Abraham Lincoln, Esq.—The Legal Career of America's Greatest President

As our nation's most beloved and recognizable president, Abraham Lincoln is best known for the Emancipation Proclamation and for guiding our country through the Civil War. But before he took the oath of office, Lincoln practiced law for nearly twenty-five years in the Illinois courts. Abraham Lincoln, Esq.: The Legal Career of America's Greatest President examines Lincoln's law practice and the effect it had on his presidency and the country.

Editors Roger Billings and Frank J. Williams, along with a notable list of contributors, examine Lincoln's career as a general-practice attorney, looking both at his work in Illinois and at the time he spent in Washington. Each chapter offers an expansive look at Lincoln's legal mind and covers diverse topics such as Lincoln's legal writing, ethics, the Constitution, and international law. Abraham Lincoln, Esq. emphasizes this often overlooked period in Lincoln's career and sheds light on Lincoln's life before he became our sixteenth president.

Roger Billings is a professor at Northern Kentucky University's Salmon P. Chase College of Law. His articles have appeared in such publications as the ABA Journal, and Journal of Illinois History. He lives in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Frank J. Williams is a retired Chief Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court, founding Chair of The Lincoln Forum and Chair of the Rhode Island Civil War Sesquicentennial Commemoration Commission. He also served as Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Military Commission review to hear appeals from those detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.He is the author of Judging Lincoln and the coeditor of Lincoln Lessons: Reflections on America's Greatest Leader. He lives in Hope Valley, Rhode Island.