Document Type

Working Paper

Publication Date

7-20-2013

SSRN Discipline

PSN Subject Matter eJournals; English & American Literature Research Network; *Humanities - Forthcoming Areas; LSN Subject Matter eJournals; Constitutional Law, Jurisprudence & Legal Philosophy eJournals; LIT Subject Matter eJournals; History; Political Behavior eJournals; Legal Scholarship Network; Rhetoric & Communication Research Network; Criminal Law & Procedure eJournals; Law School Research Papers - Legal Studies; Law & Society eJournals; Law & Society: Public Law eJournals; African-American Studies; AARN Subject Matter eJournals; Humanities Network; Political Science Network; RCRN Subject Matter eJournals; Anthropology & Archaeology Research Network

Abstract

"The Nat Turner Trials" locates the trials of slaves in the wake of the Nat Turner rebellion in the context of common and statutory law and extralegal responses to slavery in Virginia and North Carolina during the early 1830s The Article shows how trials were part of the whole system of slavery held together by norms of white supremacy promulgated in the press the pulpit and on plantations Decisions from local courts to appellate courts gave broad power to slave owners to control enslaved people There was little done in defense of slaves though in some ways the states' criminal procedure statutes and the actions of some slave owners and defense lawyers may have helped to limit the number of convictionsThe article is framed by two cases in North Carolina "” one in 1830 of a white man who attacked a slave in his custody and was freed from punishment and another in 1834 of a slave who killed his overseer and was found guilty of manslaughter rather than premeditated murder Sandwiched between those two cases was the Nat Turner rebellion in neighboring Virginia during August of 1831 The trials of those accused of rebellion and conspiracy along with the vigilante violence that accompanied the rebellion further illustrate the ways the legal system functioned to support slavery and orderThe article highlights how trials of slaves in the wake of the Nat Turner rebellion worked to reestablish order and to mete out punishment It also reveals how lawyers for the slaves labored "” largely unsuccessfully "” to free those most obviously not guilty Those lawyers were committed to the reestablishment of order all of the key lawyers had participated in the militia response to the rebellion Yet the defense lawyers still tried to limit convictions and they succeeded to some extentThe trials worked in conjunction with "” and sometimes in opposition to "” the extralegal violence that accompanied the repression of the rebellion The trials reveal as did the two Supreme Court of North Carolina cases that bookend this Article the conflicts within the community as some emphasized the power of slave owners to treat slaves as they wished while others emphasized the subjection of everyone including owners of slaves to the rule of law The court struggled in part with trying to keep the community from taking vigilante action It also acted to punish the rebels and stopping further rebellionThe trials tell compact linear stories about why someone is being punished or not The trials are obscure but collectively they tell a powerful story about the role of law in American history as a vehicle for establishing order

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