One of Abraham Lincoln’s staunchest and most effective allies, Judge David Davis masterminded the floor fight that gave Lincoln the presidential nomination at the 1860 Republican National Convention. This history-changing event emerged from a long friendship between the two men. It also altered the course of Davis’s career, as Lincoln named him to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1862.

Raymond J. McKoski offers a biography of Davis’s public life, his impact on the presidency and judiciary, and his personal, professional, and political relationships with Lincoln. Davis lent his vast network of connections, organizational and leadership abilities, and personal persuasiveness to help Lincoln’s political rise. When Davis became a judge, he honed an ability to hear each case with complete impartiality, a practice that endeared him to Lincoln but one day put him at odds with the president over important Civil War–era rulings. McKoski details these cases while providing an in-depth account of Davis’s role in Lincoln’s two unsuccessful campaigns for U.S. Senate and the fateful run for the presidency.

Acknowledgments

Introduction

A Biographical Sketch of David Davis

Part I Davis, Lincoln, and the U.S. Senate

1. Lincoln’s First U.S. Senate Campaign
2. Lincoln’s Second Senate Defeat

Part II Davis, Lincoln, and the Presidency

1. Davis Secures Lincoln’s 1860 Presidential Nomination
2. Davis and the 1860 General Election

Part III Davis, Lincoln, and the U.S. Supreme Court

1. Lincoln Puts Davis on the Supreme Court
2. Justice Davis and Wartime Presidential Edicts

Part IV Judge Davis: A Model of Judicial Impartiality

1. Impartiality on the Trial Court Bench
2. Impartiality on the Supreme Court Bench

Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography

Index