Folio (ca. 36.4x19.9 cm). [1] p. Brown ink on yellowish wove paper with the blind stamp of the “Circuit Court.” Fold marks, but otherwise a very good and important antebellum slave document.

An extremely rare deed of manumission executed in Perryville, Missouri, by Thomas M. Blair (ca. 1801-1892), a constable of Union Township, emancipating his slave.

By the late 1850s, slavery was deeply entrenched in Missouri's economy, with the enslaved population reaching over 115,000. These individuals were primarily concentrated in the "Little Dixie" region along the Missouri River, where they provided essential labor for hemp and tobacco production. As a "border state," Missouri was governed by restrictive Slave Codes that mandated a public, court-sanctioned process for any legal manumission, making the path to freedom intentionally difficult.

The deed was issued in November 1857, just eight months after the landmark Dred Scott v. Sandford decision originated in the same state. That ruling stripped Black Americans of citizenship rights, making Blair’s formal act of freeing William an exceptionally rare and significant counter-current to the prevailing federal and state mandates.

The document records Blair’s confirmation of the emancipation of William, a "bright Mulatto" whom he had purchased from David C. Hope, court–appointed curator. The text concludes with an official Clerk’s Certification signed by Carlisle Ellis, documenting that Blair appeared in "open court" during the November term of the Perry County Circuit Court to acknowledge the act.

Overall, an extremely important antebellum bill of emancipation from Missouri issued just months after the Dred Scott v. Sandford decision.

Text of the document: “Know all men by these presents that I Thomas M Blair have emancipated and set free and by these presents do emancipate and set free my negro man called William a bright Mulatto about thirty three years old the same which I purchased from David C. Hope Curator of …. I refrain under an order of the County Court of Perry County Missouri. Witness my hand and seal at Perryville Perry County Missouri. This 12th day of November Ad 1857. Thomas M Blair, John Noell, and D. C. Hope

Be it remembered that at a regular term of the Circuit Court begun and held at the court house William and for the county aforesaid on the second Monday of November 1857 on the 4 day of the term and the 12th day of the month said court made and entered upon its records a certain order of which the following words and figures is a true copy to wit:

Now at this day comes into upon court Thomas M Blair who is personally known to the Court to be the person whose name is subscribed to a bill of emancipation. Emancipating his slave William and the said Thomas M Blair here in open court, acknowledges the execution of said bill of emancipation for the uses and purposes therein mentioned ordered by the Court. That said acknowledgment be certified on said bill in due form of law. Carlisle Ellis.”