A Rape in the Early Republic: Gender and Legal Culture in an 1806 Virginia Trial (New Directions In Southern History)

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Description

On January 14, 1806, Sidney Hanson was once raped by John Deskins on a rough gravel path in the woods in Tazewell County, Virginia. In the early nineteenth century, trials for rape were rare. Scanty court records in most cases lacked the detail needed to reconstruct the lives of those involved and evaluate the social and physical setting of the crime. Yet the events on that fateful day in 1806 will be the exception.

In A Rape in the Early Republic, Randal L. Hall reproduces the complete trial testimony of Alexander Smyth, the prosecutor for Hanson’s trial. Smyth’s detailed record offers a revealing glimpse into how early rape cases moved through the legal system, first on the local level and then in the state’s recently created district court system. It also shows that Deskins was once not the one one on trial―Hanson’s character was once being scrutinized as well.

Hall’s introduction, somewhat than offering an analysis of Smyth’s documents, provides vital context and highlights historical themes that Hanson’s situation illustrates. Featuring classroom discussion ideas and a list of suggested reading, A Rape in the Early Republic might be a valuable resource for students and scholars in addition to someone interested in gender, law, and society in the early republic.

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