Editing Solomon Northup (section)

==Life==

===Canal worker, farmer, and violin player===
In the winter of the year that he married, Northup worked as a laborer repairing the [[Champlain Canal]]. He then bought two horses and contracted to tow lumber on rafts to [[Troy, New York|Troy]] from [[Lake Champlain]] beginning the following spring. He employed two workers.<ref name="PS - freedom" />{{sfn|Northup|Wilson|1853|pp=22–23}} He worked on other waterways in upstate New York<ref name=Britannica/> and he traveled to northern New York and [[Montreal]], Canada. When the canal was closed down, he cut lumber during the winter of 1831–1832.{{sfn|Northup|Wilson|1853|p=23}} He worked as a farm laborer in the Sandy Hill area.<ref name=Britannica/>

He arranged to farm corn and oats on part of the Alden farm where his father lived in Kingsbury.{{sfn|Northup|Wilson|1853|pp=23–24}} He built a fine reputation as a [[fiddler]] and was in high demand to play for dances in surrounding villages.<ref name= Oxford/>{{sfn|Northup|Wilson|1853|p=24}} The couple had become prosperous due to the income Anne received as a cook and that Northup made farming and playing the violin.{{sfn|Northup|Wilson|1853|p=24}}

The couple moved to Saratoga Springs in March 1834, where he drove a horse-drawn taxi for a businessman. During the tourist season, he worked for the United States Hotel,<ref name="PS - freedom" />{{sfn|Northup|Wilson|1853|p=24}}{{sfn|Northup|Wilson|1853|pp=24–25}} where he was employed by Judge [[James M. Marvin]], a part-owner of the hotel.<ref name="PS - freedom" /><ref name="Sylvester">{{cite book |last1=Sylvester |first1=Nathaniel Bartlett |title=History of Saratoga County, New York |date=1878 |publisher=Everts & Ensign |location=New York |page=196 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j8spAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA192-IA12 }}</ref> He played his violin at several well-known hotels in Saratoga Springs.{{sfn|Northup|Wilson|1853|pp=25, 28}}<ref name="Worley">Worley, Sam. [http://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&type=summary&url=/journals/callaloo/v020/20.1worley.html "Solomon Northup and the Sly Philosophy of the Slave Pen"], ''Callaloo,'' Vol. 20, No. 1 (Winter 1997), p. 245.</ref> He also worked on the construction of the Troy and Saratoga Railroad.<ref name="PS - freedom" />{{sfn|Northup|Wilson|1853|p=25}} He had become a regular customer and friend of William Perry and Cephus Parker, who owned several shops in town. Over the seven years that the Northups lived in Saratoga Springs, they had made ends meet and dressed their children in fine clothes, but they had been unable to prosper as hoped.{{sfn|Northup|Wilson|1853|pp=25–27}}

In March 1841, Anne went 20 miles to Sandy Hill, where she ran the kitchen at Sherrill's Coffee House during the court session. She may have taken their oldest daughter, Elizabeth, with her. Their two youngest children went to stay with their aunt. Northup stayed in Saratoga Springs to look for employment until the tourist season.{{sfn|Northup|Wilson|1853|p=28}}

===Kidnapped and sold into slavery===
In 1841, at age 32, Northup met two men who introduced themselves as Merrill Brown and Abram Hamilton. Saying they were entertainers, members of a circus company, they offered him a job as a fiddler for several performances in New York City.<ref name=Britannica/><ref name= Oxford/> Expecting the trip to be brief, Northup did not notify Anne, who was working in Sandy Hill.{{sfn|Northup|Wilson|1853|pp=29–30}} When they reached New York City, the men persuaded Northup to continue with them for a gig with their circus in Washington, D.C., offering him a generous wage and the cost of his return trip home. They stopped so that he could get a copy of his "free papers", which documented his status as a free man.<ref name= Oxford/>
[[File:CASH_FOR_NEGROES_Daily_National_Intelligencer_and_Washington_Express,_December_19,_1840.jpg|left|thumb|Slave trader [[James H. Birch (slave trader)|James H. Birch]] offers "cash for negroes" to resell to the Louisiana market (''Daily National Intelligencer'', Washington, D. C., December 19, 1840)]]
The city had one of the nation's largest slave markets, and slave catchers were not above kidnapping free black people.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gwu.edu/gelman/spec/arc/capital.html |title=Researching the African-American Experience in Washington, D.C. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100607052554/http://www.gwu.edu/gelman/spec/arc/capital.html |archive-date=June 7, 2010 |work=[[George Washington University]] |publisher=[[Gelman Library]] System |access-date=May 23, 2018}}</ref> At this time, 20 years before the Civil War, the expansion of [[King Cotton|cotton]] cultivation in the [[Deep South]] had led to a continuing high demand for healthy slaves. Kidnappers used a variety of means, from forced abduction to deceit, and frequently abducted children, who were easier to control.<ref name="CWilson10ff">{{cite book|last=Wilson| first=Carol|title=Freedom at Risk |url=https://archive.org/details/freedomatriskkid00wils|url-access=registration|publisher= University of Kentucky Press|year= 1994|pages= [https://archive.org/details/freedomatriskkid00wils/page/10 10–12]| isbn=978-0-8131-1858-1}}</ref>

It is possible that "Brown" and "Hamilton" incapacitated Northup{{snd}}his symptoms suggest that he was drugged with [[Atropa belladonna|belladonna]] or [[laudanum]], or with a mixture of both{{sfn|Fradin|Fradin|2012|p=20}}{{snd}}and sold him to Washington slave trader [[James H. Birch (slave trader)|James H. Birch]]{{efn|Birch is spelled as Burch in Northup's book}} for $650, claiming that he was a [[fugitive slave]].<ref name= Oxford/>{{sfn|Nelson|2002|p=291}} However, Northup stated in his account of the ordeal in ''Twelve Years a Slave'' in Chapter II, "[w]hether they were accessory to my misfortunes – subtle and inhuman monsters in the shape of men – designedly luring me away from home and family, and liberty, for the sake of gold – those who read these pages will have the same means of determining as myself." Birch and Ebenezer Radburn, his jailer, severely beat Northup to stop him from saying he was a free man. Birch then wrongfully presented Northup as an enslaved man from [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]].{{sfn|Northup|Wilson|1853|pp=41–46}} Northup was held in [[The Yellow House (Washington, D.C.)|the Yellow House]], the [[slave pen]] of trader William Williams, close to the [[United States Capitol]].{{sfn|Nelson|2002|p=291}} Birch shipped Northup and other slaves by sea to [[New Orleans]], in what was called the [[coastwise slave trade]], where Birch's partner [[Theophilus Freeman]] would sell them.<ref name= Britannica/><ref name= Oxford/> During the voyage, Northup and the other slaves caught [[smallpox]].{{sfn|Nelson|2002|p=291}}

Northup persuaded John Manning, an English sailor, to send to Henry B. Northup, upon reaching New Orleans, a letter that told of his kidnapping and illegal enslavement.<ref>{{cite book |last=Northup |first=Solomon |editor-first=Gilbert |editor-last=Osofsky |title=Puttin' On Ole Massa: The Slave Narratives of Henry Bibb, William Wells Brown, and Solomon Northup |url=https://archive.org/details/puttinonolemassa00osof |url-access=registration |publisher=Harper & Row |year=1969 |orig-date=1853 |page=[https://archive.org/details/puttinonolemassa00osof/page/260 260] |lccn=69017285}}</ref>{{efn|While on the brig ''Orleans'' he met John Manning, an English sailor who took an interest in him and agreed to get him a sheet of paper, ink, and a pen. At night, while Manning was on watch, he hid in a place where he could secretly write a note to Henry B. Northup. Manning posted the letter.{{sfn|Northup|Wilson|1853|pp=73–75}}}} Henry was a lawyer, a relative of Henry Northrop who had held and freed Solomon's father,{{sfn|Northup|Wilson|1853|p=18}} and a childhood friend of Solomon's.<ref name="NP">{{Cite news |last=Quan |first=Douglas |date=May 24, 2019 |title=Unravelling the lives of the man who spent 12 years a slave – and the Canadian who saved him |language=en-CA |work=National Post |url=https://nationalpost.com/feature/unravelling-the-lives-of-the-man-who-spent-12-years-a-slave-and-the-canadian-who-saved-him |access-date=June 24, 2021}}</ref><ref name="Fiske - NML">{{Cite web |last=Fiske |first=David |title=How Solomon Northup was kidnapped and sold into slavery |url=https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/stories/how-solomon-northup-was-kidnapped-and-sold-slavery |access-date=June 25, 2021 |website=National Museums Liverpool |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Gates">{{Cite news |last=Gates |first=Henry Louis Jr |date=November 1, 2013 |title='12 Years a Slave': Trek From Slave to Screen |language=en-US |url=https://www.pbs.org/wnet/african-americans-many-rivers-to-cross/history/12-years-a-slave-trek-from-slave-to-screen/ |access-date=June 25, 2021 |publisher=PBS}}</ref> The letter was delivered to [[William H. Seward|Governor Seward]] by Henry, but it was not actionable because Northup's location was unknown.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Douglass |first1=Frederick |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-WdODwAAQBAJ&dq=Seward&pg=PT117 |title=Slavery: Hundreds of Documented Testimonies of Former Slaves, Influential Memoirs, Records on Living Conditions and Customs in the South & History of Abolitionist Movement |last2=Northup |first2=Solomon |last3=Lynch |first3=Willie |last4=Turner |first4=Nat |last5=Truth |first5=Sojourner |last6=Jacobs |first6=Harriet |last7=Prince |first7=Mary |last8=Craft |first8=William |last9=Craft |first9=Ellen |date=2017|isbn=978-80-272-2551-4 |language=en |page=PT117|publisher=E-artnow }}</ref>

The [[New York State Legislature]] had [[63rd New York State Legislature|passed a law in 1840]] that made it illegal to entice or kidnap an African-American out of New York and sell them into slavery.<ref name="PS - freedom" /> It provided legal and financial assistance to aid the recovery of any who were kidnapped, taken out of state, and illegally enslaved.<ref name="CWilson10ff"/>

[[File:Slave Sale Record (cropped).jpg|thumb|alt=|Record of sale from [[Theophilus Freeman]] to William Prince Ford of enslaved Harry, Platt (Solomon Northup) and Dradey (Eliza), June 23, 1841.<ref>New Orleans Notarial Archives</ref>]]
At the New Orleans slave market, Birch's partner Theophilus Freeman sold Northup (who had been renamed Platt) along with two other individuals, Harry and Eliza (renamed Dradey){{sfn|Northup|Wilson|1853|pp=79, 85–86}} to [[William Prince Ford]], a [[Minister (Christianity)|preacher]] who engaged in small farming on [[Bayou Boeuf]] of the [[Red River of the South|Red River]] in northern Louisiana.<ref name=Britannica/><ref name= Oxford/> Ford was then a [[Baptist]] preacher. (In 1843, he led his congregation in converting to the closely related [[Churches of Christ]] after they were influenced by the writings of [[Alexander Campbell (minister)|Alexander Campbell]].) In his memoir, Northup characterized Ford as a good man who was considerate of the people he enslaved. Despite his situation, Northup wrote:

{{quote|In my opinion, there never was a more kind, noble, candid, Christian man than William Ford. The influences and associations that had always surrounded him, blinded him to the inherent wrong at the bottom of the system of Slavery.<ref name= Oxford/>}}

At Ford's place in Pine Woods, Northup assessed the problem of getting timber off Ford's farm to market. He proposed and then made a log raft to move lumber down the narrow Indian Creek, in order to transport the logs more easily.{{sfn|Northup|Wilson|1853|pp=98–99}} Northup built [[Loom|weaving looms]] so that fabric could be woven for clothing.{{sfn|Northup|Wilson|1853|pp=102–103}}

Ford came into financial difficulties and had to sell 18 enslaved people to settle his debts.{{sfn|Northup|Wilson|1853|pp=105–106}} In the winter of 1842, Ford sold Northup to John M. Tibaut,<ref name= Oxford/>{{efn|The name is spelled as "Tibeats" in Northup's book, which is likely the way it was pronounced locally.}} a carpenter who had been working for Ford on the mills. Tibaut also had helped construct a weaving house and [[corn mill]] on Ford's Bayou Boeuf plantation. Ford owed Tibaut money for the work. Since Ford owed Tibaut less than the purchase price agreed upon for Northup, Ford held a [[chattel mortgage]] on Northup for $400, the difference between the two amounts.{{sfn|Northup|Wilson|1853|pp=105–106}}

[[File:Solomon Northrup illustration.jpg|thumb|left|"Chapin rescues Solomon from hanging", illustration from ''Twelve Years A Slave'' (1853)]]
Under Tibaut, Northup suffered cruel and capricious treatment. Tibaut used him to help complete construction at Ford's plantation. At one point, Tibaut whipped Northup because he did not like the nails Northup was using. But Northup fought back, beating Tibaut severely. Enraged, Tibaut recruited two friends to [[lynching|lynch]] and hang Northup, which an enslaver was legally entitled to do. Ford's overseer Chapin interrupted and prevented the men from killing Northup, reminding Tibaut of his debt to Ford, and chasing them off at gunpoint. Northup was left bound and noosed for hours until Ford returned home to cut him down.{{sfn|Northup|Wilson|1853|pp=114–116}} Northup believed that Tibaut's debt to Ford saved his life. Historian [[Walter Johnson (historian)|Walter Johnson]] suggests that Northup may well have been the first person Tibaut ever enslaved, marking his transition from itinerant employee to property-owning enslaver.<ref>{{cite book |title=Soul by Soul: Life Inside the Antebellum Slave Market |year=1999 |first=Walter |last=Johnson |publisher=Harvard University Press |page=80 |isbn=978-0-674-00539-6}}</ref>

Tibaut hired Northup out to a planter named Eldret, who lived about 38 miles south on the [[Red River of the South|Red River]]. At what he called "The Big Cane Brake", Eldret had Northup and other enslaved people clear [[Canebrake|cane]], trees, and undergrowth in the [[Bottomland hardwood forest|bottomlands]] in order to develop cotton fields for cultivation.{{sfn|Nelson|2002|p=291}}{{sfn|Northup|Wilson|1853|pp=153–156}} With the work unfinished, after about five weeks, Tibaut sold Northup to [[Edwin Epps]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rosenberg |first=Shimon |date=April 2016 |editor-last=Astor |editor-first=Yaakov |title=The Slave Story that Triggered the Civil War |url=https://www.zmanmagazine.com/PDF/Z77%20Enslaved.pdf |access-date=August 19, 2024 |website=Zman Magazine}}</ref>

[[File:Lsua epps 020712.JPG|thumb|right|Restored [[Edwin Epps House]], a plantation house. Now located on the [[Louisiana State University at Alexandria|Louisiana State University of Alexandria]] campus]]
Epps held Northup for almost 10 years, until 1853, in [[Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana|Avoyelles Parish]]. He was a cruel enslaver who frequently and indiscriminately punished enslaved people and drove them hard. His policy was to whip slaves if they did not meet daily work quotas he set for pounds of cotton to be picked, among other goals.<ref>{{cite book | title=Twelve Years a Slave | url=https://archive.org/details/twelveyearsasla01nortgoog | publisher=Louisiana State University Press |last=Northrup |first=Solomon |editor1-first=Sue |editor1-last=Eakin |editor2-first=Joseph |editor2-last=Logsdon |name-list-style=amp | year=1968 | location=Baton Rouge | pages=[https://archive.org/details/twelveyearsasla01nortgoog/page/n141 125]–126 | isbn=0-8071-0150-8}}</ref>

In 1852, itinerant Canadian carpenter [[Samuel Bass (abolitionist)|Samuel Bass]] came to do some work for Epps. Hearing Bass express [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolitionist]] views, Northup eventually decided to confide his secret to him. Bass was the first person he told of his true name and origins as a free man since he was first kidnapped and enslaved.<ref>{{cite book | title=Twelve Years a Slave | url=https://archive.org/details/twelveyearsasla01nortgoog | publisher=Louisiana State University Press |last=Northrup |first=Solomon |editor1-first=Sue |editor1-last=Eakin |editor2-first=Joseph |editor2-last=Logsdon |name-list-style=amp | year=1968 | location=Baton Rouge | pages=[https://archive.org/details/twelveyearsasla01nortgoog/page/n231 211]–212 | isbn=0-8071-0150-8}}</ref> Along with mailing a letter written by Northup, Bass wrote several letters at his request to Northup's friends, providing general details of his location at Bayou Boeuf, in hopes of gaining his rescue.{{sfn|Fiske|Brown|Seligman|2013|pp=15–18}}

Bass did this at great personal risk, as the local people would not take kindly to a person helping an enslaved person to the detriment of an enslaver. In addition, Bass's help came after the passage of the [[Fugitive Slave Act of 1850]], which increased federal penalties against people assisting enslaved people to escape.<ref name=GlobeAndMail01a>{{cite news | first = Cassandra | last = Szklarski | title = Canadian connection to 12 Years a Slave has descendants buzzing | date = November 15, 2013 | url = https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/film/canadian-connection-to-12-years-a-slave-has-descendants-buzzing/article15436227/?page=all | work = The Globe and Mail | access-date = January 9, 2014}}</ref>

===Restoration of freedom===
Bass wrote several letters to people Northup knew in Saratoga Springs: one went to his former employer Judge [[James M. Marvin]]<ref name="PS - freedom" /> and another reached Cephas Parker and William Perry, storekeepers in Saratoga. Parker and Perry forwarded the letter to Northup's wife, Anne, who contacted attorney Henry B. Northup, the son of Solomon's father's former master. Henry B. Northup contacted New York Governor [[Washington Hunt]], who took up the case, appointing the [[Attorney General of New York|attorney general]] as his legal agent. In 1840, the [[63rd New York State Legislature|New York State Legislature]] had passed a law committing the state to help any African American residents kidnapped into slavery, as well as guaranteeing a jury trial to alleged fugitive slaves. Once Northup's family was notified, his rescuers still had to do detective work to find the enslaved man, as he had partially tried to hide his location for protection in case the letters fell into the wrong hands, and Bass had not used his real name. They had to find documentation of his free status as a citizen and New York resident; Henry B. Northup also collected sworn affidavits from people who knew Solomon Northup. Northup did not know if Bass had reached anyone with the letters during this time. There was no means of communicating because of the secrecy they needed to maintain and the necessity of preventing Northup's owner from knowing their plans.<ref name= Oxford/><ref name="Worley"/> Bass did not reveal his own name in the letter.{{sfn|Northup|Wilson|1853|p=298}}{{efn|Unbeknownst to his friends in Louisiana, Bass had left a wife and children in Canada.<ref name=GlobeAndMail01a/> He also lived with a free woman of color in Louisiana.<ref name=GlobeAndMail01a/>}}

Henry gathered documentation and depositions and stopped off in Washington, D.C. to meet with [[Pierre Soule]], a legislator from Louisiana, and the Secretary of War in preparation for his rescue effort in Louisiana.<ref name="PS - freedom" /> Although he did not have Bass's name, Henry still managed to find him in Marksville (the postmark on the letters), and Bass revealed that Edwin Epps held Solomon Northup on his plantation. Henry prepared legal paperwork based on the documentation proving Northup was free.{{sfn|Northup|Wilson|1853|p=298}}<ref name="PS - freedom" /> The sheriff went with Henry to give the news to Epps and take Northup off the farm.{{sfn|Northup|Wilson|1853|pp=299–307}}

Northup later wrote, "He [Epps] thought of nothing but his loss, and cursed me for having been born free."<ref name= Oxford/>{{sfn|Northup|Wilson|1853|pp=184}} Attorney Henry B. Northup convinced Epps that it would be futile to contest the free papers in a court of law, so the planter conceded the case. He signed papers giving up all claims to Northup. Finally, on January 4, 1853, four months after meeting Bass, Northup regained his freedom.{{sfn|Nelson|2002|p=291}}{{sfn|Northup|Wilson|1853|pp=73–74, 270–273, 275, 292, 297–298}}

===''Twelve Years a Slave''===
[[File:Twelve Years a Slave, p56.jpg|thumb|right|"Scene of the Slave Pen in Washington" after imploring that he was a free man, an illustration from ''Twelve Years A Slave'' (1853)]]

After he made it back to New York, Solomon Northup wrote and published his memoir, ''[[Twelve Years a Slave]]'' (1853). The book was written in three months with the help of [[David Wilson (New York politician)|David Wilson]], a local lawyer and writer.<ref name="Genz"/>

Northup told the story of his kidnapping and enslavement with many verifiable details. Northup told the cruelty, treatment as chattel, and the appreciated acts of kindness he received. "Its tone is much milder than we expected to see exhibited," according to the ''Rome Citizen'' of New York.<ref name="Fiske - book" /> The detail that he provided helped illuminate the depth of his experiences, and allowed for verification of what life was like on a plantation. [[Sue Eakin]] and [[Joseph Logsdon]] researched the facts from Northup's book and were able to verify many of the events and people and published their annotated version of the book in 1968. [[Edwin Epps]], his slaveholder, stated that a greater part of the book was the truth to soldiers from the [[114th New York Infantry Regiment]] that Epps met during the [[American Civil War|Civil War]]. Northup was literate and provided the facts without hyperbole in "plain and candid language", while Wilson corrected style, grammar, and inconsistencies.<ref name="Fiske - book" />

It was published by [[James Cephas Derby|Derby & Miller]] of [[Auburn, New York]].<ref>{{Citation |publisher = G.W. Carleton & Co. |location = New York |title = Fifty Years Among Authors, Books and Publishers |chapter=William H. Seward |chapter-url = https://archive.org/stream/fiftyyearsamonga00derbuoft#page/62/mode/2up |author = J.C. Derby |date = 1884 |pages=62–63}}</ref><ref name="PS - freedom" /> In the period when questions of slavery generated debate and the novel ''[[Uncle Tom's Cabin]]'' (1852) by [[Harriet Beecher Stowe]] was a bestseller, Northup's book sold 30,000 copies within three years, also becoming a bestseller.<ref name="Genz"/> Northup traveled and went on a lecture tour in Northeastern states to tell his story and sell books. The book became the backbone of other books about him, such as ''Solomon Northup: The Complete Story of the Author of Twelve Years a Slave.''<ref name="Fiske - book">{{Cite news |first1=Davide | last1=Fiske|date=December 29, 2019 |title=Authenticity and Authorship: Twelve Years a Slave |language=en-US |url=https://www.newyorkalmanack.com/2019/12/authenticity-and-authorship-of-solomon-northups-12-years-a-slave/ |work=New York Almanack, Jay Heritage Center |access-date=June 27, 2021}}</ref>

===Court cases===
[[File:Avoyelles Slave Case.jpg|thumb|"The Avoyelles Slave Case", ''[[The Times-Picayune]]'', February 6, 1853]]

Northup was one of the few kidnapped free black people to regain freedom after being sold into slavery. Represented by attorneys Senator [[Salmon P. Chase]] of Ohio, General [[Orville Clark]], and Henry B. Northup, Solomon Northup sued Birch and other men involved in selling him into slavery in Washington, DC.<ref name="NYT 1853-20-01" /><ref name="Genz" /> The historian Carol Wilson documented 300 kidnapping cases in her 1994 book, and believes that it is likely that thousands more were kidnapped who were never documented.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books/about/Freedom_at_Risk.html?id=ptFqye_hg54C, ''Freedom at Risk: The Kidnapping of Free Blacks in America, 1780–1865'']{{Dead link|date=November 2023|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}, University of Kentucky Press, 1994. {{Isbn|9780813192970}}</ref>

As Solomon Northup and Henry Northup made their way back to New York, they first stopped in Washington, D.C., to file a legal complaint with the police magistrate against James H. Birch, the man who had first enslaved him. Birch was immediately arrested and tried on criminal charges. However, Northup could not testify at the trial due to laws in Washington, D.C., against black men testifying in court. Birch and several others who were also in the slave trade testified that Northup had approached them, saying he was an enslaved person from Georgia and was for sale. However, Birch's accounting ledger made no note of his purchase. The prosecution consisted of Henry B. Northup and another white man asserting that they had known Northup for many years, and he was born and lived a free man in New York until his abduction. With no one legally able to testify against Birch's tale, Birch was found not guilty. However, the sensational case immediately attracted national attention, and ''[[The New York Times]]'' published an article about the trial on January 20, 1853, just days after its conclusion and only two weeks after Northup's rescue.<ref name="NYT 1853-20-01">{{cite news|url=http://docsouth.unc.edu/fpn/northup/support1.html|title=Narrative of the Seizure and Recovery of Solomon Northrup|newspaper=[[New York Times]]|date=January 20, 1853|series=Documenting the American South}}</ref>

The New York trial opened on October 4, 1854. Both Northup and St. John testified against the two men. The case brought widespread illegal practices in the domestic slave trade to light. Testimony during the court case confirmed various details of Northup's account of his experience.<ref name= Oxford/> The respective counsels argued over whether the crime had been committed in New York (where Northup could testify), or in Washington, DC, outside the jurisdiction of New York courts.<ref name= Oxford/> After more than two years of appeals, a new district attorney in New York failed to continue with the case and dropped it in May 1857.<ref name="Britannica" />

===Last years===
Northup worked again as a carpenter after he moved back to New York. He became active in the abolitionist movement and lectured on slavery in the years before the [[American Civil War]].<ref name="Britannica" /><ref name="PS - freedom" /><ref>Fiske, David. ''Solomon Northup: His Life Before and After Slavery'', 2012, Appendix A.</ref> In the summer of 1857, he traveled to Canada to deliver a series of lectures; however, in [[Streetsville, Ontario]], a hostile crowd prevented him from speaking.<ref>{{cite news|title=Freedom in Canada| journal=Boston Herald|date= August 25, 1857|page= 2}}</ref>

After 1857, he was not living with family{{efn||name=lost}} and there was speculation by family, friends, and others that he was reenslaved.<ref name="Genz"/><ref>''American Union'' (Ellicottville, NY), November 12, 1858</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Mann, E. R. |title=The Bench and Bar of Saratoga County|year= 1879|page= 153}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Poor Sol. Northop|journal=Columbus (Georgia) Daily Enquirer|date= October 16, 1858|page= 2, citing the ''New York News''}}</ref> The 21st-century historians Clifford Brown and Carol Wilson believe it is likely that he died of natural causes,<ref name="Genz"/> because he was too old to be of interest to slave catchers.<ref name="wang"/>

According to John R. Smith, in letters written in the 1930s, his father Rev. John L. Smith, a Methodist minister in Vermont, had worked with Northup and former slave Tabbs Gross in the early 1860s, during the Civil War, aiding fugitive slaves on the [[Underground Railroad]].<ref name="Smithletter">"John R. Smith letter" (1930s), Wilbur Henry Siebert collection, Houghton Library, Harvard University {{cite web | url=http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/~hou01912 | title=Wilbur Henry Siebert Collection | access-date=January 9, 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170403202928/http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/~hou01912 | archive-date=April 3, 2017 }}</ref> Northup was said to have visited Rev. Smith after Lincoln's [[Emancipation Proclamation]], which was made in January 1863.<ref name="Smithletter"/>

There is no contemporaneous documentation of his death.<ref name="wang">{{cite web|last=Lo Wang|first=Hansi|title='12 Years' Is The Story of a Slave Whose End Is A Mystery| url=https://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2013/10/19/231520610/12-years-records-enslavement-but-how-does-the-story-end|work=NPR|access-date=January 7, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thenational.ae/lifestyle/death-of-solomon-northup-author-of-12-years-a-slave-still-a-mystery-1.277249|title=Death of Solomon Northup, author of 12 Years A Slave, still a mystery|website=The National|date=March 17, 2014|language=en|access-date=May 6, 2019}}</ref> Historians believe that he died in 1863 or 1864.<ref name="Smithletter"/><ref name="Britannica" /><ref name="PS - freedom" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Solomon Northup |date=September 24, 2020 |language=en-us |url=https://www.biography.com/writer/solomon-northup |access-date=June 27, 2021}}</ref>