Richard Marven was a Revolutionary War naval officer who, along with Samuel Shaw, were instrumental figures in the passage of the first

whistleblower A whistleblower (also written as whistle-blower or whistle blower) is a person, often an employee, who reveals information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe or fraudulent. Whi ...

protection law in the United States. The Continental Congress was moved to act after an incident in 1777, when Marven, a third lieutenant in the Continental Navy, and Shaw, a midshipman, were part of a group of sailors and marines who blew the whistle on Commodore

Esek Hopkins Esek Hopkins (April 26, 1718February 26, 1802) was an American naval officer, merchant captain, and privateer. Achieving the rank of Commodore, Hopkins was the only Commander in Chief of the Continental Navy during the American Revolutionary Wa ...

, the commander-in-chief of the Continental Navy. The group accused Hopkins of torturing British

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of w ...

. Marven and Shaw were from

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...

, as was Hopkins, whose brother was governor of the new state and had been a signatory to the

Declaration of Independence A declaration of independence or declaration of statehood or proclamation of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of th ...

. After being dismissed from the Continental Navy, Commodore Hopkins filed a criminal libel suit against Marven and Shaw in the Rhode Island courts. Spurred on by the case, the Continental Congress enacted a whistleblower protection law on July 30, 1778 by a unanimous vote. The law declared it the duty of "all persons in the service of the United States, as well as all other the inhabitants thereof" to inform the Continental Congress or proper authorities of "misconduct, frauds or misdemeanors committed by any officers in the service of these states, which may come to their knowledge."The Asia Times, 6 Aug 2013 story by Peter van Buren
/ref> Congress declared that the United States would defend the two whistleblowers against a libel suit filed against them by Hopkins, resolving that "the reasonable expenses of defending the said suit be defrayed by the United States" and terminated the employment of Hopkins, who had misconducted himself."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marven, Richard American whistleblowers People of colonial Rhode Island Continental Navy officers Year of birth missing Year of death missing