Polly Strong | |
|---|---|
 Drawing of Polly Strong, who sued for her freedom in 1820, Indiana | |
| Born | ca. 1796 |
| Died | Unknown |
| Known for | State v. Lasselle, Supreme Court of Indiana freedom suit case |
Polly Strong (c. 1796–unknown) was an enslaved woman in the Northwest Territory, in present-day Indiana. She was born after the Northwest Ordinance prohibited slavery. Slavery was prohibited by the Constitution of Indiana in 1816. Two years later, Strong's mother Jenny and attorney Moses Tabbs asked for a writ of habeas corpus for Polly and her brother James in 1818. Judge Thomas H. Blake produced indentures, Polly for 12 more years and James for four more years of servitude. The case was dismissed in 1819.
In 1819, attorneys John W. Osborn and Amory Kinney, sought to test the legality of slave arrangements made prior to 1816. They sued for Strong's freedom at the Knox County Circuit Court in Polly v. Lasselle in 1820, but the court ruled that she was to remain enslaved. The case was appealed to the Indiana Supreme Court in State v. Lasselle. Based upon the 1816 Constitution of Indiana, the justices ruled that "slavery can have no existence" in Indiana. Strong was freed. Other enslaved people were not automatically freed, but there was a precedent that others could use in the courts. In 1821, the Mary Clark v. G.W. Johnston case was tried in the Indiana Supreme Court, which ruled that indentured servitude was no longer legal in Indiana. The number of enslaved people reduced over the next couple of decades. There were three slaves in the state in both the 1830 and 1840 censuses.