Contextualizing Lincoln and Race

Abstract

In October 1855, William Dungey of Clinton, Illinois, hired Abraham Lincoln to bring a slander suit against his brother-in-law, Joseph Spencer. Dungey brought the action after a family quarrel escalated and Spencer began publically claiming that Dungey was “a negro.” What made the matter so serious for Dungey was that, since 1819, Illinois restricted the immigration of free blacks into the state. These restrictions remained in effect into the mid-nineteenth century. The 1848 Illinois Constitution, for instance, required the state assembly to “pass such laws as will effectively prohibit free persons of color from immigrating to and settling” in the state. To Dungey, who claimed to be of Portuguese descent, being considered legally black would have meant the loss of his property, his marriage, and his right to stay in Illinois. On April 17, 1855 Lincoln filed the case against Spencer, seeking one thousand dollars in damages. One of the main issues at trial was the testimony of defense witnesses from Giles County, Tennessee—the Dungey family home—who claimed to know the family personally and to certify that the Dungeys were considered by the community to be “mixed blooded.” In successfully attacking the evidence, Lincoln pointed out that because none of the witnesses lived within thirty miles of the Dunge home, the information in the depositions had to be based on hearsay. After six months of trial and jury deliberations, a verdict came back in favor of the plaintiff, granting him $600 in damages and another $137.50 in court costs.