Alice Clifton (born 1772) was an

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

woman enslaved by John Bartholomew in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. She was brought to trial on April 18, 1787, for the

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...

of her

infant In common terminology, a baby is the very young offspring of adult human beings, while infant (from the Latin word ''infans'', meaning 'baby' or 'child') is a formal or specialised synonym. The terms may also be used to refer to juveniles of ...

daughter A daughter is a female offspring; a girl or a woman in relation to her parents. Daughterhood is the state, condition or quality of being someone's daughter. The male counterpart is a son. Analogously the name is used in several areas to show r ...

, found guilty, and sentenced to death. Following the sentence, a mob formed to prevent her execution out of protest for unjust circumstances because she was coerced into killing her baby by the father of the child, Jack Shaffer. Clifton was between fifteen and sixteen years old at the time of the trial. Clifton was mentioned in only one primary source known to date, the court record for her case.

Trial

In 1787, Alice Clifton was brought to trial for slitting her child's throat with a razor. The trial itself involved Alice Clifton very little, if at all. In fact, according to the court documentation, Alice Clifton was never called to testify. Many individuals were questioned in the trial, yet Clifton was barred from testifying in her defense. Individuals such as the

Coroner A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into the manner or cause of death. The official may also investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within th ...

, Mr. Bartholomew, and multiple doctors who examined the baby's and Clifton's bodies were brought for examination before the court. Many of those questioned were medically trained, thus giving the trial a heavy focus on the medical

evidence Evidence for a proposition is what supports the proposition. It is usually understood as an indication that the proposition is truth, true. The exact definition and role of evidence vary across different fields. In epistemology, evidence is what J ...

of the crime and the alleged perpetrator. Alice Clifton, in speaking with the doctors, initially tried to defend herself by claiming that the baby had been born dead. However, once the medical examiners observed that the baby was too old to have been that recently born and had bled too much from the throat wound for a newborn infant, that possibility was eliminated. After the hearing, the jury found Alice Clifton guilty of

infanticide Infanticide (or infant homicide) is the intentional killing of infants or offspring. Infanticide was a widespread practice throughout human history that was mainly used to dispose of unwanted children, its main purpose being the prevention of re ...

, and the following Saturday, she was brought into court to receive a

death sentence Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...

. Up until the year of Clifton's trial, infanticide was considered a capital crime even though many juries ruled for less devastating sentences. Clifton's status as an enslaved woman, combined with her infanticide charges being regarded as the harm of someone else's property, left Clifton vulnerable to the death sentence. However, those observing the case opposed this punishment so passionately that they

riot A riot or mob violence is a form of civil disorder commonly characterized by a group lashing out in a violent public disturbance against authority, property, or people. Riots typically involve destruction of property, public or private. The p ...

ed to spare Clifton's life. As a result of this mob, Clifton was not put to death despite her sentencing. What happened to Alice Clifton following the events of this trial is unknown. In the court record, the baby's father is found to be Jack Shaffer. Doctor Foulke (name otherwise unknown), one of the doctors questioned in the court record, testified that Clifton confessed to him many incidences of forced sex by Jack Shaffer, resulting in the birth of her daughter. She also claimed that Shaffer had persuaded her to murder the baby. In exchange, he would purchase her freedom, put her up in his house, and make her his lady if she were to commit the murder.

Analysis

Throughout early America, enslaved girls and women were valued for their childbearing and labor capabilities. Many enslavers would enslave girls and women specifically to bear children so that they could increase the number of people they enslaved. Consequently, birth rates among enslaved African girls and women were significantly higher than those of white women both in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

and in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. In Alice Clifton's case, as well as others involving slave infanticide, the murdered child was considered to be destroyed the property of the enslaver, adding a legal dimension to the situation. Many African American women used

abortifacient An abortifacient ("that which will cause a miscarriage" from Latin: '' abortus'' "miscarriage" and '' faciens'' "making") is a substance that induces abortion. This is a nonspecific term which may refer to any number of substances or medications, ...

s in an attempt to control their birth rates, which could have been done for many reasons, including not wanting to bear a child into slavery or claiming agency over their own body by being the ones to determine if and when they had children. The fact that Clifton's child may also have been fathered through instances of

sexual violence Sexual violence is any harmful or unwanted Human sexual activity, sexual act, an attempt to obtain a sexual act through violence or coercion, or an act directed against a person's sexuality without their consent, by any individual regardless of ...

also most likely had a significant effect on Alice's decision to take her daughter's life. Following Clifton's trial, Jack Shaffer was put on trial for these assaults against Clifton. However, Shaffer, known to the town as "The Fat Shaffer" and generally disliked, was not charged with rape, but rather the equivalence of damaging property and was not found guilty for even this crime. Clifton's identity as an enslaved girl, like many in early America, probably contributed to this lack of guilty verdict due to the low status she held in society and the general belief that her body was not something she had ownership over.Sharon Block, ''Rape & Sexual Power in Early America'' (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2006), 157.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clifton, Alice 18th-century American women 18th-century American criminals American murderers of children American people convicted of murder American prisoners sentenced to death Criminals from Philadelphia Child murder in Pennsylvania 18th-century African-American women 18th-century African-American people 18th-century American slaves Infanticide People convicted of murder by Pennsylvania Prisoners sentenced to death by Pennsylvania Violence against women in Pennsylvania

Trial

Analysis

See also

References