Lincoln in Court Abraham Lincoln learned the law by borrowing books and training informally with practicing lawyers. He was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1836 and practiced law there for 25 years.
He rigorously studied by reading a large selection of previous legal cases and law books, and in 1836, at the young age of 25, he obtained his law license. He began by writing legal forms and doing simple cases, but he became a partner with a local lawyer named John T. Stuart in 1837.
IllinoisAbraham Lincoln practiced law for nearly twenty-five years in the Illinois courts. Other than part-time service in the Illinois legislature and the United States Congress, law was his full-time occupation. Lincoln handled cases in almost all court levels: justice of the peace, county, circuit, appellate, and federal.
Abraham Lincoln was a self taught lawyer. In September 1836 he was admitted to the bar, allowing him to practice law in Illinois. In the spring of 1837 he moved to Springfield, a city of 1,500 residents, where John T. Stuart took him as a junior partner.
One of Lincoln's greatest strengths as a lawyer was to take complex cases, parse out the key points, and simplify it in court. This and his talent for offering persuasive arguments while reading the mood of the jury was of great benefit to him during his law career.
His path to the courtroom was hindered by many obstacles, distractions, and doubts. He overcame his personal hurdles through not only perseverance and talent, but with the backing of an incredible assembly of supporters which enabled him, and encouraged him, to become Abraham Lincoln)the lawyer.
honest AbeHe earned a reputation for honesty while working the circuit as a lawyer. As Richard Carwardine writes in his Lincoln biography, “The nickname 'honest Abe' was not the fabrication of party publicists but a mark of the universal respect in which he was held as a lawyer of scrupulous honesty.
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In March 1830, 21-year-old Lincoln joined his extended family in a move to Illinois. After helping his father establish a farm in Macon County, Illinois, Lincoln set out on his own in the spring of 1831.
John Quincy AdamsJohn Quincy Adams was the first lawyer-president to argue a U.S. Supreme Court case both before and after his presidency. 8. At least nine lawyer-presidents also served as governor of their respective states.
Among his many jobs were those of railsplitter, boatman, manual laborer, store clerk, soldier, store owner, election clerk, postmaster, surveyor, state legislator, lawyer, Congressman, and President of the United States. You can see Lincoln's many occupations--in chonological order--on the Lincoln Timeline.
Lincoln believed slavery should not spread, while Douglas believed each state should decide the matter for itself.
To honor both Lincoln’s noble profession — July was lawyer month at the Cottage — and our 10-year anniversary, we created a list of Ten Things You Might Not Have Known about Lincoln the Lawyer.
Lincoln’s career in law began as a hobby of visiting courthouses to hear examples of great oratory discourse. Before long he began reading law books and in 1836 he passed an oral exam conducted by a panel of lawyers and received his law license. Although he was often criticized for a lack of technical knowledge, Lincoln pursued his cases with diligence, for which he was often rewarded. Read more about Lincoln’s training as a lawyer.
In 1858, Lincoln successfully defended his client who had been accused of murder in one of his most famous trials, dubbed the Almanac Trial. The key witness’s testimony relied on his explanation that he had seen the murder because of the light from the full moon. Lincoln was able to refute the claim through reference to a farmers almanac that showed there was a new moon the night of the murder, and thus insufficient light by which the witness could have seen the alleged murderer.
Lincoln worked his most profitable case while representing Illinois Central Railroad i n 1856 who paid him $5,000. McLean County had seized railroad land to sell after refusing to recognize the state’s authority to exempt the company from county taxes.
1) Lincoln represented a slave owner. In October 1847 Robert Matson brought several enslaved people from Kentucky to work on his farm in Illinois, including Jane Bryant and her four children. Also working at the farm was freedman Anthony Bryant, Jane’s husband. When threatened with the children being sold, the Bryants fled Matson’s farm ...
Blake Harris is a Museum Program Associate at President Lincoln’s Cottage. Categories: Archive, Newsletter.
The South was outraged by Lincoln's election, and in response secessionists implemented plans to leave the Union before he took office in March 1861. On December 20, 1860, South Carolina took the lead by adopting an ordinance of secession; by February 1, 1861, Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas followed. Six of these states declared themselves to be …
In 1832, Lincoln joined with a partner, Denton Offutt, in the purchase of a general store on credit in New Salem. Although the economy was booming, the business struggled and Lincoln eventually sold his share. That March he entered politics, running for the Illinois General Assembly, advocating navigational improvements on the Sangamon River. He could draw crowds as a raconteur, but he lacked the requisite formal education, powerful friends, and money, and lost th…