How Did Lincoln Pursue A Career

President Abraham Lincoln is most well known for his historic presidency, however not many americans know about his career before becoming a famous president. Long before Lincoln acquired his position, he was a small town lawyer in Illinois. This part of his life is often overlooked. Lincoln's adult life as a lawyer helped set in stone his beliefs that every man should be honest in what they do. This is how he gained the nickname “Honest Abe” that eventually led to his run at the presidency. . Lincoln worked hard as a lawyer to change the stereotype often associated with lawyers of being greedy and dishonest is what made him such a good candidate for president. The public could sense that he didn’t share the same sense of entitlement that
Although it was strange to see anyone reading a book in those times, Lincoln was nearly always seen with his nose in a novel or newspaper. Lincoln was often asked what he was studying. Most were shocked to find out he was studying law. No one could quite understand how one could possibly find the law interesting enough to pursue. Lincoln soon found that there were many reasons people chose to pursue a career in law, whether it was to promote social justice, just to feed their competitive spirit, or to establish a well paying career. At the time Lincoln decided to pursue a career in the law field, most people had a plan B to fall back on because of the complexities of the time. Lincoln did not have this luxury. If a career in law failed, Lincoln would have to revert to the odd jobs he could get every now and then. Lincoln also lacked connections into the law world for a beginning attorney. Although he lacked connections, he did have some experience with the courts as his father served on juries in several legal disputes. It took Lincoln nearly four years before finally being admitted to the bar in 1836, a year longer than what was normal for most students Some of the delay could be attributed to lincoln's slow process in forming his opinions. Lincoln even admitted “I am slow to learn and slow to forget, my mind is like a piece of steel, very hard to scratch anything on it and almost impossible after
This partnership meant he able to avoid the difficult start of a new lawyer and got to step right into an established office. Embarking on a partnership with stuart, meant Lincoln got to share Stuarts vast array of contacts as well as his knowledge. Stuart was in a large part motivated by politics, which helped lead Lincoln in his eventual path The partnership between Lincoln and Stuart lasted only 4 years before Stuart moved into a congressional seat. After the partnership between Stuart and Lincoln was dissolved, Stephen Logan stepped in. Logan was looking for a partner that had the public speaking skills he lacked; Lincoln fit this description. Logan possessed the research and reasoning talents of the partnership. Lincoln and Logan lasted about four years as well. After dissolving both the partnership with Stuart and the partnership with Logan, Lincoln became more careful about choosing a partner. He needed someone that would “complement his skills rather than duplicate” he did not need a partner that was good at speaking to a jury as he already possessed those skills, however needed someone that would help with his lack of a formal education. With this in mind, Lincoln asked William Henry “Billy” Herndon to join a partnership with him. Lincoln knew Herndon and could trust him and his skills. This partnership lasted nearly two decades before they discontinued their work