Lincoln’s Law Partners
In the spring of 1837 Abraham Lincoln left
New Salem and became the law partner of John Todd Stuart in Springfield.
Construction on what is now called the Old State Capitol began that summer,
and the lawyers’ office was on the square northwest of the capitol.
Three years later the two attorneys parted ways, and Lincoln and Stephen T.
Logan began to practice law together. In 1843 they moved their law firm to
the front office on the third floor of the Tinsley Building on the square
southeast of the Old State Capitol.
The next year Lincoln and Logan ended their partnership and the future
president joined with young William H. Herndon in the same third-floor
office. Lincoln and Herndon remained law partners the rest of Lincoln’s
life.
When Lincoln went to Washington, D.C., as a member of Congress for two years
beginning in 1847, Herndon moved their practice to a smaller office in the
Tinsley Building. Lincoln continued practicing law with Herndon when he
returned from Congress, and by 1852 they had moved their offices elsewhere
on the capitol square.
Although
Lincoln didn’t practice law while he was president, he remained in
partnership with Herndon.
He promised to again practice law
with Herndon if he lived through his time as president, but that was not to
be.
The Tinsley Building
The building that houses the Lincoln-Herndon
Law Offices was constructed by Seth Tinsley in 1840 and 1841.
The Greek-Revival-style building originally stretched further to the west.
Though built for merchants to sell goods, Tinsley soon rented out space for
a federal court, a post office and lawyers’ offices. The second floor housed
a federal courtroom from 1841 until 1855. A U.S. post office was located on
the first floor from 1841 until 1849.
Tinsley
sold the building in 1850 and it eventually ended up in the hands of Clark
Smith, the husband of Mary Todd Lincoln’s sister. In 1872 he altered the
western portion of the building, leaving just what is now the
Lincoln-Herndon Law Offices Historic Site in its original state. All of the other buildings
where Lincoln had law offices have been torn down.
Lincoln the Lawyer
Though
he came from rustic beginnings, Lincoln became a respected and successful
lawyer. As you may remember from the section of Discover Springfield on the
Old State Capitol, Lincoln argued more than 400 cases in the Illinois
Supreme Court. But much of his experience in the courtroom came when he rode
on the Eighth Judicial Circuit. Twice each year Lincoln and other lawyers
would ride from county seat to county seat in east-central Illinois to argue
cases that had built up since their last visit. The process took several
months.
A lot has
been discovered about Lincoln’s law practice on the circuit and before the
Illinois Supreme Court because researchers have spent thousands of hours
looking through court records. More information about Lincoln as a lawyer
and the extensive research that has been done on his legal practice can be
found at
www.lincolnlegalpapers.org.
Unfortunately, not as much is known about Lincoln’s practice in the federal
courts. In 1855 the state was divided into two federal court districts. The
judge who was sitting in Springfield decided to become the judge in the
Northern District in Chicago. He took the federal court records from
Springfield with him, and they were lost in 1871 in the great Chicago fire.
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