140 to write letters: CW, 2:52.

140 "of the State": Riddle, Congressman Abraham Lincoln, pp. 210, 122. The author of the letter, Caleb Birchall, was angry because Lincoln had failed to recommend him to be postmaster at Springfield. Boritt, "Lincoln's Opposition to the Mexican War," p. 96.

140 "man of straw": CW, 2:60.

140 "the office myself": CW, 11:56.

141 declined the offer: CW, 11:5.

141 "ma.s.s of names": CW, 2:19.

CHAPTER SIX: AT THE HEAD OF HIS PROFESSION IN THIS STATE

Much of the information in this chapter comes from the hundreds of unpublished doc.u.ments in the files of the Lincoln Legal Papers in Springfield. John J. Duff, A. Lincoln: Prairie Lawyer (New York: Rinehart & Co., 1960), is the fullest account of Lincoln's law practice, and I have relied heavily on its accurate and informed accounts of Lincoln's major legal cases. David Herbert Donald, Lincoln's Herndon (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1948), discusses the Lincoln & Herndon partnership.

142 "than ever before": CW, 3:512.

142 "tended to consumption": WHH, interview with David Davis, Sept. 19, 1866, HWC.

142 "in his mind": CW, 4:67.

142 "Education defective": CW, 2:459.

142 "training and method": Herndon's Lincoln, 2:307.

143 "Six-books of Euclid": CW, 4:62.

143 Nancy Robinson Dorman: For a full account of this case, see William D. Beard, "Lincoln's 'Jarndyce v. Jarndyce': A Family Dispute on the Illinois Frontier," unpublished monograph, Lincoln Legal Papers.

143 argued a case: For details on this case, reported at 48 U.S. (7 Howard) 776, see James D. Maher, Clerk of the U.S. Supreme Court, to Willis Van Devanter, Feb. 15,1918, and Willis Van Devanter to Jesse W. Weik, Feb. 16, 1918, both in the Herndon-Weik Collection, LC. Lincoln was also attorney of record in five other cases, but he did not argue them in person. Lincoln Legal Briefs, no. 31 (JulySept. 1994). See also Duff, A Lincoln, pp. 156157.

143 amount of $3:33: Bacon v. Nuckles File, Lincoln Legal Papers.

143 in munic.i.p.al law: Duff, A Lincoln, pp. 261262.

144 issues and precedents: Both these notebooks are in ISHL.

144 left for Congress: See the careful list of Lincoln's cases in the United States Circuit and District courts in the files of the Lincoln Legal Papers. For an informed discussion, see Benjamin P. Thomas, "Lincoln's Earlier Practice in the Federal Courts, 18391854," Bulletin of the Abraham Lincoln a.s.sociation, no. 39 (June 1935).

144 found abundant opportunity: The records of Lincoln's cases before the United States District and Circuit courts for the Southern District of Illinois after 1855 have been microfilmed by the National Archives. Lincoln at the Bar: Selected Case Files from the United States District and Circuit Courts, Southern District of Illinois, 18551861 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1989), is a useful guide.

144 as in Springfield: Duff, A Lincoln, chap. 13, gives an excellent overview of Lincoln's federal practice.

144 "over the world": CW, 3:338.

145 "his professional life": Grant Goodrich to WHH, Dec. 9, 1866, HWC.