Celia's Trial

Melton McLaurin’s book Celia, A Slave is the account of the trial, conviction, and execution of a female slave for the murder of her “master” Robert Newsom in 1855. The author uses evidence compiled through studying documents from Callaway County, Missouri and the surrounding area during the middle of the Nineteenth Century. Although much of what can be determine about this event is merely speculation, McLaurin proposes arguments for the different motives that contribute to the way in which many of the events unfold. Now throughout the book the “main characters”, being Celia, her lawyer Jameson, and the judge William Hall, are all faced with moral decisions that affect the lives of two different people.

Much debate was caused by the fact that the North was anti slavery and the South was pro slavery. Both sides had opposing views about slavery and how it should be dealt with. The North had several negative things to say about it, whereas the South, obviously had a few positive factors to mention. If it were not for the creation of the cotton gin, the conflict between the two sides would have aroused. The South’s main argument was that slaves were mandatory for economic growth, while countless people in the North strongly refuted the statement. The South would have commanded more intense and severe work within the slaves, which would have sparked more discussion about the subject of matter.

In contrast to the other three colonies discussed, the institution of slavery in South Carolina was initiated, legalized, and maintained for distinct reasons; the founders of the colony felt that slavery was absolutely necessary for economic prosperity and their unwavering urge to protect the institution at all costs contributed towards the severity of the slave-enforcement acts and codes. By looking at the legislation passed in South Carolina, one can grasp the extent to which slaves were legally stripped of every right imaginable, suffered barbarous treatment, and were attempted to be rendered psychologically and physically powerless--all because of the deep-seated fear of the enslaved population that was instilled within white slave owners and law-makers. In South Carolina, slavery was a horrendous business that was never questioned ethically or legally. The white settlers coming from Barbados--who had already been involved in the slave trade for years--migrated to South Carolina equipped with slaves already accustomed to difficult climate conditions (similar to South Carolina), which made them more pleasurable to slave owners expecting a strong work force. Another unique aspect to South Carolina was the overwhelming black majority in the colony for it is true that, “by 1708, less than twenty years after the decision to move from white indentured labor to black slave labor, the number of blacks in the colony exceeded whites,” (Higginbotham, 1978, pg. 152). Due to the

On Saturday, December 1, 1900, a man named John Hossack was killed in his sleep with a hatchet by his wife, Margaret Hossack. The story told by Margaret was that she had heard what sounded like two boards banging together and by that time the attacker had fled and she didn’t catch a glimpse of him. The next thing she saw was her extremely wounded husband, John, who had a five-inch cut into his head and a fractured skull. A doctor, who came and examined John, and said there was no hope and John died the next morning. As an investigation started, a burglary was thought of as the first motive but the idea flawed because nothing was stolen so the idea was quickly abandoned. In the 4 days between the murder and the funeral, the police talked to

As a result of the North’s victory in the civil war and the reconstruction period that followed, African-Americans were seemingly on the verge of being able to enjoy the freedom of no longer being slaves. During the reconstruction era, important pieces of legislature were written in order to protect the rights of the newly freed men. Those pieces of legislature were essentially trying to somehow transform former slave into free productive members of society. However, a number of disgruntled southerners took it as their duty to prevent African-American from being free of their former masters. They saw the northerners demand as an infringement of the South traditional values. Although the

“Monday, June 25, the official case of the State of Missouri versus Celia, a Slave began” (47). Whyte and Howe are Celia’s justices of the peace and charged Celia for murder of her master. The murder is exposed in Fulton Telegraph. During this time, the town is now in concerns of morality of slavery. Senator Stephen Douglas supports The Kansas-Nebraska Act which is allowing slavery to expand to new territories. Democratic support passes the act. David Atchison, a supporter of slavery, is against the act and thinks they should vote to allow slaves or not. However, the Fugitive Slave Act is already passed by the Supreme Court making slaves legal in

The trial of Celia, a slave, is a murder case arising out of Calloway County, Missouri wherein Celia (the defendant) 19 years of age, killed Robert Newsom her (slave master). Celia was later charged with first degree murder and was sentenced to be hung by William Hall (the judge) for her allegedly criminal intent actions. Upon reading several different articles and a book of this case, I came across every iota I needed to briefly summarize the facts that which led me to believe that Celia was rightly convicted despite her ethnicity and status. Further in my paper I am going to; summarize the ultimate issue involved in this case, state the argument of which the defendant (Celia) tries to defend herself, as Robert Prewitt (the prosecutor)

Celia, a Slave was a truthful elucidation of one disengaged episode that delineated basic slave dread amid the prior to the war time of the United States. Melton A. McLaurin, utilized this record of a youthful slave lady 's battle through the undeserved hardships of assault and unfairness to disclose to today 's guileless society a superior delineation of what servitude could have been similar to. The tale of Celia delineates the base of racial issues Americans still face in their general public. In spite of the fact that not about as great, they keep on living in a white-male overwhelmed society that looks downward on African-Americans, particularly females. McLaurin takes a gander at the perspectives of the time, and conjectures the probabilities of this pre - Civil War time, the estimations of which still puncture every day life in the United States.

Every man, woman, and child that is born unto this earth is given one thing; free will. Or at least in theory. That is not to say that in every society, there are consequences for actions or that everyone is to be allowed to run rampant doing what they want. But most restrictions today, at least legally, are enforced so as to not infringe on someone else’s right to freedom. In Celia, a Slave, Melton A. McLaurin’s interpretation of events that happened to a young unfortunate slave in the antebellum period, we are shown a glimpse at the frustratingly futile effort fought to give a slave women the right to self-defense against someone who encroached on something that everyone should have the right to have. Melton has written many books that gives insight of life in the south, such as The Knights of Labor in the South, and Separate Pasts: Growing Up White in the Segregated South. His take on this historic trial gives such an honest insight that someone from anywhere else but the south, could not have given.

As Americans were moving west to fulfill the Manifest Destiny and conquering new territories, new boundaries for the Union were having to be shaped. With the northern states having officially abolished slavery since 1804, the argument over which territories would be free or not was now coming into play. The North and South have had differing opinions regarding slavery for over sixty years, but with the topic being kept out of most, if not all, political debates the dispute never seemed to come to a head. After the

By the early 1830s, those who wished to see slavery abolished in the United States were becoming more vocal and influential. They claimed obedience to higher law over obedience to the Constitution’s guarantee that an outlaw from one state would be

These were the most frequent reactions of the Southerners; however a man named John Jameson took her side and defended her and her actions toward Robert Newsom as acts of defense against his advances, and claimed she had the right, by law, to use deadly force to protect herself against rape, regardless of her previous sexual relations with him. Though, because of the southerners’ hate of the slaves and their desire to treat them as inferiors, they did not deliver the evidence necessary to acquit her for her “crime.” Having lost the trial, Celia’s attorneys filed a motion to request a new trial on October 11th. However, Judge Hall denied the motion on October 13th and Celia was sentenced to be hung on November 16th. She was given this time before being executed to birth her child, as law stated that pregnant women could not be executed. This shows that there is a bit of equality between women when dealing with court systems at this time,

In the early years of the 19th century, slavery was more than ever turning into a sectional concern, such that the nation had essentially become divided along regional lines. Based on economic or moral reasoning, people of the Northern states were increasingly in support of opposition to slavery, all the while Southerners became united to defend the institution of slavery. Brought on by profound changes including regional differences in the pattern of slavery in the upper and lower South, as well as the movement of abolitionism in the North, slavery in America had transformed from an issue of politics into a moral campaign during the period of 1815-1860, ultimately polarizing the North and the South to the point in which threats of a Southern disunion would mark the beginning of the Civil War in 1861 (Goldfield et. al, The American Journey, p. 281).

The North turned slavery into a moral issue creating tension between the two distinct parts of the

The controversies surrounding slavery have been established in many societies worldwide for centuries. In past generations, although slavery did exists and was tolerated, it was certainly very questionable,” ethically“. Today, the morality of such an act would not only be unimaginable, but would also be morally wrong. As things change over the course of history we seek to not only explain why things happen, but as well to understand why they do. For this reason, we will look further into how slavery has evolved throughout History in American society, as well as the impacts that it has had.