The Advocate - May 2012 - Idaho State Bar - Idaho.gov

44 The Advocate • May 2012
Former AG Rekindles Lincoln’s Light
Dan Black
Editor, The Advocate
“One of my missions in life is to
spread the word that Lincoln is
closely connected to us in Idaho.”
– David Leroy
Lincoln’s connection to the West is
well-known among Civil War
historians. Before the war, Southern
states wanted slavery extended west
along the Mason-Dixon Line, where,
according to Boise attorney David
Leroy, “there was little enthusiasm for slavery.”
Lincoln’s connections out West were both friendly
and strategic. His legal and political friends were
given posts out West, and when the time came for
cannon shot and tourniquets, the Western
territories flew a Union flag.
Lincoln’s specific connections to Idaho were
almost lost to time but for Mr. Leroy, who served
as Idaho’s Attorney General and Lieutenant
Governor, and who now runs a solo practice in
Boise. He recalled that as a young prosecutor
looking to make his way into an elected state
office, he stumbled onto President Lincoln’s
legacy to Idaho almost by accident. Mr. Leroy
honed a stump speech for countless Lincoln Day
dinners, known across rural Idaho as a must-do
meet-and-greet for Republicans seeking statewide
office. So he turned to the Idaho State Historical
Society, “which had a few things here or there.”
In 1978 he fashioned a talk and then kept digging,
pulling from old newspapers, books, magazines
and official records.
Aside from winning elections, all that research
resulted in an 18-page article published in 1998
by the Idaho State Historical Society’s journal,
Idaho Yesterdays. 1 It documents the numerous
connections between our 16th President and the
state of Idaho. That article and another article by
Mr. Leroy in The Advocate in 2007 documented
the following connections: 2
• Lincoln, as a lawyer, represented the DuBois
family of New York. Fred DuBois later would
become a U.S. Senator for the state of Idaho.
• Lincoln was offered the governorship of the
Oregon Territory by President Zachary Taylor,
which at that time included ground now
considered Idaho. Lincoln denied the offer and
went on to run for president.
• As president, Lincoln lobbied hard for, and
signed, the bill that created the Idaho Territory
on March 4, 1863.
• After becoming president, Lincoln quickly
appointed close friends from his legal practice
and political allies as officers over the territories,
including Indiana state politician William
Wallace as governor. Shortly after Lincoln’s
election, Wallace asked Lincoln to purge
Washington Territory of disloyal officers, which
helped secure the West for the Union side.
• Lincoln appointed men to various judicial,
military and political positions in Idaho, one of
whom may have contributed to the slight-ofhand
that moved Idaho’s capitol from Lewiston
to Boise.
“In researching, I came across Lincoln
memorabilia merchants,” he said. “When I left
public service, and earned a higher income, I
purchased items connected to Lincoln and the
West.”
The objects are important, Mr. Leroy said,
because they remind us that Idaho has these
connections. He began to collect general Lincoln
memorabilia and then precious rare items, a hobby
that falls just short of a personal obsession.
Lincoln forged a strong connection to
Idaho, Mr. Leroy found it easy to reinforce that
connection. The amount of Lincoln “stuff” in
his office, hallway, waiting room and stairway is
overwhelming. He has original posters, photos,
documents, busts, paintings, carvings, books,
imprints, drawings, engravings, giant pennies,
bookends, silverware and even original book titles
key to Lincoln’s worldview. Mr. Leroy practices
as a trial lawyer, but he could easily turn his
artifact hobby into a thriving museum. Rather, he
and his wife, Nancy, quietly announced this year
they will give numerous artifacts worth “several