| Title | : | Though the Heavens May Fall: The Landmark Trial That Led to the End of Human Slavery |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.60 (270 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0738206954 |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 312 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2005-01-02 |
| Genre | : |
The 1772 London trial of James Somerset, rescued from a ship bound for the West Indies slave markets, was a decisive turning point in history. As in the Scopes trial, two encompassing world views clashed in an event of passionate drama. Steven M. Wise, trial lawyer and legal historian, has uncovered layer upon layer of fascinating revelations in a case which threatened, according to slave owners, to bring the economy of the British Empire to a crashing halt. In a gripping narrative of Somerset's trial-and of the slave trials that led up to it-he sets the stage for the unexpected decision by the famously conservative judge, Lord Mansfield, which would lead to the abolition of slavery, both in England and the United States, and the end of the African slave trade.The characters in this great historical moment go beyond a screenwriter's dream: Somerset's novice attorneys arguing their first case; the fervent British abolitionist Granville Sharp, a cross between Ralph Nader and William Lloy
Editorial : From Booklist In England, near the end of the eighteenth century, a legal ruling that came to be known as the Mansfield Judgment set the precedent for outlawing slavery in the modern Western world. Somerset, a black American slave, accompanied his master on a journey to England, where slavery had been outlawed. Somerset legally petitioned Lord Mansfield, the premier jurist of the period, to let him remain in England as a free man. Granville Sharpe, England's leading abolitionist, took up the cause. Wise offers a multilayered examination of the characters--the modest Sharpe and the high-born Mansfield--and legal confluences between British tradition and common law behind this case. He also explores the conflict between the ideals of human rights and the commercial interests of slave traders, insurers, and bankers, and the underlying threat to the social order of oppressive apprenticeships as the institution of slavery was challenged. This is a complex and absorbing look at the legal and
A tapestry of squares and circles of orange, yellows and browns are replaced with a softer brown and a green tinted with yellow and reveal a knight on horseback. My 6 year-year-old son has taken one-hour weekly lessons for the past year and early on, his teacher asked me to buy the Notespeller series as a companion to her instruction. This was the case with his book Moscow Station. Keep doin what you're doin LAILA!!. Laila is very sincere and honest in this book and with pretty much all that she has done, she's truly inspired me. This is a stream-of-conscience writing, but as if it were coming from the often high Lennon. Make big presentations? -- get this book. We use SAF system and then help the client understand the implications for their recovery. And she just shrugs and says, oh, well?! In fact, the whole character of Nicholas and his role in the story is puzzling. One could argue that the book was not written to teach any of these things anyway. You will not learn how to check th
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