Archy Lee's Struggle for Freedom: The True Story of California Gold, the Nation's Tragic March Toward Civil War, and a Young Black Man's Fight for Liberty

by Brian McGinty

Overview

In San Francisco, CA, in 1858, a young African American man was freed from the claims of a white man who sought to return him to slavery in Mississippi. This was one year after the Supreme Court’s notorious Dred Scott decision and during the California Gold Rush, which saw the population of the state rise from 7,000 to more than 60,000 in a few short years. Archy Lee was the name of the man who, with the aid of anti-slavery lawyers and determined opponents of human bondage, had just won his freedom from the claims of Charles Stovall. With the aid of pro-slavery lawyers and equally determined supporters, Stovall had sought to capture him and carry him back to a far-away slave plantation. Yet the book is not solely about Archy Lee. It is also about the travel routes that the gold-seekers followed to California in the 1850s, some by land over the Great Plains, some by sea around Cape Horn, yet others by sailing from the east coast of North America to the isthmus of Panama, where they crossed over the land there by train and continued on by sea to San Francisco. It is about the efforts of the racially motivated lawmakers to suppress the rights of all of California’s residents except whites, and to subject people of African, Asian, Hispanic, and Native American descent to second-, third-, or even fourth-class citizenship. It is about the residents of the state—including many whites—who fought back against those efforts, seeking to ameliorate or repeal the discriminatory laws and introduce a measure of fairness and justice into California’s civil life. It is about the lawyers and judges who participated in Archy Lee’s legal struggles in 1858, some supporting his claims for freedom while others ferociously opposed them and, in the process, elevated their own political and professional profiles.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781493045341
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	12/17/2019
Pages:	264
Sales rank:	1,095,950
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Brian McGinty is a writer and historian whose special interests include American history, the history of the American West, and American legal history. His previous books include Lincoln and the Court, The Body of John Merryman: Abraham Lincoln and the Suspension of Habeas Corpus, John Brown's Trial, and Lincoln’s Greatest Case: The River, the Bridge, and the Making of America He lives in Scottsdale, Arizona. .

Table of Contents

Introduction ix

Dramatis Personae xv

Chapter 1 A Slave from Pike County 1

Chapter 2 The Black Heart of the Gold Country 15

Chapter 3 "I Want It to Come Out Right" 35

Chapter 4 "The Archy Case" 49

Chapter 5 A Struggle on the Water 61

Chapter 6 The Opposing Forces 71

Chapter 7 "Jehovah Has Triumphed" 81

Chapter 8 "Send Them to the Devil" 93

Chapter 9 "All One Thing, or All the Other" 101

Chapter 10 North to Freedom 117

Chapter 11 "We Feel the Impulse" 129

Chapter 12 The Year Lives On 139

Acknowledgments 157

Chronology 161

Notes 173

Bibliography 203

Index 217

Editorial Reviews

Praise for the writing of Brian McGinty “McGinty's riveting account of the Effie Afton trial of 1857 not only highlights the role of Abraham Lincoln in assuring the superiority of railroad transport over river navigation in the nation's development, but also how the case gave a boost to Lincoln's career both as a lawyer and political leader.”—James M. McPherson, author of Battle Cry of Freedom, on Lincoln’s Greatest Case (Liveright, 2015) “McGinty is in full stride here….an outstanding book powered by a compelling story as rendered by a talented author. The Rest I Will Kill should enchant a wide audience: history buffs, Civil War enthusiasts, pirate junkies, readers who love action and adventure, and those interested in the seemingly unending quest for liberty. It’s difficult to imagine the person who can’t find something to admire in these pages.—Minneapolis Star Tribune on The Rest I Will Kill: William Tillman and the Unforgettable Story of How a Free Black Man Refused to Become a Slave (Liveright, 2016) “Vivid writing creates an exciting read….an important contribution to the shelf of Civil War histories, this story will transfix readers.”—Library Journal (starred review) on The Rest I Will Kill “Convincingly shows that 1857 was a watershed year for the moral and political questions surrounding slavery’s expansion to the west…also a case study of discomfort with new technology―and the futility of using a tort suit to prevent the adoption of inevitable innovation.”—Wall Street Journal on Lincoln’s Greatest Case (Liveright, 2015) “[A] masterful popular history that places its focal point in a richly detailed wider context and will get readers interested in Lincoln’s legal career.—Publishers Weekly (starred review) on Lincoln’s Greatest Case “McGinty deftly explains the judicial and political implications of this effort by Lincoln to establish the inevitability (and desirability) of economic development in the West, and does so through superior research, fine reasoning, and lucid prose. Effie Afton was much more than an ordinary legal case—and this book is much more than a mere account of a pre-Civil War trial. Anyone seeking to better understand the origins of the growing tensions between political parties in mid-19th-century America will find this book absolutely essential."—Harold Holzer, Roger Hertog Fellow, New-York Historical Society, on Lincoln’s Greatest Case “A fascinating and well-researched study of the case that capped Lincoln’s career as a lawyer, and fostered the creation of the vast railroad network that would bind the nation together.”—Richard Slotkin, author of The Long Road to Antietam, on Lincoln’s Greatest Case “In McGinty’s engaging treatment of this famous episode, Lincoln comes across as a familiar figure—both thoughtful and decisive, respectful of constitutional law yet aware of the unusual necessities of the time….[His] account offers a more vivid and rounded picture of the episode by giving Taney’s motivations and hypocrisies equal billing; doing so puts Lincoln’s actions in an even more favorable light than history already has.”—The New Republic on The Body of John Merryman: Abraham Lincoln and the Suspension of Habeas Corpus (Harvard University Press, 2011) “You’d think little new could be said about one of the most famous trials in American history. But McGinty comes to his work as attorney as well as historian. The result is a fresh perspective on the trial of John Brown, a work that adds appreciably to our understanding of the coming of the Civil War."—Publisher’s Weekly on John Brown’s Trial (Harvard University Press, 2009) “A fascinating book….The issue of presidential power in wartime is as fresh as today’s headlines.”—The Washington Post on Lincoln and the Court (Harvard University Press, 2008)

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