Mar 20 at 10:30 AM - Sale 2697 -

Sale 2697 - Lot 10

Estimate: $ 2,000 - $ 3,000
(ABOLITION.) "Alas the poor Africans!": a lawyer is congratulated upon joining the defense team for the Amistad captives. Autograph Letter Signed from Benjamin Gerhard to Theodore Sedgwick, Jr. of New York. One page, 5½ x 8 inches, plus postmarked address panel and docketing on integral blank; mailing folds, lacking blank top half of letter page. Philadelphia, 14 September 1839
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This letter was addressed to Theodore Sedgwick Jr. (1811-1859), a young New York lawyer from a prominent legal dynasty who had just signed on as one of the three defense lawyers for the famous Amistad captives. His friend Benjamin Gerhard (1811-1864) writes: "Alas the poor Africans! I am glad you have been retained for them. So, you have joined our cause."

The 53 African captives aboard the Amistad had revolted against the Spanish crew and landed in the United States in August 1839. The ensuing court cases, to determine whether the Africans were guilty of murder and liable to be returned to Spanish slave masters, became an instant rallying cause for American abolitionists. Three lawyers were appointed to defend the captives in the hearings, which began on 17 September 1839 (three days after this letter was sent). Sedgwick made his first appearance in the case the next day. We find no newspaper mentions of his involvement in the case before this point, so his friend Gerhard must have heard the news by word of mouth.

One of Sedgwick's fellow Amistad lawyers during this initial phase, Roger Baldwin, remained on the case all the way to the Supreme Court, and was played by Matthew McConaughey in the award-winning 1997 film about the case. Sedgwick did not appear in the film.

The last part of this short letter relates to other legal business: "I annex a receipt for the costs of the last com[missio]n, to enable you to tax them. The other com'n has been partly executed and will be despatched early in the week."

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