Lincoln's last trial : the murder case that propelled him to the presidency

The Resource Lincoln's last trial : the murder case that propelled him to the presidency

Label

Lincoln's last trial : the murder case that propelled him to the presidency

Title remainder

the murder case that propelled him to the presidency

Statement of responsibility

Dan Abrams and David Fisher

Language

eng

Summary

At the end of the summer of 1859, twenty-two-year-old Peachy Quinn Harrison went on trial for murder in Springfield, Illinois. Abraham Lincoln, who had been involved in more than three thousand cases-including more than twenty-five murder trials-during his two-decades-long career, was hired to defend him. This was to be his last great case as a lawyer. What normally would have been a local case took on momentous meaning. Lincoln's debates with Senator Stephen Douglas the previous fall had gained him a national following, transforming the little-known, self-taught lawyer into a respected politician. He was being urged to make a dark-horse run for the presidency in 1860. Taking this case involved great risk. His reputation was untarnished, but should he lose this trial, should Harrison be convicted of murder, the spotlight now focused so brightly on him might be dimmed. He had won his most recent murder trial with a daring and dramatic maneuver that had become a local legend, but another had ended with his client dangling from the end of a rope. The case posed painful personal challenges for Lincoln. The murder victim had trained for the law in his office, and Lincoln had been his friend and his mentor. His accused killer, the young man Lincoln would defend, was the son of a close friend and loyal supporter. And to win this trial he would have to form an unholy allegiance with a longtime enemy, a revivalist preacher he had twice run against for political office-and who had bitterly slandered Lincoln as an "infidelіtoo lacking in faith" to be elected

Accompanying matter

technical information on music

Cataloging source

Midwest

Dewey number

973.7092

Form of composition

not applicable

Format of music

not applicable

Literary text for sound recordings

other

PerformerNote

Read by Dan Abrams and Adam Verner

Target audience

adult

Transposition and arrangement

not applicable

Context

Context of Lincoln's last trial : the murder case that propelled him to the presidency

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Context

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