Item #37519 Message from the President of the United States, Transmitting a Report of the Secretary of State, and sundry documents relative to the requisition for and delivery of Jonathan Robbins; in pursuance of a resolution of this House, of the 4th instant: 7th February, 1800. Ordered to lie on the table. John Adams, Timothy Pickering.

Message from the President of the United States, Transmitting a Report of the Secretary of State, and sundry documents relative to the requisition for and delivery of Jonathan Robbins; in pursuance of a resolution of this House, of the 4th instant: 7th February, 1800. Ordered to lie on the table.

[Philadelphia]: 1800. 8 pp. 8vo. Removed. First edition. Stab holes at inner margin but still a very good+ unopened (uncut) copy. Evans 38782. Item #37519

An early extradition case which grew into a firestorm of protest. Thomas Nash, who had participated in a bloody mutiny on a British ship, had escaped the British manhunt for the mutineers, only to be spotted in the United States where he was detained. The British wanted him extradited under the terms of the Jay Treaty. Nash then claimed he was an American citizen by the name of Jonathan Robbins, when in fact he was Irish. Though there were no charges brought against him, he had a habeas corpus hearing and was extradited by Judge Thomas Bee with the tacit approval of President John Adams. The British executed him and the Jeffersonians, fueled by anti-British sentiments, kept his case alive, where it was then taken up in Congress. Many of these same legal issues have surfaced again since 2001.

Price: $225.00

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