Book Description

Excerpt from A Practical Treatise on the Law of Slavery The court observed that the term mulatto, as used in this state, was vague, and signified, in general, a person of mixed white and negro blood, in whatever proportions it might be mingled. The various distinctions which have obtained in the French and Spanish American colonies has not been adopted in this state. Harper J in delivering the opinion of the court, observed, that it seemed to be an error in the judge's charge to the jury, in stating, that a mulatto was the offspring of parents, one of whom was white, and the other black, and that he was disposed to think, that where the White blood predominated, the disqualifica tion ought not to attach. According to this instruction, we understand, that the child of a quadroon and a mulatto, according to the distinction in Louisiana, must be accounted white. Yet, I suppose, that even in Louisiana such a person would be called a mulatto It is certainly true, as laid down by the presiding judge, that every admixture of African blood with the European, or white, is not to be referred to the degraded class. It would be dan gerous and cruel to subject to this disqualification a person hearing all the features of a white, on account of some remote admixture of negro blood nor has the term mulatto, or person of color, I believe. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.