Aaron Lopez: Sephardic Merchant, Jewish Community Leader, and Key Figure in the Colonial Slave Trade
Aaron Lopez (born Duarte Lopez; 1731 – May 28, 1782) was a Portuguese-born Sephardic Jewish merchant, slave trader, whaler, philanthropist, and one of the wealthiest and most prominent businessmen in colonial Newport, Rhode Island. Lopez was born in 1731 in Lisbon, Portugal, into a converso (New Christian) family—Jews who had been forcibly converted to Catholicism but often continued practicing Judaism secretly. Portugal had expelled or converted its Jewish population in the late 15th century, and the Inquisition posed ongoing risks of persecution for those suspected of crypto-Judaism. His family outwardly conformed to Catholicism while maintaining Jewish traditions privately.
In 1752, at age 21, Lopez fled Portugal with his wife, Anna (later Abigail), and their young daughter to escape these dangers. He joined his older brother Moses in Newport, Rhode Island, a town with a small but established Jewish community. Upon arrival, he underwent circumcision, he and his wife had a Jewish wedding ceremony, and they adopted Hebrew names (Aaron and Abigail; their daughter became Sarah). He quickly integrated into the community and began business ventures.
Business Career and Wealth
Lopez started as a shopkeeper and rapidly expanded into international trade. By the mid-1750s, he dealt in goods across Rhode Island, Boston, and New York. He became a leader in the spermaceti candle industry (a consortium of Newport merchants producing candles from whale oil) and engaged in whaling, exporting Newport manufactures (furniture, axes, flour, barrel staves, salt fish), and triangular trade with Europe, the Canary Islands, the West Indies, and North Carolina ports.
At his peak before the American Revolution, he owned or controlled about 30 transoceanic vessels and over 100 coastal ones, making him the richest man in Newport. His operations included a shipyard, a rum distillery, and various manufacturing operations. He supplied munitions to American Revolutionary forces and maintained extensive correspondence and account books that detail his diverse dealings.
Role in the Slave Trade
Between 1761 and 1774, Lopez was actively involved in the transatlantic slave trade, primarily in partnership with his father-in-law (and cousin) Jacob Rodriguez Rivera. Historian Eli Faber’s detailed analysis in Jews, Slaves, and the Slave Trade (1998) determined that Lopez underwrote 21 slave voyages during this period, out of a total of 347 slaving voyages dispatched from Newport. This represented roughly 6% of Newport’s slave trade activity.
Some popular accounts, including those citing partnerships, refer to financing or involvement with closer to 30 voyages (including joint ones with Rivera), with estimates that their ships transported over 1,100 enslaved Africans from West Africa to the West Indies (e.g., Jamaica, Barbados) and southern colonies (e.g., South Carolina). One example instruction from Lopez to a captain: “Convert your cargo into good Slaves” and sell them “on the best terms you can.” Ships like the Cleopatra made multiple voyages, carrying hundreds of captives (with significant mortality on some trips).
The slave trade formed only a portion of his overall business—his primary profits came from other commerce like rum, candles, whale oil, and general merchandise—but it was a deliberate and profitable venture integrated into the triangular trade (rum to Africa for slaves, slaves to the Americas for sugar/molasses, etc.). Like other merchants of the era, he viewed it as legitimate commerce. He also hired enslaved laborers owned by others for his operations and kept records noting their schedules around holidays.
Contextual note: Jewish merchants like Lopez participated in the slave trade at rates roughly proportional to their small share of the merchant class in port cities, but overall Jewish involvement in the Atlantic slave trade was marginal (well under 2% of the total trade per Faber and other historians). Most voyages were financed by non-Jewish Europeans. Claims of disproportionate Jewish control are not supported by historical records and often stem from antisemitic tropes.
Family, Community, and Philanthropy
Lopez had a large family, including many children. He was a pillar of Newport’s Jewish community, helping lay a cornerstone for the Touro Synagogue (the oldest surviving synagogue in the United States). He promoted interfaith relations, notably prohibiting his ships from sailing on the Jewish Sabbath or Christian Sundays. He traded in Jewish ritual items (kosher meat, matzah) but conducted broad commerce with Christians, handling non-kosher goods as needed. His account books show charity (“tzedakah”) donations and adaptation of business to religious observances.
He faced repeated denials of naturalization/citizenship in Rhode Island due to religious tests (oaths requiring Christian professions), highlighting limits on Jewish rights in the colonies, though he eventually succeeded elsewhere or through other means.
Death and Legacy
The American Revolution devastated Lopez’s business: British occupation of Newport ruined trade, and he relocated temporarily. His fortune was largely lost. In 1782, while returning to Newport to rebuild, he died at age 51 in a carriage accident near Richmond, Virginia (his horses bolted while he watered them). He was buried in Newport’s Jewish cemetery.
Lopez is remembered as a classic “merchant prince” of colonial America—entrepreneurial, resilient, and community-oriented—who rose from refugee to economic powerhouse. His papers (letters, logs, blotters) at institutions like the Newport Historical Society and American Jewish Historical Society provide rich primary sources on 18th-century commerce. Modern discussions often highlight the irony of a man fleeing religious persecution while profiting from the enslavement of others, as well as debates over the extent and significance of Jewish involvement in slavery. Historians emphasize his life within the broader norms of Atlantic world capitalism, where slave trading was common among successful merchants regardless of background.
His story illustrates the complexities of colonial Jewish life: integration, economic success, religious observance amid persecution’s shadow, and participation in the era’s moral failings.