American Sanctuary: Mutiny, Martyrdom, and National Identity in the Age of Revolution

by A. Roger Ekirch

From “one of the most wide-ranging and imaginative historians in America today; there is no one else quite like him in the profession” (Gordon S. Wood)—a dazzling and original work of history. A. Roger Ekirch’s American Sanctuary begins in 1797 with the bloodiest mutiny ever suffered by the Royal Navy—on the British frigate HMS Hermione, four thousand miles from England’s shores, off the western coast of Puerto Rico. In the midst of the most storied epoch in British seafaring history, the mutiny struck at the very heart of military authority and at Britain’s hierarchical social order. Revolution was in the America had won its War of Independence, the French Revolution was still unfolding, and a ferocious rebellion loomed in Ireland, with countless dissidents already arrested. Most of the Hermione mutineers had scattered throughout the North Atlantic; one of them, Jonathan Robbins, had made his way to American shores, and the British were asking for his extradition. Robbins let it be known that he was an American citizen from Danbury, Connecticut, and that he had been impressed into service by the British. John Adams, the Federalist successor to Washington as president, in one of the most catastrophic blunders of his administration, sanctioned Robbins’s extradition, according to the terms of the Jay Treaty of 1794. Convicted of murder and piracy by a court-martial in Jamaica, Robbins was sentenced by the British to death, hauled up on the fore yardarm of the frigate Acasta, blindfolded with his hands tied behind his back, and hanged. Adams’s miscalculation ignited a political firestorm, only to be fanned by news of Robbins’s execution without his constitutional rights of due process and trial by jury. Thomas Jefferson, then vice president and leader of the emergent Republican Party, said, “No one circumstance since the establishment of our government has affected the popular mind more.” Congressional Republicans tried to censure Adams, and the Federalist majority, in a bitter blow to the president, were unable to muster a vote of confidence condoning Robbins’s surrender.  American Sanctuary brilliantly lays out in full detail the story of how the Robbins affair and the presidential campaign of 1800 inflamed the new nation and set in motion a constitutional crisis, resulting in Adams’s defeat and Jefferson’s election as the third president of the United States. Ekirch writes that the aftershocks of Robbins’s martyrdom helped to shape the infant republic’s identity in the way Americans envisioned themselves. We see how the Hermione crisis led directly to the country’s historic decision to grant political asylum to refugees from foreign governments—a major achievement in fulfilling the resonant promise of American independence, as voiced by Tom Paine, to provide “an asylum for mankind

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History, American Revolutionary War, Military History, Audiobook, Americana

300 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 21, 2017

Reviews

[Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book, American Sanctuary” by A. Roger Ekirch, deals with the Jay Treaty of 1795 which provided for extradition for very few crimes. Murder was one crime which extradition was allowed. On the night of 21 September 1797, the men of the 32-gun British frigate HMS Hermione, then in the Mona Passage, mutinied, killing the Captain High Pigot and many of his officers. They took the ship into La Guira, Venezuela. The men scattered throughout the Americas, with the British Navy determined to hunt them down. An Irishman, named Thomas Nash, sailed into Charleston, South Carolina, on board a merchant ship. The British Consul requested his arrest for the murder of Pigot. He was detained. Nash claimed to be Jonathan Robbins of Danbury, Connecticut, and asserted that he had been forcibly impressed into the British Navy providing him with a good defense. Nash’s/Robbin’s lawyer failed to seek records from Connecticut to substantiate his nationality claim or raise the question of whether U.S. courts should exercise jurisdiction. The federal judge in Charleston, Thomas Bee, gave up Nash to the British, and he was duly tried, convicted, and hanged. President John Adams was not sympathetic to Nash’s claim.

In three other cases of Hermione mutineers apprehended in New Jersey, the Attorney General, Charles Lee, opined the United States had no obligation to return the suspected mutineers and they were not turned over to the British. Soon Nash/Robbins came to be seen as a symbol of resistance to impressment and to British authority. The United States was supposed to be the land of asylum, a safe haven for the oppressed of all nations. Jefferson’s Republican Party pushed the cause of Asylum against Adams’ administration. Asylum was a leading issue during the Adams-Jefferson election of 1800.

The book is well written and meticulously researched. It is thoughtfully connected to major themes in American history. Ekirch wrote in such a way as to bring to life the story of the mutiny as if it was novel. Roger Ekirch is a professor at Virginia Tech University. This is a dramatic story which echoes down to the present day. The book was a delight to read and covers important issues relatable today’s current topics. The book is 236 pages and published in 2017 by Pantheon Books. I read this in hardback format.

[Miles Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a history of the Robbins Affair. In 1797 the United States extradited a man claiming to be a US citizen to Britain. The evidence showed that he was in fact a British sailor who had participated in a murderous mutiny, but the political fallout over whether the US should ever hand anyone over to a foreign government for trial rocked the new republic and contributed to the fall of John Adams' presidency and the Federalist Party. The style is a bit clunky and the writing is not neccesarily sparking, but this is a good history that argues an important thesis that is relevant not just for historians of the United States but also for political scientists.

[Michele Longo · Rating 5 out of 5]

As Historian Gordon Wood said, "a fascinating account of mutiny, martyrdom and politics in the early American republic.." Ekirch writes with "the flair of a seasoned novelist..actually a superb historian."
Beautiful prose and an engaging read, the story of the political battles of Adams and Jefferson in the 1800 election, as well as legal battles relating to immigration, bring to mind the conflicts in today's presidential politics. Just published last week, this will be an award winner.

[Mike Sigler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well documented history of a little known event that led at least in part to Jefferson’s defeat of John Adams for a second term. First half or so easy to read but the last third or so was a bit challenging to follow with Ekirch’s descriptions of interacting political events

[E · Rating 3 out of 5]

Goodreads' very length synopsis of this book is worth reading; certainly much better than anything I could add. This book lays out the mutiny and its aftermath well. Then it really drags on (the mutiny is only the first third of the book). Ekirch probably overstates the impact the Robbins case had on the 1800 presidential election; he could have better described the Jay Treaty and its effects. However, I greatly enjoyed his detailed descriptions of the some of the goings on of the 5th and 6th U.S. Congresses, especially the various ways in which the Federalist/Republican divide affected the way in which the congressmen reacted to many of these issues. We today might think that more common sense might have been in order, but later generations might say the same thing about the 115th Congress!

I have mixed feelings about the heart of the issue. Should the US have turned over a supposed American citizen who was pressed onto service into a Royal Navy frigate and then mutinied (and perhaps murdered)? Despite opinions on the issue, no one can argue that the actual court case in Charleston that decided against Robbins was a joke. He was dead on a British yardarm just a short time later, and by then it became a philosophical discussion. Yet it greatly affected Anglo-American relations, and perhaps helped to precipitate the War of 1812 (especially the issue of impressment).

So this book, despite its weaknesses, was a valuable window into early American history. I recommend it to anyone interested in that period.

[Raully · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is interesting how the past is a funhouse-mirror reflection of the present. This book recounts a time in American history of intense partisanship, apocalyptic fears of foreign powers, dishonest media intent on electioneering, and xenophobic fears of who is "really American." Or, to be more specific, about how John Adams' decision to extradite a mutineer to the British for execution was used by Jefferson's Republicans to turn the 1800 election in their favor. Strongly recommended.

[Gerry Connolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

American Sanctuary is A. Roger Ekirich’s recounting of the mutiny aboard the HMS Hermione in 1799 that led to the American extradition of Jonathan Robbins aka Thomas Nash who allegedly murdered Hermione’s brutal captain and led the mutiny. The extradition led to Robbins execution by the British and became a cause celebre in the 1800 election throwing New York to Jefferson who prevailed over Adams. Extradition has been a controversial issue for Americans ever since.

[Carmen Cocar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though my interest was minimally piqued, I respect the massive research evidenced throughout this book.

[Autumn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Deep dive into the origins of American extradition policy, but also a compelling story on the high seas and in the halls of early USA government.

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really expanded my sense of the Adams/Jefferson contest for the Presidency beyond the pale history normally presented in addition to laying out the developing nationalism and pride of place.

[Jonathan Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting study of a truly little-known but apparently quite influential episode in early American history. In those days, when the British were routinely engaged in naval impressment even of the citizens of other nations to staff their ships, an extremely bloody and brutal mutiny in the Caribbean aboard the HMS Hermione changed the course of American history.

A. Roger Ekirch details powerfully, with all the information that survives (which is surprisingly plenty), how one mutineer found himself on American soil and at the heart of a court battle over extradition - for while the British claimed he was an Irishman named Thomas Nash, he came around to claiming he was an impressed American citizen named Jonathan Robbins.

Not to spoil how it turned out, but the resulting decision, with claims of political interference at the highest level, ballooned into a scandal for President John Adams and was a major factor in the 1800 presidential election. This one episode encapsulated many debates about the still-new republic's place on the world stage, its attitudes toward liberty for all, and much more. And while this isn't my favorite Ekirch book (that honor goes to At Day's Close: Night in Times Past ), it's still well worth your time.

[Tom · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I shall happily bow to A. Roger Ekirch, the researcher, for bringing together a fascinating piece of maritime history, I fear that Ekrich the writer is turgid beyond belief....making what should have been a truly interesting piece of work a struggle to finish. Why? Truthfully, I don't know, but I can't recommend this effort to anyone but the Revolutionary Legal Scholar, or someone of my own professional background in naval history during the late 18th and early 19th Centuries. Sloooowww...

[Larry · Rating 4 out of 5]

The bloodiest mutiny in the history of the British navy (that on board the HMS Hermione in 1797) became a side issue in the hotly contested election of 1800 over the US government's surrender to Great Britain of a wanted man who had led the mutiny. Ekirch's treatment of the original crime and of its political consequences is interesting and well researched, though it sometimes wanders.

[Ivor Armistead · Rating 2 out of 5]

Historians should make every effort to tell their tales with as little of their own political bias as possible. In "American Sanctuary" Mr. Ekirch failed in this effort, if he tried at all.

The story of the mutiny on the HMS Hermione is an interesting one, and subsequent efforts by the British navy to bring the mutineers to justice is quite understandable. What nation wouldn't?

"American Sanctuary" tells the story with a major focus on the decision by a US Federal Judge to extradite a member of Hermione's crew who was arrested in the United States. The decision turns on an interpretation of extradition provisions of a Treaty between the US and Britain. President Adams made the view of the Executive Branch known to the Court before the decision. The case received, as Ekirch goes on to tell, in excruciating detail, a great deal of press and was an issue in the election of 1800 which saw Thomas Jefferson defeat John Adams for the Presidency.

Unfortunately, Mr. Ekirch's book, which likes the Republican partisans of the day, paints the extradition of the sailor (who was alleged to have been and American citizen impressed into the British Navy) as a horrible miscarriage of justice, fails to delve into the critical legal issues actually before the court. This may be a point that only a lawyer could love, but it's critical to the decision. Instead of portraying the judge as a witless tool of a morally corrupt Executive, one might look at the judge as a careful jurist courageously applying the law as he understood it, in the face of popular opinion and a rabid press. Apparently, however, this alternative analysis does not fit with Mr. Ekirch's world view.