Orlando B. Ficklin
| Orlando B. Ficklin | |
|---|---|
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois's 3rd district |
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In office March 4, 1851 – March 3, 1853 |
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| Preceded by | Timothy R. Young |
| Succeeded by | Jesse O. Norton |
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In office March 4, 1843 – March 3, 1849 |
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| Preceded by | John T. Stuart |
| Succeeded by | Timothy R. Young |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
December 16, 1808 Scott County, Kentucky |
| Died | May 5, 1886 (aged 77) Charleston, Illinois |
| Political party | Democratic |
Orlando Bell Ficklin (December 16, 1808 – May 5, 1886) was a U.S. Representative from Illinois.
Born in Scott County, Kentucky, Ficklin attended the common schools. He was graduated from Transylvania Law School, Lexington, Kentucky, in 1830. He was admitted to the bar in 1830 and commenced practice in Mount Carmel, Illinois. He served in the Black Hawk War as quartermaster in 1832. He served as colonel of the militia of Wabash County in 1833.
In 1835, Ficklin became state's attorney for the Wabash circuit. He also served as member of the Illinois House of Representatives in 1835, 1838, and 1842. He moved to Charleston, Illinois in 1837.
Ficklin was elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-eighth, Twenty-ninth, and Thirtieth Congresses (March 4, 1843 – March 3, 1849). He served as chairman of the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds (Twenty-ninth Congress).
Although Ficklin worked as co-counsel with Abraham Lincoln on many cases, in possibly their most famous case, they were on opposite sides. In 1847, Ficklin, his friend Charles H. Constable and Usher Linder represented slaves who ran away while in Illinois and believed that they were free, arguing that the Northwest Ordinance forbade slavery in Illinois. Abraham Lincoln defended Robert Matson, a Kentucky slave owner who brought the slaves from his Kentucky plantation to work on land he owned in Illinois. Lincoln invoked the right of transit, which allowed slave holders to take their slaves temporarily into free territory, stressing that Matson did not intend the slaves to remain permanently in Illinois.
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