American Sanctuary: Mutiny, Martyrdom, and National Identity in the Age of Revolution

ISBN: 0525563636

Author: Ekirch, A. Roger

Condition: New

In 1797 the bloodiest mutiny ever suffered by the Royal Navy took place on the British frigate HMS Hermione off the coast of Puerto Rico. Jonathan Robbins, a reputed American sailor who had been impressed into service, made his way to American shores. President John Adams bowed to Britains request for his extradition. Convicted of murder and piracy by a court-martial in Jamaica, Robbins was hanged. Adamss catastrophic miscalculation ignited a political firestorm, only to be fanned by Robbinss failure to receive his constitutional rights of due process and trial by jury by an American court.American Sanctuary brilliantly lays out in riveting detail the story of how the Robbins affair, amid the turbulent presidential campaign of 1800, inflamed the new nation and set in motion a constitutional crisis, resulting in Adamss defeat and ThomasJeffersons election as the third president of the United States. Robbinss martyrdom led directly to the countrys historic decision to grant political asylum to foreign refugees-a major achievement in fulfilling the promise of American independence.