Abraham Lincoln’s Life Wisdom and Counsel to a Young Man: Get Involved, You Can Make a Difference

Lincoln praises the power of trying, advocating action: “Pitch in and try.”

Abraham Lincoln’s wisdom, delivered in his straightforward and evocative yet concise frontier manner, has become the stuff of legend.  His words inspire people today like no others. Yet letters directly evidencing this wisdom and inspiration very seldom reach the market.  Even less common are letters offering his advice to young people.

On July 4, 1859, at a picnic along the Sangamon River, two young men from the small village of Pleasant Plains, Illinois, got into an argument so heated that they nearly came to blows. Their disagreement persisted, and the following week the men, almost getting physical again, had to be pulled apart by friends. They came from two prominent farming families in the area. 22-year old Peachy Quinn Harrison was the youngest son of Peyton Harrison (of the noted Virginia Harrisons), a wealthy Republican farmer, who was a friend and political supporter of Abraham Lincoln. His grandfather was the famous preacher Rev. Peter Cartwright, who had beat Abraham Lincoln in 1832 for a seat in the Illinois Legislature, while Lincoln defeated him in the 1846 election for Congress. The other man was Greek Crafton, whose parents were Democrats and well-regarded farmers. Crafton was a law clerk and student of law in Lincoln’s law firm. The exact nature of the dispute was likely that one of Quinn’s sisters had married one of Greek’s brothers. At some point, Quinn came to believe that his sister was being abused by her Crafton husband. In response to this, Quinn made crude comments about Greek’s brother that were then carried back to Greek.

Quinn Harrison and Greek Crafton’s quarrel came to a fatal end on Saturday, July 16, when Quinn, under siege from Greek, took out a four inch, white handled hunting knife. He only cut John on his wrists but fatally slashed Greek across the stomach. Greek lingered and eventually died on Monday, July 18.

On August 3, a coroner’s jury heard testimony and determined that Greek’s death was a homicide. On August 30, the matter was presented to a Sangamon County grand jury, which indicted Quinn for murder. The Harrisons hired prominent attorney Stephen T. Logan, a former judge and member of the Illinois legislature, to defend Quinn. Logan was Lincoln’s former law partner and friend, and he brought Lincoln in to work on the case. The defense team was completed when Lincoln’s other partner, William Herndon, and Shelby Cullom, a future Illinois governor and U.S. senator, joined in. The prosecution team was no less famous. The lead attorney was John M. Palmer, a political ally of Lincoln who would become an Illinois governor and U.S. senator. In 1859, he was the Republican candidate in a special election to a vacancy in the 36th Congress caused by the death of Thomas L. Harris. He later became a Republican presidential elector in 1860, and was one of the leading people who got Lincoln nominated for the presidency at the Republican National Convention in Chicago. Assisting Palmer was the Sangamon district attorney, James B. White, as well as John A. McClernand, a Democrat and Lincoln political foe who would later become a Civil War general, a congressman, and a judge; this was the self-same McClernand who was opposing Palmer for the Congressional seat.

Perhaps the most memorable testimony favorable to the defense that occurred during the prosecution’s case came when, during the cross-examination of John Crafton, after the witness tried to explain how Greek had grabbed Quinn, the tall Lincoln playing the role of Greek with the smaller Palmer acting as the defendant Quinn, illustrated the position of Greek and Quinn as it appeared during the fight. The trial lasted four days. Harrison was found not guilty after eleven men debated just one hour and nine minutes. Lincoln turned in a stellar performance in all aspects of the case, cross-examining brilliantly, arguing points of law with great vehemence, and giving a final argument which was described as a tour de force of logical analysis. This was to be Lincoln’s last murder trial.

The fascinating, almost incestuous, nature of politics at that time and place is shown by the fact that both candidates for Congress were in the same courtroom, and on the same team, and the lead prosecutor Palmer and lead defense attorney Lincoln were friends and allies. Lincoln, Logan, and McClernand had been or soon would be in Congress.

After the trial, the young man who was saved from a murder conviction and whose life could have been effectively over, went to his lawyer Abraham Lincoln. He was a youth at the start of his career, and Lincoln used this opportunity to give him life-changing advice, about the necessity of trying, and about using his youth an advantage, advice that Lincoln himself had used as he climbed the political ladder.  Lincoln asks the newly-acquitted Harrison to work for the election of Palmer, who had prosecuted him. Lincoln does so because he believes Palmer is a good man and worthy of support. And in doing so, more importantly, he urges a young man to get involved in politics, maintaining that he can make a difference.

Autograph letter signed, Springfield, November 3, 1859, to Peachy Quinn Harrison. “Dear Sir: I have [no] reason to doubt that our friends are doing the best they can about the election. Still, you can do some more, if you will. A young man, before the enemy has learned to watch him, can do more than any other. Pitch in and try. Palmer is good and true, and deserves the best vote we can give him. If you can make your precinct 20 votes better than it was last we probably shall redeem the county. Try –Yours truly, A. Lincoln.”

McClernand beat Palmer in this Congressional election. But the rise of the Republicans could not stopped. Just one year later, Abraham Lincoln would be elected President of the United States.