"Simple argument."īailey loses that case in 1839, but he appealed. The issue was, can you assume and presume that a Black person is a slave? And apparently from notes that were discovered in the 1950s, Lincoln had asked at least one or two of the justices in the case, 'Do you by any chance have a indenture contract? Do you by any chance have proof that you are not a slave?' And of course, the white justice is going 'Why would I need proof that I don't that I'm not a slave?' (Lincoln) says, 'Well, equally, if she doesn't have any paperwork that says she's a slave, then you have to assume that she's not," said Adams. Abraham Lincoln is hired to represent Bailey. The case goes to Tazewell County Court in Bailey versus Cromwell. A portrait of a younger Abraham Lincoln, dated to 1846 or 1847.īut when the elder Cromwell died, his son William tried to collect on the promissory note. Bailey, who had abolitionist leanings, agreed, and said because Nance didn't have to work for him, his obligation to pay the debt to Cromwell was negated. Nance protested the transfer, saying she wasn't anyone's property to trade because she never signed an indentured servitude contract. The crux of the case was contained in a $376 promissory note David Bailey of Pekin signed for Nance's transfer shortly before Cromwell's death. "She hadn't signed a contract, but she had to go to court to make sure that it didn't adversely affect her first baby." And she knew enough about slavery to know that the future of her child was at risk, so long as she was at risk as an indentured servant," Adams said. Nance eventually was moved from Thomas Cox's home in southern Illinois to that of Nathan Cromwell, a founder of Pekin and perhaps Central Illinois' wealthiest man at the time.īy the time Nathan Cromwell died in 1836, Nance was in her mid-20s, and ready to fight for her freedom once more. Adams said she lost that court case simply because she was orphaned, and it was deemed by a judge she needed to remain in the home of a white man for her own protection so as to avoid kidnapping by slave traders. And when she was given a contract during the first trials of Nance in Springfield in 1826, she refused and said, 'No, I'm not.'" "And so she never had a contract to sign. She was not brought in from anywhere else, and you can't get an infant to sign an indenture contract, because they can't sign anything until they are of legal age, which in Illinois it was early established males, (age) 21 and females, 18," Adams said. So-called indentured servitude was the status Nance lived under from her birth, said Carl Adams, author of the book Nance: Trials of the First Slave Freed by Abraham Lincoln. So Illinois had slavery without having slavery."ĬreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform The cover of "NANCE: Trials of the First Slave Freed by Abraham Lincoln: A True Story of Nance Legins-Costley" by Carl Adams. Because simply, it was very easy for masters to pressure their indentured servants to stay in, and to enter into another contract when the other one ended, even though it was supposedly voluntary. "Now in practice, this was slavery by any other name. You have to work off the contract, and you enter into the contract voluntarily, allegedly," Olar said. "The idea of indentured servitude is well, you're working for a contracted number of years. Pekin Public Library local history specialist Jared Olar said although Illinois was ostensibly a free territory at the time, the institution of slavery existed in all but name through the legal practice of indentured servitude. She was the daughter of an enslaved family brought to the future state as collateral for a mortgage. Legins-Costley was born in the territory that would later become Illinois. Nance's story likely begins in December 1813, if the records from the period are accurate. Nance Legins-Costley was the first Black person freed from slavery through the efforts of Abraham Lincoln, in a seminal 1841 court case. How a Pekin woman solidified Illinois' status as a free state - and started Abraham Lincoln down his abolitionist path The new Freedom and Remembrance Memorial on the old Moffatt home property will feature three markers, commemorating the cemetery's history, the veterans still buried there, and the legacy of a woman also interred on the site.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |