Lincoln Legal Papers Project

[L Verge]

Most of us know about the projects to preserve and make available the documentary papers related to Lincoln's law practice. A current technical leaflet produced by the American Association of State and Local History contains a reference to this project.

"In 2000, the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency published the complete documentary edition of Lincoln's law practice - 91,000 documents relating to 5600 cases and non-litigation activities. In 2008, the University of Virginia Press published The Papers of Abraham Lincoln: Legal Documents and Cases in a four-volume edition.

"The principal purpose...was to assemble the documentation relating to Lincoln's law practice to understand better the breadth and depth of his twenty-five year legal career. As a result...a wealth of books and articles have been published on the subject. While the documents provide information about Lincoln, they also provide a plethora of information about society in antebellum Illinois.

"We learn, for example, that several counties had an unusually large number of slander cases. ...These cases show a sharp gender divide. Men were typically accused of theft or other petty crimes, but women were more often accused of improper sexual behavior. Most all slander cases resulted in a judgment for the plaintiff/accused against the defendant/accuser, but in many cases, the plaintiff remitted (or returned) the damage award. This indicates that the purpose of the suit was not to gain a monetary award, but to restore the reputation of the accused. Reputation was very important in antebellum society...and common law remedy of slander was one legal action to regain that reputation."

That quote led me to wonder how often then-President Lincoln contemplated suing someone for slander. He and Mrs. Lincoln were certainly the targets of many a mud-slinger's sling-shot.

[Gene C]

(04-19-2017 02:01 PM)L Verge Wrote:  ""We learn, for example, that several counties had an unusually large number of slander cases. ...
These cases show a sharp gender divide.
Men were typically accused of theft or other petty crimes,
but women were more often accused of improper sexual behavior.

I am bit surprised by that last part.

[Eva Elisabeth]

(04-19-2017 02:01 PM)L Verge Wrote:  That quote led me to wonder how often then-President Lincoln contemplated suing someone for slander. He and Mrs. Lincoln were certainly the targets of many a mud-slinger's sling-shot.

I think he never ever considered doing so - there are IMO two accounts (both by Hay) that show (t)his attitude:

One is from John Hay’s recollections of Election Night on November 8, 1864:
"They were especially happy over the election of Rice, regarding it as a great triumph for the Navy Department. Says Fox, ‘There are two fellows that have been especially malignant to us, and retribution has come upon them both, [John P.Hale] and [HenryWinter Davis].’ ‘You have more of that feeling of personal resentment than I,’ said Lincoln. ‘Perhaps I may have too little of it, but I never thought it paid. A man has not time to spend half his life in quarrels. If any man ceases to attack me, I never remember the past against him. It has seemed to me recently that [Henry Winter Davis] was growing more sensible to his own true interests and has ceased wasting his time by attacking me. I hope for his own good he has. He has been very malicious against me but has only injured himself by it."

The best online version of the other Hay account I could find is this:
   
https://books.google.de/books?id=AJRPetw...cQ6AEIHTAG

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(04-19-2017 02:18 PM)Gene C Wrote:  

(04-19-2017 02:01 PM)L Verge Wrote:  ""We learn, for example, that several counties had an unusually large number of slander cases. ...
These cases show a sharp gender divide.
Men were typically accused of theft or other petty crimes,
but women were more often accused of improper sexual behavior.

I am bit surprised by that last part.

Gene - I recall there's at least one US state the laws of which prohibited (possibly still valid) women to wear polished shoes because of what "sexual matters" they might reveal of under the skirt. So, if wearing polished shoes counts as sexual improper behavior - what is there to wonder?

[L Verge]

Trust me, Gene, women can be vicious - and the best way to attack is to suggest sexual improprieties... I'm surprised that any significant number of women who had been slandered would have the courage to file suit and expose themselves to further gossip. Similar situations still occur today in cases related to rape.