Highly unusual two-page emancipation document dated 1850 that details the freedom of a slave named “Henson” in Kentucky. Henson’s owner, James M. Higgins, was located in Morgan County, Illinois, and instructs a lawyer in this signed document to set Higgins free. It is unclear how Higgins came to own Henson, but it may have been through inheritance.

James M. Higgins retained Abraham Lincoln as a lawyer around this time for an unrelated case. It is interesting to consider whether Lincoln may have assisted with this matter as well. This document bears the signature of James Berdan, a Judge who Lincoln knew fairly well. Their correspondence hints at a professional, but warm relationship. Finally, this document is also signed by a county clerk, George A. Dunlap, who Lincoln either represented or sued as an attorney in the 1850s. 

[Abraham Lincoln] [Civil War, Union, Confederate] [Abolitionist, Abolition, Slave, Slavery, Emancipation Proclamation, Abraham Lincoln]