With Malice Toward None

The Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Exhibition    

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When the state of Illinois licensed the Illinois Central Railroad, it exempted the company from any additional taxation. Disputing the provision, McLean County won approval in court to tax the companys real estate holdings within its boundaries. At first Lincoln seemed indifferent to the issue, offering his services first to one side and then the other. However, the significance of the case attracted his attention and when the opportunity presented itself, he joined the team for the defense. This Assignment of Errors, which Lincoln drafted, was argued in the state Supreme Court in the spring of 1854 and again in December 1855. A favorable decision handed down in January 1856 made it the most profitable case of his legal career. Ironically, the lawyers representing McLean County were two of his former partners, Stephen T. Logan and John T. Stuart.
* Currently on Exhibit

(Transcription)

And the said Appellants come and say that in the record of the proceedings in the court below there is manifest error in the town ...


When the state of Illinois licensed the Illinois Central Railroad, it exempted the company from any additional taxation. Disputing the provision, McLean County won approval in court to tax the companys real estate holdings within its boundaries. At first Lincoln seemed indifferent to the issue, offering his services first to one side and then the other. However, the significance of the case attracted his attention and when the opportunity presented itself, he joined the team for the defense. This Assignment of Errors, which Lincoln drafted, was argued in the state Supreme Court in the spring of 1854 and again in December 1855. A favorable decision handed down in January 1856 made it the most profitable case of his legal career. Ironically, the lawyers representing McLean County were two of his former partners, Stephen T. Logan and John T. Stuart.