Part Two, Why Should the Spirit of Man Not be Proud? Summary and Analysis

After moving to Springfield, Lincoln was lonely. The town was very rough, and he wrote Mary Owens to release her from their engagement—he was poor, did not feel he could provide for her, and did not think she would want to live in poverty while he tried to make something of himself. She did not write him back, which humiliated Lincoln, and he decided never to wed anyone who would be "fool enough to have" him. He entered into a law practice with John Todd Stuart, and won his first court case—a murder trial. He lived with Joshua Speed in Speed's General Store, and the two became best friends and confided in each other about everything. Lincoln...