The Creole Affair
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1827
In England, Lord Stowell delivered his Opinion in the case of The Slave, Grace, in which he concluded that a slave who had been returned to the British colony of Antigua had not been emancipated by her stay in England.
1830
The Comet was wrecked near Bermuda, and its slaves were freed.
1831
August: A slave, Nat Turner, led a slave rebellion in Southampton, Virginia, that led to the killing of some sixty people. Later fifty-six slaves were executed, and at least another 100 slaves, or free blacks, were killed by mobs. The rebellion sent shock waves through the South.
1833
August: The British Parliament enacted the Slavery Abolition Act, effective August 1, 1834, which abolished slavery in most of its colonies and possessions. The abolition took place gradually, over five years, and slaveholders were to be compensated for their loss.
December: The American Anti-Slavery Society was founded in Philadelphia by William Lloyd Garrison. It called for immediate abolition.
1834
The Encomium was wrecked near Bermuda, and its slaves were freed.
1835
January: The Enterprise, sailing from the District of Columbia to Charleston, South Carolina, was driven by seas to Bermuda, where her seventy-three slaves were freed.
1836
May 26: The Pinckney petitions, including the Gag Resolution, were enacted in the House of Representatives, 117 to 68. (The 24th Congress had 141 Democrats and 95 Whigs.)
November: Vice President Martin Van Buren was elected president.
1837
February 6: Congressman Waddy Thompson of South Carolina moved to censure Adams, but the attempt failed on February 10.
March 4: President Van Buren was inaugurated.
May: The Van Buren administration reached agreement with the United Kingdom for compensation for the slaves freed on the Comet and the Encomium.
May 10: The beginning of the financial crisis known as the Panic of 1837, which continued for some five years. It was caused by speculative lending in the western states, a decline in cotton prices, a property price bubble, and restrictive lending prices in the United Kingdom. On this day, the banks in New York City suspended specie payments.
November: Beginning of the rebellion in Lower Canada, followed by the rebellion in Upper Canada.
December 21: The 25th Congress (129 Democrats and 119 Whigs) enacted the Gag Resolution.
December 29: British/Canadian forces burned the US ship the Caroline.
1838
January 4: President Van Buren received the news of the burning of the Caroline.
January 9: Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky, a former secretary of state, charged in a Senate speech that the burning of the Caroline was an outrage.
May 22: Andrew Stevenson, the US minister to the United Kingdom, and former congressman from Virginia and Speaker of the House, demanded reparations for the burning of the Caroline.
August 1: All slaves in the British Caribbean colonies were freed.
September 3: Frederick Bailey escaped from Baltimore and moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts, where he took the name Frederick Douglass.
November: Joshua Giddings was elected to the House of Representatives from Ohio, the first avowed abolitionist congressman.
December 12: The Atherton Gag Resolution was passed in the House, 126 to 78.
1839
January–August: The Aroostook “War” took place in Maine and New Brunswick.
March: General Winfield Scott arrived in New England to defuse the Maine border confrontation.
August 27: The Amistad was taken to New London, Connecticut, and a criminal trial for murder and piracy was begun two days later against the Africans.
November 19: The civil trial against the Amistad began.
December 2: The 26th Congress opened, with 126 Democrats and 116 Whigs.
December 30: Rep. Henry Wise of Virginia moved to enact a permanent gag rule.
1840
January 13: The Amistad federal district court ruled that the Africans were “born free” and were kidnapped in violation of international law.
January 28: The permanent Gag Rule 21 passed the House, 114 to 108.
July: The Act of Union, formally the British North America Act, was enacted by the United Kingdom, with effect from February 10, 1841, creating a new political entity. The Province of Canada replaced Upper Canada and Lower Canada.
October: The schooner Hermosa, while en route from Richmond to New Orleans, was wrecked in the Bahamas, and its thirty-eight slaves were freed.
November: Whigs won the election and would control both Houses; William Henry Harrison was elected president.
November 12: Alexander McLeod, a deputy sheriff from Upper Canada, was arrested in Lewiston, New York, in connection with the Caroline affair.
1841
February: Arguments heard in the Supreme Court on the 12th in Groves v. Slaughter, and on the 22nd in the Amistad case.
March 4: William Henry Harrison was inaugurated.
March 9: The Supreme Court decided the Amistad case.
March 10: The Supreme Court decided Groves v. Slaughter.
April 4: President Harrison died.
April 6: President Tyler sworn in, the third president in 1841.
April 24: Secretary of State Webster wrote to the British minister in Washington, Henry Fox, setting out the famous international law formulation concerning limits on the use of force relating to the Caroline incident.
September 11: All Whigs, except Secretary of State Webster, resigned from Tyler’s cabinet.
October 4: The trial of McLeod began in Utica, New York.
October 12: McLeod was acquitted. US-UK tensions began to relax.
October 25: The Creole left Richmond bound for New Orleans.
November 7: The Creole mutiny took place 130 miles northeast of Abaco Island in the northern Bahamas.
November 9: The Creole entered Nassau harbor. First Mate Gifford met with US Consul Bacon. Bacon wrote to Cockburn; Cockburn responded twice. Gifford gave his sworn deposition before Bacon. Merritt gave his sworn deposition before Bacon.
November 10: Stevens (second mate) gave his sworn deposition before Bacon. Curtis (seaman) gave his sworn deposition before Bacon, as did McCargo.
November 12: Bacon wrote to Cockburn about threatened invasion of the vessel by locals.
November 14: Bacon wrote to Sir Francis Cockburn, governor of the Bahamas, protesting the freeing of the slaves.
November 15: Cockburn wrote to Bacon that the British authorities had no role in the freeing of the slaves. Cockburn attached the official report, dated November 13, of the attorney general. A passenger (Leitner) gave his sworn deposition before Bacon.
November 17: Governor Cockburn wrote a dispatch to London about the Creole. Consul Bacon wrote to Secretary Webster; Consul Bacon certified the formal protest of Ensor, Gifford, Stevens, and Curtis.
November 18: Captain Ensor gave his sworn deposition in front of Bacon.
November 20: Secretary Webster, unaware of the Creole incident, wrote to the new American envoy in London, Everett, that the two most important bilateral issues were the Caroline matter and the search of American vessels off the African coast.
November 24: Governor Cockburn wrote to London about the inadequacy of Fort Charlotte in the event of an American attack on Nassau.
November 26: Bacon certified the copies of the depositions he had taken of Woodside, Merritt, Gifford, and Stevens on November 13. Cockburn’s secretary provided Bacon with a list of the nineteen slave leaders, along with the affidavits taken November 9 and 10 by the police magistrate.
November 27: The thirty-five surviving Africans from the Amistad left New York and sailed to Sierra Leone in west Africa.
November 30: Bacon wrote to Webster a fuller letter about the Creole events.
December 2: The Creole arrived in New Orleans.
December 6: The second
session of the 27th Congress opened.
December 7: The president’s message addressed the Caroline and a host of US-UK problems. Gifford and seven others swore the formal protest in New Orleans.
December 16: The New Orleans Bulletin reported that the city was in flames over the incident.
December 18: The collector of customs in New Orleans transmitted the protest to Treasury Secretary Walter Forward.
December 24: Queen Victoria approved the proposal to send Lord Ashburton to Washington to resolve all disputes with the United States.
1842
January 3: Minister Everett wrote to Webster about Ashburton’s appointment.
January 7: Lord Stanley replied to Cockburn’s November 17 dispatch.
January 18: Senator John C. Calhoun introduced a Resolution urging Tyler to defend US interests arising from the Creole affair.
January 19: President Tyler sent to the Senate a report by Webster with attachments, dealing with the Creole affair, as requested by a Senate Resolution.
January 21: The beginning of the “trial” of John Quincy Adams in the House of Representatives over the Gag Rule.
January 22: Charles Dickens arrived in Boston.
January 29: Webster directed US Minister Edward Everett to support the Calhoun resolution and to demand indemnification for the freed slaves. In London, the law officers reported to Lord Stanley.
January 31: Lord Stanley wrote to Cockburn, enclosing the legal Opinion.
February 7: Adams won the censure “trial” by winning a vote (106 to 93) to table the censure motion.
February 8: Counsel for Maryland and Pennsylvania began their arguments in the first fugitive slave case at the US Supreme Court, Prigg v. Pennsylvania. In London, Lord Aberdeen gave negotiating instructions to Ashburton for his diplomacy in Washington.
Mid-February: Lord Ashburton left the United Kingdom for the United States.
March 1: Supreme Court decided Prigg, in an Opinion by Justice Story.
March 9: Dickens arrived in Washington.
March 16: Dickens left Washington for Richmond.
March 17: Dickens arrived in Richmond.
March 20: Dickens left Richmond for Baltimore without stopping in the District of Columbia.
March 21: Representative Giddings introduced nine Resolutions regarding the Creole.
March 22: Giddings was censured by a vote of 125 to 69. Giddings submitted his resignation.
March 29: Cockburn wrote to Lord Stanley, acknowledging Stanley’s letter of January 31, but sought more instructions.
April 2: Lord Ashburton arrived in Annapolis, Maryland, on board the British frigate Warspite, after his ship from New York has been blown off course.
April 4: Rhode Island governor King wrote to President Tyler seeking assurance of federal assistance for the “Dorr Rebellion.”
April 5: Cockburn wrote to Lord Stanley that the grand jury would not indict the Americans being held in jail.
April 11: President Tyler wrote to Governor King declining federal assistance not authorized for “anticipatory insurrection.”
April 16: Cockburn released the seventeen mutineers from jail (two had died), on orders from London, at the special session of the Bahamian Court of Admiralty.
April 17: Cockburn reported to Stanley that the seventeen Americans from the Creole were out of custody.
April 26: Justice Story wrote to Secretary Webster urging him to press President Tyler to send troops to Fort Adams.
April 30: Lord Stanley gave guidance to Cockburn for future cases.
May 10: Dorr met with President Tyler for four hours at White House.
May 14: Secretary Webster held secret meeting in New York City in an effort to resolve the Door Rebellion.
June 7: Dickens left New York for England.
June 25: Martial law was declared for the entire state of Rhode Island.
July 20: US Attorney General Hugh Swinton Legare rendered his Opinion on the international law elements of the Creole case.
July 27: Webster’s note to Ashburton concerning the Caroline.
July 28: Ashburton’s reply note to Webster on the Caroline.
August 1: Webster note to Ashburton on the Creole.
August 6: Ashburton’s note to Webster on the Creole, and Webster’s note to Ashburton on the Caroline.
August 8: Webster’s note to Ashburton settling the Creole.
August 9: Webster and Ashburton signed the Treaty of Washington.
August 11: President Tyler in a Special Message submitted the treaty and diplomatic correspondence to the Senate.
August 20: The Senate ratified the treaty, 39 to 9.
October 15: Ratifications of the treaty were exchanged in London.
October 19: Dickens’s American Notes for General Circulation was published in London.
November 10: President Tyler formally proclaimed the Treaty of Washington.
1843
March 3: Calhoun resigned from the Senate.
May 8: Webster resigned as secretary of state and returned to law practice.
December 21: Wise announced he would no longer fight the gag rule.
1844
April 1: Calhoun became Tyler’s secretary of state, upon Upshur’s death.
December 3: Second session of the 28th Congress opened; Rule 25 rescinded, 108 to 80.
1845
March: The Louisiana Supreme Court decided McCargo v. New Orleans Insurance Co.
Frederick Douglass published Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave.
August: Frederick Douglass left the United States for his stay in Britain.
1846
April 6–7: Having returned to the Senate, Webster launched a two-day defense of the Treaty of Washington, particularly with respect to charges relating to the Maine border settlement.
1852
March 20: Harriet Beecher Stowe published Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
1853
Frederick Douglass published his novella, Heroic Slave: A Thrilling Narrative of the Adventures of Madison Washington, in Pursuit of Liberty.
Solomon Northup wrote and had published Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northup, a Citizen of New York, Kidnapped in Washington City in 1841, and Rescued in 1853, From a Cotton Plantation Near the Red River, in Louisiana. Published by Derby and Miller in Auburn, New York, in 1853.
February 8: The United States and the United Kingdom signed in London the Convention for the Establishment of a Commission to settle claims between the two governments.
August 20: President Franklin Pierce formally proclaimed the Claims Convention.
1855
January 15: The Anglo-American Claims Commission granted $110,330 in compensation to the United States for the owners of the slaves freed on the Creole.
Herman Melville published in serialized form his novella Benito Cereno, resembling the Amistad event.
1858
The US Supreme Court decides the final step in the legal battle relating to the Creole.
Appendix II
Message from the President of the United States to the Two Houses of Congress at the Commencement of the Second Session of the Twenty-seventh Congress, December 7, 1841
[The first paragraph is a statement of the good fortune of the country, and a prayer: “[W]e are all called upon . . . to renew our thanks and devotion to our Heavenly Parent. . . . [L]et us ever remember our dependence for all these, on the protection and merciful dispensations of Divine Providence.”]
Since your last adjournment Alexander McLeod, a British subject, who was indicted for the murder of an American citizen, and whose case has been the subject of a correspondence heretofore communicated to you, has been acquitted by the verdict of an impartial and intelligent jury, and has under the judgment of the court been regularly discharged.
Great Britain having made known to this Government that the expedition which was fitted out from Canada for the destruction of the steamboat Caroline, i
n the winter of 1837, and which resulted in the destruction of said boat and in the death of an American citizen, was undertaken by orders emanating from the authorities of the British Government in Canada, and demanding the discharge of McLeod upon the ground that, if engaged in that expedition, he did but fulfil the orders of his Government, has thus been answered in the only way in which she could be answered by a Government, the powers of which are distributed among its several departments by the fundamental law. Happily for the people of Great Britain as well as those of the United States, the only mode by which an individual, arraigned for in a criminal offence, before the courts of either, can obtain his discharge, is by the independent action of the judiciary, and by proceedings equally familiar to the courts of both countries.
If in Great Britain a power exists in the Crown to cause to be entered a nolle prosequi, which is not the case with the Executive power of the United States upon a prosecution pending in a State court, yet there no more than here, can the chief Executive power rescue a prisoner from custody without an order of the proper tribunal, directing his discharge. The precise stage of the proceedings at which such order may be made is a matter of municipal regulation exclusively, and not to be complained of by any other Government. In cases of this kind, a Government becomes politically responsible only when its tribunals of last resort are shown to have rendered unjust and injurious judgments in matters not doubtful. To the establishment and elucidation of this principle, no nation has lent its authority more efficiently than Great Britain. Alexander McLeod having his option either to prosecute a writ of error from the decision of the supreme court of New York, which has rendered upon his application for a discharge, to the Supreme Court of the United States, or to submit his case to the decision of a jury, preferred the latter, deeming it the readiest mode of obtaining his liberation; and the result has fully sustained the wisdom of his choice. The manner in which the issue submitted was tried will satisfy the English Government that the principles of justice will never fail to govern the enlightened decision of an American tribunal. I cannot fail, however, to suggest to Congress the propriety, and in some degree the necessity, of making such provisions by law, so far as they may constitutionally do so, for the removal at their commencement, and at the option of the party, of all such cases as may hereafter arise, and which may involve the faithful observance and execution of our international obligations, from the State to the Federal Judiciary. This Government, by our institutions, is charged with the maintenance of peace and the preservation of amicable relations with the nations of the earth, and ought to possess, without question, all the reasonable and proper means of maintaining the one and preserving the other. Whilst just confidence is felt in the Judiciary of the States, yet this Government ought to be competent in itself for the fulfilment of the high duties which have been devolved upon it, under the organic law, by the States themselves.