Abraham Lincoln, Divorce Lawyer

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president, but he is probably best known for his work as a divorce lawyer. Or for slaying vampires. Historians are divided.

Though it isn’t a part of his life that we typically celebrate, Lincoln actually was a divorce lawyer. In fact, he was involved in more than 140 divorce cases in his law career, according to Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War of Middle Tennessee.

The group is sponsoring a program Tuesday night at Columbia State Community College, in Nashville, Tenn., that will explore how Lincoln’s divorce work lends insight into the man he was, and into the society in which he operated.  

Thomas Flagel a history instructor at the college who has written several books on the Civil War, will present the program.

There is some work out there on Lincoln’s divorce practice. In 1998, Stacy Pratt McDermott cobbled together this brief based on her research of Lincoln’s papers. She found that between 1837 and 1861, Lincoln and his law partners handled 131 divorce cases in 17 Illinois county circuit courts across the state.

Women brought 82 of the those cases, and the courts granted divorces to women plaintiffs in those cases 79% of the time. Male plaintiffs obtained divorces only 69% of the time, according to McDermott.

Source: WSJ Law Blog