— Looking for Lincoln —
Left Section
Anthony Thornton and Abraham Lincoln led fairly similar lives. Both were born in Kentucky, were tall, and were Whigs.
Both began practicing law in Illinois in 1836, even though Thornton was college-educated and read law in an uncle's law office while Lincoln had little schooling and was self-taught in the law. Both served in the Illinois legislature. Thornton served in the constitutional convention in 1847, when Lincoln was elected to the U. S. Congress. After 1854, the two men took different paths. The Kansas-Nebraska Act destroyed the Whig Party, resulting in new party loyalties. Thornton, concerned about the anti-slavery zeal of the Republicans, chose the Democrats; Lincoln took several years before finally calling himself a Republican. Despite the party changes, the two remained friends. Thornton supported Stephen Douglas in the 1858 Illinois Senate race and was a presidential elector for Douglas in 1860. During the Civil War, Thornton was a pro-war Democrat, sold bonds to pay bounties for Shelby County volunteers, and won election to the U. S. Congress in 1864. He took office in March 1865, just one month before Lincoln's assassination.
Center Section
Thornton had a distinguished career after the Civil War. He served one term in the U. S. House, working on the important Committee of Claims. In 1870, he was elected to the Illinois Supreme Court, hearing more than 1,500 cases and writing approximately 200 opinions in his four-year tenure. In 1877, he became the first president of the Illinois State Bar Association, serving three terms. After a life of public service, he returned to the law, dying in Shelbyville in 1904.
Right Section
Anthony Thornton assisted in protecting Lincoln's professional reputation. Oldham and Hemingway, partners with Lincoln's deceased father-in-law Robert Todd, sued Lincoln in a Kentucky court, alleging that Lincoln had failed to pay them money from a note that he had collected against Shelbyville residents William F. Thornton and his son-in-law, Marshall Basye. Lincoln was angry at the suggestion that he purposefully withheld money from his father-in-law. Lincoln came to Shelbyville in 1853 to take William Thornton's deposition. William Thornton was away, so Lincoln took the testimony of Anthony Thornton, who had served as an attorney for William Thornton and Basye, was aware of the circumstances, and claimed that
"Lincoln has never had anything to do with said note." Because of Thornton's testimony, the plaintiffs dismissed their lawsuit against Lincoln, helping to preserve Lincoln's very important reputation as a lawyer.
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