'A stronghold of southern legal Puritanism': The Arkansas Supreme Court and the development of criminal law and procedure, 1836--1874

From statehood in 1836 until a new constitution was adopted in 1874 the Arkansas Supreme Court played a vital role in the development of criminal law and procedure in the state. An examination of the cases published by the court during this period reveals that the focus of criminal law was on "moral crimes." Crimes against property remained a relatively insignificant portion of the total court caseload Following the Civil War there was a dramatic upturn in violent crimes and an increase in property related offenses but crimes of morality continued to be prosecuted as well.;One explanation for the focus in Arkansas on crimes of morality was the concern of the slaveholding elite with the "orderliness" of society and the perceived need to enforce the moral code in order to meet criticism of Northern abolitionists. If slavery was to be regarded as of the highest moral order, then the legal system was to be used to regulate morality in the greater society. In Arkansas, this attitude contributed to a comforting sense of "legal puritanism" in the minds of the ruling elite.