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Main article: Abraham Lincoln

This article covers Lincoln’s life and career up to 1850.

Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809 in Nolin Creek, three miles south of Hodgenville, Kentucky to Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks. His parents were uneducated, illiterate farmers and Lincoln received possibly 18 months of formal education in his entire life. His family moved frequently and by 1830 he was living with his family in Macon County, Illinois.

In 1831 Lincoln moved by himself to New Salem, Illinois in Sangamon County. Here Lincoln worked in a local store before becoming a partner in his own store, served as an officer in the Black Hawk War, taught himself the skills needed to perform as a surveyor, and was appointed by President Andrew Jackson as the local postmaster.

While still in New Salem, Lincoln also studied the law by himself and was admitted to the Illinois bar. At the same time he became involved in local politics and, after losing his first attempt, he was elected in 1834 for the first of four consecutive two year terms in the Illinois legislature.

Moving to Springfield in 1838, Lincoln’s legal career developed to the point where he was one of the leading lawyers in the state. In the legislature, Lincoln was a leader of the Whig minority where he pursued a program based on Henry Clay’s American System. He served one term in the United States House of Representatives where he supported the Wilmot Proviso and opposed the Mexican-American War. After this term he finished out the decade by earning a living from his law practice.

Contents 1 Lincoln's early years (1809-1831) 2 New Salem (1831-1837) 2.1 Lincoln settles in 2.2 Politics and the law 3 Illinois Legislature (1834-1842) 3.1 Internal improvements 3.2 Selection of Springfield as the State Capital 3.3 Illinois State Bank 4 Prairie Lawyer 4.1 Partnerships with Stuart and Logan 4.2 Lincoln and Herndon 4.3 Case load and income 5 Family 6 State and National politics 7 Notes

[edit] Lincoln's early years (1809-1831)

When Lincoln became famous, reporters and storytellers often exaggerated the poverty and obscurity of his birth. However Lincoln's father Thomas was a respected and relatively affluent citizen of the Kentucky backcountry. He had purchased the Sinking Spring Farm in December 1808 for $200 cash and assumption of a debt.

His formal education consisted of perhaps 18 months of schooling from itinerant teachers. In effect he was self-educated, studying every book he could borrow. He mastered the Bible, Shakespeare, English history and American history, and developed a plain style that puzzled audiences more used to orotund oratory. He avoided hunting and fishing because he did not like killing animals even for food and, though unusually tall and strong, spent so much time reading that some neighbors thought he must be doing it to avoid strenuous manual labor. He was skilled with an axe—they called him the "rail splitter"—and a good wrestler.

According to historian William E. Barton there was a rumor "current in various forms in several sections of the South" that his biological father was Abraham Enloe. Barton dismisses the rumors (which began in 1861, the same year Enloe died) as "false from beginning to end."^[1][2][3][4] Enloe publicly denied this connection to Lincoln but is reported to have privately confirmed it.^[5]

His parents belonged to a Baptist church that had pulled away from a larger church because they refused to support slavery. From a very young age, Lincoln was exposed to anti-slavery sentiment. However he never joined his parents' church, or any other church, and as a youth ridiculed religion.

Three years after purchasing the property, a prior land claim filed in Hardin Circuit Court forced the Lincolns to move. Thomas continued legal action until he lost the case in 1815. Legal expenses contributed to family difficulties. In 1811, they were able to lease 30 acres (0.1 km²) of a 230 acre (0.9 km²) farm on Knob Creek a few miles away, where they then moved. In a valley of the Rolling Fork River, this was some of the best farmland in the area. At this time, Lincoln's father was a respected community member and a successful farmer and carpenter. Lincoln's earliest recollections are from this farm. In 1815, another claimant sought to eject the family from the Knob Creek farm. Frustrated with litigation and lack of security provided by Kentucky courts, Thomas decided to move to Indiana, which had been surveyed by the federal government, making land titles more secure. It is possible that these episodes motivated Abraham to later learn surveying and become an attorney.

In 1816, when Lincoln was seven years old, he and his parents moved to Spencer County, Indiana, he would state "partly on account of slavery" and partly because of economic difficulties in Kentucky. In 1818 Lincoln's mother died of "milk sickness" at age thirty four, when Abe was nine. Soon afterwards, Lincoln's father remarried to Sarah Bush Johnston. Sarah Lincoln raised young Lincoln like one of her own children. Years later she compared Lincoln to her own son, saying "Both were good boys, but I must say — both now being dead that Abe was the best boy I ever saw or ever expect to see." (Lincoln, by David Herbert Donald, 1995)

In 1830, after more economic and land-title difficulties in Indiana, the family settled on government land on a site selected by Lincoln's father in Macon County, Illinois ten miles west of Decatur, IL. Lincoln helped his father build a log cabin, clear ten acres of land, build fences, and put in a crop of corn. That autumn the entire family fell ill with the ague but all survived. The first winter was especially brutal with many locals calling it the worse they had ever experienced. In the spring as the family prepared to move to another home site in Coles County, Lincoln was ready to strike out on his own.^[6]

Lincoln, along with John Johnson and John Hanks, accepted an offer by Denton Offutt to meet him in Springfield and take a load of cargo to New Orleans. Leaving from Springfield in late April or early May of 1831 on the Sangamon River, their boat had difficulty getting past a mill dam twenty miles northwest of Springfield at the village of New Salem. Offutt was impressed by the location of New Salem and, believing that steamboats could navigate the Sangamon up to that point, made arrangements to rent the mill and open a general store. Lincoln was hired as his clerk and they both returned to New Salem after they discharged their cargo in New Orleans.^[7]

While in New Orleans, he may have witnessed a slave auction that left an indelible impression on him for the rest of his life. Whether he actually witnessed a slave auction at that time or not, living in a country with a considerable slave presence, he probably saw similar atrocities from time to time.

[edit] New Salem (1831-1837)

[edit] Lincoln settles in

The New Salem that Lincoln returned to in late July of 1831 had promise, but probably never had a population that went much above a hundred residents. The town was a commercial settlement serving several local communities rather than simply a frontier farm settlement and had the sawmill, a grist mill, a blacksmith, a cooper’s shop, a shop for carding wool, a hat maker, a general store, and a tavern spread out over more than a dozen buildings. Offutt did not open his store until September so in the interim Lincoln did whatever work he could find and quickly was accepted by the townspeople as a hardworking and cooperative young man.^[8]

Once Lincoln took his place in the store, Lincoln began to meet a rougher crowd representing the settlers and workers from the surrounding communities who came to purchase supplies or have their corn ground. Lincoln’s often scatological humor and story telling and his physical strength fit in nicely with the young and raucous element that included the so-called Clary’s Grove boys. His place with them was cemented when he engaged in a wrestling match with a local champion, Jack Armstrong. While Lincoln lost the match, he earned their respect. ^[9]

In his first winter in New Salem, Lincoln attended a meeting of the New Salem debating club. His performance here, his efficiency in managing the store, the sawmill, and the gristmill, along with his other efforts at self-improvement soon won him the respect of town leaders such as Dr. John Allen, Mentor Graham, and James Rutledge.^[10] They soon encouraged Lincoln to enter politics, feeling that he was a man capable of supporting the interests of what they all felt was a growing community and in March 1832 he announced his candidacy in a written article that Lincoln carried to the publisher of the “Sangamore Journal” in Springfield. While Lincoln was an admirer of Henry Clay and his American System, the national political situation was undergoing a change and local Illinois issues were the primary political concerns of the election. Lincoln opposed the development of a local railroad project while supporting improvements in the Sangamon River that would increase its navigability. The Second party System pitting Democrats against against Whigs had not yet formed although Lincoln would in the next few years become one of the leading Whigs in the state legislature.^[11]

By the spring of 1832 Offutt’s business had failed, and Lincoln was out of work. Around the same time, during the Black Hawk War had errupted, and Black Hawk was leading a group of 450 warriors along with 1,500 women and children to reclaim traditional tribal lands in Illinois. Lincoln joined a group of volunteers from New Salem and, upon nomination by the Clary’s Grove boys, was voted as captain of his unit. The unit never saw combat but in the late 1850s Lincoln commented that this selection by his peers was “a success which gave me more pleasure than any I have had since.” Lincoln returned from the militia after a few months and was able to campaign throughout the county before the August 6 legislative election. When the votes were counted, Lincoln finished eighth out of thirteen candidates (only the top four were elected), but he did manage to secure 277 out of the 300 votes cast in the New Salem precinct.^[12] Without a job, Lincoln and William F. Berry purchased one of the three general stores in New Salem. Both the business purchase and a later acquisition of the inventory of another store were made by signing personal notes for the balances due. By 1833 New Salem was no longer a growing community; the Sangamon River was proving to be inadequate for commercial transportation and no roads or railroads allowed easy access to other markets. In January 1833 Berry applied for a liquor license, but this added revenue was not enough to save the business.^[13]

Lincoln was again unemployed, but in May 1833, with the assistance of friends interested in keeping Lincoln in New Salem, he was appointed by President Andrew Jackson as the postmaster of New Salem. Lincoln would keep this position for three years and during this time he earned, from commissions, between $150 and $175, hardly enough to be considered a full time source of income. With the assistance of another friend, Lincoln was appointed as an assistant to county surveyor John Calhoun, a Democratic political appointment. Lincoln had no experience at surveying, but relying on borrowed copies of two works was able to teach himself the practical application of surveying techniques as well as the trigonometric basis of the process. While this income was sufficient to meet his day to day expenses, the notes from his partnership with William Berry were coming due. ^[14]

[edit] Politics and the law

Lincoln’s decision to run for the state legislature for a second time in 1834 was strongly influenced by his need to satisfy what he referred to as his “national debt” and the additional income that would come from the legislative salary. By this time Lincoln was a member of the Whig party, but his campaign strategy excluded a discussion of the national issues and concentrated on traveling throughout the district and greeting voters one on one. The leading Whig in the district was Springfield attorney John Todd Stuart who Lincoln knew from the Black Hawk War. Local Democrats, fearing Stuart much more than Lincoln, offered to withdraw two of its candidates from the field of thirteen (as in 1832 the top four vote-getters would be elected) and support Lincoln, freeing them to concentrate on defeating Stuart. Stuart was confident of his own victory and told Lincoln to go ahead and accept the Democrats endorsement. The strategy worked when on August 4 Lincoln polled 1,376 votes, the second highest candidate, while Stuart was also elected.^[15] Lincoln would be reelected in 1836, 1838, 1840, and 1844.

Stuart (who was the cousin of Lincoln’s future wife Mary Todd) was impressed with Lincoln and encouraged him to study law.^[16] Lincoln was probably familiar with courtrooms from an early age. While the family was still in Kentucky his father was frequently involved with filing deeds, serving on juries, and attending sheriff’s sales and Lincoln was likely aware of his father’s legal issues. When the family moved to Indiana, Lincoln lived within 15 miles of three different county courthouses and, attracted by the opportunity of hearing a good oral presentation, Lincoln, like many other people on the frontier, attended court sessions as a spectator. This practice continued when Lincoln moved to New Salem in Illinois.^[17] Noticing how often lawyers referred to them, Lincoln made a point of reading and studying the Revised Statutes of Indiana, the Declaration of Independence, and the United States Constitution.^[18] In the first half of 1835, frequently using law books borrowed from the firm of Stuart and Drummond, Lincoln began the study of law in earnest.^[19]

While in New Salem, Lincoln met Ann Rutledge. Historians do not agree on the significance or nature of their relationship, but according to many she was his first and perhaps most passionate love. At first they were probably just close friends, but soon they had reached an understanding that they would be married as soon as Ann had completed her studies at the Female Academy in Jacksonville. Their plans were cut short in the summer of 1835 when what was probably typhoid fever hit New Salem. Ann died on August 25, 1835, and Lincoln went through a period of extreme melancholy that lasted for months.^[20] It has been suggested that the intention to settle down with Ann Rutledge was an additional factor in Lincoln’s turn to the legal profession.^[21]

In March of 1836 Lincoln took the first step in becoming a practicing attorney when he applied to the clerk of the Sangamon County Court to register him as a man of good and moral character. After passing an oral examination by a panel of practicing attorneys Lincoln received his law license on September 9, 1836 and in April of 1837 he was enrolled to practice before the Supreme Court of Illinois. In April of 1837 he moved to Springfield where he went into partnership with Stuart.^[22]

[edit] Illinois Legislature (1834-1842)

Lincoln’s first session in the Illinois legislature ran from December 31, 1834 to February 13, 1835. In preparation for attending this session, Lincoln borrowed $200 from Coleman Smoot, one of the richest men in the county, $60 of which were spent on his first suit of clothes. Lincoln was the second youngest legislator in this term and one of 36 out of 55 who was a first time attendee. While he was at first primarily an observer, even in this session his colleagues recognized his skill at drafting legislation and his mastery of “the technical language of the law” and asked Lincoln to draft bills for them.^[23]

When Lincoln announced his bid for reelection in June 1836, he needed to address the controversial issue of expanded suffrage. Democrats were running on a program advocating universal suffrage for white males residing in the state for at least six months. They hoped to bring Irish immigrants, attracted to the state because of the various canal projects, onto the voting rolls as Democrats. Lincoln stood by the traditional Whig position that voting should be limited to property owners, advocating that “all sharing the privileges of government, who assist in bearing its burdens”.^[24]

Lincoln was reelected on August 1, 1836 as the top vote getter in the Sangamon delegation. This delegation of two senators and seven representatives was nicknamed the “Long Nine” because all of them were above average height. Despite being the second youngest of the group, Lincoln was seen as their leader as well as the floor leader of the Whig minority. The Long Nine’s primary agenda was the relocation of the state capital from Vandalia to Springfield and a vigorous internal improvements program for Illinois.^[25]

Lincoln’s influence within the legislature and within his party would continue to grow as he was reelected for two subsequent terms in 1838 and 1840. By the 1838-39 session Lincoln served on at least fourteen legislative committees while working behind the scenes to manage the program of the Whig minority.^[26]

[edit] Internal improvements

The Illinois governor called for a special session of the legislature in the winter of 1835-36 in order to finance a canal connecting the Illinois and Chicago Rivers that would lead to Lake Michigan connecting to the Mississippi River. The proposal was that the state would back a $500,000 loan to finance the construction. Lincoln voted for the commitment which passed 28-27 (Donald pg. 58-59)

Lincoln had always supported the American System vision of Henry Clay that saw a prosperous America supported by a well developed network of roads, canals, and, later, railroads. However he favored raising the money to do this from the sale of public lands by the Federal government, eliminating interest expenses. Otherwise, private capital should bear the cost alone. Fearing that Illinois would fall behind other states in economic development, Lincoln shifted his position to allow the state to provide the necessary support for private developers.^[27]

In the next session, newly elected Stephen Douglas went even further and proposed a comprehensive $10,000,000 state loan program which Lincoln supported. However, the Panic of 1837 effectively destroyed any possibility of a significant internal improvements plan in Illinois. The State was “littered with unfinished roads and partially dug canals” and the value of state bonds fell and interest alone was eight times the total state revenue. It took Illinois forty years to pay off the debt.^[28]

Lincoln had a couple of ideas to salvage the program. First he proposed that the state buy public lands at a discount from the federal government and then sell it to new settlers at a profit. The federal government rejected this. Next he proposed a graduated land tax that would have passed more of the tax burden to the owners of the most valuable land, but the majority of the legislators were unwilling to commit any further state funds to the internal improvement projects as the depression in the state continued through 1839.^[29]

[edit] Selection of Springfield as the State Capital

In the 1830s illinois welcomed more and more migrants, many from New York and New England. These settlers tended to move into the northern and central parts of the state. Vandalia, located in the more stagnant southern section, seemed more and more unsuited to serve as the state capital. Springfield, in Sangamon County, was “strategically located in central Illinois” and was already growing “in population and refinement”.^[30]

Those opposed to the relocation to Springfield first attempted to weaken the influence of the Sagamon delegation by dividing the rather large county into two separate counties, but Lincoln was instrumental in first amending, and then killing in his own committee, this proposal. Throughout the lengthy debate “Lincoln’s political skills were repeatedly tested”. Lincoln was finally successful when the legislature accepted his requirements that the chosen city would be required to contribute $50,000 and 2 acres of land for the construction of a new capital building -- only Springfield could comfortably meet these requirements. The final action was tabled twice, but Lincoln resurrected it by finding acceptable amendments to draw additional support, including one that would have allowed reconsideration in the next session. As other locations were voted down, Springfiled was selected by a 46-37 vote on February 28, 1837 and reconsideration efforts were defeated, under Lincoln’s leadership, in the 1838-39 sessions.^[31] Orville Browning, who would later become a close Lincoln friend and confidant, guided the legislation through the Senate with the move to become effective in 1839.^[32]

[edit] Illinois State Bank

Lincoln, like Henry Clay, favored federal control over the nation’s banking system, but by 1835 President Jackson had effectively killed the Bank of the United States. In 1835 Lincoln crossed party lines to vote with pro-bank Democrats in the chartering of the Illinois State Bank. As in the internal improvements debates, Lincoln searched for the best available alternative to his first choice.^[33] Lincoln felt, according to historian and Lincoln biographer Richard Carwardine,:

A well-regulated bank would provide a sound, elastic currency, protecting the public against the extreme prescriptions of the hard-money men on one side and the paper inflationists on the other; it would be a safe depository for public funds and provide the credit mechanisms needed to sustain state improvements; it would bring an end to extortionate money-lending.^[34]

Opponents of the bank initiated an investigation designed to close the bank in the 1836-37 session of the legislature. On January 11, 1837 Lincoln made his first major legislative speech supporting the bank and attacking its opponents. In the speech Lincoln condemned "that lawless and mobocratic spirit ... which is already abroad in the land, and is spreading with rapid and fearful impetuosity, to the ultimate overthrow of every institution, or even moral principle, in which persons and property have hitherto found security.”^[35]

Blaming the opposition entirely on the political class, calling politicians “at least one long step removed from honest men,”^[36], Lincoln argued:

I make the assertion boldly, and without fear of contradiction, that no man, who does not hold an office, or does not aspire to one, has ever found any fault of the Bank. It has doubled the prices of the products of their farms, and filled their pockets with a sound circulating medium, and they are all well pleased with its operations.^[37]

Westerners in the Jacksonian Era were generally skeptical of all banks and this was aggravated after the Panic of 1837 when the Illinois Bank suspended specie payments. Lincoln still defended the bank but the bank was too tied in to the failing credit system, leading to devalued currency and loan foreclosures, to generate much political support.^[38]

In 1839 Democrats led another investigation of the Bank, with Lincoln being a Whig representative on the investigating committee. Lincoln was instrumental in the committee’s conclusion that the suspension of specie payment was related to uncontrollable economic conditions rather than “any organic defects of the institutions themselves.” However the legislation allowing the suspension of specie payments was set to expire at the end of December 1840, and Democrats wanted to adjourn without further extending it. In an attempt to avoid a quorum on adjournment, Lincoln and several others jumped out of a first story window, but the Speaker counted them as present and “the bank was killed.”^[39]

By 1841 Lincoln was less supportive of the bank, although he would continue to make speeches around the state supporting it. Lincoln had concluded, “If there was to be this continual warfare against the Institutions of the State ... the sooner it was brought to an end the better.”^[40]

[edit] Prairie Lawyer

[edit] Partnerships with Stuart and Logan

From the start of the law partnership with Stuart Lincoln handled most of the firms clients as Stuart was primarily concerned with politics and election to the United States House of Representatives. The business always had as many clients as it could handle. Most fees were five dollars with the common range being between two and a half dollars and ten dollars. Lincoln quickly realized that he was equal in ability and effectiveness to most other attorneys, whether they were self-taught like Lincoln or had studied with a more experienced lawyer. When Stuart was elected and went to Congress in November 1839 Lincoln ran the practice entirely on his own. Lincoln, like Stuart, considered his legal career as simply a catalyst to his political ambitions.^[41]

By 1840 Lincoln was drawing $1,000 annually from the law practice along with his salary as a legislator. However when Stuart was reelected to Congress, Lincoln was no longer content to carry the entire load, and in April 1841 he entered into a new partnership with Stephen A. Logan. Logan was nine years older than Lincoln, the leading attorney in Sangamon County, and a former commonwealth’s attorney in Kentucky before moving to Illinois. Logan saw Lincoln as a needed complement to his practice, recognizing that Lincoln’s effectiveness with juries stood in contrast to his own weakness in that area .Once again clients were plentiful for the firm, although Lincoln received one-third of the firm’s proceeds rather than the even split he had enjoyed with Stuart.^[42]

Lincoln’s association with Logan was a learning experience. Lincoln learned from Logan some of the finer points of law and the importance of proper and detailed case research and case preparation. Logan’s written pleadings were precise and on point, and Lincoln used them as his model. However much of Lincoln’s development was still self taught. Historian David Donald wrote that Logan taught him that “there was more to law than common sense and simple equity” and Lincoln’s study began to focus on “procedures and precedents.” Lincoln did not during this time study law books, but he did spend “night after night in the Supreme Court Library, searching out precedents that applied to the cases he was working on.” Lincooln stated, “I love to dig up the question by the roots and hold it up and dry it before the fires of the mind.” His written briefs, especially important in Illinois Supreme Court cases, were prepared in great details with precedents noted that often went back to the origins of English common law. Lincoln’s growing skills were reflective as his appearances before the Supreme Court increased and would also serve him well in his political career. By the time he went to Washington in 1861 he had appeared over three hundred times before this court. Lincoln biographer Stephen B. Oates wrote, “It was here that he earned his reputation as a lawyer’s lawyer, adept at meticulous preparation and cogent argument.”^[43]

[edit] Lincoln and Herndon

Lincoln’s partnership with Logan was dissolved in the fall of 1844 when Logan decided to enter into a partnership with his son. Lincoln, who probably could have had his choice of more established attorneys, was tired of being the junior partner and elected to enter into partnership with William Herndon who had been reading law in the offices of Logan and Lincoln. Herndon, like Lincoln was an active Whig but the party in Illinois at that time was split into two factions. Lincoln already was connected to the older, “silk stocking” element of the party through his marriage, and Herndon was one of the leaders of the younger, more populist portion of the party. The active Lincoln- Herndon partnership would continue through Lincoln’s election, and Lincoln was still a partner of record until his death.^[44]

Prior to his partnership with Herndon, Lincoln had not regularly attended court in neighboring communities. This changed as Lincoln became one of the most active regulars on the circuit through 1854, interrupted only by his two year stint in the United States Congress. The Eighth Circuit covered 11,000 square miles. Each spring and fall Lincoln would transverse the district for nine to ten weeks at a time. Lincoln would net around $150 for each ten week circuit. On the road the lawyers and judges would live in cheap hotels, with two lawyers to each bed and six or eight to each room.^[45]

On the circuit Lincoln’s reputation for integrity and fairness led to him being in high demand both from clients and local attorneys who needed assistance. It was while riding the circuit that he picked up one of his lasting nicknames, “Honest Abe.” The clients he represented, the men he rode the circuit with, and the lawyers he met in the towns he traveled to became some of Lincoln’s most loyal supporters.^[46] . One of these supporters wasDavid Davis, a fellow Whig who, like Lincoln, promoted nationalist economic programs and opposed slavery without actually becoming an abolitionist. Davis joined the circuit in 1848 as a judge and would occasionally appoint Lincoln to fill in for him. They traveled the circuit for 11 years and Lincoln would eventually appoint him to the United States Supreme Court.^[47] Another close associate was Ward Hill Lamon, a local attorney in Danville, Illinois. Lamon was the only local attorney that Lincoln actually had a formal working agreement with, and he would accompany Lincoln to Washington in 1861.^[48]

[edit] Case load and income

Unlike many other attorneys on the circuit, Lincoln did not supplement his income by engaging in real estate speculation or operating a business or a farm. His income was generally what he earned practicing law. In the 1840s this amounted to $1,500 to $2,500 a year, increasing to $3,000 in the early 1850s and $5,000 by the mid 1850s.^[49]

Criminal law always made up the smallest portion of Lincoln and Herndon’s case work. In 1850 the firm was involved in 18% of the cases on the Sangamon County Circuit and by 1853 this had grown to 33%. On his return from his single term in the United States House of Representatives Lincoln turned down the offer of a partnership in a Chicago law firm.< ref>Donald pg. 142-145</ref> Based strictly on the volume of cases, Lincoln was ‘undoubtedly one of the outstanding lawyers of central Illinois.” In the Federal courts Lincoln was also in demand, bringing him important retainers from cases in the United States Northern District Court in Chicago.^[50]

During his law career Lincoln was involved in at least two cases involving slavery. In an 1841 state Supreme Court case, Bailey v. Cromwell Lincoln successfully prevented the sale of a woman who was alleged to be a slave, making the argument that in the State of Illinois “the presumption of law was … that every person was free, without regard to color.” In an 1847 Lincoln unsuccessfully represented Robert Matson who was trying to recover a fugitive slave who had escaped after Matson brought him to Illinois, claiming that the right of transit should be respected by Illinois. Donald notes, “Neither the Matson case nor the Cromwell case should be taken as an indication of Lincoln’s views on slavery; his business was law, not morality.”^[51]

Railroads became an important economic force in Illinois in the 1850s. As they expanded they created a myriad of legal issues regarding “charters and franchises; problems relating to right-of- way; problems concerning evaluation and taxation; problems relating to the duties of common carriers and the rights of passengers; problems concerning merger, consolidation, and receivership.” Lincoln and other attorneys would soon find that railroad litigation was a major source of income. Like the slave cases, sometimes Lincoln would represent the railroads and sometimes he would represent their adversaries. He had no legal or political agenda that was reflected in his choice of clients. Herndon referred to Lincoln as “purely and entirely a case lawyer.”^[52]

[edit] Family

On November 4, 1842 Lincoln married Mary Todd, daughter of a prominent slave-owning family from Kentucky. The couple had four sons. Robert Todd Lincoln was born in Springfield, Illinois on 1 August 1843. Their only child to survive into adulthood, young Robert attended Phillips Exeter Academy and Harvard College. Robert died on 26 July 1926, in Manchester, Vermont.

The other Lincoln children were born in Springfield, Illinois, and died either during childhood or their teen years. Edward Baker Lincoln was born on 10 March 1846, and died on 1 February, 1850, also in Springfield. William Wallace Lincoln was born on 21 December 1850, and died on 20 February 1862 in Washington, D.C., during Pres. Lincoln's first term. Thomas "Tad" Lincoln was born on 4 April 1853, and died on 16 July 1871 in Chicago, Illinois.

Four of his wife's brothers fought for the Confederacy, with one wounded and another killed in action. Lieutenant David H. Todd, a half-brother of Mary Todd Lincoln, served as commandant of the Libby Prison camp during the war.

[edit] State and National politics

In 1846 Lincoln was elected to one term in the U.S. House of Representatives. A staunch Whig, Lincoln often referred to party leader Henry Clay as his political idol. As a freshman House member, Lincoln was not a particularly powerful or influential figure in Congress. He used his office as an opportunity to speak out against the war with Mexico, which he attributed to President Polk's desire for "military glory — that attractive rainbow, that rises in showers of blood."

Lincoln was a key early supporter of Zachary Taylor's candidacy for the 1848 Whig Presidential nomination. When Lincoln's term ended, the incoming Taylor administration offered him the governorship of remote Oregon Territory. Acceptance would end his career in the fast-growing state of Illinois, so he declined. Returning instead to Springfield, Illinois he turned most of his energies to making a living at the bar, which involved extensive travel on horseback from county to county.

A Whig and an admirer of party leader Henry Clay, Lincoln was elected to a term in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1846. As a freshman House member, he was not a particularly powerful or influential figure. He spoke out against the Mexican-American War, which he attributed to President Polk's desire for "military glory — that attractive rainbow, that rises in showers of blood." He also challenged the President's claims regarding the Texas boundary and offered Spot Resolutions demanding to know on what "spot" on US soil that blood was first spilt.^[53] In January of 1848, he was among the 82 Whigs who defeated 81 Democrats in a procedural vote on an amendment to send a routine resolution back to committee with instructions to add the words "a war unnecessarily and unconstitutionally begun by the President of the United States." The amendment passed, but the bill never reemerged from committee and was never finally voted upon.^[54]

Lincoln later damaged his political reputation with a speech in which he declared, "God of Heaven has forgotten to defend the weak and innocent, and permitted the strong band of murderers and demons from hell to kill men, women, and children, and lay waste and pillage the land of the just." Two weeks later, President Polk sent a peace treaty to Congress. While no one in Washington paid any attention to Lincoln, the Democrats orchestrated angry outbursts from across his district, where the war was popular and many had volunteered. In Morgan County, resolutions were adopted in fervent support of the war and in wrathful denunciation of the "treasonable assaults of guerrillas at home; party demagogues; slanderers of the President; defenders of the butchery at the Alamo; traducers of the heroism at San Jacinto".^[55]

Warned by his law partner, William Herndon, that the damage was mounting and irreparable, Lincoln decided not to run for reelection. In fact, in 1848 he campaigned vigorously for Zachary Taylor, the successful general whose atrocities he had denounced in January. Regardless, his statements were not easily forgotten, and would haunt him during the Civil War. These statements were also held against him when he applied for a position in the new Taylor administration. Instead, Taylor's people offered Lincoln various positions in the remote Oregon Territory, primarily the governorship. Acceptance of this offer would have ended his career in the rapidly growing state of Illinois, so Lincoln declined the position. Returning to Springfield, Lincoln gave up politics for several years and turned his energies to his law practice. During this time, he made many trips on horseback between various counties' courthouses.^[56]

[edit] Notes