The Changing Tides of Support for Pirates in America

Early Americans’ support for piracy and pirates could shift like the tides. When piracy resulted in rare and/or highly desirable goods being made available at acceptable prices, early Americans might have chosen to support or at least overlook pirates and their ill-gotten gains in the forms of currency to spend in local establishments and stolen merchandise that might be sold to local merchants and other buyers. But when piracy affected their own ships and their own cargoes, those same Americans and the authorities could become decidedly less tolerant and far more likely to treat pirates less like celebrities and more like outlaws.

Case in point is a prominent example to be found in the history of the Rhode Island coastal city of Newport. There on July 19, 1723, twenty-six pirates were executed for their crimes. For a glimpse into the history of pirates in Newport, check out this guest post by Emily DeFazio to the Newport Historical Society blog.

“That Awful Spectacle”: Masking the City-by-the-Sea’s Piratical Past

https://newporthistory.org/that-awful-spectacle-masking-the-city-by-the-seas-piratical-past/