Lincoln and the Law

Lincoln himself admitted his ambition lay in politics and not in the law, stating “my forte is as a Statesman, rather than a Prosecutor.”  Even if the law was Lincoln’s “secondary” avocation, it was indelibly linked to him in life and death.  The Law Library of Congress's historical collection vividly illustrates three periods in which the law played a prominent part of the Lincoln era.

The first part focuses on his work as a prominent Illinois layer.
The second part covers contemporary literature on Lincoln’s controversial balancing of civil liberties against the demands of war aims.
The third part  contains period transcripts and reports of the trial of the surviving conspirators in the murder of the President and attempted murder of other public officials.

A thank you to the Library of Congress for creating this collection.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat