Description
Book SynopsisDrawing on the resources of a DVD version of Lincoln's legal papers, this work scans a range of family woes that antebellum Americans took to the law. It also highlights the legal status of women and children in Illinois and their experiences with the law in action.
Trade ReviewRecipient of an Illinois State Historical Society Award of Superior Achievement, 2003.
"Taken together, the essays contribute to grounding Lincoln in time and place. They also contribute to a considerably more precise understanding of how private citizens managed their relationships with the state and the social order in the first half of the nineteenth century."--Linda K. Kerber, author of
No Constitutional Right to Be Ladies: Women and the Obligations of Citizenship"Daniel Stowell has compiled a captivating collection of essays that illuminate the complexity of the field of family law that was emerging in antebellum Illinois. . . . This fascinating and ambitious project succeeds at every level and reflects the tremendous potential of the historian's craft skillfully employed."--
The Annals of Iowa"Taken together, the essays contribute to grounding Lincoln in time and place. They also contribute to a considerably more precise understanding of how private citizens managed their relationships with the state and the social order in the first half of the nineteenth century."--Linda K. Kerber, author of
No Constitutional Right to Be Ladies: Women and the Obligations of CitizenshipTable of ContentsForeword
Michael Grossberg ix Acknowledgments
xiii
Introduction
Daniel W. Stowell 1 PART 1: CONSIDERING GENDER AND AGE IN THE COURTS
1.
Femes Un
Covert: Women's Encounters with the Law
Daniel W. Stowell 17 2. "For the Well-Being of the Child": The Law and Childhood
Dennis E. Suttles 46 PART 2: MARRIAGES, FAMILIES, AND PROPERTY IN CONFLICT
3. Dissolving the Bonds of Matrimony: Women and Divorce in Sangamon County, Illinois, 1837-60
Stacy Pratt McDermott 71 4. Inheriting the Earth: The Law of Succession
John A. Lupton 104 5. Wives, Widows, and Will Makers: Women and the Law of Property
Christopher A. Schnell 129 PART 3: "CASE" STUDIES
6. The Law in an Illinois Corner: The Impact of the Law on an Antebellum Family
Stacy Pratt McDermott 161 7. "Infamous Outrage and Prompt Retribution": The Case of
People v. DelnySusan Krause 182 8. Her Day in Court: The Legal Odyssey of Clarissa Wren
Daniel W. Stowell 204 Contributors
229
Index of Cases
231
General Index
233
