1776 A VIEW FROM A SLAVES CABIN...

An American colonial plantation typical of the kind constructed in the countryside of Philidelphia in the 18th Century. 

Benjamin had been working since 4:00 A.M. to get Mr. Jefferson’s effects together for the next day.  On such official trips as this one this would have included his portable writing desk including all of the accessories such as ink, parchment, wax, at least six quills for writing, a silver letter opener, (freshly sharpened and polished) a couple of candles and two silver candle holders.  His master’s wig must be powdered; his breeches, waistcoat, cravat, hat, shoes and buckles must all be made ready for an early morning departure.  His master had dined in the countryside just outside of Philadelphia last night at a gracious plantation and so Jefferson would be delivered back to congress in a luxurious carriage but Benjamin would ride his horse in tow.  Furthermore, the horse, Trajan, would need to be fed early and groomed for trip into town. 

Thomas Jefferson's portable writing desk

Benjamin was up early and he was fully refreshed because he did not have to wait upon Mr. Jefferson last night as the hospitality of the house servants had fully accommodated him.  Sometimes when he had free time in the evening, traveling with Mr. Jefferson, he would wander into a rare tavern owned and patronized by free men of color and there exchange stories of his travels with the locals there.  Tonight he dusted off his city clothes and jumped right onto Trajan headed back to Philadelphia for just a couple of hours thinking to get back early enough so that he would go to bed by 8:00 P.M. 

Map of Colonial  Philadelphia,  Blacks had settled to the north and south of the city just outside the grid.

Once he entered the city on the northwest end it was nothing for him to locate the quaint little tavern on the southeast end just before the outskirts of town.  It was located within a row of industrial buildings used to store grain and other retail produce prior to being shipped out of The Port of Philadelphia to the entire world.  There a group of Black farmers and businessmen had owned some land and a small import-export business shipping commodities between Haiti, Jamaica, a dozen other small Caribbean islands and the mainland of the American colonies.  The buildings were owned by a Black entrepreneur named Rev. Richard Allen, a prominent minister and proprietor of considerable rental properties.  Benjamin had actually negotiated rental arrangements between his master, Mr. Jefferson and Messrs. Allen and Jones to lease a small two story carriage house with an adjoining workshop which Mr. Jefferson used for storage and to manufacture many of his inventions, or at least to have them manufactured.  Also, the premises doubled as comfortable lodgings for Benjamin during protracted stays in Philadelphia which were becoming more frequent since the first debacle between the small Revolutionary Army and the Redcoats in 1775.  His head was already awash with the mumblings and grumblings of Mr. Jefferson concerning the Colony of New York’s failure to come on board with the Revolution before its ratification by Congress, which had inadvertently voted to support it in spite of them.  But most of all he was gravely distressed that essential wordage regarding the abolition of slavery had been edited from the Declaration of Independence at the 11^th hour…  When the gravity of Jefferson’s ramblings became fully clear to him his heart sank, nonetheless and especially owing to this unfortunate turn of events he was all to happy to be rid of his masters care if only for a few hours to gain some lucidity for himself… a clarity that he would do well to be sure, would not become clouded by too much rum…

The tavern was little more than a long shed with a low wooden roof having huge roughly hewn beams running from a low, crudely fashioned masonry wall along the high end to a lower wall of timber.  The beams rested upon enormous wooden posts with the axe marks still clearly incised upon their visage.  At the entrance there was a small sign painted hastily upon a short wooden plank that read, “Gumbs Tavern” with an image of a well-dressed Black man holding up an oversized pint of beer.  Along the high-walled side of the tavern opened a huge fireplace fully outfitted as if it had been once the kitchen of a great hall.  The pit of its chimney extended out and a low granite bench encompassed the fire pit covered by a great hood of stone projecting out from the masonry wall on great stone brackets.  There were no windows at all save a small peep-hole gashed into the doorway just at eye level.  Provisions were stored in a large cellar underneath the floor and running its entire length; the floor had therefore a hollow rickety sound as one walked upon it and a cool, dry earthy smell wafted up from between the old shrunken floor boards at times or if the hatch doors were opened outside when someone had to climb down the ladder into the deeply dug cellar for provisions. 

Benjamin checked his fine French pocket watch given to him by Mr. Jefferson after one of his trips abroad, discovering that he had arrived at approximately 6:15 P.M.  When he arrived he sat down at a long low wooden table where a fresh pint had already been set for him.  His arrival was betrayed as he tied Trajan up.  The horse was restless for some strange reason and was furthermore very vocal about it.  He was nearly two sips into the elixir when two familiar faces walked his way joining him each with a pint of their own.  Absalom Jones and Richard Allen sat across from him eyeing his mood… quietly assessing him but withholding their greetings for some reason, he knew not why.  Strangely and to his amazement the gentlemen without ever greeting him formally simply burst forth with the same question. 

“So what news of Congress?  Will the Colonies declare independence from Great Britain? When will Black men be given their equal rights with white men?”

Benjamin stared at them for some few seconds gauging their moods as well… without an utterance he emptied the pint never allowing his eyes to unlock their welded glance upon the men.  As if it had been anticipated, a man standing behind Benjamin immediately replaced the pint and Benjamin also emptied it straightly as he did the first before responding,

“We are now free from Great Britain but are thus enslaved to America… they have cut us out of the deal.  My master recited to me the very passages that would have bathed us in the sweet perfume freedom and had he not been so distraught himself, having been forced to compromise our liberty you should have smelled me from miles away, the olfaction of freedom so very potent upon my presence.  I come from a lovely plantation just outside the northwest corner of this city where he has retired the night, himself to recover from this untimely betrayal to justice, to drink and to curse fate as we do here.  Our brothers fight in this war as do white men but they fight only to perpetuate their unholy condition.  Would that I could summon them here now to plead again our cause… but would it matter to those who see only a shilling?”

By now Benjamin was standing up, the two entrepreneurs were still standing awed and profoundly bruised by the tidings of the hour.  Their brows heavied with the grievousness of a dreadful loss… one that could not be quantified by money or numbers nor thereby sated… 
Turning around Benjamin noticed that none other than his mentor had been serving him.  Benjamin had become connected with the local black entrepreneurs of Philadelphia through his mentor.  To his surprise these men were now all gathering at Gumbs Tavern to discuss the troubling news that had bought him hither though at the time they did not know the outcome until this very moment Benjamin had been keeping them all abreast of the news...

Benjamin woke Thomas Jefferson early that morning around 6:00 A.M. for an early breakfast he had arranged to be prepared by the servants.  Jefferson ate alone and was waited upon only by Benjamin.  After he had dressed his master he implored him to take ten minutes to gather his thoughts and his, “Owns and Earns” as he called them referring to all the things that Jefferson ritually bought along with him even on the shortest and simplest of trips anywhere…   Benjamin truly loved his master and Jefferson loved Benjamin, it was a complex companionship, a brotherhood which under any other circumstances save those that defined them as slave and master would have allowed them to speak freely at this time.  Jefferson looked at Benjamin as an equal if only for an instant, and apologized for what appeared to be a preternatural glitch in the fate of men, one apparently out of his power to change.  He had filled his heart with such imaginings…  He asked him how he felt… knowing the answer…  Benjamin looked at Jefferson for a time and then spoke…

 “I had seen great things to come, great hopes for black people and for white people as well… It was a beautiful view but nothing more than a view from a slaves cabin…”

FIN

Written by David Vollin on 7-4-12