Defiance: the Oberlin-Wellington Rescue (Abridged, Annotated)

Download or read book Defiance: the Oberlin-Wellington Rescue (Abridged, Annotated) written by Jacob R. Shipherd and published by . This book was released on 2016-11-20 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If you're looking for a book that will place you in the middle of the explosive divisiveness of the "slave issue" in America on the eve of Civil War, look no further. This case was a cause celbre that typified the tensions that were pulling the nation apart.One of the most combustible issues was the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act that made it illegal to prevent slaves in free states from being returned to their owners.In 1858, a group of Oberlin, Ohio men defied that law by snatching a slave man named John Price from the hands of the Marshall, returning him to Oberlin, and hiding him in the home of James Harris Fairchild, a future president of Oberlin College. John Price was spirited away to Canada, from where he could not be extradited.The Ohio men were put on trial and the case burst onto the national scene. Here is the trial with all the eloquent and passionate arguments that won great sympathy for the defendants. It is a fascinating case tried with intelligence and not a little amount of humor.In the end, did justice prevail?