THE MAN WHO SAID NO

by Sally Edwards ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1970

To Lincoln's agents, come to Charleston to sound out sentiment on Fort Sumter, James Petigru's daughter said, her hand on her father's shoulder, ""Here is the Union Party of South Carolina."" Petigru, who at seventy-two cried no to secession, was also the man who said no to nullification thirty years earlier and with his chief opponent kept the peace in South Carolina until the Clay Compromise lowered the offending tariff. At least we assume that is what Carey Petigru Carson said: the author's notes fail to tell us which, if any, of the many conversations and incidents are speculative reconstructions; few, one suspects, so trenchantly does Petigru speak for himself. The maverick who was a back country savant at eleven is a successful, self-fulfilled teacher when the study of law is urged upon him; he agrees, with qualification: ""I am interested in the protection afforded by law -- not its practice."" By a fluke -- the directors of Beaufort Academy find him playing marbles with the boys -- he is out of schooling and, already admitted to the bar, into the practice of protection in the backwoods and pinelands, to become ""the first practitioner of common law in America."" With Miss Amelia Postell (and her elocution lessons) comes an end to his stuttering, from the elegant Legare comes a snuffbox. . . and the distance from Coosawhatchie to Charleston is bridged, brilliantly. He will be the longtime leader of the Charleston bar (after an aborted duel that is quite a story in itself); spend unwisely, recover by seeking clients anywhere, in the process be sought out by notables everywhere. And take their measure: of Lincoln, ""He is a moderate and careful man. . . . He has said that if he must preserve slavery to keep the Union, he will preserve slavery. If he must abolish it, he will abolish it. But he will keep the Union together."" So, at whatever personal cost, would Petigru (who by the way held very much the same views on slavery, meanwhile offering his their freedom, as Lincoln). Most of the history is as told by the characters, an awkward procedure, but Pettigru is of such compelling interest as to excuse it. A loner who was a fast friend, a zealot who kept his head, an intellect with a rare sense of humor -- which said about him bespeaks also the success of the book.

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1970

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Coward-McCann

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1970

Categories: NONFICTION