Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 3 [Aug. 21, 1858-Mar. 4, 1860].
About this Item
Title
Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 3 [Aug. 21, 1858-Mar. 4, 1860].
Author
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865.
Publication
New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press
1953.
Rights/Permissions
The University of Michigan Library provides access to these materials for educational
and research purposes, with permission from their copyright holder. If you decide to use
any of these materials, you are responsible for making your own legal assessment and
securing any necessary permission.
Cite this Item
"Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 3 [Aug. 21, 1858-Mar. 4, 1860]." In the digital collection Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/lincoln3. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed April 26, 2024.
James T. Thornton, Esq Springfield,
Dear Sir Decr. 2. 1858
Yours of the 29th. written in behalf of Mr. John H. Widmer,2Jump to section is received. I am absent altogether too much to be a suitable instructer for a law-student. When a man has reached the age that Mr. Widner has, and has already been doing for himself, my judgment is, that he reads the books for himself without an instructer. That is precisely the way I came to the law. Let Mr. Widner read Blackstone's Commentaries, Chitty's Pleading's---Greenleaf's Evidence, Story's Equity, and Story's Equity Pleading's, get a license, and go to the practice, and still keep reading. That is my judgment of the cheapest, quickest, and best way for Mr. Widner to make a lawyer of himself. Yours truly
A. LINCOLN.
Annotation
[1] ALS-P, ISLA. James T. Thornton, a native of Kentucky who moved to Sangamon County in 1833 and later to Putnam County, Illinois.