The Confederacy on trial : the piracy and sequestration cases of 1861 / Mark A. Weitz.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Weitz, Mark A., 1957-

Series:

Landmark law cases & American society

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Trials (Piracy)--United States--History--19th century.

Trials (Piracy).

Hijacking of ships--United States--Cases.

Hijacking of ships.

Prize law--United States--Cases.

Prize law.

Capture at sea--Cases.

Capture at sea.

Enemy property--Cases.

Enemy property.

Effectiveness and validity of law--United States--History--19th century.

Effectiveness and validity of law.

Effectiveness and validity of law--Confederate States of America--History--19th century.

History.

United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Confiscations and contributions.

United States.

Confederate States of America--Trials, litigation, etc.

Confederate States of America.

Confederate States of America--International status.

Genre:

Trial and arbitral proceedings.

Physical Description:

xi, 219 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Lawrence : University Press of Kansas, [2005]

Summary:

In the Civil War, did the United States simply subdue an internal rebellion or had it in fact fought against a new sovereign nation? In October 1861 three legal battles put that question to the test and revealed the essential contradictions lurking within the Confederacy's very identity.

Mark Weitz takes readers to courtrooms in Philadelphia and New York, where Confederate sailors were tried for the capital crime of piracy. Their defense argued that they were not pirates at all but privateers acting on behalf of a sovereign nation, and thus were entitled to protection under laws governing prisoners of war and could not be executed. Meanwhile, in South Carolina, a number of Charleston lawyers challenged the Sequestration Act, which authorized the seizure of the property of "enemy aliens"-an action viewed by Southerners as a major threat to their civil liberties and states' rights. In the process, these lawyers highlighted the conflict between the kind of nation the Confederacy wanted to become and the nation it was compelled to be in wartime. Weitz masterfully interweaves these stories to illuminate a neglected dimension of the Civil War.

Contents:

"And the fame of the Dane revive again, Ye Vikings of the South"

"If they meet it is only to combat"

"We shall have no peace forever"

"A fair and impartial trial"

"Summon the community by sound of trumpet"

"I lay this offering of age on the altar of justice"

"I cannot insult and ridicule the feelings of millions"

"For God's sake, leave this to the clash of arms".

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 207-212) and index.

ISBN:

0700613854

0700613862

OCLC:

57652453