Abraham Lincoln

With Malice toward none And Charity for all

Always read the Bible: Code of conduct

Fair and kindly: trusted “He must understand everything.” Taught himself law

Highly principled

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Walked four miles

Surveyor: respected for his fairness and honesty

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“...incapable of duplicity.”

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Never smoked, chewed, gambled, or drank

Genuine Regard for Others

 Elected captain of his militia at age 23  Elected to Illinois State Legislature at age 25 “ My politics are short and sweet like the old woman’s dance.” The leading Whig in Illinois Legislature at 28

 Spent years campaigning for others

The Young Lawyer

“Discourage litigation” “Some legal rights are moral wrongs” “Worst lawyer when client was guilty”

The Impoverished Lawyer Often charged nothing

Veteran’s widow Shirt sleeve Court in a corn field

Not known to sue for his fees “You must think I’m a high priced man. Fifteen dollars is enough for the job. I send you a receipt for fifteen dollars and return you a ten-dollar bill.”

Quickly paid over collected debts to his clients

The Prairie Lawyer •5,173 cases

•3,170 debt and creditor •400+ appeals before the Illinois Supreme Court •“A superb trial lawyer” •Log cabins and corn fields

LincoLn’s Lawyer coLLeagues “In politics he would never mislead” “Lincoln was the most honest man they had ever known” “He could not reason falsely; that if he attempted it he failed; and that, at the bar, when he thought he was wrong he was the weakest lawyer they ever knew.”

“At trial, he seldom objected like most attorneys. Lincoln ‘reckoned’ that it would be fair to let a piece of evidence in that his opponent could not completely prove. If he did object, and the court overruled him, Lincoln would say that he reckoned that he must be wrong. The opposition failed to realize that Lincoln was giving away points he could not win. Instead, he would focus on carrying the main point, and with it the case. Any man who took Lincoln for a simple-minded man would very soon wake up with his back in a ditch.” Leonard Swett

“The Lawyer who was never Known To Lie.” The Minor Act “My hands are dirty...” $2.50 settlement

“i’LL noT TaKe your case…” “Yes, there is no reasonable doubt that I can [win] your case for you, I can set a whole neighborhood at loggerheads; I can distress a widowed mother and her six fatherless children, and thereby get for you six hundred dollars which rightly belong, it appears to me, as much to them as it does to you. I shall not take your case, but I will give you a little advice for nothing. You seem a sprightly, energetic man. I would advise you to try your hand at making six hundred dollars in some other way.”[1] [1] The Wit and Wisdom of Abraham Lincoln, Edited by Anthony Gross, p 24

Sense of Humor State Legislature and Congress

Center of attention Jovial nature “As the dutch justice said when he married folks, ‘Now vere ish me hundred tollers.’”

LincoLn’s PoLiTics Minority Whig Party

Campaigned for others Three tries for Congress: Elected 1847-1849

Defeated by Stephen A. Douglas for the Senate The New Republican Party

10 year gap

LincoLn’s sTraTegy A powerful orator (Lost Speech) “…give offense to no one.” “Leave them in a mood to come to us if they shall be compelled to give up their first [choice].” Team of Rivals, p. 9

“…no clogs, no embarrassments; an honest man with due respect for the rights of the South.” Chicago Press and Tribune May 17, 1860

Loses 1858 Senate race Forgives Crittendon a Whig for supporting Douglas. “You have done nothing dishonorable.”

Crittendon and other opponents support Lincoln’s Presidential campaign “The condemned close all avenues to his heart and mind.”

“reverence

for The Law”

“Let reverence for the laws become the political religion of the nations…” Not an abolitionist: Constitution allowed for slavery War powers: The President can confiscate property

Reverence for the law Lincoln would not oppose slavery in the Southern states because the Constitution upheld it. But he was relentless in his opposition to its spreading.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act 1854 The Dred Scott Decision 1857

“LeT us judge noT ThaT we be noT judged” Lincoln counseled to not judge the slaveholder He spoke with compassion for the alcoholic Pressed for a year that the North was to forgive and include the vanquished South

With Malice toward none and Charity for all

Edwin Stanton

With Malice toward none and Charity for all Salmon Chase

With Malice toward none and Charity for all William E. McClellan

Antietam

A House divided... “This nation cannot survive half slave and half free.” Cost him the election

A most remarkable assent to the White House

Three-fifths compromise Philadelphia Convention 1787

Allocation of seats in the House of Representatives Maine vs. South Carolina Black laws: Black people cannot: cross state boundaries, serve on juries, sue or press charges against a white man, vote, hold office They are property

First Inaugural Address

“I have no purpose, directly or indirectly to interfere with the institution of slavery in the states where it exists.” “I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have inclination to do so.” War powers

“"I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me. God alone can claim it” Commander in chief May confiscate property if nation is in peril States in rebellion had removed themselves from the Union of United States Slaves were property Armed 180,000 Turned the tide of the war

“god has ruLed in favor of The sLave.”

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“…all the moral grandeur of a bill of lading.”

The Bill of lading Constitution: can only free slaves in states outside of the United States Judge Roger Taney and four justices: majority for the Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857) “A bill of lading was the key legal guarantee for the delivery of goods…” Paul Finkelman, ABA JOURNAL, Feb. 2009 Federal Armies now brought the power of the Proclamation with them and their military success in the South

Lincoln defends emancipation “You say you will not fight to free the negroes. Some of them seem willing to fight for you; but, no matter. Fight you, then exclusively to save the Union.” “There will be some black men who can remember that, with silent tongue, and clenched teeth, and steady eye, and well-poised bayonet, they helped mankind on to this great consummation, while, I fear, there will be some white ones unable to forget that, with malignant heart, and deceitful speech, they have strove to hinder it.”

“And when American slavery would finally be ended, it would be done altogether within the Constitution and the law, by the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, recommended to the Republican Convention of 1864 by President Lincoln, finally passed by the Thirty-eighth Congress under the urging and through the political maneuvering of President Lincoln, joyfully signed by President Lincoln after congress passed it (although Presidents don’t need to sign amendments), ratified by three-fourths of the states after he was dead, and thus made a part of the Constitution, ending slavery forever— constitutionally ended, under the law, with the Union intact.” William Lee Miller, Lincoln’s Virtues, p 237

LincoLn’s second inauguraL Address “Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each involves His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes.”

“Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said, ‘the judgements of the Lord are true and righteous altogether’”. “With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in.”

Photo Credit: The National Archive & Records Administration

“a new birTh of freedom” “a new Life” “some greaT good To foLLow”

“some greaT good To foLLow” Kansas-Nebraska Act 1854- Repealed Dred Scott Decision 1857- Trashed Know Nothings 1855- Extinguished Illegal elections- Diminished 4,000,000 Slaves- Freed Denial of freedom of the press, speech & religion- Restored Secession- Vanquished Mobocracy- Quelled Declaration of Independence- Saved Constitution- Re-enthroned Thirteenth Amendment- Gloriously Passed

“characTer is whaT you are when no one is LooKing” -Abraham Lincoln

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Lincoln’s Greatness?  Administrative?  Integrity gained him the election  Regard for all, even enemies  Always fully considered the opponents point of view  Placed need of others beyond his own  His Vision

Honest Abe Walked six miles to return change Champion wrestler and runner Never hurtful Taught himself Law

Photo Credit: The National Archive and Records Administration

Charleston, Cradle of the Rebellion