Slavery & the LawCentral to the development of the American legal system, writes Professor Finkelman in Slavery & the Law, is the institution of slavery. It informs us not only about early concepts of race and property, but about the nature of American democracy itself. Prominent historians of slavery and legal scholars analyze the intricate relationship between slavery, race, and the law from the earliest Black Codes in colonial America to the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law and the Dred Scott decision prior to the Civil War. Slavery & the Law's wide-ranging essays focus on comparative slave law, auctioneering practices, rules of evidence, and property rights, as well as issues of criminality, punishment, and constitutional law. What emerges from this multi-faceted portrait is a complex legal system designed to ensure the property rights of slave-holders and to institutionalize racism. The ultimate result was to strengthen the institution of slavery in the midst of a growing trend toward democracy in the mid-nineteenth-century Atlantic community. |
What people are saying - Write a review
Citizen Jefferson: the wit and wisdom of an American sage
User Review - Not Available - Book VerdictFinkelman (law, Harvard) has compiled a comprehensive analysis of American slavery, tackling the subject from a legal perspective rather than from a purely historical one. This fresh and effective ... Read full review
Contents
Learning the Three Is of Americas Slave Heritage | 29 |
Ideology and Imagery in the Law of Slavery | 43 |
Constitutional Law and Slavery | 87 |
Slavery in the Canon of Constitutional Law | 89 |
Chief Justice Hornblower of New Jersey and the Fugitive Slave Law of 1793 | 113 |
A Federal Assault African Americans and the Impact of the Fugitive Slave Law of 185O | 143 |
The Crisis Over The Impending Crisis Free Speech Slavery and the Fourteenth Amendment | 161 |
Criminal and Civil Law of Slavery | 207 |
Pandoras Box Slave Character on Trial in the Antebellum Deep South | 291 |
Slave Auctions on the Courthouse Steps Court Sales of Slaves in Antebellum South Carolina | 329 |
Comparative Law of Slavery | 365 |
SeventeenthCentury Jurists Roman Law and the Law of Slavery | 367 |
The British Constitution and the Creation of American Slavery | 379 |
Thinking Property at Rome | 419 |
Thinking Property at Memphis An Application of Watson | 437 |
Notes on Contributors | 453 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
abolitionist action African Amendment American antislavery appeal argued argument authority Bill blacks cause century character cited Civil claimed Code colonial common law concern confessions considered Constitution County criminal death decision defendant discussion District English evidence example fact federal figure Finkelman free blacks freedom Fugitive Slave History Hornblower human Humphreys important institution interest involving issue James Jersey John judge jury Justice labor liberty lives Louisiana master means months moral natural Negro never North opinion overseer owner party Paul percent person plantation political population present problem protection question race reason records reported reprint Republican Review Roman rule runaway Senator Sheriff Slave Law slaveholders slavery social Society sold South Carolina Southern speech statute suggested supra note Supreme Court testimony theory tion trial United University Press Virginia witness York
Popular passages
Page 24 - Deep rooted prejudices entertained by the whites; ten thousand recollections, by the blacks, of the injuries they have sustained; new provocations; the real distinctions which nature has made; and many other circumstances, will divide us into parties, and produce convulsions, which will probably never end but in the extermination of the one or the other race.
Page 13 - Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you this day rejoice, are not enjoyed in common^ The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity, and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought life and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice; /must mourn.
Page 7 - In the opinion of the court, the legislation and histories of the times, and the language used in the Declaration of Independence, show, that neither the class of persons who had been imported as slaves, nor their descendants, whether they had become free or not, were then acknowledged as a part of the people, nor intended to be included in the general words used in that memorable instrument.
Page 10 - That all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot by any compact deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.
Bibliographic information
| Title | Slavery & the Law G - Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary Subjects Series |
| Editor | Paul Finkelman |
| Contributors | Derrick Bell, Jonathan A. Bush, Michael Kent Curtis, Jacob I. Corré |
| Edition | illustrated |
| Publisher | Rowman & Littlefield, 2001 |
| ISBN | 0742521192, 9780742521193 |
| Length | 465 pages |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |