But
being in a minority, they could not, of course, elect him.
IV
Law Practice--Rules for a Lawyer--Law and Politics: Twin Occupations--The
Springfield Coterie--Friendly Help--Anne Rutledge--Mary Owens
Lincoln's removal from New Salem to Springfield and his entrance into a
law partnership with Major John T. Stuart begin a distinctively new
period in his career, From this point we need not trace in detail his
progress in his new and this time deliberately chosen vocation. The
lawyer who works his way up in professional merit from a five-dollar fee
in a suit before a justice of the peace to a five-thousand-dollar fee
before the Supreme Court of his State has a long and difficult path to
climb. Mr. Lincoln climbed this path for twenty-five years with
industry, perseverance, patience--above all, with that sense of moral
responsibility that always clearly traced the dividing line between his
duty to his client and his duty to society and truth. His unqualified
frankness of statement assured him the confidence of judge and jury in
every argument. His habit of fully admitting the weak points in his case
gained their close attention to its strong ones, and when clients
brought him bad cases, his uniform advice was not to begin the suit.
Among his miscellaneous writings there exist some fragments of autograph
notes, evidently intended for a little lecture or talk to law students
which set forth with brevity and force his opinion of what a lawyer
ought to be and do.
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