Creole case

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1712 New York Slave Revolt (New York City, Suppressed) 1733 St. John Slave Revolt (Saint John, Suppressed) 1739 Stono Rebellion (South Carolina, Suppressed) 1741 New York Conspiracy (New York City, Suppressed) 1760 Tacky's War (Jamaica, Suppressed) 1791–1804 Haitian Revolution (Saint-Domingue, Victorious) 1800 Gabriel Prosser (Virginia, Suppressed) 1805 Chatham Manor (Virginia, Suppressed) 1811 German Coast Uprising (Territory of Orleans, Suppressed) 1815 George Boxley (Virginia, Suppressed) 1822 Denmark Vesey (South Carolina, Suppressed) 1831 Nat Turner's rebellion (Virginia, Suppressed) 1831–1832 Baptist War (Jamaica, Suppressed) 1839 Amistad, ship rebellion (Off the Cuban coast, Victorious) 1841 Creole, ship rebellion (Off the Southern U.S. coast, Victorious) 1842 Slave Revolt in the Cherokee Nation (Southern U.S., Suppressed) 1859 John Brown's Raid (Virginia, Suppressed) This box: view · talk · edit

The Creole case was the result of a slave rebellion in 1841 on board the Creole, a ship involved in the United States coastwise slave trade.

The revolt

In 1841, a brig named Creole was transporting 135 slaves between Hampton Roads, Virginia, and New Orleans, Louisiana.

On November 7, 1841, led by Madison Washington, nineteen male slaves on board the Creole revolted, overwhelmed the crew and directed the ship be taken to Liberia. On being told such a voyage was impossible with the current stores and provisions, the ringleaders decided to head instead for Nassau on the island of New Providence in the Bahamas, then a British colony. Slavery had been banned in all territories under British law since 1838. During the revolt, a white slave trader, John R. Hewell, was killed, and a slave died later of heavy wounds (Schoenherr).

On November 9, 1841, the Creole arrived at Nassau, where it was first boarded by the harbor pilot and his crew, all local black Bahamians.^[1] They told the passengers that, under Bahamian colonial law, they were now free and advised them to go ashore at once.^[1] The Quarantine Officer came aboard and, as the captain Robert Ensor was badly wounded, took First Mate Zephaniah Gifford to inform the American Consul of events.^[1] At the request of the American Consul, the Governor of the Bahamas ordered a guard of 24 black soldiers, under the command of a white officer, on board the Creole to prevent the escape of those implicated in Hewell's death. This also prevented the dispersal of the former slaves.^[1]

Fearing the application of British law regarding slavery, the American Consul tried to organize a recapture of the Creole with the help of American sailors on the island. The intention was to sail her out of British jurisdiction with her 'cargo' still aboard. The attempt was made on November 12th but was foiled. A local Bahamian who had followed the Americans shouted a warning to the officer of the guard aboard the Creole, who threatened to fire into their approaching boat, which withdrew.^[1]

After an investigation by magistrates, on Friday, 13 November 1842, the Bahamian Attorney-General came aboard and told the nineteen mutineers they would be detained: the remainder were informed that 'you are free, and at liberty to go onshore, and wherever you please'.^[1] A fleet of small boats manned by locals, which had until then surrounded the brig at a distance, immediately came forward. The boatmen were instructed by the Attorney-General not to set foot aboard the Creole but to take off such of her passengers as wished to leave. Most did so, although three women, one girl, and a boy chose to hide on board, finally returning to New Orleans.^[1] The next day, a ship was advertised, paid for by the New Providence government and bound for Jamaica, to take passengers to that island 'passage paid'. Numbers of the blacks from the Creole left aboard it.^[1]

The arrest of the conspirators may have sufficiently placated the American public and government, as it dropped its claims.^{[citation needed]} Because there was no extradition treaty between Britain and America and, as the British authorities felt no breach of British or maritime law had taken place,^[2] after a special session of the Admiralty Court in Nassau to consider a charge of piracy, the surviving 17 mutineers were released on April 16 1842.^[3]

Meanwhile the Creole had sailed back to New Orleans, arriving on December 2, 1841, with only five slaves still aboard. There, news that her former cargo had been released by British authorities caused outrage among the Southern states and something of a diplomatic row between America and Britain.

Less than a year later the Creole herself was wrecked in a violent storm while in harbour at Funchal, Madeira.^[4]

Political consequences

The Creole case generated diplomatic tension between Great Britain and the United States, and political rumblings within the United States itself.

Secretary of State Daniel Webster stated that the slaves were legal properties and demanded their return. By this time however Great Britain had ended slavery in its nation and its colonies, so the U.S. claim was rejected on the grounds that, Nassau being British territory, British law must be applied, and under that the 'slaves' aboard the Creole were to be considered passengers. As such, unless they could be proved to have broken local or maritime law, it would be false imprisonment to detain them against their will.

Abolitionist Charles Sumner argued that the slaves "became free men when taken, by the voluntary action of their owners, beyond the jurisdiction of the slave states." Representative Joshua Reed Giddings of Ohio introduced a series of nine resolutions in the United States House of Representatives that argued that Virginia state law did not apply to slaves outside of Virginian waters, and that the U.S. federal government should not act to protect the rights of the slaveholders in this case. The resolutions provoked strong emotions. The House censured Giddings, who promptly resigned. The voters of Ohio reelected him soon afterwards.

The Creole revolt ignited the attack on slavery by northern abolitionists in 1842 (Schoenherr). In a New York Evangelist newspaper story, “The Hero Mutineers,” Madison Washington was named the ‘romantic hero.’ This is so because Madison showed his empathy towards the white crew members on the Creole. He stopped his fellow slave mates from murdering them, and even dressed the sailors’ wounds after the revolt (Schoenherr). Eleven year later in 1852 noted abolitionist Frederick Douglass wrote a fictionalized version of the event and Washington's part in it, The Heroic Slave.

The issue roused strong feelings on both sides of the Atlantic and arose during the discussions that produced the Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842. According to a report in The Times, quoting the 'New York Courier and Inquirer', the American secretary of state raised it in a letter to Lord Ashburton: "The Creole case is presented in strong terms by Mr Webster in a letter (which, when published, will bring all the anti-slavery people about his ears)..." To this Lord Ashburton replied that as the case had effectively arisen after his departure from England he was ‘not empowered to treat upon the subject’. He reaffirmed the position that as slavery was no longer recognized under British law any foreign slave arriving in British possessions was automatically considered as free - as was also the case in those American states which did not recognize slavery. He did however promise that British officials in the West Indies would be given ‘directions’...'to do nothing in this respect when it can be properly avoided’ in the interests of ‘good neighbourhood’. ^[5]Among other declarations, the Webster-Ashburton Treaty also called for a final end to the slave trade on the high seas, to be enforced by both signatories.

After 15 years of negotiation and arbitration, the British government agreed to pay $110,000 to the owners of the ship's "cargo."^{[citation needed]}

A similar slave rebellion and takeover of a ship took place on the high seas in 1839 on board the Amistad.

Crew and passengers on the Creole

Officers:

• Robert Ensor, of Richmond, VA, captain, wounded
• Zephaniah C. Gifford,^[6] first mate, wounded
• Lucius Stevens, second mate

Crew:

• Blinn Curtis, Owls Head, Maine, wounded
• William Devereux, free man of color, cook and steward
• Francis Foxwell
• Jacques Lacombe, Leconte or Lecompte^[1], French helmsman
• Jacob Leitener, Prussian cook
• John Silvy (Antonio)
• Henry Sperk or Speck^[1]

Passengers:

• Captain's wife, baby and niece
• John R. Hewell, slave trader, killed
• Thomas McCargo, slave trader
• Theophilus McCargo, son of Thomas
• Lewis, an old slave of Thomas McCargo
• William Henry Merritt, slave trader
• Jacob Miller

Leaders of the slave revolt:

• Madison Washington
• Ben Blacksmith
• Elijah Morris
• Doc Ruffin

Participants:^[1]

• Pompey Garrison
• George Portlock
• Tyler
• Addison
• T. Smallwood
• William Glover
• America Woodis
• George Benton
• Adam Carney
• Reuben Knight
• Jordan Philips

The Giddings Resolutions

1. Resolved, That, prior to the Adoption of the Federal Constitution, each of the several States composing this Union exercised full and exclusive jurisdiction over the subject of slavery within its own territory, and possessed full power to continue or abolish it at pleasure.
2. Resolved, That, by adopting the Constitution, no part of the aforesaid powers were delegated to the Federal Government, but were reserved by and still pertain to each of the several States.
3. Resolved, That, by the 8th section of the 1st article of the Constitution, each of the several States surrendered to the Federal Government all jurisdiction over the subjects of commerce and navigation upon the high seas.
4. Resolved. That slavery, being an abridgment of the natural rights of man, can exist only by force of positive municipal law, and is necessarily confined to the territorial jurisdiction of the power creating it.
5. Resolved, That when a ship belonging to the citizens of any State of the Union leaves the waters and territory of such State, and enters upon the high seas, the persons on board cease to be subject to the slave laws of such State, and therefore are governed in their relations to each other by, and are amenable to, the laws of the United States.
6. Resolved, That when the brig Creole, on her late passage for New Orleans, left the territorial jurisdiction of Virginia, the slave laws of that State ceased to have jurisdiction over the persons on board such brig, and such persons became amenable only to the laws of the United States.
7. Resolved, That the persons on board the said ship, in resuming their natural rights of personal liberty, violated no law of the United States, incurred no legal responsibility, and are justly liable to no punishment.
8. Resolved, That all attempts to regain possession of or to re-enslave said persons are unauthorized by the Constitution or laws of the United States, and are incompatible with our national honor.
9. Resolved, That all attempts to exert our national influence in favor of the coastwise slave trade, or to place this nation in the attitude of maintaining a "commerce in human beings", are subversive to the rights and injurious to the feelings of the free States, are unauthorized by the Constitution, and prejudicial to our national character.

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k} The Times, January 21 1842, p. 3
2. ^ The Times, February 16, 1842, p. 13: ‘In answer to an inquiry of Lord BROUGHAM, Lord ABERDEEN stated that orders had been sent out to the Governor of the Bahamas to liberate the 19 slaves now under constraint at Nassau for the mutiny and murder on board that vessel, unless (which is not to be apprehended) there were any local laws which justified or demanded a contrary course.’
3. ^ The Times, May 18, 1842, p. 3
4. ^ The Times, November 22, 1842, p. 4
5. ^ The Times, 15 September 1842, p. 5
6. ^ Probably the 'Z. C. Gifford', sea captain, b. New Jersey, 1813, d.19 March 1886 in Richmond Virginia: www.familysearch.org

• Williams, Michael Paul. "Brig Creole slaves". Richmond Times-Dispatch (Richmond, VA). http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/special_report/black_history/article/brig_creole_slaves/201880/. Retrieved February 2, 2010. 
• Johnson, Walter. "White lies: Human property and domestic slavery aboard the slave ship Creole", Atlantic Studies (ISSN 1478-8810), v. 5, no. 2 (Aug. 2008), pp. 237-263.

• Schoenherr, The Creole Slave Ship Revolt. 09 FEB 2000. San Diego State University. 26 Jul 2009. http://homepage.mac.com/oldtownman/civilwar/03/creole4.html

• Jones, Howard. "The Peculiar Institution and National Honor: The Case of the Creole Slave Revolt," Civil War History, 1975, pp. 28-50.

• Giddings Resolutions Source Text