Born in Newport of a prominent Quaker family that was very involved in Rhode Island politics, Wanton became a highly successful merchant.

He is depicted in the satirical 1750s painting by John Greenwood, Sea Captains Carousing in Surinam, with other prominent merchants and seamen from the colony.

As the Revolutionary War approached, members of the General Assembly were getting very hawkish, and when Wanton was elected for the seventh time in 1775, he refused to agree to the raising of an army of 1500 men, and would not commission new officers.

[3] While some sources say he graduated from Harvard College in 1751,[3] it is far more likely that this was his 21-year-old son, Joseph Jr., rather than the 46-year-old Wanton, who was by then a highly successful merchant sailing the globe in pursuit of commercial interests.

In the mid-1750s, the Boston portraitist, John Greenwood, followed a group of sea captains and merchants to Surinam on the northeast coast of South America.

[4] Being commissioned by the merchants to create a satirical painting, Greenwood concocted a twenty-two-figure tavern scene, showing himself among the affluent traders, all subject to the "intoxicating effects of alcohol and economic ambition.

[8] Once elected, his first act was to send a letter to Lord Hillsborough, the Colonial Secretary of State, with whom his predecessor, Josias Lyndon, had corresponded.

[8] In the letter he boldly stated that it was not possible for him as governor to obey the instructions of the crown "without acting diametrically opposite to the constitution of the colony...; we cannot but humbly express our opinion that the power exercised by the Parliament of Great Britain (in which we are not represented), of raising monies upon us without our consent (which it is possible under a bad administration, may be extended to our last penny), is a real grievance; we are not without hopes that his Majesty's rejecting our petition, is entirely owing to the false information he hath received from America, of the state and temper of his subjects here.

[10] In July 1769 the British revenue ship Liberty brought into the Newport harbor two Connecticut vessels, a brig and a sloop, suspected of smuggling.

[10] In March 1772, the people of the colony were harassed by his Majesty's schooner Gaspee, with eight guns, stationed in the Narragansett Bay to enforce the revenue acts.

[11] The commander, Lieutenant William Dudingston, had engaged in a number of annoyances upon vessels in the bay, detaining them without pretext, stopping market boats, and sometimes plundering the people ashore.

"[13] Sessions then communicated the complaints, with Hopkins' opinion, to Wanton, who immediately sent a letter to the commanding officer requiring him to produce his commission and instructions.

[14] On 8 June 1772 the sloop Hannah, coming from New York, arrived in Newport, reported to the custom house, and the next day proceeded up the river.

[15] John Brown provided eight long-boats of five oars each, and shortly after 10 p.m., the party headed towards the Gaspee, commanded by Captain Abraham Whipple.

[16] An escaped slave who was with the expedition gave names of some of the men involved to Admiral Montagu, who then forwarded this deposition to Wanton, requesting that the instigators be questioned.

[19] At some point during Wanton's tenure as governor the inhabitants of Providence urged the General Assembly to prohibit the importation of black slaves into the colony.

[20] Three days later the Rhode Island General Assembly, sympathetic of Massachusetts, passed an act for raising 1500 men as an army of observation, prepared to assist any sister colonies.

[24] On 2 May 1775, Wanton wrote in a letter, "The prosperity and happiness of this colony is founded in its connection with Great Brittain; for if once we are separated, where shall we find another Britain to supply our loss?

"[24] Following his removal from office, Wanton retired to private life, occupying a strict neutrality, and giving neither aid nor comfort to the British.