Lemmon v. New York

Lemmon v. New York, or Lemmon v. The People, popularly known as the Lemmon Slave Case, was a proceeding initiated in 1852 by a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, which was granted by the Superior court in New York City and eventually affirmed by the New York Court of Appeals in 1860 on the eve of the Civil War. The result of issuing the writ was the release of eight slaves including six children, who were brought into New York by their Virginia slave owners, while in transit during relocation to Texas.John Jay (namesake of his grandfather, the diplomat for the Continental Congress and again during the Washington Administration, former Governor of New York and first Chief Justice of the United States) was the guiding spirit behind the litigation. The attorney for the state on appeal (prosecuting for the release of the slaves) was Chester A. Arthur (future president of the United States). Counsel to him were William M. Evarts, Joseph Blunt and Erastus D. Culver.

At the decade before the Civil War, the banking and shipping industries of New York City had become closely tied to the sugar and cotton trades, and therefore much of the commercial interests of the city were tied to slavery. On the other pole there was an organization feeding the informal escape routes known as the Underground Railroad. These efforts were supported by prominent abolitionists, such as John Jay, who had become the city's leading lawyer in fugitive slave cases. Louis Napoleon, an illiterate former slave and afterwards a furniture polisher and porter, was active in aiding slaves' efforts to escape as well as feeding cases to John Jay. It was Napoleon who signed the petition for writ of habeas corpus in the Lemmon case.

Jonathan Lemmon and his wife Juliet, who were residents of Virginia, decided to migrate to Texas. In November 1852, the Lemmons travelled by steamship City of Richmond from Norfolk, Virginia to New York City, where they were to embark on another steamship to Texas.

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