Description:

Slavery
Decatur County, GA, ca. October 1860
Indictment for Selling Liquor to a Slave in Georgia
Partially printed DS

[SLAVERY.] William E. Smith, Partially Printed Document Signed, Indictment, for Furnishing Alcohol to Slave, October 1860, Decatur County, Georgia. 2 pp., 7.875" x 12.375". Light toning; expected folds; some soiling on folds.

This indictment accuses Joshua Edwards of Decatur County in southwestern Georgia of furnishing spirituous liquors to Mary, a slave belonging to Henry Arline.

Georgia had long prohibited the selling of liquor to enslaved African Americans. All three of Georgia's colonial slave codes banned the sale of liquor to slaves. The prohibition continued after American independence. In 1808, the legislature of Georgia prohibited the sale of liquor to slaves without the permission of their owners, and the prohibition continued throughout the antebellum era.

Excerpt
"The Grand Jurors, sworn, chosen and selected for the county of Decatur to wit...in the name and behalf of the citizens of Georgia, charge and accuse Joshua Edwards of the county and State aforesaid, with the offence of furnishing a slave with spirituous Liquors For that the said defendant Edwards on the first day of October in the year eighteen hundred and sixty in the county aforesaid, did then and there, unlawfully, and with force and arms, furnish, a negro woman of the name of Mary, a slave, & the property of Henry Arline, with spirituous Liquors wines cider & other intoxicating Liquors for her, said slaves own uses, said Defendant then & there, not long the owner overseer or employee of such slaves contrary to the laws of said State, and the good order, peace and dignity thereof."

Joshua Edwards (1814-1877) was born in North Carolina. He married Catherine Leslie (1824-1904) in Florida in 1847, and they moved to Decatur County, Georgia, where he was a farmer in 1870.

Henry Arline (d. c. 1874) owned eleven slaves in Decatur County, Georgia, in 1850.

William E. Smith (1829-1890) was born in Augusta, Georgia, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1848. He won election as Ordinary of Dougherty County in 1853, and he was elected Solicitor-General of the Southwest Circuit in 1858. In the same year, Governor Brown appointed Smith to fill an unexpired term in the state legislature. He enlisted in the 4th Georgia Volunteers after the state seceded and was elected captain in April 1862. He lost a leg in the defense of Richmond in June 1862. He was elected to the Confederate Congress in 1863. He was elected to Congress as a Democrat in 1874 and served from 1875 to 1881. After leaving Congress, he resumed the practice of law and served in the Georgia Senate from 1886 to 1888. He died in Albany, Georgia, in March 1890.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: 7.875" x 12.375"
  • Medium: Partially printed DS

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