Lincoln and Shakespeare

[maharba]

That does follow his pattern of using every device to speak directly to the common man of the jury in language they best could understand. And Latin, used there, may even be off putting and turn a juror away from a verdict. Probably it shows too that Lincoln had little familiarity with even catholic church latin, or had to pitch his appeal to a catholic jury. Maybe that would have changed with the later influx of Germans brought in for the Civil War, as they later sat on juries.