Abraham Lincoln to James T. Thornton, 2 December, 18581
Springfield, Decr 2. 1858James T. Thornton, Esq[Esquire]Dear SirYours of the 29th written in behalf of Mr John H. Widmer, is received–2 I am absent altogether too much to be a suitable instructer for a law-student–3 When a man has reached the age that Mr Widner has, and has already been doing for himself, my judgment is, that he reads the books
for himself without an instructer– That is precisely the way I came to the law– Let Mr Widner read Blackstone's Commentaries, Chitty's Pleading's— Greenleaf's Evidence, Story's Equity, and Story's Equity Pleadings,4 get a license, and go to the practice, and still keep reading– That is my judgment
of the cheapest, quickest, and best way for Mr Widner to make a lawyer of himself–5
Yours trulyA. Lincoln.2James T. Thornton, a resident of Magnolia in Putnam County, Illinois, wrote Lincoln on November 29, 1858, asking Lincoln if he would be willing to serve as a
tutor for John H. Widmer, a Putnam County schoolteacher and aspiring lawyer.
This letter was among a number Lincoln & Herndon received from prospective students seeking a place to read law. In those days, it
was more common for aspiring attorneys to study with a practicing attorney than to
attend law school. Lincoln often rejected these requests--often for the same reason
and with the same advice as offered Thornton here.
The Biographical Record of Bureau, Marshall, and Putnam Counties, Illinois (Chicago: S. J. Clarke, 1896), 290; Albert J. Harno, Legal Education in the United States (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1953), 19-20; Mark E. Steiner, An Honest Calling: The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln (Dekalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 2009), 29-31; Abraham Lincoln to Isham Reavis, Jr.; Abraham Lincoln to William H. Grigsby; Abraham Lincoln to John M. Brockman; Abraham Lincoln to John M. Brockman.
3Lincoln devoted most of his time traveling to the various courthouses on the Eighth Judicial Circuit. He had also just finished campaigning for one of the U.S. Senate seats from Illinois as of the writing of this letter. Lincoln, a Republican, ran against Stephen Douglas, the Democrat incumbent, for the seat in the 1858 election. In state elections held on November
2, 1858, Republicans had won the popular vote but pro-Douglas Democrats retained control
of the Illinois General Assembly, which elected U.S. senators in those days, allowing Douglas to retain his seat.
Douglas's victory was confirmed in the election held on January 5, 1859.
Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 3 November 1858, 2:1; Allen C. Guelzo, Lincoln and Douglass: The Debates that Defined America (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2008), 282; Allen C. Guelzo, “Houses Divided: Lincoln,
Douglas, and the Political Landscape of 1858,” The Journal of American History 94 (September 2007), 392-94, 415-16; Illinois Senate Journal. 1859. 21st G. A., 30; Illinois House Journal. 1859. 21st G. A., 32.
4The legal treatises that Lincoln mentioned are: William Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England, Joseph Chitty’s A Treatise on the Parties to Actions, and On Pleading, Simon Greenleaf’s A Treatise on the Law of Evidence, Joseph Story’s Commentaries on Equity Jurisprudence : As Administered in England and America, and Story’s Commentaries on Equity Pleadings, and the Incidents Thereof, According to the Practice
of the Courts of Equity, of England and America.
William Blackstone, Esq., Commentaries on the Laws of England (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1765-1769); Joseph Chitty, A Treatise on the Parties to Actions, and On Pleading (Philadelphia: Carey, Lea and Carey, 1828); Simon Greenleaf, A Treatise on the Law of Evidence (Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1842); Joseph Story, Commentaries on Equity Jurisprudence: As Administered in England and America (Cambridge: Cambridge Press, 1835); Joseph Story, Commentaries on Equity Pleadings, and the Incidents Thereof, According to the Practice
of the Courts of Equity, of England and America. (Boston: Little, Brown, 1852).
5Despite Lincoln’s denial of this request, Widmer would move to Ottawa, Illinois, in 1859 to study law and eventually become a successful attorney.
Michael Cyprian O'Byrne, History of LaSalle County Illinois (Chicago: Lewis, 1924), 3:507-8; Henry A. Ford, The History of Putnam and Marshall Counties (Lacon, IL: Henry A. Ford, 1860), 148; Daily Republican-Times (Ottawa, IL), 10 October 1923, 1:7, 5:4; Lincoln Declined Widmer as Legal Apprentice, Martha L. Benner and Cullom Davis et al., eds., The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: Complete Documentary Edition, 2d edition (Springfield: Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, 2009), https://lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org/Details.aspx?case=141409.
Copy of Autograph Letter Signed, 1 page(s), facsimile in
Lincoln Collection,
New-York
Historical Society (New York, NY).