NEWS OF 150 YEARS AGO
January/February 1861
From The Missouri Democrat, Friday, February 1, 1861.
The Secession Question to be Tested—A Novel Legal Case in St. Louis.
We have been furnished with an extract from an answer about to be filed in the Circuit Court of this county, in the suite of a well-known New Orleans bank against a prominent city banker to recover a large sum.
“The defendants further state that the plaintiffs, whether chartered by law or no, are an associations of persons citizens of the State of Louisiana, domiciled and doing business therein, and acknowledging thereto, and have abjured all allegiance to the United States of America; that said State of Louisiana has seceded from and revolted against the United States of America, and is at war with the same; that the plaintiffs, and all other persons who are citizens of said State and domiciled therein and acknowledging allegiance thereto, are alien enemies of the United States of America and of the State of Missouri, and have no right to maintain any suit in the courts of the State of Missouri.
Wherefore defendants ask that this suit may be dismissed, &c.
McCLELLAN, MOODY & HILLYER,
Defendants’ Attorneys.
This defense, if persisted in to the last resort, would carry the question of the right of a State to secede to the Supreme Court of the United States for settlement. Its prosecution opens the door to a variety of legal questions, and will be watched with interest.
