John Todd Stuart

John Todd Stuart (November 10, 1807 – November 28, 1885) was an American lawyer, state legislator, and U.S. Representative from Illinois whose legal and political career intersected closely with that of Abraham Lincoln. Born near Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky, he was a member of the prominent Todd family and was a favorite cousin of Mary Todd Lincoln. He attended local schools and pursued classical studies before enrolling at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky. Stuart graduated from Centre College in 1826, laying the academic foundation for his subsequent legal and political pursuits.

After completing his college education, Stuart studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1828. He moved to Springfield, Illinois, where he commenced the practice of law and quickly became a leading figure in the young capital’s legal community. His early career was interrupted by military service during the Black Hawk War in 1832, in which he served as a major. During that conflict he first met Abraham Lincoln, who served in the same battalion. The acquaintance formed in the militia would develop into a significant professional and personal relationship that influenced the course of Lincoln’s life and, by extension, national history.

Stuart entered public life as a member of the Illinois House of Representatives, serving from 1832 to 1836. During this period he encouraged Lincoln to study law, recognizing his aptitude and ambition. Under Stuart’s guidance, Lincoln read law and was admitted to the bar, and from 1837 to 1841 the two men were partners in the Springfield law firm of Stuart and Lincoln. Their partnership helped establish Lincoln’s legal reputation, and commentators have noted that, without Stuart’s influence in directing Lincoln toward the law, it is conceivable that Lincoln might never have pursued the legal and political path that led to the presidency. After their partnership ended, Stuart remained an influential figure in the Illinois bar.

Stuart sought national office as a Whig and was an unsuccessful candidate for election to the Twenty-fifth Congress in 1836. He was subsequently elected as a Whig to the Twenty-sixth and Twenty-seventh Congresses, serving from March 4, 1839, to March 3, 1843. In the 1838 election he defeated Democrat Stephen A. Douglas, then an emerging figure in Illinois politics, to win his first term in the U.S. House of Representatives. Stuart did not seek renomination in 1842 and returned to his law practice in Springfield at the conclusion of his second term. In 1843 he formed a new law partnership with Benjamin S. Edwards, son of former Illinois Governor Ninian Edwards; this firm, established in Springfield, endured for forty years and became one of the state’s most prominent legal practices.

In addition to his congressional service, Stuart remained active in Illinois state politics. He served as a member of the Illinois Senate from 1848 to 1852, participating in the legislative affairs of a rapidly growing state. As national tensions over slavery and union intensified, Stuart aligned with the Constitutional Union movement, which sought to avert sectional conflict by emphasizing adherence to the Constitution and preservation of the Union. In 1860 he was the unsuccessful Constitutional Union candidate for Governor of Illinois, losing in a contest shaped by the same political forces that elevated his former law partner, Abraham Lincoln, to the presidency that year.

During the Civil War, Stuart returned to Congress as a member of a different party. He was elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-eighth Congress and served from March 4, 1863, to March 3, 1865, representing Illinois while Lincoln was president. Although he was related to and long acquainted with the president, Stuart was an anti-emancipation Democrat and opposed key elements of the administration’s wartime policy. His vote on the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which abolished slavery, was recorded as “Nay.” Despite these political differences, his family connection and long friendship with the Lincolns meant that, after his election in 1862 over Republican Leonard Swett, he was a frequent visitor at the White House. In the 1864 election he was defeated for reelection by Republican Shelby Moore Cullom, a close ally of President Lincoln who would later serve as Governor of Illinois and U.S. Senator.

Following his defeat in 1864, Stuart resumed the full-time practice of law in Springfield. The firm he had helped establish in the city, originally known as “Stuart and Lincoln” and later as the Edwards partnership, evolved over time and continued into the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. It ultimately became known as Brown, Hay & Stephens, one of Illinois’s oldest continuous law firms, and has included Stuart’s great-great-grandson as a partner, extending his professional legacy across generations. Stuart remained a respected figure in the Springfield legal community until his death.

John Todd Stuart died in Springfield, Illinois, on November 28, 1885. He was interred in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, the same cemetery where Abraham Lincoln would be buried. His life and career left a lasting imprint on both Illinois politics and the legal profession. In recognition of his influence on Lincoln’s career path and his contributions to the law, Centre College, his alma mater, dedicated Stuart Hall in the fall of 2007. The building, which once housed the college bookstore and now serves as a residence hall, commemorates Stuart’s role in shaping one of the nation’s most consequential political careers as well as his own long service as lawyer, legislator, and congressman.