Lawsuit
As Ford never freed the remaining children of Robin and Polly, and slavery was illegal in the new Oregon Territory, the Robin Holmes sued Ford in 1852 in Polk County court by requesting a writ of habeas corpus to compel Ford to free the children. Eleven months later after the new chief justice of the territorial supreme court arrived and the case was heard July 13, 1854. One duty of supreme court judges used to be "riding circuit" where they would act as presiding judges at the trial level when the supreme court was not in session. During the trial it was alleged, and years later proved, that Ford had planned on returning to Missouri to sell the children under the Fugitive Slave Act. Soon the case was decided and Chief Justice Williams ruled that the family was free, but never mentioned slavery. Slavery had been illegal in the territory and under the Provisional Government, which also tried to exclude blacks from Oregon.
Read more about this topic: Holmes V. Ford