Matson Trial

The Matson Trial (1847), officially Matson v. Ashmore et al. for the use of Bryant, was a freedom suit by former slave Anthony Bryant on behalf of his family in Coles County, Illinois. It is noted for the unusual circumstance where Abraham Lincoln, the future emancipator of slaves, defended a slave-owner against a slave. The case pitted Lincoln and former Illinois Attorney General Usher F. Linder against former US Representative Orlando B. Ficklin. Ficklin's representation proved successful, and Bryant's family was emancipated based on free soil doctrine. A free soil doctrine, Lincoln had in an earlier case used successfully to gain freedom for a purported slave (Bailey v. Cromwell (1841)), so Lincoln was here constrained to argue that the 'transit exception' to the free soil doctrine applied. The court found that the transit exception (temporary presence on free soil) was not supported by the facts of Bryant's case, so Bryant was free.

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