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词条 Holmes v. Ford
释义

  1. Background

  2. Case

  3. Legacy

  4. See also

  5. References

  6. Further reading

  7. External links

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Holmes v. Ford was an American court case in the Oregon Territory that freed a slave family in the territory in 1853. The decision re-affirmed that slavery was illegal in the territory as outlined in the Organic Laws of Oregon that were continued once the region became a U.S. territory. In the decision, Chief Justice of the Oregon Territorial Supreme Court George H. Williams ruled against Nathaniel Ford, freeing the children of Polly and Robin Holmes.

Background

Robin Holmes was the slave of Nathaniel Ford, a four-term sheriff of Howard County, Missouri and a major landholder there.[1][2] In 1844, Ford, facing mounting debts, mortgaged Holmes' oldest children, Eliza, Clarisa and William, to another slave owner before migrating to the area of present-day Rickreall in Polk County. Holmes; Holmes' wife, Polly, and their youngest children, Mary Jane, James, and Roxanna, were taken to Oregon, despite the territory's ban on slavery.[1]

In 1850, Holmes released Robin and Polly from slavery, keeping four of the Holmes' children and threatening to sell the entire family back to Missouri.[2]

Case

Holmes filed a case against Ford in Ford County, charging that his family was being kept illegally, and requesting a writ of habeas corpus to compel Ford to free the children.[2] Ford waited one year to respond to the summons, claiming the papers had been lost in a coat pocket. In fact, Ford was seeking arrangements to transport the family back to Missouri, as threatened.[1]

Three judges refused Holmes' case, which was brought to court by lawyer Reuben P. Boise. Ford argued that he had freed the Holmes' under the terms of his agreement, having asked Holmes to work for Ford's son digging gold in California and had arranged to house and care for Holmes' wife and children, despite that they were unfit for work. Having now become old enough to work, Ford argued that he should be able to keep them as slaves until the daughters turned 18 and the sons turned 20.[3]

In 1853, George H. Williams was named chief justice of the Territorial Supreme Court, and within weeks ruled against Ford and ordered the children returned to Robin and Polly Holmes. Williams described the case as "the last effort made to hold slaves in Oregon by force of law." [2]

Legacy

This was the last challenge by pro-slavery elements in the territory to retain slavery. Then ten years later during the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation that would lead to the freeing of slaves in the parts of the United States in rebellion. The Thirteenth Amendment officially freed slaves in the remainder of the United States and outlawed slavery.

See also

  • American slave court cases
  • Slavery in the United States

References

1. ^{{cite news|last1=Bjornstad|first1=Randi|title=Slavery in Oregon|url=http://projects.registerguard.com/rg/life/lifestyles/31137270-74/oregon-slavery-nokes-ford-shipley.html.csp|accessdate=18 August 2017|work=projects.registerguard.com|agency=Register-Guard|date=16 February 2014}}
2. ^{{cite web|title=Holmes v. Ford|url=https://oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/holmes_v._ford/|website=oregonencyclopedia.org|publisher=Portland State University and Oregon Historical Society|accessdate=18 August 2017|language=en}}
3. ^{{cite journal|last1=Lockley|first1=Fred|title=The Case of Robin Holmes vs. Nathaniel Ford|journal=The Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society|date=1922|volume=23|issue=2|pages=111–137|doi=10.2307/20610207|jstor=20610207}}

Further reading

  • McArthur, Scott (August 1970). "The Polk County Slave Case", Historically Speaking: A Periodic Publication of the Polk County, Oregon, Historical Society, Volume II.

External links

  • Classroom Law Project: Early Oregon History
  • [https://sos.oregon.gov/archives/exhibits/constitution/Pages/before-negro.aspx The Holmes v. Ford Case] - Oregon State Archives
  • [https://books.google.com/books?id=Sv0XAAAAYAAJ&dq=Oregon%20Historical%20Quarterly&client=firefox-a&pg=PA111&ci=338,214,235,35&source=bookclip Oregon Historical Quarterly]
{{Oregon Pioneer History}}

8 : 1853 in Oregon Territory|1853 in United States case law|African Americans in the American Old West|African-American history of Oregon|Law articles needing an infobox|Legal history of Oregon|Oregon state case law|United States slavery case law

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