Trial of Reuben Crandall

Reuben Crandall
Born(1806-01-06)January 6, 1806
Carpenter's Mills, Rhode Island
DiedJanuary 17, 1838(1838-01-17) (aged 32)
Kingston, Jamaica
Alma materYale College
Occupation(s)Physician and lecturer on botany
Known forArrest, trial, and acquittal on sedition charges
RelativesPrudence Crandall, sister

Reuben Crandall (January 6, 1806 – January 17, 1838), younger brother of educator Prudence Crandall, was a physician who was arrested in Washington, D.C., on August 10, 1835,[1] on charges of "seditious libel and inciting slaves and free blacks to revolt", the libels being abolitionist materials portraying American slavery as cruel and sinful.[2]: 124  He was nearly killed by a mob that wanted to hang him, and avoided that fate only because the mayor called out the militia. The Snow Riot ensued. Although a jury would find him innocent of all charges, his very high bail meant he remained in the Washington jail for almost eight months,[2]: 131  where he contracted tuberculosis. He died soon after his release.

This was the first trial for sedition in the United States.[3]: 3 [4]: 50–51  According to the Federal District Attorney Francis Scott Key, it was "one of the most important cases ever tried here."[3]: 46  His incarceration, trial, and acquittal increased support for abolitionism, and considerable sympathy for him was expressed in the press. "His case is one of the most oppressive and unjust that ever occurred in this country", said the New York Evangelist, which called for a Congressional investigation.[5]

The whole episode is very much the work of Key.[citation needed] It was he who got Crandall arrested, persuaded a judge to deny him bail, and prepared himself an indictment described as voluminous.[citation needed] The verdict of not guilty left Key publicly embarrassed[according to whom?], and ended his political career.[citation needed]

Events leading to the American Civil War
  1. Northwest Ordinance
  2. Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions
  3. End of Atlantic slave trade
  4. Missouri Compromise
  5. Tariff of 1828
  6. Nat Turner's Rebellion
  7. Nullification crisis
  8. End of slavery in British colonies
  9. Texas Revolution
  10. United States v. Crandall
  11. Gag rule
  12. Commonwealth v. Aves
  13. Murder of Elijah Lovejoy
  14. Burning of Pennsylvania Hall
  15. American Slavery As It Is
  16. United States v. The Amistad
  17. Prigg v. Pennsylvania
  18. Texas annexation
  19. Mexican–American War
  20. Wilmot Proviso
  21. Nashville Convention
  22. Compromise of 1850
  23. Uncle Tom's Cabin
  24. Recapture of Anthony Burns
  25. Kansas–Nebraska Act
  26. Ostend Manifesto
  27. Bleeding Kansas
  28. Caning of Charles Sumner
  29. Dred Scott v. Sandford
  30. The Impending Crisis of the South
  31. Panic of 1857
  32. Lincoln–Douglas debates
  33. Oberlin–Wellington Rescue
  34. John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry
  35. Virginia v. John Brown
  36. 1860 presidential election
  37. Crittenden Compromise
  38. Secession of Southern states
  39. Peace Conference of 1861
  40. Corwin Amendment
  41. Battle of Fort Sumter
  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Liberator082935 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Kramer was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b A member of the bar [an attorney] (1836). The trial of Reuben Crandall, M.D. : charged with publishing and circulating seditious and incendiary papers, &c., in the District of Columbia, with the intent of exciting servile insurrection. Carefully reported, and compiled from the written statements of the courts and the council. 48 pages. Washington, D.C. Archived from the original on 2020-09-02. Retrieved 2020-03-16.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference 62pages was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ "Trial of Reuben Crandall". Vermont Telegraph (Brandon, Vermont). May 5, 1836. p. 4. Archived from the original on February 21, 2020. Retrieved March 16, 2020.