Did you know that U.S. Sen. Jacob M. Howard — a man who worked closely with Abraham Lincoln to craft the 13th Amendment, was the source of a key phrase in the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment and helped lead the adoption of the 15th Amendment — wore a size 7¾ hat?¹

This particularly random fact is included in Robert Ross’ biographical sketch of Howard in The Early Bench and Bar of Detroit: From 1805 to the End of 1850. Also noted were Howard’s height (5 feet 11 inches), weight (just over 200 pounds), chest circumference (44 inches), eye color (hazel), hair color (blue-black), and the presence of a “prominent Roman nose.”²

By the time Howard was floor manager for the 14th Amendment in May 1866, his hair was probably more gray than blue-black, and, given that he had been in the Senate for the majority of the Civil War, he’d probably lost some of those 200 pounds. It had been a long road up to that point. Frankly, it was remarkable that Howard was representing Michigan in the Senate at all.

When Howard left his native Vermont in his late 20s to travel west, his planned destination was St. Louis, Missouri. Michigan Territory wasn’t even on his radar, but for some reason, he ended up in Detroit. Perhaps it emerged as a natural terminus; perhaps he ran out of money; or perhaps the chance to study law with famed Gen. Charles Larned, who, like Howard, was a graduate of Williams (Mass.) College, was too good to pass up.3 Howard had initially studied law at Williams and later apprenticed with a New England attorney.⁴ In Detroit, he completed his legal studies and was subject to “a severe examination, lasting three days.”⁵ Upon successfully passing the bar, he threw a party.⁶

Howard joined a robust legal community. The volume of The Transactions of the Supreme Court of the Territory of Michigan covering the 11 years from 1825-36 lists more than 50 attorneys practicing before the territorial court at various points during that span.⁷ There are legends like Henry T. Backus (hat size 8),⁸ who eventually became a judge in the Arizona Territory, and William A. Fletcher, who later became the first chief justice of the Michigan Supreme Court.⁹ Of course, Howard is there as well, serving as attorney in 11 cases before the Supreme Court in a two-year span, covering everything from divorce to foreclosure to counterfeiting to property seizure.¹⁰

Shortly after Michigan achieved statehood, Howard entered politics. He was elected to the state House of Representatives in 1838, where he served with Kingsley S. Bingham, who beat him in the election to become house speaker.¹¹ Howard would later replace Bingham in the U.S. Senate. As a state representative, Howard served on the judiciary, education, banks and incorporations, and enrollment committees and was a member of Gov. Stevens T. Mason’s select committee on the state geological survey.¹²

In 1840, Howard was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and served one term before returning home. Throughout his political ventures, he continued to practice law and was wellknown as an excellent lawyer. Years later, it was noted that “he gained many a verdict which never could have been secured by ordinary members of the bar.”¹³ That’s not to say he always won; he lost in Bacon v. The County of Wayne,¹⁴ a case involving a colleague who was stiffed by the county on a payment after it appointed him as counsel for an indigent client, the focus of a previous article in this series.

Howard did win in Timberlake v. Osborn,¹⁵ at least in a roundabout way, which was arguably the most important case of his early career. Given that Michigan was a free state and Detroit was a station on the Underground Railroad, it was just a matter of time before a case regarding the fugitive slave law arose in Michigan courts. Though several other attorneys and states were involved, the chief participants were Thornton Timberlake, a Kentucky slaveholder, and Josiah Osborn, a Michigan man who helped the enslaved individuals escape,¹⁶ a situation mirroring the greater division across the country. The case ended with a split jury, the judge declared a mistrial, and the matter against Osborn was eventually dismissed.¹⁷

Howard’s views on slavery were well-known. In fact, the Detroit Daily Free Press published an article in 1840 proclaiming “Jacob M. Howard an Abolitionist” and quoted Howard’s support of both the Emancipator Journal and the “power of Congress to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia and in the Territories.”18 Eventually Howard abandoned the Whig Party and — along with legis lative colleague Austin Blair (who wore a size 7¼ hat) — became involved in the creation of a new party focused on anti-slavery and abolitionist matters. It’s said that Howard even came up with the name for the new party: the Republican Party.¹⁹

The following year, Howard was elected to serve as state attorney general; over a six-year tenure in office, he would go before the Michigan Supreme Court nearly 40 times. In 1858 alone, he argued before the high court on 14 occasions — several murder cases, a matter of judicial salary, money counterfeiting, and marriage in “the prohibited degrees of consanguinity.”²⁰ Like before, he didn’t always win, but he was “always devoted to his clients, yet never unfair toward an opponent; well prepared on the law and the facts of his cases, he was second to no one at the bar as an effective advocate and convincing lawyer.”²¹ He was “famous for the integrity of his character” and known as a “sincere man, who would not, and even could not, feign a sentiment he did not feel.”²²

Howard’s last case before the Michigan Supreme Court as attorney general involved a judicial vacancy. The case was heard and decided May 1, 1861, less than a month after the first shots of the Civil War were fired at Fort Sumter, a few days before President Lincoln (who famously wore a size 71⁄8 hat) called for troops to defend the Union, and five months before Sen. Kinsley Bingham’s unexpected death.

While considering options for Bingham’s replacement at a time of great upheaval, officials in Lansing reminded people that “Howard has proved himself to be a self-possessed, clear, calm, and solid man — one whom the lust of office, nor the fear of mortal can swerve from his conscientious convictions of Right and Justice.”²³ Howard was elected and arrived in Washington, D.C., in early 1862. The events of the next decade required his legal expertise and capabilities as “an effective advocate and convincing lawyer.”²⁴

Jacob M. Howard died on April 2, 1871. His role in history was secure. He helped found a new political party, presided over the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson, played an important role in amending the U.S. Constitution, and assisted in ending slavery.

In preparation for his eventual death, he drafted his will in the winter of 1868, at the height of Reconstruction and about six months after the 14th Amendment had been ratified. The first thing he mentioned as his legacy to his children was his “law books [and] law papers,” which he left to them so they might succeed in the “honorable profession” of law and achieve a “higher fame” than him.²⁵

He also left them his hats.²⁶

Special thanks to Professor John Mogk for his assistance in review and revisions.