Isaac Franklin: America’s Billionaire Slave Trader
By: Vishnu A
Tags: Trade, Humanity, History, Slavery, Billionaires

Isaac Franklin: America’s Billionaire Slave Trader

A forerunner of America’s long-forgotten slave-trading past

An Advertisement for the trade of slaves, Source: Wikimedia

Slavery has been an integral part of almost every flourishing society of the past, wherein the rich & powerful oppressed and exploited the weaker sections of society in an attempt to acquire more money and satisfy their greed for wealth.

The Portuguese colonisers were the first to bring forth the idea of abducting native people and sending them forcefully, to work on their plantations across the continents.

Representation of African slaves being loaded onto a colonisers ship; Source: Pic

Soon every other European coloniser followed suit and began forcefully shipping individuals of the weaker sections of the society to their respective colonies which were spread all across the globe. The colonisers noted that it was highly cost-effective to make helpless-slaves work on their plantations for free instead of hiring normal workers.

This concept of using unpaid slaves to work in various agricultural and industrial sectors spread like wildfire and within no time slavery was being practised in numerous countries across the globe, the American society being no exception from this evil practice. This social evil was embedded in the society to such an extent that, some American presidents, despite residing in the White House had enslaved individuals who were forced to toil for hours together for their masters unquestionably.

American president George Washington with his slaves; Source: Pic

These enslaved individuals lacked basic human rights and were made to slog like animals on the plantations owned by the wealthy & educated white families (with a few exceptions though). One of the primary reasons for their enslavement was their dark skin colour which they had no control off but were unconditionally forced to pay a heavy price for it. They were always shown-down and humiliated by the whites who considered dark skin colour to be a symbol of inferiority.

A slave along with her child in her in an undated image; Source: Pic

Further in 1662, the atrocious Virginia slaves law was passed which declared that, if an enslaved women gave birth to a child, then the person who owned the women was entitled to decide whether to, let the child remain with the mother or be sold away on the slave market. This law gave the slave traders a new loophole to earn money. The women slaves were now forcibly separated from their families and impregnated by the traders themselves. These pregnant women would then be sold for a price, higher than usual asserting that she is due to gift the owner with another generation of slaves. The unsold women slaves would be caged in slave-holding pens until they gave birth to a healthy baby who was then sold in the slave markets a few months later, similar to that of an everyday commodity. This cycle of using caged women slaves to produce newer generations of slaves kept continuing until the women perished out of exhaustion, only to be replaced by a new one.

The cellar from the slaveholding pen owned by Isaac Franklin and John Armfield; Source: Pic

Enter Isaac Franklin:

Isaac Franklin in an undated image; Source: Pic

Isaac Franklin was born on May 26 1789, at Pilot’s Knob Plantation on Station Camp Creek in Sumner County, Tennessee.

His father, James Franklin (1755–1828), had relocated from Baltimore, Maryland and served in the army during the Revolutionary War. After the war, the State of North Carolina awarded him 640 acres (2.6 km²) of land for his exemplary service (North Carolina then claimed Tennessee as part of its western territory). A vast part of this awarded land was converted into plantations, however since James Franklin was continually away from home for military purposes it was his son Isaac Franklin who was taking care of all the plantations related responsibilities like employing slaves, making sure that they don’t steal the agricultural produce, selling the produce to the nearby markets at profitable prices etc.

In 1808 during the harvest period, Isaac’s mother fell seriously ill. He was no longer able to focus on tending to the duties related to plantations therefore after the year’s produce was harvested and sold, he rented out all his workers to the nearby plantations.

This is when Issac realised that he could earn better profits by renting out his plantation workers than going through the gruesome process of cultivating crops throughout the year. So in 1810, he gave up taking care of plantations and began renting out all his plantation workers to nearby plantations. At this juncture, his father James Franklin had returned home and insisted that he should look at rendering his services to the army. Though at first Isaac was reluctant to enrol himself in the army he gave in to his father’s request and enrolled himself into the army.

A painting depicting the War of 1812; Source: Pic

So he began serving in the army and went on to battle for America during the War of 1812 in which he was badly wounded and was forced to 7 months of bed rest. This is when he earnestly returned to the slave trade and made it his full-time work.

Establishing Franklin & Armfield Slave Trading Firm:

The Franklin and Armfield house where slaves were stored in the cellar; Source: Pic

In 1828 Isaac Franklin’s father passed away leaving massive wealth and a large portion of his plantations for Issac. He along with his nephew John Armfield established a slave-trading firm; “Franklin & Armfield” in Alexandria financed by the fortune he acquired from his father.

The Fairvue plantation owned by Isaac Franklin; Source: Pic

Numerous branch offices were opened in all the prime locations and in a very short span of time, the firm became synonymous to slave trading and went on to become one of the most successful slave-trading firms of the country. The duo were soon selling slaves to various high profile politicians and business owners with at exorbitant prices. By 1832 the two companions were the undisputed tycoons of the slave trade with an economic impact so profound that nearly five per cent of all business credit available in the state-owned public sector banks was routed through their slave-trading firm. Several leading newspapers of the period described the duo as extremely successful businesses men with visionary leadership skills.

Wealth Attracts Power:

The staggering amount of wealth Isaac Franklin and John Armfield had amassed through selling slaves enticed numerous politicians and wealthy merchants to begin their own slave-trading business firms. This saw a massive increment in the number of slave trading businesses being set up and to meet the rising demand slaves were being captured and shipped across at breathtaking rates.

Within no time slave trade was one of the primary sources of funding for major political parties, the Churches, development activities in the United States, maintenance of the army and also setting up colonies overseas.

Inhumane Treatment:

Today there is very little evidence to back the fact that slaves were actually mistreated, after all the efforts of the elite class to erase these events from the pages of history.

A painting depicting how men and women slaves were stripped naked when aboard the slave ship to incite the feeling of inferiority; Source: Pic

Their gruesome journey began in Africa where the individuals were separated from their families, whipped until they became physically weak to fight back the traders then chained and boarded on to ships. On the ships, they had to endure the most sickening conditions like mistreatment by the crew, rape and danger of contracting deadly diseases due to unhygienic condition. The individuals who protested against this practice on the ship were thrown into the ocean so that they do not inspire others to do the same.

A woman being branded based on her physical looks; Source: Pic

Once ashore after months of the journey at seas, they were being bought by traders like Isaac Franklin who would then segregate men, women and children.

Women would undergo an extra round of segregation wherein the visually appealing, youthful ones would be separated from the others. These women were then branded as “fancy maids” signifying the potential for sexual exploitation and shipped across the country as gifts for pleasing high profile politicians, business owners, judges and otherwise sold at a premium cost. Some recovered letters sent between Issac Franklin and John Armfield indicate that they fathered children with several fancy maids but never accepted it publically.

Life After Retirement:

In 1835 Franklin retired from the slave-trading business with a jaw-dropping 10,800 acres of land and a bank balance of several thousands of dollars (around $24 billion in today’s currency) in his possession. After his retirement, he publically accepted to have fathered a child with a fancy maid named Lucinda who he had been raping for about 5 years, who was still residing with him.

A painting of Adelicia Hayes; Source: Pic

At the age of 50, he married Adelicia Hayes (22 years old), daughter of Oliver Bliss Hayes, who was a Nashville Presbyterian minister. Soon after his wedding, he sold Lucinda and her child to Adelicia Hayes’s father who in turn gifted the enslaved women and her child to an Englishman, whose fates remain unknown till date.

Isaac fathered 4 children with Adelicia Hayes of which none of them survived beyond the age of 10. Seven years into his marriage he passed away following a brief illness. This followed a bitter legal battle between his wife and business partner John Armfield regarding the ownership of his assets.

The court orders soon came in favour of Adelicia Hayes which made her the wealthiest women in Tennessee. In 1849 she married Joseph Alexander Smith Acklen who together had six children.

Final Thoughts:

We may seemingly never be able to comprehend the sentiments of all those millions of young men and women who were shoved into slavery and had to give up on their dreams and pursuits, solely because of their skin colour. At times like this, it is good to remind ourselves that there were indeed several people who have committed heinous and got away with it without any repercussions.

Despite all atrocities that were committed by Isaac Franklin he lived his entire life without being confronted about his barbaric profession which was a reason for sufferings for several thousand human beings. He enjoyed the reputation of being a well-mannered gentleman and with most of his friends belonging to the top tier social circles who frequently threw out extravagant parties in the name of raising funds for social charities and helping the society. He indeed lived a life of hypocrisy and met his very end without being penalised even once for all the lives he had ruined.