Was murdering a slave illegal in American slavery, and if so, what punishments were given for it?What was the...
What would be the game balance implications for using the Gygax method for applying falling damage?
How can I monitor the bulk API limit?
Divisor Rich and Poor Numbers
What technology would Dwarves need to forge titanium?
Why we learn compiler?
Is there any deeper thematic meaning to the white horse that Arya finds in The Bells (S08E05)?
Does a windmilling propeller create more drag than a stopped propeller in an engine out scenario
How come Arya Stark wasn't hurt by this in Game of Thrones Season 8 Episode 5?
Will this series of events work to drown the Tarrasque?
Is it possible to determine from only a photo of a cityscape whether it was taken close with wide angle or from a distance with zoom?
Prints each letter of a string in different colors. C#
Why didn't Daenerys' advisers suggest assassinating Cersei?
What's is the easiest way to purchase a stock and hold it
Largest memory peripheral for Sinclair ZX81?
How was the blinking terminal cursor invented?
pwaS eht tirsf dna tasl setterl fo hace dorw
Why would you put your input amplifier in front of your filtering for an ECG signal?
How do you cope with rejection?
How to customize the pie chart background in PowerPoint?
Why is the S-duct intake on the Tu-154 uniquely oblong?
Failing students when it might cause them economic ruin
Is there a language that let's you use a try block without a catch block?
How many Dothraki are left as of Game of Thrones S8E5?
Lock out of Oracle based on Windows username
Was murdering a slave illegal in American slavery, and if so, what punishments were given for it?
What was the impetus for some African nations to participate in the slave trade?Was there a movement for “humane” slavery?What if a slave entered a state without slavery?What degree of choice did slaves have over their sexual autonomy?What portion of Northerners were against slavery for humanitarian reasons in 1860 America?What was the first civilization to ban slavery?Besides armed insurrection what other resistance was offered by American slaves?Was American slavery economically advantageous primarily due to being able to also sell offspring?In historical slave societies, what jobs were left over for poor free laborers?What was John Hippisley's worldview when he advocated for the slave trade?
Was there any punishment for killing slaves, and what punishment was given for it, and was it enforced?
united-states 19th-century 18th-century slavery
asked 5 hours ago
The ZThe Z
26319
add a comment |
Was there any punishment for killing slaves, and what punishment was given for it, and was it enforced?
united-states 19th-century 18th-century slavery
asked 5 hours ago
The ZThe Z
26319
add a comment |
Was there any punishment for killing slaves, and what punishment was given for it, and was it enforced?
united-states 19th-century 18th-century slavery
asked 5 hours ago
The ZThe Z
26319
Was there any punishment for killing slaves, and what punishment was given for it, and was it enforced?
united-states 19th-century 18th-century slavery
united-states 19th-century 18th-century slavery
asked 5 hours ago
The ZThe Z
26319
asked 5 hours ago
The ZThe Z
26319
edited 1 hour ago
The Z
asked 5 hours ago
The ZThe Z
26319
asked 5 hours ago
The ZThe Z
26319
asked 5 hours ago
The ZThe Z
26319
26319
add a comment |
add a comment |
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
Yes, murder of a slave was illegal in the antebellum South, and it was a capital offence.
An example is the case of John Hoover of North Carolina. He was arrested on 28 March 1839 for the murder of one of his slaves named Mira. He was brought to trial on 12 September 1839 before a jury of his peers (i.e. 12 male slaveholders).
At his trial, it was recorded that Hoover had declared that:
“the negro was his own property and he had a right to do as he pleased with his property ...”
Perhaps surprisingly, the jury disagreed. On Friday 13 September 1839, he was convicted on the charge of murder. An appeal was heard at the North Carolina Supreme Court in Raleigh which upheld the verdict.
John Hoover was executed for murder in May 1840.
Details of the case can be found in:
Anthony V. Baker: “for the murder of his own female slave, a woman named Mira...” : Law, Slavery and Incoherence in Antebellum North Carolina
Interestingly, Anthony V. Baker shows how the laws of North Carolina had changed over time. In particular, a 1774 statute which had criminalised the murder of a slave, but which had also ameliorated the punishment for such a murder, such that an offender would:
“suffer twelve Months Imprisonment...” for the first offense and back to the more traditional punishment, “suffer[ing] Death, without benefit of Clergy....” for the second.
However, how often these laws were enforced is a different question. Not only that, but the difficulty in obtaining a conviction should not be underestimated. This was illustrated in the relatively well-known case of Eliza Rowand, who was charged & acquitted of the murder of one of her slaves in 1847.
For a wider view of the question, I'd recommend Andrew T. Fede's recent book: Homicide Justified: The Legality of Killing Slaves in the United States and the Atlantic World. This includes discussions around the issues raised by both of the cases mentioned above, and also includes an entire chapter dedicated to The Antebellum States' Law on Slave Homicide (Chapter 11).
answered 3 hours ago
sempaiscuba♦sempaiscuba
58.5k7206267
Did the deliberate murder of a slave legally differ from working them until they died, or other forms of causing their deaths through deliberate negligence (e.g. denying health care)?
– nick012000
29 mins ago
add a comment |
Your Answer
StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "324"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);
StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});
function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});
}
});
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fhistory.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f52650%2fwas-murdering-a-slave-illegal-in-american-slavery-and-if-so-what-punishments-w%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
Yes, murder of a slave was illegal in the antebellum South, and it was a capital offence.
An example is the case of John Hoover of North Carolina. He was arrested on 28 March 1839 for the murder of one of his slaves named Mira. He was brought to trial on 12 September 1839 before a jury of his peers (i.e. 12 male slaveholders).
At his trial, it was recorded that Hoover had declared that:
“the negro was his own property and he had a right to do as he pleased with his property ...”
Perhaps surprisingly, the jury disagreed. On Friday 13 September 1839, he was convicted on the charge of murder. An appeal was heard at the North Carolina Supreme Court in Raleigh which upheld the verdict.
John Hoover was executed for murder in May 1840.
Details of the case can be found in:
Anthony V. Baker: “for the murder of his own female slave, a woman named Mira...” : Law, Slavery and Incoherence in Antebellum North Carolina
Interestingly, Anthony V. Baker shows how the laws of North Carolina had changed over time. In particular, a 1774 statute which had criminalised the murder of a slave, but which had also ameliorated the punishment for such a murder, such that an offender would:
“suffer twelve Months Imprisonment...” for the first offense and back to the more traditional punishment, “suffer[ing] Death, without benefit of Clergy....” for the second.
However, how often these laws were enforced is a different question. Not only that, but the difficulty in obtaining a conviction should not be underestimated. This was illustrated in the relatively well-known case of Eliza Rowand, who was charged & acquitted of the murder of one of her slaves in 1847.
For a wider view of the question, I'd recommend Andrew T. Fede's recent book: Homicide Justified: The Legality of Killing Slaves in the United States and the Atlantic World. This includes discussions around the issues raised by both of the cases mentioned above, and also includes an entire chapter dedicated to The Antebellum States' Law on Slave Homicide (Chapter 11).
answered 3 hours ago
sempaiscuba♦sempaiscuba
58.5k7206267
Did the deliberate murder of a slave legally differ from working them until they died, or other forms of causing their deaths through deliberate negligence (e.g. denying health care)?
– nick012000
29 mins ago
add a comment |
Yes, murder of a slave was illegal in the antebellum South, and it was a capital offence.
An example is the case of John Hoover of North Carolina. He was arrested on 28 March 1839 for the murder of one of his slaves named Mira. He was brought to trial on 12 September 1839 before a jury of his peers (i.e. 12 male slaveholders).
At his trial, it was recorded that Hoover had declared that:
“the negro was his own property and he had a right to do as he pleased with his property ...”
Perhaps surprisingly, the jury disagreed. On Friday 13 September 1839, he was convicted on the charge of murder. An appeal was heard at the North Carolina Supreme Court in Raleigh which upheld the verdict.
John Hoover was executed for murder in May 1840.
Details of the case can be found in:
Anthony V. Baker: “for the murder of his own female slave, a woman named Mira...” : Law, Slavery and Incoherence in Antebellum North Carolina
Interestingly, Anthony V. Baker shows how the laws of North Carolina had changed over time. In particular, a 1774 statute which had criminalised the murder of a slave, but which had also ameliorated the punishment for such a murder, such that an offender would:
“suffer twelve Months Imprisonment...” for the first offense and back to the more traditional punishment, “suffer[ing] Death, without benefit of Clergy....” for the second.
However, how often these laws were enforced is a different question. Not only that, but the difficulty in obtaining a conviction should not be underestimated. This was illustrated in the relatively well-known case of Eliza Rowand, who was charged & acquitted of the murder of one of her slaves in 1847.
For a wider view of the question, I'd recommend Andrew T. Fede's recent book: Homicide Justified: The Legality of Killing Slaves in the United States and the Atlantic World. This includes discussions around the issues raised by both of the cases mentioned above, and also includes an entire chapter dedicated to The Antebellum States' Law on Slave Homicide (Chapter 11).
answered 3 hours ago
sempaiscuba♦sempaiscuba
58.5k7206267
Did the deliberate murder of a slave legally differ from working them until they died, or other forms of causing their deaths through deliberate negligence (e.g. denying health care)?
– nick012000
29 mins ago
add a comment |
Yes, murder of a slave was illegal in the antebellum South, and it was a capital offence.
An example is the case of John Hoover of North Carolina. He was arrested on 28 March 1839 for the murder of one of his slaves named Mira. He was brought to trial on 12 September 1839 before a jury of his peers (i.e. 12 male slaveholders).
At his trial, it was recorded that Hoover had declared that:
“the negro was his own property and he had a right to do as he pleased with his property ...”
Perhaps surprisingly, the jury disagreed. On Friday 13 September 1839, he was convicted on the charge of murder. An appeal was heard at the North Carolina Supreme Court in Raleigh which upheld the verdict.
John Hoover was executed for murder in May 1840.
Details of the case can be found in:
Anthony V. Baker: “for the murder of his own female slave, a woman named Mira...” : Law, Slavery and Incoherence in Antebellum North Carolina
Interestingly, Anthony V. Baker shows how the laws of North Carolina had changed over time. In particular, a 1774 statute which had criminalised the murder of a slave, but which had also ameliorated the punishment for such a murder, such that an offender would:
“suffer twelve Months Imprisonment...” for the first offense and back to the more traditional punishment, “suffer[ing] Death, without benefit of Clergy....” for the second.
However, how often these laws were enforced is a different question. Not only that, but the difficulty in obtaining a conviction should not be underestimated. This was illustrated in the relatively well-known case of Eliza Rowand, who was charged & acquitted of the murder of one of her slaves in 1847.
For a wider view of the question, I'd recommend Andrew T. Fede's recent book: Homicide Justified: The Legality of Killing Slaves in the United States and the Atlantic World. This includes discussions around the issues raised by both of the cases mentioned above, and also includes an entire chapter dedicated to The Antebellum States' Law on Slave Homicide (Chapter 11).
answered 3 hours ago
sempaiscuba♦sempaiscuba
58.5k7206267
Yes, murder of a slave was illegal in the antebellum South, and it was a capital offence.
An example is the case of John Hoover of North Carolina. He was arrested on 28 March 1839 for the murder of one of his slaves named Mira. He was brought to trial on 12 September 1839 before a jury of his peers (i.e. 12 male slaveholders).
At his trial, it was recorded that Hoover had declared that:
“the negro was his own property and he had a right to do as he pleased with his property ...”
Perhaps surprisingly, the jury disagreed. On Friday 13 September 1839, he was convicted on the charge of murder. An appeal was heard at the North Carolina Supreme Court in Raleigh which upheld the verdict.
John Hoover was executed for murder in May 1840.
Details of the case can be found in:
Anthony V. Baker: “for the murder of his own female slave, a woman named Mira...” : Law, Slavery and Incoherence in Antebellum North Carolina
Interestingly, Anthony V. Baker shows how the laws of North Carolina had changed over time. In particular, a 1774 statute which had criminalised the murder of a slave, but which had also ameliorated the punishment for such a murder, such that an offender would:
“suffer twelve Months Imprisonment...” for the first offense and back to the more traditional punishment, “suffer[ing] Death, without benefit of Clergy....” for the second.
However, how often these laws were enforced is a different question. Not only that, but the difficulty in obtaining a conviction should not be underestimated. This was illustrated in the relatively well-known case of Eliza Rowand, who was charged & acquitted of the murder of one of her slaves in 1847.
For a wider view of the question, I'd recommend Andrew T. Fede's recent book: Homicide Justified: The Legality of Killing Slaves in the United States and the Atlantic World. This includes discussions around the issues raised by both of the cases mentioned above, and also includes an entire chapter dedicated to The Antebellum States' Law on Slave Homicide (Chapter 11).
answered 3 hours ago
sempaiscuba♦sempaiscuba
58.5k7206267
edited 2 hours ago
answered 3 hours ago
sempaiscuba♦sempaiscuba
58.5k7206267
answered 3 hours ago
sempaiscuba♦sempaiscuba
58.5k7206267
answered 3 hours ago
sempaiscuba♦sempaiscuba
58.5k7206267
58.5k7206267
Did the deliberate murder of a slave legally differ from working them until they died, or other forms of causing their deaths through deliberate negligence (e.g. denying health care)?
– nick012000
29 mins ago
add a comment |
Did the deliberate murder of a slave legally differ from working them until they died, or other forms of causing their deaths through deliberate negligence (e.g. denying health care)?
– nick012000
29 mins ago
Did the deliberate murder of a slave legally differ from working them until they died, or other forms of causing their deaths through deliberate negligence (e.g. denying health care)?
– nick012000
29 mins ago
Did the deliberate murder of a slave legally differ from working them until they died, or other forms of causing their deaths through deliberate negligence (e.g. denying health care)?
– nick012000
29 mins ago
add a comment |
Thanks for contributing an answer to History Stack Exchange!
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fhistory.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f52650%2fwas-murdering-a-slave-illegal-in-american-slavery-and-if-so-what-punishments-w%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
