Thursday, March 20, 2014

March 21, 1864---Abraham Lincoln, Esq.



MARCH 21, 1864:      

It is sometimes forgotten that Abraham Lincoln was a well-known commercial litigation lawyer before he became President. Lincoln had a quite successful career in promoting and defending the railroads, among many other corporate clients. Today, he writes a letter to the New York Workingmen's Democratic Republican Association, in which he addresses the issue of “Property” and says:

Property is the fruit of labor . . . property is desirable . . . is a positive good in the world. That some should be rich shows that others may become rich, and hence is just encouragement to industry and enterprise. Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another; but let him labor diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built.


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