‘To Restore Peace and Tranquility to the Neighborhood’: Violence, Legal Culture and Community in New York City, 1799-1827 by Meggan Farish Cashwell Department of History Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Laura F. Edwards, Supervisor ___________________________ Reeve Huston ___________________________ Philip J. Stern ___________________________ Adriane D. Lentz-Smith ___________________________ Barry Gaspar Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of History in the Graduate School of Duke University 2019 i v ABSTRACT ‘To Restore Peace and Tranquility to the Neighborhood’: Violence, Legal Culture and Community in New York City, 1799-1827 by Meggan Farish Cashwell Department of History Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Laura F. Edwards, Supervisor ___________________________ Reeve Huston ___________________________ Philip J. Stern ___________________________ Adriane D. Lentz-Smith ___________________________ Barry Gaspar An abstract of a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of History in the Graduate School of Duke University 2019 Copyright by Meggan Farish Cashwell 2019 Abstract “‘To Restore Peace and Tranquility to the Neighborhood’: Violence, Legal Culture and Community in New York City, 1799-1827” examines the various ways ordinary people, legal officials, lawmakers, and editors negotiated the boundaries between inclusion and exclusion, or what historians call “belonging.” It uses legal cases and crime publications to analyze contradictory visions of the public good within the context of key political and social changes in the city, state, and nation. The dissertation moves from the operations of violence on the ground to the ideological implications of violence in the era of gradual emancipation. New Yorkers—male and female, free and unfree, native and immigrant—could and did participate in legal proceedings. Complainants and witnesses relied on the processes of law rather than actual verdicts to establish order in their personal lives and in their communities. This dissertation contends that people made and remade community through the adjudication and interpretation of violent conflict. Violence was indicative of daily exchanges and disagreements, all of which were linked to how people envisioned themselves and the “other,” or what scholars refer to as “reputation.” Gendered and racialized identities developed from negotiations that transpired inside and outside legal forums. White women, free blacks, and enslaved and iv indentured persons continually redefined notions of femininity and blackness through the violence they employed. Concepts of reputation and race and gender formation intersected in legal forums and in broader discussions about how men and women should conduct themselves in the nineteenth century. At a moment when lawmakers debated the nature of citizenship, crime publications intentionally highlighted violent offenses to offer a particular vision of who citizens should be and to marginalize the working classes, immigrants, and African Americans. The institution of slavery and the violence inherent to it became a means for editors to portray African Americans as socially inferior and to guard the city’s moral reputation against abolitionists. Ultimately, violence played a role in the efforts of editors and lawmakers to delegitimize free blacks’ social and political belonging in New York and the nation as a whole. v Dedication To Taylor and Mom vi Contents Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... iv List of Figures ............................................................................................................................. viii Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................... ix 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 1 Historiography ...................................................................................................................... 12 Methodology .......................................................................................................................... 27 2. Chapter One: ‘To Disturb the Whole Neighborhood’: Fines and Feuds in New York City Courts .................................................................................................................................... 35 3. Chapter Two: ‘Most Intolerably Abusive’: Changing Identities and Challenging Authority through Violent Conflicts......................................................................................... 76 4. Chapter Three: A ‘Nuisance to the Neighborhood’: White Women, Free Blacks, and the Boundaries of Belonging .................................................................................................... 114 5. Chapter Four: ‘As Much Force as was Necessary to Bring the Offender to Justice’: Narrating Violence and Citizenship in New York City ....................................................... 151 6. Chapter Five: ‘Too Interesting to Humanity and Good Morals, to be Sunk in Silence or Oblivion’: Race, Violence, and Crime Literature .................................................................. 192 7. Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 233 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................... 247 Biography .................................................................................................................................... 265 vii List of Figures Figure 1: Complaint by James Ward against Mrs. Dwire’s children, 1811 ......................... 46 Figure 2: James Ward’s testimony against Mrs. Dwire’s children, 1811 ............................. 48 Figure 3: An 1816 issue of the New-York City-Hall Recorder ................................................. 160 viii Acknowledgements It is only appropriate that anyone who reads this dissertation start here. I am forever indebted to those who have helped me along this academic journey. My adviser, committee, colleagues, family, and friends have all made an indelible impression on my dissertation. I am a better scholar and person because of them. First and foremost, I have to thank my mentor Laura Edwards. Her wisdom and guidance, along with countless copy edits and sidebar comments, turned my semblance of a project into a dissertation. It was my great honor and privilege to be her graduate student these past eight years. Laura’s work and work ethic are an inspiration. I am equally grateful to my dissertation committee: Barry Gaspar, Reeve Houston, Adriane Lentz-Smith, and Philip Stern. Each of them offered unique and important insights as my project developed. I am thankful to Thavolia Glymph, as well, who was a member of the prelims committee. Her astute comments before and during my portfolio defense still resonate with me. My dissertation is made possible through the assistance of more archivists and librarians than I can list here. Kenneth Cobb at the New York City Municipal Archives shipped numerous boxes of microfilm to Duke. The interlibrary loan department at Duke coordinated shipments quickly and efficiently. These individuals saved me many trips to New York and allowed me to do the bulk of my research in Durham. ix I have benefited from many funding sources. The Graduate School; Department of History; David M. Rubenstein Rare Book, Manuscript & Special Collections Library; Versatile Humanists at Duke; and Duke University Press provided the means for me to complete this program. The William Nelson Cromwell Foundation Fellowship will allow me to expand this project into a publication. I am thankful for the faith and resources these departments and organizations have put into my project. A series of teaching assistantships and internships afforded useful skills and experience that I will carry with me throughout my career. More than that, each of these opportunities challenged me to think in new ways about my work. My internship at the Rubenstein was a highlight of my time at Duke. John Gartrell, Leah Kerr, and Meghan Lyon made me a more skillful archivist and researcher. I also had the pleasure of spending several summers at Duke University Press, where I worked under the guidance of Miriam Angress, Elizabeth Ault, Gisela Fosado, and Sandra Korn. The projects and tasks they assigned broadened my historical and historiographical perspective. Jeanette Shaffer at the Museum of Durham History taught me the art of exhibit curation. The summer we spent working alongside each other pushed me to use my historical knowledge in diverse ways. Finally, Maria Wisdom’s support of my alternative track endeavors helped me form exciting connections and explore new possibilities. x Some say scholarship is a lonely road, but that statement does not reflect my experience. I have been in the “academic trenches” with some of the finest people I have ever known. Mandy Cooper, Emily Margolis, and Ashley Young read (too many) chapters and grant drafts over the years. They motivate