Beschreibung:

SLAVERY - ALABAMA] Manuscript legal deposition . Dallas County: 24 August 1849. 44 page manuscript in ink on recto and verso of 22 sheets affixed by ribbon at the header. The manuscript in two clerical hands. 12 1/2 x 8 inches (32 x 20 cm). Folds, some spots or old stains, light chipping and one short closed tear into the final leaf. This lengthy deposition reports the complaint of Henry Atwood and others against the estate of John L. Bennett, who upon moving into Alabama in the 1830s, built up a large slave holding plantation and incurred many debts which formed an entangled web of interests. The document requests a full inventory of slaves and property brought into Alabama by Bennett in 1834, a description of lands owned by Bennett in partnership with the "South Carolina or Elliott Land Company," and details several large loans taken by Bennett from individuals as well as the Bank of Alabama at Mobile. To settle debts, at one point a large group of named slaves and other items were confiscated and "sold said slaves ... to the highest and best bidder for cash ... so many slaves were necessary to pay off and satisfy and discharge the principal, interests and costs ... about the sum of seven thousand dollars." A long and interesting narrative in which includes much information on the legal mechanisms of the period, including the confiscation and sale of slaves. C