Slavery, Freedom, and the Law in the Atlantic World

Table of Contents

  Foreword
  Preface
  A Note about Editing, Translation, and Racial Terminology

List of Illustrations
    
PART ONE

Introduction: Slavery, Freedom, and the Law
    Slavery and Freedom in the French Atlantic and the Haitian Revolution
    Slavery and Freedom in the British Atlantic and the United States
    Slavery and Freedom in the Spanish Atlantic
    Slavery and Freedom in the Portuguese Atlantic and Brazil
    The Meaning of Freedom
    
PART TWO

The Documents
 1. The French Atlantic and the Haitian Revolution
     1. French Crown, The Code Noir, 1685
     2. A Tavern Keeper Sues for Her Freedom in Martinique (Binture v. La Pallu) (1705–1714)
     Governor Machault, Letter to the Secretary of State

for the Marine, August 30, 1704

Acting Intendant Mithon, Judgment on Babet Binture’s

Petition for Freedom, April 8, 1705

Intendant Vaucresson, Pronouncement,

August 25, 1708

Governor Phélypeaux, Letter to the Secretary of State

for the Marine, April 6, 1713

Intendant Vaucresson, Letter to the Secretary of State

for the Marine, September 10, 1714

3. French Royal Decree on Manumitting Slaves, October 24, 1713
     4. Saint-Domingue Council Manumits a Slave over the Objections of His Owner August 6, 1708
     5. Frances Freedom Principle and Race, 1759

6. Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, The Code

Noir in the French Empire, 1768
     7. A Woman of African and European Ancestry Seeks Her Freedom in Saint Domingue, 1771–1775

8. The Haitian Revolution, 1791-1806
     French Commissioner Sonthonax, Emancipation Decree, 1793
     French National Convention Abolishes Slavery, 1794
     Constitution of the Republic of Haiti, December 27, 1806

2. England, the British Colonies and the United States
    9. John Guthrie, Francis Sadler, and Captain Cudjoe, Leeward Treaty, Jamaica, March 1, 1739
     10. The Somerset Case: Englands Freedom Principle, 1772
       Francis Hargrave, Arguments for Somersets Freedom, 1772
       James Wallace and John Dunning, On Behalf of the Slaveholder, 1772
       Chief Justice William Murray, Earl of Mansfield, Decision, June 22, 1772
     11. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery, 1780
     12. Constitution of the United States of America, 1787
     13. U.S. Congress, An Act to Prohibit the Importation of Slaves, 1807-1808
     14. The Anti-Slavery Record, The Humanity of the Africo-Americans, 1836
     15. A Free Man of Color Sues for the Right to Vote in

Pennsylvania, 1837

Judge Scott, Instructions to the Jury

    Judge C.J. Gibson, Pennsylvania Supreme Court Opinion in Hobbs et al. v. Fogg, 1837

16. Kidnapping, 1838
     17. A Master Tries to Free His Slaves in Georgia, ca. 1850-1855
        Thomas J. Waters, Testament , ca. 1850
        Judge Joseph H. Lumpkin, Opinion, October 1854
        Judge Joseph H. Lumpkin, Opinion, September 1855
     18. Summary Trial and Execution of a Carolina Slave, 1854

19. Amendments 13-15 to the Constitution of the United States of America, 1865–1870

20. Frederick Dielman, Celebrating Abolition, Washington, D.C., 1866
     21. State of Mississippi, Enticement Law, November 25, 1865
    
  3. Spain and Its American Colonies
     22. Spanish Crown, Las Siete Partidas, 1265
     23. Felipe Guamán Poma de Ayala, African Slaves and Incas in Seventeenth-Century Peru, ca. 1615

24. Spanish Slave Codes in the Americas, 1784-1789

Colonial Government of Santo Domingo, The Carolina Black Code, December 14, 1784
    Spanish Crown, Royal Instructions for the Education, Treatment, and Work of the Slaves, Aranjuez, May 31, 1789
 25. Proclamation of the People against the Purchase of Freedom for Slaves, Ecuador, 1792
26. Freedom from Abuse, Ecuador, 1794    

Manumission of María Chiquinquirá Díaz in Ecuador, 1794

27. National Independence and Abolition, Ecuador, 1822
       Francisco Rosi and Others, Petition for the Establishment of a Voluntary System of Mutual Aid among the Slaves for Their Freedom, Guayaquil, August 23, 1822
       José Leocadio Llona, Provisional Regulations for the Fortunate Issue of the Freeing of the Slaves, Guayaquil, September 19, 1822

José Leocadio Llona and Dr. Joaquín Salazar, Responses

28. Slavery after Independence, Peru, 1821

General José de San Martín, Decree Declaring Freedom for Children Born of Slaves after July 28, 1821

"Just Evaluation" Case of Joana Monica, Lima, Peru, 1826
    29. Don Gerónimo Valdés, Regulations concerning Slaves Destined for Cuba, November 14, 1842
    30. Tomasa Jiménez, et al., Spanish Slaves Petition for Freedom, Madrid, March 29, 1836

31. A Bread Seller and Seller of Fodder, Havana, Cuba, ca. 1851
     32. Royal Order, Madrid, August 2, 1861
     33. Spanish Crown, Law for the Suppression of Slavery and Patronage [in Cuba], Madrid, February 13, 1880
    
  4. Portugal and Brazil
   34. Portuguese Crown, Ordinances and Laws of the Kingdom of Portugal Compiled by Mandate of the Very High Catholic and Powerful King Philip, 1603
     35. Portuguese Crown, Law of December 24th, 1734

36. The Coartação of Slave Rosa Gonçalves da Fonseca, Minas Gerais, Brazil, 1769-1770

Francisco Fonseca, Response by Widower of Former Owner Úrsula Gonçalves to Suit by Rosa Gonçalves da Fonseca, 1769

Francisco Ferreira dos Santos, Judge’s Opinion Submitted to the Governor, 1770

37. Portuguese Crown, Law of Liberty, June 6, 1755
38. The Freedom Suit of the Slave Liberata, Desterro, Santa Catarina, 1813
       Francisco José, Petition to the Municipal Judge of Desterro, July 1813

39. Jacques Arago, Iron Mask and Collar for Punishing Slaves, Brazil, ca. 1817-1820

40. Political Constitution of the Empire of Brazil, 1824
     41. Legislative Measures against the Slave Trade, Brazil, 1831-1850
        Law of November 7th, 1831
        Law No. 581, September 4, 1850
     42. Battle in the Courts

Various Slaves, Freedom Lawsuit, Barra Mansa

(Paraíba River Valley), Rio de Janeiro, 1866

Slaves Lino and Lourenço, Freedom Lawsuit, Rio

Pardo, Rio Grande do Sul, 1866–1875

43. O Mosquito, Propaganda against Brazil’s Free Womb Law, August 19, 1871

44. Brazilian Crown, The Free Womb Law (Law 2040),

September 28, 1871

45. Just Evaluation of a Slave: The Case of Eubrásia,

Campinas, São Paulo, 1881–1883

46. Brazilian Crown, The Áurea Law: Abolition of Slavery,

May 13, 1888
    
  5. Epilogue: The Case of Andrea Quesada, Cienfuegos, Cuba, 1906–1907

REBECCA SCOTT AND DANIEL NEMSER, WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF ORLANDO GARCÍA MARTÍNEZ
    
  Appendixes
    A Chronology of the History of Slavery, Antislavery, and Emancipation (1265–1888)
    Questions for Consideration
    Selected Bibliography
    
  Index