In Tender Consideration

Daniel W. Stowell, the director of the Papers of Abraham Lincoln project, is the author of Rebuilding Zion: The Religious Reconstruction of the South, 1863-1877.

• Foreword Michael Grossberg   ix Acknowledgments   xiiiIntroduction Daniel W. Stowell   1PART 1: CONSIDERING GENDER AND AGE IN THE COURTS1. Femes UnCovert: 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   46PART 2: MARRIAGES, FAMILIES, AND PROPERTY IN CONFLICT3. 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   129PART 3: "CASE" STUDIES6. 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   204Contributors   229Index of Cases   231General Index   233

Recipient of an Illinois State Historical Society Award of Superior Achievement, 2003. "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 Citizenship