Four confirmed primary documents from the North Carolina signer who founded the Continental Navy, secured John Paul Jones his commission, and cast the decisive vote for independence in a moment John Adams never forgot.
Joseph Hewes was born in Princeton, New Jersey on July 9, 1730, the son of Quaker parents. He left his faith, Quakers opposed the war, and moved to Edenton, North Carolina around 1755, where he built a profitable shipping and mercantile business. His entire commercial fleet was eventually placed at the disposal of the Continental forces.
Elected to the Continental Congress in 1774, Hewes initially opposed independence. His instructions from North Carolina's provincial congress were explicit: argue for colonial rights, support a boycott of British goods, but do not vote for separation without prior state approval. By 1775, the King had declared the colonies in rebellion and Parliament had passed the Prohibitory Act seizing American ships. Hewes wrote to a colleague: "I see no prospect of a reconciliation. Nothing is left but to fight it out."
I had the Honour to serve with him upon the naval Committee, who laid the first Foundations, the Corner Stone of an American navy, by fitting to Sea the Alfred, Columbus, Cabott, Andrew Doria, Providence, and several others. He has a sharp Eye and keen, penetrating Sense, but what is of much more Value is a Man of Honour and Integrity.
On October 5, 1775, Congress voted to arm four vessels. A Naval Committee of seven was formed. Hewes was among them, alongside John Adams, Stephen Hopkins, Richard Henry Lee, and Christopher Gadsden. Hewes chaired the committee and served as its de facto secretary, keeping its business records and conducting much of its correspondence. He also placed his own ships into Continental service. Eight armed vessels were fitted out with funds under his direct supervision.
Hewes promoted his Virginia friend John Paul Jones for one of the captain positions in the new Navy. Adams wanted all captains to be New Englanders and prevailed on the argument that the South had already received a concession in the selection of Washington to command the Army. Jones received only a lieutenant's commission. He went on to become the most celebrated naval officer of the Revolution, and in his letters described Hewes as the man who made his career possible.
You are the angel of my happiness; since to your friendship I owe my present enjoyments, as well as my prospects. You more than any other person have labored to place the instruments of success in my hands.
The independence vote on July 2, 1776 was the moment of maximum pressure on Hewes. North Carolina had authorized its delegates to vote for independence in April, but Hewes had spent months resistant. John Adams, writing in a letter to William Plumer in 1813, described what he witnessed on the floor of Congress during the debate. The letter is at Founders Online.
The measure had been upon the carpet for several months, and obstinately opposed from day to day. For many days the majority depended on Mr. Hewes, of North Carolina. While a member one day was speaking, and reading documents from all of the colonies to prove that the public opinion, the general sense of all, was in favor of the measure, when he came to North Carolina, and produced letters and public proceedings which demonstrated the majority of that colony were in favor of it, Mr. Hewes, who had hitherto constantly voted against it, started suddenly upright, and lifting up both his hands to Heaven, as if he had been in a trance, cried out, "It is done! and I will abide by it." I would give more for a perfect painting of the terror and horror upon the faces of the old majority, at that critical moment, than for the best piece of Raphael.
Six days after the vote, Hewes wrote from Philadelphia about the physical and emotional cost of the session. The letter documents what he had carried through the months of deliberation. His papers from this period are at the LOC House Archives.
He returned to Congress in 1779 after a period of absence, continuing to serve until his death in Philadelphia on November 10, 1779, at age forty-nine. He was one of only a handful of signers to die before the war ended. He never married, his fiancée had died before their wedding date years before, and he remained a bachelor. He is buried at Christ Church Burial Ground in Philadelphia, alongside Benjamin Franklin, Benjamin Rush, Francis Hopkinson, and George Ross.
I had the weight of North Carolina on my shoulders within a day or two of three months. The service was too severe. I have sat some days from Six in the morning till five, and sometimes Six in the afternoon without eating or drinking. My health is bad, such close attention made it worse.