Before Dred Scott: Slavery and Legal Culture in the American Confluence, 1787–1857 (Cambridge Historical Studies in American Law and Society) - Softcover

Twitty, Anne

Softcover

ISBN 10: 110753089X ISBN 13: 9781107530898

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2018

Synopsis

An analysis of slave and slaveholder understanding and manipulation of formal legal systems in the region known as the American Confluence during the antebellum era.

About this title

Review

'Anne Twitty's compact and compelling book prompts us to redraw regional borders and rethink legal cultures. In contrast to the longstanding view of the 'American Confluence' as a house divided, a place where the Ohio and Mississippi rivers bounded conflicting regimes of slave and free labor, Before Dred Scott forwards an alternative mapping characterized by fluid borders and connected by a common legal culture with remarkably deep roots among diverse populations. The book will not settle arguments about regions and rules of law, but it will provoke some very productive ones.' Stephen Aron, Robert N. Burr Department Chair, Department of History, University of California, Los Angeles

'Anne Twitty has brilliantly illuminated a significant chapter in the struggle against slavery - the hundreds of 'freedom suits' brought by persons invoking the doctrine of 'once free, always free' to claim that their prior status as free persons invalidated their enslavement. Not all of them succeeded, but Twitty has done more than show what happened in the courtroom. She has given historical presence to the lives of the freedom seekers: to her exhaustive research into their lives she has added a sure-handed and creative touch that makes this book one of the most significant contributions to antislavery scholarship in many years.' David Konig, Washington University, St Louis

'... Twitty offers fresh insights into the case of the famous slave sojourner from Missouri. ... Twitty adds a new layer to our understanding of the complex relationship between slavery and American legal culture.' Timothy S. Huebner, Missouri Historical Review

Book Description

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.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 110753089X
• ISBN 13: 9781107530898
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 300