Before Dred Scott
Slavery and Legal Culture in the American Confluence, 1787–1857
Seiten
2016
Cambridge University Press (Verlag)
978-1-107-11206-3 (ISBN)
Cambridge University Press (Verlag)
978-1-107-11206-3 (ISBN)
Appealing to legal historians and scholars, this antebellum history uses original legal suits to analyse the understanding, use, and adaptation of formal law by slave holders and slaves within the American Confluence, an area of liminal boundaries where the Ohio, Mississippi, and Missouri Rivers converge.
Before Dred Scott draws on the freedom suits filed in the St Louis Circuit Court to construct a groundbreaking history of slavery and legal culture within the American Confluence, a vast region where the Ohio, Mississippi, and Missouri Rivers converge. Formally divided between slave and free territories and states, the American Confluence was nevertheless a site where the borders between slavery and freedom, like the borders within the region itself, were fluid. Such ambiguity produced a radical indeterminacy of status, which, in turn, gave rise to a distinctive legal culture made manifest by the prosecution of hundreds of freedom suits, including the case that ultimately culminated in the landmark United States Supreme Court decision in Dred Scott vs Sandford. Challenging dominant trends in legal history, Before Dred Scott argues that this distinctive legal culture, above all, was defined by ordinary people's remarkable understanding of and appreciation for formal law.
Before Dred Scott draws on the freedom suits filed in the St Louis Circuit Court to construct a groundbreaking history of slavery and legal culture within the American Confluence, a vast region where the Ohio, Mississippi, and Missouri Rivers converge. Formally divided between slave and free territories and states, the American Confluence was nevertheless a site where the borders between slavery and freedom, like the borders within the region itself, were fluid. Such ambiguity produced a radical indeterminacy of status, which, in turn, gave rise to a distinctive legal culture made manifest by the prosecution of hundreds of freedom suits, including the case that ultimately culminated in the landmark United States Supreme Court decision in Dred Scott vs Sandford. Challenging dominant trends in legal history, Before Dred Scott argues that this distinctive legal culture, above all, was defined by ordinary people's remarkable understanding of and appreciation for formal law.
Introduction; 1. A radical indeterminacy of status; 2. 'With the ease of a veteran litigant'; 3. '[B]y the help of God and a good lawyer'; 4. Slavery from liberty to equality; 5. '[W]orking his emancipation'; 6. Exploiting the uncertainties of federalism; 7. Remembering slavery and freedom in the American Confluence; Conclusion; Acknowledgements; Appendix.
| Erscheinungsdatum | 06.01.2017 |
|---|---|
| Reihe/Serie | Cambridge Historical Studies in American Law and Society |
| Zusatzinfo | 2 Tables, black and white; 1 Maps; 2 Line drawings, black and white |
| Verlagsort | Cambridge |
| Sprache | englisch |
| Maße | 160 x 236 mm |
| Gewicht | 560 g |
| Themenwelt | Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte |
| Recht / Steuern ► EU / Internationales Recht | |
| Recht / Steuern ► Öffentliches Recht | |
| ISBN-10 | 1-107-11206-0 / 1107112060 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1-107-11206-3 / 9781107112063 |
| Zustand | Neuware |
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