William H. Herndon
William H. Herndon joined Abraham Lincoln in a new law practice in 1844.
In this practice Lincoln tried a variety of cases, ranging from criminal
defense to wills to railroad law. With Herndon as his partner Lincoln
successfully ran for Congress, then returned to Springfield to resume
his practice. Working with the antislavery Herndon, Lincoln returned to
the political arena with the emergence of Stephen Douglas' Kansas-Nebraska
Act as a major political issue in the 1850s.