xiii, 252 pages ; 24 cm

Studies in legal history

Studies in legal history

Based on author's thesis (doctoral - University of Florida, 2010) issued under title: Navigating the dangerous Atlantic : black sailors, racial quarantines, and U.S. constitutionalism

"Between 1822 and 1857, eight Southern states barred the ingress of all free black maritime workers. According to lawmakers, they carried a "moral contagion" of abolitionism and black autonomy that could be transmitted to local slaves. Those seamen who arrived in Southern ports in violation of the laws faced incarceration, corporal punishment, an incipient form of convict leasing, and even punitive enslavement. The sailors, their captains, abolitionists, and British diplomatic agents protested this treatment. They wrote letters, published tracts, cajoled elected officials, pleaded with Southern officials, and litigated in state and federal courts. By deploying a progressive and sweeping notion of national citizenship - one that guaranteed a number of rights against state regulation - they exposed the ambiguity and potential power of national citizenship as a legal category. Ultimately, the Fourteenth Amendment recognized the robust understanding of citizenship championed by antebellum free people of color, by people afflicted with "moral contagion.""-- Provided by publisher

Includes bibliographical references (pages 231-245) and index

Introduction; 1. The Atlantic's Dangerous Undercurrents; 2. Containing a Moral Contagion, 1822-1829; 3. The Contagion Spreads, 1829-1833; 4. Confronting a Pandemic, 1834-1842; 5. "Foreign" Emissaries and Rights Discourse, 1842-1847; 6. Sacrificing Black Citizenship, 1848-1859; 7. From the Decks to the Jails to Assembly Halls: Black Sailors, Their Communities, and the Fight for Black Citizenship; Epilogue

Free African Americans -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- History -- 19th century

Free blacks -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- United States -- History -- 19th century

Merchant mariners, Black -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- Southern States -- History -- 19th century

United States -- Foreign relations -- 1783-1865

Authors, American -- Maine

1047773192

9781108469999

110846999X

9781108455121

1108455123