NEW YORK PERSONAL LIBERTY ACT (1840). An Act More Effectually to Protect the Free Citizens of This State from Being Kidnapped or Reduced to Slavery. THE LAW THAT FREED SOLOMON NORTHUP FROM SLAVERY.

AMERICAN SLAVERY. State of New York. United States.

Published by Albany: Thurlow Weed, 1840

About this Item

THE LAW THAT FREED SOLOMON NORTHUP FROM SLAVERY. Octavo (8.5 inches). Chapter 375. Caption title, page 319. In the whole volume of: Laws of the State of New York Passed at the Sixty-Third Session of the Legislature, Begun and Held in the City of Albany, the Seventh Day of January, 1840. 413 pages. Engraved New York State coat of arms on title page. Contemporary quarter sheep and green paper boards, flat spine, red spine label, gilt. Outer joints slightly cracked, head and tail of spine lightly chipped, label rubbed. Binding tight serviceable. Contemporary ownership signature on rear board ("Smithfield"). A bit of foxing to the endpapers, but generally clean throughout. In good to near very good condition. When the slave trade in the United States was made illegal in 1808, the kidnapping of free African-American people and their ensuing sale as slaves became a serious and widespread problem. Despite the various state and federal laws that were in place to discourage the practice, Africa-Americans continued to fall victim to kidnappers and slave traders. In response to the growing problem, the New York State Legislature passed the Personal Liberty Act, 1840 that made it illegal to entice or kidnap African-Americans out of New York and sell them into slavery. The law also provided financial and legal assistance to aid in the recovery of anyone who had been kidnapped, taken out of state, and illegally enslaved. The New York Personal Liberty Act, 1840 was famously invoked in the case of Solomon Northup, an African-American citizen of New York who had been lured to Washington, D.C. (where slavery was legal), drugged, kidnapped, and sold into slavery in 1841. He was shipped to New Orleans by James H. Birch, a known slave trader operating in Washington, purchased by a planter from the Red River region of Louisiana, and held as a slave for twelve years. Northup eventually managed to dispatch a message to his family back in New York by means of Samuel Bass, a Canadian worker at the plantation, and gained the assistance of the governor of New York to help with his release. Through the application of the New York Personal Liberty Act, 1840 Northup regained his freedom on 3 January 1853. Although the kidnappers and associates were arrested and tried, various jurisdictional challenges caused all those involved to be acquitted. Solomon Northup wrote and published his experiences as Twelve Years a Slave in 1853, which became a best seller. The book was made into a feature film in 2013, and won three Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Because the legislation was such an essential aspect in his ultimate release from bondage, the text of the New York Personal Liberty Act, 1840 was included in Northup's book as Appendix A.

Seller Inventory # 278

Bibliographic Details

• Title: NEW YORK PERSONAL LIBERTY ACT (1840). An Act More Effectually to Protect the Free Citizens of This State from Being Kidnapped or Reduced to Slavery. THE LAW THAT FREED SOLOMON NORTHUP FROM SLAVERY.
• Publisher: Albany: Thurlow Weed
• Publication Date: 1840
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • AMERICA Laws
  • AMERICAN SLAVERY