Hallett, Benjamin Franklin

The right of the people to establish forms of government. Mr. [Benjamin Franklin] Hallett's argument in the Rhode Island causes, before the Supreme Court of the United States. January ... 1848. No. 14. Martin Luther vs. Luther M. Borden and others. No. 77. Rachael Luther vs. the same

Boston: printed by Beals & Greene, 1848. First edition, large 8vo, pp. 71, [1]; neatly bound in later black cloth-backed marbled boards, gilt lettering on spine; ex-R.I. Historical Society with a bookplate marked withdrawn, no external markings; a nice copy preserving the original printed orange front wrapper. Rhode Island authorities, acting under a decree of martial law (i.e. the Algerine Law), arrested Martin Luther, a shoemaker, for acting as moderator of the Warren town meeting, which was held under the People's Constitution. Luther argued that the declaration of martial law was void because it had been enacted under the charter government, which had been supplanted by the People's Constitution pursuant to a vote of the citizenry. Thus the issue for decision became the legitimacy of the government under the People's Constitution. Opposing Daniel Webster in the Supreme Court, Hallett, the Jacksonian Democrat, argued to uphold the legitimacy of the Dorr government, and protested the imposition of martial law. The suit was joined by Rachel Luther, Martin's mother, who claimed she had been roughed up by Borden and his men who had come looking to arrest Martin in her home. Hallett was admitted to the Rhode Island bar in 1819 but spent most of his career as an editor and political operative. "He practiced his profession intermittently throughout his life and was noted for a readiness to champion cases in which he could argue his favorite theory. Bartlett, p. 94; Sabin 29889. Item #56167

Price: $375.00