New York courts honor historic anti-slavery Lemmon case ruling on precipice of Civil War

NEW CITY – It was 1852. New York was considered a "free state," with laws that explicitly said an enslaved person brought here, even for temporary transit, would be freed. But federal laws made clear that Northern states had to abide by Southern "property" and help return slaves who tried to flee to freedom.

So when the Lemmon family of Virginia sailed into New York Harbor on their circuitous route to Texas, an effort to secure freedom for eight enslaved people they brought with them grabbed a nation's attention.

The Lemmon Slave Case became key legal precedent and well as moral touchstone as the nation approached Civil War.

Rockland County Supreme Court Justice Robert Berliner looks at a traveling exhibit about the Lemmon Case at the Rockland County Courthouse in New City Jan. 18, 2022. The 1850s case involved a southern man who brought his slaves to New York, where they were declared free.
Rockland County Supreme Court Justice Robert Berliner looks at a traveling exhibit about the Lemmon Case at the Rockland County Courthouse in New City Jan. 18, 2022. The 1850s case involved a southern man who brought his slaves to New York, where they were declared free.

A special exhibit, put together by the Historical Society of the New York Courts, is now on display at the Rockland County Courthouse through Jan. 23. It includes a video display narrated by James Earl Jones. The display then heads to Newburgh City Court from Jan. 24 to Feb. 3; followed by the Orange County Court from Feb. 7 to 17.

"It's a really exciting story of how the judge and abolitionists in New York, and the Black members of the community, stood up," said Marilyn Marcus, executive director of the Historical Society of the New York Courts. The exhibit is a collaboration with the New York State Courts.

The Lemmon case starts with a Black man named Louis Napoleon. He told the eight enslaved – the oldest, a woman named Emiline, was just 22 – that they had the right to declare their freedom.

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The Lemmons would not relinquish what they called their property. They cited federal fugitive slave laws and found support in the 1850 Compromise, which divvied up U.S. states and territories as slave-holding or free, but stated that in any location, a fugitive slave would have to be returned to bondage.

The 1850 Compromise was already feeding growing tensions between North and South over slavery.

The consequences were underscored by the Lemmon case, which wended its way through New York's court system.

A traveling exhibit about the Lemmon Case is on display at the Rockland County Courthouse in New City Jan. 18, 2022. The 1850s case involved a southern man who brought his slaves to New York, where they were declared free.
A traveling exhibit about the Lemmon Case is on display at the Rockland County Courthouse in New City Jan. 18, 2022. The 1850s case involved a southern man who brought his slaves to New York, where they were declared free.

John Jay, grandson of the Founding Father and son of a judge who had written anti-slavery tracts, was the lead lawyer. Chester Arthur, a future president, also served as a lawyer for the eight.

The Lemmon case was launched in 1852 and not fully adjudicated until 1860. New York's courts stood in opposition of what was happening in the U.S. Supreme Court, which issued the Dred Scott decision in 1857. Dred Scott made clear Black people, enslaved or freed, weren't protected as U.S. citizens.

But New York courts eschewed Dred Scott as irrelevant.

Judge Elijah Paine, in his ruling, announced to the court that, "There can be no property in humans." Cheers erupted from the courtroom audience, many of whom were former slaves themselves, recalled retired state Court of Appeals Judge Albert M. Rosenblatt, president emeritus of the Historical Society of the New York Courts, in a recent video interview with New York State archivist Tom Ruller.

A traveling exhibit about the Lemmon Case is on display at the Rockland County Courthouse in New City Jan. 18, 2022. The 1850s case involved a southern man who brought his slaves to New York, where they were declared free.
A traveling exhibit about the Lemmon Case is on display at the Rockland County Courthouse in New City Jan. 18, 2022. The 1850s case involved a southern man who brought his slaves to New York, where they were declared free.

The Lemmon case reverberated through the nation; South Carolina cited the case in its 1860 declaration of secession.

A key factor in the case's finality: Lemmon had accepted the payment to make up for his so-called property loss, therefore no longer had standing for any legal recourse.

Meanwhile, a collection was taken up to help the eight who had been freed relocate to Canada.

For more information about the Historical Society of the New York Courts, visit history.nycourts.gov.

Nancy Cutler writes about People & Policy. Click here for her latest stories. Follow her on Twitter at @nancyrockland.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: New York slavery case honored for role as legal and moral precedent