Hamilton Rowan Gamble was the chief justice

Chief Justice

The Chief Justice in many countries is the name for the presiding member of a Supreme Court in Commonwealth or other countries with an Anglo-Saxon justice system based on English common law, such as the Supreme Court of Canada, the Constitutional Court of South Africa, the Court of Final Appeal of...

 of the Missouri Supreme Court at the time of the Dred Scott Decision in 1852, when his colleagues voted to overturn the 28-year precedent in Misssouri of "once free always free". He wrote a dissenting opinion. During the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

, he was appointed as the 16th Governor of Missouri (1861-1864) by a Constitutional Convention after Union forces

Union Army

The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...

 captured the state capital at Jefferson City

Jefferson City, Missouri

Jefferson City is the capital of the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Cole County. Located in Callaway and Cole counties, it is the principal city of the Jefferson City metropolitan area, which encompasses the entirety of both counties. As of the 2010 census, the population was 43,079...

 and deposed the elected governor.

Early life and education

Hamilton Gamble was born in Winchester, Virginia

Winchester, Virginia

Winchester is an independent city located in the northwestern portion of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the USA. The city's population was 26,203 according to the 2010 Census...

, the youngest of seven children of Joseph and Anne Hamilton Gamble, Scots-Irish who immigrated to Virginia in 1784 from northern Ireland. Gamble studied at local schools and at age 13 went to Hampden-Sydney College

Hampden-Sydney College

Hampden–Sydney College is a liberal arts college for men located in Hampden Sydney, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1775, Hampden–Sydney is the oldest private charter college in the Southern U.S., the last college founded before the American Revolution, and one of only three four-year,...

, a Presbyterian seminary.. He read the law with an established firm and by 1817 was accepted to the bar in Virginia. In 1818 as a young man of 20, he moved to St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...

 to join his older brother Archibald Gamble, who had moved there earlier and was established as a clerk of the St. Louis Circuit Court.

Marriage and family

In 1827, Gamble married Caroline J. Coalter of Columbia, South Carolina

Columbia, South Carolina

Columbia is the state capital and largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The population was 129,272 according to the 2010 census. Columbia is the county seat of Richland County, but a portion of the city extends into neighboring Lexington County. The city is the center of a metropolitan...

. He likely met her when she was visiting St. Louis, as both her brother David Coalter and a sister lived there. Her sister was married to the attorney Edward Bates

Edward Bates

Edward Bates was a U.S. lawyer and statesman. He served as United States Attorney General under Abraham Lincoln from 1861 to 1864...

 of St. Louis; he later served as a judge and was appointed as the United States Attorney General

United States Attorney General

The United States Attorney General is the head of the United States Department of Justice concerned with legal affairs and is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States government. The attorney general is considered to be the chief lawyer of the U.S. government...

 by President

President of the United States

The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

 Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...

 during the Civil War.

Hamilton and Caroline had three children: Hamilton, David, and Mary Coalter Gamble.

Career

After practicing in Franklin

Franklin, Missouri

Franklin is a city in Howard County, Missouri, United States. The population was 112 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Columbia, Missouri Metropolitan Statistical Area.- Geography :Franklin is located at...

 in the middle of the state, Gamble became prosecuting attorney of the Circuit Court

Missouri Circuit Courts

The Missouri Circuit Courts are the state trial courts of original jurisdiction and general jurisdiction of the state of Missouri.-Jurisdiction:The Missouri Constitution provides for the Circuit Courts in Article V, Judicial Department.-List of circuits:...

 of Howard County, Missouri. In 1824 Frederick Bates

Frederick Bates

Frederick Bates , older brother of Edward Bates and James Woodson Bates, was an American attorney and politician. He was elected in 1824 as the second governor of Missouri and died in office in 1825...

 appointed him as secretary of state

Secretary of State

Secretary of State or State Secretary is a commonly used title for a senior or mid-level post in governments around the world. The role varies between countries, and in some cases there are multiple Secretaries of State in the Government....

 and he moved to the capital, then located at St. Charles, Missouri.

When the capital was moved to Jefferson City, Gamble returned to St. Louis in 1826, settling in the major city of the state. He set up a private legal practice there. Although a slaveholder, he defended slaves in court. He became a member of the American Colonization Society

American Colonization Society

The American Colonization Society , founded in 1816, was the primary vehicle to support the "return" of free African Americans to what was considered greater freedom in Africa. It helped to found the colony of Liberia in 1821–22 as a place for freedmen...

, which supported the resettlement of free blacks

Free people of color

A free person of color in the context of the history of slavery in the Americas, is a person of full or partial African descent who was not enslaved...

 in Liberia

Liberia

Liberia , officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Sierra Leone on the west, Guinea on the north and Côte d'Ivoire on the east. Liberia's coastline is composed of mostly mangrove forests while the more sparsely populated inland consists of forests that open...

.

In 1846, Gamble was elected to the Missouri Supreme Court by the Whig Party

Whig Party (United States)

The Whig Party was a political party of the United States during the era of Jacksonian democracy. Considered integral to the Second Party System and operating from the early 1830s to the mid-1850s, the party was formed in opposition to the policies of President Andrew Jackson and his Democratic...

, the first justice from this party. He was quickly elected chief justice, on a rotating term. Though a slaveholder

Slavery

Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...

, he dissented in the Missouri Supreme Court decision of the Dred Scott v. Emerson

Dred Scott

Dred Scott , was an African-American slave in the United States who unsuccessfully sued for his freedom and that of his wife and their two daughters in the Dred Scott v...

case. He maintained that Scott was free because he had been held illegally as a slave while resident in a free state, according to the 28-year-old precedent set in the 1824 ruling of "once free always free" in Winny v. Whitesides.

Gamble resigned his judgeship in 1855 due to failing health, and in 1858 moved to Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

.

Provisional Governor of Missouri

As the secession crisis deepened, Missouri attempted to follow a policy of armed neutrality, in which the state would not support either side in the war but remain in the Union. A special election in February established a Missouri Constitutional Convention

Missouri Constitutional Convention (1861-63)

The Missouri Constitutional Convention was a constitutional convention held in the state of Missouri during the American Civil War. The convention was elected in early 1861, and voted against secession...

 to determine the relationship between Missouri and the United States. The convention voted against secession

Secession

Secession is the act of withdrawing from an organization, union, or especially a political entity. Threats of secession also can be a strategy for achieving more limited goals.-Secession theory:...

 and affirmed the state's neutrality.

The outbreak of hostilities at Fort Sumter

Fort Sumter

Fort Sumter is a Third System masonry coastal fortification located in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. The fort is best known as the site upon which the shots initiating the American Civil War were fired, at the Battle of Fort Sumter.- Construction :...

 led to unrest in Missouri. A secessionist mob seized the Liberty Arsenal

Liberty Arsenal

The Liberty Arsenal was an United States Army arsenal at Liberty, Missouri in Clay County, Missouri, that was seized by Confederate sympathizers on April 20, 1861, being an early occurrence in a sequence of skirmishes and battles that was to define Missouri in the American Civil War...

 a week later. Governor Claiborne Jackson called up the state militia for drill in St. Louis and to receive some arms clandestinely obtained from the Confederacy. This resulted in a confrontation with the aggressive Union commander Nathaniel Lyon

Nathaniel Lyon

Nathaniel Lyon was the first Union general to be killed in the American Civil War and is noted for his actions in the state of Missouri at the beginning of the conflict....

, who forced the surrender of the militia, in what was called the Camp Jackson Affair. After a deadly riot ensued, the Missouri legislature authorized the reorganization of the militia into the Missouri State Guard

Missouri State Guard

The Missouri State Guard was a state militia organized in the state of Missouri during the early days of the American Civil War. While not initially a formal part of the Confederate States Army, the State Guard fought alongside Confederate troops and, at times, under regular Confederate...

, controlled by the governor. General William Harney reached an agreement with the new Missouri State Guard commander Sterling Price

Sterling Price

Sterling Price was a lawyer, planter, and politician from the U.S. state of Missouri, who served as the 11th Governor of the state from 1853 to 1857. He also served as a United States Army brigadier general during the Mexican-American War, and a Confederate Army major general in the American Civil...

, known as the Price-Harney Truce

Price-Harney Truce

The Price-Harney Truce was a document signed on May 21, 1861 between United States Army General William S. Harney and Missouri State Guard commander Sterling Price at the beginning of the American Civil War....

. When Lincoln appointed Lyon to replace Harney as commander of the Department of the West

Department of the West

The Department of the West, later known as the Western Department, was a major command of the United States Army during the 19th century. It oversaw the military affairs in the country west of the Mississippi River to the borders of California and Oregon.-Organization:The Department was first...

, he was not willing to have Price keep the militia independent of his control.

When negotiations among the governor, Lyon, and Price failed, Lyon took military actions to secure the state capital for the Union. He captured Jefferson City, Missouri

Jefferson City, Missouri

Jefferson City is the capital of the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Cole County. Located in Callaway and Cole counties, it is the principal city of the Jefferson City metropolitan area, which encompasses the entirety of both counties. As of the 2010 census, the population was 43,079...

 in mid-June 1861, forcing Governor Jackson and the state government into exile.

The Missouri Constitutional Convention reconvened to consider the status of the state in July. The convention declared the governor's office to be vacant and appointed Gamble as governor of a provisional government

Provisional government

A provisional government is an emergency or interim government set up when a political void has been created by the collapse of a very large government. The early provisional governments were created to prepare for the return of royal rule...

 of Missouri on August 1. Although secessionists considered Gamble an unelected puppet of the Union forces, he opposed harsh Union treatment of the state. For instance, he protested to President Lincoln about the Fremont Emancipation, which unilaterally freed the state's slaves in 1861 and imposed martial law. Lincoln agreed to Gamble's request to overturn this decision, rescinded the emancipation and removed John C. Fremont

John C. Frémont

John Charles Frémont , was an American military officer, explorer, and the first candidate of the anti-slavery Republican Party for the office of President of the United States. During the 1840s, that era's penny press accorded Frémont the sobriquet The Pathfinder...

from command.

Gamble died in office in 1864. He suffered complications from infection of an arm broken after he put it out a train window.