Description:

Dueling
Lawrence County, AL, April 1, 1844
Super Rare 1844 Alabama Anti-Dueling Oath: "fight in single combat or otherwise with any deadly weapon"
PPDS
A super rare document relating to political office-holding and the interdiction against dueling in antebellum northern Alabama. April 1, 1844. [Lawrence County, Alabama.] The half sheet is a 1p partly printed and partly manuscript document signed by two individuals: the local judge accepting the oath, and the politician taking the anti-dueling pledge. The document is signed twice by Richard Orrick Pickett in his capacity as 7th Judge of Lawrence County, Alabama, both times as "Richd. O. Pickett" at upper right and at lower left. It is also signed by the oath-taker, Zadoc McVay, as "Z McVay" at lower right. Docketed verso. Expected wear including flattened paper folds, minor chipping to the right edge, and isolated foxing. A contemporaneous cross-out at top. Else near fine. 8.125" x 6.75."

In part, with unchanged spelling and punctuation:

"The State of Alabama, Lawrence County s s., Personally appeared before me Richd. O Pickett Judge of County Court Lawrence Ala. Zadoc McVey who took and subscribed the following oath to wit:

I do solemnly swear that I have neither directly nor indirectly, given, accepted or knowingly carried a challenge, in writing or otherwise to any person or persons (being a citizen of this State) to fight in single combat or otherwise with any deadly weapon either in or out of this State, or aided or abetted in the same since the year 1826

and that I will neither directly nor indirectly give, accept or knowingly carry a challenge in any manner whatsoever to any person or persons (being a citizen of this State) to fight in single combat or otherwise with any deadly weapon in or out of the state or in any manner whatsoever aid or abet the same during the time for which I am elected or during my continuance in office or during my continuance in the discharge of any public function so help me God…"

Dueling was officially banned in territorial Alabama in 1804. Penalties for violating the law included a large fine, prison time, and the forfeit of any elected office. Alabama's state constitution reaffirmed this territorial statute, stiffening the penalty to capital punishment. Despite the harsh consequences, dueling was commonplace in the United States - especially the honor-bound American South - up through the 1840s. The same year that Zadoc McVay promised not to fight any duels in 1844, U.S. Representative William Lowndes Yancey, a fellow Alabaman, fought a duel with a U.S. Congressman from North Carolina!

The oath-taker of this document was Zadoc McVay (1787-1853), the younger brother of Hugh McVay (1766-1851), the latter who served as acting Governor of Alabama for a 5-month-long period in 1837. Members of the South Carolina-born McVay Family immigrated to northern Alabama in the first decade of the nineteenth century. Hugh McVay was a planter, surveyor, and territorial and state legislator before holding gubernatorial office. Hugh's little brother Zadoc (this unusual first name means "high priest" in Hebrew) served as one of three state representatives from Lawrence County, Alabama in 1824, 1826, and 1827. It was required for public servants to take an anti-dueling oath.

The officiating judge, Richard Orrick Pickett (1814-1898), was a lawyer and politician who later served as a captain in the 35th Alabama Infantry during the Civil War. He was captured as a prisoner of war at the Battle of Corinth.

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: 8.125" x 6.75"
  • Medium: PPDS

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