Lincoln’s law office
http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/sites/law.htm
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum
http://www.alplm.org/home.html
Mr. Lincoln and Freedom/Pre-Civil War
http://www.mrlincolnandfreedom.org/inside.asp?ID=6&subjectID=2
The First Slave Freed by Abraham Lincoln: A Biographical Sketch of Nance Legins (Cox-Cromwell)Costley, circa 1813-1873, Carl Adams, For the People a Newsletter for the Abraham Lincoln Association; Vol. 1, No. 3, Autumn 1999
http://www.abrahamlincolnassociation.org/Newsletters/1-3.pdf
Lincoln’s First Freed Slave, A Review of Bailey v. Cromwell 1841, Carl Adams; Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, Vol. 101, No. 3-4, Fall/Winter 2008
http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/jishs/101.3-4/adams.html
Dr. Hiram Rutherford
http://www.drhiramrutherford.com/matson.htm
Crime and Punishment in Illinois; The Top 5 Legal Cases in Coles County; 1830-1900 Ashmore v. Matson
http://castle.eiu.edu/~localite/coles/cclhp/crime/ashmore_v._matson.htm
STUDY/DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Could Lincoln have done more to attack slavery, and done it earlier, if he had become an abolitionist lawyer in the 1830’s and 1840’s?
Who or what is the protagonist of the book? Lincoln? The law?
How did the feisty character of the slave girl, Nancee help the slave-illegality argument Lincoln made in the Bailey case? What if Nancee had possessed the character of the meek slave, Jane Bryant and testified? Would things have gone the same way?
Why do you think the free state of Illinois had an in-transit exception in the law, which allowed out-of-state-slave owners to pass through it with their slaves and maintain ownership of their slaves? Discuss from the view of economics, politics, regional social values. What would have happened if Illinois had maintained a strict law of no slavery whatsoever within its borders?
Why would the audience at the Bailey trial be so surprised that Nancee could read?
Why does Lincoln believe he could attack slavery in the Bailey case at the Illinois Supreme Court without becoming tainted as an abolitionist sympathizer?
Nancee is a strong and intelligent personality. Jane Bryant is weak and simple in character and relies very heavily on her freeman husband, Anthony. How are these two slave women similar?
The status of the law when slavery was legal is shocking to the modern reader. Indeed, slavery went back to the formation of the Constitution and before as John Todd Stuart tells Lincoln in chapter One. Yet, the country is unable to be rid of it for almost a hundred years. Are there any similar social/political issues under discussion today involving such bitter opposition?
How does Anthony represent a man who lives between cultures of slavery and freedom?
Discuss Lincoln’s statement to his law partner when he decides to represent General Matson: "There’s really only the rule of law or bloodshed."
Lincoln suffered from "melancholy" or depression. Discuss how his coping with this affliction may have actually contributed to what he later achieved as President.
Lincoln got along very well with other people of all sorts, including Kentuckians who were sympathetic to slavery, or who experienced slave culture (i.e., John Todd Stuart, Mary Todd Lincoln, Joshua Speed). How did Lincoln bridge this gap with people?
Consider these qualities that characterized Lincoln: highly intelligent, lack of formal education, humorist, physically strong, unkempt physical appearance, extremely thin and tall, homely facial features, reedy voice, Uplands Kentucky southern dialect, great, well-reasoned speaker. Could he have been a successful politician in modern times?
If the person of Abraham Lincoln had not gone on to become President, do you think the Civil War would have happened? Do you think slavery would have ended? If so, when and how?
http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/sites/law.htm
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum
http://www.alplm.org/home.html
Mr. Lincoln and Freedom/Pre-Civil War
http://www.mrlincolnandfreedom.org/inside.asp?ID=6&subjectID=2
The First Slave Freed by Abraham Lincoln: A Biographical Sketch of Nance Legins (Cox-Cromwell)Costley, circa 1813-1873, Carl Adams, For the People a Newsletter for the Abraham Lincoln Association; Vol. 1, No. 3, Autumn 1999
http://www.abrahamlincolnassociation.org/Newsletters/1-3.pdf
Lincoln’s First Freed Slave, A Review of Bailey v. Cromwell 1841, Carl Adams; Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, Vol. 101, No. 3-4, Fall/Winter 2008
http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/jishs/101.3-4/adams.html
Dr. Hiram Rutherford
http://www.drhiramrutherford.com/matson.htm
Crime and Punishment in Illinois; The Top 5 Legal Cases in Coles County; 1830-1900 Ashmore v. Matson
http://castle.eiu.edu/~localite/coles/cclhp/crime/ashmore_v._matson.htm
STUDY/DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Could Lincoln have done more to attack slavery, and done it earlier, if he had become an abolitionist lawyer in the 1830’s and 1840’s?
Who or what is the protagonist of the book? Lincoln? The law?
How did the feisty character of the slave girl, Nancee help the slave-illegality argument Lincoln made in the Bailey case? What if Nancee had possessed the character of the meek slave, Jane Bryant and testified? Would things have gone the same way?
Why do you think the free state of Illinois had an in-transit exception in the law, which allowed out-of-state-slave owners to pass through it with their slaves and maintain ownership of their slaves? Discuss from the view of economics, politics, regional social values. What would have happened if Illinois had maintained a strict law of no slavery whatsoever within its borders?
Why would the audience at the Bailey trial be so surprised that Nancee could read?
Why does Lincoln believe he could attack slavery in the Bailey case at the Illinois Supreme Court without becoming tainted as an abolitionist sympathizer?
Nancee is a strong and intelligent personality. Jane Bryant is weak and simple in character and relies very heavily on her freeman husband, Anthony. How are these two slave women similar?
The status of the law when slavery was legal is shocking to the modern reader. Indeed, slavery went back to the formation of the Constitution and before as John Todd Stuart tells Lincoln in chapter One. Yet, the country is unable to be rid of it for almost a hundred years. Are there any similar social/political issues under discussion today involving such bitter opposition?
How does Anthony represent a man who lives between cultures of slavery and freedom?
Discuss Lincoln’s statement to his law partner when he decides to represent General Matson: "There’s really only the rule of law or bloodshed."
Lincoln suffered from "melancholy" or depression. Discuss how his coping with this affliction may have actually contributed to what he later achieved as President.
Lincoln got along very well with other people of all sorts, including Kentuckians who were sympathetic to slavery, or who experienced slave culture (i.e., John Todd Stuart, Mary Todd Lincoln, Joshua Speed). How did Lincoln bridge this gap with people?
Consider these qualities that characterized Lincoln: highly intelligent, lack of formal education, humorist, physically strong, unkempt physical appearance, extremely thin and tall, homely facial features, reedy voice, Uplands Kentucky southern dialect, great, well-reasoned speaker. Could he have been a successful politician in modern times?
If the person of Abraham Lincoln had not gone on to become President, do you think the Civil War would have happened? Do you think slavery would have ended? If so, when and how?
