Lincoln Apostate: The Matson Slave Case

182 Pages·2011·0.87 MB·English

by  Charles R. McKirdy

LINCOLN
APOSTATE
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LINCOLN
APOSTATE
THE MATSON SLAVE TRIAL
CHARLES R. McKIRDY
university press of mississippi / jackson
www.upress.state.ms.us
The University Press of Mississippi is a member of the Association of
American University Presses.
Copyright © 2011 by Charles R. McKirdy
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
First printing 2011
∞
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
McKirdy, Charles Robert, 1943–
Lincoln apostate : the Matson slave case / Charles R. McKirdy.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-60473-985-5 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-60473-987-9
(ebook : alk. paper) 1. Bryant, Jane—Trials, litigation, etc. 2. Matson,
Robert. 1796–1859—Trials, litigation, etc. 3. Slavery—Illinois—
Coles County—Legal status of slaves in free states—Cases. 4.
Habeas corpus—Illinois—Coles County—Cases. 5. Lincoln, Abraham,
1809–1865—Career in law. I. Title.
KF228.B778M38 2011
306.3’620977372—dc22 2010038782
British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data available
To my wife, Kathie,
for forty wonderful reasons and still counting
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CONTENTS
acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
chapter one
A Dark Canvas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
chapter two
The Initial Hearing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
chapter three
The Lawyers—Lincoln . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
chapter four
The Lawyers—Ficklin, Constable, and Linder . . . 44
chapter five
The Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
chapter six
The Trial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
chapter seven
The Coils of Friendship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
post trial briefs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Writing a book is by nature a solitary pursuit, but one that I
would have found impossible to do without “a little help from my friends.” I
was lucky to have many. I start with the late Clarence Ver Steeg of Northwest-
ern University, a truly remarkable man, who never stopped teaching me things
worth learning. Then there is my sister, Agnes Greenhall, who took time off
from her editorial duties at the New York Times to offer gentle suggestions, and
Professor Gordon McKinney, who critiqued an early version of the book to the
great benefit of the final product. I cannot say enough good things about Daniel
R. Coquillette, professor of law at Boston College Law School and scholar ex-
traordinaire, whose gracious encouragement made anything seem possible.
Like all who write about the past, I owe a debt to people whom I have never
met—those historians who came before me and lit a path to guide my way. That
indebtedness extends as well to the librarians of the Library of Congress, the
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, the Chicago Historical Society, North-
western University, the University of San Diego Law School, the University of
California at San Diego, and the Rancho Bernardo branch of the San Diego
Public Library. So too to those enthusiastic yet careful part-time local and
family historians, epitomized by Dorothy Burditt, Linda Kern Moore, Carol
Doward, and Kit Zinser, whose research about ordinary people often gives con-
text and dimension to the study of the lives of extraordinary ones.
Patient, professional, and good-humored, Craig W. Gill, editor-in-chief
of the University Press of Mississippi, along with his staff, deftly guided me
through the editorial process. Finally, I must thank my family and friends who
lived with this project for a long time and, although doubtlessly weary of it,
never let on, not even once.
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