Indeed, The Fact On
Which I Insist Is Much More Clear And Defined In The States Than It
Is With Us.
In England the lawyers also obtain no inconsiderable
share of political and municipal power.
The latter is perhaps more
in the hands of merchants and men in trade than of any other class;
and even the highest seats of political greatness are more open with
us to the world at large than they seem to be in the States to any
that are not lawyers. Since the days of Washington every President
of the United States has, I think, been a lawyer, excepting General
Taylor. Other Presidents have been generals, but then they have
also been lawyers. General Jackson was a successful lawyer. Almost
all the leading politicians of the present day are lawyers. Seward,
Cameron, Welles, Stanton, Chase, Sumner, Crittenden, Harris,
Fessenden, are all lawyers. Webster, Clay, Calhoun, and Cass were
lawyers. Hamilton and Jay were lawyers. Any man with an ambition
to enter upon public life becomes a lawyer as a matter of course.
It seems as though a study and practice of the law were necessary
ingredients in a man's preparation for political life. I have no
doubt that a very large proportion of both houses of legislature
would be found to consist of lawyers. I do not remember that I know
of the circumstance of more than one Senator who is not a lawyer.
Lawyers form the ruling class in America, as the landowners do with
us.
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