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4x7½" holograph document receipt for payment of 3 days labor for 2 negroes in Newport,R.I. in pounds,  June 22, 1768. 

The receipt issued by Mary Updike to Samuel & William Vernon of Newport, who were members of an early family who entered business together, eventually establishing themselves as prominent merchants in pre-Revolutionary Newport. The Vernon brothers made a name for themselves by successfully utilizing the “triangle trade” in slave trading. Their first ship, was ironically named the “Olive Branch”. The brothers also owned the “Hare”, a ship whose participation in the American slave trade is well documented. Incredible profits were made by purchasing slaves in Africa with rum from the colonies, selling those slaves in the West Indies, using those profits to purchase molasses from those ports before buying more rum in the colonies, continuing the triangular cycle of trade. They also were known as the first merchants to sell African slaves directly to the Southern colonies instead of the West Indies. The Vernons were also early supporters of the Revolution, and William was appointed to the Continental Congress, and personally contributed some of his own wealth to the cause. Interesting that this document shows that they actually paid for their own Negro help at home while trading in slaves as big business. Provenance: The Calvin Otto Collection.