, but he could pass the investments to his children. The most pressing railroad matter involved the stability of Boston as a hub of American commerce. The construction of the Erie Canal had allowed frontier produce to be shipped directly from the shores of Lake Michigan to the harbor at Manhattan, without ever touching land. New York’s superior port now was poised to overtake Boston’s. 19 Thorndike, along with Harrison Gray Otis, William Prescott, F.J. Oliver, Joseph Coolidge, and Phineas Upham, petitioned the Massachusetts government to incorporate what would be called the Massachusetts Railroad Corporation, with an allowable capital of up to $3.5 million. They planned to build a railroad from Boston to Albany or Troy. There, the goods shipped from the western states could be loaded onto the railroad and shipped to Boston, enabling the city to retain its commercial prominence. Thorndike also invested in a smaller railroad venture the following year, the Boston and Taunton Railroad Company, along with old friends like Thomas Perkins and David Sears. The company’s allowable capital was $1 million. 20 The project of building a railroad to offset New York’s advantage never got off the ground, and Thorndike did not survive to see the Boston and Taunton Railway built. But the investments demonstrated the startling length and breadth of Thorndike’s career. He had started as a teenager in colonial America with a few small fishing boats. At the end, he was invested in railroads and was the nation’s largest financier of textile mills. Thorndike’s astonishing career both mirrored and helped spur a vast sweep of American economic history. 21

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By 1832, the year of his 77th birthday, Thorndike was sick with increasing regularity. Daniel Webster wrote to one acquaintance in March, 1830 that “Mr. Thorndike is said to be much indisposed.” One year after Webster’s comment, most likely due to his increasing incapacity, Thorndike relinquished the presidency of the Boston Manufacturing Company. What he had in his life, now, were his hopes and dreams for his children and grandchildren. 22 The family had both celebrated successes and endured sadness. Thorndike had outlived eight of his own children. Four of them had died in infancy: the first Israel, Jr., the first George, a girl named Anna, and a boy named Sidney had all died before their second birthday. The other three had survived longer. The second George had gone to sea at his father’s behest, and died in dark St. Petersburg in 1811, at 22. A boy named Francis, Thorndike’s fourteenth child, was born in 1805 and died in the summer of 1812, just six years old. Thorndike’s son Edward, who had traveled to Ohio, died on the frontier at the age of 27 in 1821. Finally, another son, Oliver, born in 1800, had done his father proud by receiving his M.D. in Britain, but died crossing the Atlantic in 1822. Oliver passed at the same age as his brother George. 23 As Thorndike entered the last years of his life, seven children remained. His eldest daughter, Elizabeth, was 53. She was the only surviving child of his first wife Mercy, who had been gone nearly a half-century. Elizabeth had married Ebenezer Francis long ago, and Francis worked for his father-in-law in shipping for many years afterward. Together, Elizabeth and Ebenezer had three girls who survived infancy: Elizabeth, Anna, and Sarah, born in 1819, when her mother was 40. 24 Israel, Jr., now 46 years old, went over a dozen years before remarrying. He was finally wed at the start of 1832, to Ann Dickey of New York City. Israel, Jr. was a well-bred, wealthy man, and had begun to take over his father’s role in Boston. He continued to engage in shipping, and invested heavily in Boston real estate, including the development of John Hancock’s Beacon Street estate. Shortly after his father’s death he built himself a large mansion, considered one of the city’s finest. The home, on the corner of Beacon and Joy Streets, overlooked the Boston Common. His three daughters were teenagers; the two eldest, Sally and Elizabeth, were approaching marriage age. The third daughter, Sophia, would go on to marry her second cousin, George Thorndike—eldest son of Thorndike’s nephew Andrew, who had had a colorful and not entirely successful shipping career. Israel, Jr.’s son, Israel Augustus Thorndike, was 13; grandfather Thorndike took a particular interest in him. 25 Son Andrew was 41 years old, but had never met with his father’s approval. Ever since his early days in school—when his tuition money had gone

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mysteriously missing—he never quite got along with the rest of the family. As with his siblings and cousins, he entered the shipping trade, investing heavily in China and the East Indies. He eventually settled in Germany, but spent his early years both unattached to any woman and earning his father’s ire. Thorndike also gave little thought to his two grandsons in Ohio, children of the unfortunate Edward. The grandsons, named Edward and Charles, may have been out of sight, out of mind. The frontier was a distant place. 26 Charles, who was 36 in 1832, had finally settled down and married a Baltimore woman named Mary Purnell. At the time, they had two daughters, Anna and Elizabeth, and a one-year old son, named Israel Thorndike for his grandfather. Charles had no head for business; he was fonder of parties and the more enjoyable aspects of life. Most people thought he cut a poor figure on the social scene, but his father still liked him. 27 Augustus, now 34, suffered by having his first three children, named Elizabeth, Israel, and Margaret all die in infancy. By 1832, he had a threeyear old boy, named James Steuart Thorndike, who appeared healthier than the others and destined for survival, along with a two-year old daughter named Rebecca. Augustus had never quite gotten along with the people of Boston, tracing back to his days at Harvard. He preferred the aristocrats of Europe, where he had spent so much time, and while in the United States he spent his summers vacationing at Newport, Rhode Island. He had inherited both his father’s intelligence and his temper, but not his capacity for sustained hard work. Nevertheless, he was one of his father’s favorites. 28 The youngest surviving child was another daughter, Anna, who was 27. She had married William Loring, a well-bred young Bostonian, and had five children in quick succession: Augustus, Sarah, William, Anna, and Mary, who was only a few days old when the year 1832 opened. Thorndike’s six living children and 14 living grandchildren were, along with his third wife, Sarah, the people to whom he increasingly devoted his attention in those final years, deciding how to dispose of his vast fortune. 29

Thorndike had been considering how to distribute his fortune for many years. His will was first written in 1826, and over the years, Thorndike would tinker and alter various elements of the will as new considerations arose—the birth or death of grandchildren, the changing dispositions of loans he had given to his sons, and in some cases his changing attitudes toward some of his children. He refused, however, to ever change the distribution to his third wife, Sarah, because he was concerned that others might use it against her. “I have not altered any of the provisions in my will as respects yourself,” Thorndike told her, “because it has occurred to me that if I should do it, it might be thought by some that it was because my affections towards you had been diminished.” This, Thorndike said, was “far from being the

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case….Every day when I [think] on the connection I deem it a fortunate one for myself and family.” He also gave her a bit of advice for when she was gone: “You will, I am confident, adopt such a course as will be just, and such as will raise your own character.” He hoped that this would “induce all my children to conduct towards you as they would or ought to do towards their own mother. But if they should not, it will not, I think, lessen your own responsibility as an accountable being.” 30 In his will, Thorndike left to Sarah both his Beverly and Boston mansions, along with the furniture and plates in each. She also received $10,000 as promised in their marriage contract, another Boston mansion she could rent out for money, a $2,400 annual annuity, plus the income interest and dividend of $50,000 deposited in the Massachusetts Hospital Life Insurance Company (MHLIC), which would be divided among Thorndike’s living descendants upon her death. Thorndike gave her half his library, too, with the other half going to his daughter Anna Loring, as well as shares in both the Merrimack Manufacturing Company and the Boston Manufacturing Company. 31 She received the most of any of Thorndike’s female relatives. Sarah’s three sisters received a small sum, as did various nieces. To his daughter Elizabeth and her husband, Ebenezer Francis, he gave the house in which the Francis’ lived, along with some textile stocks and rental properties in Boston. Daughter Anna, in addition to the half of the library, received $20,000 to be held in trust in the MHLIC and a further $3,000 to be paid immediately. Thorndike’s personal butler, Jonathan Town, received $600, while the other servants employed by Thorndike received $100 each. Mary Brown, the widow of Thorndike’s long-ago partner, Moses Brown, would receive $100 a year. 32 Thorndike’s sons expected to receive the largest portion of the estate. Four were still living, and the children of the fifth lived in Ohio. But Thorndike did not treat each of them equally. To Edward’s widow in Ohio, he gave an annual income of $2,000 for the rest of her natural life—a not inconsiderable sum on the frontier. The income was revocable, however, if both of her sons predeceased her without children. To the two boys, he gave $4,000 apiece held in trust until they reached 21, along with all the land he owned in Ohio. Unfortunately for the boys, the land would not bring them any material wealth. 33 The four living sons—Israel, Jr., Andrew, Charles, and Augustus—were all released of the debts assigned to them (in Israel, Jr.’s case, this amounted to over $41,000), and they all received shares in various textile mills that Thorndike had invested in. But there the similarities ended, and Andrew, like Edward’s sons, was thoroughly cut off. In addition to debt relief and some textile stock, Andrew would receive only $4,000. As testament to Thorndike’s lack of faith in his son, he ordered that if “Andrew shall attempt to

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alienate or dispose of [any textile shares he inherited] within … twelve years, this bequest to him is to be void, and he to forfeit all right and claims to said sum and the accumulations thereon.” Decades ago, Andrew had claimed to have “lost” his tuition money while away at boarding school. Thorndike’s faith in his son’s ability to resist ready cash had clearly not diminished with time. 34 Israel, Jr., Charles, and Augustus came out as the big winners. While they each received $20,000, to be held in trust at the MHLIC, this was not their primary inheritance. Thorndike’s bequests thus far had amounted to only a fraction of his fortune. Consequently, he willed “to Israel, Charles and Augustus and their heirs forever all the residue and remainder of my estate, real and personal.” This would easily run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars apiece, instantly placing the three of them among the wealthiest men in Massachusetts. Thorndike even made sure they would be well taken care of in the unlikely event he lost his fortune before he died, at the expense of the others. “If from any cause whatever,” Thorndike wrote, “the said residue and remainder of my estate herein given to said Israel, Charles and Augustus should not amount” to at least $150,000, then the “deficiency shall be notably assessed upon and deducted from all the other legacies, bequests, and property,” with the one exception of the Beverly mansion—which was Sarah’s. Thorndike had always had a strong feeling towards his family, and gave all of them – nephews and sons alike—multiple opportunities to prove their worth. It is thus remarkable evidence of his displeasure toward his sons Andrew and Edward that they and their descendants were so markedly removed from the inheritance. Sadly, the source of his animosity is unknown; it cannot be fully judged or explained. 35

On April 20, 1832, Thorndike turned 77. Despite his advancing age, he retained much of his old energy, and continued to actively participate in his business affairs, which had by now shifted from a focus on the shipping trade to a diversified mix of real estate holdings and large ownership stakes in a number of industrial factories and textile mills. He could look back at a remarkably active life, spanning from his early days as a cooper’s apprentice, to fishing vessels, to the privateers of the revolution and trade in the West and East Indies. He had evaded Napoleon’s Continental System and British naval supremacy, had opposed Presidents Jefferson and Madison’s trade policies, and had openly opposed the War with Britain in 1812. Facing difficulties in the shipping trade, he had moved into manufacturing, recognizing the genius of Francis Lowell’s mill system, and made yet another fortune as one of the pioneer investors in America’s industrial revolution. He had a large family—with some troubles, to be sure—but generally, they were a loving

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group. And as usual, Thorndike continued to look towards the future, pondering what business possibilities might arise for him to conquer. Then, somewhat suddenly, came the end, just a few weeks later at his home in Boston. Surrounded by many family members, Israel Thorndike passed away on May 9, 1832. His great fortune was distributed as he had written it, without much fanfare, although some later writers would criticize his lack of philanthropy. His fortune, at his death, was variably estimated between $1 million and $1.8 million, placing him in contention as one of America’s wealthiest men. He retained, to the last, a wide circle of devoted friends. Perhaps closer to the sentiments of those living at the time were the thoughts of someone writing shortly after Thorndike’s death: “Few individuals, endowed with such mental powers, appear in a generation.” 36 NOTES 1. Dalzell, Enterprising Elite, p. 38; Forbes, Israel Thorndike, p. 140; Beerman, Kenton, The Beginning of a Revolution: Waltham and the Boston Manufacturing Company, The Concord Review, 1994, p. 151. 2. Fichter, So Great a Proffit, p. 269; Forbes, Israel Thorndike, 140–41; Dalzell, Enterprising Elite, pp. 47–48. 3. Fichter, So Great a Proffit, p, 269; Forbes, Israel Thorndike, 140–41; Dalzell, Enterprising Elite, pp. 47–48. 4. Forbes, Israel Thorndike, 140-41; Dalzell, Enterprising Elite, pp. 47–48. 5. Hanson, George A., Old Kent: The Eastern Shore of Maryland, John P. DesForces, Baltimore, 1876, pp. 263–75. 6. Richardson, Hester Dorsey, Sidelights of Maryland History, Vol. II, Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore, 1913, pp. 225–228. 7. Thorndike Genealogy, p. 107. 8. Benton, Josiah Hart, A Notable Libel Case: The Criminal Prosecution of Theodore Lyman, Jr., by Daniel Webster, Boston, Charles E Goodspeed, 1904, pp. 32–33. 9. Forbes, Israel Thorndike, pp. 145–46; Bay State Monthly, Old Summer Street, p. 345–346, Sept. 1898, Feb. 1899, Boston Mass, Warren Kellogg, publisher. 10. Pickering, Henry G., Nathaniel Goddard, The Riverside Press, 1906, p 147; Bay State Monthly, Old Summer Street, p. 345–346, Sept. 1898, Feb. 1899, Boston Mass, Warren Kellogg, publisher. 11. Forbes, Israel Thorndike, p. 141; Ellery, Samuel Hopkins, History of Taunton, Massachusetts from Its Settlement to the Present Time, D Mason & Co., 1893, pp. 648–49. 12. Forbes, Israel Thorndike, p. 141–42; Dalzell, Enterprising Elite, p. 48–49. 13. Forbes, Israel Thorndike, p. 143, p. 154; Stone, History of Beverly; Benton, A Notable Libel Case, p 38. 14. Forbes, Israel Thorndike, p. 143; Conway, J. North, The Cape Cod Canal: Breaking Through the Bared and Bended Arm, The History Press, Charleston, SC, 2008, pp. 55–56. 15. Adams, New England Federalism, pp. 25–26. 16. Adams, New England Federalism, p. 45. 17. Adams, New England Federalism, pp. 43–45. 18. Adams, New England Federalism, pp. 49–51. 19. Forbes, Israel Thorndike, p. 135. 20. Forbes, Israel Thorndike, p. 135; Stimson, A.L., History of the Express Business: Including the Origin of the Railway System in America, Baker & Goodwin, New York, 1881, pp. 21–22. 21. Stimson, History of the Express Business, pp. 21–22.

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22. Forbes, Israel Thorndike, p. 146. 23. Thorndike genealogy, p. 67–68. 24. Thorndike genealogy, p. 67. 25. Thorndike genealogy, p. 101–02; Benton, A Notable Libel Case, p 38; Guarino, Robert E., Beacon Street: Its Buildings and Residents, History Press, Charleston, SC, 2011, pp. 86–88. 26. Thorndike genealogy, p. 105. 27. Thorndike genealogy, pp. 105–06. 28. Thorndike genealogy, pp. 107–08; Guarino, Beacon Street, p. 129. 29. Thorndike genealogy, pp. 68–69. 30. Letter from Israel Thorndike to Mrs. Sarah Thorndike, Sept. 21, 1827 (Beverly Historical Society). 31. Will of Israel Thorndike, March 25, 1830 (Beverly Historical Society). 32. Will of Israel Thorndike, March 25, 1830 (Beverly Historical Society). 33. Will of Israel Thorndike, March 25, 1830 (Beverly Historical Society). 34. Will of Israel Thorndike, March 25, 1830 (Beverly Historical Society). 35. Will of Israel Thorndike, March 25, 1830 (Beverly Historical Society). 36. Stone, History of Beverly, p. 131.

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Hanson, George A., Old Kent: The Eastern Shore of Maryland, Baltimore, John P. DesForces, 1876. Kellogg, Warren, pub., Bay State Monthly, Old Summer Street, p. 345-346, Boston Mass, Sept. 1898, Feb. 1899. Lodge, Henry Cabot, Life and Letters of George Cabot, Boston, Little Brown & Co., 1878. Howe, Octavius Thorndike, Beverly Privateers of the American Revolution, Reprinted from The Publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, Vol. XXIV, Cambridge, John Wilson & Son, 1922. Hunt, Freeman, Hunt’s Merchant Magazine, Vol. II, (1839). Lowell, John, A Massachusetts Farmer, Thoughts in a Series of Letters in Answer to a Question Respecting the Division of the States, 1813. Lowell, John, A New England Farmer, Mr. Madison’s War, Boston, Russell and Cutler, 1812. Maier, Pauline, Ratification: The People Debate the Constitution, Simon & Schuster, 2011. McCullough, David, John Adams, Simon & Schuster, 2002. MacLay, Edgar Stanton, History of American Privateers, Sampson Low, Marston & Co., London, 1900. McLynn, Frank, Napoleon: A Biography, New York, Arcade Publishing, 1997. McManemin, John A., Captains of the Privateers During the Revolutionary Wars, Spring Lake, NJ, Ho Ho Kus Publishing Co., 1985. Meachem, Jon, Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power, Random House, 2012. Morrison, Samuel Eliot, Harrison Gray Otis, 1765–1848: The Urbane Federalist, Boston, Houghton Mifflin Co., 1969. Palmer, Joseph, Necrology of alumni of Harvard College, 1851–52 to 1862–63, Boston, John Wilson & Son, 1864. Pickering, Henry G., Nathaniel Goddard, The Riverside Press, 1906. Quincy, Josiah, Figures of the Past from the Leaves of Old Journals, Boston, Roberts Brothers, 1884. Preston, Daniel, The Papers of James Monroe: A Documentary History of the presidential tours of James Monroe, 1817, 1818, 1819, Greenwood Press, 2003. Richardson, Hester Dorsey, Sidelights of Maryland History, Vol. II, Baltimore, Williams and Wilkins, 1913. Rosenberg, Chaim, The Life and Times of Francis Cabot Lowell, Lexington Books, 2011. Skemp, Sheila, First Lady of Letters: Judith Sargent Murray and the Struggle for Female Independence, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2009. Stafford, Morgan Hewitt, Descendents of John Thorndike of Essex County, Ann Arbor, Mich., Edwards Bros., 1960. Stimson, A.L., History of the Express Business: Including the Origin of the Railway System in America, New York, Baker & Goodwin, 1881. Stone, Edwin M., History of Beverly, Civil and Ecclesiastical, from Its Settlement in 1630 to 1842, Boston, James Munroe & Co., 1843. Tagney, Ronald M., The World Turned Upside Down: Essex County During America’s Turbulent Years, 1763-1790, Essex County History, 1989. Vickers, Daniel, Farmers and Fisherman: Two Centuries of Work in Essex County, Massachusetts, 1630-1850, University of North Carolina Press, 1994. Wood, Gordon, Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789–1815, Oxford University Press, 2011.

Index

Abbott, William, 44, 45, 46 Adam, Alexander, 98 Adams, John, 132, 139, 153 Adams, John Quincy, 93, 94, 95, 103, 106, 130, 133, 147, 162, 163, 164 Alexander Hodgdon, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 72, 73, 74 Ames, Fisher, 78 Arabella, 5 Appleton, Nathan, 119, 125, 161

Brown, Elizabeth, 22, 43 Brown, Moses, 9, 17, 22, 24, 28, 36, 38, 43 Browne, William, 6

Bainbridge, William, 114 Batavia (Dutch East Indies), 68, 74 Batchelder, Josiah, 8, 9, 11, 18, 23 Beverly, 5, 6; American Revolution, and, 11, 15, 16, 17; Committee of Correspondence, 11; Constitutional Ratification Convention and, 32; Embargo and, 96; Jay Treaty and, 47; as Seagoing town, 7 Beverly Manufacturing Company, 36, 37, 38 Bilbao (Spain), 21 Boston, 5, 104; Real estate of, 160; Social scene of, 148, 161 Boston Manufacturing Company, 119, 125, 133, 142, 143, 145, 146, 151, 152, 157, 158 Boston Tea Party, 11 Bowdoin College, 77, 105 Brooks, Peter, 112, 114, 148, 153

Cabot, Andrew, 9, 23, 24, 28, 36, 41 Cabot, George, 9, 23, 24, 28, 31, 32, 33, 36, 37, 78, 79, 80, 93, 95, 97, 132, 148 Cabot, John, 9, 23, 24, 28, 31, 36 Cabot, Lydia, 41, 77 Cabot, Robert, 77 Cabot, Samuel, 52 Calcutta (India), 49, 55, 56 Canton (China), 49 China trade. See East India and China trade Cleaves, Nathaniel, 16 Clinton, DeWitt, 115 Cogswell, Joseph, 107, 144, 145 Coolidge, Joseph, 164 Cotting, Uriah, 119 Cyrus, 54, 55, 56, 58, 65 Dana, Sarah. See Thorndike, Sarah (wife) Dane, Nathan, 32, 78, 93, 95 Dallas, Alexander, 137 Dickason, Thomas, 46, 49, 56, 57, 58, 63, 64, 65, 67, 70, 71, 72, 75 Dodge, Anna (wife). See Thorndike, Anna Dodge, Caleb, 15 Dodge, George, 44, 52 Dutton, Warren, 119, 163

173

174

Index

Earl of Buchan, 98 East India and China trade, 48, 49, 54, 55, 56, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69 Ebeling Library, 147 Embargo Act of 1807, 88, 89, 91, 92, 93, 94, 96, 97 Essex Bridge, 31 Essex Junto, 78, 92, 93

Jackson, Andrew, 133, 162 Jackson, Charles, 119, 143, 163 Jackson, James, 119 Jackson, Patrick Tracy, 119, 125, 143, 146 Jay, John, 47 Jay Treaty, 47 Jefferson, Thomas, 42, 78, 80, 88, 89, 91, 93, 94, 95, 97, 162

Federalist Party, 61, 62, 80, 89, 91, 94, 95, 115, 133, 139, 140, 141, 142, 162, 163, 164 Fiske, John, 31 Francis, Ebenezer, 165, 167 Francis, Elizabeth (daughter), 23, 28, 165, 167 French Revolution, 43, 44

King, Rufus, 34, 80, 115, 140

Gage, Thomas, 11 Gardner, John, 86 Gerry, Elbridge, 107, 112 Gerrymandering, 107 Goodwin, William, 90, 91 Gore, Christopher, 114 Gore, John, 119 Gorham, Benjamin, 119, 143 Gottingen, University of, 144, 145 Gray, William, 112 Great Britain: Admiralty Courts of, 45, 46, 52, 73, 87; Seizure of American ships, 45, 46, 52, 72, 86, 87, 88 Greene, Gardiner, 148 Hamilton, Alexander, 37, 42 Hancock, John, 10, 33 Harraden, Jonathan, 19, 21 Harrison, William Henry, 124 Hartford Convention, 130, 132, 133 Harvard College, 125, 126, 127, 139, 144, 147 Henry, John, 97 Herrick, Henry, 8, 10, 11, 17 Higginson, Stephen, 78 Hill, Hugh, 24, 25, 26 Hilton, Hale, 41 Hull, Isaac, 114 Irving, David, 98 Isle de France, 68, 70, 72, 74

Lafayette, Marquis de, 161 Lear, Tobias, 41 Lee, Joseph, 8, 9 Leech, William, 54, 55, 56, 58, 99, 102 Leonard, John, 89, 90, 91 Lexington and Concord, Battle of, 15, 16 Lloyd, James, 95, 119, 138 Loring, Anna, 166, 167 Loring, William, 166 Louisiana Purchase, 78, 79, 80 Lowell, Francis, 89, 118, 119, 125, 138, 139, 142, 143 Lowell, John, 78, 89, 92, 95, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 130, 132, 138, 148, 163 Lowell (Massachusetts), 159, 161 Lyman, Theodore, 79, 148 Madison, James, 34, 95, 97, 108, 111, 112, 114, 115, 129, 137, 139 Marshall, John, 115 Massachusetts: Before the American Revolution, 10, 11; Colonial era, 5; Constitutional Convention of 1820, 153, 154; Constitutional Ratification Convention of 1787, 32, 33, 34, 35 Monroe, James, 140, 141, 142 Moody, Paul, 125, 158 Moulton, Tarbox, 52 Nantes (Frances), 21 Napoleon I, 53, 54, 87 Otis, Harrison Gray, 105, 106, 112, 114, 128, 129, 140, 149, 150, 152, 163, 164 Otis, Harrison Gray, Jr., 161 Otis, Sally. See Thorndike, Sally Otis, Sophia, 152

Index Parsons, Theophilus, 78, 93, 95 Penobscot expedition, 26, 27 Perkins, Thomas Handasyd, 148, 163 Perry, Oliver Hazard, 125 Phillips, John, 112 Pickman, Benjamin, 163 Plummer, Ernest, 86 Pickering, Timothy, 78, 79, 80, 91, 92, 95, 96, 128, 129, 130, 132, 137, 160 Pinckney, Charles, 80, 95 Prescot, William, 163, 164 Privateering, 17, 18, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 99, 100 Procter, Henry, 124 Quasi-War, 51, 52 Rantoul, Robert, 153 Rea, Joseph, 15 Revere, Paul, 54 Rogers, Robert, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104 Row, Thomas, 11 Royal High School of Edinburgh, 98, 99 Saint Lucia, 45, 46 Sargeant, Daniel, 132, 163 Sears, David, 64, 72, 148 Secession movement in New England, 79, 93, 94, 96, 97, 130, 132 Smith, Elias, 23 Somers, Thomas, 36 Sullivan, James, 89, 91 Sullivan, William, 114, 132, 163 Sumatra, 68 Stamp Act, 10 Steuart, George, 159 Steuart, Henrietta. See Thorndike, Henrietta Strong, Caleb, 62, 112 Swett, William, 23 Tariff of 1816, 137, 138, 139, 145, 146 Tea Act, 11 Tecumseh, 124 Thissel, John, 58, 75, 76 Thorndike, Andrew (father), 5, 6 Thorndike, Andrew (nephew), 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 72, 73, 74, 85, 89,

175

90, 91, 105 Thorndike, Andrew (son), 165; Character of, 165; Education of, 77; Inheritance of, 167, 168 Thorndike, Anna (daughter). See Loring, Anna Thorndike, Anna (mother), 5 Thorndike, Anna (wife), 28, 30, 38, 77; Death of, 146; as Household Manager, 50, 51 Thorndike, Augustus (son): Birth of, 77; Education of, 77, 97, 98, 99, 124, 125, 126, 127, 139; European travels of, 143, 144, 145, 146, 150, 151; Family of, 166; Inheritance of, 167, 168; Marriage to Henrietta Steuart, 159, 160; War of 1812 and, 120 Thorndike, Charles (son): Birth of, 50; Character of, 152, 160, 166; Education of, 77; Engagement to Sophia Otis, 152; Inheritance of, 167, 168; Marriage to Maria Purnell, 166 Thorndike, Edward (son): Birth of, 50; Children of, 141, 167; Death of, 141, 165; Education of, 77; in Ohio, 140, 141 Thorndike, Elizabeth (daughter). See Francis, Elizabeth Thorndike, Francis (son), 107, 165 Thorndike, George (son): Birth, 38; Death of, 106, 165; Education of, 50, 58, 77, 105; in Scandinavia, 99, 102, 103, 105 Thorndike, Henrietta, 159, 160 Thorndike, Henry (nephew), 140, 141 Thorndike, Israel: Agents of, 52, 69, 70, 71, 75; Beverly mansion of, 41, 142; Beverly Manufacturing Company, and, 36, 37, 38; Birth, 5; in Boston, 104, 105, 107; Boston mansion of,; Boston Manufacturing Company and, 118, 119, 125, 143, 145, 146, 157, 161; Business practices of, 47, 48, 62, 63, 73, 74, 75; Caribbean trade and, 47, 48; Character and Personality, 47, 56, 74, 169; and Children of, 50; Childhood and Education, 6, 7; Colonel, title of, 38; Constitutional Ratification Convention of 1787, and, 32, 33, 34, 35; and Cotton, 58, 65; Daily Life of, 148; and

176

Index

Daniel Webster, 139, 161, 165; Death of, 168, 169; Early Career, 7, 8, 9; East India and China trade and, 48, 49, 54, 55, 56, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69; Ebeling Library and, 147; Elitism of, 154; Embargo Act of 1807, and, 96; Employees, relationship with, 51, 62, 76; European trade and, 48; Essex Bridge, and, 31; Essex Junto, and, 78, 92, 95; as Federalist, 42, 58, 115, 140, 163; and Gerrymander, 107; Hosts James Monroe, 142; Hosts the Marquis de Lafayette, 161; Inheritance of, 9; Industrial Revolution and, 118, 119, 125, 143, 145, 146, 157, 161, 162; Jay Treaty, and, 47; Lexington and Concord, and, 16; Marriage to Anna Dodge, 28, 30; Marriage to Mercy Trask, 22, 23; Marriage to Sarah Dana, 146, 147; Massachusetts Constitutional Convention, delegate to, 153, 154; Massachusetts Navy, as officer in, 19, 20, 21; National Bank, and, 42; Partnership with Moses Brown, 9, 23, 24, 28, 30, 38, 43; Philanthropy of, 147; Physical Description of, 9, 148; as Presidential Elector, 115, 140; as Privateer, 18, 19, 23; Quasi War, 51, 52; Railroads and, 164; Real estate developments of, 160; Resumption of War in Europe, 1803, and, 67, 69, 70, 71; Secession and, 130; Seizure of vessels and, 44, 45, 46, 52, 72, 85, 86, 87, 99, 104; Semi-retirement of, 180103, 57, 58, 65, 67; Slave trade, 30, 31, 49; in State Legislature, 61, 62, 78, 80, 81, 89; Tariff of 1816 and, 137, 138; Testimony to Congress, 115, 116; Trading in the 1780s, 30; War of 1812 and, 112, 114, 127, 128, 129, 130; Wealth of, 9, 27, 28, 41, 56, 74, 160, 162, 169; Western lands of, 140, 141; Will of, 166, 167, 168 Thorndike, Israel, Jr.: Birth, 30; Death of wife and, 149, 150; Education of, 50, 77; Family of, 139, 165; Industrial Revolution and, 118, 119, 161; Inheritance of, 167, 168; as Merchant, 58, 77, 103, 105, 117; Marriage to Sally

Otis, 105, 106 Thorndike, Israel Augustus (nephew), 140, 141 Thorndike, John, 5, 6 Thorndike, Joseph (brother), 6, 63 Thorndike, Larkin (cousin), 23 Thorndike, Luke (nephew), 85, 86, 105 Thorndike, Mercy (wife), 22, 23, 28, 43 Thorndike, Luke (brother), 6, 7 Thorndike, Nicholas (cousin), 30, 49 Thorndike, Oliver (son), 150, 165 Thorndike, Paul (brother), 7 Thorndike, Sally (daughter-in-law), 105, 106; Death of, 149 Thorndike, Sarah (wife), 146, 147, 166, 167 Thorndike (Ohio), 140, 141 Tisdale, Elkanah, 107 Three Brothers, 44, 45, 46, 54 Ticknor, George, 144 Townshend Acts, 10 Trask, Elizabeth. See Brown, Elizabeth Trask, Mercy (wife). See Thorndike, Mercy Trask, Osman, 22 Upham, Phineas, 164 USS Chesapeake, 88, 94 USS Constitution, 114, 115 Vickery, Joshua, 11 War of 1812: Background to, 111; Campaigns of 1813, 124, 125; Campaigns of 1814, 128, 129; Declaration of War, 112; Early campaigns, 113; Opposition to, 112 Washington, George, 17, 27, 37, 47, 92 Webb, John, 77 Webster, Daniel, 138, 139, 153, 154, 158, 160, 161, 165 West, Nathaniel, 23, 26 White, Joseph, 31 Winthrop, John, 5 Wood, Joseph, 8, 32, 33