Duff Armstrong
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Duff Armstrong
William "Duff" Armstrong (1833–1899) was an American Union soldier and the defendant in an 1858 murder prosecution in which he was defended by Abraham Lincoln, two years before he was elected President of the United States. The case would later be portrayed in the 1939 film ''Young Mr. Lincoln''. Early life Armstrong was born to Jack and Hannah Armstrong. Jack died in 1857. Abraham Lincoln was a friend of the Armstrongs and regularly visited and would cradle baby William. Murder trial Armstrong was charged with the August 29, 1857, murder of James Preston Metzker in Mason County, Illinois. His father, Jack Armstrong, had been a friend of Lincoln while he was studying law in New Salem, Illinois. When Lincoln heard of the murder charge, he wrote to Jack's widow, Hannah, and volunteered his legal services ''pro bono''. The trial was moved to Cass County and held at the courthouse at Beardstown, Illinois. Witness Charles Allen testified that he saw Duff Armstrong strike Met ...
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Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation through the American Civil War and succeeded in preserving the Union, abolishing slavery, bolstering the federal government, and modernizing the U.S. economy. Lincoln was born into poverty in a log cabin in Kentucky and was raised on the frontier, primarily in Indiana. He was self-educated and became a lawyer, Whig Party leader, Illinois state legislator, and U.S. Congressman from Illinois. In 1849, he returned to his successful law practice in central Illinois. In 1854, he was angered by the Kansas–Nebraska Act, which opened the territories to slavery, and he re-entered politics. He soon became a leader of the new Republican Party. He reached a national audience in the 1858 Senate campaign debates against Stephen A. Douglas. ...
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Judicial Notice
Judicial notice is a rule in the law of evidence that allows a fact to be introduced into evidence if the truth of that fact is so notorious or well-known, or so authoritatively attested, that it cannot reasonably be doubted. This is done upon the request of the party seeking to rely on the fact at issue. Facts and materials admitted under judicial notice are accepted without being formally introduced by a witness or other rule of evidence, even if one party wishes to plead evidence to the contrary. Judicial notice is frequently used for the simplest, most obvious common sense facts, such as which day of the week corresponded to a particular calendar date or the approximate time at sunset. However, it could even be used within one jurisdiction to notice a law of another jurisdiction—such as one which provides average baselines for motor vehicle stopping distances. Judicial notice in the United States Judicial notice in the Federal Rules of Evidence In the United States, Article ...
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People Acquitted Of Murder
A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of property, or legal responsibility. The defining features of personhood and, consequently, what makes a person count as a person, differ widely among cultures and contexts. In addition to the question of personhood, of what makes a being count as a person to begin with, there are further questions about personal identity and self: both about what makes any particular person that particular person instead of another, and about what makes a person at one time the same person as they were or will be at another time despite any intervening changes. The plural form "people" is often used to refer to an entire nation or ethnic group (as in "a people"), and this was the original meaning of the word; it subsequently acquired its use as a plural form of per ...
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1858 In The United States
Events from the year 1858 in the United States. Incumbents Federal Government * President: James Buchanan ( D-Pennsylvania) * Vice President: John C. Breckinridge ( D-Kentucky) * Chief Justice: Roger B. Taney (Maryland) * Speaker of the House of Representatives: James Lawrence Orr ( D-South Carolina) * Congress: 35th Events * March 4 – A speech by James Henry Hammond in the United States Senate promotes the idea of "King Cotton" and the "mudsill theory" in support of slave labor. * April 19 – The United States and the Yankton Sioux Tribe sign a treaty. Provided by the Oklahoma State University Library from ''Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties'' (Vol. II) compiled and edited by Charles J. Kappler, 1904. * May 11 – Minnesota is admitted as the 32nd U.S. state (''see'' History of Minnesota). * May 19 – The Marais des Cygnes massacre is perpetrated by pro-slavery forces in Bleeding Kansas. * June 16 – Abraham Lincoln makes his "House Divided" ...
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1899 Deaths
Events January 1899 * January 1 ** Spanish rule ends in Cuba, concluding 400 years of the Spanish Empire in the Americas. ** Queens and Staten Island become administratively part of New York City. * January 2 – ** Bolivia sets up a customs office in Puerto Alonso, leading to the Brazilian settlers there to declare the Republic of Acre in a revolt against Bolivian authorities. **The first part of the Jakarta Kota–Anyer Kidul railway on the island of Java is opened between Batavia Zuid ( Jakarta Kota) and Tangerang. * January 3 – Hungarian Prime Minister Dezső Bánffy fights an inconclusive duel with his bitter enemy in parliament, Horánszky Nándor. * January 4 – **U.S. President William McKinley's declaration of December 21, 1898, proclaiming a policy of benevolent assimilation of the Philippines as a United States territory, is announced in Manila by the U.S. commander, General Elwell Otis, and angers independence activists who had fought agai ...
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1833 Births
Events January–March * January 3 – Reassertion of British sovereignty over the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic. * February 6 – His Royal Highness Prince Otto Friedrich Ludwig of Bavaria assumes the title His Majesty Othon the First, by the Grace of God, King of Greece, Prince of Bavaria. * February 16 – The United States Supreme Court hands down its landmark decision of Barron v. Mayor and City Council of Baltimore. * March 4 – Andrew Jackson is sworn in for his second term as President of the United States. April–June * April 1 – General Antonio López de Santa Anna is elected President of Mexico by the legislatures of 16 of the 18 Mexican states. During his frequent absences from office to fight on the battlefield, Santa Anna turns the duties of government over to his vice president, Valentín Gómez Farías. * April 18 – Over 300 delegates from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland travel to the office of the Prime Minister, the Earl Grey, to cal ...
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The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid digital subscribers. It also is a producer of popular podcasts such as '' The Daily''. Founded in 1851 by Henry Jarvis Raymond and George Jones, it was initially published by Raymond, Jones & Company. The ''Times'' has won 132 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any newspaper, and has long been regarded as a national " newspaper of record". For print it is ranked 18th in the world by circulation and 3rd in the U.S. The paper is owned by the New York Times Company, which is publicly traded. It has been governed by the Sulzberger family since 1896, through a dual-class share structure after its shares became publicly traded. A. G. Sulzberger, the paper's publisher and the company's chairman, is the fifth generation of the family to head the pa ...
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American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states that had seceded. The central cause of the war was the dispute over whether slavery would be permitted to expand into the western territories, leading to more slave states, or be prevented from doing so, which was widely believed would place slavery on a course of ultimate extinction. Decades of political controversy over slavery were brought to a head by the victory in the 1860 U.S. presidential election of Abraham Lincoln, who opposed slavery's expansion into the west. An initial seven southern slave states responded to Lincoln's victory by seceding from the United States and, in 1861, forming the Confederacy. The Confederacy seized U.S. forts and other federal assets within their borders. Led by Confederate President Jefferson Davis, ...
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Slungshot
A slungshot is a maritime tool consisting of a weight, or "shot", affixed to the end of a long cord often by being wound into the center of a knot called a "monkey's fist". It is used to cast line from one location to another, often mooring line. The cord end is tied to the heavier line and the weighted end of the slungshot is thrown across the intervening space where a person picks it up and pulls the line across. As a weapon The slungshot was often used as a civilian or improvised weapon; however, the rope was much shorter for use as a weapon. The cord is tied around the wrist, and the weight is carried in the hand or the pocket of the user. A slungshot may be swung in a manner similar to that of a flail or a blackjack. ;China and Japan Slungshots were also used in China and Japan, under other names and were sometimes weighted on both ends, such as with Kusari-fundo, manrikigusari, and other variants. A variant called "loaded sleeves," consisted of weights concealed in long, ...
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President Of The United States
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces. The power of the presidency has grown substantially since the first president, George Washington, took office in 1789. While presidential power has ebbed and flowed over time, the presidency has played an increasingly strong role in American political life since the beginning of the 20th century, with a notable expansion during the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt. In contemporary times, the president is also looked upon as one of the world's most powerful political figures as the leader of the only remaining global superpower. As the leader of the nation with the largest economy by nominal GDP, the president possesses significant domestic and international hard and soft power. Article II of the Constitution establ ...
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Beardstown, Illinois
Beardstown is a city in Cass County, Illinois, United States. The population was 5,951 at the 2020 census. The public schools are in Beardstown Community Unit School District 15. Geography Beardstown is located at (40.012189, -90.428711) on the Illinois River. According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Beardstown has a total area of , of which (or 99.21%) is land and (or 0.79%) is water. Economy Beardstown is located on the Illinois River, which plays an important role in the economy and history of the community, and is the site of two grain terminals where farm products are transferred to barges for transport. Hunting, fishing, and outdoor recreation along the river contribute to the local economy. A large pork slaughterhouse, formerly owned by Kraft and Cargill now by JBS, is a major employer and has attracted a substantial immigrant population to Beardstown in recent years. Demographics As of the 2020 census there were 5,951 people, 2,155 households, and 1,352 ...
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Cass County, Illinois
Cass County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 13,642. Its county seat is Virginia. It is the home of the Jim Edgar Panther Creek State Fish and Wildlife Area. History Cass County was formed in 1837 out of Morgan County. It was named for Lewis Cass, a general in the War of 1812, Governor of the Michigan Territory, and United States Secretary of State in 1860. Cass was serving as Andrew Jackson's Secretary of War just before the County was named. File:Cass County Illinois 1837.png, Cass County at the time of its creation. File:Cass County Illinois 1845.png, In 1845, the county's border was adjusted southward, enlarging it to its current size. Geography According to the US Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (2.1%) is water. Adjacent counties * Mason County - northeast * Menard County - east * Sangamon County - southeast * Morgan County - south * Brown County - wes ...
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