p. 47: What can we say about Luxenberg’s style: appropriate for a work of non-fiction?
p. 48: What type of relationship did Henry Brown and his mother seem to have (contrast with the relationship between Henry Brown and his father – last paragraph p. 49)
p. 49: Did the events mentioned on p. 49 – last paragraph – are familiar to you?
p. 50-51; What can we say about Henry’s feelings for Mary Brown and Billings Brown?
p.52 What was the title of Brown’s winning essay, and what is your opinion about his take on public amusements?
p. 53. When you read that HB, a Yale Graduate, spent too many hours and too much money on whiskey punches and larger beer, did you involuntarily think about a (relatively) recently appointed Supreme Court Justice, like I did?
p. 54-55- 56; A year of European travel; NYC ante bellum; Clayton’s no law authorising granting passports to colored people.
p. 57. Do you think that a certificate of protection” was equally efficient? The word citizen appeared nowhere on the certificate.
p. 58-59. What did Charles Robinson mean by the statement that “the 1856 presidential election would determine the country’s future.” Think about “Bleeding Kansas”.
p. 59-61. What do you make of the parallel between the voyage and sea and the presidential elections of 1856 as a prelude to the future of the country?
61-62 The United States Supreme Court held in Dred Scott that slavery was not a federal but a state issue. How do you square that decision with federal citizenship?
p. 63. How do you interpret “dismissed for want of jurisdiction” on the case cover?
p.64. When explaining his rasist decision, justice taney ignored the Massachusetts’ 1843 interracial law. Why do you think taney did that?
p. 65. Do you believe that the reasoning in Dred Scott was more a matter of taste rather than law? Explain.
p. 66. Could you think of anyone today whose occupation might be “gentleman”?