 An Act to Prevent the Immigration of Free Negroes into this State |
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This Illinois law was prohibited African Americans from moving into the state. Part of the series of laws known as Black Codes, this law and others like it intended to ensure racial inequality prior to the Civil War. Black people who resided in the state for longer than ten days could face arrest, fines, and sale by auction. Any white citizen who reported their presence was given half of the fine paid by the Black person.
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| Ann v. Henry Hight |
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Ann was a Black woman indentured by a man who took her from Maryland to Illinois and finally into Missouri, contrary to an Illinois law that required the consent of the servant if they were taken beyond the state's borders. Upon her employer's death, the executor of his estate, Henry Hight, claimed her as a slave for life. Ann petitioned for her freedom in a Missouri court and won.
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| Aspisa v. Hardage Lane |
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In this freedom suit, Aspisa sued for her freedom, arguing that her mother's residence in the free Northwest Territory before being taken to St. Louis where Aspisa was born entitled her to her freedom. Aspisa had filed previously against former enslavers including Joseph Rosati, the first Bishop of Saint Louis. A jury decided in favor of Aspisa's freedom in 1839, however, in a subsequent trial, the court determined her status was enslaved.
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| Code Noir |
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A set of laws in French colonies that regulated the lives of enslaved and free black people. The code primarily defined slavery, but it also expelled all Jewish people from French colonies and required Black people to be Catholic and not protestant. The Code Noir demonstrates the way enslaved people's lives were regulated under French colonial rule.
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| Edward Gantt v. Thomas Baldwin |
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This case centers on the whereabouts of a mixed race woman named Fanny who was enslaved by Edward Gantt. Gantt claimed that while aboard a steamboat captained by Thomas Baldwin, Fanny went missing. Gantt brought an action in trover against Baldwin to recover the monetary value of Fanny, $1,500. Witnesses deposed on behalf of Baldwin claimed that no such woman was ever on board, and also described the people of color who worked on the boat as well as those enslaved by passengers.
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| Equal Protection, Reconstruction, and the Meaning of the 14th Amendment |
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This teaching module discusses the 14th Amendment and the implications of equal protection under the law, featuring a webinar with Kate Masur, author of the 2021 book, Until Justice Be Done: America's First Civil Rights Movement, from the Revolution to Reconstruction.
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| Miscarriage (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1867) |
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The Illinois state statute regarding miscarriage reflects the diverse landscape of abortion law in the nineteenth century.
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| Northwest Ordinance |
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The Northwest Ordinance had important legal and political implications during the Early Republic. A key feature of the legislation was the recognition of tribal sovereignty and legal jurisdiction.
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| Paul Jones v. George W. Jones |
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Paul Jones initiated a suit in a Wisconsin Territory court against George W. Jones for several sums of money owed to him for labor, goods, wares, and merchandise. George argued that Paul was purchased as a slave for life from French inhabitants who were entitled to hold slaves according to the Northwest Ordinance of 1787.
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| Treaty of Paris |
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The Treaty of Paris was signed by the United States and Britain in 1783 to end the American War for Independence (1775- 1783). It recognized the United States as an independent state and delineated the Western boundaries of the new country.
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| Winny v. Phebe Whitesides alias Prewitt |
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This case was the first freedom suit heard by the Missouri Supreme Court. Winny claimed her freedom on account of being brought into the free territory of what would become Illinois before being removed to Missouri. The court found in favor of her freedom, establishing a "once free, always free" precedent that was eventually overturned by the decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford.
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