Lincoln (134 page)

98
“ambition in the law”:
“Stephen T. Logan Talks About Lincoln,” p. 3.

99
“who heard him”:
Wilson,
Uncollected Works,
2:256–258; John P. Frank,
Lincoln as a Lawyer
(Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1961), p. 13.

99
“it as anybody”:
Herndon’s opinions are in his lecture “Analysis of the Character of Abraham Lincoln,”
Abraham Lincoln Quarterly
1 (Dec. 1941): 431, and in his monograph, “Lincoln as
Lawyer Politician and Statesman,” HWC; Logan’s are in “Stephen T. Logan Talks About Lincoln,” p. 5.’

100
“for this age”: Maus
v.
Worthing,
4 Ill. 26 (1841). See the able summary in John Long,
The Law of Illinois,
vol. 1,
Lincoln’s Cases Before the Illinois Supreme Court from His Entry into the Practice of Law Until His Entry into Congress
(Shiloh, Ill.: Illinois Co., 1993), pp. 3–10.

100
“know any thing”:
WHH, “Lincoln as Lawyer Politician and Statesman,” HWC.

100
three hundred cases:
All figures concerning the extent of Lincoln’s law practice have to be provisional, pending the completion of the work of the indefatigable researchers connected with the Lincoln Legal Papers. Dan W. Bannister’s thorough and informed
Lincoln and the Illinois Supreme Court
(Springfield, privately printed, 1995), appeared too late for me to consult it in preparing my account of Lincoln’s appellate practice.

100
“and in friendship”:
“Stephen T. Logan Talks About Lincoln,” p. 5.

100
until March 1845:
Angle, “Where Lincoln Practiced Law,” pp. 29–30.

100
a new partner:
The following paragraphs are drawn from Donald,
Lincoln’s Herndon,
pp. 18–21.

101
this new partner:
Ibid., chap. 4.

102
“to jump far”:
WHH, “Lincoln as Lawyer Politician and Statesman,” HWC.

102
“a few other books”:
Angle, “Where Lincoln Practiced Law,” p. 32.

102
“things in order”:
Donald,
Lincoln’s Herndon,
pp. 21–22.

103
“his memorandum-book”:
Duff, A
Lincoln,
p. 117.

103
“person is illegal”: Bailey
v.
Cromwell,
4 Ill. 71 (1841). See also the summary in Long,
The Law of Illinois,
pp. 11–12. See also W. H. Williamson, “Lincoln and Black Nance,” typescript in the Lincoln Legal Papers, which points out that Lincoln never represented Nance and did not win freedom for her; he simply demonstrated that her alleged owner
“could not prove
that she was a slave.” The Northwest Ordinance forbade the introduction of slavery into the territory that later became the state of Illinois, but it did not emancipate slaves who were already residing in the territory. Nor did the Constitution of Illinois. Moreover—as the Matson case, discussed just below, reveals—the law did not prevent slave owners from bringing their chattels temporarily into the state. The 1840 United States census showed 331 slaves still living in Illinois.

103
“privately by him”:
The file on
Matson
v.
Rutherford
in the Lincoln Legal Papers contains much valuable information. For the account of O. B. Ficklin, one of the attorneys who opposed Lincoln and Linder, see “A Pioneer Lawyer,”
Tuscola Review,
Sept. 7, 1922 (in broadside collection, ISHL). See also Anton-Hermann Chroust, “Abraham Lincoln Argues a Pro-Slavery Case,”
American Journal of Legal History
5 (Oct. 1961): 299–308, and Jesse W. Weik, “Lincoln and the Matson Negroes,”
Arena
17 (Apr. 1897): 752–758.

104
“and butter involved”: CW,
10:19.

104
“if we fail”: CW,
1:305.

104
“case, if convenient”: CW,
1:345.

104
to do so:
For these cases, see William H. Townsend,
Lincoln the Litigant
(Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1925), pp. 7–30.

104
money was received:
Donald,
Lincoln’s Herndon,
p. 33. The firm did have a partnership account at the Springfield Marine & Fire Insurance Co. (which performed the functions of a bank after the failure of the State Bank of Illinois), but it was used simply for the collection of drafts. Duff, A
Lincoln,
pp. 114–115.

104
riders of the circuit:
Paul M. Angle, “Abraham Lincoln: Circuit Lawyer,”
Lincoln Centennial
Association Papers, 1928
(Springfield, Ill: Lincoln Centennial Association, 1928), pp. 19–41; Benjamin P. Thomas, “The Eighth Judicial Circuit,”
Bulletin of the Abraham Lincoln Association,
no. 40 (September 1935): 1–9.

105
a nondescript buggy:
Wayne C. Temple, “Lincoln Rides the Circuit,”
LH
62 (1960): 139–143.

105
“two under them
”: William H. Herndon,
A Letter... to Isaac N. Arnold
(1937).

105
“coffee
—
pretty mean”:
Duff, A
Lincoln,
p. 198.

105
“a small kind”:
WHH to Mrs. Leonard Swett, Feb. 22, 1890, Leonard Swett MSS, ISHL.

105
prominent local attorneys:
Angle, “Abraham Lincoln: Circuit Lawyer,” remains the best evaluation.

106
“and hurrahing exercise”:
Herndon,
A Letter... to Isaac N. Arnold.

106
visit to Springfield: Day by Day,
1:205. Charles Strozier (
Lincoln’s Quest for Union,
pp. 116–117) has calculated that Lincoln was absent from home for ten to fourteen weeks a year during the 1840s.

106
on the circuit:
Paul M. Angle reckoned that Lincoln in 1853 earned $325 in two weeks on the circuit. “Abraham Lincoln: Circuit Lawyer,” pp. 36–37. Harry E. Pratt, using anecdotal evidence, arrived at a different figure. Pratt,
Personal Finances,
pp. 37–38.

106
“and the swine”:
Harry E. Pratt, ed.,
Illinois as Lincoln Knew It: A Boston Reporter’s Record of a
Trip in 1847
(Springfield, Ill: 1938), pp. 33–34.

107
ease the situation:
I am grateful to Mr. Norman Hellmers, superintendent of the Lincoln National Home Site, for a careful drawing of the Abraham Lincoln cottage, 1846–1854, showing the extent of these changes.

107
had to labor:
Baker,
Mary Todd Lincoln,
is the only biography that recognizes how much, and how hard, Mary Lincoln had to work. See esp. pp. 109–112. The reference to the “wild Irish” is on p. 107.

107
and corset lace:
Harry E. Pratt, ed., “The Lincolns Go Shopping,”
JISHS
48 (1955): 65–81.

108
“love him better”:
WHH, interview with James Gourley, copy, Lamon MSS, HEH.

108
piece of firewood: Hidden Lincoln,
p. 141. For other, similar anecdotes, see
Herndon’s Lincoln,
3:425–431.

108
“arms are long”: Herndon’s Lincoln,
2:296.

109
out on the circuit:
Gibson W. Harris to AL, Nov. 7, 1860, Lincoln MSS, LC; Frederick T. Hill,
Lincoln the Lawyer
(New York: Century Co., 1906), p. 164n. See also John S. Goff,
Robert Todd Lincoln: A Man in His Own Right
(Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1969), and Ruth P. Randall,
Lincoln’s Sons
(Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1955).

109
“to its parents”:
Randall,
Mary Lincoln,
p. 101.

109
“than ever after”: CW,
1:391.

109
“a few days”:
Mary Lincoln to My Dear Friend, July 23; 1853, photostat, ISHL.

109
“crmble to dust”:
For Todd’s political career, see William H. Townsend,
Lincoln and the
Bluegrass
(Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1955); for Thomas Lincoln’s political views, see Mark E. Neely, Jr.,
The Abraham Lincoln Encyclopedia
(New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1982), p. 188.

109
“of a statesman”: CW,
3:29.

109
“whig in politics”: CW,
3:512.

110
“it was so”: CW,
1:313, 334.

110
“any good government”: CW,
1:407–416 (quotations from pp. 408, 412, 415). For a more positive view of these ruminations on the tariff, together with a fine account of what Lincoln read on the subject, see Boritt,
Lincoln and the American Dream,
chap. 9.

110
“condition to all”: CW,
3:478–479, 468. The quoted words are from an 1859 speech, but Lincoln’s views did not change.

110
“self made man”:
Irvin G. Wyllie,
The Self Made Man in America
(New York: Free Press, 1954), pp. 9–10.

111
“go very much”: CW,
1:306–307.

111
“I always was”:
WHH, interview with James H. Matheny, May 3, 1866, HWC.

111
“fighting a duel”: CW,
1:320.

112
“own dear ‘gal’
”.:
CW,
1:319.

112
would succeed Baker:
The following pages depend heavily on Donald W. Riddle,
Lincoln Runs for Congress
(New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1948).

112
“the common enemy”: CW,
1:315.

112
“present Whig tariff”: CW,
1:333; Anson G. Henry to John J. Hardin, Mar. 25, 1844, Hardin MSS, Chicago Historical Society.

113
“as a speaker”:
David Davis to Will P. Walker, May 4, 1844, photostat, Davis MSS, Chicago Historical Society.