Case Details

Nelson (a mulatto) v. People

Case # 3531

Appellant/Plaintiff

Nelson (a mulatto)

Appellee/Defendant

People of the State of Illinois

Appellant/Plaintiff Attorneys

Grimshaw, Williams

Appellee/Defendant Attorneys

J. B. White

County of Origin

Adams County

Justice

Justice Corydon Beckwith Justice Pinkney H. Walker

Terms of Court

January 1864

Type of Case

Illegal Black Immigration

Disposition

Affirmed

Citation

33 Ill 390

Case Summary

Nelson, a mulatto, was arrested for immigrating into Illinois in 1862, violating 1853 Black exclusion act. Before a justice of the peace, Nelson was fined $50 and imprisoned until payment or sold into servitude. Nelson appealed to the circuit court, he argued the law's unconstitutionality. The court upheld the verdict, citing legislative authority to prevent Black migration into Illinois. Nelson appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court, which affirmed the judgment, enforcing law's provisions as constitutional, noting that serving a punishment by being sold into servitude did not equate to slavery.