Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
  1. Home
  2. Books
  3. Secession on Trial
  • Cited by 10
      • Show more authors
      • You may already have access via personal or institutional login
    • Select format
    • Publisher:
      Cambridge University Press
      Publication date:
      09 October 2017
      13 October 2017
      ISBN:
      9781108233941
      9781108415521
      9781108401531
      DOI:
      https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108233941
      Dimensions:
      (228 x 152 mm)
      Weight & Pages:
      0.62kg, 356 Pages
      Dimensions:
      (228 x 152 mm)
      Weight & Pages:
      0.5kg, 356 Pages
      • Subjects:
      Legal History, Area Studies, American Studies, American History 1861-1900, Law, Regional and World History: General Interest, History
      Series:
      Studies in Legal History
    You may already have access via personal or institutional login
    • Selected: Digital
    Add to cart View cart Buy from Cambridge.org
    Subjects:
    Legal History, Area Studies, American Studies, American History 1861-1900, Law, Regional and World History: General Interest, History
    Series:
    Studies in Legal History
    Information

    Book description

    This book focuses on the post-Civil War treason prosecution of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, which was seen as a test case on the major question that animated the Civil War: the constitutionality of secession. The case never went to trial because it threatened to undercut the meaning and significance of Union victory. Cynthia Nicoletti describes the interactions of the lawyers who worked on both sides of the Davis case - who saw its potential to disrupt the verdict of the battlefield against secession. In the aftermath of the Civil War, Americans engaged in a wide-ranging debate over the legitimacy and effectiveness of war as a method of legal adjudication. Instead of risking the 'wrong' outcome in the highly volatile Davis case, the Supreme Court took the opportunity to pronounce secession unconstitutional in Texas v. White (1869).

    Awards

    Winner, 2018 Cromwell Book Prize, American Society for Legal History 

    Reviews

    'The genius of Nicoletti’s work is that the Davis case provides a window into the persistent belief in American minds (even in the North) that secession was possible. That belief made the trial and execution of Davis that much more problematic than scholars have seen. Nicoletti backs up these claims with unsurpassed knowledge of legal proceedings and impressive research.'

    William Blair - Director of Richard Civil War Era Center and Walter L. and Helen P. Ferree Professor, Penn State University, and author of With Malice Toward Some: Treason and Loyalty in the Civil War Era

    'Cynthia Nicoletti tackles a hugely important topic: the post-Civil War resolution of the legal status of the Confederacy. The prosecution of Jefferson Davis squarely posed the question whether the Confederacy had become a separate country by seceding. If it had, southerners insisted there could be no treason. If it had not, many of the war powers asserted by the North would be called into question. Nicoletti brilliantly tracks the efforts of jurists and politicians to work through momentous questions about the American constitutional order.'

    John Fabian Witt - Yale Law School, Connecticut, and author of Lincoln’s Code: The Laws of War in American History

    'Nicoletti’s beautifully written book studies a crucially important trial that never happened. She situates Davis’s treason case in the wider context of public discussions about how to treat officials of the former Confederacy and what to do about secession. Law, as Nicoletti argues, was not separate from other aspects of life in this period; it was deeply implicated within them and, thus, inseparable from them.'

    Laura Edwards - Peabody Family Professor of History, Duke University, North Carolina and author of A Legal History of the Civil War and Reconstruction: A Nation of Rights

    'Using the proposed but abandoned trial of Confederate President Jefferson Davis after the Civil War as backdrop, this book explores the historical and legal complexities of that conflict, specifically asking whether the Confederate states actually left the US. … An outstanding book for collections on American history, the Civil War, and constitutional law. Highly Recommended.'

    D. Schultz Source: Choice

    ‘Secession on Trial stands as a deeply informative, thoroughly researched, and groundbreaking work about the ideological and factual context of the Davis trial. Nicoletti set herself a very difficult project and succeeds in creating a narrative told through a range of voices that questions what has become the Davis trial’s standard narrative of Radical Republican consensus. Readers with an interest in legal history, debates about the nature of treason, and memorialization of the US Civil War will greatly appreciate her efforts.’

    Claire Wolnisty Source: H-Nationalism

    Refine List

    Actions for selected content:

    Select all | Deselect all
    • View selected items
    • Export citations
    • Download PDF (zip)
    • Save to Kindle
    • Save to Dropbox
    • Save to Google Drive

    Save Search

    You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

    Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
    Cancel
    ×

    Contents

    Contents
    References

    Important Participants in the Davis Case

    Prosecutors

    • S. Ferguson Beach, U.S. attorney

    • Lucius Chandler, U.S. attorney

    • John H. Clifford

    • Richard Henry Dana Jr.

    • William Evarts, attorney general

    • John Hennessey, Beach’s assistant

    • E. Rockwood Hoar, Evarts’s cousin and attorney general

    • Andrew Johnson, president of the United States

    • Lovell Rousseau

    • James Speed, attorney general

    • Henry Stanbery, attorney general

    • H. H. Wells, Chandler’s assistant

    Other Davis Opponents

    • James Doolittle, Wisconsin senator

    • Joseph Holt

    • Francis Lieber

    • William Seward, secretary of state

    Defense Attorneys

    • James T. Brady

    • George William Brown

    • R. H. GillettBurton Harrison

    • Giles Hillyer

    • C. E. Hooker

    • Robert Lowry

    • James Lyons

    • Charles O’Conor

    • Robert Ould

    • Thomas G. Pratt

    • George Pugh

    • William B. Reed

    • B. J. Sage

    • George Shea

    • John Randolph Tucker

    Other Davis Allies

    • Thomas F. Bayard

    • Jeremiah Black, former attorney general

    • Caleb Cushing

    • Varina Davis

    • Robert Garrett

    • William Wilkins Glenn

    • Horace Greeley

    • Bradley Johnson

    • Reverdy Johnson

    • Philip Phillips

    • Franklin Pierce, former president

    • Gerrit Smith

    • Thaddeus Stevens

    Judges

    • Salmon P. Chase, chief justice of the United States

    • John C. Underwood

    Archival Collections Consulted

    Abbreviations used in the notes appear in parentheses.

    • Alabama Department of Archives and History, Montgomery (ADAH)

      • Jefferson Davis Papers

      • Colin McRae Papers

    • University of Alabama Library, Tuscaloosa, Alabama

      • Jefferson Davis Papers

    • Beauvoir, Jefferson Davis Presidential Library, Biloxi, Mississippi

      • Jefferson Davis Papers

    • Boston Athenaeum, Boston

      • John Codman Hurd Papers

    • University of Chicago Library, Chicago (UChi)

      • Jefferson Davis Trial Papers

    • Duke University Library, Durham, North Carolina (DU)

      • Isaac Carrington Papers

      • Clement Clay Papers

      • Bradley T. Johnson Papers

    • Filson Historical Society, Louisville, Kentucky

      • Breckinridge-Marshall Papers

    • Georgetown University Special Collections Library, Washington, DC

      • Joseph Maria Finotti Papers

    • Harvard Law School, Special Collections Library, Cambridge, Massachusetts

      • William Evarts Papers

    • Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts (HU)

      • Charles O’Conor Papers

      • Charles Sumner Papers

    • Schlesinger Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts

      • Ellis Gray Loring Papers

    • Huntington Library, San Marino, California (HEHL)

      • Samuel Barlow Papers

      • Edridge Collection

      • William Evarts Papers

      • Ward Hill Lamon Papers

      • Francis Lieber Papers

      • Stowe Manuscripts

    • Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore

      • James Roberts Gilmore Papers

    • Manuscripts Division, Library of Congress, Washington, DC (LC)

      • Bayard Family Papers

      • Jeremiah Black Papers

      • James Buchanan Papers

      • Salmon P. Chase Papers

      • W. W. Corcoran Papers

      • Caleb Cushing Papers

      • James R. Doolittle Papers

      • William Evarts Papers

      • Robert Garrett Papers

      • Burton Harrison Papers

      • Joseph Holt Papers

      • James M. Mason Papers

      • Edward McPherson Papers

      • Philip Phillips Papers

      • Franklin Pierce Papers

      • Samuel Chester Reid Papers

      • Gerrit Smith Papers

      • William Seward Papers

      • Edwin Stanton Papers

      • John Underwood Papers

    • Library of Virginia, Richmond (LVA)

      • Bryan Family Papers

      • Indictments against Various Confederate Leaders

      • Federal Records, U.S. v. Jefferson Davis

    • Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore (MdHS)

      • Brune-Randall Papers

      • John Glenn Papers

    • Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston (MHS)

      • Adams Family Papers

      • John Clifford Papers

      • Dana Family Papers

    • Miami University of Ohio, Oxford, Ohio

      • Samuel Richey Collection

    • University of Michigan Library, Ann Arbor

      • Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar Papers

    • Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Jackson

      • Jefferson Davis Papers

    • Museum of the Confederacy, Richmond, Virginia (MC)

      • Jefferson Davis Papers

    • National Archives, College Park, Maryland (NA-CP)

      • Attorney General’s Records, Record Group 60

      • Jefferson Davis Case File, Record Group 60

    • National Archives, Washington, DC (NA-DC)

      • Case Files of Applications from Former Confederates for Presidential Pardons (“Amnesty Papers”), 1865–1867, Record Group 94

      • Jefferson Davis Amnesty Papers, Record Group 94

      • Records of the Senate, Record Group 46

    • New-York Historical Society, New York (NYHS)

      • Horace Greeley to George William Blunt, John Alexander Kennedy, and John O. Stone (broadside)

      • Thomas O’Conor Miscellaneous Manuscripts

      • Kenneth Rayner Papers

      • Gerrit Smith to Salmon P. Chase (broadsides)

    • Manuscripts Division, New York Public Library, New York (NYPL)

      • Charles P. Daly Papers

      • Horace Greeley Papers

      • Thomas F. Madigan Papers

      • Charles O’Conor Papers, Miscellaneous Manuscripts

      • Samuel J. Tilden Papers

    • Maps Division, New York Public Library, New York (NYPL)

      • Major and Crapp, “Map of that Part of the City of New York North of 155th Street” (New York, 1865)

    • University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana

      • James A. McMaster Papers

    • Pennsylvania Historical Society, Philadelphia

      • Salmon P. Chase Papers

    • University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia (UPenn)

      • Henry C. Lea Papers

    • Princeton University Library, Princeton, New Jersey

      • Blair-Lee Papers

    • Public Archives of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario

      • Dispatches from U.S. Consuls in Toronto

    • Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (SHC)

      • Campbell Family Papers

      • James Speed Papers

      • Tucker Family Papers

    • Transylvania University, Lexington, Kentucky

      • Jefferson Davis Papers

    • Tulane University Library, New Orleans

      • Jefferson Davis Collection

    • Virginia Historical Society, Richmond (VHS)

      • Lyons Family Papers

      • Saunders Family Papers

      • Indictment, U.S. v. Jefferson Davis, U.S. District Court, Washington, DC

    • Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia, Charlottesville (UVA)

      • Albert T. Blesdoe Papers

      • Bradley T. Johnson Papers

      • Charles Halpine Papers

      • Morton-Halsey Papers

    • Beinecke Library, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut (Yale)

      • Evarts Family Papers

      • Edwards Pierrepont Papers

    Metrics

    Altmetric attention score

    Full text views

    Total number of HTML views: 0
    Total number of PDF views: 0 *
    Loading metrics...

    Book summary page views

    Total views: 0 *
    Loading metrics...

    * Views captured on Cambridge Core between #date#. This data will be updated every 24 hours.

    Usage data cannot currently be displayed.

    Accessibility standard: Unknown

    Why this information is here

    This section outlines the accessibility features of this content - including support for screen readers, full keyboard navigation and high-contrast display options. This may not be relevant for you.

    Accessibility Information

    Accessibility compliance for the HTML of this book is currently unknown and may be updated in the future.