Twelve Years a Slave · Chapter
Legal Proceedings and Affidavits explained
This chapter consists of sworn affidavits and legal documents attesting to Solomon Northup's free birth and citizenship in New York, his kidnapping in 1841, and the subsequent appointment of Henry B.
What happens
This chapter consists of sworn affidavits and legal documents attesting to Solomon Northup's free birth and citizenship in New York, his kidnapping in 1841, and the subsequent appointment of Henry B. Northup as an agent by Governor Washington Hunt to secure Solomon's restoration from slavery in Louisiana.
Themes in this chapter
Hypocrisy of American Freedom
The affidavits and legal documents underscore the contradiction between Solomon's legal status as a free citizen and his enslavement.
Injustice of Slavery
The wrongful enslavement of a free man and the bureaucratic effort required to restore his liberty highlight the systemic injustice.
Characters to notice
- Solomon Northup
Identified as a free citizen of New York, kidnapped in Washington in 1841, and wrongfully held in slavery in Louisiana.
- Henry B. Northup
Deposes to receiving a letter from Solomon after his kidnapping and is appointed as the state agent to effect Solomon's restoration.
- Anne Northup
Memorialist and wife of Solomon, whose petition prompts the legal proceedings.
- Mintus Northup
Solomon's father, a free man who died in Fort Edward, New York, in 1829.
- Charles Hughes
Justice of the Peace who administers oaths for several affidavits.
- Orville Clark
Deposes to knowing Mintus Northup and Solomon as free citizens of New York.
Key passages
“that said Solomon could read and write; that said Solomon and his mother and father were free citizens of the State of New York; that sometime about the year 1841 this deponent received a letter from said Solomon, postmarked New Orleans, stating that while on business at Washington city, he had been kidnapped, and his free papers taken from him, and he was then on board a vessel, in irons, and was claimed as a slave”
Henry B. Northup swore that Solomon was literate and free-born, and that in 1841 he received a letter from Solomon saying he had been kidnapped in Washington, stripped of his free papers, and was being held in chains on a ship as a slave.
Key evidence of the kidnapping and Solomon's free status.
“I have constituted, appointed and employed Henry B. Northup, Esquire, of the county of Washington, in this State, an Agent, with full power to effect the restoration of said Solomon Northup”
Governor Washington Hunt formally appointed Henry B. Northup as the state agent authorized to secure Solomon's return to freedom.
Official authorization for the rescue mission.