Autograph Letter Signed, for himself “and others”. State Prison, Charlestown, Massachusetts, July 6, 1825. 3 pp. + stampless address leaf.
To attorney Joseph L. Tillinghast, Providence, Rhode Island: “…We regret the impossibility of obtaining a reexamination of our case in the Circuit Court of the U.S… the Legislature of N.H. upon the introduction of a similar law in that state…cause[d] its rejection as an unconstitutional measure… we shall realize no effectual relief from the oppressive and unprecedented operation of this Law, but through a decision of the Sup Court of the U.S. … we respectfully solicit your services in conducting our case to that Court…As the Law and Decision now stand, those who suffered their original convictions before the passage of the Act, are equally exposed to its penalty with those who suffered each conviction subsequent to its enactment. This is conceived to be a complete subversion of the common course of Law, and is probably unparalleled in Criminal [Jurisprudence?]…it was from an impression of its injustice that Judge Putnam was prompted to release Six Convicts who had been subjected to the penalty under such construction. The retrograde and singular proceeding of the Honorable Court, since the passage of this Act, evidently shew its inconsistency, and we can only observe that we feel oppressed under its influence and will cheerfully apply all the resources that we can command and use every justifiable exertion in our power in counteracting it…Can a decision be urged immediately forward at Washington?...We have enclosed herewith the sum of Ten Dollars as a remuneration …” More than 150 years before California enacted a “three strikes law” mandating harsh prison sentences for habitual offenders, Massachusetts and 8 other states of the new American Republic passed laws aimed at “notorious rogues”, providing that second-time offenders who had served a year in prison would have 2 years at “hard labor” added to their second sentences, while “third comers” could be sentenced to an additional 7 years to life imprisonment. Hopkins, the son of a Providence lawyer, had already been convicted and imprisoned twice for petty theft when he was arrested a third time, for possession of a counterfeit bill. When his previous convictions were discovered, 7 years were added to his 2 year sentence. From prison, he wrote this letter to Joseph Tillinghast, another Providence lawyer (soon to be elected to Congress). Tillinghast did not apparently take up Hopkins case, nor did it come before the US Supreme Court. But 13 years later, after his release from prison, Hopkins was again arrested, this time for stealing a $15 coat; he was then sentenced to life imprisonment. He himself appealed his sentence with “a written argument which has seldom been equaled in acuteness and force of reasoning by one not familiar with the discipline and logic of the law.” A Boston lawyer then volunteered to handle his appeal, which took another four years, while Hopkins languished in jail. Finally, in 1842, the eminent jurist Lemuel Shaw freed Hopkins on a technicality after he had “suffered no less than twelve years of illegal imprisonment…” This letter, written at the start of this bizarre and long-forgotten case, deserves recognition as an important document of early American legal history.