Encounters
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In December 1834, legislative duties interrupted Lincoln’s self-education in the law. Until taking his seat in the General Assembly, he had been indifferent about clothing. He often wore trousers with one leg rolled up and the other down. Overcoming his sartorial insouciance, the freshman legislator decided to purchase new garments. He asked his friend Coleman Smoot: “Smoot, did you vote for me?” When Smoot said yes, Lincoln replied: “Well, you must loan me money to buy suitable clothing for I want to make a decent appearance in the Legislature.” Smoot obliged with a generous loan, which Lincoln used to purchase “a very respectable looking suit of jeans,” garb that made an ideological as well as a fashion statement. The Whig champion Henry Clay once wore similar apparel to demonstrate support for protective tariffs and encourage the consumption of American-made goods. The outfit was probably inexpensive; much later Lincoln said, “I have very rarely in my life worn a suit of Clothes costing $28.”
Source: Abraham Lincoln ∶ A Life ▫𓂃
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