LINCOLN'S PREPARATION FOR THE PRESIDENCY

IN

JUSTICE HAND

'N the public mind the fame of Lincoln has in the past rested, and will in the future largely rest, upon his conduct of the War of the Rebellion, the liberation of the black men from bondage, and the preservation of the union of the States; and by reason of the great height to which, as a patriot and statesman, he attained, the fact that he was a great lawyer when elected President has been largely overlooked; and the further fact that the training and development which enabled him to meet and solve the great questions which confronted him during the years that intervened between the firing upon Fort Sumter and the surrender at Richmond had been acquired while he was practising law in the courts of Illinois has generally been lost sight of by the people. Some of his biographers, even, have passed over, with but little note, the great work of preparation in which he was engaged in his law office and in the courts where he practised from 1837 to 1860. I quote from one of his biographers, who says, "He had had no experience in diplomacy and statesmanship. As an attorney he had dealt only with local and State statutes. He had never argued a case in the Supreme Court and he had never studied international law." And we often hear it said by his eulogists, that without training in statecraft or in the law, he was called from his humble surroundings by his fellowcountrymen to assume responsibilities which well might have deterred the wisest, the most experienced, and the bravest man who had ever been called to rule over the destinies of men or of nations. It has been said that, in some mysterious way, without any previous preparation either by study or experience, within a few weeks at most within a few months after his election as President he developed into the foremost man in modern

history. That view of the life of Lincoln is based upon a total misapprehension of his history. Lincoln, at the time he took the oath of office as President of the United States, was a great lawyer and a statesman of broad views, and while in all his undertakings for the preservation of the Union he recognized an all-wise overruling Providence, he was thoroughly trained, prepared, and amply qualified by a long course of study and by much reflection to perform the great work to which he had been called, and which preparation and reflection gave him, throughout his turbulent administration, the forbearance and wisdom which were necessary to enable him to accomplish with a brave and steadfast purpose the great undertaking to which he had consecrated his life.

It must not be supposed, however, that Lincoln reached the high position which he occupied, at once or without the most persistent and painstaking labor, which extended over many years of his eventful life. He came from good New England stock. He was licensed as an attorney, September 9, 1836, enrolled March 1, 1837, and commenced practice April 21, 1837. Prior to that time he had been a farmhand, a river boatman, a soldier in the Black Hawk War, a Deputy County Surveyor, a Postmaster, and a member of the State Legislature, and while he then had but little knowledge of books, he knew well the motives which control the actions of men.

During his professional career Lincoln had three law partners-Major John T. Stuart, Judge Stephen T. Logan, and William H. Herndon. When he entered upon the practice of the law the country was new and the people were poor. The Courts were held in log houses. There were few law books to be had and the litigation involved but little in amount -the civil cases being mainly actions of assumpit based upon promissory notes and accounts, and actions of tort for the recovery of damages for assaults, slanders, etc., and the criminal cases generally involving some form of personal violence -and most of the lawyers of that day divided their time between the law and politics.

When Lincoln, in the Spring of 1837, came to Springfield to commence his professional career he rode a borrowed horse

Executive Department,

Springfield.

February 5, 1909.

The celebrations which throughout the country are to mark the One Hundredth Anniversary of the birth of Lincoln are an expression of the esteem and affection in which his name and character are universally held by the American people.

In this memorial occasion, the people of Illinois have a special and peculiar interest. Here Lincoln passed his mature years and here he began that marvelous public career which has earned the admiration of his countrymen and the world.

It is gratifying, therefore, to witness the extensive preparations which are being made by the citizens of Illinois to observe this great day in a manner worthy of its significance in the history of our State and country and of the movement for liberty throughout the world. And I urge the citizens of Illinois to participate in these celebrations in their various communities. In Lincoln's life every citizen may find an incentive to patriotism and the earnestness with which we join in this tribute to his memory will attest the measure of our devotion to the great principles of liberty and nationality with which his name will be forever associated.

el. Aameen

Governor.

Facsimile of Governor Deneen's Proclamation

and carried his goods and chattels in a pair of saddle-bags. Lincoln remained in partnership with Major Stuart, with whom he had served in the Black Hawk War, until 1841, during the most of which time Mr. Stuart was in Congress and Mr. Lincoln in the State Legislature, and he made but little progress in a financial or professional way during that period. He, however, had during that time a number of cases of some importance in the Circuit Court and a few in this Court. The first case he had in this Court was at the December term, 1840, and was that of Scammon v. Cline, 2 Scam. 456, in which he was defeated. That case involved a question of practice in taking an appeal from a Justice of the Peace in the Circuit Court, and established no principle of any importance. At the July term, 1841, however, he did have in this Court a most important case, the decision of which was far-reaching in its results; and the manner in which he handled it, showed that the future held in store for him a great professional career. It was brought in the Tazewell County Circuit Court by the administrators of Nathan Cromwell against David Bailey, upon a promissory note made to Cromwell in his lifetime for the purchase of a negro girl named Nance, sold by Cromwell to Bailey. The plaintiff was represented by Judge Stephen T. Logan, who at the time of the War was at the zenith of his professional career as a lawyer. Judgment was rendered upon the note by Judge William Thomas, who presided at the trial, in favor of the plaintiff for four hundred thirty-one dollars, ninety-seven cents. The defendant prosecuted an appeal to this Court, where it was contended the note was without consideration and void, as it was given as the purchase price of a human being, who, the evidence showed, as it was claimed, was free and therefore not the subject of sale This Court reversed the trial Court, the opinion being written by Judge Breese (3 Scam. 71), who held, contrary to the established rule in many of the Southern States, that the presumption in Illinois was that a negro was free and not the subject of sale. Under the old rule the burden was upon the negro to establish that he was free, as the presumption obtained that a black man was a slave; under