Lincoln wart #8: "If it had been important to you"
The wart: Lincoln wasn't a good "legal eagle." Try as he might, lawyer Lincoln just never could master the details of an attorney's life--especially keeping track of the paperwork. His sloppiness was remarkable, even among other lawyers of the time. This includes his law office, which by all accounts was a truly epic mess. And it includes his handling of paperwork, which he frequently mislaid or lost entirely.
Granted, this made for some amusing moments in Lincoln's life. One of my favorite anecdotes concerns the practical jokes played upon him by neighborhood children, who, seeing Lincoln coming down a Springfield street, would tie a string at the proper height to knock off his stovepipe hat and send all the paperwork he had crammed into the thing flying away. Or there's the story about his law office's filthiness helping to grow bean seeds in one corner of the room, and the pile of papers that he labeled, "if you can't find it anywhere else, look here.".
Fun stuff, if you're reading or writing about Abe. But sometimes clients really did suffer from Lincoln's neglect; as entertaining and endearing as his slovenly administration might be to us, it surely was far less so to clients who might have lost money or even a case because of this sort of thing. Can you imagine for example the reaction of a colleague named Levi Davis, who received a letter from Lincoln in 1838 which read in part, "We have been in a great state of confusion here ever since the receipt of your letter [concerning some mislaid paperwork]....we beg your pardon for our neglect in this business; if it had been important to you or your client we would have done better." Good grief.
Where this wart originated. I suspect it reflects Lincoln's lack of a formal education. Lincoln certainly did not have a disorderly mind, but he did have very disorderly administrative habits, likely stemming from the general lack of structure in his educational experience.
Why it mattered. Well, I'm sure it mattered to Levi Davis. And it fed a general sloppiness about day-to-day administration that would be a problem in Lincoln's presidency.
Granted, this made for some amusing moments in Lincoln's life. One of my favorite anecdotes concerns the practical jokes played upon him by neighborhood children, who, seeing Lincoln coming down a Springfield street, would tie a string at the proper height to knock off his stovepipe hat and send all the paperwork he had crammed into the thing flying away. Or there's the story about his law office's filthiness helping to grow bean seeds in one corner of the room, and the pile of papers that he labeled, "if you can't find it anywhere else, look here.".
Fun stuff, if you're reading or writing about Abe. But sometimes clients really did suffer from Lincoln's neglect; as entertaining and endearing as his slovenly administration might be to us, it surely was far less so to clients who might have lost money or even a case because of this sort of thing. Can you imagine for example the reaction of a colleague named Levi Davis, who received a letter from Lincoln in 1838 which read in part, "We have been in a great state of confusion here ever since the receipt of your letter [concerning some mislaid paperwork]....we beg your pardon for our neglect in this business; if it had been important to you or your client we would have done better." Good grief.
Where this wart originated. I suspect it reflects Lincoln's lack of a formal education. Lincoln certainly did not have a disorderly mind, but he did have very disorderly administrative habits, likely stemming from the general lack of structure in his educational experience.
Why it mattered. Well, I'm sure it mattered to Levi Davis. And it fed a general sloppiness about day-to-day administration that would be a problem in Lincoln's presidency.
posted by brdirck at 2:56 AM
1 Comments:
Another fascinating contradiction in Lincoln's life. His administrative duties were very slovenly. His junior partner always seemed to be the one to keep the books. Hearndon (for what its worth) has some interesting accounts of Lincoln as an everyday lawyer. However, as a lawyer, Lincoln was very succesful. He argued some important cases (right of way of ship vs. bridge on Mississippi), was corporate lawyer, and of course the famous moonlight murder case. He earned a substantial amount as a lawyer. Another interesting web site (I can't remember) has documented Lincoln the lawyer on a day-to-day basis. You can read what transpired on a particlar day over the course of many years. Very interesting reading.
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home