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Article: Lincoln the Lawyer.(Book review)
- Article from:
- The Journal of Southern History
- Article date:
- August 1, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 Southern Historical Association. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Lincoln the Lawyer. By Brian Dirck. (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, c. 2007. Pp. [xvi], 228. $29.95, ISBN 978-0-252-03181-6.)
Abraham Lincoln spent his working life in the courtroom. Arriving in Illinois at age twenty-one with little formal education, Lincoln worked as a postmaster, a store clerk, and a surveyor. He served in the militia during the Black Hawk War. In 1832, at age twenty-three, he lost an election for the Illinois legislature. That year he began to read law to prepare for the bar examination.
Lincoln obtained his law license in 1836 after four years of study. For the next twenty-five years--until he became president in ...