ADMISSION OF ATTORNEYS TO THE FEDERAL BAR IN THE HISTORIC FEDERAL COURTROOM (1844-1855) IN SPRINGFIELD,

This is a magnificent courtroom. It was here that Mr. Lincoln practiced law for a good portion of his practice before going to Washington in 1860. And the history of this great room is simply captivating.

Actually, it all began on the 3rd of March of 1818, when Illinois became a state of the union. And under federal law the state was organized into one judicial district. There was to be one judge with full federal jurisdiction, with appeals directly to the United States

Supreme Court -- there was no intermediate Court of Appeals in those days.

Exactly one year to the day later, on the 3rd of March of 1819, Nathaniel Pope was appointed United States District Judge for the District of Illinois by President James

Monroe. And for 31 years he held that position. Judge Pope convened the first session of his court in the state capital, which was then Kaskaskia. Under federal law, the district court had to sit in the capital of the district of the state.

But Kaskaskia was short lived -- only one year -- when the new legislature moved the capital to Vandalia. So from 1820 to 1839, Judge Pope conducted the district court in

Vandalia, the second capital of Illinois. It wasn’t until 1839, 19 years later, when Abraham

Lincoln and his “Long Nine Committee” of the state legislature were successful in persuading their colleagues to move the capital a second time, to Springfield, that the court

1 again relocated. This proved to be the last move. The district court has sat here in

Springfield since 1839.

The first session court held here in Springfield when Judge Pope moved the court was held in a local church for two years, from 1839 to 1841. That church later burned and the site has been lost. Then for the next 14 years, federal court was conducted in this very room on the second floor of this building -- both the district and later the circuit judges sat here after riding the circuit. For 14 years, in this very room, was witnessed the most active days of Mr. Lincoln’s federal practice.

In 1850, Judge Pope passed away and Judge Thomas Drummond was appointed

U.S. District Judge by President Zachary Taylor. He served 19 years as a district judge and then went on for 15 more years to serve as a circuit judge, for a total of 34 years on the federal bench.

Five years into Judge Drummond’s tenure here in Springfield, in 1855, Illinois was divided into two districts, the Northern at and the Southern at Springfield. Judge

Drummond, being senior, chose to go to the Northern District, since he originally came from Galena in the far northwest corner of the state.

Parenthetically, in 1855, when Judge Drummond chose to go to Chicago in the newly created Northern District, he took with him the records of the federal courts that had convened in this building. Tragically those records were all destroyed in the great

Chicago fire in 1871. This meant that the vast majority of the legal heritage of Mr. Lincoln in the federal court during those high-powered days when he practiced probably more law in more courts than any other lawyer before or since were lost to posterity. (We know that in over 300 cases he appeared before the Supreme Court of Illinois -- a record that no other

2 attorney has ever achieved!)

President Franklin Pierce then appointed the second district judge for the Southern

District, and appointed a former Illinois Supreme Court Justice by the name of Samuel

Treat to be the U.S. District Judge. Judge Treat proceeded on to serve a total of 31 years as district judge here in Springfield.

Combining the 32 years of Judge Treat to the 34 of Judge Drummond and the 31 of

Judge Pope, we achieve a total of 97 years. For only three men, this is a tremendous amount of service to the federal judiciary of this country.

And the new lawyers that are going to be admitted to our bar are going to be joining some very distinguished ranks. The very first attorney admitted to practice in the District of Illinois was admitted on May 4, 1819. That was Samuel D. Lockwood who signed the roll. He later became Attorney General of Illinois, Secretary of State, and served 23 years on the Supreme Court of Illinois.

One year later, Sidney Breeze signed the roll. He went on to become one of the most distinguished members of the Illinois Supreme Court for 31 years. The following year,

Daniel Pope Cook, the first Attorney General of Illinois, and for whom Cook County was named, was admitted. On the same day, William L.D. Ewing, the fifth Governor of Illinois, signed the roll.

It wasn’t until 1839 -- three years after he was admitted to the bar of Illinois -- that our most distinguished member stepped forward. In fact, it was an historic Tuesday. It was Tuesday, the 3rd of December of 1839. And on that dreary December morning, six members of the Illinois bar stepped forward to sign the roll of attorneys for admission to practice in this court. Among them were three young lawyers whose careers and

3 contributions to Illinois would become legion.

The oldest was 30 years of age and was the first to sign the roll that day. He inscribed simply “A. Lincoln.” The next was Samuel H. Treat, age 28, who was later to serve 14 years on the Supreme Court of Illinois before he joined this court as a United

States District Judge. And finally up stepped Stephen Arnold Douglas, who at 26 was four years younger than Lincoln. And “Judge Douglas” -- as Lincoln was to later refer to the

“Little Giant” during their historic debates -- was to serve with Justice Treat on the State

Supreme Court before he resigned to go to Congress, first to the House and then, of course, the Senate. Three truly distinguished Illinoians.

Four days later, on the 7th of December 1839, only one attorney was admitted to the federal bar. It was none other than young David Davis, 24 years of age -- the youngest yet and six years Lincoln’s junior -- who was later to preside for 14 years as a circuit judge in

Lincoln’s beloved 8th Circuit of Illinois and with whom Lincoln rode the circuit on so many occasions. On December 8th of 1862, twenty-three years later to the day plus one,

President Lincoln appointed Judge Davis to become an Associate Justice of the United

States Supreme Court.

Abraham Lincoln has, in sum, left a legacy of superb and incomparable legal ability. Judge David Davis of the trial court said that Lincoln “had few equals.” And

Sidney Breeze, Chief Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court, regarded Lincoln as “the finest lawyer I ever knew.”

So I welcome all of you. The motions for your admission are allowed with great pleasure. I know that you will all make exceptional contributions to our profession and the administration of justice.

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