And then there's Abraham Lincoln, whose name belongs on the rolls of those who came to the rescue of a damsel in legal distress of her own making. The story is detailed in The Case of Abraham Lincoln: A Story of Adultery, Murder, and the Making of a Great President by Julie M. Fenster (Palgrave MacMillan 2007)
Yes, that's right, Abraham Lincoln, Esquire, father of the Republican Party, father of American democracy, was also the father of a very unpopular verdict in favor of a certain lethal lady and her paramour. Abraham Lincoln, Esquire, was one of half a dozen trial lawyers who appeared for the defendants in a love triangle murder.
Mrs. Jane Anderson was the apex of a triangle with her husband and his handsome nephew. The circumstantial evidence suggested they tried to poison Mr. Anderson with strychnine, and when that didn't work, they bashed in his head. Springfield, Illinois rose up against her. In that time and place, adultery in particular was reprehensible, wicked, and abominated by the public. Married ladies were not to be frolicking with boarders.
At the same time, Abraham Lincoln was leading the formation of the Republican Party. These passages of the book are dry and disappointing. Slavery was the question of the day. Not whether it should exist, but whether it should be expanded geographically. The rhetoric is limited and does not remotely touch on the evils of slavery. There are too many details that could have been moved to footnotes that make some chapters feel like homework because there isn't much to appreciate here, morally or even politically, which explains why the formation of the Republican Party is not more widely studied. There are few lofty sentiments to be quoted.
There is an interesting early example of what we could call "identity politics." Once while giving a speech to some farmers, who were all recent German immigrants, Lincoln declared, "God Bless the Dutch!" Oops. The Germans took it in good humor.
One interesting description of Lincoln's physicality, his speaking style is fascinating. Lincoln was of course born in Kentucky and moved in search of good soil to Illinois. He transformed himself from farmer to self-taught attorney. But he was very tall, thin, and at the time widely considered "the ugliest man in Illinois." Yet his speaking style was legendary in Illinois even before he entered party politics. He probably heard thousands of sermons in his lifetime, and you see that reflected, but there is something else. As a political speaker, his "mode of speaking was new," as one observer noted. It was said that he arose with great dignity, like an Episcopal minister, and wore Southern clothes, black with a large white choker of spotless linen; quite cool, but very earnest; beginning very slowly, then building, and per a witness "from time to time, as he reached some climax in his argument, he would advance to the front of the platform as he spoke, and with a peculiar gesture hurl the point, so to speak, at his audience; then as the audience rose to their feet to cheer, he would walk slowly backward, bowing and glancing at the (note) card he held in his hand, again he would resume his speech, making his points in the same manner and with like effect."
It would be fascinating to hear Lincoln in defense of Anderson, but alas the transcript of Mrs. Anderson's case did not survive, so the facts we have are skeletal. Her story, and this book, leave us to wonder why Honest Abe added his voice to either of these campaigns, but they are interesting footnotes for the serious student of wicked women and their advocates. The book did leave me tantalized. I would read Mrs. Anderson's biography, even if fictionalized. I'll wait...
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