Mar 20 at 10:30 AM - Sale 2697 -

Sale 2697 - Lot 370

Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200
(SLAVERY.) New York Court of Appeals. Report of the Lemmon Slave Case. 146, [2] pages. 8vo, unbound, formerly stitched, protected with unrelated boards; soiling and moderate wear to outer leaves, minor dampstaining. New York: Horace Greeley & Co., 1860
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First edition. Arguments and judges' opinions from an important legal case. In 1852, the Lemmon family took a ship from Virginia to New York along with eight enslaved people, planning to embark immediately on another ship for New Orleans. With slavery already abolished in New York by that point, the slaves were soon detected and freed, resulting in a long string of appeals through the New York courts. The case would likely have been decided by the Supreme Court, but the secession of Virginia made that unnecessary. Future president Chester A. Arthur is named as attorney for the People of New York on page 15 of this report.

"The fullest legal examination of slave transit and comity before the Civil War. . . . One of the most extreme examples of hostility to slavery in Northern courts . . . pushed the nation one step closer to Civil War"--Paul Finkelman, Slavery in the Courtroom, pages 56-57 (listing this as the first of three editions). Afro-Americana 7104 (Tinson edition); Sabin 40003 (this edition); Work, page 346 (this edition).

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