The original reported decision
Alfred J. Anderson v. Thomas Millikin and Others, 9 Ohio St. 568 (Ohio Supreme Court, December Term 1859). This is a published nineteenth-century judicial decision, not a later biographical retelling.
Read the reported court decision →
What the record establishes
The agreed facts state that Anderson lived in Hamilton's Second Ward and attempted to vote in the presidential election on November 4, 1856. Election judges rejected his vote solely because of his African ancestry. The Butler County court initially ruled against him; the Ohio Supreme Court reversed that judgment and entered judgment for Anderson.
The case identifies N. C. McFarland as Anderson's attorney and Thomas Millikin as attorney for the defendants. It therefore directly documents a legal relationship between Anderson and McFarland.
Limits of the ruling
The justices applied the racially restrictive language of Ohio's constitution and earlier decisions interpreting who could legally be classified as white. The ruling protected the franchise for otherwise-qualified men whose white ancestry predominated; it did not extend voting rights to all Black Ohioans. The 1859 decision is not the source establishing McFarland’s role in the 1854 Hamilton freedom-seeker case: the July 27, 1854 Hamilton Intelligencer directly names N. C. McFarland and John R. Lewis as attorneys who obtained a writ of habeas corpus for the jailed freedom seeker. Judge Wilkins heard the case and released the man. Mark Campbell McMaken’s later testimony identifies Alfred J. Anderson as concealing the freedom seeker afterward and assisting his onward escape at night. These are two different kinds of evidence: contemporary newspaper reporting for McFarland and Lewis’s legal intervention, and retrospective testimony for Anderson’s operational role. The 1859 decision separately documents McFarland’s attorney-client relationship with Anderson; it does not specify their conversations or coordination in 1854. Read the July 27, 1854 newspaper source record →
Historical context and further reading
An Ohio History Journal discussion of the 1856 election controversy → connects Anderson's voting dispute to wider arguments over racial classifications and the contested congressional election. This is secondary interpretation, distinct from the original reported decision.
Alfred J. Anderson's biography → · Noah C. McFarland research → · 1854 Hamilton case →