John Wilkes Richmond

Background

John Wilkes Richmond was born on September 25, 1775 in Little Compton, Rhode Island, son of Dr Benjamin and Sarah (Church) Richmond, and a descendant of John Richmond who settled in Taunton, Massachussets, in 1637.

Education

John Wilkes Richmond graduated from Brown University, then Rhode Island College, in 1794.

Career

After studying medicine with his father, he began its practice in Portsmouth, Rhode Island.

Soon he removed to Providence, where for the ensuing forty years he occupied a prominent place in the professional and public life of the city. The state had issued to individuals notes estimated at more than £153, 047 and, although partial payment had been made in the state's unstable currency, and $200, 000 of the whole debt had been assumed by the United States, additional notes had been issued on the balance.

When in 1844 it became apparent that the state no longer acknowledged the debt, the feeling among the note-holders against this act of repudiation became intense. Himself a holder of original and purchased notes - there had been much speculation in them - Richmond became the most ardent spokesman of these "creditors of the State. " The general assembly, however, refused to grant petitions presented by him in 1845, 1846, 1847, and 1848, and frustrated every attempt to secure a judicial investigation of the case.

Failing to procure legislative or judicial action, Richmond appealed to public opinion through the press. In addition to pamphlets and many newspaper articles, he published in 1848 a book entitled The History of the Registered State Debt of Rhode Island, and in 1855, a revised edition of the same work, entitled Rhode Island Repudiation or the History of the Revolutionary Debt of Rhode Island. Sorely disappointed at the failure of an ingenious stratagem devised to bring the case into the courts. ashamed and disgusted with the state's "abandonment of a Just and Acknowledged demand, " Richmond determined to withdraw from the community. In 1851 he removed himself and his family to Stonington, Connecticut.

On his way home from the inauguration ceremonies of James Buchanan, he died in Philadelphia. He is buried in Stonington, and his monument, erected by himself, bears the following inscription: "When Rhode Island, by her legislature from 1844 to 1850 Repudiated her Revolutionary Debt, Dr. Richmond removed from that State to this Borough and selected this as his family burying place, unwilling that the remains of himself and family should be disgraced by being a part of the common earth of a Repudiating State. "

Achievements

• Richmond is chiefly remembered for his conspicuous endeavor, during the later part of his life, to secure the payment of the Revolutionary debt of Rhode Island.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Rhode Island Repudiation: Or, the History of the Revolutionary Debt of Rhode Island

    (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

  • Rhode Island repudiation, or, The history of the revolutionary debt of Rhode Island: in three chapters.

    (Title: Rhode Island repudiation, or, The history of the r...)

  • Facts Relative to the Political and Moral Claims of Wilkins Updike: For the Support of the Whig Electors of the Western District

    (This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before ...)

  • History Of The Registered State Debt Of Rhode-island, In Three Chapters...

    (This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)

Connections

He was married, first, in November 1804, to Mary Nichols, daughter of Aaron and Mary (Nichols) Sheffield, who died in 1812; second, in April 1815, to Henrietta (Shaw) Bours, widow of John Bours and daughter of William Shaw of Newport.

Father:

Benjamin Richmond

Mother:

Sarah (Church) Richmond

Spouse:

Mary Nichols

Spouse:

Henrietta (Shaw) Bours