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.