Lincoln's Code
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55 “uncommonly mild”: Smith, John Marshall, 421–22.
55 “unaffected modesty”: Ibid., 291.
55 “more use of his brains”: Edward S. Corwin, John Marshall and the Constitution: A Chronicle of the Supreme Court (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1919), 42.
55 “The new world”: George C. Herring, From Colony to Superpower: U.S. Foreign Relations Since 1776 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008), 69.
55 British cruisers seized: Jerald A. Combs, The Jay Treaty: Political Battleground of the Founding Fathers (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1970), 120; “Mission to France: Editorial Note,” in Herbert A. Johnson et al., eds., The Papers of John Marshall (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1974), 3: 74.
55 the French seized 316 American ships: Alexander de Condé, The Quasi-War: The Politics and Diplomacy of the Undeclared War with France, 1797–1801 (New York: Scribner, 1966), 9.
55 Desperate for manpower: Taylor, Civil War of 1812, 103–34.
55 French commanders tortured: de Condé, Quasi-War, 9.
56 Talbot v. Seeman: 5 U.S. (1 Cranch) 1 (1801).
56 far less apparent when Marshall took the bench: Harold Hongju Koh, “Transnational Public Law Litigation,” Yale Law Journal 100 (1991): 2347, 2356; David Sloss, “Judicial Foreign Policy: Lessons from the 1790s,” St. Louis University Law Journal 53 (2008): 162–64.
57 to recapture any vessel such as the Amelia: An Act More Effectually to Protect the Commerce and Coasts of the United States, Stat., 1: 561 (May 28, 1798).
57 authorized the collection of salvage fees: An Act to Authorize the Defense of the Merchant-Vessels of the United States Against French Depredations, Stat., 1: 572 (June 25, 1798).
57 “By this construction”: Talbot, 5 U.S. (1 Cranch) at 28.
57 Marshall did his utmost: R. Kent Newmeyer, John Marshall and the Heroic Age of the Supreme Court (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2001), 286.
57 “to be construed to violate”: Murray v. The Charming Betsy, 6 U.S. (2 Cranch) 64, 118 (1804).
58 The mere intention to go to a blockaded port: Fitzsimmons v. Newport Ins. Co., 8 U.S. 185 (1808).
58 merely by inquiring: Maryland Ins. Co. v. Woods, 10 U.S. 29 (1810).
58 to undo the capture of a neutral: Little v. Barreme, 6 U.S. (2 Cranch) 170 (1804).
58 plausible but contested neutral status: The Charming Betsy, 6 U.S. at 119–21; Maley v. Shattuck, 7 U.S. 458 (1806); Sands v. Knox, 7 U.S. 499 (1806).
58 in an armed enemy convoy: The Nereide, 13 U.S. (9 Cranch) 388, 419–23 (1815).
58 “enlarges the sphere”: The Nereide, 13 U.S. at 419.
58 the Commercen: 14 U.S. (1 Wheat.) 382 (1816).
58 The Schooner Exchange: 7 U.S. 116, 126 (1812).
58 routinely upheld the condemnation: E.g., The Hazard, 13 U.S. 126 (1815); The Fortuna, 16 U.S. 236 (1818); The Atalanta, 18 U.S. 433 (1820).
59 In case after case: E.g., The Gran Para, 20 U.S. 471 (1822); The Fanny, 22 U.S. 658 (1824); The Marianna Flora, 24 U.S. 1 (1825).
59 “The affairs of Europe”: Herring, From Colony to Superpower, 80.
59 an identity as well as an interest: David M. Golove & Daniel J. Hulsebosch, “A Civilized Nation: The Early American Constitution, the Law of Nations, and the Pursuit of International Recognition,” New York University Law Review 85 (2010): 932; Daniel J. Hulsebosch, “Being Seen Like a State: The Constitution and Its International Audiences at the Founding,” New York University School of Law, September 2011.
59 neutral vessels were free to carry: See, e.g., BF to Robert Morris, June 3, 1780, PBF, 32: 466–67; Samuel Flagg Bemis, The Diplomacy of the American Revolution (New York: American Historical Association, 1935), 131–34.
59 two potentially gaping exceptions: On the laws of war at sea, see Carlton Savage, Policy of the United States Toward Maritime Commerce, 1776–1914, 2 vols. (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1934–36); Bryan Ranft, “Restraints on War at Sea Before 1945,” in Michael Howard, ed., Restraints on War (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1979), 39–56.
60 Such goods were “contraband”: Philip C. Jessup, American Neutrality and International Police (Boston: World Peace Foundation Pamphlets, 1928), 111–12.
60 Later the British declared: Eli F. Hecksher, The Continental System: An Economic Interpretation (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1922).
60 food could not possibly be: Thomas Pinckney to Thomas Jefferson, February 5, 1793, in PTJ, 25: 150; also Thomas Pinckney to Thomas Jefferson, February 5, 1793, and February 10, 1793, in PTJ, 25: 166.
60 “actually besieged”: James Madison, An Examination of the British Doctrine, Which Subjects to Capture a Neutral Trade, Not Open in Time of Peace (Washington City: Samuel H. Smith, 1806), 6.
60 “so manifestly contrary to the law”: Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of State, to Mr. Hammond, Minister Plenipotentiary of Great Britain, in ASP: Foreign Affairs, 1: 190.
60 “a mass of contradictory decisions”: Henry Wheaton, A Digest of the Law of Maritime Captures and Prizes (New York: R. M’Dermut & D. D. Arden, 1815), v.
60 “almost biblical elasticity”: Samuel Flagg Bemis, Jay’s Treaty: A Study in Commerce and Diplomacy (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1962), 185.
60 so-called Rule of 1756: Stephen C. Neff, The Rights and Duties of Neutrals: A General History (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 66.
61 “more unjust in itself”: Madison, Examination of the British Doctrine, 204.
61 Madison was forced to distinguish: Ibid., 19–23.
61 determined in the Essex case: Bradford Perkins, “Sir William Scott and the Essex,” William & Mary Quarterly (3d series) 13, no. 2 (April 1966): 169, 179–80; Douglas J. Sylvester, “International Law as Sword or Shield? Early American Foreign Policy and the Law of Nations,” NYU Journal of International Law & Policy 32 (1999): 52–53.
61 reacted angrily to the Essex decision: “The Case of the Essex,” Salem Register, September 16, 1805; see also “An Interesting Case,” Alexandria Advertiser, September 18, 1805; “Law Case,” Aurora General Advertiser, October 21, 1805.
61 “system of vexation and injury”: Bradford Perkins, Prologue to War: England and the United States, 1805–1812 (Berkeley & Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1961), 79.
62 shed little light on: Cf. Madison, Examination of the British Doctrine (1806), and Tench Coxe [Juriscola], An Examination of the Conduct of Great Britain, Respecting Neutrals, Since the Year 1791 (Boston: Oliver & Munroe, 1808), and William John Duane, The Law of Nations, Investigated in a Popular Manner. Addressed to the Farmers of the United States (Philadelphia: The Aurora, 1809), with James Stephen, War in Disguise; or, the Frauds of the Neutral Flags (New York: Hopkins & Seymour, 1806), and An Examination of the British Doctrine Which Subjects to Capture a Neutral Trade Not Open in Time of Peace (London: S. Gould, 2nd ed. 1806), and Alexander Croke, Remarks on Mr. Schlegel’s Work Upon the Visitation of Neutral Vessels Under Convoy (London: J. White, 1801).
62 the frigate USS Chesapeake: Spencer C. Tucker & Frank T. Reuter, Injured Honor: The Chesapeake-Leopard Affair, June 22, 1807 (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1996); Robert E. Cray, “Remembering the USS Chesapeake: The Politics of Maritime Death and Impressment,” Journal of the Early Republic 25, no. 3 (2005): 445–74; Anthony Steel, “More Light on the Chesapeake,” Mariner’s Mirror 39, no. 4 (1953), 243–65.
63 had not violated international law at all: Tucker & Reuter, Injured Honor, 114.
63 stripped itself of its neutrality: Perkins, Prologue to War, 193.
63 “inveigle away your troops”: Henry Adams, History of the United States of America During the Second Administration of Thomas Jefferson (New York: Charles Scribner & Co., 1890), 2: 44.
63 “no impartial person”: Cray, “Remembering the USS Chesapeake,” 465.
63 “on no other grounds”: Canning to Monroe, August 3, 1807, in ASP: Foreign Affairs, 3: 188.
63 “not bec
ause the lawyers”: Adams, Second Administration of Thomas Jefferson, 2: 78.
64 Napoleon retaliated: Neff, Rights and Duties of Neutrals, 76–85.
64 “merely original and abstract”: Ibid., 82.
64 were not contingent: Perkins, Prologue to War, 257.
65 “reason to believe”: Vattel, Law of Nations, bk. 2, §334, p. 280.
65 “plausibly argued”: Reid quoted in Daniel J. Hulsebosch, Constituting Empire: New York and the Transformation of Constitutionalism in the Atlantic World (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2005), 32; see also James Parton, The Life and Times of Aaron Burr (New York: Mason Bros., 1858), 149 (“Law is whatever is boldly asserted and plausibly maintained’”).
65 “greatest curse of all”: Perkins, Prologue to War, 73.
65 “sacred rights”: Cray, “Remembering the USS Chesapeake,” 466.
65 “a flagrant violation”: Ibid., 460.
65 “Our rights are absolute”: Perkins, Prologue to War, 257.
65 “We must strive for our rights”: Ibid., 298.
66 “daring insult”: Cray, “Remembering the USS Chesapeake,” 460.
66 Crowds marched in the streets: Robert E. Cray, Jr., “Commemorating the Prison Ship Dead: Revolutionary Memory and the Politics of Sepulture in the Early Republic, 1776–1808,” William & Mary Quarterly (3d series) 56, no. 3 (1999): 565–90.
66 at the Raisin River: Donald R. Hickey, The War of 1812: A Forgotten Conflict (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1989), 86; Taylor, Civil War of 1812, 212–13.
67 Along the Canadian border: Latimer, 1812: War with America, 225–26.
67 retaliatory imprisonment: Taylor, Civil War of 1812, 358–62.
67 A congressional committee: “Spirit and Manner in Which the War Is Waged by the Enemy,” ASP: Military Affairs, 1: 339.
67 torched the Canadian Parliament: Taylor, Civil War of 1812, 215–17.
67 burned more than 100 dwellings: Ibid., 250–52.
67 leave poisons in bottles: Latimer, 1812: War with America, 305.
67 “No wars are so cruel”: Ford, Writings of John Quincy Adams, 5: 154.
67 “the safe keeping”: An Act for the Safe Keeping and Accommodation of Prisoners of War, Stat., 2: 777 (1812).
67 British merchants in American ports: Stat. 2: 780, §§5–6; Anthony G. Dietz, The Prisoner of War in the United States During the War of 1812, Ph.D. diss., American University, 1964, 68.
67 recognized flags of truce: Ibid., 95.
67 recognized the other’s agents: Ibid., 24, 39.
68 released captured prisoners on parole: Taylor, Civil War of 1812, 361–62.
68 the exchange of all prisoners: Miller, 2: 568–73.
68 struck a more permanent deal: Ibid., 2: 557–67; Latimer, 1812: War with America, 190–91.
68 “with humanity conformable”: Miller, 2: 557.
68 exchanged more than 1,000 soldiers: Dietz, Prisoner of War, 79.
68 “downtown Mrs. Smith”: Ibid., 112.
68 “sat down to tables”: Ibid., 113.
68 received medical care: Ibid., 101–02.
68 The main complaint: Ibid., 185–87.
69 to escape too easily: Ibid., 107–12.
69 a cycle of retaliation: Taylor, Civil War of 1812, 358–62.
69 Francis Scott Key came to know: Walter Lord, The Dawn’s Early Light (New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1972), 243.
70 “We have a right”: Vattel, Law of Nations, bk. 3, §161, p. 364.
70 “booty”: Ibid., bk. 3, §164, p. 365.
70 “Every man in a just war”: J. J. Burlamaqui, The Principles of Natural and Politic Law, trans. Thomas Nugent (Philadelphia: H. C. Carey & I. Lea, 1823), 2: 203.
70 “The conqueror has a right”: Georg Friedrich von Martens, Summary of the Law of Nations, trans. William Cobbett (Philadelphia: Thomas Bradford, 1795), 287–88.
70 Benjamin Franklin’s program: PBF, 6: 608–10; PTJ, 7: 491–92.
70 “softening and diminishing”: PTJ, 7: 490–91.
70 “war gives the right to confiscate”: Brown v. United States, 12 U.S. 110, 125 (1814).
70 “mitigations”: 12 U.S. at 123–24.
71 “The Constitution of the United States”: 12 U.S. at 125.
71 “the subjects of hostile nations”: 12 U.S. at 134 (J. Story dissenting).
71 “there are great limitations” . . . “without making compensation”: James Kent, Commentaries on American Law (New York: O. Halsted, 1826–30), 1: 86–87.
71 made him a rich man: John H. Langbein, “Chancellor Kent and the History of Legal Literature,” Columbia Law Review 93 (1993): 565–66; Daniel J. Hulsebosch, “An Empire of Law: Chancellor Kent and the Revolution in Books in the Early Republic,” Alabama Law Review 60 (2009): 377, 386.
71 “Private property on land”: Henry Wheaton, Elements of International Law: With a Sketch of the History of the Science (Philadelphia: Carey, Lea & Blanchard, 1836), 252–54.
72 “Horses, cattle”: Philo Camillus No. 2 [New York, Aug. 7, 1795], PAH, 19: 101.
72 a provision protecting slave property: Maya Jasanoff, Liberty’s Exiles: American Loyalists in the Revolutionary World (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2011), 80; David Duncan Wallace, The Life of Henry Laurens, with a Sketch of the Life of Lieutenant-Colonel John Laurens (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1915), 402, 405.
72 “carrying away any Negroes”: Malloy, 1: 586, 589.
72 took at least 3,000 slaves: Jasanoff, Liberty’s Exiles, 89–90; Benjamin Quarles, The Negro in the American Revolution (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1961), 167–69; Simon Schama, Rough Crossings: Britain, the Slaves, and the American Revolution (New York: Ecco, 2006), 147.
72 pressed the British for a return: ASP: Foreign Relations, 1: 190–202.
72 John Jay argued for compensation: Combs, The Jay Treaty, 155; John Bassett Moore, History and Digest of the International Arbitrations to Which the United States Has Been a Party (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1898), 1: 350–90; Walter Stahr, John Jay: Founding Father (New York: Hambledon, 2005), 204, 317–18.
73 Cockburn began raiding: Latimer, 1812: War with America, 159–61; John Basset Moore, A Digest of International Law (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1906), 7: 345–46.
73 escaped from their masters: Frank A. Cassell, “Slaves of the Chesapeake Bay Area and the War of 1812,” Journal of Negro History 57, no. 2 (1972): 144–55; Christopher T. George, “Mirage of Freedom: African Americans in the War of 1812,” Maryland Historical Magazine 91, no. 4 (1996): 427–50.
73 to resell them in the West Indies: See “Negro Stealing,” Palladium of Liberty (Fauquier County, Va.), January 8, 1814; “Norfolk Public Ledger,” Daily National Intelligencer (Washington, DC), April 12, 1815; “Editorial,” Raleigh Register, April 7, 1815; “List of American Vessels Captured,” Commercial Advertiser (Maryland), March 12, 1814.
73 “enemy at home”: George, “Mirage of Freedom,” 437.
73–74 “flocking to the enemy” . . . “conflagration throughout these counties”: H. W. Flournoy, Calendar of Virginia State Papers and Other Manuscripts (Richmond, VA: R. F. Walker, 1892), 10: 367–68; see also 10: 337–38; Joseph Carrington Cabell to Hugh Nelson, February 17, 1814, Cabell Family Papers, University of Virginia.
74 Haiti in the 1790s: Alfred N. Hunt, Haiti’s Influence on Antebellum America: Slumbering Volcano in the Caribbean (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1988).
74 a slave named Gabriel: See Douglas R. Egerton, Gabriel’s Rebellion: The Virginia Slave Conspiracies of 1800 and 1802 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1993).
74 executions and deportations: George, “Mirage of Freedom,” 436.
74 “external enemies”: James Barbour to James Madison, February 17, 1814, James Madison Papers, LC.
74 small vessels well-secured: Cassell, “Slaves of the Chesapeake Bay Area,” 147.
74 “as free settlers”: Ibid., 150.
74 3,000–5,000 slaves: Cassel, “Slaves of the Chesapeake Bay Area,” 154.
75 “iniquitous scheme”: William Lee Miller, Arguing About Slavery: The Great Battle in the United States Congress (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1996), 162.
75 “great and foul stain”: Alan Nevins, ed., The Diary of John Quincy Adams, 1794–1845 (New York: Longmans, Green, 1928), 228–29.
75 “seduction”: Adams, ed., Memoirs of John Quincy Adams, 3: 92.
75 “Our object” . . . “from capture”: ASP: Foreign Relations, 4: 117.
75 After much back-and-forth: Ibid., 3: 733.
75 “Slaves or other private property”: Malloy, 1: 613.
76 In the British view: Mary R. Bullard, Black Liberation on Cumberland Island in 1815 (South Dartmouth, MA: M. R. Bullard, 1983), 86–87; ASP: Foreign Relations, 6: 339–55.
76 “a violent and unnatural construction”: Adams, ed., Memoirs of John Quincy Adams, 5: 159.
76 “dishonorable war”: Ibid., 5: 161.
76 “deviations from the usages of war”: Ibid., 3: 257.
76 “table or a chair”: Ibid.
76 “There is something whimsical”: Ibid., 5: 160.
76 slaveholder Henry Middleton: Samuel Flagg Bemis, John Quincy Adams and the Foundations of American Foreign Policy (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1949), 263.
76 unlawfully stealing slaves: Adams, ed., Memoirs of John Quincy Adams, 5: 161.
76 a mixed Anglo-American commission: Bemis, John Quincy Adams, 293.
76 to negotiate with the British: ASP: Foreign Relations, 6: 346–55.
77 rushed pell-mell to make claims: See Don Fehrenbacher & Ward M. McAfee, The Slaveholding Republic: An Account of the United States Government’s Relations to Slavery (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001), 96–97.
77 “private property”: ASP: Foreign Relations, 4: 123.
77 When Spain negotiated a treaty: Ibid., 1: 278–79.
Chapter 3. A False Feeling of Mercy
79 “The sovereign Editor”: American poet John Hunter Waddell, Waddell to Coleman, Facts and Fancy—As You Like It—Go On, or Stop (New York: n.p., 1819), 6.