Lincoln's Ladder to the Presidency: The Eighth Judicial Circuit

5. McLean, Livingston, Logan, DeWitt

79 5. McLean, Livingston, Logan, DeWitt z McLean As the road approached Bloomington, it crossed another Sugar Creek and ascended the gradual incline into the town itself. Bloomington was the county seat of McLean County from the county’s initial organization in 1830. The town sat on the north edge of Blooming Grove, where the first pioneers in the area settled in 1822 and where remnant large oaks still stand. The three-thousand-acre hardwood grove was mostly oaks and hickories with open understory. Bloomington existed on paper only at the time of its selection as county seat. Founder James Allin donated the courthouse square on the top of a gentle rise, part of the original twenty-acre town site. Early settler Asahel Gridley donated the $338 to build the original log courthouse , which was replaced in 1836 by an $8,500, two-story, forty-two-foot by forty-two-foot building in the coffee-mill design. This building served as the courthouse throughout Lincoln’s career.1 McLean was one of only three counties to be part of the Eighth Judicial Circuit from its formation until Lincoln became president.2 Lincoln attended court for almost all its sessions throughout his twenty-three years on the circuit. Bloomington was a major source of law business for Lincoln. More important, it was the home of more significant members of his political team of the 1850s than any other venue: David Davis, Jesse Fell, Isaac Funk, Asahel Gridley, Harvey Hogg, William Orme, John M. Scott, Leonard Swett, and, in the second half of the decade, Ward Hill Lamon, who had moved there from Danville, Illinois. 80 Counties of the Eighth Judicial Circuit Davis, Gridley, and Fell, Bloomington’s leading citizens, were also the men from that city most instrumental in Lincoln’s twin political and legal careers. Davis knew Lincoln from the circuit, of course, and Gridley and Fell knew Lincoln before he came to Bloomington from their attendance at the legislature in Vandalia and were close friends of his. Lincoln did legal work for all of them, particularly Gridley, and all three actively promoted him professionally and politically. Davis, like Lincoln, played a small role in local affairs, probably because of the extended absences required by circuit travel. Asahel Gridley of Bloomington was an irascible, unpleasant lawyer, then entrepreneur and client of Lincoln whose strong support of Lincoln, including financial, was important to his rise to the presidency. McLean County Historical Society. Jesse Fell of Bloomington was one of Lincoln’s earliest and most liberal supporters. Lincoln’s acceptance of Fell’s invitation to compose an autobiography in December 1859 was a significant indication of Lincoln’s decision to run for the presidency. Douglas Hartley, drawing, private collection of Davis V. Merwin. All three made their fortunes in land. Gridley involved himself in a broad range of business interests and acquired thousands of acres of farmland . He was probably Bloomington’s wealthiest and least popular citizen, known for his profane, arrogant, and hateful manner. Davis hated Gridley, often declaring that Gridley could not have gotten so rich honestly. Urbana 81 McLean, Livingston, Logan, DeWitt attorney Henry Clay Whitney referred to Gridley as Davis’s “bête noir” and described heated courtroom exchanges between the two. Whitney observed about Davis’s feelings toward Gridley, “Oh! my: but he did hate him.” Local lore has it that a fight between the two in Davis’s office ended when Davis pinned the smaller Gridley, who bit Davis’s finger until he let him up. Davis purchased the site of his home, Clover Lawn, from Jesse Fell, because, Davis said, “The hurry in the decision was that Gridley wanted to buy it; I could not stand to see Gridley get the place.”3 Gridley and Fell, close friends throughout their lifetimes and both active in politics, had the greatest impact on the growth and development of Bloomington. Gridley came to town in 1831 and opened a store for which he returned east annually to purchase goods.4 Fell, Bloomington’s first lawyer , arrived in 1833. They joined with Allin to start the first newspaper, the Bloomington Observer, in 1836. Gridley purchased the equipment on his annual trip east, though Fell, who gave up the law that year when he sold his practice to the newly arrived Davis, was the one who was actually involved in its publication. The community was not ready to...