President' Day

In the legal arena, Abraham Lincoln may be revered and remembered as America's 16th president and perhaps the greatest in America's history. Most importantly because he herded this great nation through the turmoil of the Civil War, delivered the Emancipation Proclamation and establish protocol for presidential eloquence with the Gettysburg Address. Something Bush brought back to cookies and milk in Kindergarten, sadly.

Abe Lincoln was a lawyer before he was a president. From 1836 until he was inaugurated in 1861, practicing law was Lincoln’s chief role. Based in Springfield, Ill., he worked tirelessly both within IL around the country. Historians suggest that Lincoln was beloved most for his direct manner, sense of humor and way with words thru story, but as the bicentennial of his birth is commemorated in 2009, lawyers just cannot get enough of him.

So, why all the fuss about this great man in American history? Perhaps because he may be the case history to which President Obama looks for guidance in these times of struggle. Deja vu rings, as the Illinois lawyer was charged with addressing the nation’s economic crisis during office: real estate transactions, mortgage foreclosures, divorces, debtor-creditor cases and civil trial work. Though times may be different today, the embroiled state of affairs has a pungent smell of yore.

"I am not a Know-Nothing. That is certain. How could I be? How can any one who abhors the oppression of negroes, be in favor of degrading classes of white people? Our progress in degeneracy appears to me to be pretty rapid. As a nation, we began by declaring that "all men are created equal." We now practically read it "all men are created equal, except Negroes." When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read "all men are created equal, except Negroes and foreigners and Catholics." When it comes to this, I shall prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretense of loving liberty - to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure and without the base alloy of hypocrisy." The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln edited by Roy P. Basler, Volume II, "Letter to Joshua F. Speed" (August 24, 1855), p. 323.