Famously, Abraham Lincoln wrote that he the “aggregate of all his schooling did not amount to one year.” He added that he “was never in a college or Academy as a student; and never inside of a college or academy building til since he had a law-license.” And yet, Lincoln is a college guy, of sorts.
Lincoln’s formal schooling was “by littles.” As was common on the frontier, children attended school only during the winter months – after the fall harvest and before the spring planting. That is, if there was a teacher available, usually by subscription. Teachers were scarce despite no qualifications beyond “readin, writin, and cipherin’ to the Rule of Three.” The state of education on the frontier was so limited that “if a straggler supposed to understand Latin, happened to so-journ in the neighborhood, he was looked upon as a wizzard.” Of course, Lincoln did what he could to “pick up from time to time under the pressure of necessity” any other education. To give him proper credit, that included teaching himself English grammar, Euclid geometry, surveying, and the law. No small achievements.
But he never went to college. To become a lawyer on the frontier, all he needed to do was pass an oral exam (done informally while walking with his mentor) and have someone vouch for his personal character (done by another mentor). He joked that the only time he walked the halls of college was during the Lincoln-Douglas debate in Galesburg, Illinois, held on the campus of Knox College. To reach the platform Lincoln, Douglas, and other dignitaries needed to enter the building and crawl out a window. The self-taught Lincoln, according to tradition, noted that “At last I have gone through…college.”
All this said, because of his life’s work, Lincoln has been awarded several honorary degrees. Two years after he debated Douglas on its campus, Knox College awarded Lincoln an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in 1860. The following year, Columbia College (now Columbia University) awarded him the Doctor of Laws, as did the College of New Jersey (now Princeton) in 1864. More recently, Illinois College in Jacksonville, Illinois, awarded an honorary Bachelor of Arts degree in 2009 concurrent with the dedication of a statue of Lincoln. Lincoln’s law partner, William Herndon, is an alumnus of the College.
Lincoln’s son Robert attended Harvard College (now Harvard University), graduating in 1864. He attended Harvard Law School from September 1864 to January 1865, but dropped out to join the army as an aide to General Ulysses S. Grant. Never returning, Robert was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in 1893.
So yes, Abraham Lincoln, College Guy.
[Photo: Lincoln statue on campus of Illinois College, by David J. Kent 2019]
David J. Kent is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America. His newest Lincoln book is scheduled for release in February 2022. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two specialty e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.
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