Civics
3
From 1796 to 1814, Court Square was the site of the first Addison County Courthouse, which also served as the seat of the Vermont Legislature in 1800 and 1806 and as the home of Middlebury’s first female academy in 1800. In June 1804, a New York slaveholder brought suit before a session of the Supreme Court there to reclaim an escaped slave apprehended in Vermont. When his proffered bill of sale was deemed insufficient proof of ownership, his attorney demanded what the court would accept. Justice Theophilus Harrington of Clarendon replied, “Nothing short of a bill of sale signed by God Almighty Himself.” The former slave went free.
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Middlebury, Vermont · United States
