31. The Trial of Reuben Crandall, M.D. on a Charge of Circulating Incendiary Papers (N.p., [1836?]). (48 p.)


Testimony from a trial in which the defendant (Crandall) was charged with instigating a servile insurrection by distributing abolitionist material. An introduction on the cover reports that this trial was “the first case of a man charged with endeavoring to excite insurrection among slaves and the free colored population that was ever brought before a judicial tribunal.” The introduction concludes that “No trial has ever occurred [that is] more important to travelers from the North, or to the domestic peace of inhabitants of Southern States.” The jury found Dr. Crandall “not guilty.” (The collection has another pamphlet on the same topic in volume 91 [no. 3].)