Melton McLaurin's book, Celia, A Slave, is the account of the trial, conviction and execution of a slave for the murder of her " master” Robert Newsom in 1855. The author uses evidence compiled through study of records from Callaway County, Missouri and surrounding areas in the mid-19th century. Although much of what can be determined about this event is speculation, McLaurin offers arguments for the various motives that contribute to the way many of the events unfold. Now, throughout the book, the "main characters", namely Celia, her lawyer Jameson, and Judge William Hall, are all faced with moral decisions that affect the lives of two different people. The first main characters introduced are Celia's master. , Robert Newsom. Mr. Newsom was a wealthy Callaway County landowner. In 1850, after the death of his wife, Robert Newsom purchased a fourteen-year-old slave girl from neighboring Audrain County. As far as McLaurin knows, Newsom bought Celia for no other reason than sexual property. The night Newsom purchased Celia was “upon his return to Callaway County, Newsom raped Celia and, by this act, immediately established and defined the nature of the relationship…” (McLaurin 24). From the moment Newsom first acquires Celia, he begins raping her regularly. Although it was generally accepted that it was morally wrong for a slave master to sexually abuse a slave, Robert Newsom appears to view her as his property to do with as he pleases rather than as a human being. human. McLaurin states that “…the rape of Celia by her new master would have been a psychologically devastating experience, which would have had a profound effect on her” (25). Even if the “u...... middle of paper...... son of Celia's case. Hall's decision regarding Jameson was fair, even though McLaurin wrote: "...Jameson is perhaps not one of the sharpest minds in the body nor the most diligent student of the legislative process" ( 84). It can now be said that Hall knew this in advance about Jameson, but he chose Jameson anyway to give some validity to the trial. Once the trial began, Hall began to undermine the defense's arguments by not allowing "any reference to alleged threats against Celia's life..." (McLaurin 106) and even while the jury was deliberating, Hall " ruled squarely on the prosecution…and he delivered his verdict to the prosecution. jury every instruction requested by the prosecution” (McLaurin 110). Hall clearly never intended to give Celia a fair trial, just the appearance of one, which would benefit him in his re-election and possibly end the brewing war between the Missouri and Kansas..