"According to Their Capacities and Talents"

The thesis identifies and describes the practice of attorneys in frontier Tallahassee during the Territorial Period. The thesis will also address dichotomies posed by past historians regarding the nature of the practice of law during the early- to mid-nineteenth centuries. The first, propounded by historian Roscoe Pound, maintains that this era was a period of decline in the legal profession, but also a "Golden Age." The second, posed by historian Jerold Auerbach, maintains that lawyers during this period were "country lawyers" (in the model of Abraham Lincoln or Daniel Webster) or aristocrats. The thesis argues that attorneys practicing in frontier Tallahassee during this period were professional and quite competent; their actions do not give rise to the idea that this was a period of decline for the practice of law. The thesis also maintains that lawyers during this period were more in the model of aristocrats. The thesis also contains an appendix listing all those identified as have practiced in and about Tallahassee from 1824-1845 along with some brief biographical notes.