One of the building's most famous of judicial proceedings was a series of trials which took place in 1848.
Prominent abolitionists and Underground Railroad conductors Thomas Garrett (a close friend and ally of Harriet Tubman) and John Hunn were put on trial for violating the Fugitive Slave Act.
The trial was presided over by U.S. Chief Justice Roger Taney.
Garrett was defended by his friend U.S. Senator John Wales.
The prosecution was handled by James A. Bayard, Jr., son of U.S. Senator James A. Bayard, Sr. (
negotiator of the Treaty of Ghent) and grandson of Richard Bassett (one of the drafters of the U.S. Constitution).
The trials mostly served to harden the feelings over slavery of each of the men involved.

Justice Taney's instructions to the jury left little choice but a conviction:
To entitle the plaintiff to a verdict in this case, it is necessary for him to have proved property of the slaves.
This has not been contradicted by the defense.
It only remains then to prove that they escaped, and that the defendant harbored them, knowing them to be slaves.
It does not require absolute knowledge on the part of the defendant that these persons were slaves.
If, at the time, or before he harbored them, circumstances came to his knowledge sufficient to put a prudent man upon his inquiry, it is "knowingly harboring" within the meaning of the act of Congress, and makes him liable to the penalty.

Both Garrett and Hunn were found guilty and were issued fines heavy enough to bankrupt both men.
Despite the fines, Garrett and Hunn defiantly declared they would continue helping slaves escape to freedom.
Upon hearing Taney's punishment, Garrett gave a speech to the courtroom in which he stated:
I now pledge myself, in the presence of this assembly, to use all lawful and honourable means to lessen the burdens of this oppressed people, and endeavour, according to ability furnished, to burst their chains asunder, and set them free; not relaxing my efforts on their behalf while blessed with health and a slave remains. [...]
After mature reflection, I can assure this assembly it is my opinion at this time that the verdicts you have given the prosecutors against John Hunn and myself, within the past few days, will have a tendency to raise a spirit of inquiry throughout the length and breadth of the land, respecting this monster evil (slavery), in many minds that have not heretofore investigated the subject.
The reports of those trials will be published by editors from Maine to Texas, and the far West; and what must be the effect produced?
It will, no doubt, add hundreds, perhaps thousands, to the present large and rapidly increasing army of Abolitionists.
The injury is great to us who are the immediate sufferers by your verdict; but I believe the verdicts you have given against us within the last few days will have a powerful effect in bringing about the abolition of slavery in this country—this land of boasted freedom, where not only the slave is fettered at the South by his lordly master, but the white man at the North is bound as in chains to do the bidding of his Southern masters.

After the trials, Garrett corresponded with Harriet Beecher Stowe, and four years later she used the events as the inspiration for some of the scenes in her novel Uncle Tom's Cabin.
Garrett was the primary basis for the character of Simeon Halliday.
Stowe also described the trials and recounted her correspondence with Garrett in her book A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin, where she noted, "The writer had in mind, at the time of writing, the scenes in the trial of [...] Garret, of Wilmington, Delaware, for the crime of hiring a hack to convey a mother and four children from Newcastle jail to Wilmington."
By the time the Civil War broke out, Garrett had helped 2,700 slaves escape to freedom.
Hunn served with the Freedmen's Bureau, and his son was elected Delaware governor and oversaw state approval of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution.

Taney would go on to author the decision in the famous Dred Scott case in 1857, which held that blacks could not
One of the building's most famous of judicial proceedings was a series of trials which took place in 1848. Prominent abolitionists and Underground Railroad conductors Thomas Garrett (a close friend and ally of Harriet Tubman) and John Hunn were put on trial for violating the Fugitive Slave Act. The trial was presided over by U.S. Chief Justice Roger Taney. Garrett was defended by his friend U.S. Senator John Wales. The prosecution was handled by James A. Bayard, Jr., son of U.S. Senator James A. Bayard, Sr. (negotiator of the Treaty of Ghent) and grandson of Richard Bassett (one of the drafters of the U.S. Constitution). The trials mostly served to harden the feelings over slavery of each of the men involved. 
Justice Taney's instructions to the jury left little choice but a conviction:
To entitle the plaintiff to a verdict in this case, it is necessary for him to have proved property of the slaves. This has not been contradicted by the defense. It only remains then to prove that they escaped, and that the defendant harbored them, knowing them to be slaves. It does not require absolute knowledge on the part of the defendant that these persons were slaves. If, at the time, or before he harbored them, circumstances came to his knowledge sufficient to put a prudent man upon his inquiry, it is "knowingly harboring" within the meaning of the act of Congress, and makes him liable to the penalty.
Both Garrett and Hunn were found guilty and were issued fines heavy enough to bankrupt both men. Despite the fines, Garrett and Hunn defiantly declared they would continue helping slaves escape to freedom. Upon hearing Taney's punishment, Garrett gave a speech to the courtroom in which he stated:
I now pledge myself, in the presence of this assembly, to use all lawful and honourable means to lessen the burdens of this oppressed people, and endeavour, according to ability furnished, to burst their chains asunder, and set them free; not relaxing my efforts on their behalf while blessed with health and a slave remains. [...] After mature reflection, I can assure this assembly it is my opinion at this time that the verdicts you have given the prosecutors against John Hunn and myself, within the past few days, will have a tendency to raise a spirit of inquiry throughout the length and breadth of the land, respecting this monster evil (slavery), in many minds that have not heretofore investigated the subject. The reports of those trials will be published by editors from Maine to Texas, and the far West; and what must be the effect produced? It will, no doubt, add hundreds, perhaps thousands, to the present large and rapidly increasing army of Abolitionists. The injury is great to us who are the immediate sufferers by your verdict; but I believe the verdicts you have given against us within the last few days will have a powerful effect in bringing about the abolition of slavery in this country—this land of boasted freedom, where not only the slave is fettered at the South by his lordly master, but the white man at the North is bound as in chains to do the bidding of his Southern masters.
After the trials, Garrett corresponded with Harriet Beecher Stowe, and four years later she used the events as the inspiration for some of the scenes in her novel Uncle Tom's Cabin. Garrett was the primary basis for the character of Simeon Halliday. Stowe also described the trials and recounted her correspondence with Garrett in her book A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin, where she noted, "The writer had in mind, at the time of writing, the scenes in the trial of [...] Garret, of Wilmington, Delaware, for the crime of hiring a hack to convey a mother and four children from Newcastle jail to Wilmington." By the time the Civil War broke out, Garrett had helped 2,700 slaves escape to freedom. Hunn served with the Freedmen's Bureau, and his son was elected Delaware governor and oversaw state approval of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution.
Taney would go on to author the decision in the famous Dred Scott case in 1857, which held that blacks could not
New Castle Court House Museum