Overview

The Dred Scott suit for freedom, argues Kelly M. Kennington, was merely the most famous example of a phenomenon that was more widespread in antebellum American jurisprudence than is generally recognized. The author draws on the case files of more than three hundred enslaved individuals who, like Dred Scott and his family, sued for freedom in the local legal arena of St. Louis. Her findings open new perspectives on the legal culture of slavery and the negotiated processes involved in freedom suits. As a gateway to the American West, a major port on both the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, and a focal point in the rancorous national debate over slavery’s expansion, St. Louis was an ideal place for enslaved individuals to challenge the legal systems and, by extension, the social systems that held them in forced servitude. Kennington offers an in-depth look at how daily interactions, webs of relationships, and arguments presented in court shaped and reshaped legal debates and public at­titudes over slavery and freedom in St. Louis. Kennington also surveys more than eight hundred state supreme court freedom suits from around the United States to situate the St. Louis example in a broader context. Although white enslavers dominated the antebellum legal system in St. Louis and throughout the slaveholding states, that fact did not mean that the system ignored the concerns of the subordinated groups who made up the bulk of the American population. By looking at a particular example of one group’s encounters with the law—and placing these suits into conversation with similar en­counters that arose in appellate cases nationwide—Kennington sheds light on the ways in which the law responded to the demands of a variety of actors.

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Kennington shows how politically dominant whites changed their thinking about slavery and the nature of the federal compact over time. . . . Well written and highly insightful.--Kenneth H. Winn Missouri Historical Review Kennington deftly teaches us that the outcome in Dred Scott was as much emblematic of local changes as it was of political shifts on the national scene.--Martha S. Jones Journal of the Civil War Era Drawing on the case files of more than three hundred enslaved blacks, Kennington offers an in-depth look at how daily interactions, webs of relationships, and arguments presented in court shaped and reshaped legal debates and public attitudes over slavery and freedom in St. Louis.--Law & Social Inquiry It is a comprehensive study of antebellum freedom suits in St. Louis courts and is intended to reveal a 'legal culture of slavery.'. . . [Kennington] provide[s] useful appendices that allow readers to dig deeper into the evidence, but without interrupting the narrative flow.--Kenneth Aslakson The Journal of American History

Kennington shows how politically dominant whites changed their thinking about slavery and the nature of the federal compact over time. . . . Well written and highly insightful.--Kenneth H. Winn Missouri Historical Review Kennington deftly teaches us that the outcome in Dred Scott was as much emblematic of local changes as it was of political shifts on the national scene.--Martha S. Jones Journal of the Civil War Era

Kennington deftly teaches us that the outcome in Dred Scott was as much emblematic of local changes as it was of political shifts on the national scene.--Martha S. Jones Journal of the Civil War Era Kennington shows how politically dominant whites changed their thinking about slavery and the nature of the federal compact over time. . . . Well written and highly insightful.--Kenneth H. Winn Missouri Historical Review

Author Information

KELLY M. KENNINGTON is an assistant professor of history at Auburn University.

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