07/12/2025
A good story and good advice!
Many in Washington society considered Abraham Lincoln coarse and vulgar. But his rusticity and wit had served him well in Illinois courtrooms. Always go low with a jury, he once told his law partner. Sophisticated jurors will still understand you if you do, but if you go over the heads of the uneducated jurors, they might not understand you and will resent it.
Here is a classic example of Mr. Lincoln working a jury (warning--coarse and vulgar wit follows. Don’t read further if that bothers you).
Lincoln was defending a client in a criminal case. During his closing argument, the prosecutor listed off “fact” after “fact” that he said had been proven during the trial, then argued that based on those facts Lincoln’s client was guilty and should be convicted. When the prosecutor finished and sat down, Lincoln got up slowly and sauntered over to the jury box.
“The prosecutor’s closing argument reminds me of a story,” Lincoln said. “There was once a farmer who had just hired a new farm hand. A couple of days later the farmer's son came rushing into the house all out of breath and he said to his father, ‘Pa! I just seen the new hand in the hayloft with sister! Sister’s got her dress pulled up and the new hand has his britches pulled down! Pa! They're fixing to p*e on our hay!’ So you see, gentlemen, it’s possible to have the facts all right, and still get the conclusion wrong.”
