Free-masonry unmasked, or, Minutes of the trial of a suit in the Court of Common Pleas of Adams County : wherein Thaddeus Stevens, Esq. was plaintiff, and Jacob Lefever, defendant
"Frank Cooper with his best wishes to Judge Yates" at top of title page.
Book number 361 as assigned by Yeates.
Opinion delivered by the Pennsylvania High Court of Errors and Appeals in the case of Dempsey, assignee of Brown, vs. The Insurance Company of Pennsylvania.
Printed on wove paper.
Signatures: [A]â´ B² 1² 2-10â´.
Sowerby, E.M. Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson,
Includes bibliographical references (pages 181-196) and index.
Contents
A short history of fugitives in America and an African named James Somerset -- The original meaning of the fugitive slave clause -- The Fugitive Slave Act, kidnapping, and the powers of dual sovereigns -- The rights of slaveholders and those of free Blacks in Pennsylvania's Personal Liberty Law of 1826 -- Black sailors, kidnapped freemen, and a crisis in northern fugitive slave jurisprudence -- Arresting Margaret -- Arresting Edward Prigg -- Before the court -- Deciding Prigg -- After the court.
Summary
Margaret Morgan was born in freedom's shadow. Her parents were slaves of John Ashmore, a prosperous Maryland mill owner who freed many of his slaves in the last years of his life. Ashmore never laid claim to Margaret, who eventually married a free black man and moved to Pennsylvania. Then, John Ashmore's widow sent Edward Prigg to Pennsylvania to claim Margaret as a runaway. Prigg seized Margaret and her children, one of them born in Pennsylvania and forcibly removed them to Maryland in violation of Pennsylvania law. In the ensuing uproar, Prigg was indicted for kidnapping under Pennsylvania's personal liberty law. Maryland, however, blocked his extradition, setting the stage for a remarkable Supreme Court case in 1842.
Report of the case of the Commonwealth vs. Tench Coxe, Esq. on a motion for a mandamus, in the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania : taken from the fourth volume of Mr. Dallas's reports : published with his consent
