24 October 2006

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Noted historian Dennis K. Boman recently presented the Supreme Court of Missouri with a copy of his latest book, "Lincoln's Resolute Unionist," a biography of Hamilton Gamble, the Supreme Court of Missouri judge who dissented in the Court's decision in the Dred Scott case and later was named Missouri's civil war governor.

"Hamilton Gamble is the most significant historical figure to have served on the Supreme Court of Missouri," Chief Justice Michael A. Wolff said. "His dissent in the Dred Scott case, and his defense of the Union, were crucial events in Missouri history leading up to and including its role in the Civil War. His governance of Missouri is largely credited with aiding the Union cause in the west."

There were only three judges on the Supreme Court in 1852 when the Court heard the appeal of Dred Scott, a former slave seeking to be declared free. Gamble, who had been elected to the Court the previous year, was one of the three.

Gamble's dissent, according to Boman's book, boldly upheld the principle that a slave who had traveled to free territory should gain his freedom. After losing his case in the Supreme Court of Missouri, Scott sued for his freedom in federal court. The U.S. Supreme Court's decision that Scott was not a person allowed to bring suit was one of the events that precipitated the Civil War.

Nearly a decade after the Supreme Court of Missouri's Dred Scott decision, a convention was convened to determine whether Missouri would secede from the Union. Gamble argued forcefully in the convention that Missouri should remain in the Union. When the governor and other state officials, who were Confederate sympathizers, fled later in 1861, the convention was reconvened, and Gamble was named Missouri's provisional governor. He traveled to Washington, D.C., during the Civil War and consulted with President Abraham Lincoln. He proposed a plan for gradual emancipation of slaves in Missouri and served as the state's governor until his death in 1864.

Boman teaches history at Saint Louis University. This is his second biographical book of a Supreme Court of Missouri judge. His first was "Abiel Leonard: Yankee Slaveholder, Eminent Jurist, and Passionate Unionist." Boman is a recipient of the Supreme Court of Missouri Historical Society's Robert Elridge Seiler Fellowship. "Lincoln's Resolute Unionist" is published by the Louisiana State University Press in Baton Rouge.

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NOTE: A photo follows.

Contact: Beth S. Riggert
Communications Counsel
Supreme Court of Missouri
PO Box 150, Jefferson City, MO 65102
desk: (573) 751-3676
fax: (573) 751-7514
cell: (573) 619-2849
beth.riggert@courts.mo.gov


Seated: Supreme Court Librarian Tyronne Allen holds the new biography about Hamilton Gamble, presented to the Supreme Court by historian and author Dennis Boman. Standing, from left: Supreme Court Archivist Joe Benson, biography author Dennis Boman, Missouri Chief Justice Michael A. Wolff and Supreme Court Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr.