Amelia Ward v. Elias B. Caldwell. Circuit Court Report Jennifer Guiliano Trevor Muñoz William G. Thomas III transcription and encoding Steph N. Camerone Kaci L. Nash Laura K. Weakly University of Nebraska-Lincoln University of Maryland National Endowment for the Humanities 2016 O Say Can You See University of Nebraska-Lincoln Center for Digital Research in the Humanities
319 Love Library University of Nebraska–Lincoln Lincoln, NE 68588-4100 cdrh@unl.edu
oscys.report.0039.001 oscys.caseid.0362 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/

Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Derivatives must be credited to O Say Can You See, made available non-commercially, and distributed under the same terms. Requests for permission for commercial publication or other use should be emailed to the project team.

 Reports of Cases Civil and Criminal in the United States Circuit Court of the District of Columbia, from 1801 to 1841 William Cranch Little, Brown and Company Volume II 1852 Boston Supplementary Documents Court Report Civil Petition for Freedom October 1823 Middleton, Henry O. Maryland Washington County (D.C.) Fredericksburg (Va.) Washington (D.C.) Ward, Amelia Caldwell, Elias Boudinot, 1776-1825 Key, Francis Scott, 1779-1843 Jones, Walter, 1776-1861 United States. Circuit Court (District of Columbia) Washington (D.C.) added xml:ids reviewed; edited transcribed; encoded

Negro Amelia v. E. B. Caldwell.

A slave carried from Washington, in the District of Columbia, to Virginia, by her owner, for a temporary residence only, and brought back to Washington, and there sold to a resident of Washington, does not thereby become entitled to freedom under the Maryland Act of 1796, c. 67.

This cause was submitted to the decision of the Court by Mr. Key for the petitioner, and Mr. Jones, for the defendant, upon the following case agreed.

"In this case it is admitted that the petitioner was born in the State of Maryland, and became, by marriage, the property of one Henry O. Middleton, who resided in Washington county, in this district, until May, 1820, there keeping the said petitioner in his possession, as his slave. That the said Middleton then removed into the State of Virginia, to reside, and left the said slave in Maryland, with her former master. That on the 7th of December, 1820, the said petitioner was carried by the said Henry O. Middleton, to Fredericksburg, in Virginia, where he then resided, and hath resided ever since, with an agreement and understanding between the said Middleton and the said petitioner, that if she did not like to continue in Fredericksburg she should return and get a master, either in Maryland or the district, as she might choose. That after staying some time in Fredericksburg, the said petitioner became dissatisfied, and expressed her desire to return; in consequence of which, the said Middleton, on the 7th of December, 1821, gave her a pass authorizing her to proceed from Fredericksburg to Washington, where the petitioner then was, and sold her to the defendant.

"It is submitted to the Court to determine, upon this statement, whether, by law of Maryland, A. D. 1796, c. 67, the petitioner is or is not entitled to her freedom; with the privilege to either party to except to the judgement of the Court.

F. S. Key, for petitioner.

W. Jones, for defendant.

The court were of opinion that, upon the facts as admitted above, the petitioner is not entitled, by law, to her freedom, and therefore give judgement for the defendant. "From which the petitioner prays an appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States."