Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - August - 2009 Issue
American Law 1745-1900 from The Lawbook Exchange
Congressman Breckinridge was sued for failure to marry his young lady.
Item 262 is a Civil War item by John Jay, grandson of the Founding Father of the same name. Jay had assisted Henry Dawson with his republication of The Federalist, written by the first Jay, James Madison and Alexander Hamilton, by providing Dawson with documents. Jay was shocked to see the introduction Dawson provided in his edition, using the founders' earlier statements about states' rights to show sympathy for the Rebellion. An angry Jay replies in 1864 with New Plottings in Aid of the Rebel Doctrine of State Sovereignty. Mr. Jay's Second Letter on Dawson's Introduction to The Federalist, Exposing Its Falsification of the History of the Constitution... Jay also teamed up with the grandson of Alexander Hamilton to oppose such interpretations of their grandfathers' work. $125.
Here is a good scandal: The Celebrated Trial, Madeline Pollard vs. Breckinridge, The Most Noted Breach of Promise Suit in the History of Court Records. This Breckinridge was William Preston Campbell Breckinridge, a five-time Kentucky Congressman from the noted political family that included a vice-president. At the age of 47, the married Congressman took up an affair with the 17-year-old student. It went on for a long time, long enough for Madeline Pollard to bear him three unacknowledged children. After his wife died, Breckinridge led Miss Pollard to believe they would be married, but ultimately, he married another. Pollard sued for breach of contract. Breckinridge employed a combination of denial and accusations that Miss Pollard was a whore and the aggressor. It didn't work. The jury found for Pollard and awarded her $15,000 (three times the annual salary of a congressman at the time). This account was published in 1894, the year of the trial. Breckinridge then returned to Kentucky to seek his constituents' forgiveness, but not enough forgave and he was defeated in his bid for reelection. Item 304.
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