From Treason to Runaway Slaves

From Treason to Runaway Slaves provides case studies of high-profile trials from the early republic examined in terms of the period’s history, law, and culture. It focuses on a historical period and place crucial to identity formation in the new nation and the survival of the U. S. as a democratic experiment.

Linda Myrsiades

Chapter One: Trying Military Law: The Hazen-Reid Feud and the Case of Judge Advocate General Thomas Edwards, 1783 Chapter Two: "The Crooks of the Law": The Trial of Mamachtaga, the Delaware Indian, 1785 Chapter Three: "A fine peace of Land": Settlers' Rights and Land Titles in George Washington v. James Scott, et al., 1786 Chapter Four: "Whiskey Boys" and the "Pole Gentry": Treason and the Whiskey Rebellion Trials, 1795 Chapter Five: Sangrado v. The Cloven Foot: The Libel Trial of Benjamin Rush v. William Cobbett, 1799 Chapter Six: "I will a tale unfold": The Murder Trial of John Joyce and Peter Matthias, 1808