| Description |
1 online resource (xiv, 285 pages). |
|
text file |
| Series |
Cambridge Historical Studies in American Law and Society
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Cambridge historical studies in American law and society.
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| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Contents |
A radical indeterminacy of status -- "With the ease of a veteran litigant" -- "[B]y the help of God and a good lawyer" -- Slavery from liberty to equality -- "[W]orking his emancipation" -- Exploiting the uncertainties of federalism -- Remembering slavery and freedom in the American confluence -- Conclusion. |
| Summary |
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. |
| Local Note |
eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - North America |
| Subject |
Missouri. Circuit Court (22nd Circuit) -- History -- 19th century.
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Missouri. Circuit Court (22nd Circuit) |
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History. |
| Chronological Term |
19th century |
| Subject |
Enslaved persons -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- Missouri -- Saint Louis -- History -- 19th century.
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Enslaved persons. |
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Enslaved persons -- Legal status, laws, etc. |
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LAW -- Constitutional. |
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Missouri -- Saint Louis. |
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LAW -- Public. |
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Enslaved persons -- Legal status, laws, etc. |
| Chronological Term |
1800-1899 |
| Indexed Term |
American Confluence (Region) |
| Genre/Form |
History.
|
| Other Form: |
Print version: Twitty, Anne Silverwood, 1980- Before Dred Scott. New York NY : Cambridge University Press, 2016 9781107112063 (DLC) 2016021097 (OCoLC)951172689 |
| ISBN |
9781316986035 (electronic book) |
|
1316986039 (electronic book) |
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9781316282434 (electronic book) |
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1316282430 (electronic book) |
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9781107112063 (hardback ; alkaline paper) |
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1107112060 (hardback ; alkaline paper) |
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9781107530898 (paperback) |
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110753089X (paperback) |
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