{"product_id":"an-honest-calling-the-law-practice-of-abraham-lincoln-9780875803586","title":"An Honest Calling: The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln","description":"\u003cp\u003eAbraham Lincoln practiced law for nearly 25 years  five times longer than he served as president. Nonetheless  this aspect of his life was known only in the broadest outlines until the Lincoln Legal Papers project set to work gathering the surviving documentation of more than 5 600 of his cases. One of the first scholars to work in this vast collection  Mark E. Steiner goes beyond the hasty sketches of previous biographers to paint a detailed portrait of Lincoln the lawyer.  This portrait not only depicts Lincolns work for the railroads and the infamous case in which he defended the claims of a slaveholder; it also illustrates his more typical cases involving debt and neighborly disputes. Steiner describes Lincolns legal education  the economics of the law office  and the changes in legal practice that Lincoln himself experienced as the nation became an industrial  capitalist society. Most important  Steiner highlights Lincolns guiding principles as a lawyer.  In contrast to the popular caricature of the lawyer as a scoundrel  Lincoln followed his personal resolve to be honest at all events  thus earning the nickname Honest Abe. For him  honesty meant representing clients to the best of his ability  regardless of his own beliefs about the justice of their cause. Lincoln also embraced a professional ideal that cast the lawyer as a guardian of order. He was as willing to mediate a dispute outside the courtroom in the interest of maintaining peace as he was eager to win cases before a jury.  Over the course of his legal career  however  Lincolns dedication to the community and his clients personal interests became outmoded. As a result of the rise of powerful  faceless corporate clients and the national debate over slavery  Lincoln the lawyer found himself in an increasingly impersonal  morally ambiguous world.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45652312162357,"sku":"ByrdShop_087580358X","price":240.58,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780875803586.jpg?v=1781851023","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/an-honest-calling-the-law-practice-of-abraham-lincoln-9780875803586","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}