Famous Bankruptcies: Abraham Lincoln, Bankruptcy Debtor

I was working on a presentation for a local seminar the other week on the basics of bankruptcy. I covering the different types of bankruptcies, I was trying to provide a small sample of "famous bankruptcies;" or bankruptcies of people that, by common perceptions, were/are considered to be successful. As a history major in college, I dove into the project head first and was very surprised at the results that I found.

So who filed? Presidents? You bet (and more than one!). Actors? Absolutely. Musicians? Of course....

I thought this would be an interesting topic to write about on this blog (also as an attempt to get back in the saddle of updating this). I'm going to try to do a regular post on the details of at least one famous bankruptcy.

So, without further adieu:

ABRAHAM LINCOLN, BANKRUPTCY DEBTOR

Ask anyone in the world to name three US presidents and Abe Lincoln more than likely will be one of them.

Ask any American to name the three most important US presidents and I'll be that he will come up again.

The image of a stoic, giant, man with anecdotes, wisdom, and the leadership to guide our nation through arguably its most trying times is seared into our collective conscious.

But....

He filed for bankruptcy. 

Lincoln's bankruptcy filing occurred in 1833; long before the time of PACER and electronic records. I'm sure you can imagine that the existing records are somewhat hard to come by. Here is what I can piece together:

In 1833 Lincoln and an Army corporal by the name of William Berry purchased a general store in New Salem, IL. Lincoln signed a note with the seller of the business to finance its purchase. The business, however, competed with a much larger, well established company, and soon folded.

Within the next year, the note became due and Lincoln was unable to pay. His possessions were soon possessed by the local sheriff. Soon, Corporal Berry died and Lincoln assumed his 1/2 of the debt. Lincoln filed a form of bankruptcy that existed at the time and had to make payments on the debt. Some say he paid for seventeen years. Others argued it wasn't quite that long. 

Shortly after the bankruptcy filing, Lincoln obtained a job as a postmaster and then as a surveyor. I would say that he recovered from his "National Debt," as he liked to call it, rather well.