Trial by fire: Abraham Lincoln and the law.
Item
-
Title
-
Trial by fire: Abraham Lincoln and the law.
-
Identifier
-
AAI3283166
-
identifier
-
3283166
-
Creator
-
Johnson, Robert J., Jr.
-
Contributor
-
Adviser: John Patrick Diggins
-
Date
-
2007
-
Language
-
English
-
Publisher
-
City University of New York.
-
Subject
-
History, United States | Biography | Law
-
Abstract
-
Abraham Lincoln has been typically presented as a man whose professional life was somehow fated to culminate in politics. Indeed, Lincoln loved politics, but he lived the law. Lincoln practiced law for close to a quarter century, and during that time as the nation expanded, so too did Lincoln's practice and ideas about the role that law played in American society. It would have been impossible to extricate himself from this legal mindset, but more important, his legal mind was crucial to his success as President. Lincoln's legal and political professions are so often viewed as separate components to his life, but in reality they often merged, each fueling the other's success. The fusion of law and politics acted as a centripetal force in Lincoln's professional life: law helped spark success in politics, and politics in turn, spurred Lincoln to the top of his profession as a practicing attorney. Thus integrated, this fusion provides the framework for this study and helps explain Lincoln's legal career as profoundly relevant to his career in politics.;Lincoln the lawyer did not disappear when Lincoln became President. Rather, Lincoln often viewed politics through the lens of the law. Law and politics were inextricably bound in determining how Lincoln negotiated his way through the constitutional thicket of Civil War. From Lincoln's First Inaugural where he refuted the Confederates' right to secede from the Union, through the myriad decisions Lincoln was required to make during the Civil War, political and legal issues merged. Lincoln needed to consider both law and politics, and without understanding this fusion, we miss the full dimension of Lincoln. The thousands of routine cases Lincoln litigated on the fringe of the frontier made him realize that at the end of a case someone's life is affected. These were the People's cases, and as the nation was rent by Civil War, Lincoln used the law to help preserve, protect, and defend the People's government.
-
Type
-
dissertation
-
Source
-
PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
-
degree
-
Ph.D.
