… the light of the sun became to my eyes, as indistinct and dark as the gloom of death; the beauties of nature to me were “blotted out for ever,” and in my 23d year, when I looked forward to days of ease and comfort, from the resources of my activity and industry—my path is shut up, and the world become a blank of indistinctness and uncertainty …

 

So ends the 180-page narrative A History of a Voyage to the Coast of Africa, And Travels into the Interior of that Country; Containing Particular Descriptions of the Climate and Inhabitants and Interesting Particulars Concerning the Slave Trade by Joseph Hawkins. 这本书是在他从非洲回来后不久“由他的朋友”出版的, 这是为这个失明的年轻人争取经济基础的第一次尝试.

Joseph Hawkins was born in Kingsbury, Washington County, New York in 1772, the first of eight children born to Joseph and Rachel Hawkins. According to his History, 18岁时，约瑟夫坚信在阿尔堡做生意会有一个繁荣的未来, Vermont—some 350 miles away from home near the Canadian border; his hopes of success were “disappointed” just 14 months later and he cast about for new opportunities. 听说“受过中等教育，习惯勤奋”的年轻人可以保证“在南方各州有稳定的工作”,霍金斯骑马去了波士顿，又从那里去了查尔斯顿, South Carolina, by sea.

他又一次对在查尔斯顿找到的机会感到失望, Hawkins signed on as a supercargo aboard the ship Charleston, bound for the coast of Africa. According to his narrative, once there, he led an expedition inland, 从两个敌对国家之间的战争中获得俘虏，并将他们带到美国奴役. At times, he seems not unsympathetic to the plight of the enslaved, 描述了“可怜的加拉囚犯的深深的叹息……眼中流着泪水”，“深深打动了我。.他还被他的同事取笑，他们“都给自己找了三四个妻子”, and rebuked me for not bringing mine along, 声称当我们到达美国时，他们会给我们一个好价钱.“不管他对奴隶贸易和船上被奴役的人的真实感受如何, Hawkins and his ship departed for America with 500 enslaved people. On the return passage, a contagious disease causing symptoms of dysentery, 但船上大多数人的眼睛和眼睑也出现了肿胀和炎症, leaving Hawkins blind.

Playing the lottery

在整个美国历史上，公共和私人利益的彩票都很常见, 但目前尚不清楚为什么佛蒙特州的立法者授权为与奴隶贸易密切相关的人发行彩票. By his own account, 霍金斯在佛蒙特州居住了不到两年，然后启程前往非洲海岸. Nonetheless during the October 1798 session of Vermont’s legislature, lawmakers authorized a benefit lottery for Hawkins—16,000 tickets priced at $3 each, with a top prize of $5000. In the 31 December 1798 issue of the Rutland Herald, the editor commented quite favorably on Hawkins and the lottery:

Among the applicants for public favor, we consider Mr. Joseph Hawkins as one, who is highly worthy of the public encouragement … [the] abilities, exertions, and misfortunes of so active and enterprising a man, 向州议会指出他是一个值得关注的对象……我们不知道有什么彩票, 在这种情况下，冒险家可以更安全地将他的财产存放, or with a better prospect of benefit to himself.

彩票的第一次发行显然进行得很顺利，以至于在1800年批准了第二次发行, to be administered by Hawkins himself. 佛蒙特州立法机关批准了这两期彩票，霍金斯从中受益, and lottery tickets could be sold outside of the state. By 1801, however, 霍金斯似乎遇到了一些麻烦，慈善彩票的经理们在报纸上登广告说:“由于约瑟夫·霍金斯的叛逃，彩票陷入了困境和尴尬，因此无法继续完成抽奖。, at the time formerly proposed.经理们不清楚“叛变”og体育平台，但在1802年6月15日的《 Massachusetts Mercury, 霍金斯写道:“为了解释过去两年来对我的性格不利的不利言论和不光彩的报道.” Apparently after having been given the management of the lottery, 霍金斯“被要求偿还一笔沉重的债务……这是我在不幸之前很久就欠下的债务。. 我只剩下三天的时间来决定是偿还债务还是忍受自己被起诉.” He then gave up the lottery receipts to a Col. 斯托尔斯又逃回了纽约州，在那里债务无法收回，他发现自己因为自己的麻烦被指控挪用彩票资金.

Hawkins’s post-lottery life

与此同时，霍金斯正在管理波士顿的慈善彩票, he began publishing a short-lived literary magazine called The Columbian Phenix which was published between January and July of 1800. 同年，他与汉娜·沃什伯恩·斯威特兰结婚，并在康涅狄格州生了三个儿子. Hawkins seems to have also spent time in New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, working on inventions related to steam power. 他从来没有去欧洲看眼科医生，人们认为他们可能会恢复他的视力, 这次旅行本来是要用彩票收入支付的. 然而，在1804年9月，报纸上刊登了招聘纽约市一位名叫Mr. Launey (or Launy) appear in various newspapers, 同时霍金斯还写了一篇奉承的推荐信，声称劳尼的“器械”给他带来了美国其他医生都无法做到的缓解. 然而，由于后来的报道总是提到霍金斯的失明. Launey’s cure was but a temporary one.