" A Rustic on his First Visit "
— Looking for Lincoln —
"A rustic on his first visit to the circus" is how John W. Baddeley, an English immigrant farmer described Abraham Lincoln on his first visit to the McLean County Courthouse as a young attorney in the summer of 1837. Lincoln was wearing "ill-fitting homespun clothes, the trousers a little too short, and the coat a trifle too large." Baddeley summarily dismissed the "country bumpkin" lawyer who had been sent by his senior partner, John Todd Stuart, to represent the Englishman. Despite this initial reaction, Lincoln later represented Baddeley in numerous matters. Lincoln appeared often at the courthouse as an attorney and as a political speaker. Undoubtedly, his best-known appearance in the courthouse was as the victorious attorney in The Illinois Central Rail Road v. McLean County case (1853). In a landmark decision, the Illinois Supreme Court, on appeal, ruled the Illinois General Assembly had the constitutional right to exempt the railroad's property from taxation. Called by his partner, William H. Herndon, their "most important case," the two attorneys divided the $5,000 fee equally between them.HM Number | HM7ZH |
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Series | This marker is part of the Illinois: Looking for Lincoln series |
Tags | |
Year Placed | 2008 |
Placed By | Looking for Lincoln Heritage Commission and the City of Bloomington |
Marker Condition | No reports yet |
Date Added | Saturday, October 11th, 2014 at 2:18am PDT -07:00 |
UTM (WGS84 Datum) | 16T E 331022 N 4482915 |
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Decimal Degrees | 40.47975000, -88.99355000 |
Degrees and Decimal Minutes | N 40° 28.785', W 88° 59.613' |
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds | 40° 28' 47.10" N, 88° 59' 36.78" W |
Driving Directions | Google Maps |
Area Code(s) | 309 |
Closest Postal Address | At or near 201-299 N Main St, Bloomington IL 61701, US |
Alternative Maps | Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap |
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