When runaway slave Anthony Burns was tracked to Boston by his owner Charles Suttle; the struggle over his fate became a focal point for national controversy. Boston; a hotbed of antislavery sentiment; provided the venue for the 1854 hearing that determined Burns's legal status; one of the most dramatic and widely publicized events in the long-running conflict over the issue of fugitive slaves.Earl Maltz's compelling chronicle of this case shows how the violent emotions surrounding it played out at both the local and national levels; focusing especially on the awkward position in which trial judge Edward Loring found himself. A unionist who also supported enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act; Loring was committed to the idea that each individual case should be decided by reference to neutral principles; which ultimately led him to remand Burns to Suttle's custody. Although; as Maltz argues; Loring's decision was indisputably correct on the facts and justified by existing legal precedent; it also ignited a firestorm of protest.Maltz locates the Burns case in arguments over slavery going back to the Constitution's rendition clause; then follows it through two iterations of federal statutes in 1793 and 1850; a miniature legal war between the governors of Massachusetts and Virginia; and abolitionists' violent resistance to federal law. He also cites Loring's intellectual honesty and determination to apply the law as written; no matter what it might cost him.As the last of a series of high-profile disputes in Massachusetts; the Burns case underscores the abolitionist attitude of many of the state's residents toward the fugitive slave issue; providing readers with a you-are-there view of an actual fugitive slave case hearing and encouraging them to grapple with the question of how a conscientious judge committed to the rule of law should act in such a case. It also sheds light on the political costs and consequences for any judicial official attempting to deliver a decision on such a controversial issue while surrounded by a hostile public.A story as dramatic and compelling as any in our legal annals; Fugitive Slave on Trial dissects an important historical event as it sheds new light on the state of the Union in the mid-1850s and the events that led to its eventual dismemberment.
#1239845 in Books University Press of Kansas 2003-06-12Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.32 x .56 x 7.12l; .61 #File Name: 0700612467204 pages
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Five StarsBy T.A.S.Excellent resource.3 of 4 people found the following review helpful. The Great New York ConspiracyBy Gail Stuart RoweAs usual; Peter Hoffer provides his readers with a gracefully written look at a intriquing but little known moment in our nation's past. And; as is true of his other studies; his work on the NY Conspiracy is thought-provoking and placed intelligently in context so that both the small picture and the large picture can be appreciated. Though intended for professional historians and graduate students; lay readers and undergraduates can enjoy--and profit--from this work.9 of 12 people found the following review helpful. Read it anywayBy EricIn the relative absence of recent works on the subject; this is a welcomed addition and worth reading. However; it is poorly written and will certainly be surpassed by future efforts. The historical narrative is disjointed and uneven; marked far too often by a sneering tone rather than an attempt to comprehend the people and times of which the author writes. Where he does make an attempt to explore their thought-processes and assumptions; one is very often left wondering what caused him to come to his conclusions; which are presented as if written in stone. One never escapes an awareness that the author is very much a child of a particular culture and era; one never is drawn by the book into the culture and era being portrayed. Further; his actual objective seems less to reveal the events and the era mentioned in the title than to score polemical points in our modern era by tenuously and adsurdly linking responses to modern terrorism to the slave trials. The book begins and ends with this. With the wealth of information available on these events; one can only hope that a more unbiased and perceptive historian one whose objective is historical rather than polemical; will take up the challenge of writing a definitive narrative in the near future.
