Cultural views of femininity exerted a powerful influence on the
courtroom arguments used to defend or condemn notable women on
trial in nineteenth-century and early-twentieth-century America. By
examining the colorful rhetorical strategies employed by lawyers
and reporters of women's trials in newspaper articles, trial
transcriptions, and popular accounts, A. Cheree Carlson argues that
the men in charge of these communication avenues were able to
transform their own values and morals into believable narratives
that persuaded judges, juries, and the general public of a woman's
guilt or innocence. Carlson analyzes the situations of several
women of varying historical stature, from the insanity trials of
Mary Todd Lincoln and Lizzie Borden's trial for the brutal slaying
of her father and stepmother, to lesser-known trials involving
insanity, infidelity, murder, abortion, and interracial marriage.
The insanity trial of Elizabeth Parsons Ware Packard, the wife of a
minister, resulted from her attempts to change her own religion,
while a jury acquitted Mary Harris for killing her married lover,
suggesting that loss of virginity to an adulterous man was
justifiable grounds for homicide. The popular conception of
abortion as a "woman's crime" came to the fore in the case of Ann
Loman (also known as Madame Restell), who performed abortions in
New York both before and after it became a crime. Finally, Alice
Rhinelander was sued for fraud by her new husband Leonard for
"passing" as white, but the jury was more moved by the notion of
Alice being betrayed as a woman by her litigious husband than by
the supposed defrauding of Leonard as a white male. Alice won the
case, but the image of womanhood as in need of sympathy and
protection won out as well. At the heart of these cases, Carlson
reveals clearly just how narrow was the line that women had to
walk, since the same womanly virtues that were expected of
them--passivity, frailty, and purity--could be turned against them
at any time. These trials of popular status are especially
significant because they reflect the attitudes of the broad
audience, indicate which forms of knowledge are easily manipulated,
and allow us to analyze how the verdict is argued outside the
courtroom in the public and press. With gripping retellings and
incisive analysis of these scandalous criminal and civil cases,
this book will appeal to historians, rhetoricians, feminist
researchers, and anyone who enjoys courtroom drama.
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