Lincoln The Lawyer

Despite historians’ focus on the man as president and politician, Abraham Lincoln lived most of his adult life as a practicing lawyer. It was as a lawyer that he fed his family, made his reputation, bonded with Illinois, and began his political career.

The book Lincoln the Lawyer explores the origins of Lincoln’s desire to practice law, his legal education, his partnerships with John Stuart, Stephen Logan, and William Herndon, and the maturation of his far-flung practice in the 1840s and 1850s.

Brian Dirck reports in his blog that the book Lincoln the Lawyer just became available in paperback this week.

I was also able to correct a couple of minor errors in the hardback edition. Ward Hill Lamon came to Illinois in 1847, not 1837, as I wrote in the hardback. A distant relative of Lamon pointed this out to me at a book signing, believe it or not.