8th Judicial Circuit

The 8th Judicial Circuit changed several times during the two decades that Mr. Lincoln travelled around it twice a year. For the latter half that period, Mr. Lincoln's friend, David Davis, was the presiding judge. Occasionally, Mr. Lincoln sat in for Judge Davis. The courthouses on the circuit also often served as the backdrop for political events and rallies. As organized in 1839, the Circuit included Champaign, Dewitt, Macon, Mason, McLean, Menard, Sangamon and Tazewell. Three years later, Christian, Logan, Shelby and Woodford Counties were added. In 1853 State's judicial circuits were realigned. The new Eighth Circuit was limited to Sangamon, Logan, McLean, Woodford, Tazewell, DeWitt, Champaign, and Vermilion. The usual route for Mr. Lincoln was:

Woodford

Metamora

It became the county seat in 1843 and a brick courthouse which still stands, was completed in 1845.

Tremont

Tazewell County's first county seat was where when Mr. Lincoln received a duel challenge from James Shields in 1843. Before the county seat was switched to Pekin in 1850, court sessions were held in a red brick courthouse built in 1839.

Tazewell

Pekin

It was part of the Eighth Circuit for seven years until 1857 when Tazewell County was removed from the Circuit. The courthouse was constructed in 1849 after the legislature approved switching the county seat from Tremont.

Bloomington

This was the site of one of the circuit's busiest but less pretentious courthouses, completed in 1836. It was home to David Davis, Jesse Fell, and Leonard Swett – all legal and political collaborators of Mr. Lincoln.

Venmilion

Danville

The courthouse was a brick building where Mr. Lincoln often practiced with Ward Hill Lamon until Lamon became the circuit's prosecutor.

Urbana

A brick courthouse was built in 1848. Leonard Swett and Henry C. Whitney frequently served as Mr. Lincoln's co-counsel here.

Champaign

Paris

In 1842, Mr. Lincoln began his practice here in a frame courthouse that was already almost two decades old.

Edgar

Sullivan

When the county was created in 1843, it became part of the circuit. A square brick courthouse stood until it burned in 1865.

Shelbyville

This community was a long way from other towns on the Eighth Circuit. In 1852, a brick courthouse replaced a more humble edifice.

Shelby

Taylorville

This was literally the "last stop" on the circuit until 1853. Its simple frame courthouse, was finished in 1840 and usually visited before Mr. Lincoln returned to Springfield.

Christian

Sangamon

Springfield

Springfield was Mr. Lincoln's home town as well the state capital as well as the county seat of in Sangamon County. It was also the site of the U.S. District Court and the Illinois Supreme Court, before which Mr. Lincoln often practiced.

Logan

Mount Pulaski

The town was the second county seat of Logan County. Court was held there until 1856 when the county seat was moved to Lincoln, a town which Mr. Lincoln himself how surveyed.

Lincoln

The courthouse went into operation in 1856, burned in 1857 and was replaced the following year. It was the third county seat. A reproduction of the first courthouse in Postville, where Mr. Lincoln practiced in the 1840s, was built in 1953.

Clinton

The courthouse for two decades was the site of many Lincoln trials – and supposedly his first meeting with future Civil War General George B. McClellan. It was located on what is now called "Mr. Lincoln's Square."

Decatur

A simple log courthouse was under construction when Mr. Lincoln first visited the community as a 22-year moving with his family from Indiana.

Monticello

Less is known about the courthouse here than about the nearby Bryant Cottage in Bement, where plans for the Lincoln-Douglas Debates were formulated.

Piatt

Moultrie

Macon

DeWitt

McLean

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