Double Character: Slavery and Mastery in the Antebellum Southern Courtroom

by Ariela J. Gross

Overview

In a groundbreaking study of the day-to-day law and culture of slavery, Ariela Gross investigates the local courtrooms of the Deep South where ordinary people settled their disputes over slaves. Buyers sued sellers for breach of warranty when they considered slaves to be physically or morally defective; owners sued supervisors who whipped or neglected slaves under their care. Double Character seeks to explain how communities dealt with an important dilemma raised by these trials: how could slaves who acted as moral agents be treated as commodities? Because these cases made the character of slaves a central legal question, slaves' moral agency intruded into the courtroom, often challenging the character of slaveholders who saw themselves as honorable masters. Gross looks at the stories about white and black character that witnesses and litigants put forth in court. She not only reveals the role of law in constructing "race" but also offers a portrait of the culture of slavery, one that addresses historical debates about law, honor, and commerce in the American South.

Gross maintains that witnesses and litigants drew on narratives available in the culture at large to explain the nature and origins of slaves' character, such as why slaves became runaways. But the legal process also shaped their expressions of racial ideology by favoring certain explanations over others. Double Character brings to life the law as a dramatic ritual in people's daily lives, looking at trials from the perspective of litigants, lawyers, doctors, and the slaves themselves. The author's approach combines the methods of cultural anthropology, quantitative social history, and critical race theory.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691059570
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	11/19/2000
Series:	Master-Slave Relations Series
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

Ariela J. Gross is Associate Professor of Law at the University of Southern California Law School. She received her Ph.D. in History from Stanford University and her J.D. from Stanford Law School.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction 3

Chapter One: Court and Market 22

Chapter Two: Honor and Dishonor 47

Chapter Three: Slaves' Character 72

Chapter Four: Masters' Character 98

Chapter Five: Body and Mind 122

Epilogue 153

Appendix: Note on Sources and Methods 159

Notes 167

Bibliography 231

Index 251

What People are Saying About This

Fredrickson

On the basis of trial records and other legal documents previously unused by historians, Ariela Gross has produced a superb study that adds enormously to our knowledge of the inner world of masters and slaves in the Old South. Effectively synthesizing the methods and data of legal and social history, she sheds new light on many themes central to antebellum history, such as the cult of honor, the function of racist and paternalist ideologies, and slave agency in the face of oppression.
— George M. Fredrickson, Stanford University

Jordan

With great clarity, Ariela Gross's book shows how intimately the practice of law in the antebellum U.S. South was interwoven with the practice of slavery. The author conveys this tragic story in terms that provide a vivid picture of that society and also of many of the individuals involved. She has successfully melded diverse approaches toward history—legal, local, social, political, economic, and cultural—while still maintaining a powerful central focus.
— Winthrop D. Jordan, University of Mississippi

Winthrop D. Jordan

With great clarity,Ariela Gross's book shows how intimately the practice of law in the antebellum U.S. South was interwoven with the practice of slavery. The author conveys this tragic story in terms that provide a vivid picture of that society and also of many of the individuals involved. She has successfully melded diverse approaches toward history--legal,local,social,political,economic,and cultural--while still maintaining a powerful central focus.

From the Publisher

"Double Character is a profoundly important book. At a time when there has been much romanticization of master-slave relations, Ariela Gross dissects hundreds of antebellum legal cases in which the presumed attributes of blacks, whites, and those "in between" were litigated. What emerges is a pattern of assumptions whose power was sanctioned by law and whose legacy we battle still. A brilliant work of scholarship."—Patricia Williams, Columbia School of Law

"With great clarity, Ariela Gross's book shows how intimately the practice of law in the antebellum U.S. South was interwoven with the practice of slavery. The author conveys this tragic story in terms that provide a vivid picture of that society and also of many of the individuals involved. She has successfully melded diverse approaches toward history—legal, local, social, political, economic, and cultural—while still maintaining a powerful central focus."—Winthrop D. Jordan, University of Mississippi

"On the basis of trial records and other legal documents previously unused by historians, Ariela Gross has produced a superb study that adds enormously to our knowledge of the inner world of masters and slaves in the Old South. Effectively synthesizing the methods and data of legal and social history, she sheds new light on many themes central to antebellum history, such as the cult of honor, the function of racist and paternalist ideologies, and slave agency in the face of oppression."—George M. Fredrickson, Stanford University

George M. Fredrickson

On the basis of trial records and other legal documents previously unused by historians,Ariela Gross has produced a superb study that adds enormously to our knowledge of the inner world of masters and slaves in the Old South. Effectively synthesizing the methods and data of legal and social history,she sheds new light on many themes central to antebellum history,such as the cult of honor,the function of racist and paternalist ideologies,and slave agency in the face of oppression.

Patricia Williams

Double Character is a profoundly important book. At a time when there has been much romanticization of master-slave relations,Ariela Gross dissects hundreds of antebellum legal cases in which the presumed attributes of blacks,whites,and those "in between" were litigated. What emerges is a pattern of assumptions whose power was sanctioned by law and whose legacy we battle still. A brilliant work of scholarship.

Recipe

"Double Character is a profoundly important book. At a time when there has been much romanticization of master-slave relations, Ariela Gross dissects hundreds of antebellum legal cases in which the presumed attributes of blacks, whites, and those "in between" were litigated. What emerges is a pattern of assumptions whose power was sanctioned by law and whose legacy we battle still. A brilliant work of scholarship."—Patricia Williams, Columbia School of Law

"With great clarity, Ariela Gross's book shows how intimately the practice of law in the antebellum U.S. South was interwoven with the practice of slavery. The author conveys this tragic story in terms that provide a vivid picture of that society and also of many of the individuals involved. She has successfully melded diverse approaches toward history—legal, local, social, political, economic, and cultural—while still maintaining a powerful central focus."—Winthrop D. Jordan, University of Mississippi

"On the basis of trial records and other legal documents previously unused by historians, Ariela Gross has produced a superb study that adds enormously to our knowledge of the inner world of masters and slaves in the Old South. Effectively synthesizing the methods and data of legal and social history, she sheds new light on many themes central to antebellum history, such as the cult of honor, the function of racist and paternalist ideologies, and slave agency in the face of oppression."—George M. Fredrickson, Stanford University

Editorial Reviews

"A nuanced and elegant interpretation of antebellum Southern law."

Virginia Quarterly Review

"Double Character is an exemplar of how detailed research and theoretical sophistication can be combined. Few writers are as at home as Gross with handling both large databases and complex cultural theories."—-Philip Abbott, The Historian

From the Publisher

Double Character is an exemplar of how detailed research and theoretical sophistication can be combined. Few writers are as at home as Gross with handling both large databases and complex cultural theories.

The Historian - Philip Abbott

Double Character is an exemplar of how detailed research and theoretical sophistication can be combined. Few writers are as at home as Gross with handling both large databases and complex cultural theories.
— Philip Abbott

The Historian

With great clarity, Gross's book shows how intimately the practice of law in the antebellum U.S. South was interwoven with the practice of slavery. The author conveys this tragic story in terms that provide a vivid picture of that society and also of many of the individuals involved. She has successfully melded diverse approaches toward history—legal, local, social, political, economic, and cultural—while still maintaining a powerful central focus.

University of Mississippi - Winthrop D. Jordan

A profoundly important book. At a time when there has been much romanticization of master-slave relations, Gross dissects hundreds of antebellum legal cases in which the presumed attributes of blacks, whites, and those 'in between' were litigated. What emerges is a pattern of assumptions whose power was sanctioned by law and whose legacy we battle still. A brilliant work of scholarship.

Columbia School of Law - Patricia Williams

Gross adds depth and complexity to our understanding of slavery's social and cultural framework, and of the tensions and contradictions slavery created in its American setting. . . . She provides valuable insight into the uses of paternalism as a perspective for understanding slavery and even into the professionalization of medicine, as it grew out of the requirements of southern slave law.

American Historical Review

Gross moves the study of slave law beyond the traditional notion that the civil law of slavery concerned slaves only as property and not as people. Gross has successfully trawled local as well as state court records to find still another dimension of slave law.

Journal of American History

A fascinating journey inside slave trials of the antebellum Deep South . . . Gross weaves an intricate tale, and, unusually for some historians, her methodology is fully articulated on both the statistical and historiographical planes. . . . What will make this book even more interesting for social, intellectual, and cultural historians is Gross's ability to demystify what might normally be considered intricate and complicated about the law. . . . It is a pleasure to read a legal history that fuses hard statistical data to sophisticated intellectual and cultural history arguments, while maintaining the readability that allows non-lawyers access to the technical side of courtrooms.

Reviews in American History

Few scholars have demonstrated better that Gross that the law can provide a window into the cultural mores of another era. . . . Her study has helped to extend our understanding of social divisions among slaveholding and non-slaveholding whites, the white South's seemingly endless quest for vindication of honor, black and white gender roles, and the all important question of slavery and race in the antebellum South. . . . Double Character will prove invaluable to students in a number of areas. It not only provides a model of applying socio-legal research to legal history, but it also shows a mastery of contemporary research on slavery as well. It will prove to be of great value for students of legal history and the history of race relations in the United States.

Southern Quarterly