sign in sign up
<<
Home , Edwin Booth, Lincoln the Lawyer

July 2016 Issue

Hon. Michael L. Stern Los Angeles Superior Court

What if had lived to practice law again? A look at what history suggests Lincoln’s life might have been like had he survived the presidency

History is full of speculative “what- that had encompassed nearly a quarter future and the lines on his face deep - ifs” that send our imaginations wonder - century at the bar. ened. Even while Lincoln directed the ing: “What if” Abraham Lincoln had not As Lincoln said his farewells and read - war effort, personal tragedy struck home been assassinated by ? ied to board a train to Washington to lead with the passing of his son Willie in “What if” Lincoln had finished his sec - the country, his law partner William the White House in 1862. 2 During the ond presidential term and honored his Herndon turned to him and inquired about following year Lincoln issued the pledge to return to practice law with his the future of the law practice that the two Emancipation Proclamation as the tide of partner in Springfield, Illinois? Let us had maintained in a cramped office on the battle began to turn in the Union’s favor. 3 suspend the reality of history and explore courthouse square in Springfield. Lincoln With his re-election to another four-year these questions. requested that Herndon allow the practice’s term in November 1864, Lincoln began signboard to continue during his presiden - to envision a united country with the Abraham Lincoln makes a promise cy: “Let it stand there undisturbed. Give our rebellious states reintegrated into the In February 1861, the town of clients to understand that the election of a republic. 4 Springfield turned out in jubilation to president does not change the firm of In his second presidential inaugural honor President-elect Abraham Lincoln Lincoln and Herndon. If I live, I’m coming address on March 4, 1865, a fatigued and wish him well as he began his jour - back sometime, and we’ll go right on prac - Lincoln delivered a hopeful message ney to the nation’s capital to take the ticing as if nothing ever happened.” 1 about mending the divided nation and oath of office as the 16th President of the moving it toward reconciliation: “With United States. Lincoln had weathered a A war-weary nation prepares to recover malice toward none, with charity for all, divisive election centered on the issue of The Civil War that followed after with firmness in the right as God gives us slavery and the country was on the brink Lincoln assumed the presidency took a to see the right, let us strive on to finish of fracturing. In addressing the assem - heavy toll on both the nation and its the work we are in, to bind up the bled well-wishers, Lincoln must have felt leader. As the horrific struggle between nation’s wounds, to care for him who some melancholy knowing that he was the North and South raged for four long shall have borne the battle and for his closing the chapter of his life as a lawyer years, Lincoln’s cares for the country’s See Stern, Next Page

By Hon. Michael L. Stern — continued from Previous Page July 2016 Issue

widow and his orphan, to all do which railroad was completed. 8 This was a high - had a quick wit, endearing social skills, may achieve and cherish a just and last ly anticipated event in which Lincoln was and a razor-like analytical and practical peace among ourselves and with all greatly involved that was expected to mind that made him a first-rate trial nations.” 5 occur at about the time he that would lawyer, especially in front of a jury. The Some say that assassin John Wilkes have completed a second term in 1869. 9 sixteen-year relationship between the Booth was in the crowd on the Capitol Lincoln’s ambition of travel to partners was defined by mutual respect, steps to hear Lincoln’s sanguine words. California was never fulfilled. But even if but Herndon was more of a backroom Hardly more than a month later, on he had had the opportunity to enjoy lawyer who possessed ordinary legal tal - Good Friday, April 14, 1865, Booth fired himself with some travel after leaving the ent. He tolerated some of Lincoln’s pecu - the bullet that ended Lincoln’s life and White House, Lincoln still would have liar habits, such as sometimes dressing changed the course of American history. 6 been confronted with the necessity of less than fastidiously. 13 But the more earning a living. A return to the practice straight-laced Herndon allowed Lincoln’s We are left to speculate of law was an obvious means for Lincoln frequent absences for politicking, partic - One can only speculate how different to sustain himself financially. ularly during Lincoln’s two-year term in the post-Civil War reconstruction of the Lincoln would have had good rea - Congress from 1847 to 1849. 14 country might have been under a presi - sons to want to regain financial stability When Lincoln was not out on the dent who was determined to use the after living in the White House. He was horse-and-buggy “mud” circuit traveling weight of his office to ensure that the not a wealthy man when he entered his from one rural county courthouse to “house divided” was restored fairly and first term of office in 1861. Although his another in central Illinois or litigating in equitably. Lincoln’s belief that the break - law practice had been good to Lincoln Chicago, he would arrive at the office away states and their citizens should be and allowed him to gain middle-class daily at around nine o’clock and assume treated with civility surely would have respectability, his worth was not more his customary place lounging on a com - been tested by those salivating with victo - than about $15,000 when he became fortable couch reading a newspaper or ry and vengeance against the former president. 10 Despite Lincoln’s simple chatting with virtually any visitor who Confederacy. 7 But Lincoln’s conception wants, maintaining the White House had might wander into the office. 15 Total how to bring the former warring sides been expensive. Nearly everyone knew chaos could reign on the occasions when together harmoniously was not to be. the reputation of his wife Mary Lincoln Lincoln brought his young sons into the Even if Booth’s cowardly plot had as a compulsive buyer and hoarder with office for a visit. They would race around been thwarted and President Lincoln had extravagant and expensive tastes. 11 It playing and getting into all sorts of trou - lived out the four years of a second term would have been natural for Lincoln to ble, which annoyed and tried the to try to heal the nation’s wounds, a new follow a path back to the practice of law patience of the more orderly Herndon. 16 president would have been inaugurated to keep her satisfied. While Herndon was tending to the on March 4, 1869. An exhausted more conventional aspects of a law prac - Abraham Lincoln then would be You can’t go home again tice, Lincoln was constantly improving deciding how to spend the next Although the signboard for the his trial skills and broadening his legal chapter in his life beyond his two Lincoln & Herndon law firm may have and political contacts. 17 By the 1850s, the difficult terms as president. remained hanging for the duration of times were passing when Lincoln and Lincoln’s term of presidential office, Herndon represented farmers and locals A trip to California it seems unlikely that the old partnership for nominal fees of $5 to $20 out of their Abraham Lincoln had travel on his would have resumed as it had been. Springfield office or on the courthouse mind as something he might like to do The Lincoln & Herndon partnership circuit. 18 Lincoln’s preeminence as an after finishing his presidency. Just hours had endured successfully since 1844. effective trial attorney grew larger and before he departed the While House for Lincoln had been the driving force of the larger in the decade after he returned the evening of entertainment at Ford’s relationship during those practice years. from Congress in 1849 to pursue the Theater from which he never returned, His respected legal skills brought in practice of law and his political ambitions Lincoln met with Speaker of the House much of the business, and he handled in earnest. 19 As Lincoln’s reputation Schuyler Colfax and invited him to the main litigation and trial work. While developed, so did the magnitude of the accompany the Lincolns for a night out. the two partners always evenly split the cases on which he was retained and Colfax declined the invitation and told attorneys’ fees that were earned, the amounts of legal fees that followed. 20 Lincoln that he was about to depart for younger Herndon often labored as the No matter how sincere Lincoln California. Lincoln reaffirmed something drudge who handled the day-to-day might have been about resuming the to Colfax that he had said several weeks details and was less than a true equal. 12 practice of law with his old law partner before regarding his intention to visit The two probably had less in com - after his presidency, it is difficult to see California once the transcontinental mon than some law partners. Lincoln See Stern, Next Page

By Hon. Michael L. Stern — continued from Previous Page July 2016 Issue

him returning to the little office in election in 1860 and was an industrial pensions, 32 he would have had to find a Springfield and beginning his mornings powerhouse with a burgeoning economy means of support. It is problematic to by leisurely socializing after he had and dynamic marketplace by the end of guess whether Lincoln might have had served as president for eight intense the decade that followed Lincoln’s first the assistance of a benefactor, such as years of office. Lincoln’s life had dramati - inauguration in 1861. 26 author who provided support cally changed at the White House, where By the mid-19th century, Chicago to the cancer-stricken and destitute his days were filled with long working was where the big stakes and most lucra - Ulysses S. Grant while that former hours that offered little respite from the tive legal cases for lawyers were heard and president was writing an autobiography worries of war, decision-making, legisla - the better known and most capable attor - to sustain his family. 33 tion, politics, social obligations and fami - neys were retained. Lincoln’s considerable A paradigm for such a law practice ly matters. 21 abilities and reputation had garnered him might have been the law career forged by While the Lincolns retained their a share of such representation. 27 It was not Robert Lincoln, the only of four sons of Springfield home after taking up resi - unusual for him to be found in Chicago Abraham and Mary Lincoln who survived dence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in for trials and appeals and, on many occa - into adulthood. Washington, it is doubtful that they could sions, for political reasons as he was a Although he was a distinguished have lived in peace after Lincoln’s second large player in the emerging Republican lawyer, Secretary of War, Ambassador to term of office. The constant flow of Party. 28 Great Britain and a captain of industry, opportunists, favor seekers and souvenir For such reasons, Chicago rather Robert Lincoln has been largely forgot - hunters who had traipsed through the than Springfield would have been a ten in the haze of history. 34 Few today executive mansion during his presidency more logical place for Lincoln to relo - realize that a son of Abraham and Mary would not have given him any rest in his cate if he were to resume the practice of Lincoln lived into the twentieth century Springfield office even after he had noth - law. It would have been a natural fit for to sit with President Warren Harding and ing more to offer. 22 There is little reason him. He had longstanding legal and Chief Justice and former President to believe that such interferences, so political friends in the city where his William Howard Taft on the steps of the unconducive to the practice of law, would most ardent supporters had secured him when it was dedicated have ceased if Lincoln had resumed his the Republican nomination for presi - on May 30, 1922, nearly sixty years after law practice where he had left off. dent in 1860. 29 There would have been a his father’s death. 35 It also is questionable whether Mary variety of interesting and rewarding Robert Lincoln was a student at Lincoln, a high-strung, hugely preten - opportunities for a former president Harvard during the first several years of tious and self-preoccupied First Lady, who had just left office after saving the the Civil War. As much as he wanted to would have tolerated Springfield’s small country from disunion and leading it patriotically enlist for the war, he was for - town society after experiencing the forward in reconstruction. bidden from volunteering by his fearful advantages of Washington and mother who had already lost two sons to culture. She had greatly enjoyed her role Practicing law in the Gilded Age early deaths. 36 Robert had had an ironic of entertaining at the executive mansion. Trial work is hard work and requires brush with near death while an under - The fashions and luxuries to which Mary considerable stamina. After taking charge graduate. In 1863, while coming home Lincoln had decided that she was entitled of the country and guiding it through its to visit at the White House, he tumbled were abundant in the cosmopolitan most troubled times, one wonders if from a railroad station platform towards metropolis of Chicago and scarce in the Abraham Lincoln would have had the the track of an oncoming train. He was provincial downstate Illinois capital of physical strength and mental drive to caught and rescued just in time from a Springfield. 23 pick up where he had left off as an ener - sure death by Edwin Booth, the brother getic trial attorney. Indeed, many had of Abraham Lincoln’s assassin John The big shoulders of Chicago commented how tired and haggard Wilkes Booth. 37 Abraham Lincoln had worked hard Lincoln looked after piloting the ship In 1864, Robert graduated and as an Illinois legislator in the 1830s to of state through its roughest storm. 30 briefly attended the Harvard Law School. ensure that Springfield would become Moreover, much had changed in America His parents finally relented to his urge to the state capital and was proud that his in the Gilded Age that followed the join the military and secured him a posi - law office was located there. 24 By the Civil War. 31 tion as an officer aide to General Grant. 38 1850s, however, Chicago had become the Nonetheless, aside from the rough He was with Grant at Appomattox on commercial center of Illinois and the and tumble of politics, the law was April 9, 1865, when Lee surrendered and Midwest. Chicago, the town that Lincoln Lincoln’s stock-in-trade and financial at the White House less than a week later biographer Carl Sandberg called “the city circumstances might have caused him when his father took his ominous last of the big shoulders,” 25 continued to grow to again hang out a shingle. In a time carriage ride to Ford’s Theater. 39 by giant leaps and bounds after Lincoln’s before Congress legislated presidential See Stern, Next Page

By Hon. Michael L. Stern — continued from Previous Page July 2016 Issue

Following the completing of arrange - companies, large and small. He had Lincoln’s story is the American story. ments for laying the assassinated presi - gained a reputation as a “railroad attor - He was a self-educated and self-made man dent to rest in Springfield, Robert was ney” based on serving as counsel for a who worked diligently to lift himself by his admitted to the Illinois Bar and estab - number of railroad companies during the own bootstraps to rise from a life of manu - lished his law practice in Chicago in 1850s. However, as he had both defend - al labor and poverty to become a profes - 1867. 40 His innate talent, diligence and ed and sued railroads a number of times, sional with some financial means and, ulti - name recognition enabled him to easily it would be unfair to type-cast him. 49 mately, presidential power. He had maxi - lure business. A founding member of the Given his past adaptability, one perhaps mized his own possibilities in a free mar - Chicago’s first organized bar association could postulate Abraham Lincoln serving ket economy and believed that others in 1874, 41 his clients included some of the as a corporate attorney or board member. should have an equal right to do so. 53 most powerful corporations and titans of Nonetheless, one must question Consistent with his own background industry of the day. 42 whether Abraham Lincoln could have that had taught him that advancement in Robert Lincoln’s successful business reconciled his legal career devoted to life comes with personal effort and hard law practice representing the movers and servicing ordinary people with represen - work, Lincoln did not let even the Civil shakers of industry and commerce was a tation of the dominant corporations that War stand in the way of legislation that far cry from that of his father, whose burgeoned after the Civil War. His son promoted self-improvement, enhanced legal career for many years largely con - Robert had not come up the hard way opportunities and economic develop - sisted of rendering advice and trying like his father. He became wealthy repre - ment for all. Even while war was waging cases for clients of modest means for senting corporate interests such as insur - around him, Lincoln advocated for legis - small amounts while riding the judicial. 43 ance companies on claims after the great lation such as the Morrill Act founding But the nature of America’s economy and Chicago fire of 1873 and the Pullman the land-grant college system, the the practice of law had drastically shifted Palace Car Company, which controlled Homestead Act providing free land to to an era of domination of business by railroad sleeping cars throughout the farmers and the Transcontinental large corporations and greater legal spe - country. Robert played a substantial role Railroad spurring commerce and eco - cialization after the Civil War. 44 in advising this client during the infa - nomic development. 54 While he never was mous Pullman labor strike of 1894 that able to put into practice his evolving The Law Offices of Lincoln & Lincoln shut down half of the country’s railroads views about the possibilities of the former What law firm would not have and was quelled with deadly force when slaves in a post-Civil War society, he relished as a senior partner a former President Cleveland called in federal viewed government as a beneficial force president of the United States whom a troops to stop striking workers from that could allow them to integrate into colleague at the bar called “a real interfering with rail traffic. 50 the mainstream economy. 55 lawyer’s lawyer”? 45 Based on his background and char - With his name on the front door of acter, Abraham Lincoln earned nick - a law partnership with his son Robert, The real Abraham Lincoln names like “the Rail Splitter” for his log Abraham Lincoln would have been an Considering his long history repre - cabin origins, “Honest Abe” for his gen - instant draw to bring in clients of the senting “little guys” as a circuit riding uineness and the “Great Emancipator” thriving commercial world of the time. lawyer in rural Illinois, it is highly debat - for his moral courage against slavery. It is For that matter, Lincoln was known to able that the war-worn former president difficult to imagine such a man devoting have represented most any client who would have been the right fit for such a his remaining years serving as a counsel - sought to retain him so long as the corporate practice. Although he had rep - lor representing the rich and powerful of nature of the representation did not resented large economic interests at dif - the Gilded Age. As an attorney who was offend his moral sensibilities. 46 For him, ferent junctures over the span of his known to represent “all comers,” Lincoln business was business so long as it ethi - career, Lincoln continued to represent would have been uneasy with clients who cally earned attorneys’ fees and he the average man in times of legal distress espoused the laissez-faire philosophy of could do the work with a clear con - throughout his nearly quarter century at the latter 19th century that emphasized science. 47 Lincoln’s versatile repertoire the bar. 51 His identification with ordinary amassing capital at the expense of the of practice experience had included a people stemmed from his own humble common person. broad range of property disputes, con - origins, which was reflected in his per - In the 1830s, Illinois legislator tract interpretation situations, tax mat - sonal and political philosophies. Indeed, Lincoln had championed economic ters, personal injury cases, divorces and Abraham Lincoln was describing his own development through joint public and criminal defense on which he could deep-felt empathy for ordinary workers private efforts, such as building canals have capitalized. 48 when he said that government should be and railroads that promoted economic While he had represented many “of the people, by the people and for the wellbeing for everyone. 56 In the years small folks in his legal career, Lincoln people” in concluding his Gettysburg after the Civil War, economic activity was not a stranger to representing address. 52 See Stern, Next Page

By Hon. Michael L. Stern — continued from Previous Page July 2016 Issue

14 Lincoln’s life-long interest was politics. Beginning in 1834, became dominated by trusts that exer - Endnotes cised broad control over industries and he spent most of the next thirty years participating in political 1 WILLIAM H. HERNDON & JESSE W. WIERK, ABRAHAM campaigning, speaking and running and holding political “robber barons” more interested in con - LINCOLN: THE TRUE STORY OF A GREAT LIFE 193-194 office for himself and others. He served as an Illinois legisla - centrating corporate and personal wealth (1885) [HERNDON & WIERK]. tor (1834-1842) and member of the United States House of and taking the spoils for their own than 2 WILLIAM F. GIENAPP, ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND CIVIL WAR Representatives (1847-1849) and candidate for the United 57 AMERICA: A BIOGRAPHY 47, 104 (2002). The death of Willie States Senate (1856 and 1858) and president (1860 and the public good. As an attorney who Lincoln in the While House in 1862 caused overwhelming 1864). His frequent public speaking engagements served to had represented many people of limited anguish to his parents. He was seen as possessing his enhance his talents as a lawyer and gain recognition to run means, Lincoln would have been uneasy father’s sense of humor, keen intelligence and kindly for public office. DONALD, HERNDON, supra note 12, at 74, disposition. 94, 161 (1995); CHRIS DeROSE, CONGRESSMAN LINCOLN: providing his services to the faceless cor - 3 Lincoln’s initial objective in the Civil War was to save the THE MAKING OF AMERICA’S GREATEST PRESIDENT 72 58 porations of the latter 19th century. Union. He personally drafted the Emancipation Proclamation (2013). Thus, it is difficult to visualize in mid-1862 and discussed extensively with his cabinet mem - 15 ALBERT A. WOLDMAN, LAWYER LINCOLN 54 (1936) Abraham Lincoln practicing law with his bers of Congress before he decided to issue it effective [WOLDMAN]. January 1, 1863. In order to avoid a perception that the 16 DONALD, HERNDON, supra note 12, at 159-160. son Robert and representing the giant Emancipation freeing the slaves in the Confederate territories 17 JOHN B. FRANK, LINCOLN AS A LAWYER, 42-43, 88-89 corporations of the postbellum era. After was a last-ditch effort to save face for a Union army that had (1961) [FRANK]; WILLIAM LEE MILLER, LINCOLN’S VIR - a heart-to-heart discussion with his son been losing against the enemy, Lincoln held off issuance until TURES: AN ETHICAL BIOGRAPHY 95-97 (2002). after a solid military victory was finally attained at Antietam in 18 PRATT, supra note 10, at 25-29, 51-52. about the factors that had molded September 1862. Emancipation broadened the objectives of 19 DON E. FEHRENBACHER, PRELUDE TO GREATNESS: LIN - Lincoln into what he was, the former the war to abolishing slavery. Through its issuance, Lincoln COLN IN THE 1950’S 17-18 (1962). president most likely would have came to be known at the Great Emancipator. MICHAEL 20 MARK E. STEINER, AN HONEST CALLING: THE LAW declined to join a law firm of Lincoln & VORENBERG, THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION: A BRIEF PRACTICE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 137, 160-161 (2006) HISTORY WITH DOCUMENTS 14-17 (2010); DORIS KEARNS [STEINER]. Lincoln. Having also ruled out a return GOODWIN, TEAM OF RIVALS: THE POLITICAL GENIUS OF 21 See, WILLIAM O. STODDARD, INSIDE THE WHITE HOUSE to his past partnership, Lincoln might ABRAHAM LINCOLN 481-482, 497-501 (2005) [GOODWIN]. IN WAR TIMES: MEMORIS AND REPORTS OF LINCOLN’S have taken that trip to California or per - 4 CHARLES B. STROZIER, LINCOLN’S QUEST FOR UNTION SECRETARY 47-53, MICHAEL BURLINGAME (ed. 2000). 257-258 (2nd rev. ed. 2001). 22 The line of officer-seekers and other supplicants at the haps joined the speaking circuit to talk 5 Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865, ABRAHAM LIN - White House was never-ending. At one point, Lincoln’s son about the American Dream of economic COLN, SPEECHES AND WRITINGS 1859-1865, 685-686 Don Tad cleverly took up a collection of five cents from everyone equal opportunity for all. E. Fehrenbacher ed. 1980); See also, RONALD C. WHITE, JR., in line. ELIZABETH SMITH BROWNSTEIN, THE UNTOLD LINCOLN’S GREATEST SPEECH: THE SECOND INAUGURAL STORY OF THE MAN AND HIS PRESIDENCY: LINCOLN’S (2002). OTHER WHITE HOUSE 29-32 (2005). “What-ifs” don’t count 6 WILLIAM C. HARRIS, LINCOLN’S LAST MONTHS 140 23 PACKARD, supra note 11, at 172-175. It may be speculated about what (2004); EDWARD STEERS, JR., BLOOD ON THE MOON: THE 24 DAVID HERBERT DONALD, LINCOLN 63-64 (1995) [DON - ASSASINATION OF ABRHAM LINCOLN 113-118 (2001). Cf ., ALD, LINCOLN]. Abraham Lincoln might have done if he MICHAEL BURLINGAME, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, A LIFE II:558 25 CARL SANDBURG, “Chicago” in CHICAGO POEMS (1916). had lived out his second term of office (inset photo) (2008) [BURLINGAME]. 26 There was dynamic rapid population growth in mid-19th and beyond. But history does not allow 7 BURLINGAME, id. at II:587-588; CARL C. DEGLER, One century Chicago as America transformed from an agrarian to itself to be revisited. The sixteenth presi - Among Many: The United States and National Unification , in industrial society. Chicago-associated names like LINCOLN THE WAR PRESIDENT 248 (Gabor S. Boritt ed., Union, McCormick, Pullman, Amour and Swift came to sym - dent of the United States was never able 1992). bolize the city’s industrial might. DONALD L. MILLER, CITY OF to carry out his own vision of a restored 8 GOODWIN, supra , note 3, at 734. THE CENTURY: THE EPIC OF CHICAGO AND THE CENTURY union or make good on his promise to 9 Lincoln was a strong proponent of railroads throughout his OF AMERICA 96-97, 116 (1996). life. He advocated for the 1862 Pacific Railroad Act that 27 BENJAMIN P.THOMAS, ABRAHAM LINCOLN: A BIOGRAPHY rejoin his law partner after serving as enabled the transcontinental railroad to be built, made route 158 (1952); WOLDMAN, supra note 15, at 171-174. president. suggestions and followed the progress of construction right 28 WOLDMAN, supra note 15, at 141-146. While it is alluring to speculate on up to his death. He viewed the railroad as an east-west con - 29 DONALD, LINCOLN, supra note 23, at 246-250. 30 “what if” Abraham Lincoln had lived to nector that would secure the western states and territories for STEPHEN B. OAKES, ABRAHAM LINCOLN: WITH MALICE the United States. STEPHEN E. AMBROSE, NOTHING LIKE IT TOWARD NONE – THE LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 409-410, practice law again and begun a new phase IN THE WORLD: THE MEN WHO BUILT THE TRANCONTIN - 417 (1977). of life at the bar, one is still left with the NENTAL RAILROAD 1863-1869, 83-84, 128-132 (2000). 31 The term Gilded Age is derived from Mark Twain’s 1873 question that Americans considering 10 HARRY E. PRATT, THE PERSONAL FINANCES OF ABRA - novel The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today that satirized the large HAM LINCOLN 124 (1943) [PRATT]. social problems of the late 19th century caused by the rapid important matters of state have asked for 11 JEROLD M. PACKARD, THE LINCOLNS IN THE WHITE industrialization of the United States that Twain viewed as a hundred and fifty years: “What would HOUSE: FOUR YEARS THAT SHATTERED A FAMILY 88-89, being covered over by a thin gold gilding. See, CHARLES W. Abraham Lincoln have done?” 176-178 (2005) [PACKARD]. CALHOUN (ed.), THE GILDED AGE: PERSPECTIVES ON THE 12 DAVID HERBERT DONALD, LINCOLN’S HERNDON 37 ORIGINS OF MODERN AMERICA 1 (2nd ed. 2006). (1948] [DONALD, HERNDON]. 32 Widow Mary Lincoln vigorously lobbied for a pension, Judge Michael L. Stern has presided over 13 HERNDON & WIERK, supra , note 1 at 280 (“His habits which Congress finally legislated and President Grant signed civil trial courts since his appointment to the were very simple. He was not fastidious as to food or dress. into law in 1870 for $3,000 per year. JEAN H. BAKER, MARY His hat was brown, faded, and the nap usually worn or TODD LINCOLN: A BIOGRAPHY 299-303 (1987). Los Angeles Superior Court in 2001. He is a rubbed off. He wore a short cloak and sometimes a shawl. 33 CHARLES B. FLOOD, GRANT’S FINAL VICTORY: ULYSSES frequent speaker on trial practice matters. As His coast and vest hung loosely on his gaunt frame, and his S. GRANT’S HEROIC LAST YEAR 98-102, 129 (2011). an attorney, he tried cases throughout the trousers were invariably too short.”); WHITNEY, 34 JASON EMERSON, GIANT IN THE SHADOWS: THE LIFE OF United States. Judge Stern is a graduate of LIFE ON THE CIRCUIT WITH LINCOLN 55 (1940) [WHITNEY] ROBERT T. LINCOLN 235, 301-303 (2012) [EMERSON]. (“He probably had as little taste about dress and attire as any - 35 Id . at insert plate, 291. Stanford University and Harvard Law body that was ever born; he simply wore clothes because it See Stern, Next Page School . was needful and customary.”).

By Hon. Michael L. Stern — continued from Previous Page July 2016 Issue

36 DONALD, LINCOLN, supra note 24, at 571. 48 FRANK, supra note 17, at 6-7. 55 Lincoln not only personally wrote the Emancipation 37 EMERSON, supra note 34, at 80. 49 BURLINGAME, supra note 6, at I:437-438 . Proclamation, he vigorously advocated for passage of the 38 DONALD LINCOLN, supra note 23, at 571. 50 EMERSON, supra note 34, at 337; The Pullman strike Thirteenth Amendment ending slavery and establishment of 39 Id . at 592, 598; GOODWIN, supra note 3, at 734. involved volatile union, work condition and wage, race, immi - the Freedmen’s Bureau that would give land and education to 40 EMERSON, supra note 34, at 37. grant labor and legal rights issues. See, SUSAN ELANOR the freed slaves. RICHARD SRINER, FATHER ABRAHAM: LIN - 41 Id . at 187. HIRSCH, AFTER THE STRIKE: A CENTURY OF LABOR COLN’S RELENTLESS STRUGGLE TO END SLAVERY 246-248 42 Robert Lincoln represented some of Chicago’s largest and STRUGGLE AT PULLMAN 11-12 (2003). (2006). most influential corporations of the era, including Chicago 51 Lincoln’s arguments to juries were to the common man in a 56 PAUL SIMON, LINCOLN’S PREPARATION FOR GREATNESS: Edison Electric Company, Chicago Telephone Company, way that the common man could comprehend his points. Frank, THE ILLINOIS LEGISLATIVE YEARS 282 (1971). Pullman Palace Car Company (later Pullman Company) and a supra note 17, at 23; He enjoyed life on the circuit, where he 57 MORTON J. HORWITZ, THE TRANSFORMATION OF AMERI - subsidiary of John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company. enjoyed relating funny stories and antecedents to his fellow CAN LAW 1870-1960: THE CRISIS OF LEGAL ORTHODOXY EMERSON, id. at 129, 343-344. lawyers. BRIAN DIRCK, LINCOLN THE LAWYER 44-53 (2007). 80-85 (1992); See generally , MATTHEW JOSEPHSON, THE 43 BENJAMIN P. THOMAS, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, A BIOGRA - 52 See, GARRY WILLS, LINCOLN AT GETTYSBURG: THE ROBBER BARONS: THE CLASSIC ACCOUNT OF THE INFLU - PHY 92-95 (1932). WORDS THAT REMADE AMERICA 263 (1992). ENTIAL CAPITALISTS WHO TRANSFORMED AMERICA’S 44 STEINER, supra note 20, at 160. 53 HAROLD HOLZER & NORTON GARFINKLE, A JUST AND FUTURE (1962). 45 ALLEN D. SPEIGEL, A. LINCOLN, ESQUIRE: A SHREWD, GENEROUS NATION: ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND THE FIGHT 58 STEINER, supra note 20, at 177. SOPHISTICATED LAWYER IN HIS TIME 95 (2002). FOR AMERICAN OPPORTUNITY 80 (2015). 46 WOLLMAN, supra note 15, at 199-200. 54 JAMES G. RANDAL, Lincoln the Liberal Statesman in LIN - 47 STEINER, supra note 20, at 137, 158-159; see also, JOHN COLN’S AMERICAN DREAM: CLASHING POLITICAL PER - W. STARR, JR., LINCOLN AND THE RAILROADS; A BIOGRA - SPECTIVES 43 (Kenneth L. Deutsch and Joseph R. Fornieri PHICAL STUDY (1927). eds., 2005).