Description:

Sale of Slave Leads to Lawsuit; Attorneys include Former Acting Governor and Future U.S. Senator

In 1810, Samuel Ratcliff of Franklin County in the southwestern part of the Mississippi Territory purchased an enslaved African American woman named Jane from Joseph Montgomery, whom Montgomery warranted to be healthy. After Jane died, Ratcliff filed a lawsuit against Montgomery.

This narrative, filed by Samuel Ratcliff's attorneys Cowles Mead and Thomas B. Reed, initiated a lawsuit. Apparently, a jury found Montgomery not guilty and the parties settled the suit "by consent," according to a file note. Although the document refers to "a certain other Negroe slave Jane," it simply presents two counts regarding the same sale of the same slave.

[SLAVERY.] Autograph Document Signed, Narratio in Ratcliff v. Montgomery, August 1811, Franklin County, Mississippi Territory. 2 pp., 7.75" x 13". Expected folds; some staining; some edge loss affecting one word; very good.

Complete Transcript
Mississippi Territory
Franklin County. Sct. August Term 1811
Samuel Ratcliff, by his Attorney, complains of Joseph Montgomery in custody &c of a plea of trespass on the case For that whereas the said Samuel, on the 30th day of January in the year 1810, at the county aforesaid, bargained with the said Joseph to buy of the said Joseph a certain Negroe woman slave named Jane as & for a slave sound & healthy in all respects, at & for a certain large price or sum of money, to wit, the sum of $450 dollars. And the said Joseph, then & there, knowing the said Negroe slave Jane to be unsound & unhealthy, then & there sold the said Negroe slave Jane to the said Samuel, as & for a Negroe slave sound & healthy in all respects, for a certain large sum of money, to wit, the sum of $450 dollars, then 7 there paid by the said Samuel to the said Joseph for the same which said Negroe woman slave named Jane as aforesaid was then & there, at the time & place of sale aforesaid, unsound & unhealthy with a disease called & known by the name of by means of which said disease the said Negroe slave became & was of little or no value to the said Samuel & of which the said Jane afterwards died, to wit, at the county aforesaid, & so the said Samuel saith that the said Joseph on the day & year aforesaid, at the county aforesaid, falsely & fraudulently deceived him the said Samuel wherefore the said Samuel says he has sustained damages to the value of $1000 wherefore he sues &c.
And whereas also the said Samuel afterwards, to wit on the same day & year aforesaid, at the county aforesaid, bargained with the said Joseph to buy of him the said Joseph a certain other Negroe slave Jane & the said Joseph, by then & there falsely warranting the said Negroe slave to be sound, falsely & fraudulently induced the said Samuel then & there to buy of him the said Joseph the said last-mentioned Negroe slave named Jane for an certain other large sum of money to wit, the sum of $450 dollars, whereas in truth & in fact, the said last mentioned Negroe slave, at the time of the said warranty & sale was not sound, but there was & still continues to be unsound until the day of when the said Negroe slave Jane died of said disease & unsoundness. And as the said Samuel saith the said Joseph falsely & fraudulently deceived the said Samuel upon the said last mentioned sale & warranty to the damage of the said Samuel $1000 & therefore he sues &c.
Mead & Reed for Pltff

Samuel Ratcliff (ca. 1775-1837) was born in England but had moved to Mississippi Territory by 1800. He owned six slaves in 1810. In 1825, he married Mary Sprawls, probably a second marriage for him and perhaps for her. He died in Franklin County, Mississippi.

Joseph Montgomery (d. 1825) owned 16 slaves in Franklin County, Mississippi, in 1810.

Cowles Mead (1776-1844) was born in Virginia and educated in England. He returned to practice law in Virginia but then moved to Georgia. He represented Georgia in the Ninth Congress for eight months in 1805. President Thomas Jefferson appointed Mead as secretary of the Mississippi Territory in January 1806. He served simultaneously as secretary and acting governor of the territory in 1806 and 1807. He was responsible for the arrest of former Vice President Aaron Burr in 1807, an arrest that led to Burr's treason trial. Mead also served in the Mississippi House of Representatives (1807, 1822-1823) and the Mississippi Senate (1821). He died at his plantation Greenwood.

Thomas Buck Reed (1787-1829) was born in Kentucky and attended the College of New Jersey (Princeton). He studied law and gained admission to the bar in Kentucky before moving to Natchez, Mississippi Territory, in 1809. There, he served as city clerk, as state attorney general (1821-1826), and then represented Mississippi in the U.S. Senate (1826-1827, 1829).

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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