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LINCOLN ROOM
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
LIBRARY
%
IIBRARY
OF THE
L'NIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
Abraham Lincoln.
Taken early in 1857 by Alex. Hesler, of Chicago. By permission and courtesy of
the S. S. McClure Company.
TRANSACTIONS
OF
Tf)e AcLecin Coant^
Historical sSociet^
BLOOMINGTON, ILLINOIS.
Meeting of May 29, 1900
Commemorative of the
Convention of May 29, 1 556
That Organized the Republican
Party in the State of Illinois
Edited by Ezra m. prince
Secretary of the Historical Society.
Vol. III.
Pantagraph Printing and Stationery Co.
Bloomington, Illinois.
1900.
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Committee on Publication.
John H. Bubnham. George P. Davis. Ezra M. Prince.
Copyrighted 1900.
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BRAHAM LINCOLN has become the civic ideal of
his native land, and is fast becoming" the ideal of the
self-governing", the democracy of all lands, the in-
carnation in the political "v^^orld of the highest ideals
of our common Christianity. The most momentous event
in his life was the convention at Major's hall, Blooming"ton,
111., May 29, 1856. There he formall}^, definitely broke with
the old order of things, and became the master spirit in a
new organization which was destined not only to destroy
slavery and remove that great obstacle to our national
progress, but, in other respects, to make a most profound
and lasting impress upon our state and national life.
The McLean County Historical Society is composed of
members of different political ]iarties who naturally differ
as to the wisdom of the policies of the Republican part}^
but their importance is questioned by no one. It is, there-
fore, a proper subject for historical research, and it is emi-
nently fit that the historical society of the county where
that convention was held, where its master spirit was so
well known and so loved, and whose citizens were so potent
a factor in his nomination for the ])residency, should com-
memorate an event of such supreme i)ublic importance.
Mr. Lincoln was the inspirer, the soul of this conven-
tion. On that occasion he delivered the great sjieech of
'^ his life, not only rising to the loftiest heights of impas-
^ sioned eloquence, but with the prophetic insight of the seer
99C793
forecasting- the great struggle with the slave power, and
predicting the ultimate triumph of freedom.
In the interests of historical research and truth, this
meeting- was called, and this book, its proceedings, is pub-
lished.
In the arrangement of the program of the meeting the
speakers, as far as possible, were selected from the mem-
bers of the convention, and on account of their identifica-
tion with and special knowledge of the subject treated by
them.
The society is indebted to the S. S. McClure Company
and to the Century Compau}^ for the permission to use
several pictures of the participants in the convention, to
the New York Evening Post for copy of letter of John H.
Bryant, to the Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society
for copy of telegrams, to the Chicago Historical Society
for the use of their newspaper files; also to Mr. D wight E.
Frink for a drawing of Major's hall, and to the committee
of arrangements for the means with which to publish this
book.
E. M. Prince, Secretary.
George Perrin Davis,
John Howard Burnham,
Ezra Morton Prince,
Committee on Publication.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Introductory Note, E. M. Prince, H
Introductory Address, George P. Davis, 25
Address of Welcome. Joseph W. Fifer, 26
Editorial Convention, February 22, 1856, Paul Selby, ... 30
Republican State Convention, October. 1854. Paul Selby. . . 43
The Germans and German Press, William Vocke, ... 48
Lovejoy, the Abolitionists, and Republican Party, Benj. F. Shaw, 59
Address, James M. Ruggles, 74
Lincoln and the Campaign of 1856, Thomas J. Henderson, . . 78
Lincoln and the Anti-Know-Nothing Resolutions, Geo. Schneider, 87
Address, J, O. Cunningham, 91
Abraham Lincoln, John G. Nicolay, 95
The Whigs and Whig Leaders, I. L. Morrison, . . . .102
General Address, John M. Palmer. 113
Biographical Sketch of Governor Bissell, Frank M.Elliot, . . 124
Official Account of Convention, 148
Telegrams, 165
Unofficial Account of Convention, 166
The "Lost Speech," .... 180
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Lincoln,
Committee on Publication,
Major's Hall, 1856,
John M. Palmer. .
Eighth Judicial Circuit Illinois,
David Davis,
Jesse W. Fell,
Leonard Swett,
Joseph W. Filer, .
Paul Selby, .
William Vocke,
Benjamin F. Shaw,
Isaac Funk. .
Group of Delegates,
O. M. Hatch,
Thomas J. Henderson,
George Schneider,
John G. Nicolay,
Isaac L. Morrison,
William H. Bissell.
Richard Yates,
James Miller,
Richard J. Oglesby,
Frederick Hecker,
Pike House,
O. H. Browning,
Owen Lovejoy,
Map
Frontispiece
4
II
13, 115
17
19
21
23
27
31
49
61
65
75
77
79
89
97
103
125
154
157
167
169
171
173
175
Bloomington, 111., Newspaper Accounts of Meeting of May 29, 1900.
HISTORICAL SOCIETY CELEBRATES ANNIVERSARY OF FIRST
REPUBLICAN STATE CONVENTION.
Back through the changing years, delving in the records
of many decades, the McLean County Historical Society has
secured data of one of the most interesting events in the early
political history of Illinois. After months of research and
tireless endeavor, the results are seen in an anniversary cele-
bration today of the first state convention of the Republican
party in Illinois. Out of the agitation against slavery the
Republican partv was born, gathering to its ranks men from
all parties who were moved by the single impulse, the freedom
of the black man.
It is the storv of the events that led up to the first conven-
tion of the new party in Illinois and a recital of the proceed-
ings of that famous gathering held in May, 1856, in Major's
hall of this city. Then it was that the famous "Lost Speech"
of Abraham Lincoln was delivered, the speech which was so
enthralling in its eloquence that the reporters sat with pencils
in hand, forgetful of their duties, and failing" to take notes.
But the speakers of the celebration can best tell the story
of that gathering. They met this afternoon in the Unitarian
church a little band of gray headed men. and an audience that
filled every seat, listened with the most intense interest to their
story of the days before the war. Passion ran high in those
days, and friends became enemies in arguing the momentous
question of slavery. Parties crumbled to dust in the mighty
crucible of public opinion. Neighbors became antagonized
and man}' were martyred on the anti-sl:i\ery cross. The feel-
ing grew hotter until cooled by the Ijlood of the thousands in
\
,''
10 Anti- Nebraska RepuNican
the great Civil War that foHowed. Every speaker told a tale
of thrilling interest and the student of early politics found a
mine rich in information. The pages of history could not be
made more attractive. — Bulletin { Bloomington, 111.), May 29,
1900.
FOUNDING OF A PARTY.
The Major Hall Convention--Tlie Birth of the Republican Organization in This
City is Commemorated in a Fitting Manner— Social Reunion of Dele-
gates—Associates of Abraham Lincoln Review the Work of
a Political Gathering Held Forty-Four Years Ago.
Forty-four years ago yesterday was held in Blooming-
ton a convention that is not only historic, but which helped
to make the United States what it is todav. At that time was
born the great Republican party in Illinois, the party that has
given a Lincoln, a Grant, a Logan, and a hundred other great
names to historyand to the world; a party which has caused the
curse of slavery to be wiped off the face of our country and
which has scored its triumphs on every page of history for
nearly half a century.
It was in commemoration of this event that the Mc-
Lean County Historical Society decided to hold a special meet-
ing. Preparations have been going on for the past month
and the result was yesterday made public at a meeting at the
Unitarian church, which was attended bv manv of the dele-
gates to this old time convention. The attendance was quite
large, the majority being- gray haired men and women, as w^as
natural considering that the event to Ije celebrated took place
forty-four years ago.
The building was well filled with people from abroad,
with Bloomingtonians and with those from the more immedi-
ate vicinity. Outside the rain fell, the lightning flashed and
the thunder's reverberations were often heard, but inside the
church the people sat with bated breath and noiseless atten-
tion, while they listened to the aged speakers as they told of the
trials and trouble of the beginning of the Republican party. —
PantagrapJi (Bloomington, 111.), May 30, 1900.
Convention, Moil 20, 1856.
11
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12 Anti- Nebraska Republican
SOCIAL REUNION.
Perhaps the most interesting feature of the day was the
reunion held this morning in the lobby of the Windsor hotel.
Here the convention of i8s6 was conducted again. Gen. John
M. Palmer who was the chairman of that body sat chatting
with George Schneider, Paul Selby, Benjamin F. Shaw, Gen.
Jas. M. Ruggles, Col. William Vocke, Gen. Thomas J. Hender-
son, David McWilliams, and other gray beards who are sur-
vivors of the convention of fortv-four vears ago today. In
that group were several who occupied chairs just across the
street in front of the old Pike House, now the Phoenix hotel,
May 29, 1856, and discussed the business of the Major's hall
convention. Little did they imagine what momentous conse-
quences were to result from the proceedings of Major's hall.
Lincoln. Oglesby, \\'entworth. Yates and others who were
there have gone. Init hallowed in grateful and tender remem-
brance, their memory lives on till time shall be no more.
Reverently the name of the martyred president was re-
called today. Incidents of his presence were told on every
hand. A treasured relic brought from Chicago by Mr. Geo.
Schneider was the picture of Lincoln taken in a Chicago res-
taurant in 1854. He was taking dinner with ^Ir. Schneider
and while he was reading a copy of the Chicago Democrat, a
photographer stepped in and asked permission to take Lincoln's
picture and he consented. A copy of the photo was retained
bv Mr. Schneider and was viewed with deepest interest today.
Another interesting relic was a picture of the L'nion de-
fense committee organized in Chicago just before the war to
equip Illinois regiments for the held. This picture shows
each memlier of the committee and was presented to the His-
torical Societv bv Mr. Schneider. There are but three mem-
bers of the original committee surviving. Mr. Schneider,
Thomas B. Bryan and A. H. Burley, all of Chicago.
It developed by comparing notes that the delegates
selected by the Bloomington convention of 1856 to the national
convention of Philadelphia, but two are living — General
Palmer and George Schneider. Both were here today and the
C<>)iventi())), May 29, 1856.
13
latter had in his ])os.session the original ticket of admission.
He also had the ticket of admission to the national convention
of i860. These relics were also viewed with great attention
and appealed strongly to the group of old gentlemen.
Of the group of .\nti-Xehraska editors who met in con-
vention ill Decatur in Fel)ruary. 1856. to issue the call for the
convention which met in Bloomington, the three survivors,
Paul Selby and George Schneider, of Chicago and Benjamin F.
Shaw, of Dixon, were here todav. Selbv at that time repre-
sented the Jacksoni'iUc Joiirual, Schneider the Chicago Staats-
Zcititiig and Shaw the Dixon Telegraph, with which he is still
connected.
General John M. Palmer
From armj' photograph taken in 1863. By
permission and courtes}- of the S. S. McClure
Co.
The oldest man in attendance at the annixersary is Gen-
eral Palmer. He is 82. He has been in poijr health of late
and his paper will l)e read bv another.'' He came verv near
dving during the winter and looks far from well. His eyes
lit up with the old fire, howe\-er, as he recalled the old days
and there was enthusiasm in his voice as he told incidents of
Lincoln and the great men of the earlv davs. — Bulletin, Mav
29, 1900.
*The paper was. however, read ^>y Gen. Palmer.
14 Anti- Nebraska Republican
Introductory,
By Ezra M. Prince,
Secretary of the McLean County Historical Society.
To make plain to those who did not take part in the great
anti-slavery contest this introductory note may not he in-
appropriate.
THE RISE OF TPIE SLAVERY QUESTION.
March i6, 1818, there was presented to the house of rep-
resentatives a petition from INIissonri for permission to form a
state constitution. February 13, 1819, when the question
came up before the house, an amendment was offered to the
enabling- act prohibiting the further introduction of slavery
and providing that all children of slaves, born within the state
after its admission should be free but might be held to service
until the age of 25 years. JNIarch 6, 1820, a compromise hav-
mg been affected under the leadership of Air. Clay, the en-
abling act was passed without the anti-slavery restriction, but
with the following amendment : "That in all the territory
ceded by France to the United States under the name of Louis-
iana which lies north of 36 degrees and 30 minutes, north lati-
tude, excepting only such part thereof as is included within the
limits of the state contemplated by this act, slavery and in-
voluntary servitude otherwise than in the punishment of crime
whereof the party shall have been duly convicted shall be and
is hereby forever prohibited." This was known as the "Mis-
souri compromise." The principle of this compromise, the
supreme control of congress over the territory even in the
regulation or abolition of slavery remained unquestioned for
nearh^ thirty years and in popular estimation was held little
less sacred than the constitution itself.
June 3, 1849, California formed a state constitution ex-
pressly prohibiting slavery but the senate of the United States
refused to concur in the house bill providing for its admis-
sion into the Union. ]\Ir. Clay again came forward with a
Convention, May 29, 1856. 15
compromise, wliicli in August and September, 1850, was
finally effected as follows :
First; the admission of California with its constitution
prohibiting slavery.
Second; organizing the territories of New Mexico and
Utah, without any anti-slavery restriction.
Third; a very drastic fugitive slave law.
Fourth; al)olishing the slave trade in the District of
Columbia.
Fifth; the payment to Texas, of a large indemnity for
the relinquishment of her claims to New Mexico.
In 1853 ^ I'ill ^^'^s introduced in congress to organize the
territory of Nebraska. January 16, 1854, Senator Dixon, of
Kentucky, ha\ing given notice of an amendment abolishing
the Missouri compromise in the case of Nebraska, the bill was
recommitted to the committee on territories and Stephen A.
Douglas, senator from Illinois, immediately reported a bill di-
viding the territory into two territories, the southern, adjoining
Missouri on the west, called Kansas and the northern, adjoining
Iowa on the west, called Nebraska and repealing the Al'issouri
compromise in regard to slavery. This precipitated the in-
evitable contiict between slavery and freedom. It practically
destroyed the Whig party. The anti-slavery sentiment of the
north had grown gradually and the conviction had became
general that there could be no lasting compromise with
slavery. In the south the more aggressive and radical pro-
slavery leaders gained control of the Democratic party and
through it the complete domination of the south. In the north
the repeal of the Missouri compromise caused great excite-
ment. In 1854 when Senator Douglas returned to Chicago
and attempted to justify his acts the people refused to hear
him but for four hours yelled and hissed him until he retired
from the meeting. In the condition of affairs here briefly
outlined the Major's Hall convention met.
The ^lajor's Hall convention was substantially the first
state convention in Illinois in opposition to the repeal of the
Missouri compromise. In 1854 an attempt was made bv the
16 Anti-Nebraska BejnibUcan
more advanced anti-slavery men of the state to organize a new
]jarty to resist the encroachment of tlie slave power. "Sep-
tember 9, 1854, a Republican county convention of the voters
of McLean county was held at Bloomiilgton to appoint dele-
gates to a state convention to be held at Springiield at which
the following were elected delegates to the state convention:
Dr. R. O. Warinner, Dr. J. R. Freeze, Oliver Graves, A. B.
Jves, N. N. Jones and W. F. M. Arny."
"The state convention to which these delegates were ap-
pointed, met at Springfield October 5, 1854. It was attended
by only twenty-six delegates who were mostly abolitionists,
Owen Lo\-ejoy, Ichabod Codding and Erastus Wright having
l)een the moving spirits. On the 5th of October it nominated
John E. McClun, of McLean county, as candidate for state
treasurer. In a short time the name of James Miller, of Bloom-
ington, was substituted for that of Judge McClun." Burnhaui's
History of Bloomington and Normal, p. 1 10.
The times were not yet ripe for a thorough organization
of the anti-slavery sentiment of the state. In 1855 there was
no state election in Illinois and of course no organization of
the state. It was left for the Major's Hall convention to do
that work.
THE EIGHTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT OF ILLIXOIS CIRCUIT.
This circuit, organized in 1847, consisted of fourteen coun-
ties in the east half of the central portion of the state, Sanga-
mon, Tazewell, Woodford, McLean, Logan, DeWitt, Piatt,
Champaign, Vermilion, Edgar, Shelby, Moultrie, Macon, and
Christian. Session laws 1847, p. 31 The above is the eighth
circuit as known to Mr. Lincoln's friends. In 1853 the circuit
was reduced to Sangamon, Logan, McLean, Woodford, Taze-
well, DeA\'itt, Champaign, and Vermilion. Session laws 1853,
p. 63, and in 1857 it was still further reduced to DeWitt,
Logan, McLean. Champaign, and Vermilion. Session laws
1857, p. 12. In this central belt of the state the waves of
emigration from the north and south met and mingled. It was
the debatable ground between the friends of freedom and those
who were the friends of slavery or indifferent to its aggres-
Convent io)i, May 20, 1S56.
17
sions. The northern ])art of the state was overwhelmingly
anti-slavery, the southern as bitterly opposed to them. Which
ever i)arty won the center won the hoht.
From its earliest history the bar of this circuit was ex-
ceptionally strong-, in its earlier days including Edwin D.
Baker, afterwards senator from Oregon, James A. McDougal,
senator from California, Stephen A. Douglas, senator from
Illinois, General Asahel Gridley of Bloomington, and
Judge Stephen T. Logan of Springfield, whom Judge David
Davis after a service of ten years as circuit judge, fifteen years
18 Anti-Nebraska Republican
justice of the supreme court of the United States and six years
as United States senator pronounced the ablest lawyer he had
ever met. Many able lawyers from outside the circuit attended
the courts, including Norman H. Purple of Peoria, formerly
judge of the supreme court, T. L. Dickey of Ottawa, afterwards
judge of the supreme court, Voorhees, afterwards senator from
Indiana, and Usher, afterwards Secretary of the Interior, trom
Indiana. In every county were able, energetic young lawyers
who had "gone west" to make their fortunes, such men as Adlai
E. Stevenson, Richard J. Oglesby, Judges Lawrence Wel-
don, Anthony Thornton, Oliver L. Davis and John ]\I. Scott.
In each county of this large circuit two terms of court were
held each year which Mr. Lincoln and the other leading lawyers
of the circuit. Baker, McDougal. John T. Stuart, Logan,
Leonard Swett and others regularly attended. Lincoln spent
substantially half of each year on the circuit.
After Sangamon, Mr. Lincoln's home county, was attach-
ed to a new circuit, he continued to attend the eighth circuit
up to the time of his nomination. He attended the spring
term, i860, of the McLean circuit only a few weeks before his
nomination.
The relations between the court, lawyers, jurors and sena-
tors of the eighth circuit was pecuhar, one that has long since
passed away. The court was rather a big family consultation
presided over by the judge than a modern court. Judge Davis
personally knew a large portion of the people in the circuit.
The jurors were then selected by the sheriff. In McLean and
probably in the other counties, substantially the same jurors ap-
peared from term to term, personal friends of Judge Davis,
men of intelligence, sound judgment and integrity whose ver-
dicts rarely had to be set aside. Court week was a holiday
for the people of the county, political years there was always
speaking at the court house, the parties using it on alternate
nights. The people attended court to get the news, hear the
speeches, listen to the exciting trials and do their trading.
The lawyers and many of the jurors, witnesses and suitors
stopped at the same tavern. There was a singular comrad-
Convention, May 29, 1856.
19
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David Davis, Bloomington, 111,
Born in Maryland, March 9, 1815; died June 26. 1886, jurist, CS. Senator. See
Volume I, Transactions McLean County Historical Society 320.
By permission and courtesy of the Century Co.
20 Anti-Nebraska Reimhlkan
ship of these attendants upon the court. Without the court at
all losing its dignity, there was a freedom and familiarity as of
old friends and acquaintances meeting upon a puhlic occasion
rather than the formality and dignity associated with the idea
of a modern court. Often the judge's room, which sometimes
was the only decent one in the tavern, was used evenings by the
lawyers in theh^ consultations without regard to the presence
of the judge.
In several, perhaps al.l these counties, young lawyers wdio
desired to a\-ail themsehes of Mr. Lincoln's popularity and
wdio perhaps distrusted their own alMlity to prepare and try
cases in the circuit court, arranged with Mr. Lincoln to allow
them to advertise him as their partner. So there was Lincoln
& Jones in this county and Lincoln cK: Smith in that; but the
partnership was limited simply to Lincoln trying Smith &
Jones cases, if they had any, and dividing fees with them, only
this and nothing more. The only law partners, in the proper
acceptance of that term. ]\[r. Lincoln ever had, were his Spring,
field partners. Col. John T. Stuart early in his legal career, and
later William H. Herndon. Stuart was a very accomplished
gentleman and lawyer, the chancery lawyer of the circuit,
whose courts he always attended. 'Ww Llerndon never travel-
ed the circuit.
Mr. Lincoln was always a great favorite with the court,
lawyers and all attendants upon the court. The young and
inexperienced lawyers received from him wise and timely ad-
vice and aid in their cases. The trial of cases was conducted
almost entirely by these leaders of the circuit, Air. Lincoln
being on one side or the other of nearly every case tried. i\
crowd always gathered around him whether in court or else-
where, expecting the never failing "story." The evenings
were a contest of wits, for the pioneer lawyer always had a
good story ready. These customs of the circuit made its
leaders warm friends.
Around the eighth circuit grew up the influences that
made Abraham Lincoln president of the United States.
At Bloomington were three men destined to exert a wide
influence on Mr. Lincoln's career. Jesse W. Fell, Leonard
Convention, Maij 29, 185G.
21
Jesse W. Fell. Normal. 111.
AT ^Soi^^ 'n Pennsylvania 1K08; died February 25. 1887. See Volume I, Transactions
McLean County Historical Society, 338.
22 Anti- Nebraska Republican
Swett and David Davis, all Whigs by previous party affiliation.
Mr. Fell first seriously proposed Mr. Lincoln for president.
Born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, of Quaker parentage,
anti-slavery to the core, coming to McLean county in 1832,
a young lawyer, he early abandoned the law and engaged in
dealing in lands, entering 160 acres in Chicago and 320 in Mil-
waukee, one of the founders of the first newspaper and of the
first public library in Bloomington, a horticulturist and arbor-
culturist, planting 13,000 trees in Normal alone before a house
was built there, an unrivaled politician, but always refusing
office for himself. A lover of his fellow men, with a certain
disinterestedness that always made him friends and withal pos-
sessing a remarkable organizing capacity. By his skill and
unrivaled management he procured the location of the Normal
University and the Soldiers' Orphans' Home at Normal. An
idealist, yet a man of the greatest practical common sense. He
and Lincoln were kindred spirits. He was secretary of the
state Republican committee in 1858 during the memorable
campaign between Lincoln and Douglas. In 1856 when Mr.
Lincoln was obliged to decline the appointment of Illinois
member of the Kansas national committee he recommended
Mr. Fell to fill his place. He earlv conceived of Mr. Lincoln
as the proper candidate for the presidency in i860 and entered
upon the accomplishment of that design with his usual energy
and persistence. To him Mr. Lincoln addressed in December,
1859, his brief autobiography. By personal address, by corres-
pondence and though the press at home and in other states he
was unceasing in his advocacy of Mr. Lincoln. Leonard
Swett, a native of the state of Maine, w^as the advocate of the
west, tall, swarthy, handsome, with the most melodious voice
man ever possessed. Mr. Fell by reason of his intelligence,
earnestness, persistence and disinterestedness was singularly
persuasive. Mr. Swett by the clearness of his mental concep-
tions, the melody of his voice, his geniality and eloquence
was equally influential. Last but not least w^as David Davis,
judge of the circuit court, a large and portly man of singular
physical and mental quickness and energy, a native of Mary-
Convention, May 29, 1856.
23
land and l)y temperament and education a conservative, he was
profoundly attached to Mr. Lincoln and resisted all attempts
to detach him from the political fortunes of his friend. As
soon as he saw there was a possibility of Mr. Lincoln's nomi-
nation he threw himself into the movement with the whole
force and weight of a strong personality. Each of these three
men read their fellow men as they would read a book, instinc-
tively perceiving their character, the motives and influences that
would affect them. In the Chicago convention that nominated
^^
Leonard Swett
Born at Turner, Maine in 1835. studied law,
came west, served In Mexican War, Whig
elector 18^8, settled in Bloomington 1849 and
became one of the ablest lawyers in the
northwest, traveled the circuit with Mr.
Lincoln and was one of his most trusted ad-
visers during the Civil War. Died at Chica-
go, Illinois, June 8, 1889.
By permission and courtesy of the S. S.
McClure Co.
Si^
L
]\lr. Lincoln in i860 their influence was most potent. Judge
Davis by common consent took charge of the Lincoln forces.
Davis, Fell and Swett were incessant in their labors, addressing
delegations, laboring with individual delegates and caucusing
and directing the contest and with the aid of Palmer, Yates
and other earnest friends, won the victory.
The bar of the eighth circuit were hardworking men of the
highest integrity, character and ability. Their influence upon
Mr. Lincoln's career has never been properly recognized. We
hope some one may write a paper fully treating of this subject.
E. M. Prince
24 Anfi- Nebraska Republican
MEETING
OF THE
McLEAN COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
UNITARIAN CHURCH
Bloomington, I[. r. ., May 2 9, 1900
COMMEMORATIV^E OP THE CONVENTION
HELD AT
Major's Hall, Bloomington, III., May 29, 1856
THAT ORGANIZED
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY I.V ILLINOIS
presiding:
Geokge Perrin Davis, President of the Historical Society.
secretary:
Ezra M. Prince, Secretary of the Historical Society.
HONORARY VICE-PRESIDENTS:
E. W. Blaisdell. George Schneider.
•John H. Bryant. George W. Stipp, Jr.
Dr. Robert Boal. Nathaniel Niles.
Dr. William Jayne. John W. Waughop.
William E. Ives. Thomas J. Henderson.
J. M. RuGGLES. L. H. Walters.
W. P. Kellogg. David McWilliams.
J. E. Wynne. —Delegates to the Convention of May 29, 1S56.
PROGRAM
9:00 A. M. Windsor Hotel
Social Re-union of the Deleg-ates to the Convention of May 29,
1856, and their friends.
2:00 p. M. AT Unitarian Chdrch.
Reading the call of the Convention of May 29, 1856.
Reading the roll of the Convention.
Welcome to the survivors of the Convention— Ex-Governor Joseph
W. Fifer.
The Editoral Convention of February 22, 1856— Paul Selby,
Chicago.
The Germans and German Press — Col. Wm. Vocke, Chicago.
Abraham Lincoln— John G. Nicolay, Washington, D. C.
8:00 P. M.
Lovejoy the Constitutional Abolitionists and the Republican
Party— Benj. F. Shaw, Dixon.
The Whigs and Whig Leaders — I. L. Morrison, Jacksonville.
General Address — Gen. John M. Palmer, Springfield.
Convent i<ni, Maij 29, ISoO. 25
COMMl'ITKI'; OF ARKANGEMENTS
George P. Davis. J. W. Fifer.
D. M. Funk. ■ Dr. .J. L. White.
H. H. Green. Henry Capen.
A. B. Hon LIT. O. T. Reeves.
W. O. Davis. T. C. Kerrick.
Sain Welty. B. F. Hoopes.
C, P. Soi'ER. R. M. Benjamin.
Lyman Graham. Peter Whitmer.
T. F. Tipton. Henry Behr.
George S. Hanna. W. T. M. Miller.
L. H. Kerrick.
George Perrin Davis, president of the Historical So-
ciety, having called the meeting- to order, said:
The .McLean County Historical Society, knowinsr from their own
e.xperience how fatal delay is to historical accuracy, felt it proper to
lay aside for the time being their labors on local affairs and brinj^^
together the surviving members of the most momentous convention
ever held in this state, hoping, from the papers read and remarks of
the delegates, much of interest to the state and nation might be res-
cued from the memory of individuals and put in enduring form for our
descendants. The papers have all been prepared by men familiar
with the branch of the subject treated by them.
The secretary will read the call for the convention of
May 29, 1856, which was read as follows:
Anti-Nebraska State Convention.
A state convention of the Anti-Nebraska party of Illinois will be
held in the city of Bloomington on Thursday, the 29th day of May,
185(i, for the purpose of choosing candidates for state officers, appoint-
ing delegates to the national convention and transacting such other
business as may properly come before the body. The committee have
adopted as the basis of representation the ratio of one delegate to
every 6.000 inhabitants and one additional delegate for every frac-
tional number of 2,000 and over but counties that have less than
6,000 inhabitants are entitled to one delegate. W. B. Ogden, S. M.
Church, E. A. Dudley, Thomas J. Pickett, R. J. Oglesby. G. D. A.
Parks, Ira O. Wilkinson, W, H. Herndon. Joseph Gillespie. State Cen-
tral Committee.
The secretary then read the roll of the delegates to
the conv^ention of May 29, 1856, to which the following an-
swered present:
General John M. Palmer, Benjamin F. Shaw, Dr. William Jayne,
J. M. Ruggles, George Schneider, Thomas J. Henderson and David
McWilliams.
26 Anti- Nebraska Republican
Address of Welcome,
By Joseph W. Fifer.
Fellow Citizens : It is generally understood, I believe,
that this celebration is held under the auspices of the McLean
County Historical Society. Through the courtesy of the of-
ficers of that association, it becomes my gracious privilege to
say a few words of welcome upon this most interesting oc-
casion.
Friends, we are here to celebrate one of the most im-
portant e\-ents in history. Here in this city forty-four years
iigo today, was held our first repul)lican state convention. It
was the first organized opposition within the limits of our state
to the further spread of human slavery, and the cause of
liberty found here many of its ablest advocates, among whom
were David Davis, Jesse W. Fell and Isaac Funk.
In a short address of welcome I cannot of course, enter
upon any full discussion of the causes which led to that con-
vention; nor will the proprieties of this occasion permit me to
speak at length of the historic events that soon followed.
In that assembly were gathered our ablest and most
conscientious statesmen. They came from all political par-
ties, and were united in the single purpose to resist at any cost
the furtiier aggressions of slavery. It was not a time for the
success of busy little men, and therefore not a demagogue was
to be found in their midst. They were men of noble purpose
and high courage; men who believed that right makes might,
and consequently were not afraid to shake their fists in the
face of majorities.
The movement here inaugurated under the leadership of
Abraham Lincoln, Richard Yates, John M. Palmer, Benjamin
Joseph W. Fifer was born at Staunton, Va., Oct. 28, 18-10: came to McLean Co.,
111., 18>7; enlisted private. Co. C, 33d 111. Vols. Aug. 1.5, 1861: severely wounded at
Jackson, Miss,, July 13, 1863: discharged Oct. 11, 1H61: entered Illinois Wesleyan Uni-
versity and graduated 1868; studied law and was successively city attorney of
Bloomington, state's attorney for McLean county, state senator, and governor of
Illinois, and is now member of interstate commerce commission.
Convention May 29, 1866.
27
Joseph W. Fiper.
28 ' Ant i- Nebraska Repvhlifan
Shaw and others, was not destined tohave an easyor a bloodless
victory. In its canse we piled np a national debt of nearly
$3,000,000,000. In the bloody contlict that ensued five hun-
dred thousand American citizens laid down their lives count-
nig thoseon both sides. After this unparalleled sacrifice of blood
and treasure, the doctrines here proclaimed finally triumphed
with Grant at Appomattox. The chains were all broken, the
auction block for the sale of human beings, was forever ban-
ished from the land, and today, thank God, the foot of no slave
presses the soil of the continents discovered by Columbus.
No human sagacity could see the end from the l)eginning.
A movement undertaken for the purpose of enforcing wise re-
strictions against the spread of slavery, finally, through the
n-resistible logic of events, resulted in the total removal of that
foul blot from our national escutcheon.
It is onlv just to say that this hai)py result was achieved,
not bv the efforts of any single political party, for slavery was
abolished and the union preser\ed by the common patriotism
of the great American people: and men of all shades of politi-
cal belief now applaud the wisdom and courage of the conven-
tion held here near a half century ago. Instead of sectional
strife and discord, we now l)ehol(l a nation of 70,000,000 of
people, with happy homes, and with a trade and commerce that
covers all the seas; a people, too, that are forever united in the
bonds of friendship under a single flag. And so the prophecy of
1 861 has been fulfilled, "^^'e are not enemies, but friends. We
must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained,
it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords
of memory stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave
to every living heart and hearth-stone all over this broad land,
will yet swell the chorus of the Union when again touched,
as surely they will be by the better angels of our nature."
Possibly most of the men who stood with Lincoln in that
historic convention, are now in their graves. Some are still
living, and some we have with us here today. We thank them
all, both the living and the dead for their patriotism, and for
their noble example of unselfish devotion to the cause of truth
Convent i<))i, Mny 2V, lSo6. 29
and justice. One of their niimlier was afterwards elected presi-
dent of the United States, and as he lay upon his bloody bier,
Secretary Stanton could point to him and truthfully say "there
lies the greatest leader of men that e\er lived." ?\Ianv others be-
came distinguished, both in civic and in militarv life, and ren-
dered honorable and conspicuous service to the nation.
The distinguished chairman of the convention, we are
glad to know, is present with us here today. Of his patriotic
services to his country in the darkest hour this nation ever
saw, time will not allow me to speak. In the cause of liberty
he was no laggard ; he early heard the call of duty and nobly
risked his life for the integrity of the Union and the glory and
honor of his country. The memory of his sacrifices will
remain fresh so long as patriotism and courage are appre-
ciated and admired l;)y a grateful people.
My friends, the event 3-ou celebrate today is very close to
the hearts of our people. We appreciate your presence here,
i'ud with the hope that your meeting may prove both pleasant
and profitable, I take great pleasure in extending to you on
behalf of the people of Bloomington and of McLean county,
a most sincere and cordial welcome.
30 Anti-Nebraska Republican
The Editorial Convention, February 22. 1856,
Pres. Davis:
One of the most important factors in establishing the Republican
party was the Anti-Nebraska press. The convention which we cele-
brate was called by a meeting- of Anti-Nebraska editors held at Deca-
tur, February 22, 1856. presided over by Paul Selby, of the 3[or<jan
Journal, of Jacksonville. He was also a member of the Anti-Nebraska
State Convention held in October, 185-i, at Springfield. He has been
connected with many of the papers of this state, but mainly with the
State Journal of Springfield, for eighteen years.
He has held many offices of trust and profit, and for the past ten
years has lived in Chicago and been engaged in literary and histori-
cal work.
Our next paper is on "The Editorial Convention of February 22,
1856." I have the pleasure of introducing Hon. Paul Selby.
Paul Selby, of Chicago,
President of that Convention.
The task assigned me today is the presentation before
your society of the "inside history" of the Convention of Anti-
Nebraska Editors held at Decatur. llHnois, February 22, 1856,
and this duty I shall endeavor to discharge with as much brev-
ity as circumstances will allow. The theme being strictly histor-
ical, you will expect no displays of either rhetoric or oratory,
but T shall confine myself to a narrative of facts, which I hope
may prove of value to your society and of interest to the in-
vestigators of history generally.
It is a fact well known to all familiar with the political
history of the time, that the decade following the year 1846
was one of intense political excitement and constantly increas-
ing agitation. Beginning with the annexation of Texas,
Paul Selby. editor, was born in Pickaway county, Ohio, July 20. 182.5. In 1852 he
became the editor of the J/o/'g'«« ./o^/rni?;, of Jacksonville, Illinois, with which he
remained until the fall of 1858. covering the period of the organization of the Re-
publican party in which the Journal took an active part. He was a member of the
republican Illinois State convention of 18.^4, was chairman of the Anti-Nebraska
Editorial convention of February 22, 1856. Was associate editor of ./o«/'n«? at Spring-
field Illinois, from July 1862 to November 1865. Afterwards on the staff of the
Chicago Journal, also on the Republican ir ova Ms-y 1868, to January 1874. Was edi-
tor of the Quincij IVA/j/ and in 1874 became editor of the Springfield Journal. Was
postmaster at Springfield from 1880 to 1886. With Newton Bateman as editor
of the Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois.
Convention, May 29, 1856.
31
32 Anti-Nebraska llepuUican
which marked an immense expansion in the area of slave ter-
ritory, the growth of this excitement was temporarily checked
bv the (Hversion of the popular mind from the great issue, by
the advent of the Mexican W'ar on the one hand, and the admis-
sion of California as a free state on the other, with the virtual
exclusion of slavery from the territory acquired from Mexico
under operation of the compromise measures of 1850. But
even these were not sufficient to counterbalance the intense feel-
mg produced by the harsh features of the fugitive slave law.
which constituted a leading feature of that celebrated series
(jf acts — the last compromise with which the name of Henry
Clay was associated. The hostility to this act. which mani-
fested itself in many sections of the north in open resistance to
the return of fugitive slaves to their southern masters, and sys-
tematic efforts made in certain northern states to neutralize
the law and thwart its enforcement by the enactment of state
laws, gave evidence of the constantly rising tide of public senti-
ment on this subject at this time.
The \erv climax of conditions tending to promote agi-
tation of the slavery question was reached in the approval, by
the president, on May 30, 1854, of the Kansas-Nebraska bill re-
pealing the IMissouri Compromise and thereby removing the
restriction against the introduction of slavery into territory
north of the parallel of 36 degrees and 30 minutes. There
is a curious coincidence in the fact that, while one Illinois sen-
ator (Jesse B. Thomas) was accredited with the introduction,
in 1820, of the measure which took the name of the "Mis-
souri Compromise, " as was then believed in the interest of
slaverv, another Illinois senator (Stephen A. Douglas),
thirtv-four vears later, in compliance with the demands of the
friends of slavery, introduced, and pushed to a successful issue,
the act which accomplished the repeal of that measure. Yet
this was not accomplished until five years after the author of
the repealing measure had spoken of the act which he was
about to destroy, as having "an origin akin to that of the con-
stitution," and as having become "canonized in the hearts of
the American people as a sacred thing wdiich no ruthless hand
Conveiition, May 20, 1856. 33
would ever l)e reckless enough to disturl)." And it fell to the
lot of another Illinoisan (Abraham Lincoln) not only to lead
the forces which put an effectual check upon the further spread
of slavery, hut t(^ o-ive vitality to the act wdiich was to wipe
the institution out of existence.
The condition of political affairs existing throughout the
nation between 1854 and 1856 was one of practical chaos. It
was a period of unrest and commotion such as the country had
not seen since the adoption of the constitution, and which was
only surpassed liy the agitation which attended the outbreak
of the Civil W'ai- seven years later, of which it was the precursor.
Parties were disintegrating and their mutually repellant ele-
ments were seeking new associations. Anti-slavery Demo-
crats and anti-slavery Whigs were found in sympathy and al-
liance \vith each other, while the pro-slavery factions of both
parties were drifting in a similar manner towards a common
center. By "anti-slavery" in this connection I do not mean
those wdio had espoused the cause of practical "abolition, "or
even those who were known as "Free Soilers, " but those
who objected to the repeal of the Missouri Compromise and
were opposed to the introduction of slavery in territory already
free, or which had been dedicated to freedom by that most
solemn of compacts.
In nearly every community during this period, especially
in the more densely populated portions of the northern states
and among the more intelligent classes, w^ere groups of men
gathered from both of the old parties, as well as avowed Abo-
litionists and Free-Soilers, who were accustomed to meet and
anxiously confer together over the political situation. This
was especially the case in the citv of Jacksonville, mv home at
that time — a college town wdiich embraced among its popula-
tion many families of eastern origin, or those from education,
association or natural impulse, in sympathy wath the spirit of
freedom. Among those who held advanced views on the sub-
ject of slavery, I may mention the names of the late Prof.
Jonathan B. Turner, President Julian M. Sturtevant, of Illi-
nois college. Dr. Samuel Adams, of the same institution, Elihu
34 Anti-Nebraska Bejjublican
Wolcott, Hon. Richard Yates, Drs. David Prince and Hiram
K. Jones (the latter still surviving and now a professor in Illi-
nois college), and among business men or those not engaged in
the professions, John Mathers, J. W. and J. O. King. J. H.
Bancroft, J. W. Lathrop, Peter Melendy, Anderson Foreman,
and many others. There was a widespread, an almost uni-
versal, demand among this class and their sympathizers
throughout the nation, for the organization of a new party
based upon resistance to the further extension of slavery, a
chief incentive being found in the wrongs and outrages per-
petrated in the effort to plant that institution in Kansas, fol-
lowing immediately upon the congressional legislation of 1854.
It was my fortune at this time to be the editor of "The
Morgan (now Jacksonville) Joiinial," originally a Whig
paper, but which, on taking charge of it early in 1852 — fore-
seeing, as I believed, the impending disruption of parties —
had been made "independent." On the enactment of the Ne-
braska bill, however, it promptly took ground in opposition to
that measure. As the result of a conference with my partner,
Mr. Alvah C. Clayton — for many years past the proprietor of
a printing house in St. Louis and now a resident of Webster
Groves, near that city — about the holidays in December, 1855,
''The Journal" published an editorial suggesting a meeting of
the Anti-Nebraska Editors of the state for the purpose of
agreeing upon a line of policy to be pursued in the campaign
of the year then just opening. Owing to the destruction of
the files of "The Journal" of that period by fire, I am unable
to quote the article referred to, or even give its exact date. The
following quotation from the Chicago Tribune, published a
few weeks before the date of the convention, will indicate the
tenor of the article, as well as its origin :
""free-state editorial convention/"
"It was moved by The Morgan Journal and seconded by
The Winchester Chronicle, that there be held a convention
of Free State Editors at Decatur on the 22A of February. The
question has met the approval of the Pike County Free Press,
Decatur Chronicle and other papers. The Morgan Journal
Convention, May 29, 1856. 35
calls on The Alton Courier, Democrat (of Chicago), Demo-
cratic Press, Tribune, Journal and Staats Zcitnng, of Chicago;
the Springfield Journal and the Belleville Advocate, and the
Anti- Nebraska press generally, from one end of the prairie
state to the other, to express their sentiments on the propriety
of the proposed convention."
Then follow quotations upon the subject from The
Pike County Free Press and The Morgan Journal, after which
the Tribune concludes its indorsement of the proposition as
follows :
"The reasons set forth by The Journal so clearly and well,
arc sufficient. Tf it be the will of the Free State Editors of
Illinois to hold such a con\Tntion, the Tribune will be repre-
sented. We need only add that the proposition meets our cor-
dial approbation, and we hope a ready response will be heard
from every section of the great prairie state on the part of the
editorial corps not bound to swear in the words of Douglas and
slavery."
The Winchester Chronicle, which was the first to second
the proposition of The Morgan Journal, was, as I think, then
under the editorial charge of the late Judge John Moses, who
later was secretary for a number of years of the Chicago His-
torical Society and author of Moses' History of Illinois. The
Decatur Chronicle, then edited by W. J. Usrey, was an early
indorser of the movement, and, at its suggestion, Decatur was
named as the place of meeting, and accepted by common con-
sent. A call in the following form was printed in the papers
indorsing the proposition :
"editorial convention."
"All editors in Illinois opposed to the Nebraska bill are re-
quested to meet in convention at Decatur, Illinois, on the 22d
of February next, for the purpose of making arrangements for
the organization of the Anti-Nebraska forces in this state for
the coming contest. All editors favoring the movement will
]jlease forward a copy of their paper containing their approval
to the office of The Illinois State Chronicle, Decatur."
According to my best information, obtained by consulting
the files of papers which took part in the movement, it received
the formal indorsement of twenty-five, representing nearly the
36 Ant i- Nebraska Republican
entire strength of the Anti-Nebraska press of the state at that
time. Those whose names were appended to the call as avowed
supporters of the proposition were:
The Morgan Journal, Jackson- The Fultonian, Vermont, Fulton
ville. County.
The Chronicle, Winchester. The Journal (German), Quincy.
The Illinois State Chronicle, De- The Beacon, Freeport.
catur. The Fantagmph, Bloomington.
The Quincy Whig, Quincy. The True Democrat, Joliet.
The Pike County Free Press, Pitts- llie Telegraph, Lockport.
field. The Gazette, Kankakee.
The Gazette. Lacon. T/ie Guardian, Aurora.
The Trihune, Chicago. The Gazette, Waukegan.
The Staats Zeitung. Chicago. The Chronicle. Peru.
The Eepuhlican, Oquawka. The Advocate, Belleville.
The Eepuhlican, Peoria. The Journal, Chicago.
The Prairie State, BdiXiwiWt. The Jourmd, Sparta.
The Advertiser, Rock Island.
Others mav have indorsed the movement, but their names
were not appended to the call as published up to the date of the
convention. The proposition was ignored l)y the Cliicago
Democrat and the Democratic Press, though thev afterwards
indorsed the call for the Bloomington convention and sup-
ported its nominees.
The convention met at the time and place indicated in the
call, convening in the parlor of what was then the "Cassell
House" — afterwards the "Oglesby House," Ijut now known
as the "St. Nicholas Hotel." Of those who had indi-
cated their purpose to participate in the movement, a round
dozen put in an appearance and took part in the proceedings,
while two or three others arrived later in the day. A severe
snow storm, which fell the night bef(^re, blockaded many of
the railroads, especially in the northern part of the state, and
prevented the arrival of a number who had intended to be
present. The early arrivals included Ur. Charles H. Ray of
the TribiDic. and George Schneider of the Staats Zeitung, Chi-
cago; V. Y. Ralston, of the Quincy JVIiig: O. P. Wharton,
of the Rock Island Advertiser; T. J. Pickett, of the Peoria
Republican; E. C. Daugherty. of the Register and E. W.
Blaisdell, of the Republican, Rockford; Charles Faxon, of the
Corn-enfhm, May 29, 1856. 37
Princeton Post; A. N. Ford, of the Lacon Gazette; B. F. Shaw,
of the Dixon Telegraph; W. J. Usrey, of the Decatur Chron-
icle and Paul Selby of the Morgan Journal. An organization
was effected with Paul Selby as chairman and Mr. Usrey as
secretary, while, according to the official report, Messrs. Ray,
Schneider, Ralston. Wharton, Daugherty and Pickett were
appointed a committee on resolutions, and Messrs. Faxon,
Ford and Shaw on credentials.
The most important work of the convention was transact-
ed through the medium of the committee on resolutions. Mr.
Lincoln came up from Springfield and was in conference with
the committee during the day, and there is reason to be-
lieve that the platform, reported by them through Dr. Ray as
their chairman, and adopted by the convention, bears the stamp
of his peculiar intellect. A copy of this document, embraced
in the official report of the proceedings of the convention, I
shall deposit with this pa])er for such use as your association
may see proper to make of it.
The platform, while disavowing any intention to interfere
in the internal affairs of any state in reference to slavery, re-
duced to its first elements, amounted to an emphatic protest
against the introduction of slavery into territory already
free, or its further extension; demanded the restoration of
the Missouri Compromise; insisted upon the maintenance of
the doctrine of the Declaration of Independence as essential
to freedom of speech and of the press, and that, under it,
"Freedom" should be regarded "as the rule and slaverv the
exception, made and provided for as such — and that it no-
where recognizes property in man as one of its principles;"
declared in favor of the widest toleration in matters of relieion
and for the ])rotection of the common school system — which
was a protest against "Know-Nothingism" which had swept
over the country within the preceding two years — and con-
cluded with a demand for "reform in the administration of the
state government" as second only in importance to the slavery-
extension itself. This last declaration had an impressive sig-
nificance given to it, just three years later, in the exjDosure of
38 Anti-Nebraska Republican
the "canal scrip fraud" which furnished a scandalous sequel to
the administration of Gov. Matteson, then occupying the gu-
bernatorial chair. The platform, as a whole, amounted to a
declaration of the most conservative Republicanism, and the
foresight of its authors was indicated by the reiteration of
every feature of it, in subsequent years, in the utterances of
state and national conventions of the party. Without dis-
paragement to any, it is safe to say that Dr. Charles H. Ray
and Mr. George Schneider were controlling factors in framing
the platform— the former in conjunction with Mr. Lincoln in
the clear enunciation of the principles of the new party on the
subject of slavery, and the latter as the faithful representative
of the German Anti-Nebraska element in his championship
of religious tolerance and the maintenance of the naturaliza-
tion laws as they were, as against the demand for the exclusion
of persons of foreign-birth from the rights of xA.merican citi-
zenship.
Not less important than the platform, and possibly even
more far-reaching in its effects, was the following, which was
adopted as an independent resolution :
' 'Rcso/vcd, That this convention recommend a state dele-
gate convention to be held on Thursday, the 29th day of May
next, in the city of Bloomington, and that the state central
committee be requested to fix the ratio of representation for
that convention, and take such steps as may seem desirable to
bring about a full representation from the whole state."
The adoption of this resolution had been preceded by the
appointment of a state central committee embracing the fol-
lowing names :
First district, S. M. Church, Rockford.
Second district, W. B. Ogden, Chicago.
Third district, G. D. A. Parks, Joliet.
Fourth district, T. J. Pickett, Peoria.
Fifth district, Edward A. Dudley, Ouincy.
Sixth district, W. H. Herndon, Springfield.
Seventh district, R. J. Oglesby, Decatur.
Eignth district, Joseph Gillespie, Edwardsville.
Ninth district, D. L. Phillips, Jonesboro.
Convention, May 29, 1856. 39
For the state-at-large : Gustavus Koerner, Belleville, and
Ira O. Wilkinson. Rock Island.
The day's proceedings ended with a banquet given in the
evening to the editors in attendance on the convention and a
number of invited guests, by the citizens of Decatur at the
Cassell House. By this time there had been two or three ar-
rivals of belated editors. Those whom I remember distinctly
were Simeon Whitely, of \.\\q Aurora Guardian, and Edward L.
Baker, of the State Journal, Springfield. The local committee
having the matter of the banquet in charge consisted of Capt.
Isaac C. Pugh, during the Civil War colonel of the Forty-first
Illinois volunteers ; Dr. H. C. Johns, who died at Decatur a few
weeks ago, and Afejor. E. O. Smith. Richard J. Oglesby,
then a young lawyer, presided and made the welcoming ad-
dress. Several of the editors made speeches, but, of course,
the principal speech of the evening was made by Mr. Lincoln.
In response to a suggestion, by one of the editors present, of
his name as a candidate for governor, Mr. Lincoln illustrated
his characteristic unselfishness and sagacity by advocating the
nomination of an Anti-Nebraska Democrat, on the ground that
such a nomination would be more available than that of an
old-line Whig like himself, finally naming Col William H.
Bissell for the place — a suggestion that was carried into ef-
fect at Bloomington in May, with the very result in November
following that he then predicted.
The men named upon the central committee all acted in
that capacity with three exceptions. These were W. B. Og-
den, who declined on account of the demands of business re-
quiring his absence from the state, his place being filled by Dr.
John Evans, who afterwards became the territorial governor
of Colorado by appointment of Mr. Lincoln; R. J. Oglesby
left the state for a tour through Europe and the Holy Land,
his place being filled by Col. I. C. Pugh, of Decatur, and Gov-
ernor Koerner (then serving as lieutenant governor under the
Democratic administration of Governor Matteson) doubted
whether the time had arrived for the organization of a new
party, and so declined, his place being left vacant. Thus
40 Anti-Nebraska Republican
changed, the committee issued its call for a "State Convention
of the Anti-Nebraska party of Illinois," naming May 29, as
the date and Bloomington as the place, as designated by the
convention at Decatur.
Thus it was that, on the 124th anniversary of the "Father
of His Country," with the aid and counsel of the man who was
to become its Preserver amid the greatest perils that had ever
assailed it from the foundation of the government, this little
band of Anti- Nebraska editors enunciated the doctrines which
were to 1)e accepted as the foundation principles of the new-
party, organized and manned the machinery, and set it in
motion in the direction of victory. And yet there was not a
man of them who felt he was doinp- more than any other mem-
ber of the incipient party was ready to do. The time was ripe
for the movement ; its spirit was in the minds of thousands, and
if that little gathering at Decatur had not taken the initiative,
others would ha\T done so and the same result would have
been achieved at last. In the language of one of the naval
heroes of the Spanish-American War. there was "honor
enough for all."
A brief word as to the personal historv of the members
of the Decatur convention: Ralston, of the Oiiiiicy Whig,
after serving as captain in an Illinois regiment and. later, in
an Iowa regiment, died in a hospital in St. Louis in 1864; Dr.
Charles H. Ray spent the last three years of his life as editor
of the Chicago Evening Post, dying in that city in 1870; T. J.
Pickett was engaged in newspaper work in Nebraska for a
number of years, dying at Ashland in that state in 1891; A.
N. Ford died at an advanced age at Lacon in 1892; W. J.
Usrey's life career was ended at Decatur in 1894; Daugherty
retired from business on account of declining health in 1865
and died not long after — the exact date I am unable to give;
Faxon spent some time after the war in government employ-
ment in Washington City, dying, as I think, in that city, date
unknown ; Whitely. after being employed in some govern-
ment position among the Indians, turned his attention to in-
surance business at Racine, Wisconsin, where he died about
Cviirtutioii, May 20, 1S.'j(k 41
1890; E. L. Baker served nearly twenty-four years as United
States consul at Buenos Ayres, dying there in 1897 as the re-
sult of injuries received in a railroad accident. So far as
known the following still survive : George Schneider, Chi-
cago ; E. \V. Blaisdell. Rockford ; B. E. Shaw, of The Tele-
graph, Dixon; O. P. Wharton, editor of The Daily Journal
and Local, of Sandusky, Ohio, and the author of this record.
There is a coincidence of no small interest in the fact
that, on the same day the conference of Anti-Nebraska editors
of Illinois \vas in progress at Decatur, a similar body of repre-
sentatives from the ^•arious states was in session at Pittsburg,
Pennsylvania, called together in a similar manner, ' 'for the pur-
pose of perfecting the national organization and providing
for a national delegate convention of the Republican party to
nominate candidates for the presidency and vice-presidency."
Among thosepresent at the Pittsburg" meeting we find such
names as Francis P. Blair, of ]\Iaryland (its permanent presi-
dent) ; Gov. E'dw^in D. Morgan, Preston King and Horace
Greeley, of New York ; Judge E. R. Hoar, of Massachusetts ;
Oliver P. j\hirton and George \A". Julian, of Indiana; Zach-
ariah Chandler. K. S. Bingham and Jacob M. Howard, of
Michigan; Joshua R. Giddings, of Ohio; David Wilmot, of
Pennsylvania ; Owen Lovejoy and J. C. Vaughan, of Illinois,,
and many more of national reputation. Out of this latter
meeting came the call for the national convention at Phila-
delphia on the 17th of June, 1856, which put in nomination
John C. Eremont for the presidency. It will thus be seen that
the new party, which perfected its organization in this city
of Bloomington on the 29th day of ]May, 1856, started out
in its career abreast of the national organization itself.
The call for the Bloomington con\-ention, as issued l)v the
state centra] c< mimittee appointed at Decatur, provided for a
total representation of 226 delegates, ranging from one for
each of the smaller counties, to seventeen from Cook. W hen
the convention came together, however, owing to the deep
interest manifested in some of the counties of the state re-
sulting in a large attendance of outsiders, and the unanimity
42 Anti- Nebraska Republican
which prevented the introduction of controversial issues, it
seems to have resolved itself into something like a "mass meet-
ing," and, although some thirty counties, chiefly in the south-
ern part of the state, were wholly unrepresented, the num-
ber of delegates whose names got upon the roll, as published
in the papers at the time, amounted to about 270. Of these
Lee county furnished 25, while the little county of Morgan
came next with 20. I was not present in the convention, al-
though appointed a delegate and entitled to be there. It will
be remembered that the popular argument of some of the most
zealous opponents of our new party organization, at that time,
was comprised in the bludgeon and the pistol. On the Mon-
day preceding the meeting of the convention, while on the
way from my office to the hotel at which I boarded, I was as-
saulted upon the street by a bevy of political enemies — one of
them, whom I had no reason to suspect of personal hostility,
stealing behind to pinion my arms while his confederates closed
around me. The injuries which they were thus able to inflict
prevented my attendance upon the convention, but made no
converts for their cause. The country was even then ringing
with the report of the ruffianly assault upon Charles Sumner
in the senate chamber at Washington, which had occurred just
four days previous ; but the name of Sumner lives in history
while that of his assailant has passed into practical oblivion.
And now, having, in compliance with the request made
of me, presented before you this plain unvarnished record;
having traced the genealogy of the Bloomington convention
of 18 s6, and proved its legitimacy of descent from that little
editorial conference at Decatur on February 22, previouc —
having led you. so to speak, to the doors of the historic con-
vocation in this city — I leave to others to admit you to its de-
liberations, to report upon its acts and portray the personal
characteristics of the men whose presence here marked an
era in your history and that of the state and the nation, and to
describe those great events which, through the agency of a
Lincoln, a Yates, a Lovejoy, a Grant and other Illinoisans,
many of whom participated in the deliberations of that assem-
Convention, May 29, 1856. 43
blage and, acting in harmony and association with the pa-
triots and heroes of the whole Union, changed the destiny of
the Repubhc and made it the home of freemen instead of
"half slave and half free." In this result we see not only the
verification of the marvelous prediction of Abraham Lincoln
on the evening of June ly, 1858. but a vindication of the prin-
ciples enunciated and the policy indorsed in that little con-
vocation at Decatur, and incorporated in positive action by its
successor at Bloomington, on May 29, 1856.
Republican State Convention, Springfield, 111., October ^-5, 1854.
BY PAUL SELBY_, CHICAGO^ ILLINOIS.
At the risk of going outside the record and digressing
from the strict purpose of this reunion, I ask your indulgence
while I make mention of the earliest attempt to organize a
party in this state on the basis which finally became the founda-
tion of the Republican party. I do this in no spirit of partisan-
ship, however, and with less compunction because it is a part
of the history of the times which we are here to commemorate,
and citizens of Bloomington were prominent figures in the
movement. This undertaking took the form of a "mass con-
vention," so-called, announced to be held in the city of Spring-
field. October 4, 1854. a few months after the passage of the
Nebraska bill by congress. The date and place were chosen
because the second annual fair of the Illinois State Agricultural
Society was to occur there during the same week, and the oc-
casion was deemed most favorable for securing a respectable
attendance.
It fell to my lot to be one of five delegates (I think) from
Morgan county, one of the others being Dr. Hiram K. Jones,
now a member of the faculty of Illinois College at Jacksonville.
When we came togfether we found that not onlv had no ar-
rangement been made for a place of meeting, but that the hall
44 Anti- Nebraska Republican
of representatives was occupied by Senator Douglas and others
in that memorable debate in which he first met Abraham Lin-
coln in the discussion of the principles of the Nebraska bill.
Among those who espoused Douglas" side of the question were
James W. Singleton and John Calhoun, the latter afterwards
known as "John Candle-box Calhoun," on account of his con-
nection with the alleged frauds in the attempt to impose the
Lecompton Constitution upon the people of Kansas. Lyman
Trumbull and Abraham Lincoln were Douglas' principal an-
tagonists, although Judge Sidney Breese and the late Col. E.
D. Taylor, of Chicago, took the same side, though later found
in cooperation wuth the Democratic party. This debate marked
the beeinnino- of both Trumbull's and Lincoln's careers as lead-
ers of the new party, and ante-dated only a few months the con-
test for United States senatorship, which resulted in favor of
the former.
Between the debates of the afternoon, when Douglas and
Trumbull spoke, and the evening when Lincoln replied to the
former, we managed to get together long enough to effect a
temporary organization and appoint a committee on res jlutions
when an adjournment was taken to the following day. The
late A. G. Throop, then of Chicago, but who died a few years
since at Pasadena, California, was chosen chairman, while
Owen Lovejoy, Ichabod Codding and the late Gen. John F.
Farnsworth w^ere leading spirits upon the floor. The committee
on resolutions consisted of N. C. Geer, of Lake county ; John T.
Morse, of Woodford; Erastus Wright, of Sangamon; Dr.
H. K. Jones, of Morgan; Bronson Murray, of LaSalle (for
many years past a resident of New York City) ; S. M. Coe, of
Whiteside; T. B. Hurlbut, of Madison; William Butler, of
Lee; Jesse Penrose, of Whiteside, and Dr. Henry Wing, of
Madison. They met in the evening in the dingy office of
Erastus Wright, one of their number and a leading anti-slavery
man of Springfield, and transacted their business by the light
of one or two tallow candles.
A place of meeting was found for the convention on the
second day in the old senate chamber, and, although its num-
Convcittion, Maij 2'J, 1856. 45
bers had l)een increased somewhat by new arrivals, the space
was ample. The committee reported a conservative platform,
one of its chief features being embraced in the two following
resolutions :
"Resolved, That, as freedom is national and slavery sec-
tional and local, the absence of all law upon the subject of
slavery presumes the existence of a state of freedom alone,
while slavery exists only l^y virtue of positive law."
"4. That slavery can exist in a Territory only by usurpa-
tion and in \iolation of law, and we believe that congress has
the right and should prohibit its extension into such Territory,
so long as it remains under the guardianship of the general
government."
The platform was adopted and the Hon. John E. McClun.
of Bloomington, was nominated for state treasurer, — the only
office to be filled by election that year. Later Mr. McClun
gave place to James Miller, also of Bloomington, who had re-
ceived a nomination for the same office from a Whig convention,
and who came within less than 3,000 votes of election. His
successful opponent was Hon. John Moore, also a citizen of
Bloomington. Two years later Miller was the nominee of
both the Republican and the American parties and was elected
by over 20.000 majority.
The remaining ]M-inci])al lousiness transacted by this con-
vention was the appointment of a state central committee, con-
sisting of David J. Baker, of Madison county, (father of the
late Justice D. J. Baker, of the supreme court) ; N. D. Coy. of
Knox; N. C. Geer, of Lake; A. G. Throop, of Cook; E. S.
Leland, of LaSalle; M. L. Dunlap. of Cook; Abraham Lin-
coln, of Sangamon ; H. M. Sheets, of Stephenson ; Zebina East-
man, of Cook: John F. Farnsworth, of Kane; J. B. Fairbanks,
of Morgan, and Ichahod Codding, of Cook. This committee
never formally organized and faded out of existence. Mr.
Lincoln took no part in the convention and, according to Hern-
don, absented himself from the city on the second day, going
to Tazewell county in order that he might not be identified with
it. He still had hope that the Clay-Wdngs — the party of his
first love — would take ground against the Nebraska bill, and.
46 Ant i' Nebraska liepublican
when notified by Codding of his appointment on the state cen-
tral committee, decHned to recognize the right of the conven-
tion to use his name in that connection.
The attempt has been made in some quarters to depreciate
the importance of this convention by minimizing the numbers
in attendance and representing that it was "called and managed
by extremists." While it is true that such men as Owen Love-
joy and Ichabod Codding — known as uncompromising anti-
slavery men — were leading spirits in the convention, the con-
servative character of the platform adopted is a conclusive an-
swer to the charge of fanaticism. This went no farther than
a distinct declaration of opposition to extension of slavery into
free territory, which became the essence of Republicanism two
years later. When, on the proposition to place the name of Mr.
Lincoln on the list of members of the state central committee,
the question was raised whether he was in sympathy w-ith the
views maintained by the convention, I have a distinct recollection
that Owen Lovejoy, in emphatic terms, vouched for his fidel-
ity to the principles enunciated in our platform. And, while
Mr. Lincoln then cherished the hope that his beloved Whig
party would finally range itself in opposition to the repeal of
the Missouri Compromise and the principles of the Nebraska
bill, he and Lovejoy were found contending for the same prin-
ciple before the convention in this city in 1856, and, in the
presidential chair, he had no more zealous champion and loyal
supporter than the brother of the Alton martyr.
The Chicago Daily Democrat, edited by the late John
Wentworth, in its issue of November 2, i860, four days be-
fore the election of Lincoln to the presidency, after giving the
history of this convention substantially as I have given it here,
says :
"Such was the birth of the Republican party in Illinois.
Such were the men who set the ball in motion which is now
rolling forward with irresistible force. Almost without ex-
ception they are men who loved liberty for itself and not for
office. They were the founders, and they have been the pi-
oneers and fighting men of the party. They have fought its
battles, won its victories and have brought it to the threshold
of a great triumph."
Convention, May 29, 1856. 47
Although the convention of 1854 failed of its object, so
far as perfecting the new party organization was concerned,
the platform there adopted not only enunciated the principles
accepted by the party two years later, but played a curious and
interesting part in the Lincoln-Douglas debates in 1858. This
grew out of the production by Senator Douglas before the
audience at the first debate held at Ottawa on August 21, of
that year, of a series of extremely radical resolutions, which
he said had been adopted at the Springfield meeting, of which
he represented that Mr. Lincoln had been a member, and of
which he became a representative by virtue of his appointment
to a membership on the state central committee. As to the
last it has already been shown that Mr. Douglas was in error,
as he also was in regard to the genuineness of the resolutions
themselves. These had, in fact, been adopted by a local con-
vention in the northern part of the state, — in Aurora, I think, —
but. whether innocently or intentionally, I will not presume to
say, — had been incorrectly published l)y the State Register, a
few days after the Springfield convention of October 4 and 5,
1854, as the platform adopted there. At the next debate,
which occurred at Freeport, a week later, Mr. Lincoln was in a
position not only to vindicate himself from responsibility for
the Springfield meeting, but to expose Mr. Douglas' blunder.
Douglas excused himself on the ground that the resolutions
had been used in debate by Thomas L. Harris, then a member
of congress from the Springfield district, as those adopted at
the Springfield meeting, and that he had been assured by the
editor of the Register that this was correct. That Mr. Doug-
las was unconsciously led into an error by the misrepresenta-
tion of his own organ there is no doubt, but its effect was to
produce a recoil from his argument at Ottawa, which caused
him no little chagrin and mortification at the time, and from
which he did not fully escape during the remainder of the de-
bates.
I reiterate what 1 said at the beginning of this digression .
that I do not allude to this incident in any spirit of partisanship,
but simply as a i)art of the history of the times we are com-
memorating today.
48 Anti-Nebraska BepuhUcan
The Germans and the German Press.
Pres. Davis:
After the suppression of the Revolution of 1848, large numbers of
the liberty loving Germans came to this country. On the formation of
the Republican party the most of them came into its ranks, because
they considered it the only party of liberty.
Our speaker tonight is a native of Germany, an eminent lawyer,
an author of legal works, and a German poet, who will address us on
"The Germans and the German Press."
I have the pleasure of introducing Hon. William Vocke.
WILLIAM VOCKE, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.
Ladies and Gciitlciiicn : The last week of the month
of May, 1854, marks a most momentous epoch in the poUti-
cal history of our country. After weeks of unparaheled
excitement reflected in the debates of congress, as weh as
in all other agencies of public utterance throughout the
country, the federal house of representatives, on the 22d
day of said month, passed the Kansas-Nebraska bill by which
the time-honored Missouri Compromise between the free
states of the north and the southern slave states was repealed.
Three days later the senate concurred in the measure; on
the 30th of May it received the signature of the president,
whereby it became a law, and thus all the territories lying
north of 36 degrees, 30 minutes north latitude were exposed
to the inroads of the southern slave power. To the better
element of the northern people, recognizing as they did that
slavery was a frightful blot upon the civilization of the
nineteenth century, it was hardly conceivable that the
grandchildren of the patriots of the War of Independence
could so far forget themselves as to tear down the last bul-
wark which the wisdom of their freedom-loving fathers had
William Vocke was born at Mlnden. German}-. 1839: emigrated to United
States in IS.Vj, and came to Chicago: studied law, captain in 24tli 111. Vols.: 1870,
elected representative to General Assembly; attornev for the German consulate
at Chicago: a leading lawyer of Chicago and of high literary taste; member of the
Republican National Convention of 1873.
Convent ion, May 2i\ 1856.
49
Hon. William Vocke.
50 Anti-Nebraska Republican
established against the curse, and while all the political or-
ganizations of the country, the Democrats, Whigs, Free-
Soilers and Know-Nothings, were alike thrown into a state
of disintegration, everywhere the germs sprang up for the
formation of a new party which should, upon strictly con-
stitutional grounds, distinctly mark the limits of the slave-
power.
Two months before the passage of the Kansas-Ne-
braska bill a number of Whigs. Free-Soilers and Democrats
met on several days in an humble school house of the modest
little town of Ripon, Wisconsin, to discuss the formation of
a new party, and on the 30th of March, 1854, it was sug-
gested that it lie called the "Republican party" and a resolu-
tion was carried that its object should be to secure the con- ^
finement of slavery within its present limits. It does not
seem to be definitely established, whether or not to this ob-
scure spot in the then far west belongs the glory of having
given the first impetus to the organization that brought
about the memorable events to which our nation owes its
deliverance from the relic of crudest barbarism.
The day after the adoption of the Kansas-Nebraska bill
about thirty members of the federal house of representa-
tives met in conference to take the formation of the new
party in hand, l^ecause there was no longer any hope that
the old ones could successfully oppose the encroachments of
the slave-power. Here too the name "Republican party"
was proposed for the new organization. From that moment
the agitation proceeded throughout the northern states until
the organization received definite shape at a convention of
delegates from various northern states held on Washington's
birthday in 1856 at Pittsburg, where it was resolved to call a
national convention for the nomination of candidates for the
presidency and vice-presidency. This convention was held
on the 17th of June, the anniversary of the battle of Bunker
Hill, at Philadelphia. Meanwhile the people were thoroughly
aroused, permanent organizations were formed everywhere,
nominating conventions were held in all the states throughout
Convention, May 29, 1856. 51
the north, thus in this state the Bloomington convention on the
day we now celebrate, and the Repul^hcan party, having been
successfully launched, entered upon a career of triumph and
glory which has shed the greatest lustre upon the history of
our country. In sympathy with the widely expressed senti-
ments of the north the Philadelphia convention did not stop
with the demand that the former barriers against the exten-
sion of slavery should merely be restored, but it declared :
"We demand and shall attempt to secure the repeal of
all laws which allow the introduction of slavery into terri-
tories once consecrated to freedom, and will resist by every
constitutional means the existence of slavery in any of the
territories of the United States."
I have been invited to show on this occasion what part
the German element of the country took in the mighty move-
ment which led to the overthrow of the southern slave power
and the regeneration and securer establishment of our na-'
tional Union.
The immigrants from Germany, who had become na-
turalized here, had, before the attitude of the two great par-
ties toward slavery became clearly defined, instinctively
drifted toward the Democratic party, not only because there
was a natural charm in the word "Democratic," but also be-
cause they found that the Know-Nothing party, which had
for a few years achieved phenomenal successes principally in
the northern states, had been most extensively recruited from
the old Whigs. But when the issue between free labor and ne-
gro slavery was once squarely presented, their education and
great good sense prompted them at once to take a firm stand
on the side of freedom. They had never been able to per-
ceive, why under a free government persons should be held
in slavery, the subject of barter and sale like cattle, because
their skin was black and their hair woolly. They keenly
recognized that labor was degraded by the slave holder at
the expense of the free man. As citizens of this republic,
which had become their and their children's fatherland, they
appreciated that they, with all the rest of the people, were
52 Ant I- Nebraska Republican
responsible for its good government ; but they did not busy
themselves with the niceties of the question of states' rights
or state sovereignty, because, in abjuring the allegiance they
formerly owed to another sovereign, they had not become
citizens of the particular state alone in which they had taken
up their abode, but Americans enjoying the protection of
that flag which waved over the entire country. It was also
clear to them that in the fundamental law of the Union no
guarantees were expressed either for the protection or ex-
tension of slavery, and hence they solved all doubts in their
minds as to the law of the case in favor of the inalienable
rights of man. Then again the Missouri Compromise had
for more than thirty years served as a bulwark against the
spread of slavery into the northern territories, and why
should this barrier now be ruthlessly broken/down in order to
admit a hideous institution which made every right-minded
man in the country blush with shame? From this mode of
reasoning the Germans neither took kindly to the notion of
squatter sovereignty, because they could not see why the
black blotch of slavery should be permitted to disfigure the
fair western domain, simply because it might be imported
through the back door by the 1 border ruffians. The argu-
ments were few and simple, our German-American citizens,
acting independently everywhere, planted themselves firmly
on the side of freedom, and swelled the ranks of the Re-
publican party immensely, for it should not be forgotten that
in our western states in particular their number was great
enough to make them a powerful factor, when the destinies
of our country were finally decided at the ballot box.
The southern slaveholders viewed the position of the
Germans with the utmost bitterness and alarm, which came
to the surface not only in the bloody Know-Nothing riots
at Baltimore, Louisville and other southern cities, but also
m most violent public utterances of many of the foremost
men of the south. The Know-Nothings of the north were,
in their secret and mysterious efforts to disfranchise the
foreign element of our people, prompted chiefly by their
Corivenfioji, May 20, 1856. 53
hatred of the Cathohc chnrcli ; the slaveholders' party, how-
ever, announced its ill-will against the Germans of the north
only for the stand they took against slavery and on that ac-
count they were pronounced to he the most un-American ele-
ment in the Union. The Kansas-Nebraska bill was first
introduced by Senator Douglas on the 23d of January, 1854.
Six days later a mass meeting of Germans was held in Chi-
cago under the leadership of Mr. George Schneider, the edi-
tor of the Illinois Staats-Zcituug and an honored member
of your convention, protesting against the passage of the bill,
and so far as I have been able to find, this was the first in-
dignation meeting directed against the repeal of the Missouri
Compromise in the country. Shortly after the passage of
the bill the Germans of Chicago held another rally called by
Edward Schlaeger, editor of a w^eekly German paper entitled
the Gcnnan-Amcrican, Fritz Baumann and others, express-
ing their abhorrence at the measure. At this meeting its
author. Stephen A. Douglas, was burnt in effigy. This was
the signal for an outburst of bitter hatred against the Ger-
man element on the part of the southern oligarchs in con-
gress. Shortly after the convening of that body in Decem-
ber, 1854. Adams, of Mississippi, introduced a naturaliza-
tion ImII under which foreigners should not be admitted to
citizenship until after a residence of twenty-one years, giving,
as he did. as a reason for this measure the fact that the wick-
ed Germans had sent in so many petitions against the Kan-
sas-Nebraska bill and declaring further: "When I learned
the indignity offered to Senator Douglas by a German mob,
I determined to introduce this bill." In their perverseness
other southern representatives boldly insisted that the atti-
tude of the Germans on the slavery question showed them
to be incapable of entering into the spirit of American life
and of assimilating with our people, and that hence the safest
and only way to bring about assimilation was to deprive
them of the right of suffrage.
Though it nia\- be conceded that the desire of the
southern slaveholders to disfranchise the German element
54 Ahti- Nebraska Republican
was from their view-point perfectly reasonable, it will never-
theless be seen that the arguments by which they sought to
carry it out were wholly worthless, and that nothing in the
whole range of political agitation could have afforded a more
striking proof of the fact, that the Germans were in the best
sense of the expression thoroughly Americanized, than their
opposition to slavery.
In that great movement the Germans were so resolute
and so united that from the very start they left no one in
doubt as to their position. At tlie second annual meeting
of the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society held on
the loth of IMay, 1854, at the New York Tabernacle, the
following resolution was adopted :
"Resolved. That we rejoice in the great unanimity
manifested by the German presses, and our German fellow-
citizens throughout the country, in opposition to the Ne-
braska scheme, so inimical to their Democratic principles,
to their cherished hopes and to the renown of their adopted
country."
Shortly after the enactment of the infamous Nebraska
bill it was shown by the Cincinnati Gazette that in its pub-
lished list of eighty-eight German newspapers in this coun-
try there were eighty that had declared their firm opposition
to the measure, while only eight remained which were de-
based enough to defend it.
Thus from the ver}^ beginning the Germans proved to
be true not only to the noblest traditions of their race, which
has been the natural friend of an enlightened freedom the
world over, but also to the most vital interests of the new
country, in which they had found hospitable homes. Their
noble and God-fearing countryman Francis Daniel Pastorius,
who was at the head of the little band brought into Penn-
sylvania by William Penn in 1683, had been the first man
in this land who issued a public protest against the crime
of slavery in which he warningly exclaimed to the Ameri-
can colonists: "Have not these negroes as much right to
fight for their freedom as you have to keep them slaves?"
This same sentiment was theirs, because it was the true Ger-
• Convention, May 29, 1856. 55
man instinct, and with it they marched shoulder to shoulder
with their fellow-citizens of other nationalities, in order to
achieve for our country that universal freedom which our
revolutionary forefathers had in truth and in fact intended
to estahlish.
During- the trying years which followed the repeal of
the Missouri Compromise our fellow-citizens of German
extraction ne^•er faltered in their attachment to the cause
of freedom. In i860, their votes decided the election of
Abraham Lincoln, and hence the pure-minded Charles Sum-
ner might well say as he did on the 25th day of February,
1862: "Our German fellow-citizens, throughout the long
contest with slavery, have not only been earnest and true, but
have always seen the great question in its just character and
importance. Without them our cause would not have tri-
umphed at the last presidential election. It is only natural,
therefore, that they should continue to guard and advance
this cause." And a little later the same illustrious champion
of freedom spoke the following words on the floor of the
senate : "The l)rave and pure German stock, which, even
from that early day, when first revealed to history in the
sharp and clean-cut style of Tacitus, has preserved its orig-
inal peculiarities untouched by change, showing that, though
the individual is mortal, the race is immortal. '-^ ^- "■■ We cannot
forget the fatherland which out of its abundance has given
to our republic so many good heads, so many strong arms,
with so much virtue and intelligence, rejoicing in freedom
and calling no man master."
It would be like an attempt to brighten the lustre of the
sun were we to cumulate further evidence showing the posi-
tion of the Germans and the German press on the slavery
issue. The facts stand out boldly on the pages of our his-
tory. Throughout the political contest, as well as in all the
gloomy hours of the Civil War, in which the blood of the
best men of the nation washed out the foul stain of slavery,
the position of our German-American citizens was consistent
and patriotic. But for the steadfast loyalty which the Ger-
56 Anti- Nebraska Republican •
mans of St. Louis evinced at the outbreak of the war, Mis-
souri would have been taken out of the Union and the task
of our government to suppress the slaveholders' rebellion
would have been infinitely harder to accomplish. The ar-
chives of the war department at Washington show, that upon
the basis of the population of the loyal states, as ascertained
by the census of iS6o, the German element of the country
furnished 60,000 more soldiers than, with reference to the
whole number of enlistments during the war, it would have
been obliged to furnish, had all the people of every other na-
tivity at that time represented here enlisted in the same ratio.
On every battlefield of the Union the loyalty and devotion
of that element for the country and the flag was most nobly
demonstrated.
But it should not be forgotten that the noble bearing of
our German-American citizens in the most sacred cause of the
country found at all times grateful recognition at the hands of
the Republican party in this state, and that the invaluable
services of the men who led them in the holy crusade against
slavery were always duly appreciated and honored. Thus
the patriotic Frederick Hecker. famous for his warm devotion
to the cause of human freedom in the Fatherland as well as
here, was as early as 1856 accorded the high honor of being
placed on the Republican ticket as a presidential elector at
large by the side of the immortal Lincoln. \n i860, the dis-
tinguished Francis A. Hoffmann, now a venerable patriarch,
devoting his life to most useful literary labors, was elected by
the Republican party lieutenant governor of the state. At
the same time the Republicans of Cook county elected A. C.
Hesing, another German leader of great strength, as sheriff of
Cook county. In 1861 the learned and accomplished Gustav
Koerner, of Belleville, was appointed by president Lincoln
minister at the Court of Spain, George Schneider, of Chicago,
who was an honored member of your convention, was in-
trusted with an important consulate in Europe, and Herman
Kreissmann of the same place was made secretary of legation
at Berlin.
Convention, May 29, 1856. 57
On the whole it must be conceded that no man in the na-
tion vakied the inestimable services of the Germans in the
cause of the Republican party more highly than the sainted
Lincoln. Right after his inauguration, besides those already
named from this state, he appointed a number of other promi-
nent Germans from all over the country to important diplo-
matic and consular positions abroad, one a federal judge in
Missouri and a host of others to administrative offices of every
character. And this splendid example of the fair treatment
of an element which had given such noble proof of its keen ap-
preciation of the highest civic duties and its steadfast loyalty
to the same, found at all times proper emulation among the
Republicans of this state until recently. The Germans are
not mercenaries in politics, but they have a right to ask that
they be not excluded from public honors, because they not only
form, next to our native American voters, the strongest element
in the Republican party, as has been shown at the last as well
as at all previous presidential elections during the last forty
years, but such exclusion must necessarily have the effect of
stamping them as unworthy to hold office.
The invitation extended to me to explain on this oc-
casion the honorable part the Germans took in wiping out
from the i)rou(l escutcheon of our nation the stain of slavery,
shows the great good will cherished by the callers of this
meeting for the German element of this state and country.
It evinces the true spirit in which the different elements of
our people should approach each other and in which har-
mony among all can be best fostered. Let us for the com-
mon good of all assiduously cultivate this spirit of harmony
and with a heart filled with enlightened toleration bear with
the legitimate peculiarities of all. no matter how widely
•others may varv from our own. Let no German ever berate his
fellow-citizens of another race because of characteristics dis-
tinct from his. Let no other citizen look slightingly upon the
German because of his manners, or believe him to be less in-
tellieent than his fellow-man of equal station in life, be-
■cause, speaking a foreign tongue, he cannot express his
58 Anti-Nebraska Bejniblican
thoughts in the language of the country as well as he who
has imbihed the English at his mother's breast.
Every nation is visited at times by movements which par-
take of the character of a craze, and though they cannot
lastingly divert it from its legitimate aspirations and normal
political development tliey may nevertheless for the time be-
ing work serious mischief. In this behalf it may be safely
said that no element of the American people has shown itself
to be better equipped to resist such crazes, whether they are
the outgrowth of our economic life or of our intercourse
with the outside world, than our German-American citizens.
\\'e may. therefore, always rest assured that the honor, the
dignity, and the greatness of our common country will never
suffer at their hands. True, l)lind partisanship has some-
times stigmatized them as unreliable, but the dictates of
party are not always prompted by patriotism and good states-
manship, for it sometimes happens that, either from stupidity
or for the sake of office or pelf, the honor of the country is
placed in jeopardy by the \ery men who direct the policy of
a party. Although it may sound paradoxical, it is neverthe-
less true, as stated by one of the foremost writers of our his-
tory, that "one of the most powerful factors in the progress-
ive nationalization of the republic is its adopted citizens
who have come from all the countries of the earth." It was
largely due to this fact that the Germans, at the time of our
country's greatest peril, rallied round the flag of liberty and
Union, and upon that rock alone they will always rest their
adherence to partv.
Convention, May 29, 1856. . 59
Owen Lovejov, Constitutional Abolitionists and the Republican Party.
Pres. Davis:
Benjamin F. Shaw, for nearly half a century editor and proprietor
of the Dixon Telegraplt. a delegfate to the editorial convention of Feb-
ruary 22, I85G, that called the convention of May 29. and also a dele-
gate to that convention, has written a paper on ''Lovejoy and the
Constitutional Abolitionists, and the Republican Party." I have the
pleasure of introducing' Mr. Benjamin F. Shaw, of Dixon.
BENJAMIN F. SHAW, OP DIXON, ILL.
The evangelist awakens interest in his cause liy recalhng
the suffering of Christ and His fellow-mart}-rs. On the Fourth
of July the American citizen renews his patriotism in recalling
Valley Forge and the "times that tried men's souls." Is it
not well that we, also, in our own day recall deeds of heroic
sacrifice rendered for our fellow men ? I could not reftise a
request of the McLean County Historical Society, to tell in
my own poor way, what I know ahout "Lovejoy, Constitution-
al Abolitionists and the Republican Party." Thev took up a
political contest that meant, in a goodly portion of the countr\ ,
social and political ostracism at that time: while the chances
were that the people they interceded for would never hear their
names mentioned. It was an unselfish and patriotic labor, for
the relief of a peo])le;and. indeed, a great nation.
It may not be gracious to compare matters political with
sacred history, still I shall urge that the party whose birth we
today celebrate, stands without a rival in the line of advancino-
a great nation to a higher civilization. Xo human agency in
all the tide of times has accomplished more in modifying
B. p. Shaw was born in Waverly. New York, March 31. 1831, of American par-
ents. His fathers mother was the last survivor, at her death, of the "Massacre
ot Wyoming." Her father and two uncles were killed in the battle. His mother's
father. Major Zephon Flowers, was a Revolutionary soldier, and a descendant of
Governor Bradford, of Massachusetts, who kept the log of the Mavflower.
Mr. Shaw is now owner and proprietor of the DLvon Telegruplt "and has been for
many vears. Was Washington correspondent of a leading Chicago paper in IHfJT
and 1868. He was two terms clerk of the circuit court and recorder of Lee countv
and six years a canal commissioner of the state of Illinois. Has served one term
as postmaster at Dixon, Illinois, and is the present incumbent of that oftice.
He was a member of the Decatur convention February -l-l. 18.=i»;. that called the
Bloomington convention, which on Mav 29, 18.56. nominated the first Republican
state ticket and a member of the convention of May 29.
60 Ant i- Nebraska Bepublicaii
"man's inhumanity to man, which makes countless thousands
mourn," than the Republican party. Its efforts have been in
a spirit of pure patriotism and the universal brotherhood of
man.
It turned a despotism, the worst the world had ever seen,
into a republic; transformed slavery into freedom. The first
act of the Republican party was that of giving a farm and a
home to every poor man who would accept. It gave, through
protection to American industry, the laborer of this country
such wages as no nation before gave to the wage-earner. It has
always acted the part of the mighty philanthropist toward all
the people. Republicanism not only extended into the jungle
of ignorance in our own land, but it is now^ penetrating the
jungles of the far east, and its beacon light of civil and relig-
ious liberty is blessing the Orient ; there to enlighten barbar-
ism. It is through Republicanism that this nation has be-
come the guiding star of liberty everywhere.
Lovejoy, Constitutional Abolitionists and the Republican
party, a host of heroes my theme, patriots who endured many
trials, a subject requiring volumes, to be condensed into a brief
essay — my task is not easy. A talk on a mighty epoch in the
history of recent ci\'ilization condensed into a brief hour. A
brave and mighty host battling against slavery and depotism,
manfully as Greek at Marathon. Suffering as Christian mar-
tyrs suffered. If Paul fought with lieasts at Ephesus, they
were not more l:)eastly cruel than the men that the Lovejoy
brothers fought against at Alton in our own state.
The preliminary skirmish in the fight for liberty in this
land was begun l)y the Radical Abolitionist long before
the final battle. They were, it is true, but a mere handful;
but they were strong men. with brilliant intellects and brave
hearts, well fitted to bear the jeers of ignorant partisans. Both
Ihe great i)arties of the day were bitterly opposed to them.
Many churches were indifferent. I heard the great Frederick
Douglass state that while in slavery, the burden of the prayers
he heard were cjuotations from Scripture that servants should
obev their masters.
Cuuvendo)!, May 20, ISoC.
61
Benjamin F. Shaw.
62 Ant i- Nebraska BepubliccDi
In this day it sounds strange to say that a lecture on slav-
ery in a school house or church anywhere in the Free States
was liable to result in mob violence against the speaker. Henry
Wilson in his "Rise and Fall of the Slave Power" is authority
for the statement that Henry B. Stanton in lecturing upon the
subject of Emancipation, through the Xew England and mid-
dle states, though he always spoke in patriotic praise of the
constitution and the Union, was mobbed some two hundred
times, often at the imminent peril of his life. An advocate of
freedom was in the minds of the people at that time an in-
citer of riots.
The machinery of the church in many of their ramifica-
tions of literary and benevolent institutions, the preachers
and the press were opposed to anti-slavery agitation. But
the skirmish line, though thin, was bravely pushed on by
William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips, Gerritt Smith,
Theodore Parker and a few others. They were not Constitu-
tional Abolitionists. They took it for granted that the political
leaders of the Calhoun class were right in claiming that the con-
stitution recognized slavery, and so they proclaimed that the
much revered document was ' 'an agreement with hell and a cov-
enant with the devil." They were, however, followed by a class
known as the Constitutional Abolitionists; equally bold and
brave, but more practical. It was the labor of the latter that
accomplished glorious results; fought the good battle to a
7 finish and destroyed the slave power. They were among the
-Ctfgamzers of the Republican party. I recall the names of
Owen Lov^JoyPGreeky^-A^^ade, G>44i_tTgs, Fessenden, Chase,
Hale, Hamlin, Wilmot. ThaddeusC^tepheh, John Wentworth,
Seward, Baker, Bissell, Sumner, WasBbufne, and last but not
least, Lincoln. They held the constitution and the Union as
a sacred inheritence. In the minds of many statesmen of that
day, there was something of a struggle between hatred of
slavery and love for the constitution of the Union. Abhor-
rence of human bondage was neutralized by patriotic love of
country. The political leaders of both the great parties made
a great ado, (perhaps to excuse their objection to abolition agi-
Convention, May 2!>, 1SJ6. 63
tation.) over the claim that the constitution recog-nized slav-
ery. The Constittitional Aholitionists, even the rank and file
were forced to become accomplished students of the ftnida-
mental law oi the land. They denied the claim of slavery-
recognition with such confidence, that copies of the revered
document were printed in condensed form to carry in the
pocket for ready reference; that it might he demonstrated that
it did not recognize slavery.
They contended that under the constitution sla\es could
not be legally held in territory not organized into states.
Constitutional Abolitionists, Republicans, if you please,
believed that slaNcry was not recognized by the constitution.
sa\-e indirectly. They urged that slavery was a mere matter
of fact in the face of the national and state constitution. In
face of everything but a tyrannical public sentiment and a
diabolical practice, they argued that man cannot be prop-
erty. An auctioneer could not transmogrify a man with a soul
into a chattel. One man has no right to own another man.
If one man can be sold as property, every man can, and consti-
tutions made to protect human liljertv are annulled if they
fail. There is no allusion to the right of one man to en-
slave another. Tove of country and re\erence for the consti-
tution, was used to advantage by the sla\e power and threats
of secession were frequent. Like a pall, fear of dissolution of
the Union hung over the American people during the many
years of slaverv agitation. Threats of secession should the slave
power ha\-e its way were common. I remember one bright day
there came sensational dispatches from Washington announc-
ing that the stability of the Union of the states was in danger.
There was activity in the war and navy department. Battle-
ships were ordered to Boston, and the army and navy put on a
war footing, troops were mustered around the court house in
Boston. And what do you imagine was the cause of all this
fuss. The constitution was about to be shattered, the perpet-
uity of the nation was endangered, because, to use a phrase of
that day, a "nigger was loose." A man preferring liberty to
slavery had escaped from the south as a stowaway on a schoon-
64 Anti-Nebraska Republican
er and landed in Boston, where he was duly arrested. So it
would appear that a little carelessness on the part of a slave
holder, as regard to his favorite chattel, would endanger the
perpetuity of the Union, before Republicans took charge of
the nation.
The Constitutional Abolitionists bravely waged the war,
against the further extension of slavery ; at the polls, and on
the floor of congress, enduring insults such as had been heap-
ed upon the most radical ; threatened with assassination, a
learned senator beaten into insensibility on the floor of the
Senate.
It appears to have been willed that the battle of freedom
should be hot, in the fiery ordeal the heat might become suf-
ficiently intense to melt the shackles more completely from en-
slaved limbs. A word against slavery was interpreted as a
blow at the constitution, a step towards disunion; that grand
prophecy that this government could not remain half slave,
and half free, was charged up against Lincoln, as a most rank
disunion sentiment. The prejudice against Abolitionists, phil-
osophers tell us, resulted from a patriotic motive, love of coun-
try — very properly classed in this day as a sophistical para-
dox, — destruction of a school house in Connecticut where
colored girls were taught to read; mobbing of a colored
asylum, abolition persecutions, result of patriotic motives !
We are told that manv great evils of the world have been com-
mitted by ignorant men of good intentions, material used in
paving the road to Hades. \\'e ha\e it in the history of relig-
ious persecutors, ignorant of truth, the ardor of their sincerity
warms them into persecution, brings fanaticism into deadly
activity, the evil they do is the result of misdirected virtue.
This may be applied to the mass of that day, but is not an ex-
cuse for the pro-slavery leaders and politicians. In our own
state there were many legislative struggles, indicative of slave
power enmity. I remember that your own city of Blooming-
ton furnished a backer for Governor Yates in troublous times
here; he was a man who did not fear to tell copperheads who en-
deavored to stop appropriation for supplies for our soldiers,
Convention, Maij 29, 1850.
65
Isaac Funk, Funk's Grove, 111.
own
Vol
Born November 17, 1797. Kentucky; died January 29, 1865; stock raiser land
f,^U^TT^^^ ®^"^'f-'" '«62 to 1865 See Good Old Times McLean County 580 and
ume II, Transactions McLean County Historical Society.
66 Anti-Nebraska Republican
that they were traitors, and hurl back their insuUs so defiantly
that Lincoln gave him praise. The name of Isaac Funk
should have a place in this history. An all-wise Providence
has ways of his own in gathering his instrumentalities for the
purpose of purifying nations. Had the slave holder been
content to let slavery remain where it was, and not endeavor
by fraud and murder to extend it into the territories, how dif-
ferent might have been our history. "Whom the Gods would
destroy, they first make mad." I well remember that it was
the manner of forcing slavery into Kansas, by intimidation
and fraud, that caused universal indignation of fair-minded
men, quite as much so, as any anti-slavery sentiment that then
existed. There was a notion among the people that the bal-
lot box in its purity was the palladium of our liberty. The
Missouri Compromise, an agreement between the slave and
Free States, that slavery should not go into the territories
north of a certain line, 36 degrees, 30 minutes, was repealed
by congress. Senator Douglas, of our state, introduced the
measure, and it was passed in May, 1854. By him it was cun-
ningly worded. The law which had been revered a quarter of a
century as an agreement settling a controversy between the
states was, in the repealing act, declared inoperative, because "in-
consistent with the principle of non-intervention with slavery,"
and ' 'did not permit people to regulate their own domestic insti-
tution." This act of repeal alarmed the nation. A sacred
trust had been broken. Douglas defended the repeal,
claiming that it was in the interest of self-government, and
called it "Squatter Sovereignty." "The people could decide
whether or not they would have slavery." It was soon dem-
onstrated that this was a trick. The people were not permitted
to decide the question, if a Democratic party then in power
could prevent it. It was soon apparent that the full power
of the government was to be used to force the people of Kan-
sas to adopt a slave constitution against their will. The hypo-
critical cant about the consent of the governed was not then
in use by Democratic statesmen. Emigrant Aid Societies
w^ere organized to assist in settling Kansas with freedom lov-
Convention, May 2!J, 1850. 67
ing settlers. They went from New England and other north-
ern states.
"They crossed the Prairie as of old
The Pilgrims crossed the Sea,
To make the West as they the East,
The homestead of the free."
1 will not detain you with a repetition of that disgraceful
history. How the president with the army, militia from slave
states under pay of the government, swarms of border ruf-
fians overrunning that territory for the sole purpose of driv-
ing legal voters from the polls, failed in the effort to force
slavery upon an unwilling people. Homicide, underpay, and
murder by order from the White House at Washington;
brutality and hatred dressed in regimentals, malignity in
epaulets; bloody mania in support of human bondage. It
is strange that there were so few John Browns. A pro-
slavery Democratic legislature made up of people who went
there not as settlers, but to make it a slave state, passed laws
making the simple speaking to a slave a death penalty. Two
score of laws enforcing the death penalty for using words and
acts in opposition to slavery.
That was the reason a couple dozen editors gathered at
Decatur and called the Bloomington convention which we to-
day celebrate. Patriots everywhere were alarmed for the
liberty of the whites as well as the blacks. In the first Re-
publican convention of a national character, Owen Love joy
in an eloquent prayer did not ask an all-wise Providence to
abolish slavery, but he made an eloquent and earnest plea for
better politics in the party then in power. He hoped for fair
election in Kansas. Being a minister of the gospel Mr. Love-
joy had some sort of an idea that perhaps the Almighty might
have some sort of an influence with the people at the coming
election if not with a Democratic president and so he prayed,
to use the exact words, that the ''Present wicked administration
might be removed from power and its unholy design on the
liberties of the people thwarted."
68 Anti-Nebraska Rejniljlican
On the day that Owen Lovejoy uttered that patriotic
prayer in Pittsburg, the editors of IlHnois met at Decatur.
Though my friend, Mr. Selby, tehs you of that meeting, and
General Pahner will well cover the subject, may I not digress
to recall a few incidents. I was one of the committee on reso-
lutions, and had the good fortune of being in consultation
with Abraham Lincoln, in forming the first Republican plat-
form in Illinois. At the banquet in the evening given by
the citizens of Decatur, I was informed that I would be called
upon for a toast, and so prepared one which was so compli-
mentary of Mr. Lincoln that when I saw that he was present.
I did not have the cheek to give voice to my admiration, and
changed my toast and spoke something about placing free bal-
lot boxes in the hands of freemen and meeting despots with
cartridge boxes. Mr. Lincoln was in a happy mood. I re-
member that apologetically, for being at a convention of edi-
tors, he called attention to what I have always imagined a
personal reminiscence. He stated that he believed he was a
sort of interloper there and was reminded of the incident of a
man not possessed of features the ladies would call hand-
some, while riding on horseback through the woods met an
equestrienne. He reined his horse to one side of the bridle path
and stopped, waiting for the woman to pass. She also check-
ed her horse to a stop and looked him over in a curious sort of a
way, finally broke out with,
"Well, for land sake, vou are the homeliest man I ever saw."
"Yes, madam, but I can't help it."
"No, I suppose not," she said, "but you might stay at
home."
Lincoln urged that he felt as though he might have stayed
at home on that occasion.
In the line of thought regarding Constitutional Abolition-
ists, I recall an interview with Mr. Lincoln at his residence at
Springfield, that has not heretofore been made public. It oc-
curred a few weeks before his departure for Washington
to deliver his inaugural address, and take his seat as
president. I, with several Dixon citizens, among them
Convention, May 29, 185G. 69
Col. John Dement, a leading Democrat in the state, who had
enjoyed an acquaintance with the president-elect in early days,
and was a comrade in the Black Hawk War, called to pay our
respects. When we arrived we were ushered into the parlor
where we found several gentlemen from Arkansas, and, I be-
lieve from other border states, as they were then called, who
had come as a sort of a committee to urge upon the president-
elect to issue some sort of a manifesto assuring the people of
the south that it was not his intention to liberate the slaves.
The committee was very urgent in the matter and seemed to
believe that such a precaution was necessary to prevent insur-
rection among the slaves, who were impatient regarding their
anticipated freedom. It was urged by the gentlemen from the
south that the slaves believed that Mr. I>incoln's election meant
their freedom. They had been told that they would be liber-
ated. They heard the people of the south talk about it and
were discontented. The committee understood very well that
Mr. Lincoln did not intend to abolish slavery. But the ne-
groes and the ignorant whites of the south did not so under-
stand it. The gentlemen believed that it was the duty of the
president-elect to at once undeceive them. Several members
of that committee of safety earnestly urged the importance of
some assurance from Lincoln to colored men and ignorant
people of the south, that an Emancipation Proclamation
would not lie among his first official acts. He listened respect-
fully, and after the importance of a proclamation was fully
urged, he made a reply that was so masterful in logic; so
touching in kindness and yet so full of marvelous sarcasm
coupled with witticism showing the absurdity of the proposition
of the committee, that I shall never forget it. Mr. Lincoln open-
ed in answer by stating that such a manifesto would indicate fear
on his part and would be, by most of the citizens of the south, at-
tributed to cowardice, a charge freely made against the people
of the north generally. He believed that his inaugural address
which would in a few days be delivered from the steps of the
national capital, would be in ample time to undeceive people
having erroneous opinions upon the matters which troubled
70 Anti- Nebraska Republican
them. To anticipate his inaugural address, as requested, would
be unwise and lacking in dignity. He closed his remarks with
much earnestness and no little emphasis; the words I remember
quite well : "In all my speeches," he said, "I have never uttered
a word indicating intention to interfere with slavery where it-
exists in states; Republican speakers and newspapers not only
never advocated abolition of slavery, but are constantly refut-
mg the charge that they are radical Abolitionists. Such utter-
ance has been one of the principal contentions of the campaign
just closed. So you see, gentlemen, if the colored people of
the south have heard that I intended to abolish slavery, they
received the idea from the lips of your own people; from their
masters at the dinner table, or heard it at your own political
meetings, and not from any Republican source; therefore it is
your duty to rectify the mistake. It is certainly not encum-
bent upon me to correct at this time the falsehoods of our op-
ponents."
As the people of the south were then threatening to de-
stroy the government and Civil W^ar was inevitable, he re-
marked that the committee reminded him of the disadvan-
tageous excitement of the man ^^•hose house was on on fire,
who, in his efforts to save property, threw mirrors, pitchers
and valuable vases out of the second story window, and carried
flat-irons and bedding carefully down stairs in his arms.
The committee retired with the firm impression that L-in-
coln had a mind of his own, as one of them was heard to re-
mark. After they had departed, a man from central Illinois
placed in Mr. Lincoln's hands application papers for a post-
office and remarked that the boys were ready to fight for him.
Mr. Lincoln turned to Colonel Dement, again shook him by
both hands cordially, and remarked that he did not enjoy the
talk about fighting for him. He was in the mood of Robert
Burns when he wrote
"The deities I adore
Are social peace and plenty,
I'm better pleased to add one more
Than be the death of twentv."
Convention, May 29, 1856. 71
Meeting Mr. Lincoln the next day at the hotel I requested
permission to print that interview at his private residence in
my paper, he replied, ''I'd a heap rather you had done it with-
out asking me." This was a characteristic precaution in Lin-
coln that his endorsement should not even by inference appear
to such an absurdity as the interview on the issuing of the
manifesto. So I never printed it.
Owen Lovejoy firmly believed that the constitution was
intended to protect human liberty and if rightly interpreted
would do away with slavery. He did not even favor an
amendment in that behalf, deeming it not necessary. I had
the pleasure of meeting Mr. Lovejoy a number of times. I
heard him deliver a speech at Amboy. Lee county, during a
presidential campaign, when he was assisting to elect the
Republican ticket. In that speech he urged the radical Aboli-
tionists to support Lincoln, they generally having refused to
do so, for the reason that the Republicans did not propose any
action leading to the abolition of slavery. He told them the
Republican party was going their way. To illustrate that
idea he said that if he were walking on the road to Chicago,
and a man passing in a wagon should ask him to ride, it would
not be good sense for him to refuse because the man was go-
ing only a few miles on his route. He would not refuse to
ride with the man because he was not going through to Chi-
cago. No, he would climb in and ride as far as he went his
way. So long as the Republicans are on their road he would
advise radical Abolitionists to get in and ride with them, in-
asmuch as they were both going in the same direction.
I again met Mr. Lovejoy on a train enroute for Freeport,
the day of Lincoln and Douglas' joint debate there. He was
not in a pleasant humor. At Ottawa a few days before
Douglas with a sneer had classed Lincoln as a Love-
joy Abolitionist in a manner intimating that the latter
was of the radical class, thus misrepresenting the gentle-
men from Princeton, much to his dislike. Remembering the
temper he was in, after arriving at Freeport, when the debate
was over, in the evening I suggested to a number of friends
72 Anti-Nebraska Republican
that Mr. Love joy was in a humor to make a speech, and we
would call him out. A dry goods box was improvised as a
platform in front of the Brewster House and he readily re-
sponded to the call. I shall never forget that speech and mag-
nificent appearance of the speaker ; a man of splendid physique,
Websterian mold of countenance, all aglow with flame of in-
tellectual genius, interested deeply in the cause of humanity.
Douglas had put the c{uestion to Lincoln. "Would he, if an
officer of the law, return a fugitive slave to his master?"
Lovejoy answered the interrogatory in scathing phillipics
ag'ainst Douglas and all others who had voted for the Fugitive
Slave law. Taking the pythagorean idea of transmigration,
he had the soul of Douglas turned into a savage bloodhound
on the track of a slave escaping from bondage. A man in-
nocent of crime, only a polar star as a guide to a freedom
justly his, the man-greyhound in hot pursuit, lapping the mire
by the wayside to cjuench his hellish thirst for blood. The
cubless tigress raging in the jungle for her slaughtered ofT-
spring is touching sympathy compared with the man who
would hunt down an innocent being that he might enslave.
A gem was lost when that speech was not reported and
published. Douglas was a great leader, at one time beloved
by the entire Democratic party. He lacked only one vote
and a half of becoming president. His repeal of the Mis-
souri Compromise proved his downfall. It caused great in-
dignation in the north, and when he saw a Democratic presi-
dent, a man of his own party, use all the influence and power
of government in forcing slavery upon the unwilling people
of Kansas where he had promised that people should be "free
to vote slavery up or down," he was appalled at the diabolical
enormities committed in the name of Democracy. He rebelled
against the administration and then the southern leaders, here-
tofore friendly, whom he had always befriended, turned
against him. Abolitionists had not endured more bitter insult
than were heaped upon the senator from Illinois by southern-
ers whose cause he had so favored. Hosts of friends in the
north had ignominiously deserted him for the political acts
Convention, May 29, ISoG. 73
he had performed for the south. It was a monstrous ingrati-
tude by the southern leaders. In Douglas it was a "grievous
fault and grievously hath he answered it." His terrible plight
is described by the poet Byron :
"As the struck eagle, stretched upon the plain,
No more through rolling clouds to soar again.
Viewed his own feather on the fatal dart,
And winged the shaft that quivered in his heart,
Keen were his pangs, but keener far to feel
He nursed the pinion that impelled the steel
\Miile the same plumage that had w-armed his nest.
Drank the last life-blood of his bleeding breast."
In a talk of Republicanism in Illinois, we must needs
speak of Stephen A. Douglas, its greatest opponent until the
close of his life, when he became its warm supporter; an ac-
complished orator, wonderful debater, beloved at one time by
millions of his countrymen. Small in stature and mighty in
intellect, he was known as the "Little Giant." But alas, his-
tory classes him in the vast list where
"Vaulting ambition o'er leaps itself."
My friend, John H. Bryant, of Princeton, who was to
speak today on the subject assigned me, but declined on ac-
count of ill health, in June, 1856, closed a letter to his brother,
the great ])oet, in regard to the Bloomington convention, and
especially politics in Illinois, with assurance that "She. is solid
for Freedom and the Constitution, for Republicanism and
Right."
The words "Freedom and the Constitution" fully ex-
press the position of the Constitutional Abolitionists and
Republicans of that day.
74 Anti-Nebraska Republican
A Few Words for the Bloommgton Commemoration Meeting,
BY Gen. James M. Ruggles.
It matters little that forty-four years ago, previous to the
time of the Bloomington convention, my name was the only
one prominent as the running mate of Governor Bissell for
lieutenant governor, that I was one of the vice-presidents of
that convention — or that in February previously at a meeting
at the capital of Whigs and Free Soil Democrats who were
ready for the organization of a party more fully representing
the tide of advanced political principles, I was one of the com-
mittee associated with Abraham Lincoln and Ebenezer Peck,
and prepared the resolutions adopted at the meeting which led
to the convention held on the 29th of May, 1856.
It matters much, however, that the convention was held
and that a portion of the leading men of both parties came to-
gether and took their places beside Abraham Lincoln on a plat-
form of expansion of free territory, enlarged human rights and
human liberty, and expanded patriotism, on which basis every
man nominated was elected and placed in office.
The time was auspicious. We were then under the last
of the old time Democratic governors in Illinois who had ap-
propriated to his own use about a quarter of a million dollars
in state bonds and left the state a ruined man and a political
party badlv smirched. Since then we have had but one Dem-
ocratic governor and he has made all other governors quite
respectable — comparatively !
The nation was also in a turmoil over the slavery question.
Lincoln had not yet announced the problem that "the nation
could not long endure half slave and half free" — but the events
then transpiring justified the assertion. Kansas was the the-
atre of operations of the Missouri Jay-hawkers, who without
restraint of the administration were madly rushing on to the de-
Convention, May 29, 1850.
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76 Anti- Nebraska Republican
struction of the government of the establishment of slavery up-
on the virgin soil of the territory. They had captured and im-
prisoned the governor of the te'-ritory to make place for one
in full sympathy with themselves. The governor's wife, a
most beautiful and interesting lady, had tied for life to Illinois
for protection and was on the train that carried the delegates
from S])ringfield to Bloomington — her presence creating the
profoundest sympathy and the wildest enthusiasm.
Not all the \\liigs and a lesser portion of the Democrats
joined in the movement. It was too radical for many wdio
had been leaders in the old political parties, and too conserva-
tive for the radical Abolitionist, but occupied safe ground upon
which to found a great political part}' which has for forty
years ruled the destines of the nation — vastly expanding it in
population, education, wealth and territory, until at the present
time when it occupies the proud place of the most enlightened
and powerful nation on the globe.
The nominees at that convention, after faithfully serving
the people in the places assigned them, have long since laid
down their well spent lives — leaving us to cherish their mem-
ories and emulate their official example. Of all the great and
good men that took part in that Bloomington meeting but few
are left. Lincoln led the convention and was the first to lav
down his life for the cause inaugurated there. Yates, Love-
joy, Browning, Washburn, Archibald Williams, Judd, Went-
worth, and a host of others have followed him to the grave.
Palmer, the honored president of that convention, I am glad
to know, still lives.
The nominees of the convention were ;
Wm. H. Bissell, for governor.
O. M. Hatch, for secretary of state.
Jesse K. Dubois, for auditor of public accounts.
James Miller, for state treasurer.
Wm. H. Powell, for superintendent of public instruction.
Convent} oil, Ulau 29, 1856.
< i
OziAS M. Hatch
Born in New Hampshire April 11,1814: died March 13.1893. merchant, banker:
Secretary of State 18.^7 to 1865. See Biographical Dictionary and Portrait Galler}'
Illinois Volume 1896, page 140.
78 Anti- Nebraska Republican
Remarks
Made at Bloomington, Illinois, May 29, 1900, at a Celebration of the
Forty-fourth Anniversary of the Bloomington Convention
held on May 29, 18,56, at which the Republican
Party in Illinois was Organized.
BY GEN. THOMAS J. HENDERSON, OF PRINCETON, ILL.
Mr. President and Members of the McLean County His-
torical Society, Ladies and Gentlemen : When invited to be
present at this anniversary meeting, or celebration, the sec-
retary of your society, kindly requested me to make some re-
marks on the campaign of 1856. But I declined to do so. for
several reasons. In the first place, it was not certain that
1 could be present at the meeting, and even if I could be, my
time was so occupied that I was not able to prepare any suit-
able remarks for an occasion of so much interest as this. And
I felt that without preparation, any speech I might attempt to
make would be rambling and of but little interest to those who
might hear it.
The convention of May 29, 1856, the forty-fourth anni-
versary of which we today celebrate, marked an era in the
political history of Illinois, and I may say, of the entire country.
And on such an occasion so many memories come crowding
upon us that it is difficult to control our thoughts and emotions,
and to pursue any connected line of thought or speech. As
we think of the many able, eloquent, earnest, patriotic men,
who were present and members of that convention, and who
participated in its proceedings, and of how many of them have
since passed away, after having rendered distinguished services
to the country, and what a small number still survive, we are
almost overwhelmed. And so, my friends, in attempting to
speak to you today, without preparation and with such a con-
Gen. Thomas J. Henderson was born at Brownsville, Tenn., November 19, 1824.
Came to Illinois in 1837. Admitted to the bar 1856. In 18.5.5-56 member of Illinois
House of Representatives and State Secretary 1856 to 1860. Delegate to the Ma-
jor's Hall convention May 29. 18.56. In 1862 Col. 112 111. Vols. 1865 Brev. Brig. Gen.
Republicanpresidential elector 1868. Representative in Congress, 1874 to 1895. Is
president of the board of management of the National Soldiers' Home.
Convent ioT), May 29, 1856.
79
Gen. Thomas J. Henderson.
80 Anti-Nebraska Repuhlican
fusion of memories, I fear my remarks will l)e of l^iit little in-
terest. But I am glad to be here to meet all who are present,
and especially to meet the old friends, survivors of the con-
vention of May 29, 1856.
The convention held at Major's Hall, in this city, in 1856,
was a great convention — one of the most important and far-
reaching in its influence and in its results, that was ever held
in the state of Illinois, in my judgment. It had a deeper and
stronger influence upon the political action of the people of the
state, than any other convention ever held in the state. It
fairly revolutionized the old political parties of the state.
I have always been proud of the fact that I was a member
of that convention and participated in its proceedings. I was
a delegate from Stark county and a member of the committee
on resolutions. Orville H. Browning, of Quincy. a native
of Kentucky, who had been a prominent Whig of the state,
was, as I remember, chairman of the committee, which pre-
pared the resolutions, or platform, adopted by the convention,
and he made, on or after the presentation of the resolutions,
an able and eloquent speech. There were present at the con-
vention, either as members, or interested spectators, many of
the able and distinguished men of the state, from all parts of
the state. Men who had lieen leading, prominent members
of the old political parties : — Abraham Lincoln, Archibald
Williams, Orville H. Browning. Richard Yates, Richard J.
Oglesby. and many other old Whigs — were there. And
among the many old Democrats and Abolitionists were John
M. Palmer, John F. Farnsworth, Norman B. Judd, John
Wentworth, and Owen Lovejoy. All of them, including the
Whigs named, were strong, able, earnest men, and deeply in-
terested in the work of the convention. They were prominent
then in the politics of the state, and some of them in the ser-
vice of the country, and most of them afterwards distinguished
themselves as soldiers in the War of the Rebellion and in civil
life.
John M. Palmer, whom I am glad to see here today and
am always glad to see, was the president of the convention ;
Convention, May 29, 1856. 81
and he not only distinguished himself in the campaign which
followed the convention, as an a1)le speaker and advocate of
freedom and free territory, but he has served the country
with great ability and distinction since, in both military and
civil life, as a general, governor, and United States senator.
He, also, made a strong and powerful speech at the conven-
tion in 1856.
But the great speech of that convention was the speech
made by Abraham Lincoln. His speech was of such wonderful
eloquence and power that it fairly, electrified the members of
the convention and everybody wdio heard it. It was a great
speech in what he said . in the burning eloquence of his words,
and in the manner in which he delivered it. If ever a speech
was inspired in this world, it has always seemed to me, that
that speech of Mr. Lincoln's was. It aroused the convention,
and all who heard it. and sympathized with the speaker, to the
highest pitch of enthusiasm. I have never heard any other
speech that had such great power and influence over those to
whom it was addressed. I have always believed it to have
been the greatest speech Mr. Lincoln ever made, and the great-
est speech to which I ever listened. I can never forget that
speech, and especially that part of it where, after repelling with
great power and earnestness the charge of disunion made
against the Anti-Xebraska party, he stood as if on tip-toe. his
tall form erect, his long arms extended, his face fairly radiant
with the flush of excitement, and. as if addressing those pre-
ferring the charge of disunionism, he slowly, but earnestly
and impressively, said :
"We do not intend to dissolve the L^nion, nor do we in-
tend to let you dissolve it."
As he uttered these memorable and, I may say, prophetic
words, the members of the convention and everybody pres-
ent rose as one man to their feet, and there was a universal
burst of applause, repeated over and over again, so that it was
some moments before Mr. Lincoln could proceed with his
speech.
John Cockle, of the city of New York, brother of Wash-
ington Cockle, a prominent citizen of Peoria, and a life-long
82 Anti-Nebraska Republican
Democrat, sat by my side during Mr. Lincoln's speech; and
was profoundly impressed by his wonderful eloquence. He
said to me he was greatly surprised to find that Illinois had
such a man as Abraham Lincoln, and that they knew nothing
about him in New York; that he had lived in New York all
his life and had heard most of the great men of the country
speak at one time or another in that city; that he had heard
Henry Clay, Daniel \\'ebster. John C. Calhoun. Martin Van
Buren. Levi Woodbury, Silas Wright, and others. But, he
said, he had never before heard from any one so great a speech
as the one just delivered by Mr. Lincoln. The speech con-
verted him, and he became, as I was informed afterwards, a
good Republican.
Mr. Lincoln's speech was delivered without manuscript,
and I think, without notes ; an.d no rei)ort of it was made. Nor
has it ever been published until within a few years when a re-
port of it written, as it is said, from notes taken at the time,
was published as the "Lost Speech." And I am forced to say
that I rather regret the publication, for I do not think it does
justice to the speech that Mr. Lincoln delivered. l\\ fact, I
am strongly impressed with the belief, that no report could
have been made and published then or since, especially after
the lapse of so many years, which would give a just conception
of the great power and magnetic effect of that memorable
speech.
That speech, and the great debates between him and
Stephen A. Douglas in 1858, made Mr. Lincoln president of
the LTnited States, and forever lost to ]\Ir. Douglas the hope of
the presidency, which was without doubt the highest ambition
of his life.
But wdiat can I say as to the campaign of 1856? I have
said the convention of 1856 was a memorable one, and so the
campaign that followed it was equally memorable. The cam-
paign was made by only two parties — the Democratic or Ne-
braska party, struggling to maintain its supremacy, and the
Anti-Nebraska or Republican party, battling to resist the en-
croachments of the slave-power, to which the Democratic
Convention, May 20, 1856. 83
party, through the influence of Mr. Douglas and other leading
Democrats, had yielded and seemingly given themselves up.
The bad faith shown in the repeal of the Missouri Compromise
and the opening of the way for human slavery to go into terri-
tory from which, by solemn compact, it had been forever ex-
cluded, had excited an intense feeling in the minds of liberty-
loving Democrats, as well as Whigs and Abolitionists, in Illi-
nois, that the further aggressions of the slave-power must
cease (M- our freedom and free institutions would be over-
thrown. Hence the campaign of 1856 was a campaign of
conscience, of deep conviction, of earnest purpose. It was
the first political campaign in which I ever participated, ac-
tively as a speaker. I had made a few speeches in the campaign
of 1852 — the last campaign in which the Whigs had a candi-
date for the presidency, advocating the election of Gen. Win-
field Scott and opposing that of Franklin Pierce. But in the
campaign of 1856, I made nearly a hundred speeches. The
Anti-Nebraska or Republican party, inspired by the actionof the
great convention and the great speeches made in it, at Bloom-
ington, forty-four years ago today, started out to win, and
immense meetings, addressed by Lincoln, Palmer, Trumbull,
Farnsworth. Yates, Browning, Williams, Judd, Knox, Love-
jov. Codding, and other able and distinguished speakers, w^ere
held all over the state. I can remember as if it was but yester-
day, how w-e spoke and sang at those great meetings for victory.
Do you not remember, all of you who are old enough, the rally-
nig-cry for "Free Soil; Free Speech; Free Press; Fremont and
A^ictory?" And while we lost our presidential ticket in the
state and nation, we elected the gallant Bissell, governor, and
the whole state ticket, nominated in Major's Hall in this city,
bv a majority, which surprised and overwhelmed the Demo-
crats of the state. And so earnest, energetic, and effective
was the work done in the campaign of 1856, that we have
never elected by one Democratic governor in the state since —
and that was a great mistake.
The question is often asked, "Was Abraham Lincoln, at that
early date, regarded as a great man and a great leader?" I an-
84 Anti-Nebraska Republican
swer that he was ; at least by those who knew^ him well. It was
my good fortune to have known Mr. Lincoln from my boyhood.
The first time I ever saw him was when I was 15 years of age.
It was at an immense \Miig convention, held at Springfield
in June, 1840. in the Harrison and Van Buren campaign. This
was said, at the time, to have been the largest convention ever
held in the state. The Whigs came in large delegations from
all parts of the state. They came with music and banners, in
wagons and in carriages, on horseback and on foot. Log
cabins, with coon-skins and hard cider, were drawn by oxen
from distant parts of the state, and prominent Whigs were
there from almost every country. My father as a W big. a
native of Kentucky, like Mr. Lincoln, and had served with
him in the Illinois legislature, and both were re-elected mem-
bers that year. And though my father lived more than a
hundred miles from Springfield, he and a number of other
Whigs in the vicinity of our home, were at the convention ;
and mv father took me along. So you see I became interested
in politics at an early age.
I remember that convention well, and the prominent
speakers, who made speeches on that occasion. Abraham
Lincoln and E. D. Baker, of Springfield; John J. Hardin, of
Jacksonville; John Hogan, then a Methodist preacher, of Al-
ton; Ben Bond, of Clinton county; Fletcher Webster, a son
of Daniel Webster, then living at Peru, in La Salle county,
and S. Lisle Smith, of Chicago, one of the most gifted and elo-
quent speakers in the state, were there. I remember them all.
and heard them all speak. My father introduced me to Mr.
Lincoln, and the impression made upon my mind at that time
by my father and others, was that Lincoln was one of the lead-
ing, prominent Whigs and able men of the state, and he was
then but 31 years of age.
I have thought it somewhat remarkable that four of those
distinguished speakers whom I heard speak at that conven-
tion, were afterwards killed in battle or in time of war, while
rendering distinguished services to the country. John J. Har-
din was colonel of an Illinois regiment and was killed in the
Convention, May 29, 1856. 85
war with Mexico, at the battle of Biiena Vista. Baker, the
eloquent orator and gallant officer and soldier, was killed at
Ball's Bluff. \^irginia, in the war of the rebellion. Fletcher
Webster was also killed in battle in Virginia, in the same war;
and Abraham Lincoln was assassinated while president of the
United States and commander in chief of the army and navy,
after rendering the most illustrious service to his country.
Again my father, having been re-elected as a member of
the state legislature, as I have said, took me with him to Spring-
field when the legislature assembled in November, 1840. and
I was in Springfield several weeks with him. during the
session, and saw much of Mr. Lincoln and heard him speak
a number of times. He was one of the prominent members of
the house, and was recognized as one of the able, if not the
ablest, of the Whig leaders and debaters in the house. And
there were many other able men. members of the house, who
were afterwards distinguished in the public service. William
H. Bissell, whom we elected governor in 1856; Lyman Trum-
bull. John Dougherty. Thomas Drummond, John J. Hardin,
John A. McClernand, John Logan, father of John A. ; ex-
Attorney- General Kitchell, and many others, were able and
prominent members, and Lincoln was, I think, as prominent as
any of those mentioned.
I may put a higher estimate on the ability and promi-
nence of ]Mr. Lincoln at that time, than some others do, and
it mav be verv natural that I should ; for I was a Whisf. and
a little later, when I became a voter, and interested in politics,
I was associated with him. politically, and followed him as a
leader, and always regarded him as a strong and able man.
^^'hen a member of the legislature in 1855. I voted for him
nine times for United States senator, and on the tenth ballot
I changed my vote, somewhat unwillingly, and voted at Mr.
Lincoln's own request, for Lyman Trumbull. We could not
get our old friend, Senator Palmer, to vote for Lincoln, once
(Senator Palmer shook his head). But it is all right, sen-
ator; you came around all right afterwards, for Mr. Lincoln,
and the probabilities are that if we had elected Mr. Lincoln
86 Ant I- Nebraska Republican
United States senator then he would not have been elected
president — and if he had not been, what the condition of our
country w^ould be today we cannot imagine.
No, my friends, Abraham Lincoln w-as always a great
man in my estimation, from my first acquaintance. He was
great in his boyhood, in the cabin homes of his father. He
was, I think, born great, and grew in greatness all his life.
A brother-in-law of mine, now dead, said to me a few
years since, when standing in Statuary Hall in the capitol at
Washington, and looking at the statue of Abraham Lincoln
by Vinnie Ream, "Thomas, the more I study the life and char-
acter of Lincoln, and compare him with the other great men of
history, the more I think he is one of the most remarkable
men of all ages." And such, I think, as the ages go by, will
be the judgment of mankind.
But I have rambled long enough, and must close, with
many thanks for your kind attention.
Convention, May 29, 1856. 87
Address by Honorable George Schneider
OF CHICAGO,
Mr. Davis, the president of the Historical Society, intro-
duced Mr. Schneider, who spoke as follows :
Ladies and Gentlemen : I came here without any prep-
aration to address you on such an important subject as the
foundation of the Republican party in Illinois, and as I might
say, in the United States. Your president made the remark,
that the elements out of which the new party had been formed,
consisted of members of the old Whig party with anti-
slavery tendencies; of the Democratic party with even more
radical views, and represented by such men as my distinguish-
ed friend, General Palmer; the American or Know-Nothing
party; and the Germans, with the most advanced, anti-slav-
ery feelings of all of them. My friend, Mr. Paul Selby, gave
you the history of the Decatur convention where all these
factions were represented.
Here the most difficult task did fall to me as the editor
of a German papqr and as a member of that convention. The
repeal of the Missouri Compromise created a storm in the
affairs of the country such as was never before witnessed
since the foundation of the republic. The south had been
made bold and defiant by the success in the affairs of the na-
tion since the adoption of the so-called 'compromise meas-
ures.' The attempt of the nationalization of the institution
of slavery, and of a most rigid Fugitive Slave law with all its
horrors, had aroused the sleeping conscience of the nation.
George Schneider was born at Pirmasens, Bavaria, December 13. 1823; liber-
ally educated; took part in German revolution, 1848; was condemned to death,
escaped to the United States; with his brother established an anti-slavt- rvGerman
paper at St. Louis, Mo.; 1851, moved to Chicago and became the editor of the Staats-
ZeitaiKj. which he made a dailv and the leading German newspaper of the north-
west; railed the first anti-Nebraska meeting in the United States; member of
editorial conven ion of February. 18.=)t), and of the convention ot Mav 29, I8.=)6. and
of the national Republican conventions of 18.5() and 18t)(); presidential elector. 1880;
appointed by President Lincoln to confldential mission to Denmark and Germany,
1861; internal revenue collector, 1861 and 186.t; member of Chicago Union Defense
Committee, 18t)l and 186.5; appointed minister to Switzerland, 1876; twenty-tive years
engaged in banking in Chicago; the confidential adviser of every Republican presi-
dent, from Lincoln to McKinley. (See Biographical Die. and Per. Gal., 111. Ed. p.30 )
88 Anti-Nebraska Rejiubllcan
When Senator Douglas introduced his bill to repeal the
Missouri Compromise, this was the signal for the volcanic
out-break of the pent up feelings, of the citizens of the Re-
public who had preserved their love of humanity, right and
justice. This was particularly the case with the adopted citi-
zens of the German nationality.
The revolution of 1848 and 1849 in Germany for the
unification of the Fatherland, and the failure of this great ef-
fort, sent thousands of the best men of Germany, — men of
culture and strong will power, — to this country, who were
placed at the head of many of the best newspapers printed in
the German language. From New York to the great west,
their influence was felt at once and a great revival began
amongst them. The principal places of this new uprising in
thought and action were New "^"ork, Philadelphia, Chicago,
Cincinnati and St. Louis. All the principal papers in these
cities opposed at once the extension of slavery in the new
territories, and in fact, slavery itself.
Our state was in advance of all of them and nearly
every paper published in the German language in the state
opposed the Nebraska bill. But here appeared most suddenly,
a black cloud on the political horizon which seemed to assume
such proportions and threatening form, as to not only dampen
the fire of the new movement against slavery, but to drive the
Germans from the ranks of the party to be formed. I refer
to the so-called American, or Know-Nothing party. Massa-
chusetts, Pennsylvania, Maine, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode
Island, Maryland, and several other important states were
controlled by the new party, and this movement swept even
the shores of all the middle and northwestern states. The
Germans, who had just entered the new party with the only
desire to oppose slavery, were in a most unpleasant and critical
position, and their political future seemed dark.
I entered the Decatur convention with a resolution in
opposition to this movement and I had resolved to fight with
all my might and win or go down, and w^ith me, perhaps the
new party. My friend, Paul Selby, who has appeared before
Convention, May 29, 1856.
89
.^-.'*^
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Hon. George Schneider.
90 A uti- Nebraska Rejmblican
yon with his excellent and true historical address on the De-
catur convention, placed me on the committee of resolutions
and I had to help form a platform containing a paragraph
against the proscriptive doctrines of the so-called American
party. This portion of the platform raised a storm of opposi-
tion and in utter despair I proposed submitting it to Mr. Lin-
coln, who had appeared in the convention, and abide by his de-
cision. Mr. Lincoln, after carefully reading the paragraph,
made the following remark :
''Gentlemen: The resolution introduced by Mr. Schneider
is nothing new. It is already contained in the Declaration of
Independence and you cannot form a new party on proscriptive
principles.'
This declaration of Mr. Lincoln's saved the resolution
and in fact, helped to estalilish the new party on the most
liberal democratic basis. It was adopted at the Bloomington
convention and next, at the great, and the first, national Re-
publican convention at Philadelphia on the i8th of June, 1856.
And in connection with this I wish to say that the delegation
from Illinois followed the lead of General Palmer, the real 'grand
old man' from Illinois. He drew up the plan of operations; he
had the negotiations with President Lane and secured the proper
committee on resolutions and the great success was due to his
fearless and at the same time prudent and statesman-like action.
The great majority of the Germans in all the states of the north,
and even in some portions of the south, entered the new party
that had made Lincoln president, and made it possible to carry
on the war with success against slavery, and create, in fact,
a new Union. The new light which appeared at Decatur and
Bloomington, spread its rays over the whole of the United
States, and so the regeneration of', the Union and the down-
fall of slavery dated from Bloomington; and the convention
of which we hold today this memorial convocation of the few
survivors, makes one of the great epochs in the history of the
country ; and with all this we must think of the man who has
been sent by Providence to carry this nation through the agi-
Convention, Blay 2U, lSo6. 91
tation of war to its present high position, amongst the nations
of the earth, and I wish in conckision to say of him; he crys-
taHzed sentiment, gave it a focal point. Following his action
at Decatur, at Bloomington he made his wonderful speech
which certainly gave the party pul^lic form. . I heard this
great speech of his. He was not great in rhetoric, but his
mode of speaking was new. He was full of philosophy and
got mto the souls of men. He produced a new manner of
politics. He rose up as a prophet. That was his great force
and strength. He caught the wandering thoughts of troubled
men and gave them continuity, and for this he was in my
judgment the builder of the party in Illinois, the state in which
It first took shape and rose to national prominence.
Mr. J. O. Cunningham, of Urbana, being called upon
spoke as follows :
I was present at the convention on May 29, 1856 though
not as a delegate, but as an observer. I came here in the
company of Mr. Lincoln, who had been in attendance upon the
courts of Champaign and \^ermilion counties durino- weeks
previous. At thai time the only wav of reaching Bloomin-
ton from the eastern counties, by public conveyance, was by
way of the Wabash railroad to Decatur and bv the Illinois
Central railroad to Bloomington.
_ A number of delegates and others from the eastern coun-
ties, mostly young men, happened on the Wabash train with
Mr. Lincoln and arri^'ed at Decatur about the middle of the
afternoon. No train coming to Bloomington until the next
niornmg, made it necessary that we spend the afternoon and
night at Decatur. The afternoon was spent bv Mr. Lincoln in
sauntering about the town and in talkingof his earl vexperiences
there twenty-five years before. After a while he proposed
going to the woods then a little way south or southwest of the
village, in the Sangamon bottoms. His proposition was as-
sented to and all went to the timber. A convenient log by the
side ot the road, in a patch of brush, afforded seats fo^- the
company, where the time was spent listening to the playful
and familiar talks of Mr. Lincoln.
92 Anti-Nebraska Republican
We spent the night at the Oglesby House, at Decatur, and
early the next day a train took us to Bloomington. Mr. Lin-
cohi was very soHcitous to meet some of his old Whig friends
from southern Illinois, whom he hoped to enlist in the new
political movement, and searched the train to find such. He
was gratified in finding some one from the south and it is be-
lieved that Jesse K. Dubois, afterwards nominated as auditor
of public accounts, was the man.
Arriving at Bloomington many were found awaiting the
opening of the convention, largely from the northern coun-
ties, among whom there existed a most intense feeling upon
the situation in Kansas. Lawrence had been sacked but re-
cently by the ruffianly pro-slavery men and the greatest out-
rages perpetrated upon free state settlers.
The evening previous to the convention Governor Reeder
arrived in town, having been driven a fugitive from the terri-
tory he had been commissioned to govern, and spoke to a large
crowd of listeners in the street from an upper piazza. He
was moderate and not denunciatory in his address, only deline-
ating the violence he had witnessed and suffered. Dispatches
were received and often publiclyread to the crowds at the hotels
and on the streets and excitement over the situation was in-
tense. No convention in Illinois ever assembled under circum-
stances of greater excitement.
One circumstance in the nomination of Colonel Bissell
was peculiar. Long before the day of the convention there ex-
isted no doubt as to the nominee for governor. Colonel
Bissell had earned a most enviable reputation as a gallant sol-
dier in the v/ar with Mexico and as having backed Jefferson
Davis down in a dueling affair the latter had provoked with
Bissell, was outspoken upon the issues most prominent in polit-
ical discussions, and people had settled it before that he was
to be the standard bearer in the state campaign. The tempo-
rary organization had hardly been effected when Mr. Munsell.
a delegate from Edgar county, whose name has been read here
today as a delegate, sprang to his feet and nominated Colonel
Bissell for governor, regardless of the usage in such cases.
Convention, May 29, 1856. 93.
The people having settled this part of the business in advance,
the nomination was confirmed with a yell, after which the
business of a permanent organization of the convention, with
General Palmer as permanent president, was proceeded with.
During the absence of the committees many speeches
were made. Lovejoy (and by the way Owen Lovejoy was the
greatest stump speaker I ever listened to,) Browning, Cook, Wil-
liams, Arnold and among them one Emory, a free state refugee
from Kansas, all made speeches. Owing to the inflamed con-
dition of public sentiment, the audience had become much
wrought up in feeling wdien it came the turn of Mr. Lincoln
to make his speech, — the so-called "Lost Speech." I thought
it then a great speech and I now think it a great speech, one
of the greatest and certainly one of the wisest ever delivered
by him. Instead of adding, as he might have done, and as
most speakers would have done, to the bitterness and exasper-
ation his audience felt, as a manner of gaining control of the
audience, he mildly and kindly reproved the appeal to warlike
measures invoked by some who had spoken before him, and be-
fore entering upon the delivery of his great arraingnmentof the
slavery question and of the opposing party, he said : "I'll tell
you what we will do, we'll wait until November and then shoot
paper ballots at them." This expression, with his concilia-
tory and wise declarations greatly quieted the convention and
prepared the members for the well considered platform which
was afterwards presented and adopted.
This morning I received by mail from a friend what is
said to have been a contribution from the Mr. Emory to a Kan-
sas paper, giving his version of the convention and of the
speech of Mr. Lincoln. I am sure this meeting will be glad to
have it read here.
'• I got off the cars May28 atBloomington. * * * I learned that
the Missouri river was shut up for free-state men and that there was to be the
next day a big gathering of the friends of freedom from all parts of Illinois. I
here met Governor Reeder who had got out of the territory in the disguise of an
Irish hod-carrier. My own home city had been sacked and our newspaper office
demolished and the types and printing-presses thrown into the raging Kaw. *
* * the morrow came in that Illinois town May 29, 18.o6. It was full of
excited men— the very air was surcharged with disturbing forces: men of all
parties met face to face on the streets, in the overflowing hotels and about the
94 Anti-Nebraska Republican
depot platforms of the incoming trains. Anti-Nebraska. Democrats, Free-Soil
Whigs and Abolitionists were all there. There was Palmer and Lovejoy and
Browning, well known names whom I had often heard of before. * * *
The large hall— Major s— was crowded almost to suffocation as I took my seat on
one of the rear benches. John M. Palmer was chairman and made a speech that
took him out of the Democratic party for the time being. Browning was called
for and he enjoined upon us 'to ever remember that slavery itself was one of the
compromises of the constitution, and was sacredly protected by the supreme law.'
After this, rather a cold dose to be administered just at that time, Owen Lovejoy
appeared and carried the convention by a storm of eloquent invective and terrific
oratory. The committee on resolutions was then announced and while this was
being done I felt a touch on my shoulder when a young man said he was going to
call me out to talk while the committee was out, adding that I must stop when I
saw the committee come in, as it had been arranged to have "a fellow up here
from Springfield, Abe Lincoln, make a speech. He is the best stump-speaker in
Sangamon county.' This young man was Joseph Medill a reporter for the Chiiago
Tribune, as I afterward learned. I had no thought of anything of this kind, but of
course I was prepared to tell the story of bleeding Kansas, there in the house of
her friends. But two things bothered me all the time I was speaking; one was, I
was trying to pick out Mr. Lincoln who was to follow me, for he was the best
stump-speaker in Sangamon county, as I had just been told and I had never heard
his name before. Added to this, was the watching I kept up at the hall doors of
the committee room to be sure to have a fitting end to my rather discursive talk
on that now notable occasion when the party standing for free-Kansas was born
in Illinois and when a great man appeared as the champion of the Kansas cause
* * * As I stepped aside, Mr. Lincoln was called for from all sides. I
then for the first time, and the last, fixed my eyes on the great president. I
thought he was not dressed very neatly, and that his gait in walking up to the
platform was sort of swinging. His hair was sort of rather rough and the stoop
of his shoulders was noticeable: but what took me most was his intense serious
look. He at once held his big audience and handled it like the master he was
before the people pleading in a great and just cause. Today, that 'Lost Speech'
looks quite conservative; his chief contention all through it was that Kansas
must come in free, not slave, he said he did not want to meddle with slavery
where it existed and that he was in favor of a reasonable fugitive slave law. I do
not now recall how long he spoke, none of us did, r j udge. He was at his best and the
mad insolence of the slave power as at that time exhibited before the country
furnished plenty of material for his unsparing logic to effectively deal with before
a popular audience. Men that day hardly were able to take the true gauge of Mr.
Lincoln. He had not yet been recognized as a great man and so we were not a
little puzzled to know where his power came from. He was not eloquent, like
Phillips, nor could he electrify an audience like Lovejo3',but he could beat them
both in the deep and lasting convictions he left on the minds of all who chanced
as I did to listen to him in those dark days, now receding into the mystic past."
James S. Emory.
On the close of the afternoon exercises at the church the
photograph of the delegates present was taken which is here-
with published.
Convention, Man 29, 1856. 95
AbraKam Lincoln,
Pres. Davis:
One of the delegates from Pike county was John G. Nicolaj', ed-
itor of the Pike Counly Free Pre,ss, afterwards private secretary to Mr.
Lincoln during- his candidacy in I860, and also private secretary to
the president until Mr. Lincoln's death. He was also author of a ten-
volume Life of Mr. Lincoln.
The paper on "Abraham Lincoln" has been prepared by Mr.
Nicolay, but owing to ill health he is unable to be with us. His paper
will be read by Mr. Prince, secretary of this society.
BY JOHN G. NICOLAY.
Washington, D. C, May 19, 1900.
Esra M. Prince, Esq., Secretary McLean County Historical
Society, Bloomington, Illinois.
My Dear Sir : — I received with great pleasure your in-
vitation to address a meeting- to be held in your city on the 29th
of May. in commemoration of the Bloomington convention
of 1856. I am deeply disappointed at finding myself unable
to respond in person to your flattering request, but my regret is
mitigated by your kind permission to send you some words of
greeting by mail.
In this, the closing year of the Nineteenth Century, the
anniversary celebration you have appointed, is most opportune
and most instructive. It will afford the occasion to recall and
record the conspicuous role which the state of Illinois was call-
ed upon to play in American politics nearly half a century ago;
to review the mighty changes in national thought, national
legislation, and national destiny which have occurred, and to
T-„,"{25e5";^''?°^^ioo'^'^? born in Essingen, Havaria. February ati. 1832. Came to
LnitedStatesin 1S38. At 16 entered the oftlce of the Pike county, Ulinois/^rV^
/"^'\'i3"'i '^^li'le st'll in bis minority became editor and proprietor of that rianer
In l8ob became assistant to O. M. Hatch. Secretary of State of Ulinois In 1?TO 4:
came private secretary of Mr. Lincoln and remained with him as his private sec-
retary until his assas.sination. United States Consul at Paris from 865 to 1869
Afterwards for sometime editor Chicago Ilfp^ihlican. Marshal Supreme Court of
the United States from 1872 to 1887. Author, with John Hay of -Abraham Lin-
coln," a history ot ten volumes, the Standard Life of Lincoln '^"^-anam Lin
96 Anti-Nebraska Republican
honor the memory of the man upon whom fell the leading part
in that great transformation.
I had the good fortune to be one of the delegates from
Pike county in the Bloomington convention of 1856, and to
hear the inspiring address delivered by Abraham Lincoln at its
close, which held the audience in such rapt attention that the
reporters dropped their pencils and forgot their work. Never
did nobler seed fall upon more fruitful soil than his argument
and exhortation upon the minds and hearts of his enthusias-
tic listeners. The remembrance of that interesting occasion
calls up very vividly many other momentous and related events
it was my priviledge to witness during the stirring years that
succeeded. In the Representatives' Hall at Springfield I heard
him deliver the famous address in which he quoted the scrip-
tural maxim that "a house divided against itself cannot stand,"
and declared his belief that the Union could not permanently
endure, half slave and half free. In the Wigwam at Chicago
I heard the roll call and the thunderous applause that decided
and greeted his first nomination for president. On the east
portico of the Capitol at Washington I heard him read his first
inaugural, in which he announced the Union to be perpetual.
In the White House I saw him sign the final Proclamation of
Emancipation. On the Battlefield of Gettysburg I heard him
pronounce his immortal Gettysburg address. I saw him sign
the joint resolution of congress which authorized the Thir-
teenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States.
And once more on the east portico, I heard from his lips the
sublime words of the second inaugural.
These leading incidents are but a few of the monumental
mile stones that measure the career of this wonderful man.
Between them, through a period of ten years, runs an easily
traceable chain of cause and effect. But the chain of cause and
effect, which is so clear to the readers of history forty-four
years after the events, could not be seen by those of us who sat
in the Bloomington convention. It was hidden by that impen-
etrable veil which the future hangs between every sunset and
Convention, May 29, 1856.
John G. Nicolay.
98 Anti-Nebraska Rejmblican
its succeeding sunrise; between the old year and the new; be-
tween the century that ends, and the century to come.
We who heard Lincohi's convention speech of 1856 could
not know — neither could he himself know — that it would be
followed by his House-divided-against-itself speech in 1858;
that the Lincoln-Douglas debates would elect him president in
i860, and that the resulting Civil ^^'ar would usher in the
Thirteenth Amendment. The most that the Bloomington
resolutions dared to ask for was the restoration of the Mis-
souri Compromise, the prohibition of slavery in all the terri-
tories, and the immediate admission of Kansas as a free state.
Such was the bewilderment of public thought — such the
party antagonisms of the past — such the uncertainties of the
future, that the Bloomington convention only called itself an
Anti-Nebraska organization, and even the Philadelphia con-
vention which three weeks later nominated Fremont, did not
yet adopt the Republican name, either in its call or in its plat-
form.
Unfortunately the fifty speeches which Lincoln made in
the Fremont campaign were never put in print, and we there-
fore have no record of his observations on the weather-signs
of approaching politics, except that the election of Governor
Bissell rendered Illinois a prospective Republican state. It
required two years more to afford a clear outlook on the political
situation which was developed, first in the election of Buchan-
an, second in the reactionary dictum of theDred-Scott decision,
and third in the astounding contrivances of the Lecompton
Constitution. By these events, the slavery question revealed
itself in entirely new aspects, and Lincoln was the first and only
man in the United States who correctly discerned and ac-
curately defined its grave portents. In his house-divided-
against-itself speech he laid down what was at once the most
radical and the most conservative programme of action out-
lined by any American statesman, and which, though not em-
bodied in the phraseology of the republican platform, became
practically the basis of thought, of discussion, and of decision
by the whole body of American voters. Territorial prohibition or
Convention, May 29, 1856. 99
popular sovereignty, the admission of Kansas, or the senate bal-
ance of power, were no longer vital problems. All the previous
four years' discussion, oral and printed, had become empty
breath and waste paper. The whole field of conflict was
changed. The fight was no longer to be waged in the halls of
congress, or on the plains of Kansas. There remained but two
real and authoritative contestants, one, the voice of the su-
preme court, the other, the voice of the people. Let the su-
preme court decide that the states were powerless to prohibit
slavery, and let public opinion accept the decision, and contro-
versy was necessarily at an end, and the nationalization of
slavery complete and final.
Against this consummation there was but one effectual
safeguard ; an appeal must be taken from the dictum of the su-
preme court to the conscience of the nation. Not alone must
the spread of slavery be arrested, but the public mind must be
restored to the belief that the institution was in course of ulti-
mate extinction. That was the starting point of the famous
Lincoln-Douglas debates, in which the discussion ranged over
a multitude of collateral points, with a skill in forensic battle
that has rar-ely, if ever, been equaled. But the very pith and
marrow of the debate was exceedingly simple. Douglas de-
voted all his ability to show that if the people of a territory or
state wanted slavery, they had a right to have it. Lincoln, on
the contrary, little by little forced the discussion to a demon-
stration that even if they did want slavery, they had no right
to have it. because slavery was wrong, and no people have a
right to do wrong. Upon this issue, though Douglas gained
the senatorship, Lincoln carried the popular vote, and made
Illinois a factor in the coming presidential campaign.
This, however, was only a local result. As a matter of
fact, these Lincoln-Douglas debates were widely printed and
read in the newspapers, and absorbed public attention in every
state in the Union to an extent never before accorded a merely
state election. The larger question of slavery, so unexpectedly
renewed in 1854, was gradually reaching its climax, and the
short axiomatic definitions with which Lincoln lifted the ar-
100 Ant i- Nebraska Republican
gument from the level of political expediency to one of
moral resposibility were eagerly accepted and remembered in
the free states.
The debate indeed did not end with the senatorial con-
test. The doctrine of "unfriendly legislation," to which Lin-
coln's searching questions had driven Douglas, created a
schism in the Democratic party, and the agitation went on in
various forms, until Lincoln, in his Cooper Institute speech
in New York once more clearly defined the pending issue :
"If slavery is right, all words, acts, laws, and constitu-
tions against it are themselves wrong, and should be silenced
and swept away. If it is right, we (the north) cannot justly
object to its nationality — its universality; if it is wrong, they,
(the south) cannot justly insist upon its extension — its en-
largement. All they ask, we could readily grant if we thought
slavery right; all we ask they could as readily grant if they
thought it wrong. Their thinking it right and our thinking
it wrong, is the precise fact upon which depends the whole
controversy. * * * Wrong as we think slavery is, we
can yet afford to let it alone where it is, because that much is
due to the necessity arising from its actual presence in the na-
tion; but can we, while our votes will prevent it, allow it to
spread into the national territories, and to overrun us here in
these free states.^ If our sense of duty forbids this, then let us
stand by our duty fearlessly and effectively. * * *
Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith let
us to the end dare do our duty as we understand it."
It was this clear analysis of the pending quarrel be-
tween the north and the south ; this candid assertion that slav-
ery is wrong; this firm declaration that public opinion must put
it in course of ultimate extinction, which caused the nomination
of Lincoln for president at Chicago, and induced the people
of the free states to elect him.
In the decisive majorities shown by that election the south-
ern leaders beheld the final verdict of public opinion. No
matter what compromises they might break ; no matter by what
force or fraud they might restore their senatorial balance of
Convention, May 20, 1856. 101
power ; no matter how many Dred-Scott decisions they might
obtain; no matter how many John Browns they might hang;
their institution was doomed. The election declared with un-
mistakable emphasis that slavery was wrong and must be put
in course of ultimate extinction. In blind anger and desperate
defiance eleven southern states seceded and began Civil War,
and tried to justify their course by the candid decla'ration of
Alexander H. Stephens that their confederate government was
built on slavery as its corner-stone. Lincoln's Emancipation
Proclamation, with the irresistible hat of war, and the thir-
teenth amendment, with the omnipotent voice of the people,
swept away that corner-stone, and the confederate government
fell.
If, in the Bloomington convention of 1856, we were called
upon to deplore that an eminent citizen and senator of Illinois
had so prominent a share in repealing the Missouri Compro-
mise, and renewing the slavery contest, we in this commemor-
ative meeting of 1900 may proudly rejoice that another emi-
nent Illinoisian, president of the United States, corrected the
error and brought the problem to a real and permanent fin-
iility.
Very truly yours,
Jno. G. Nicolav.
102 Anti-Nebraska Republican
The Whigs and Whig Leaders of Illinois.
Pres. Davis:
Two of the members of the convention were Dr. Thomas Worth-
ington, delegate from Pike county, and Isaac L. Morrison, delegate
from Morgan county. At the request of the committee Mr. Morrison
has prepared a paper on "The Whigs and Whig Leaders." Mr. Mor-
rison has prepared his paper, but on account of ill health is unable to
be present; but the son of Dr. Worthington, who is also the son-in-law
of Mr. Morrison, is present and will read Mr. Morrison's paper.
I introduce to you Hon. Thomas Worthington, of Jacksonville.
By Isaac L. Morrison, Jacksonville, III.
"The Whigs and Whig Leaders of IlHnois" has been sug-
gested as a theme for consideration in connection with the
present occasion. To properly portray "The Whig Leaders
of lUinois" would require "the pen of a ready writer." I do
not pretend to have that power.
This assemblage has been convened for the purpose of
commemorating a political convention held in the city of
Bloomington forty-four years ago today. The two 'great
political parties existing in the United States had been known,
the one as the Democratic party, the other as the Whig party,
for about twenty-five years preceding that date. There were
distinctive principles of political economy, that of the Whig
party being in favor of the principal of protection, the Demo-
cratic party opposed; and the ever present question of slavery
presented itself.
The Democratic party had been in control of the state
of Illinois for many years next preceding the holding of this
convention. The Whig party was a minority party in the
Isaac L. Morrison, lawyer and legislator, born in Barren county, Ky., 1826.
Was educated in the common schools and the Masonic Seminary of his native
state. Admitted to the bar and came to Illinois in 1861, locatingat Jacksonville where
he became a leader of the bar and of the Republican party, which he assisted to
organize as a member of its first Slate convention at Bloomington, in 18,56 He
was also a delegate to the Republican National convention of 1864 that nominated
Abraham Lincoln for the presidency a second time. Mr. Morrison was three
times elected to the lower house of the General Assembly (1876, '78 and '82) and by
his clear judgment and incisive powers as a public speaker, took a high rank as a
leader in that body. Of late years he has given his attention solely to the practice
of his profession in Jacksonville.— //!«^o/'(c«Z Encyclopedia of IlHnois 386.
Mr. Morrison previous to the organization of the republican party was a Whig.
Convention, May ;?/>, I806.
103
Isaac L. Morrison.
104 Anti- Nebraska Republican
state, and, I might say, a minority party in the United States,
also.
The movement having in view the acquisition of Texas
was primarilv a move by the Democratic party of the south
in order to acquire that territory and bring it into the Union
as a slave state, thereby giving to that party increased power
ni the United States senate. Mr. Calhoun, while secretary of
state under Mr. Tyler, instructed our minister, Mr. King, rep-
resenting the United States at the Court of France, to ob-
tain the consent, if possible, of that power to the acquisition
of Texas by the United States, in the interest of slavery.
Mr. Clay, the great leader of the Whig party, was op-
posed to the project on the ground that it would increase the
slave territory of the Union. In his letter to the National
Intelligencer on the subject, in 1844, he expressed his opposi-
tion to the acquisition of Texas on that ground, claiming
that it would produce a war with Mexico, and that he was
opposed to the acquisition of any more slave territory.
Mr. Webster, in a speech delivered at Niblo's Garden,
elaborately argued the question to show that Texas ought
not to be admitted into the Union, because of the existence of
slavery within her boundaries. Mr. Van Buren, in his letter
to Mr. Hemmert, of Mississippi, declared himself opposed to
the acquisition of Texas at that time, and opposed to the ex-
tension of slavery. It w^as this letter, written and published
by him, which lost him the nomination by the Democratic party
in the convention of 1844. He had a majority of that conven-
tion in his favor, but was unable to obtain a two-thirds vote
under the rules of the Democratic party, and was, therefore,
defeated. Mr. Polk was an advocate of slavery and in favor
of admitting Texas into the Union as a slave state. He was
nominated by that party and elected to the presidency of the
United States.
The Whig party was then opposed to the extension of
slavery and all but three of the Whig senators in congress
from the "Free States" voted against the admission of Texas.
Texas, however, was admitted as a slave state.
Convention, Maij 29, ISoO. 105
In 1848 Air. \AY'l)ster declared that the Whig party was
the "Free Soil" ])arty of the Union. lie ohjected to the
Whig party heing absorbed l)y the "Barn burners' Party" of
New York, because, as he said, it would put Mr. Van Buren
at the head of the \\diigs.
Mr. Seward, in a speech delivered in October, 1848, at
Cleveland, urged the Western Reserve people of Ohio to vote
for General Taylor on the ground that he represented the
"Free Soil" party.
The legislature of the state of Illinois in 1849 passed a
resolution instructing our senators and requesting our repre-
sentatives in congress to vote against any and all legislation
favorable to the introduction of slavery into any of the terri-
tory acquired from Mexico by the treaty of Guadaloupe Hidal-
go. Every Whig elected to that general assembly voted for
the passage of that joint resolution, and a sufficient number of
Democrats joined them in the vote to pass it. The Whigs of
Illinois were thereby committed to the doctrine of "Free Soil,"
so far as a unanimous vote of their members of that general as-
sembly couldcommit them. Mr. Clay, in a speech in the United
States senate in Mlarch, 1850, defining the resolutions intro-
duced by him with a view to a compromise of the questions
then under consideration, declared that no power on earth
could compel him to vote to introduce or extend slavery into
territory then free.
The discovery of gold in California and the great rush of
people to that territory, soon increased its population to such
an extent as to give it a claim upon the United States govern-
ment for admission into the Union under a state organization.
A convention was assembled there, without an enabling act by
Congress, and a constitution was framed and adopted by the
people, representatives elected and senators appointed, and ap-
plication made to the Congress of the United States for ad-
mission.
By the admission of Texas, the slave power gained two
senators, but by the admission of California so soon there-
after, the power thus gained by the south was neutralized by
106 Ant i- Nebraska Bepiiblican
senators from the "Free State." The Democratic party op-
posed the admission of California. The question was finally
settled for the time being by the admission of California as a
state, with a constitution prohibiting the introduction of slav-
ery, by the abolition of the slave trade within the District of
Columbia, and by the passage of the Fugitive Slave law. This
law, hateful in all its provisions, was demanded by those
interested in slave property, on the ground that the consti-
tution of the United States provided for such legislation. It
was very unpopular with the Whigs in the "Free States," and
was claimed to be unconstitutional because it provided that the
fugitive arrested might be taken back by his captor to the
state in which it was claimed he belonged, without the
formality of a trial by jury. The administration was demo-
cratic, the judges were appointed by a democratic president,
and the law was held constitutional.
This legislation had a very strong tendency to force the
Whigs in all the free states to a united opposition to the ex-
tension of slavery. Compromises are frequently said to be
objectionable as a confessed departure from principle; but it
may well be doubted whether it was not the part of wisdom
for the Whigs, under the leadership of Mr. Clay and others,
to concur in these measures ; because it is believed that had the
extreme southern element then made the attempt to bring about
the disruption of the Union, as had frequently been threatened,
it was extremely doubtful whether the sentiment in the Free
States could have been so far consolidated as to have successful-
ly resisted the attempt. At any rate after the passage of these
resolutions, the Democratic party in its platform of principles^
in 1852. declared explicitly that the compromise measures
finally settled the slave controversy. That platform was a
distinct pledge to the people of the Union that the agitation
of the slavery question was to cease.
The resolutions passed by the Whig convention of that
year were not sufiiciently explicit in expression to satisfy
either wing of the party. They were a little t oo st roi^g to suit
the Whig party in Kentucky and other southern states that had
Convention, May 29, 1856. 1U7
before that time been controlled by the Whig party, and they
were not snfficiently strong- and explicit to satisfy the Free Soil
Whigs of the Free States. The consequence was that they
did not attract to their sujiport the iKople in either section.
General Pierce was elected by an overwhelming majority. The
people seemed to be inclined to accept the situation. They de-
sired rest and quiet. It was therefore apparently unexpected by
the public at large that the question of the claims of slavery
should be precipitated so soon thereafter. The introduction of
a bill into congress organizing the territory west of Missouri
and of Iowa into the territory of Nebraska, and that by a north-
ern senator, with the proposition to repeal the Missouri restric-
tion, produced a profound sensation. The Missouri Compro-
mise had been in force for about thirty-five years, and had been
regarded as an explicit and sufficient guarantee that it
was legally impossible ever after for one man to buy or sell
another within the territory belonging to the United States
lying north of 36 degrees, 30 minutes, and west of Missouri.
However, the majority in congress pushed the matter until the
bill, eventually taking the form of the organization of Kansas
into one territory and X'ebraska into another, was passed, and
the Missouri restriction repealed. The doctrine had been ad-
vanced during the discussion of the compromise measures that
by the force of the constitution itself, slavery had the right to
enter any territory of the United States, and that congress had
no power to prohibit it ; and that therefore the Missouri Com-
promise was unconstitutional and void. The effect of this
legislation was to arouse in the Free States an anti-slavery
sentiment. The Whig party did not disorganize in Illinois in
the political campaign of 1854. although there were divisions
in its ranks in various localities.
The campaign of 1854 was conducted by the opponents
of the Democratic party as an Anti-Nebraska party: that is to
say, in opposition to the administration of President Pierce
and to the demands of the slave power. The election that fall re-
sulted in the choice of a majoritv of the members opposed to
the Kansas-Nebraska bill, opposed to the Democratic adminis-
108 Anti-Nebraska Republican
tration, and in favor of Free Soil. A great majority of the
Whig leaders in the state supported the Anti-Nebraska move-
ment. There were some leading Democrats, however, elected
to the general assembly, gentlemen who had stood high in the
counsels of the Democratic party, who were in sentiment
and principle opposed to the extension of slavery. Such were
John M. Palmer. Xorman B. Judd. Burton C. Cook, senators,
besides some members of the house.
That legislature elected Lyman Trumlndl to the senate
of the United States. Mr. Trumbull had occupied a seat upon
the supreme bench of the state; he resigned his seat, became
an Anti-Nebraska candidate for congress in the Belleville dis-
trict, and was elected ; but before the time arri\e(l for him to
take his seat, he was elected to the senate of the United States.
The discussion of the slavery question continued to oc-
cupy public attention throughout the year 1855, and on Feb-
ruary 22, 1856, the Anti-Nebraska editors in the state met
at Decatur in convention, for the purpose of considering the
best mode of conducting the Anti- Nebraska campaign. That
convention was presided over by a Whig editor, Mr. Paul Sel-
bv, then of Morgan county. Resolutions were adopted, a
central committee appointed, and it was recommended
that a convention be held on the 29th of May, 1856, for
the purpose of organizing all the forces of the state in op-
position to the Democratic party. On the same day a polit-
ical convention assembled at Pittsburg , Pennsylvania, com-
posed of men from the various states of theUnion who were
opposed to the policy of the administration of General Pierce
and opposed to the extension of slavery. We might refer to
some of the Whig leaders who were present in this convention;
in this city, or, if not present, cooperating with the movement.
There was E. B. Washburn, of Jo Daviess county, afterwards a
member of congress and still later minister to France ; Ira O.
Wilkinson, a native of Kentucky and a circuit judge from Rock
Island county; Wm P. Kellogg, of Peoria county, afterwards
a member of congress; Orville H. Browning, afterwards secre-
tary of the interior; N. Bushnell and Archibald Williams, of
Convention, May 20, 1850. 109
Adams county; i\Ir. Williams was the United States district at-
torney under Fillmore, and was appointed district judge in
Kansas by Mr. Lincoln; William Ross, ^Vi11iam A. Grim-
shaw, Jackson Grimshaw, and Dr. Thomas Worthington, an
original anti-slavery Whig, of Pike county; also Ozias M.
Hatch, of that county, member of the lower house of the gen-
eral assembly and, nominated at this convention for secretary
of state ; Francis Arenz, a learned German, and Henry E.
Dummer, afterwards member of the legislature, then from Cass
countv; Samuel D. Lockwood, who came to the state of Illinois
^in i8i8 and was on the supreme bench for nearly thirty years,
whose residence was injacksonville. Illinois, and afterwards at
Aurora in Kane county. He was also a member of the con-
stitutional convention of 1847. ^^'illiam Thomas, wdio set-
tled in Morgan county in 1826, a native of Kentucky, served in
the lower house and in the senate, and also in the constitutional
convention of 1847. There was also from Morgan county
Joseph J. and Martin H. Cassell. and Jonathan B.Turner, Rich
ard Yates, David Davis, then on the circuit bench, and
afterwards elevated to the supreme bench by Mr. Lincoln,
Jesse Fell and Leonard Swett. of McLean county; C. H.
Moore, of DeW^itt county; William G. Green, a native of
Tennessee from Menard county, and an intimate friend and
associate of Mr. Lincoln at New Salem; Richard J. Oglesby,
of Macon county ; James M. Ruggles, of Mason county ; Joseph
T. Eckles, of Montgomery county, a member of the constitu-
tional convention of 1847; Benjamin Bond, of Clinton county,
United States marshal under Fillmore's administration;
Thomas J. Henderson, of Bureau county, brigadier general in
the Union Army and a member of congress ; James C. Conk-
ling, Wm. H. Herndon, William Jayne, W^m. Butler, Milton
Hay, James N Brown, from Sangamon county; Shelby M. Cul-
lom, from Tazewell county, and afterwards of Sangamon
county.
Other Whig leaders did not follow or support the anti-
slavery movement of the \Vhig party generally. Of those
we might name Buckner S. Mbrris, of Cook county; Charles
110 Anti- Nebraska Republican
H. Constable, of Coles county; Anthony Thornton, of Shelby;
James L. D. Morrison, of St. Clair: David M. Woodson and
Charles D. Hodges, of Greene county, and John Todd Stuart
and Benjamin S. Edwards, of Sangamon county. Some of
these gentlemen last named joined the Democratic party on the
slavery question and some of them became extreme partisans
in that organization.
The convention assembled at Bloomington was composed
of earnest, determined, yet conservative men who had become
alarmed at the demands of the slave interest in the United
States, and who desired to form a compact, energetic and ag-^
gressive political party in opposition to the extension of slav-
ery. It was not contemplated, so far as I know, nor was it claim-
ed by any one, that the constitutional power existed to inter-
fere with slavery in the states where it existed by force of local
and positive law; but it was the doctrine of that convention
that slavery was a cruel wrong and a mistaken policy, and
ought not to be permitted to extend into other territory. And
it was believed that to circumscribe it within the boundaries
where it then legally existed would have a direct and strong
tendency to ultimately overthrow it. There was no question
raised as to the name of the party at the time. That is to say,
the name "Republican" was not proposed, but the effort was
made to unite all earnest men who were willing to renounce
former political organizations and associations and unite in the
organization of a party having for its chief purpose the re-
striction of slavery to its then existing limitations. Colonel
Bissell, a Democrat, who had commanded the Second regi-
ment of Illinois volunteers in the Mexican War, and who had
justly gained renown for the achievements of that regiment,
and who had represented his state in the state legislature and
in congress, was nominated for governor without a dissenting
voice. General John M. Palmer, then Senator Palmer, was
elected to preside over the deliberations of the convention.
Francis A. Hoffman of Cook county, was nominated for the of-
fice of lieutenant governor, and he having been found to be in-
eligible, John Wood, of Adams county, was substituted. Ozias
Convention, May 20, 1856. Ill
M. Hatch, a Whig representative in the legislature, was nomin-
ated for secretary of state; Jesse K. Dubois, a life-long Whig,
was nominated for auditor of state. The ticket was a conces-
sion to the Whig element then forming or constituting the
largest part of, the convention.
It is not possible on this occasion to enumerate or mention
all the Whig leaders who took ])art in the movement which
formed the Anti-Nebraska or anti-slavery party in Illinois. I
may only mention those above named and a few others. Many
of those leaders acquired national fame. Mr. Washburn as
a legislator and diplomat; Mr. Judd in the diplomatic ser-
vice; David Davis as a member of the supreme court, and
many others who acquired fame in the military service for
the preservation of the Unic^n. Richard J. Oglesby, a gallant
private soldier in the war with Mexico and a brigadier general
of the Union Army, thrice elected governor of his state and
once elected to the United States senate; Shelby M. Cullom,
a native of Kentucky, who has served as speaker of the house of
representatives in the state legislature, who has twice been elect-
ed governor of his state; has served in the lower house of con-
gress and three times elected to the United States senate.
Richard Yates, who was one of the vice-presidents of this
convention, who served his county and district in the state
legislature and for four years in the house of representatives
in congress, who was elected governor of the state of Illinois
in i860, and whose service as the chief executive of this state
in the organization of regiments sent into the field for the
preservation of the Union has not been surpassed by any citi-
zen or officer of the United States. He also served six years
in the United States senate. He sleeps in a cemetery near the
little city in which he spent his life from early youth. No stately
shaft of bronze or marble marks his grave. His monument
has been and is in the affections of more than 200,000 Illinois
soldiers whom he organized into regiments at the call of their
country, to uphold liberty, law and the Union.
Then there was over and above all the Whig leaders in the
state, Abraham Lincoln. He did more by his speeches, by his
112 Anti-Nebraska Repuhlican
efforts in the pronation of the principles and interests of the
Whig party and in opposition to the extension of slavery than
any other member of it. His kindly sympathy for all living
creatures, yet his comprehensive, steady judgment proved him
to be, above all others of his time, the greatest Whig, the great-
est anti-slavery advocate and the greatest man.
The party organized forty-four years ago today in the
state of Illinois as the Anti-Nebraska party, soon after took
tlie name of "Republican" party, which name it has ever since
retained. The achievements of that party have been mem-
orable in the history of the country. While it was made up
of a majority of Whigs, yet it included a strong element, and
many strong men, from the previously dominating party in
the Union — Democracy. It had strength enough to over-
throw the Democratic party at the November election in 1856
in the state of Illinois. It did not succeed in electing the
Anti-Nebraska electoral ticket of that year, but it got pos-
session of the state government. It has retained possession
from that time to the present, forty-four years, with the ex-
ception of from January, 1893, to January, 1897, a period of
four years.
The Whie leaders not onlv achieved their purpose in
preventing the extension of African slavery, but they estab-
lished that other distinct principle belonging to the Whigs —
the principle of protection, and. by its beneficient operation in
the management of the revenues of the nation, it has brought
the people of the United States into an elevated and advanced
position among the family of nations. The Whigs and the Whig
leaders of the state of Illinois are entitled to their full share
of the achievements which preserved the Union intact, crushed
out that infamous institution — American slavery — and placed
the whole people of the nation upon that broad and Catholic
principle— "Liberty for all." The state of Illinois may well
be proud of the deeds performed by the Whigs and Whig lead-
ers of the state.
It required the signature of "A Whig Leader of Illinois,"
as president of the United States, to perfect the Morrill Tariff
Convent iun, 3Iay 29, 1850. 113
bill, thereby carrying into full effect the long cherished prin-
ciple of protection. Thus a policy was adopted which, with
only spasmodic exceptions, has continued since 1862, justify-
ing, in its results, the claims made by the Whigs for the prin-
ciple which they had so long and earnestly advocated.
Isaac L. Morrison.
Address of Gen. John M. Palmer.
Fres. Davis:
Our next speaker it is unnecessary to introduce. Major-general
in the War of the Rebellion, governor of this state, and senator in
the congress of the United States, he is a man whom we all delight to
honor. It is only necessary to further state that he wa-, the president
of the convention of May 29, 1856.
I have the honor of introducing Gen, John M. Palmer.
Fcllozv Citizens: I know that some of those present at
the convention of 1856 (the forty- fourth anniversary of which
we celebrate today), still survive — but they are few — some of
the old friends preceded Mr. Lincoln into the "land of
shadows." Of the central figures in that convention one only,
Hoffman, is living; Bissell, Wood, Hatch, Dubois, Miller,
(your fellow citizen) and Powell, all are gone!
And those who issued the call for the convention William
B. Ogden, S. M. Church, G. D. A. Parks, T. J. Pickett, E. A.
Dudley. W. H. Herndon, R. J. Oglesby, Joseph Gillespie, D.
L. Phillips, Gustav Koerner and Ira O. Wilkinson and also
James C. Conkling, Asahel Gridley, Burton C. Cook, Charles
H. Ray, and N. B. Judd.the executive committee under whose
directions the campaign of 1856 was carried on, they too have
John McCauley Palmer, was born in Scott county, Ky., September 13, 1817.
Moved to Madison county, 111. Entered Shurtleff College, taught school, studied law,
1843 elected probate judge of Macoupin county. Member of Constitutional con-
vention of 1847, elected to State Senate in iHri'i and re-elected in 1854, as an Anti-
Nebraska Democrat, cast his vote for Lyman Trumbull for United States Senator,
was president of the Major's Hall convention, delegate to National convention
that nominated Fremont in 1856. Presidential elector in 1860. Member National
Peace Conference 1861. Col. 14111. Inf. Brig. Gen. November, 1861. Major General
in 1864, Commander 14 Army Corps. 18&t assigned bv President Lincoln to com-
mand Military Department, Kentucky. In 1868 elected governor as Republican,
in 187:2 supported Horace Greely for president. 1891 elected United States Senator
by democrats. 1896 gold democrat candidate for president.
114 Anti- Nebraska Republican
gone! Others died under the flag, or in the hospitals during
the Civil War, whose coming that convention faintly indi-
cated.
The convention was created by the intense hostility of
the American people to the extension of human slavery into
free territories.
Both the great parties of the country had pledged them-
selves by the action of their national convention in 1852, to
maintain the compromise measures of 1850, a§ a final, and
satisfactory settlement of the slavery question in the United
States, but the permanent success of the Democratic party was
destroyed by an event which was intended to insure its predom-
inance.
In 1854 M'r. Douglas, then a senator from Illinois, re-
ported a bill from the committee on territories for the or-
ganization of the territory of Nebraska. In his report he said :
"The prominent amendments which your committee deemed
it their duty to commend to the favorable action of the senate
in a special report, are those in which the principles estab-
lished by the compromise measures of 1850, so far as they
are applicable to territorial organizations, are proposed to be
affirmed, and carried into practical operation within the limits
of the new territory with a view of conforming their action
to what they regard as the settled policy of the government,
sanctioned by the approving voice of the American people,
your committee had deemed it their duty to incorporate and
perpetuate in their territorial bill the principles and spirit of
those measures. If any other considerations were necessary
to render the propriety of this course imperative upon the
committee, they may be found in the fact that the Nebraska
country occupies the relative position to the slavery question
as did New Mexico and Utah when those territories were or-
ganized. It was a disputed point whether slavery was pro-
hibited by law in the country acquired from Mexico.
On the one hand it was contended as a legal proposition
that slaverv having been prohibited by the enactments of
Mexico, according to the law of nations, we received the
Convention, May 29, 1856.
115
Gen. John M. Palmer.
116 Anti-Nebraska Republican
country with all its laws and local institutions attached to the
soil, so far as they did not conflict with the constitution of the
United States; and that a law, either protecting- or prohibiting
slavery was not repugnant to that instrument, as was evi-
denced by the fact that one-half of the states of the Union
tolerated, while the other half prohibited the institution of
slavery.
On the other hand it was insisted that by virtue of the
constitution of the United States, everv citizen had a right to
remove to any territory of the Union and carry his property
with him under the protection of law, whether that property
consisted of persons or things.
The difhculties arising from this diversity of opinion
were greatly aggravated by the fact that there were many
persons on both sides of the legal controversy who were un-
willing to abide the decision of the courts on the legal matters
in dispute ; thus among those who claimed that the Mexican
laws were still in force, and consequently, that slavery was
already prohibited in these territories by valid enactments,
there were many who insisted upon congress making the mat-
ter certain by enacting another prohibition.
In like manner some of those who argued that Mexican
law had ceased to have any binding force, and that the con-
stitution tolerated and protected slave property in those ter-
ritories, were unwilling to trust the decision of the court upon
the point, and insisted that congress should, by direct enact-
ment, remove all legal obstacles to the introduction of slaves
into the territories.
Your committee deem it fortunate for the peace of the
country and the security of the Union, that the controversy
then resulted in the adoption of the compromise measures,
which the two great political parties with singular unanimity
have affirmed as a cardinal article of their faith and proclaimed
to the world as a final settlement of the controversy and an end
of the agitation.
A due respect therefore for the avowed opinions of other
senators, as well as a proper sense of patriotic duty, enjoins
Conventiou, May 29, 1850. 117
iipon \n\\\- committee the propriety and necessity of a strict
adherence to the principles and even a htera! adoption of the
enactments of that adjustment, in all their territorial bills, so
far as the same are not locally inapplicable.
These enactments embrace, among other things less ma-
terial to the matters under consideration, the following pro-
visions :
When admitted as a state, the said territory, or any por-
tion of the same, shall be received into the Union, with or
without slavery, as their constitution may prescribe at their
admission.
That the legislative power and authority of said terri-
tory shall be vested in the governor and a legislative assembly.
That the legislative power of said territory shall extend to
all rightful subjects of legislation consistent with the constitu-
tion of the United States and the provisions of this act; but no
law shall be passed interfering with the primary disposal of
the soil; no taxes shall be imposed upon the propertv of the
United States, nor shall the land or property of non-residents
be taxed higher than the lands or other property of residents."
Mr. Douglas afterward offered an amendment to the bill
which referred to the Missouri Compromise, and declared
"which being inconsistent with the principle of non-interven-
tion by congress with slavery in the states and territories as
recognized by the legislation of 1850, commonly called the
compromise measures, is hereby declared inoperative and void,
it being the true intent and meaning of this act not to legislate
slavery into any state or territory nor exclude it therefrom,
but to leave the ])eople thereof perfectly free to frame and
regulate their domestic institutions in their own way subject
only to the constitution of the United States."
The proposition to repeal the Missouri Compromise, or
declare it void, because of its opposition to the compromise
measures of 1850. was received with reluctance; the people
yielded to the Fugitive Slave law, only to discharge their
obligations under the constitution, but when it was proposed
to repeal the compromise of 1820, or to declare it inoperative
118 Anti- Nebraska Reiniblican
because of its supposed conflict with the compromise of 1850,
they were astounded. They had accepted the compromise
measures of 1850 as a supplement to that provision of the com-
promise of 1820, which exchided slavery from the territories
of the United States north of 36 degrees, 30 seconds. No one
can doubt that Mr. Douglas in his action upon the Kansas-Ne-
braska bill, committed the tactical mistake of his life time. He
relied upon the strength of merely partisan organization. He
did not understand what he afterwards found to be true, that
the questions he had raised were of the most dangerous char-
acter and would destroy the Democratic party.
The language of his amendment to the Nebraska bill pre-
sented a conundrum of almost impossible solution. It de-
clared that it was not the intention of the act to introduce
slavery into any state or territory or to exclude it therefrom,
but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to regulate their
own institution in their own way, subject only to the constitu-
tion of the United States.
No man was more capable of defending this remarkable
provision than was Mr. Douglas.
There is no doubt but that the Dred-Scott decision, and
the assertion that congress had no right or authority to pro-
hibit slavery in the territories of Nebraska and Kansas, gave
birth to the Republican party.
It may be as well to give a few words, in explanation of
the position of the Anti-Nebraska-Democrats at that time,
especiallv as to their presence and action in the convention of
1856.
I was elected to the state senate in 1851, and attended a
called session in June 1852, and voted in caucus, as well as
in joint session of the two houses in 1853 for Stephen A.
Douglas, as senator of the United States.
In 1S53 ^'^'^ ^^^ ^^'^^ introduced by John A. Logan, of
Williamson county, "to prevent the immigration of negroes
into the state." See, acts of 1853, p. 57.
The subject of the action of congress on the Nebraska
bill was introduced into the senate by Mr. O'Melveny, senator
Convention, May 29, 1856. 119
from the counties of Monroe and vSt. Clair. At the special
session of 1854, the governor had made no allusion to the sub-
ject in his message, which was devoted exclusively to state
affairs. The legislature had, in the early days of the republic
instructed the senators of the United States as to their votes
and duties, and though Mr. Douglas had acted independently
of Illinois it was thought best by his friends that he should
be endorsed by the legislature of his own state; accordingly
Mr. O'Melveny introduced on the Qth day of February, 1854,
the following resolutions :
Resolved, By the senate of Illinois, "that the bill to
form the Nebraska and Kansas territories, as presented and
advocated by our distinguished Senator Douglas at the pres-
ent session of congress, meets w4th our approbation.
Resolved, That we believe that the best interests of the
Union demands the passage of said bill,
Resolved, That we call upon all Union men throughout
the state to support said bill,
Resolved, That we will sustain Judge Douglas against all
Abolitionists and Free-Soilers in this state so far as the provi-
sions of his bill are concerned."
Thereupon, on the day following, I offered the following
concurrent resolutions as a substitute for the resolutions of
Mr. O'Melveny,
Resolved, That the Missouri Compromise, and the com-
promise measures of 1850, provide for a satisfactory and final
settlement of the subject of slavery, and the people of Illinois
in common with the citizens of all the states are pledged to
maintain the same and resist and discountenance all further
agitation of the question as tending to weaken the bonds of the
Union, and as threatening its perpetuity and peace.
Resolved, That the compromise measures of 1850 were
not intended by the framers, nor understood by the people of
the United States in any manner, in letter or spirit, to weaken
the prohibition of slavery in that portion of the territory of the
United States from which it was excluded by the terms of the
Missouri Compromise.
120 Anti-Nebraska ReiAiblican
Resolved, That the i)rovisions of the hill for the organi-
zation of the Kansas and Nebraska territories, now pending"
in the congress of the United States, so far as the same pro-
poses to tolerate the introduction or existence of slavery in
said territory, or weakens or impairs the restrictions imposed
thereon by the Missouri Compromise, meets the unqualified
condemnation and opposition of this general assembly, as
directly exciting the elements of agitation and strife, so happily
allayed by the compromise aforesaid." My resolutions were
defeated.
I was at that time sincerely in favor of the Missouri Com-
promise, which excluded slavery from the territory west of the
state of Miissouri, north of the latitude of 36 degrees, 30 min-
utes, and I was equally sincere in my support of the com-
promise measure of 1850, and I felt indignant that an Illinois
senator should, from the committee on territories, make a re-
port and declare the Missouri act of 1820, void, on account of
its conflict with the measures of 1850. The house was in
favor of the Nebraska bill, and passed resolutions which were
introduced into the senate by Mr. Davis, of Hancock county,,
committing the entire Democratic party to the passage of the
Nebraska bill. After the adjournment of the special session
of 1854, I was conscious that I had differed from my party
upon the subject of the Kansas-Nebraska bill, and the repeal
of the Missouri Compromise, and had from that cause alien-
ated many of the ultra pro-slavery men of the Democratic
party, and I knew that I had given that class of men some evi-
dence which they used unsparingly — to convict me of the polit-
ical offense called "Abolitionism" — but I did not see, what I
afterwards discovered to be true, that the slavery question
Avould not cease to disturb the country, as long as that institu-
tion existed. I supposed that the Democratic party would
again unite upon other issues, and I was mainly anxious to
preserve my personal independence and the right inside the
party lines, to act according to the dictates of my own sense of
personal duty. Major Burke, who opposed me for a seat in
the state senate in 1854 was renominated in the summer of
Convention, May 2t), 1S56. IL'I
1854, for a seat in the house, but he preferred to make a can-
vass for the senate. He was a popular man and after his
nomination for the senate, his course toward me was so per-
sonal, that I determined to become an independent Democratic
candidate.
In a discussion at Stanton, he claimed that the states of
the Union were equal and that the citizens of states, in which
slavery existed, had a right to remove into the territories with
their slaves and hold them, as slaves until the people, with the
sanction of cono^ress, formed a state government, when slav-
erv misiht be tolerated, or excluded from the new state.
He attacked the "Popular Sovereignty" doctrine of
Douglas as "illogical and absurd," which it was. I had
trouble in defending myself for opposing the Nebraska bill:
At that time the prejudice against "Abolitionists" was bitter
and afifected the minds of three-fourths of the voters. I was
only remotely influenced in my course by hostility to slavery,
although I avowed my opposition to the institution: I was
chiefly concerned by the fact that the repeal of the Missouri
Compromise re-opened the slavery c^uestion. In February,
1854. at the special session of the legislature, I had offered the
resolutions heretofore copied, which at once expressed my
opinions as well as my apprehensions. I reiterated the sub-
stances of these resolutions in all the speeches i made in the
district and assailed Major Burke for his opposition to the
compromise of 1850 and the result was. that I was elected by
about two hundred majority.
I have already expressed my great regard for Mr. Doug-
las, and up to the time to which I refer, I regarded him as
my friend — two or three weeks before the election, he came
into the district and addressed the people of Greene county at
Carrollton, and from that place came to Carlinville, my home.
I came into Carlinville from Jerseyville, where I had attended
court after sundow^n on the same day and hearing that Judge
Douglas was at the hotel, I called upon him and we spent two
hours or more, in earnest conversation of the purport, that
Judge Douglas was anxious that the legislature would elect
122 Anti- Nebraska Repuhlican
a United States senator to succeed Gen. James Shields,! should
agree to attend the legislative caucus and vote for whoever
might be nominated as a candidate for senator.
On the other hand, I insisted that as I was an independ-
ent Democratic candidate for state senator, in opposition to
the Nebraska bill, and especially opposed to that measure as a
test of party orthodoxy, he ought to agree that the Democratic
caucus should pass no resolutions favoring that measure. Our
discussion was somewhat heated, both of us obstinate, and he
finally said to me "You may join the Abolitionists if you
choose to do so, but if you do, there are enough patriotic Whigs
to take your place and elect Shields," I answered, "I will beat
Burke in spite of all you can do against me. You will fix
the imputation of Abolitionism upon me and by that means try to
beat me. We have fought the Whigs together, you now prom-
ise yourself that they will take my place and help elect Shields,
I will fight you until you are defeated and have learned to
value your friends." I kept my word. I think Judge Douglas
had no more active, or earnest political enemy than I was from
that time until I met him in Washington in February, 1861.
After the November election in 1854, I saw Mr. Lincoln
frequently and told him that I was elected as an Anti-Nebraska
Democrat and could not vote for him but would be compelled
to vote for a Democrat. '
When the legislature met in 1855, the Anti-Nebraska
Democrats were represented by Judd, Cook, Baker, Allen and
myself; we held a separate caucus. Among the names con-
sidered by us for United States senator were those of Under-
wood, Judd. Cook, Ogden, Williams and Trumbull, but we
finally selected Trumbull, and I placed him in nomination in
the joint session. He received but five votes on the first bal-
lot. After several ballots Mr. Lincoln came into the hall and
insisted that his name should be dropped and his friends
should vote for Trumbull.
All but fifteen did so, and the ballot stood, Lincoln 15 —
Trumbull 36 — and Matteson, (who had taken the place of
Shields on the balloting,) 47.
Convention, May 29, 1856. 123
As the next ballot was called, Judge Stephen T. Logan,
Lincoln's close friend, arose and announced the purpose of
the remaining Whigs to vote for Trumbull, which they did,
he receiving fifty-one votes, just enough to elect him. General
Henderson did vote for Mr. Lincoln, ''nine times" but at the
suggestion of Judge Logan, voted for Trumbull.
We kept our faith with Mr. Lincoln three years after-
wards, for when Elihu B. Washburn came to Springfield in
1858, as a messenger from Horace Greeley and proposed to
drop Mf. Lincoln and take up Mr. Douglas for senator, we,
the Anti-Nebraska Democrats opposed him and in June, 1858,
we concurred in the declaration that Mr. Lincoln was the
nominee of the Republican convention as its "first and only
candidate for senator."
There is no doubt that the Dre^ LScott^ decision, and the
assertion that congress had no right to prohibit slavery in
the territories of Nebraska and Kansas, gave bi rth to th e Re-j ,
publican party.
The men who attended the convention of 1856 were
sincere and earnest in their opposition to the extension of slav-
ery into free territories. They were "anti-slavery men" but
they conceded the right to the states where slavery existed by
law, to maintain it. And such were the opinions of the Re-
publican party until Mr. Lincoln, in the exercise of the war
power proclaimed the Emancipation of the slaves in all but the
excepted states. And I had the satisfaction of "driving the last
nail into the coffin of slavery" while commanding the Depart-
ment of Kentucky in 1865-66.
The convention passed resolutions that, "Congress pos-
sessed the power to abolish slavery in the territories, and
should exercise that power to prevent its extension into terri-
tories heretofore free;"
"Opposition to the repeal of the Missouri Compromise,"
and in "favor of making Kansas and Nebraska free states."
In the afternoon preceding the assemblage of the con-
A'ention. Gen. John T. Farnsworth and I delivered speeches
124 Anti- Nebraska Republican
from the steps of the Pike House; General Farnsworth had
been a Democrat.
Mr. Lincohi, who was a member of the committee to re-
port nominations to be ratified by the convention, made a
speech before the convention, which was of marvelous power
and force and fully vindicated the new movement in opposition
to the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, and then the con-
vention adjourned.
In i860, we were true to Mr. Lincoln, and ^Ir. Judd was
chairman of his campaign committee in this state.
In securing- Mr. Lincoln's nomination in i860, three of
your fellow citizens. Judge David Davis, Jesse W. Fell and
Leonard Swett. were the recognized leaders of the Lincoln
forces, Judge Davis, by common consent, being the com-
mander-in-chief.
Gov. William H. Bissell.
Col. Bissell, the nominee for governor at this convention,
died a few weeks before the expiration of his term of office.
The great event of the war of the rebellion and the great names
of Lincoln, Grant. Palmer, Yates, Logan and the other Illinois
heroes of the war of the rebellion have overshadowed the fame
of one of the best and noblest of our Illinois governors of whom
we have only very meagre accounts. At the request of the His-
torical Society Mr. Frank Elliott, of Evanston, Illinois, has
prepared for this book the following sketch of Gov. Bissell.
WILLIAM H. BISSELL.
FRANK M. ELLIOTT, OF EVANSTON, ILL.
The name of Governor Bissell is not a familiar one to the
politician of today, but if any young student wishes to place
before him the conditions existing in the period just before
our Civil \\'ar; if he wishes to know of the intense hatred and
the political devotion to parties of those days, he will nowhere
Convention, Mai/ 2V, 1856.
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Gov. William H. Bissell.
126 Anti-Nebraska Rejmblican
find them more dramatically set forth than in the life of Gov-
ernor Bissell. Within this brief sketch there can only be an
outline of the principal events of the life; a life in which were
mingled thrilling deeds and the pathos of a long continued
illness.
In the days when he played his part in the political cam-
paigns of this state, there were few great newspapers and sten-
ographic reports of speeches were rarely made. Only the
briefest mention is found of current events.
There are no biographies of Governor Bissell and all the
sketches of his life are short and fragmentary. A few facts
only are dwelt upon and nothing like a full and careful re-
view of his life has been written. The information concern-
ing him is scattered and is mostly hidden away in the files of
old newspapers. There is a wealth of material in connection
with him that is worthy of attention.
It is hoped there may be a renewed interest in the life of
this gifted man and that the fugitive information wherever it
may be found will be collected and form the basis of a biog-
raphy worthy of so distinguished a citizen and official of
Illinois.
William H. Bissell was born at Hartwick near Coopers-
town, New York, on April 25. 181 1. His parents were poor
and he experienced many of the hardships and deprivations
which slender means imposed. Thus it was that he was denied
the usual educational advantages, except an occasional attend-
ance of a summer school. As soon as he was able he himself
became a teacher taking schools during the winter seasons.
His habits were ever studious and thoughtful from his youth
and every spare moment he utilized in reading and studying
such books as he could lay hands on. His education was
largely self-imposed and acquired. The experience of these
early years laid the foundation and prepared him for the suc-
cess and trials which were in store for him in later life. His
industrious self-culture and life-long endeavor to enrich his
mind and improve his natural powers prepared him for every
opportunity that crossed his pathway.
Convention, May 29, 185G. 127
In selecting a profession he found that of a physician
most inviting, accordingly he bent his energies to the study of
medicine, soon finding it possible with what he had earn-
ed in teaching to attend the Philadelphia Medical College.
In 1835 he received a diploma from that institution. Re-
turning to that part of the countrv most familiar to him he
commenced the practice of medicine at Southport in Chemung
county, New York. After two years he removed to Painted
Post in Steuben county of the same state. But the desire to
go west came to him as it had come to many of the young men
of the east, and not having the money for such an extended
journey, he managed through a friend to borrow enough to
undertake it. Times must have been hard with him for not un-
til fifteen years later did he seek out his accommodating friend
and return the money together with the interest. This debt
of honor he gladly and voluntarily paid out of the first money
which he received from the government after his election to
congress.
In 1838 he came to Jeft'erson county, Illinois, but was
prostrated with illness shortly after his arrival and soon ex-
hausted his scanty means. Becoming discouraged he was
only saved from enlisting in theUnited States army as a private
soldier by his inability to pass the physical examination. Going
on to Monroe county, he found an influential friend in Col-
onel James, who secured him a position as school teacher. He
finally landed in Waterloo, wdiere he commenced the practice
of medicine. While he was attentive to his duties as a phy-
sician he had time for the political questions of the day. He
displayed marked ability in this direction and was elected to the
legislature as a Democrat in 1840. Here he found an oppor-
tunity to exercise his talents as a speaker and it was not long
before he was considered the most eloquent and forcible de-
bater in the house. While still a physician the desire to be
something more led him to attend the courts and to ronside-^
the profession of law. Then he commenced legal studies and
attended lectures at law school at Lexington, Kentucky. In
a remarkable short time he was admitted to the bar. He form-
128 Anti- Nebraska Republican
ed a partnership with General Shields and moved to Belleville,
Illinois. This was to be the scene of his future work and the
making of a reputation that was to carry him forward to
places of honor. He remained a resident of Belleville until his
removal to Springfield to assume the duties of governor.
Being appointed prosecuting attorney, he filled the office
w'ith great satisfaction to his constituents and with much per-
turbation to the criminals who were tried under his direction.
As if by magic he leaped into fame as a prosecutor. "He
seldom failed to convict." The Hon. Joe Gillespie said of Bis-
sell after hearing him in an impassioned speech at the close of
a murder trial : *T realized then to its fullest extent, the power
of language in the mouth of a master over the feelings of man-
kind. If that effort had been taken down and could be read
by us, — of itself, — it would have made the name of William H.
Bissell immortal."
When the Mexican War broke out, Bissell was one of the
first to enlist. He was elected colonel of the second Illinois
regiment.
The troops from Illinois started from Alton, July ly ,
1846, and arrived at Mexico early in August. The first and
second regiments. Cols. John J. Hardin and Wm. H. Bissell
were attached to the army of the center under General Taylor
and participated in the battle of Buena Vista. February 23,
1847. It lasted all day. The Mexican army of 20,000 under
Santa Anna htmg opposed by only 4,500 Americans. General
Taylor in his report of the battle bears willing testimony to the
excellent conduct and the spirit and gallantry with which the
two Illinois and Kentucky regiments engaged the enemy and
restored confidence in that part of the field, adding : "Colonel
Bissell, the only surviving colonel of the three regiments merits
notice for his coolness and bravery on this occasion." The
second regiment lost 62 kill and 69 wounded in this battle.
Colonel Bissell's address to his regiment on dress parade
a few days after was most pathetic and affecting. His talents
were highly appreciated by his fellow officers, both regular and
volunteer, and especially by General Wool, Major Washington
Convention, Maij 29, 1856. 129
and Capt. Thomas F. IMarshall. The regiment was mustered
out at Camargo, June 1 1, 1847.
Upon his return home Colonel Bissell became an idolized
hero. His engaging manner, his eminence as a speaker and
his excellent war record combined to make him exceedingly
popular. He was immediately elected to the thirty-first con-
gress and took his seat in the house of representatives on De-
cember 3, 1849.
With the same facility with which he had earlier in life
mastered the subjects of medicine, law and military tactics, he
soon acquired the knowledge of the rules and customs that
governed the line of action in the house of representatives and
before the end of his first term in congress was regarded as
an authority on parliamentary proceedings. His first business
was to familiarize himself with his new position and prepare
for whatever conflict might arise in the future. This con-
flict came sooner than was expected to a new member. Before
he had been in the house three months the opportunity was pre-
sented, and Colonel Bissell was prepared.
When Calhoun promulgated the doctrine that slavery
must henceforth be the paramount issue and that the tariff
which had caused the defeat of his party should be subordi-
nated, there were few persons, not even Calhoun himself, who
fully realized the strain that would be put upon our constitu-
tion, and the tragic events that would follow before that issue
should be determined. It was a question how best to acquire
and maintain political ascendency. The leaders of the south,
said it must come through slavery and this was the shibboleth
emblazoned on their banner. The history of this contest, the
greatest which this nation has undergone, is full of interest
and admonition, and one in which all theories and schemes of
peaceful adjustment were exploded and cast aside by the stern
discipline of experience. It was the contest whose decision fin-
allv rested on the force of arms, arraying one section against
another — the south ever the aggressor, the north the defender.
Benton, in his "Thirty Years' View," cites a paragraph
written by one not without knowledge of what he was saying,
130 Anti-Nebraska Republican
which appeared in a leading South Carohna paper. "When
the future historian shall address himself to the task of por-
traying the rise, progress, and decline of the American Union,
the year 1850 will arrest his attention as denoting and pre-
senting the first marshaling and arraying of those hostile forces
and opposing elements, which resulted in dissolution; and the
world will have another illustration of the great truth that
forms and modes of government, however correct in theory,
are only valuable as they conduce to the great ends of all gov-
ernment — the peace, quiet and conscious security of the gov-
erned."
"All that was said was attempted, and the catastrophe
alone was wanting to complete the task assigned to the future
historian."
It is not our purpose to enter this subject farther than to
offer a sufficient back-ground for the central figure of our
sketch. Colonel Bissell, was at this time in the prime of life
and in perfect health. He was about 39 years of age, tall and
of delicate appearance, and carried himself with a military air.
He had a clear, dark complexion, coal black hair and a modest
moustache. He had keen black eyes which seemed to penetrate
with deadly accuracy, and in animated conversation, or in a
heated debate his whole face would assume the expression best
fitted to his theme. He was not a talkative man, but when
he did speak his remarks were always pertinent. He was ex-
ceedingly modest. His taciturn habits which were acquired
when a country doctor, seemed always to have remained with
him. He possessed to a remarkable degree coolness and self-
possession, the characteristics of a man not easily intimidated.
Colonel Bissell was a gifted extemporaneous speaker, full of
honest common sense, who never spoke for effect, but always
from conviction. His speeches are said to have been most
effective in delivery. He possessed the magnetic gift of swaying
his audience and of being able to carry it with him. He had
a keen appreciation of facts and an unusually strong poetical
imagination. He was largely dependent upon his audience for
inspiration, and when this was secured he spoke with a fluency
and passion that was truely wonderful.
Convention, May 20, 1856. 181
When Colonel Bissell entered congress, he found the
slave-holding- element in power, and all legislation was being
directed for its perpetuation. He sat in his seat and listened
to the speeches which were made to fire the chivalry of the south
and which with innuendo and sarcasm taunted the north with
"injustice and aggression." He listened to the southerns'
threat to abandon the Union and establish a separate confeder-
acy, and was amazed. He had subscribed to the same oath of
office they had taken, to support and defend the constitution
and all the laws of the Union and it was incomprehensible to
him, a conscientious man, one who loved his country and his
flag, how these things could be. He resolved to make a reply.
On February 21, 1850, he delivered his speech on the slavery
question and it was regarded at the time as one of the ablest
given in congress.
In the introduction he expressed his reluctance to add to
the public anxiety which this discussion had already produced.
It was his "settled conviction that unless the representatives
who had assumed to speak for the slave-holding states have
greatly mistaken the purposes and intentions of the people of
those states, war and bloodshed consequent upon an attempt
to overthrow this government was inevitable." This declara-
tion he desired should go forth to the country and with it the
reasons upon wdiich his opinion w^as based. He repelled the
charge that the north had been constantly aggressive on the
slavery question.
It was to Mr. Seddon, of Virginia, however, that Colonel
Bissell, stung by his utterances, paid particular attention in
the closing part of his speech.
Chittenden, in his "Recollections" has given a sketch of
Mr. Seddon as he saw him in the peace conference in i860,
ten years after this debate with Colonel Bissell. "His personal
appearance was extraordinary. His frame was fleshless as
that of John Randolph and he w^as equally with that statesman,
intense in his hatred of all forms of northern life. The pallor
of his face, his narrow chest, sunken eyes and attenuated frame
indicated the last stages of consumption. His voice, husky
132 Anti- Nebraska Reijublican
at first, cleared with the excitement of debate in which he be-
came eloquent. Notwithstanding his spectral appearance he
survived to become secretary o^ war in the confederacy. He
was the most powerful debater of the conference; skillful,
adroit, cunning, the soul of the plot which the conference was
mtended to execute."
This picture of Seddon will aid us in understanding him
as he spoke on the subject that aroused Colonel Bissell. Gen-
eral Taylor, although a Virginian and a slave-holder, proposed
to be president of the country, rather than of his party, and he
had determined to conduct his administration free from the in-
fluence of pro-slavery advocates. Mr. Seddon was making an
appeal, calling upon him to remember "the trials and triumphs
he had shared w^ith the gallant sons of the south, his fellow
soldiers and compatriots in the conflicts which so largely won
these acquisitions." Continuing, Mr. Seddon, said :
"In the bloody trenches of Monterey, in the midst of the
din and smoke of battle, again should he see valiant soldiers
of the south rush on to the cannon's mouth, and mount 'the
imminent deadly breach,' with their mangled bodies piling
high the pedestal of his fame. And on that memorable field
of Buena Vista, at that most critical juncture when all seemed
lost save honor, again should his heart bound with hope as he
hailed the approach of the noble regiment of Mississippians,
and beheld them steady, undismayed, (through the very midst
of the brave but unfortunate troops of the north, then, through
a mistaken order discomfited and in rout) with souls untouched
by panic and nerved to do or die, march onward — right on-
ward on the countless foe and with invincible prowess snatch
from the very jaws of death rescue and victory.
"By such proud memories — bythe fame theyhavewon and
the meed of gratitude and honor they conferred, I would invoke
him to cast now the weight of his deserved influence and high
position on the side of the south, — in the scale of right and
justice. Let him openly rebuke the mad fanaticism and grasp-
ing lust of power in the north. Let him, as when marching to
the relief of his comrades at Fort Brown, determine, let foes
Convention, May 20, 1856. 133
come ill what number they may, to encounter them and march
onward to the rescue of the south and her threatened institu-
tions."
Colonel Bissell in concluding his speech said : "I must
now refer to a subject which I would gladly have avoided. I
allude to the claim put forth for a southern regiment, by the
gentleman from Virginia (Seddon,) of having met and re-
pulsed the enemy on the field of Buena Vista, at that most
critical moment when the second Indiana regiment, through
an unfortunate order of their colonel gave way. Justice to the
living, as well as to those who fell on that occasion, demand of
me a prompt correction of this most erroneous statement. And
I affirm distinctly sir, and such is the fact, that at the time the
second Indiana regiment gave way, the Mississippi regiment,
for whom this claim is thus gratuitously set up, was not
within a mile and a half of the scene of action, nor
had it as yet fired a gun or draw^n a trigger. I af-
firm further, sir, that the troops which at that time met
and resisted the enemy, and thus to use the gentle-
man's own language, 'snatched victory from the jaws of de-
feat,' were the second Kentucky, the second Illinois and a por-
tion of the first Illinois regiments. It gives me no pleasure sir,
to be compelled to allude to this subject, nor can I perceive the
necessity or propriety of its introduction into this debate. It
having been introduced, however, I could not sit in silence and
witness the infliction of such cruel injustice upon men, living
and dead, whose well earned fame I were a monster not to
protect. The true and brave hearts of many of them, alas,
have already mingled with a soil of a foreign country; but
their claims upon the justice of their countrymen can never
cease, nor can my obligations to them be ever forgotten or
disregarded. No, sir, — the voice of Hardin, — that voice
which has so often been heard in this hall as mine now is,
though far more eloquently, — the voice of Hardin, aye, and of
McKee, and the accomplished Clay, — each wrapped now in
his bloody shroud, — their voices would reproach me from the
grave, had I failed in this act of justice to them and the others
who fought and fell by mv side.
134 Anti- Nebraska Rex>ublican
"You will suspect me, Mr. Chairman of having warm
feelings on this subject. So I have; and I have given them ut-
terance as a matter of duty. In all this, however. I by no
means detract from the gallant conduct and bearing of the Mis-
sissippi regiment. At other times and places on that bloody field,
they did all that their warmest admirers could have desired.
But, let me ask again, why was this subject introduced into this
debate? Why does the gentleman say 'the troops of the
north' gave way, when he means only a single regiment ? Why
is all this but for the purpose of disparaging the north for the
benefit of the south ? Why, but for the purpose of furnishing
materials for that ceaseless, never-ending eternal theme of
'Southern chivalry?'
"We are ready to meet you now on any fair grounds and
fight with you side by side for your rights and for ours ; and
defend those rights under the constitution from encroachment
in anv quarter. But, sir, we want to hear no more about dis-
union. We are attached to the Union, — aye, devotedly are we
attached to it. We regard it as the ark of safety for the Amer-
ican people. We know that the realization of the hopes for
human freedom throughout the world, depend up(3n its per-
petuity. And shall we ruthlessly crush these hopes forever?
Shall that beacon light which our fathers raised to cheer and
guide the friends of freedom be extinguished by us? Ex-
tinguish it if you will, but know, that when you do it, the world
is enshrouded in darkness more frightful than Egyptian
night.
"I know the people of my state. I know the people of the
p-reat west and northwest; and I know their devotion to the
American Union. And, I feel warranted in saying in my place
here, that when you talk to them of destroying this Union,
there is not a man throughout that vast region who wall not
raise his hand and swear by the Eternal God, as I now do, it
shall never be done if our arms can save it. Illinois prof-
fered to the country nine regiments to aid in the vindication
of her rights in the war wnth Mexico. And should danger
threaten the Union from any source or in any quarter in the
Convention, May 29, 1856. 135
north or in the south, she will be ready to furnish twice, thrice,
3^es, four times that number, to march where that danger may
be, to return when it is passed, or return no more."
Every phase of Colonel Bissell's genius in this speech was
in evidence. He was keen, satirical, fervid and filled with in-
dignation at the injustice put upon his comrades and the people
of the north ; his voice rang out with no uncertain tone com-
manding attention and the deepest interest of the entire
house. The effect was something unparalleled. Colonel Bis-
sell, before its delivery, was unknown beyond the confines of
his own state; now he was known throughout the nation.
Those from the north rejoicing, and extolling his virtues ;
those from the south denouncing him and giving vent to their
anger in banal epithets.
Not since the time of Adams had any one in the house
of representatives chosen to take up the gauntlet and with
reasoning, ridicule and sarcasm, such as Colonel Bissell em-
ployed bid defiance to the cause of slavery and secession. It
could not be permitted. The south had been insulted. The
north must be crushed. Its brilliant spokesman must be hu-
miliated. Every sentence of his speech was a fire-brand to
the minds of the leaders of the south. Its effect must be ex-
tinguished and that speedily. The reference to the Mississippi
regiment was particularly offensive. Jefferson Davis, a mem-
ber of the senate and colonel of that regiment during the Mex-
ican War, took umbrage at what he considered an insult cast
upon his soldiers, and he forthwith sent a challenge to Colonel
Bissell, which was promptly accepted. The preliminaries
Avere left to be arranged by his friends, but under the laws of
the code. Colonel Bissell had the choice of weapons. He
designated the ''common army musket to be loaded with a ball
and three buck-shot ; the combatants to be stationed forty paces
apart with liberty to advance to ten paces." This determin-
ation of Colonel Bissell to fight to the death was more than
was expected by the champions of southern chivalry.
The citv of Washington, and in fact the whole country
Avas put in a fever of excitement over this anticipated duel.
136 Anti-Nebraska Republican
Those who had not known Colonel Bissell pressed forward
to congratulate him and speak a word of encouragement; but
he did not need encouragement. He was by nature a brave
man and when honor was at stake his best blood was at the
service of his country.
The story is told, that Daniel Webster hearing of the pro-
posed duel, desired to meet Colonel Bissell and as he expressed
it, "He wanted to look him in the eye." He went to the hall
of the house, and was introduced. The two grasped hands
heartily ; the one "caught the flash from under the thunderous
brow and saw a genial glow upon the face." What passed
between these two great men, one the champion of freedom in
the senate, and the other in the house, no one knows; but
shortly afterwards Webster returned to the senate chamber
and observed to one of the government officials, who knew the
object of his visit, — "He will do. the south has mistaken its
man."
The time for the duel was set for the 28th, and as the law
prohibited dueling in the District of Columbia, arrangements
were made to have it elsewhere. But, this was not to be ; for
the friends of Davis being alarmed at the seriousness of the af-
fair were making strenuous efforts to patch up a peace. Late
in the evening before the day set for the duel, Colonel Bissell
was called upon at his rooms by President Taylor. The col-
onel was composed and in his usual good spirits. The presi-
dent was fortunately situated to interpose in this matter, for
Jefferson Davis was his son-in-law and Colonel Bissell had
been under his command in the Mexican War. The presi-
dent made known the object of his visit and asked Colonel Bis-
sell if it was not possible for him to modify the language used
by him at which Davis had taken offense. Colonel Bissell re-
plied, — "that he had but done his duty in defending the Illinois
regiment from the aspersions with which Seddon had assailed
it, and had used only such language as expressed his honest in-
dignation thereat. He could not and would not modify one
word that he had spoken." The president sat with him in
conversation till 3 o'clock in the morning and then bade him a
solemn and affectionate farewell.
Convention, May 20, 1856. 137
An amicable understanding was afterwrrds reached
by which all of the original correspondence between the parties
was withdrawn, and letters of a more conciliatory nature with
modified statements were substituted. The letter of Colonel
Bissell, however, conformed strictly to the facts as stated in his
speech he neither retracted nor regretted what he had said,
but again emphasized his object to disprove the false state-
ments and to show the injustice done to his comrades in arms
by Mr. Seddon.
The spirit of this letter must have given cold comfort to
the redoubtable ''Champion of Slavery." Senator Douglas
said, "There certainly would have been a fight, and one or
both of them killed, had it not been for General Taylor." Thus
w^as closed one of the scenes in that great political drama in
which was subsequently enacted with more fury and effect, the
villainous attack of Brooks on Charles Sumner in the senate,
felling him to the floor by repeated blows on the head with a
cane; and in which later on, were to come the direful tragedy
of the war between the north and south, which culminated in
the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. As we recall the
scenes and events wdiich took place in that stupendous drama,
the men who dared in the early days to plead for the Union
and the freedom of its people, rise above their contemporaries
and will ever, be regarded as the true patriots and heroes of our
country.
Extracts of Colonel Bissell's speech w^ere printed in the
newspapers of the time, and its influence was felt through-
out the nation. In 1856, the same speech was printed
entire and used as a campaign document in this state. The
Republicans of New York during the convass of 1858 printed
large editions of Colonel Bissell's speech and scattered them
broad-cast over the state. Although it had been delivered
eight years before, it was still considered the best exposition
of the subject and the Ijest answer that had been made to the
doctrine of secession.
This adventure of Colonel Bissell's aroused the patriotism
of the whole north. It has been said, that if Colonel Bissell
138 Anti-Nebraska Republican
had not been stricken by paralysis affecting the lower half
of his body he would have been the recipient of still greater
honors from the hands of a grateful people.
During the canvassing of names for the first Republican
candidate for president that of Colonel Bissell was frequently
mentioned. He was in hearty sympathy with the Republican
party from the first, and w-as a firm believer in the principles
upon which it was founded. His reputation as a speaker, his
war record, his bravery, his commanding presence were all
by recent events brought into full view of the Northern people,
and his exploits for campaign purposes would have been as
effective as those of Fremont, who became the nominee.
This line of thought is not introduced for the purpose of
speculating on what changes would ha\-e been made in the
history of those stirring or subsequent times, had Colonel
Bissell been nominated, but as evidence of the high esteem in
which he was held by many of his countrymen. Three times
he was sent to congress and during his second congressional
campaign, which followed the delivery of his speech on slav-
ery, he received what is seldom known to have occurred be-
fore or since in this country, — the unanimous vote of his dis-
trict something over fifteen thousand votes.
When someone suggested to Lincoln that there was a
movement to have him nominated for governor, Ije replied, "I
wish to say why I should not be a candidate. If I should be
chosen the Democrats would say, 'it was nothing more than
an attempt to resurrect the dead body of the old Whig party.'
I would secure the vote of that party and no more and our de-
feat would follow as a matter of course. But, I can suggest
a name that will secure not only the old Whig vote, but
enough Anti-Nebraska Democrats to give us the victory. That
name is Col. William H. Bissell." This was before the con-
vention of editors held at Decatur, Illinois, February 22, 1856.
The political sagacity of Lincoln w^as never better illustrated
than in this selection of Colonel Bissell. The state had been
in the hands of the Democratic party since the time when Ed-
wards made his independent and successful campaign for gov-
Convention, May 29, 18 JO. 139
ernor, nearly thirty years previous. The bitter rivah-y ex-
isting between the Whig and Democratic parties would pre-
vent any accession of votes to the new party from the Demo-
crats unless a reformed Democrat, a Republican was nomi-
nated.
This sugg^estion of Lincoln's seems to have been accepted
by every one, for when the Republican convention met in
Blocmington on May 29, 1856, by unanimous consent Colonel
Bissell was nominated for governor.
Colonel Bissell had been an invalid for three years, al-
though from the nature of his disease no one had supposed he
w'ould be unable to perform the duties of governor, if elected.
He was paralyzed in the h^wer portion of his body and was
obliged to move about with crutches or in a chair. At the
time of the notification of his nomination he frankly stated
to the committee that his health was such that he could not
promise to take an active part in the campaign.
The Democrats seized upon the report of his physical
condition as an objection to his election. Their newspapers
and public speakers emphasized and multi])lied the rumors of
his malady. Exaggerated reports were made that his mind
as well as his body was seriously affected and that he had no
less trouble than softening of the l)rain. One can imagine the
prejudicial deductions which could be formed on information
of this kind. How could he perform the executive duties of
this high office ? He would be a tool in the hands of unscrupu-
lous politicians. Certainly a sorry person to occupy the gu-
bernatorial chair. The campaign was one of the most ex-
citing that had e^■er taken place in this state, for in addition
to the local interests there was above all the Kansas-Nebraska
question, the key note of the Jiafional caiiif>aii^Ji.
The Republican managers became alarmed at these asser-
tions of the Democrats and they realized that there was great
danger of Bissell's defeat and of the defeat with him of the Re-
publican ticket in this state. If he could only be brought before
the people, it could be shown that his mind was as active and
as clear as in his i)almiest days. It was remembered that two
140 Anti-Nebraska Republican
years before he had stumped his district deHvering his speeches
seated in a chair or carriage and was elected to congress by a
large majority. But now he was too ill even to be present at
any of the political meetings. Time and time again it had
been advertised that he would be at the meetings and in every
instance he had been unable to attend. The Democrats took
advantage of these failures and emphasized the danger of elect-
ing a man who could not be depended upon. Something had
to be done.
There were long and anxious meetings of the Republi-
can managers. It was finally decided to have him make a
speech. This speech should then be dwelt upon by all the Re-
publican speakers through the state. This speech would treat
of the issues of the campaign in a lucid and commanding style,
showing that Colonel Bissell had lost none of his eloquence or
his ability to form stately periods. This, it was conjectured,
would be proof positive that though unable to perambulate he
was still in possession of his mental faculties, and that his
voice could ring out as clear and commanding as on the plains
of Mexico. The meeting was held at his home in Belleville.
There were speakers from other parts of the country. Colonel
Bissell reclined in a chair on a plaform surrounded by friends
and neighbors. There was much enthusiasm as he com-!
menced and this enthusiasm continued in one form or another
throughout the entire speech. There was so much of it, to-
gether with other noise and confusion that not many of the
audience could distinguish a word that was said. The Re-
])ublican speakers then went through the state and at every
opportunity spoke of this wonderful speech of Colonel Bis-
selTs : that it took an hour to deliver, etc. Then followed the
significant and unanswerable argument that a man who could
make such a speech was certainly not afflicted with softening
of the brain, — that the stories of his mental unbalance were
untrue and were maliciously circulated. In view of the state-
ments, made in his speech, logically and coherently put to-
gether, there was no doubt of Colonel Bissell's ability to per-
form the duties of governor should he be elected. This strata-
(Jonvention, May 29, 1866. 141
gem had the desired effect and completely silenced the attacks
of the Democrats on this point. It was the onh' speech made
by him during the campaign.
It was during this campaign that his, not altogether fort-
unate experience with Jefferson Davis in congress, was re-
vived and assumed an entirely dift'erent aspect. Under the
constitution of 1848, in addition to the customary oath the
following oath was required from all persons elected or ap-
pointed before entering u])on their official duties : "I do
solemnly swear (or affirm as the case may be) that I have not
fought a duel, nor sent or accepted a challenge to fight a duel,
the probable issue of which might have been the death of either
party, nor been a second to either party, nor in any manner
aided or assisted in such duel, nor been knowingly the bearer
of such challenge or acceptance since the adoption of the con-
stitution, and that I will not be so engaged or concerned di-
rectly or indirectly in or al)OUt any such duel during my con-
tinuance in office, so help me God." Another section of the
constitution makes any person ineligible to any office of honor
or profit in this state who have fought a duel or wdio shall have
sent or accepted a challenge.
The pro-slavery papers made a terrible out-cry against
Bissell for having accepted a challenge from Davis. They
claimed that if he should be elected and took this oath of office
he would become a perjurer. He could not deny accepting the
challenge; he could not omit or modify the oath of office, and
it seemed as if the Democrats had made out a good case. But,
it was soon discovered that Colonel Richardson, who was run-
ning against Bissell on the Democratic ticket had been engaged
in a number of "affairs of honor" :it Washington, acting as sec-
ond and in other ways was openly violating the prescribed oath.
Should he be elected, he too would become a perjurer after sub-
scribing to the oath. Notwithstanding this fact, the attacks on
Colonel Bissell were viciously and outrageously continued. Pa-
pers like the "CJiicago Times," "Springfield Register," and
the "Quiiiey Herald" were relentless. Instigated by Douglas,
Don jMorrison. Richardson and other Democratic leaders, thev
142 Anti-Nebraska Republican
employed every sort of political mud-slinging to besmirch, if
possible, the character of Bissell. When we read the accounts
of that canvass in the newspapers we shudder at the thought
that such methods of personal attack and villainy were ever
permitted. It expressed to a pitiful degree the intensity of
party feeling and strife in that campaign. However, with all
this abuse the people for the Union and for freedom remained
firm and loyal to their cause and carried Colonel Bissell with
the state ticket in office by nearly 5,000 majority.
Now, that Colonel Bissell was duly installed and had
taken the oath of ofiice as governor another event occurred
which brought this duel again to notice. It seemed to pursue
him like an evil demon.
In the closing part of his inaugural message to the gen-
eral assembly he refers to the sul^ject then uppermost in the
minds of the people as follows :
'The question of the extension of slavery into our new
national territory, although not forming any part of state
politics, was nevertheless so prominent a feature in the late
canvass as to create the expectation perhaps, that I should on
this occasion say something concerning it.
"Up to the time of the repeal of the Missouri Compromise
I had ever considered the existence of slavery with the United
States as an anomaly in our Republican system, tolerated by
necessity springing from the actual presence of the institution
among us when our constitution was adopted.
"The provisions in the constitution for a slave basis of
representation and for the reclamation .of fugitives from labor,
I had supposed, and still suppose, were admitted there upon the
necessity and that such were also the views of a vast majority
of the American people both north and south, I had until the
introduction of the Kansas-Nebraska bill, never doubted.
"But the introduction, progress and passage of that meas-
ure, together with the course of argument made to sustain it,
forced me reluctantly to the conclusion that if finally successful
slavery is no longer to be considered or treated as anomalous
in our system, but is rather thenceforward to be a leading and
Convention, May 29, 1856. 143
favorite element of society, to ht politically recognized as
such, and to which all else must bend and conform.
"This conclusion is strengthened not a little by the sub-
sequent administration of the measure in the same hands
which originated and matured it. Considering that we are an
intelligent people living in an enlightened age and professing
the peaceful doctrines of Christianity, and a love of liberty
above all things earthly, it may be well doubted whether when
the world's history shall have been written to its close, it will
contain a more extraordinary page than that which shall re-
cord the history of Kansas in 1855 '^"^^ 1856.
"Forced to the conclusion stated a large portion of our
fellow-citizens, myself among them, have resisted the con-
summation as we best could; and believing that not the fate of
the negro alone, but the liberties of the white man, — of all
men, are involved in the issue, we shall continue to resist ac-
cording to our best ability.
"In doing this we shall ever be careful neither to forget
or disregard the value of the Union, the obligations of the
constitution, nor e\'en the courtesies due our brethren of the
south."
This extract from the message precipitated an acrimoni-
ous debate in the house, which continued for nearlv seven
days. Follow'ing the usual precedents a motion was made to
print 20,000 copies, the same number voted for the message
of Governor Mattison, Governor Bissell's immediate prede-
cessor. The young man who was responsible for provoking
this discussion was known as the "Ajax of the Democracy."
He was earnest, honest, patriotic, unpolished, audacious,
plucky and ambitious. This was the fresh period of his politi-
cal life. He had a certain kind of coarse, angular ability
(often misdirected.) which only the rough usages of experi-
ence could, and did develop and refine. John A. Logan was
a member from Franklin county: he moved an amendment to
print 10,000 copies of the inaugural message. He occupied
much of the time in a fruitless and vain-glorious effort to
prove Governor Bissell's ineligibility to office and his quasi or
real perjury or perfidy in taking the necessary oath.
144 Anti-Nebraska Republican
All the stock arguments used in the recent campaign were
again "threshed over" and were made to do service for both
parties.
Mr. Arnold made the principal speech in defence of Gov-
ernor Bissell. Rising above the personalities in which Logan
attempted to entangle him, — in a dispassionate, dignified and
logical manner, he reviewed the arguments of the opposition.
He disposed of Mr. Logan in a brief sentence, he said, "Gov-
ernor Mattison shows that a man may be a party man without
ceasing to be a gentleman. Sir, I commend the example of
Governor IMattison to the consideration of the member from
Franklin."
Governor Bissell could not be justly charged with hav-
ing violated the spirit or strict interpretation of the constitu-
tion. His adventure with Jefferson Davis had taken place
outside of the state.
This fierce and long debate was finally terminated and the
Democrats being in the majority, the motion by Mr. Logan
by a strict party vote was carried. It was done for political
effect and Governor Bissell was duly installed in office and
could not be ousted; about the only gratification the Demo-
crats derived from the debate was the irritation and ill-feeling
engendered by it. Governor Bissell lost none of his popularity
by the calumnious assault, but on the contrary gained the sym-
pathy and esteem of many persons who believed he had been
unfairly and unjustly treated.
It has been said that the legislature met as a mob and
ended in a rout. The Democrats were in the majority and
everything that could be done, was done to humiliate the ex-
ecutive, to deny to him the usual rights and privileges of his
office. An apportionment bill had been introduced by the Re-
publicans based on the census of 1855. The population of
Illinois had increased 447,781, nearly one-third of her entire
population in five years. This increase was largely in the
northern part of the state, where the Republicans were the
dominant party. This bill was most stubbornly resisted by the
Democrats who offered a substitute. The latter practically
Convention, 3Tay 29, 1851k 145
disfranchised 70,000 voters of the state. The Democratic bill
was passed near the end of the session and was sent to the
governor for his signature. At the same time there were
many other bills sent to the executive for approval, among
which was the appropriation bill. It was the intention of
Governor Bissell to approve the latter and veto the apportion-
ment bill, but by an oversight the reverse took place. When
it is known how large was the number of bills to be passed upon
toward the close of the session, no one will be surprised that
this accident should have occurred.
On February 16, 1857, there were 154 acts approved by
Governor Bissell, on February 17, 43 acts and on February 18,
149.
As soon as the mistake was discovered the governor re-
called the Apportionment bill and attempted to correct the error
by erasing his name ; this led to a determined fight which con-
tinued till the final adjournment of the legislature late in the
night. The Democrats carried this question by mandamus to
the supreme court to determine its validity. That tribunal
gave them an adverse opinion. The court held that while a
bill is in the possession and control of the executive within the
period limited by the constitution it has not the force of law,
and he may exercise a veto power and so return to the house
where it originated with his name erased, notwithstanding he
had once announced his approval of it. Governor Bissell was
thus vindicated although the result was accomplished by tre-
mendous anxiety and effort.
Lincoln once said, "that honest statesmanship was the em-
ployment of individual meannesses for the public good." It
was Governor Bissell's misfortune to demonstrate, that he was
according to this definition, an honest statesman; for of all
the legislatures that an executive in this state has had to cope
with, those of 1857 and 1859 ^^'^'"^ the meanest and most ex-
asperating.
"In the annals of this state no public man was ever sub-
jected to contumely so gross, abuse more harrowing, or pur-
sued with malice more vindictive; and that these cruelties
caused Governor Bissell many a heart pang, casting a shadow
146 Ant i- Nebraska Republican
over his exalted position, is not a foreign inference." It was
his fate to be ever fighting with large odds against him. His
mind seemed to clear and to act with nnerring judgment and
brilliancy in the midst of danger or exciting debate. A less
able or courageous person in like circumstances would become
disconcerted. Such situations, however, acted as a stimulant
to his mind and brought out the very best in him. In this
particular, more than in any other, reposed the elements of his
greatness.
He would not knowingly provoke a controversy except
to establish a principle An impartial and just consideration
of his life cannot fail to ascribe to him those superior virtues,
patience and kindness. "He forebore long ere he raised his
liand to parry an assault." Although suffering from a long
and incurable disease, he was never known to murmur or com-
plain. Heinrich Heine was paralyzed in much the same way
as Governor Bissell but the cause in his case lay in his own ex-
cess and evil habits. He. always despondent and complaining;
full of remorse cried out in his despair; "That man was no
longer a two-legged god ; that he was no more a divine biped."
Governor Bissell on the contrarv. conscious only of his affliction
the result of an accident when a boy, had none of that torture
of mind. With the same fortitude which characterized Gen-
eral Grant in his last memorable illness he worked on, perform-
ing the duties of his office with a composure and a grandeur
of character that was heroic.
"The man that makes character makes foes" and like all
statesmen Governor Bissell made enemies and created opposi-
tion by reason of his superior talents and the fearlessness
which brooked no shallowness or injustice. He was a poli-
tician and a statesman with enlarged views. Elevated on such
a plane he despised demagogism. In whatever occupation he
engaged he aspired by all honorable and just means to succeed,
and it is not recorded in any page of our history that he
failed.
In March, i860. Governor Bissell contracted a severe cold
which soon developed into pneumonia. His constitution al-
ready weakened by illness since 1853, was unable to withstand
Convention, May 20, 1856. 147
the assault of this new enemy, and in a few clays, with his mind
unclouded to the last, his noble spirit passed away. He was
ir. his forty-eio:hth year and had he lived nine months long^er
his term of oftice would have expired. He is the only gov-
ernor of Illinois who has died while in office.
He died at a time wdien people were busy preparing for
the political canvass which was to make Abraham Lincoln
president, and which was soon to lead to the marshaling of
great armies for the impending conflict which he had so clearly
foreseen and foretold. The distinguished services which it
v»as Governor Bissell's privilege to render in behalf of his be-
loved state were not forgotten. In 1867, the general assembly
of Illinois in recognition of these services and as an expression
of the honor and esteem which the people of this great state de-
sired to bestow on his memory (a distinction unlike that ac-
corded to any other man in this state except Lincoln and
Logan) voted the sum of $c;,ooo for his monument.
In accordance with the wish of his family and the act of
the legislature the remains of Governor Bissell and those of his
wife were to be transferred from the Hutchinson cemetery to
Oak Ridge cemetery at Springfield. In June, 1871, the mon-
ument was completed and its dedication, and the removal of
the honored dead, was made the occasion of an imposing cere-
mony in which all the officers and members of the state and
military departments participated.
Governor John M. Palmer who had known Governor Bis-
sell for many years and who had been intimately associated with
him in the political campaigns of the state, was the orator. He
paid a high tribute to the character and great ability of Gov-
enor Bissell. He reviewed many of his political achievements
and accorded to him superior gifts as an orator, a patriot and
a statesman. AX'ithin the span of sixteen brief years he had
emerged from the obscure life of a country school teacher,
gradually advancing and mastering the subjects of medicine,
law, army codes and politics. In this time he had been hon-
ored by his state as prosecuting attorney, legislator, congress-
man and governor. Considering that all these things were
acquired amid trials and much sickness; considering his hon-
148 Anti- Nebraska Republican
orable and blameless character; that he should have risen from
a position so humble by the unaided influence of his own power
to the conspicuous ones which he occupied, is at once a g:ratifv-
in^ tribute to his .e^enius and a worthy example full of encour-
agement to American youth.
Speaking briefly of the Davis-Bissell episode Governor
Palmer said, "Whether the acceptance of the challenge was
justifiable, depends upon all the attending circumstances. The
challenge was not addressed alone to Bissell but to his state
and the whole north."
Official Record of Convention.
THE JOURNAL.
Springfield, May 30, 1856.
THE CONVENTION.
{Editorial). "The state Anti-Nebraska Convention
closed its labors last evening, its deliberations having been char-
acterized by the greatest harmony. We surrender a large por-
tion of our space today to an official report of the proceedings
which mav be found elsewhere, and will claim the attention
of the reader. The ticket presented by the convention is one
that combines great strength, and which it will only require
an active and united effort to elect. The enthusiasm of those
in attendance at the convention, and the joy with which the re-
sult of its labors has been received, gives good assurance that
this effort will be put forth. We shall take early occasion to
refer to the ticket more at length, and in the meantime we cor-
dially commend it to all men opposed to the advancement of the
pro-slavery party now in power."
THE NEBRASKA STATE CONVENTION.
In pursuance of the public call, the Illinois "Anti-Xebras-
ka" state convention met in Major Hall, Bloomington, IMay 29,
Convention, May 29, 1856. 149
1856, and was called to order by George T. Brown, of Madison
county, on whose motion Hon. Archibald Williams, of Adams
county, was chosen temporary chairman and Henry S. Baker,
of Madison county was appointed secretary.
On motion of Mr. Judd,of Cook county, George T. Brown,
of Madison county, was requested to assist the secretary in the
organization of the convention.
On motion the secretary w^as instructed to call the several
counties of the state, in their alphabetical order, which being
done, the following delegates appeared and presented their cre-
dentials, viz :
Adams, 8 delegates— A. Williams, W. B. Powers, E. A.
Dudley, Jno. Tillson. A. G. Pearson, George \Y . Burns, James
E. Furness and O. H. Browning-.
Bond, I. — J. F. x\lexander.
Boone, 2.— Luther W. Lawrence and Ralph Roberts.
Bureau, 3.— Charles C. Kelsey, George Radcliff and Geo.
W. Stipp, Jr.
Calhoun, i. — F. W. Kersting.
Carroll, i.— D. H. Wheeler.
Cass, I. — B. R. Frohook.
Champaign. 2.— J. W. Jaquith. Elisha Harkness.
Christian, i. — W. G. Crosswaithe.
Coles, 4-— T. A. Marshall, A. Compton, William Glas
gow and George C. Harding.
Cook. 17. — G. Goodrich, F. C. Sherman, Wm. A.James,
A.H. Dolton, James McKie, Geo. Schneider, John Wentworth,
C. H. Ray, J.L. Scripps, C.L. Wilson, Samuel Hoard, A. Aikin,
H. H. Yates. L N. Arnold, N. B. Judd, J. W. Waughop and
Mark Skinner.
DeKalb, 3.— Wm. Patton, Wm. J. Hunt and James H.
Beveridge.
DeWitt, 2.— S. F. Lewis and J. F. Lemon.
DuPage, 3.— W. B. Blanchard, S. P. Sedgwick and J. W.
Smith.
Edgar, 2.— L. Munsell and R. B. Southerland.
150 Anti- Nebraska Convention
Edwards, i. — Wm. Pickering.
Fulton, 5.— W. P. Kellogg, Robert Carter, S. N. Breed,
T. N. Hassan and H. D. Phelps.
Greene, 2. — Daniel Bowman and Joshua W. Armstrong.
Grundy, 2. — Robert Longworth and William T. Hop-
kins.
Hancock, 4. — John Rise, S. W. King, S. Worley and A.
Simpson.
Henderson, i. — W. D. Henderson.
Henry, 2.— J. H. Howe, J. M(. Allen.
Iroquois, 3. — W. P. Pearson, J. B. Joiner, I. Bennett.
Jersey, 2. — Thomas Cummings, M. Corey.
Jo Daviess, 4. — Adolph Meyer, T. B. Lewis, H. S. Town-
send, T. Spraggins.
Knox, 4. — T. J. Hale, D. H. Frisbie, Jesse Perdue, C. J.
Sellon.
Kankakee, 2. — A. W. Mack, Daniel Parker.
Kendall, 2. — J. M. Crothers, J. B. Lowry.
Kane, 5.— I. A. W. Buck, S. C. Morey, G. W. Waite, A.
Adams, W. R. Baker.
Lake, 3.— E. P. Ferry, N. C. Geer, Wm. B. Dodge.
LaSalle, 6.— D. L. Hough, J. A. McMillan, David
Strawn, Burton C. Cook, Elmer Baldwin, C. H. Gilman.
Lee, 2. — E. M. Ingals, J. V. Eustace.
Livingston, 2. — J. H. Dart, David McWilliams.
Logan, 2. — J. L. Dugger, S. C. Parks.
McDonough, 2. — L. H. Waters, J. E. Wyne.
McHenry, 6. — S. P. Hegale, Anthony Woodspur, C. W.
Craig, Wesley Diggins, Dr. Abulari, A. C. Joslyn.
McLean, 3. — James Gilmore, Sr., Dr. Harrison Noble,
Wm. W. Orme, delegates, and A. T. Briscoe, Green B. Larri-
son, David Cheney, alternates.
Macon, 2. — W. J. Usrey, L C. Pugh.
Macoupin, 4. (?) — J. M. Palmer, John Logan, Samuel
Brown, Thomas B. Lofton, P. B. Solomon, J. D. Marshall,
James Wolfe.
Convention, May 29, 1850. 151
Madison, 8. — F. S. Rutherford, H. King. George Smith,
M. G. Atwood, H. S. Baker, George T. Brown, John Trible,
Gershom Flagg. *
Marion, 3. — D. K. Green, T. W. Jones, S. W. Cunning-
ham.
Marshall. 2.— Robert Boal, J. C. Tozier.
Mason, 2.— H. O'Neal, R. P. Gatton.
Menard, 2. — M. T. Morris, George Collier.
Mercer, 2. — John W. Miles. L. W. Myers.
Montgomery, 3.— Wickliff Kitchell. J. W. Cassady, J.
T. Eccles.
Morgan. 20.— R. Yates, J. W. King, M. H. Cassell, J.
B. Duncan, J. J. Cassell, R. McKee. M. J. Pond, A. P. Wood,
I. L. Morrison, James Green, William L. Sargeant, J. W.
Strong, James Langley, E. Lusk, B. F. Stevenson, J. N. D.
Stout, A. Bulkley, B. F. Ford, J. Metcalf, and J. Graham.
Moultrie, i. — John A. Freeland.
Ogle, 3.— Charles C. Royce, F. A. McMill. G. W. South-
wick.
Peoria. 5.— J. D. Arnold, B. L. T. Bourland, R. Scholst,
George T. Harding. T. J. Pickett.
Piatt, I.— P. K. Flail.
Pike, 10.— John G. Nicolay, Wm. Ross, M. Ross, J.
Grimshaw. T. Worthington, W\ E. Elder, J. Hall, M. J.
Noyes, D. FL Gilmer, O. M. Hatch.
Putnam, i. — B. C. Lundy.
Randolph. 5. — Thomas McClurken, Casper Horn, J. C.
Holbrook. F. B. Anderson, B. J. F. Hanna.
Rock Island, 3.— N. C. Turrell, R. H. Andrews, John V.
Cook, Ira O. \\'ilkinson.
St. Clair. 5. — Dr. Charles Vincenz, J. B. Hoppe, Francis
Wenzell, N. Niles. F. A. Carpenter.
Sangamon, 11.— A. Lincoln, Wm. H. Herndon, J. C.
Conkling, J. B. Weber. Preston Breckenridge, Wm. Jayne. R.
H. Ballinger. Pascal P. Enos, Wm. H. Bailhache, E. L. Baker,
Peter Earnest.
*William C. Flagg, the son of Gershom Flagg, also attended the convention, and
trom the proceedings seems to have acted as a member of it — Skc't Hist. Soc.
152 Anti-Nebraska Repuhlican
Schuyler, 2. — ^John Clark, N. G. Wilcox.
Scott, 4.— N. M. Knapp, John Moses, James B. Young,
M. James.
Stark, I. — T. J. Henderson.
Stephenson, 4.— M. P. Sweet, John H. Davis, George
Nolbrecht, H. N. Hibbard.
Tazewell, 5. — D. Cheever, D. Kyes, H. Clark, George W.
Shaw, John M. Busch.
Union, i. — D. L. Phillips.
Vermilion, 3.— Joseph Peters, Martin Bourchall, A. T.
Harrison.
Warren, 2. — A. C. Harding, E. A. Paine.
Washington, 2. — J. Miller, D. Kennedy.
Whiteside, 2. — William Manahan, William Prothrow,
Will, 10.— G. D. A. Parks. W. Wright, J. T. Daggett,
Wm. B. Hewitt, H. T. Logan, A. Mcintosh, S. Anderson, J.
O. Norton. Ichabod Codding, P. Stewart.
Winnebago. 4. — F. Burnass, W. Lyman, S. M. Church,
T. D. Robertson.
Woodford, 2. — C. D. Banta, R. T. Cassell.
O. H. Browning, of Adams, offered the following resolu-
tion, which was unanimously adopted :
Resolved, That a committee of nine, consisting of one
from each congressional district be appointed to report officers
for the permanent organization of the convention.
Whereupon the chair appointed the following as the com-
mittee : First district, S. M. Church; second district, N. B.
Judd; third district. B. C. Cook; Fourth district, Robert Car-
ter; fifth district. O. H. Browning; sixth district, J. C. Conk-
ling; seventh district, S. C. Parks; eighth district. N. Niles;
ninth district. David L. Phillips.
On motion of Richard Yates, of Morgan the following
resolution was adopted :
Resolved, That all the delegates in attendance be permit-
ted to take their seats and act as members of this convention,
casting however one vote of their respective counties.
Convention, May 2ii, 1856. 153
The committee appointed to report permanent officers for
the convention, by Hon. O. H. Browning, its chairman, made
the following report :
FOR PRESIDENT.
John M. Palmer, of Macoupin.
FOR VICE-PRESIDENT.
J. A. Davis, of Stephenson.
William Ross, of Pike.
James McKie, of Cook.
J. H. Bryant, of Bureau.
A. C. Harding, of Warren.
Richard Yates, of Morgan.
H. C. Johns, of Piatt.
George Smith, of Madison.
D. L. Phillips, of Union.
T. A. Marshall, of Coles.
J. M. Ruggles, of Mason.
G. D. A. Parks, of Will.
John Clark, of Schuyler.
FOR SECRETARIES.
H. S. Baker, of Madison.
C. L. Wilson, of Cook.
John Tillson, of Adams.
Washington Bushnell, of LaSalle.
B. J. F. Hanna, of Randolph.
Which report was received and unanimously adopted.
Hon. John M. Palmer, on taking the chair, thanked the
convention for the honor conferred on him in an elegant and
able address.
On motion of N. B. Judd, of Cook, it was
Resok'cd, That a committee of nine, consisting of one
from each congressional district, be appointed to report resolu-
tions for the action of this convention.
154
Anti-Nebraska Republican
Whereupon, the president appointed the following as that
committee :
First district, G. Walbrecht ; second district, N. B. Judd ;
third district, O. Lovejoy; fourth district, A. C. Harding; fifth
district. O. H. Browning; sixth district, Wicklifif Kitchell ;
seventh district, S. C. Parks; eighth district, Charles Vincenz;
ninth district, D. L. Phillips.
Richard Yates
Born in Kentucky Januar}' 18, 1818; died
November :Z7, 1873; moved to Illinois in 1831,
admitted to the bar, member legislature 1842
to 1849; 1850 elected to congress, Governor of
Illinois 1861 to 1865 and U. S. Senator 1865 to
1871.
By permission and courtesy of the Cen-
tury Co.
Leander Munsell, of Edgar, nominated W. H. Bissell^
of St. Clair county, for governor.
Mr. Rutherford moved that no nomination be made, but
that this convention confirm the nomination of Colonel Bissell,
which the people have already made.
G. T. Brown, of Madison, desired before any action was
taken, to read to the convention a letter he had received from
Colonel Bissell, which he read as follows ;
Belleville, III., May 24, 1856.
George T. Brown, Esq., Alton, III.
Dear Sir : Having reason to apprehend that my name
may be presented to the convention as a candidate for governor,
I deem it proper to place in your hands, to be used there, should
occasion arise, a simple statement of the condition of my health,
Convention, May 29, 18o(>. 155
in order that there may be no mistake or misapprehension in re-
gard to it.
The ilhiess from which I have suffered for the last three
years has left me with impaired vigor in my lower limbs, so
that in walking I still require the use of a cane, and the aid of a
friendly arm. From this infirmity, however, I am slowly re-
covering, and ha\'e every reason to expect final and complete
restoration. My general health is perfectly good — never was
better : and my capacity for business not requiringmuch locomo-
tion, precisely what it ever was. But I cannot promise, in the
event of becoming a candidate, to take the stump, or address
the people of the state generally — and this is a matter which I
trust you will consider. If I continue to improve, as I have
every reason to expect, I shall unquestionably make some
speeches, if desirable, but I cannot promise to perambulate the
state as some might wish.
If, in view of these facts, the convention deem it proper to
nominate me, I shall not decline the honor, though I say. in all
candor, I prefer that the nomination should fall on another in-
dividual; and should that happen, you can rely upon my most
zealous and cheerful efforts in his behalf. Yours truly,
Wm. H. Bissell.
Whereupon the entire convention rose, and with nine long,
loud, and hearty cheers, declared that the nomination of Col.
Wm. H. Bissell, of St. Clair county, by the people of Illinois,
as their candidate for governor, was then and there unani-
mously confirmed.
On motion of N. Niles, Esq., of St. Clair county, it was
unanimously
"Resolved, That Francis A. Hoffman, of DuPage
county, be declared the Anti-Nebraska candidate for the office
of lieutenant-governor of the state of Illinois, at the coming
election in November."
Which resolution was received by the entire convention
with long and loud cheering.
156 Anti Nebraska liepuUicari
On motion, it was
''Resolved, That a committee of nine, including one from
each congressional district, he appointed by the chair, to re-
port to the convention suitable candidates for the other state
offices."
AMiereupon the chair appointed the following as such
committee :
First district, L. W. Lawrence; second district, Cyrus
Aldrich; third district, W. W. Orme; fourth district, J. D.
Arnold; fifth district, A. Williams; sixth district. A. Lincoln;
seventh district, T. A. Marshall ; eighth district, Thomas Mc-
Clurken; ninth district, Benjamin T. Wiley.
On motion of John Wentworth, of Cook, it was
''Resolved. That the delegates in attendance from the
several congressional districts be ref[uested to suggest the name
of one person from each congressional district for presidential
elector, and three persons for delegates to the national conven-
tion to be held at Philadelphia on the 17th proximo ; and that a
committee of nine, consisting of one from each congressional
district, be appointed by the chair to recommend two such elect-
ors and six such delegates for the state at large."
The chair appointed the following as said committee :
First district, W. Diggins ; second district, J. Wentworth;
third district. J. Bennett; fourth district, T. J. Pickett; fifth
district, A. Williams; sixth district. S. T. Logan; seventh dis-
trict, J. L. Dugger; eighth district, J. Trible; ninth district,
D. L. Phillips.
The districts were then called, and the delegates suggested
names as requested, which reports were referred to the last
above named committee.
The committee appointed to recommend the names of suit-
able persons for candidates for the several state offices yet
vacant, submitted the following report :
For secretary of state — Ozias M. Hatch, of Pike county.
For state treasurer — James Miller, of McLean.
Convention, May '2H, 1850.
157
James Miller, Bloomington, 111.
Born November 23, 1795. Virginia; died September 23, 1872, merchant, land
owner. State Treasurer 18,56 to isfiO; see Good Old Times McLean Counts- 308 and
Volume II, Transactions McLean County Historical Society.
158 Anti-Nebraska Republican
For state auditor — Jesse K. Dubois, of Lawrence.
For superintendent of common schools — Wm. H. Powell,
of Peoria.
Which report was received by the convention, and unani-
mously adopted.
With this report the committee also laid before the con-
vention a letter from James Miller, Esq., of McLean county,
stating that he had not nor did he intend to accept the nomina-
tion recently tendered him for the office of state treasurer, by
the American party of Illinois ; that he never had, nor did he
now belong to that order.
The committee appointed to recommend the names of
suitable persons as presidential electors and delegates to the
national convention submitted the following report, which was
unanimously adopted
Electors for the state at large — Abraham Lincoln, of
Sangamon; Frederick Hecker, of St. Clair.
First district, elector — Elisha P. Ferry, of Lake.
Second district, elector — Jerome J. Beardsley, of Rock
Island ; assistant elector, J. V. Eustace, of Lee.
Third district, elector — William Fithian, of Vermilion;
assistant, Lundy.
Fourth district, elector — T. Judson Hale, of Knox; assist-
ants, T. J. Pickett, of Peoria, andWm. P. Kellogg, of Fulton.
Fifth district, elector — Abraham Jonas, of Adams; assist-
ants, James Stark and John C. Bagley.
Sixth district, elector — Wm. H. Herndon, of Sangamon;
assistant, N. M. Knapp.
Seventh district, elector — H. P. H. Bromwell, of Fayette ;
assistant S. C. Parks.
Eighth district, elector — Friend S. Rutherford, of Madi-
son ; assistant, Francis B. Anderson, of Randolph.
Ninth district, elector — David L. Phillips, of Union.
Convention, May 29, 1856. 159
DELEGATES TO THE PHILADELPHIA CONVENTION.
For the State at Large.
George Schneider, of Cook; Thomas J. Turner, of
Stephenson; J. O. Norton, of Will; J. D. Arnold, of Peoria;
G. T. Brown, of Madison ; J. B. Tenny, of Logan.
First District.
M. T. Sweet, of Stephenson; S. M. Church, of Winneba- ^
go; W. A. Little, of Jo Daviess; alternates — N. C. Geer, of
Lake; A. C. Fuller, of Boone; A. J. Joslyn, of McHenry.
Second District.
Cyrus Aldrich, E. R. Allen, N. B. Judd; alternates-
George W. Waite, Miles S. Henry, Hugh T. Dickey.
Third District.
W. H. L. Wallace, A. W. Mack, Owen Lovejoy; alter- 3
nates — B. C. Cook, Jesse Bennett, Elisha Harkness.
Fourth District.
T. J. Pickett, of Peoria; A. C. Harding, of Warren; W. P.
Myers, of Mercer; alternates — Daniel Cheever, of Tazewell; .'
Silas Ramsey, of Marshall; J. H. Howe, of Henry; W. P. Kel-
logg, of Fulton; T. J. Henderson, of Stark; J. D. Arnold, of
Peoria.
Fifth District.
John Tillson, C. B. Lawrence, Wm. Ross; alternates — C.
S. Cowan, \\'. B. Powers, N. G. Wilcox.
Six til District.
John AI. Palmer, N. M. Knapp, A. Lincoln; alternates — \
P. P. Enos, W. H. Bailhache, M. Green, David Pierson,
Joseph Cassel.
Scventli District.
A. C.Johns, of Macon; Leander Munsell, of Edgar; A.
B. Archer, of Clark; alternates — Anderson McPheeters, of ^
Moultrie; T. A. IMarshall, of Coles; J. W. Clemens, of Macon.
160 Anti- Nebraska Republican
EightJi District.
M. G. Atvvood, of Madison; Francis Grumm, of St. Clair;
D. K. Green, of Marion; alternates — J. C. Holbrook, of Ran-
dolph, Dr. Carpenter, of St. Clair, Miller, of Washington.
Ninth District.
B. L. W^iley, of Union; Edward Holden, of Jackson;
John Olney. of Gallatin.
The committee appointed to prepare and report resolutions
expressive of the sense of this convention, submit the follow-
ing report, which was unanimously adopted.
Whereas, The present administration has prostituted its
powers, and devoted all its energies to the propagation of
slavery, and to its extension into territories heretofore dedi-
cated to freedom, against the known wishes of the people of
such territories, to the suppression of the freedom of speech,
and of the press ; and to the revival of the odious doctrine of
constructive treason, which has always been the resort of ty-
rants, and their most powerful engine of injustice and oppres-
sion ; and.
Whereas, We are convinced that an etTort is making to
subvert the principles, and ultimately to change the form of
our government, and which it becomes all patriots, all who
love their country, and the cause of human freedom to resist;
therefore
Rcsolc'cd, That foregoing all former differences of opin-
ion upon other questions, we pledge ourselves to unite in op-
position to the present administration, and to the party which
upholds and supports it, and to use all honorable and constitu-
tional means to wrest the government from the unworthy
hands which now' control it, and bring it back in its adminis-
tration to the principles and practices of Washington, Jeffer-
son and their great and good compatriots of the revolution.
Resolved, That we hold, in accordance with the opinions
and practices of all the great statesmen of all parties, for the
first sixty years of the administration of the government, that,
under the constitution, congress possesses full power to pro-
Convent }()7K Mtiy 29, ISod 161
hibit slavery in the territories; and that wliilst we will main-
tain all constitntional ri^iits of the south, we also hold that jus-
tice, hunianit\-, the prineiples of freedom as expressed in our
Declaration of Independence, and our national constitution
and the ])urity and perpetuity of our government, require that
power should he exerted to prevent the extension of slavery
into territories heretofore free.
Resolved, That the rei)eal of the Missouri Compromise
was unwise, unjust and injurious; an open and aggravated
violation of the plighted faith of the states, and that the at-
tempt of the present administration to force slavery into Kansas
against the known wishes of the legal voters of that territory,
is an arbitrary and tyrannous violation of the rights of the peo-
ple to govern themselves, and that we will strive by all consti-
tutional means, to secin^e to Kansas and Nebraska the legal
guarantee against slavery of which they were de])rived at the
cost of the A'iolation of the plighted faith of the nation.
Rcsidi'cd , That we are devoted to the Union, and will to
[he last extremity, defend it against the efforts now being made
by the disunionists oi the administration to compass its dis-
solution, and that we will su])port the constitution of the Uni-
ted States in all its prc^xisions ; regarding it as the sacred bond
of our Union, and the onl}- safeguard for the preser\'ation of
the rights of ourselves and our posterity.
/?rs-()/r'('(/, That we are in favor of the immediate admis-
sion of Kansas as a member of this confederacy, under the con-
stitution adopted by the people of said territory.
Resolved, That the spirit of our institutions, as well as
the constitution of our country guarantee the liberty of
conscience as well as political freedom, and that we will ])ro-
scribe no one. by legislation or otherwise, on account of re-
ligious opinions, or in consequence of place of birth.
Resoli'ed, That in Lxman Trumbull, om- distino-uished
senator, the ])eople of Illinois ha\e an able and consistent ex-
ponent of their ])rincii)les. and that his course in the senate
meets with our un(|ualiried approbation.
Which report was received and unanimously adopted.
1(32 Anti-NebraHka Bepublican
Mr. Wentworth submitted the following resolution which
was unanimously adopted :
Resolved, That we are in favor of the strictest economy
in the administration of our state government and a faithful
application of all its revenues to the liquidation of (un" state
debt. And that the practice of using our state funds for the
purpose of private speculations, whereby a very large defalca-
tion has occurred in our state treasury, cannot be too severely
censured; and we therefore take issue with the resolution of
the recent convention at Springfield which endorsed the course
of our present governor.
Mr. Skinner offered the following resolution, which was
unanimously adopted :
Resolved, That a committee of five be appointed to act as
a central committee for the purpose of calling future conven-
tions, and to fill vacancies in our nomination (in cases where
the nominations may become vacant, and it may be too late to
call a convention to fill the same,) and do such other business
as usually devolves upon central committees ; and also to act as
a disbursing committee of such funds as may come to their
hands. Whereupon the following committee was appointed :
CENTRAL COMMITTEE.
James C. Conkling, Sangamon county ;AsahelGridley, Mc-
Lean county; B. C. Cook, LaSalle county; Charles H. Ray,
Cook county; N. B. Judd, Cook county.
Mr. Wm. A. James, of Cook, offered the following reso-
lution, which was adopted.
Resolved, That this convention recommend every town
in every county in the state to form Anti-Nebraska clubs, for
the purpose of effecting a thorough organization of the party
prior to the ensuing election.
George T. Brown, of Madison, submitted the following
resolution, which was unanimously adopted, amid deafening
shouts, cheers and other manifestations of excited approbation.
Convention, May 2!>, 1850. 163
Resolved, That Stephen A. Douglas, having laid his
"ruthless hand" upon a sacred compact, which had "an origin
akin to that of the constitution," and which had "become
canonized in the hearts of the American people," has given
the lie to his past histor}-, proved himself recreant to the free
])rinciples of this government, violated the confidence of the
people of Illinois, and now holds his seat in the senate while he
misrepresents them.
Mr. Jndd offered the following resolution, which was
adopted :
Resolved, That the thanks of this convention are hereby
tendered to the citizens of Bloomington for their kind hospi-
talities, and also to the committee of arrangements for the sat-
isfactory manner in which they have discharged their self-im-
posed duties towards this body.
On motion of O. H. Browning:
Resolved, That the proceedings of this convention be
signed by the officers and published by all the Anti-Nebraska
papers in the state.
On motion of H. N. Hibbard :
Resolz'ed, That the thanks of this convention be tendered
to the presiding officers for the able and impartial manner in
which they have discharged their duties.
On motion the committee adjourned sine die.
John M. Palmer, president.
Vice-presidents — J. A. Davis, Wm. Ross, James McKie,
J. H. Bryant, A. C. Harding, Richard Yates, H. C. Johns, D.
L. Phillips, George Smith, T. A. Marshall, J. M. Ruggles, G.
D. A. Parks, John Clark.
Secretaries — H. T. Baker, C. L. Wilson, John Tillson,
W. Bushnell, B. J. F. Hanna.
A full, true and correct copy from the files of the "Jour-
nal" of Springfield, 111., of May 30, 1856.
Henry C. Ranney,
Copyist.
164 Anti-Nebraska MejmbUcan
The convention of .May 29, 1856, although called as a delegate conven-
tion, did not strictly preserve that character but rather resolved itself into a
mass convention, as in several instances parties acted as officers of the convention
whose names do nut appear on the official roll as delegates at all.
In severalcounties the Chicago Prettn and also Chicago Democrat give additional
delegates to those given in the official list. We give below the delegates in these
counties as they appear in these papers:
Bureau County— Charles C. Kelsey, George Radcliffe, George W. Stipp, jr.,
John H. Bryant.
Lee County— E. M. Ingals, J. V. Eustace, Dr. Charles Gardner, John Dixon,
Dr. Oliver Everett, George E. Haskell, Lorenzo Wood, Benjaman F. Shaw, Dr.
Adams, Thomas W. Eustace, Andrew McPherson, S. R. Upham, Cyrus Aldrich,
Joseph Crawford, James L. Camp, William E. Ives. Oziss Wheeler, Jerome Porter,
A. A. Benjamin, S. G. Patrick, S. .S. Williams, I. S. Boardman, David Welty, George
R. Linn, Benjamin Oilman.
McDonough County— L. H. Walters, C. W. Craig, J. E. Wynne, S. P. Higbe,
Anthony Corker.
Ogle County— Charles C. Royce, F. A. McNiff, G. W. Southwick.
Richland County— Edward Kitchell.
La Salle County— Washington Bushnell was one of the secretaries of the
convention although he does not appear on the official list of delegates.
In the official list of Mason county J. M. Ruggles does not appear as a dele-
gate but he acted as one of the vice-presidents of the convention and we have
added his name to the list.
In McLean county the official list gives the alternates as the attending dele-
gates. We have given the delegates and alternates as elected. The delegates
evidently attended, as Gen. W. W. Orme, one of them, was one of the officers of
the convention.
David McWilliamsof Liviujiston county also attended as a delegate and we
have added his name to the official list.
Elisha Harkness of Champaign county was also elected and attended as a
delegate from that county and we have added his name to the official list.
The delegates and alternates elected from St. Clair county were as follows:
Delegates: Alternates:
Philip H. Eisenmayer, H. G. Harrison,
J. B. Hoppe, S. Anderson,
Dr. Charles Vincenz, Conrad Bowman,
Nathaniel Niles, Dr. F. A. Carpenter
J. Thomas. Edward Abend.
The delegates and alternates elected from Randolph county were:
Delegates: Alternates:
Thomas McClucken, B. J. F. Hanna,
Caspar Horn, R. J. Hanna,
We have taken great pains to obtain a correct roll of the delegates attending
the convention but in many instances it has been impossible to verify the list and
there doubtless still remains many errors in it.
The electoral ticket 'nominated at this convention was defeated by the
following vote:
Buchanan and Breckenridge, democrats 105,348
Fremont and Dayton, republicans .. 96,189
Plurality for Buchanan and Breckenridge 9.159
Fillmore and Donaldson, American or Know-Nothing 37,444
Republican (96,189) and American (37.444) vote 133,633
Democratic vote 105,348
Majority of votes against democratic ticket '. 87,S85
The state ticket nominated by this convention was elected as follows:
Gov. Bissell. rep.... 111,375 W. A. Richardson, dem., 106,643 Bissell's plur'lty 4,7.33
Lieut-Gov..Wood,r, 110,.534 Hamilton, dem 106,-«>7 Wood's " 4,237
Sec. State, Hatch, r, 115.538 Snvder. dem 106,610 Hatch's '■ 8.928
Auditor, Dubois, r, 199,2,M Casey, dem 106,230 Dubois' " 3,001
Supt. S., Powell, r, 109,528 St. Mathews, dem 106,521 Powell's •' 3,007
Treasurer, Miller, r, 128,430 Moore, dem 107,448 Miller's " 20,982
Congressional— Rep., 118,011; dem., 110,038: rep. plurality, 7,973.
Average American vote for governor, lieutenant-governor, secretary of
state, auditor and superintendent of schools, was lii,b30.— 'J')-ibune Almanac, 1S57.
James Miller, candidate for treasurer, was on both the republican and
American tickets.
E. M. PRINCE, Sec'y.
Convention, Maij J9, isr,0. I6i
Note.— The Pa/i/ar/rrt/jA of Bloomington. Illinois, of May 14, I8.56, published the
call for the convention of Maj' -'9 and beneath it published a call signed by John
M. Scott, W. C. Ilobbs, J. H. VVicki/.er, L,. Graves, J. E McC.'lun, L. I^awrence.
James Vaiidolah and Leonard Swett for a mass meeting of the voters of McLean
county, favorable to the Anti-Nehrat'ka movement, to assemble in Uloomington,
on Saturday, the 17th inst. to select three delegates to the convention. At this
mass meeting Ur. W. C. Hobbs was elected chairman and \V. W. Orme secretary.
James Gilmore, sr., Ur. Harrison Noble and William W. Orme, delegates to the
State convention and Green li. Larrison, David Cheney and A. T. Briscoe, alter-
nates. Resolutions were adopted demanding that the friends of the Union forget
old part}- associations in opposition to the extension of Slavery over free terri-
tory, declaring slave labor and free labor are incompatil)le with each other, that
our constitution does not carry nor protect slavery, except in the States, that its
f ramers did not intend to extend this institution, that the passage of the Kansas-
Nebraska act was a wilful violation of the plighted faith of the nation, an act in-
sulting to the Free States, and shamelessly in defiance of the public opinion of this
age and of all enlightened, unprejudicial people, that slaverv is a creation of
municipal law and cannot exist one moment without it, that outside State juris-
diction the constitutional power of the Federal government should be exerted to
secure life, liberty and the happiness of all men, that there should be neither
slavery nor involuntary servitude except for the punishment of crimes, in any
of the territories of the United Sta.teii. — I'dntugrap/i , May 21, 1856.
Telegrams.
The Ohio Republican Convention wa.s al.so in session
May 29. The late Jesse W. Fell and Judge Owen T.
Reeves, then a young lawyer recently from Ohio, prepared a
telegram to the Ohio convention, submitted it to General
Palmer who signed it and it was wired to Columbus. A re-
turn telegram was received and read amid great applause.
The Mrs. Robinson alluded to in the Bloomineton teleg-ram
was the wife of the first state governor of Kansas. We are
indebted to the Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society
for a copy of these telegrams. — Sec'v Historical Society.
Bloomington, III., May 29, 1856.
To the President of the Ohio Repiiblieaii Convention, Co-
lumbus.
The delegates of the free men of Illinois in convention
assembled send greeting to the free men of Ohio. William
H. Bissell is nominated for governor with the enthusiastic
acclaim by the most enthusiastic delegate convention ever
assembled in Illinois. Governor Reeder and Mrs. Robinson
are here. They liave appeared before the public and been
greeted by the wildest ap])lause. The excitement conse-.
quent upon the latest outrages at Lawrence, Kansas, is
sweeping like wildfire over the land.
John M. Palmer.
166 Ant i- Nebraska Uepublican
Columbus, Ohio, May 29, 1856.
To the Republican Convention of Illiiwis, Bloomington:
Ohio and Illinois respond. The announcement of the
p-allant Bissell's nomination was received with tumultuous
cheers. The names of Governor Reeder and Mrs. Robin-
son were greeted with three cheers from the thousands as-
sembled here. Judge Hunt and General Lane, of Kansas,
are here and speak this evening. All is enthusiasm.
Oliver P. Brown.
President.
(The "Democratic Press" of May 31. 1856, gives the fol-
lowing, which should be added to above) :
The convention w^as then addressed at length by Messrs.
Browning, Lovejoy, Lincoln and Cook, and adjourned with
nine cheers for the ticket and as many more for the nominees.
Chicago Democrat of June 7, 1856.
TKe Bloomington Convention.
ANTI-NEBRASKA STATE CONVENTION.
A State convention of the Anti-Nebraska party in Illinois
will be held in the city of Bloomington, on Thursday the 29th
day of May, 1856, for the purpose of choosing candidates for
state officers, appointing delegates to the national convention,
transacting such other business as may properly come before
the body. The committee have adopted as the basis of repre-
sentation the ratio of one delegate to every 6,000 inhabitants,
and an additional delegate for every fractional number of 2,-
000 and over; but counties that contain less than 6,000 in-
habitants are entitled to one delegate.
Wm. B. Ogden, S. M. Church,
E. A. Dudley, Thos.J. Pickett,
R. J. Oglesby, G. D. A. Parks,
Ira O. Wilkinson, W. H. Herndon,
Joe Gillespie. D. L. Phillips.
Convention, Man --'^ 1S5G.
167
We never met a more determined and encouraged body of
men than at the late Anti-Slavery Extension State Convention.
It is a remarkable fact, that a majority of the delegates voted
for General Pierce, as also did a majority of the nominees.
One of our candidates for elector, Mr. Ferry, was upon
the Pierce and King ticket.
Imitating the example of the slavery extension conven-
tion, the old party lines did not come up, and Mr. Lincoln, a
talented old line Whig, was placed upon the ticket as an offset
^^^r^
Richard J. Oglesby
Born in Kentucky 1824, admitted to the
liar 1845, served in Mexican War, three years
mining in California, elected State Senator
in 1860, Colonel 8th. Illinois Volunteers 1861,
promoted Brigadier and afterwards Major
General, elected Governor of Illinois in 1864
1873 and 1884.
U. S. Senator 1873 to 1879. Died at Elkhart,
Illinois, April 24, 1899.
Bj' permission and courtesy of the S. S
McClure Co.
-^^r
to Mr. Constable, an old political associate of Mr. Lincoln, but
who now goes for slavery extension.
Mr. Hecker, of St. Clair, one of the electors at large, is
one of the most talented men in the United States. He was
a leader in the last German revolution, and was for many years
the radical leader in the German parliament.
The southern delegates gave the lie to the story so often
repeated by the slavery extensionists, viz., that all the old
Henry Clay Whigs were intending to vote the slavery exten-
sion ticket. The Henry Clay Whigs are divided at the south
exactly as they are every where else. Those who have an in-
terest in slavery, remote or direct, favor making Kansas a slave
state, and will vote for Richardson. The others will vote for
Bissell.
168 Anti-Nebraska Rt'publkxui
Several young men in southern Illinois have been to Kan-
sas. Some have been massacred, and some have come home
to tell the story of their wrongs. The people there have been
much aroused by recent events, and will give a good account
of themselves in November.
Colonel Bissell is favorably known all through southern
Illinois, and his friends are confident that he will get a very
large vote there.
(From ''Democratic Press" of May 30, 1856.) Editorial
correspondence.
the anti-nebraska convention.
Pike House, Bloomington,
May 29, 9 a.m.
The train arrived here an hour as^o. We found the citv
full of people. The verandahs, halls and doorways of the
Pike House are crowded with a dense mass of delegates. Men
are here from all parts of the state. Egypt is in council with
us. It is a spontaneous outpouring of the people.
Governor Reeder came down with us from Chicago. His
arrival has added to the enthusiasm. He will address the peo-
ple some time today.
While I am writing speakers are addressing the people
from the portico of the Pike House. The feeling is intense,
and in every bosom beats the stern resolve to relieve our noble
state from the stigma under which it now rests. Illinois
furnished the "ruthless hand" which broke down the barrier
erected by our patriot fathers against the spread of slavery.
Her people must repudiate the act. They will do it. Mark
that.
Last evening, I am informed, speaking was kept up in
front of the hotel until a late hour. The venerable Colonel
Dixon, of Lee county, led off in a speed 1 that produced a pow-
erful impression. He was followed by Messrs. Lincoln,
Palmer, Washburn, Doctor Schroeder, and others.
The feeling is strong for Bissell and Hoffman. Present
indications are that these gentlemen will be nominated by ac-
clamation.
Convention, May 29, 1856.
169
Fredekick Hecker
Born September 28. 1811. Baden, Germany: died 1881. General Revolutionar
'^'^»™^'T^i^"'™^">' '-^^= Colonel Hih Illinois Volunteers, War of Rebellion Nomi-
nated Elector at large convention May 29, 1856.
ry
170 Anti- Nebraska Republican
12, m. — The convention was called to order at lo o'clock,
and organized temporarily by the appointment of Archibald
Williams, chairman, H. S. Baker and George F. Brown, sec-
retaries.
A committee of nine was appointed to nominate perma-
nent officers of the convention. While the committee were out
a stirring address was delivered by Mr. Emory, of Kansas.
Mr. Emory went to Kansas a Pierce man, but when the lead-
ers of the Pierce Democracy made the admission of slavery a
test of party fealty he left the party. INIr. Emory detailed the
past difficulties and present perils of the Free State party in
Kansas in a most graphic manner, eliciting feeling responses
from the audience.
In taking the chair the president delivered a neat and
appropriate address, thanking the convention for the honor
conferred, and expressing his readiness to co-operate with all
good men in meeting the issues that have been forced upon the
free north.
Mr. Munsell, of Edgar county, moved the nomination of
Colonel Bissell, for governor, by acclamation, which was re-
ceived with tremendous cheering. George T. Brown, Esq.,
of Alton, asked permission to lay before the convention the
following letter from Colonel Bissell, before acting upon Mr.
Munsell's motion.
(For letter see ''officiar' report.)
The reading of this letter was received with the unbound-
ed enthusiasm, and when the motion was put, the entire con-
vention rose to their feet, and ratified the nomination by cheer
after cheer.
When silence was again restored, Judge Xiles, of St. Clair,
moved the nomination of Francis A. Hoffman, of DuPage
county for lieutenant-governor, which motion was carried
unanimously by acclamation, amidst enthusiastic cheering.
A motion to adjourn was voted down, and Hon. Richard
Yates responded to a call of the audience in a stirring speech,
after which the convention adjourned till 2 p.m.
Convention, May 29, 1856.
171
o
a
172 Aidi-NebixiHka lit'iniblican
Committees were appointed on resolutions and nomina-
tions, which will report at the afternoon session. About one
thousand people were present at the sitting- of the convention.
This evening Governor Reeder will address the people
in the court house square. Greater enthusiasm I have never
witnessed, and the most cheering accounts are brought in by
the delegates from the different portions of the state. Illinois
must be true to herself. The ticket put in nomination here to-
day must be elected.
From the" Democratic Press," May 31, 1856. Editorial
correspondence.
THE BLOOMINGTON CONVENTION.
Bloomington, May 29, 11 p.m.
The afternoon session of the convention was full of in-
terest. The reports of committees on nominations for re-
mainder of state ticket, electors, delegates, etc., were promptly
made and cordially accepted.
The commmitte on resolutions reported about 4 o'clock.
Each resolution was received with applause. They appeared to
meet the expectation and fill the desires of every delegate. A
single amendment was offered to the second resolution, but it
was withdrawn after a brief discussion, and the resolutions
were adopted without a dissenting voice.
Then commenced the speaking. O. H. Browning, of
Quincy, was first called to the stand. His remarks were ad-
dressed mainly to the old Clay-Whigs. He read extracts from
the speeches of Henry Clay from his first entrance upon public
life down to the close of his career, all of which proved him
to have been steadfastly and uniformly opposed to the spread
of slavery into free territory, and that had he still been upon the
stage of action when his great measures of pacification — the
Missouri Compromise — was ruthlessly violated, his voice and
vote would ha\'e been the same in 1S54, that they were in 1820.
Mr. Browning's vindication of the character of Henry Clay
from the imputations cast upon it by the slavery extensionists
of the present day, who profess to find in his political life evi-
Convention, May 2'.), ISoH.
173
V>\^vWvAiK{puK%-:v
Orville H. Browning
Born in Kentucky ISlO.died at Quincy.Illinois.August 10, 1881: admitted to the bar
and removed to Quincy. Illinois 183l; served in Black Hawk War. State Senator
1836 to 1840 and House 1840 to 1843. Delegate to Republican National Convention
18t30. U. S. Senator 1861 to 1863. Secretary Interior 1866 to 1869.
By permission and courtesy of the Century Co.
174 Anti-Nebraska Republican
dence that, if living, he would now be ranged side by side with
them, was conclusive and triumphant. There were numbers
of the admirers and political adherents of the great Kentucky
statesman present, some of them southerners like himself, oth-
ers of northern origin, and not one of them but felt that the
truth of history had been successfully vindicated, and the char-
acter of their former chief placed beyond the aspersions of
those who are seeking to sanctify with his name a great crime
from which he should have shrunk as from dishonor.
Mr. Browning was followed by Owen Lovejoy, of Prince-
ton, in an eloquent and telling speech of half an hour. Mr.
Lovejoy stated that he had never proposed and never would
propose any political action by congress with respect to slavery
in the states where it now exists. — He opposed its extension —
that was all. He referred to the fact that his political oppon-
ents had always misrepresented him on this subject. Individ-
ually he did not care for that, but he was determined that the
cause with which he was identified should not be injured
through these misrepresentations. Many who heard Mr.
Lovejoy for the first time were agreeably disappointed by his
declaration of sentiments on the political aspect of the slavery
question, and his eloquent appeal in favor of the cause in
which they were embarked, as defined in the resolutions just
adopted by the convention, will not soon be forgotten by them.
Abraham Lincoln, of Springfield, was next called out,
and made the speech of the occasion. Never has it
been our fortune to listen to a more eloquent and mas-
terly presentation of a subject. I shall not mar any
of its fine proportions or brilliant passages by attempt-
ing even a synopsis of it . Mr. Lincoln must write it out
and let it go before all the people. For an hour and a half he
held the assemblage spell bound by the power of his argument,
the intense irony of his invective, and the deep earnestness and
fervid brilliancy of his eloquence. When he concluded, the
audience sprang to their feet and cheer after cheer told how
deeply their hearts had been touched, and their souls warmed
up to a generous enthusiasm.
Convention, May 29, 1856.
175
It was now / o'clock, and the large hall was still densely
packed and ihe people refused to go. Burton C. Cook, of Ot-
tawa, was called to the stand. His speech was pointed and
efifective. He alluded to the fact that not only the admirers
of the Sage of Ashland were called upon to repel attempts to
link the name of their departed chieftain with the great Amer-
ican crime of extending slavery into free territory. His own
political idol had also been invoked in aid of the same base
purpose. The Sage of Monticello, the author of the Declara-
tion of Independence, and of the ordinances of 1787 — the im-
4'
.y
:/
Owen Lovejoy
Born at Albion, Maine, January 6,
ISH; died March :i5. 186-1: moved to Al-
ton, niinois. and was present when his
brother Elijah was murdered; in 1838
he became minister of the Congrega-
tional church at Princeton, 111. , but de-
voted most of his time to anti-slavery
meetings; 1854 elected to the Legisla-
ture, 18.'S6 to his death a member of
congress. A peerless, fearless anti-
slavery agitator.
By permission and courtesy of the
Century Co.
mortal Jefferson — his name, too, had been desecrated by the
conspirators. But these attempts to falsify history, and to
couple a heinous crime with our illustrious dead, would yet
react upon those who, by such means, endeavor to shield them-
selves from the indignation of an outraged people. Mr. Cook
in a very humorous way, illustrated the vacillating course of the
leaders of the Democratic party in Illinois, and concluded with
a glowing tribute to Colonel Bissell. and an appeal to those who
had enlisted under so gallant a leader to see to it that his ban-
ner is not permitted now for the first time to be trailed in the
dust.
176 Ant i- Nebraska Republican
Then the convention adjourned sine die, with nine cheers
for the ticket, and as many more for the cause.
After supper from six to eight thousand persons assem-
bled in the court liouse square to hear Governor Reeder. I re-
gret my inabihty to report his speech. It occupied more than
three hours in the dehvery, and was hstended to with the most
intense interest by that \ast multitude. Governor Reeder re-
counted in a plain, unvarnished manner, the series of outrages
to which the settlers in Kansas had lieen exposed, and made
evident the complicity of the federal government in those out-
rages. He showed how Kansas had been subjugated by the
slave power of this country, partly through the connivance,
and partly through the direct agency of the general govern-
ment. The points made were clear and unanswerable. That
speech if delivered throughout the nation, would leave it with
but a single party, and a single purpose in it, so far as the
masses are concerned. It showed the existence of a despotism
with which there is nothing in the old world that will bear the
slightest comparison. — a disregard of life and of property, and
of all the rights of individuals, the like of which, even in the
feeblest governments of the world, can nowhere else be found.
— Occasionally, when describing the results of what now pre-
dominates on our frontier, or when contrasting the differences
between what Kansas and the whole national domain east of
the Pacific would be if consecrated to freedom, and what it
must become should the great conspiracy to make a slave state
of Kansas, prove successful. Governor Reeder's elocjuence
assumed a high character, but he avoided everything like dec-
lamation throughout his speech. There was deep feeling
and strong passion aroused, and an irrepressible sympathy for
our fellow-citizens in Kansas who were the victims of the
wrongs and outrages recounted, but they were feelings and pas-
sions and sympathies awakened by the simple statement of
facts as they had occurred wdthin the knowledge and under the
immediate observation of the speaker.
But I can say no more now. The up train by which I
design sending this will pass in a few moments, and I must
Conveution, May 29, 185G. 177
close it up. I am satisfied, let me say however, before closing,
that this clay's deliberation have made an impress upon the
public mind and heart that will not fade out during the present
generation. The lire kindled here will spread throughout the
state, and when the ides of November shall have passed away,
Illinois will have entered a most emphatic protest against her
recreant senator, and against her other representatives whose
action has been instrumental in bringing the present perils upon
the country.
Nicolax & Hay's History of Abraham Lincoln, Vol., 2,
p. 27.
"There were stirring speeches by eloquent leaders, eagerly
listened to, and vociferously applauded; but scarcely a man
moved from his seat in the convention hall until Mr. Lincoln
had been heard. E\ery one felt the fitness of his making the
closing argument and exhortation, and right nobly did he
honor their demand. A silence full of emotion filled the as-
sembly, as for a moment l^efore beginning, his tall form stood
in commanding attitude on the rostrum, the impressiveness of
his theme and the significance of the occasion reflected in his
thoughtful and earnest features. The spell of the hour was
visibly upon him, and holding his audience in rapt attention,
he closed in a brilliant peroration with an appeal to the people
to join the Republican standard, to
Come as the winds come, when forests are rended;
Come as the waves come, when navies are stranded.
The influence was irresistible: the audience rose and ac-
knowledged the speaker's power with cheer upon cheer. Un-
fortunately the speech was never reported ; but its effect lives
vividly in the memory of all who heard it, and it crow^ned his
right to popular leadership in his own state wdiich thereafter
was never disputed."
Letter of John H. Bryant, one of the vice-presidents of
the convention, to the Evening Post of New^ York City, of
178 Anti- Nebraska Eepublican
which his brother, the poet, WilHam Cullen Bryant, was
editor.
Princeton^ III., June 5, 1856.
You have some days since heard of our glorious conven-
tion at Bloomington on the 29th ult. It was indeed a glorious
meeting. All parts of the state were represented, and all
seem of one heart and one mind. There was no intriguing, no
log-rolling, to secure votes for this or that candidate. The
question, and the only question, seemed to be, who will best
represent our principles, and at the same time secure the votes
of the people.
Happily on this point there was but one opinion, and the
entire ticket was nominated and all the business of the con-
vention executed without a difference of opinion worth naming.
The convention was the largest, and contained more strong,
earnest, truth-loving men, than were ever assembled at once be-
fore in our state. Old Democrats, old Whigs, and old Liberty
men, who had never acted otherwise than with their respective
parties before, here acted shoulder to shoulder, united by a feel-
ing of common sympathy in devising means to save our heritage
of liberty from destruction, and to drive back the all-grasping
power of slavery, to its acknowledged bounds. I doubt if such
unity and enthusiasm, in so large a body who have never be-
fore acted together, was ever before witnessed. No well-in-
formed man has now any doubt as to the position Illinois will
occupy in November next. The ticket placed before the peo-
ple by the convention at Bloomington, with Bissell at its head,
will sweep the state by at least 20,000 majority. I know that
you eastern people have always put us down as a Nebraska
state, or, at best, doubtful. Illinois will cast her votes for the
candidates nominated at Philadelphia, and no mistake. Just
look at it. In 1852, General Pierce with a smooth sea and the
wind fair in his sail, only carried the state over Scott and Hale
by 6,000 votes. In 1854 after the passage of the Nebraska
bill, his party was beaten on congressional candidates by more
that 15,000. Now after two years of misrule — after the burn-
ings and butcheries of Kansas have roused up the people to a
Convention, May 29, 1850. 179
feeling of deeper indignation than was ever before known in
this country, with the most popular state ticket ever placed be-
fore them, is it unreasonable to suppose that we can carry the
state against Douglas and his followers? Besides all the
changes among our old settlers in our favor, and they may be
counted by thousands, even within the last three months, we
have gained other thousands by emigration, for the emigration
of the last two years has been largely in our favor.
Let our eastern friends then no longer despond or despair
in resrard to Illinois. She is safe for freedom and the con-
stitution — for republicanism and right. If you. of the Atlan-
tic states, can give us Pennsylvania, it is all we ask of you.
Give us Pennsylvania and we are safe. I hear of meetings,
large and enthusiastic, in all parts of the state, held to ratify
our state ticket, and give aid to the free state settlers of Kan-
sas. At these meetings many of the old Democrats renounce
their allegiance to their party, and declare in favor of ours.
If these things continue, we shall hardly have more than one
party by November. We are raising large amounts of money,
horses, cattle, wagons, and other articles, to send to Kansas to
sustain and encourage the free state settlers there. Almost every
county in northern Illinois has had, or will have its meetings
for this purpose, and the spirit and liberality manifested, shows
how deeply the people are excited and aroused. ]\Iany people
are going to Kansas from this vicinity to try their fortunes as
settlers. They will go in companies across Iowa, prepared to
defend themselves. There is no disposition here to give the
matter up, as long as there is any hope of making a free state
there. Still, the feeling is that the result of the presidential
election will decide the fate of our western territories, in regard
to freedom and slavery. If we cannot beat the slave power
at the polls, we certainly cannot defeat their designs in Kansas,
when they have the immense power of the general government
in their hands. J. H. B.
180 Anti-Nebraska Republican
"The Lost Speech."
At the convention of i8.s6, enthused by the sympathy of
the audience and feehng; perhaps a prophetic insig-ht into the
future. Mr. Lincohi made one of his .s:reat speeches, great
even for him in which he showed the sinfuhiess of slavery and
the need of a new party to curb the agigfressions of the slave
power, and so preserve the Union from impending destruction.
His audience spell-bound by his eloquence and earnestness
listened onlv to applaud. The rei)orters. affected the same as
the other hearers, made no notes of the siieech. This has been
called the "Lost Speech" of Mr. Lincoln. Since then portions
of this speech have lingered in men's minds like some half
forgotten music which one thinks he can recall, but regretfully
linds it an elusive dream. Latelv there has been published a
"Lost Speech" made up from alleged notes.
The INIcLean Countv Historical Societv does not think
it proper to send out a report of this re-union without stating
that in this communitv, where manv now li\'ing heard the great
speech and where Mr. Lincoln was so well known and loved,
all of his friends consider the speech still lost.
The Historical Society had hoped to recover from the
iTiemory of the still living hearers some portions of that speech
but found their efforts in vain.
Cvnvi'nti(j)i, Maij 2'.i, ISJO.
181
INDEX.
Bulletin Account of Meeting-, May 29, 1900
Pantagraph Account of Meeting-, May 29, 1900
Social Reunion, May 29, 1900
Schneider, George
Palmer, John M
Introductory Note, E. M. Prince
Missouri Compromise. E. M. Prince
Compromise of 1850, E. M. Prince
Missouri Compromise. Repeal of, E. M. Prince
Republican Convention, 1854, E. M. Prince
Eighth Judicial Circuit, Illinois, E. M. Prince
Fe\], Jesse W., E. M. Prince
Swett, Leonard, E. M. Prince
Davis, David, E. M. Prince ....
Program of Meeting
Introductory Address, by President Davis
Call for Convention
Roll of Convention, Calling
Welcome, Address of, /. W. Fifer
Fifer, Joseph W., Address of Welcome, .
Convention of May 29, 185(1, Importance, J. W. Fifty
Selby, Paul, Editorial Convention February 29, 1850
Selby, Paul, Republican State Convention of 1854
Editorial Convention, February 22, 1856, Paul Selby
Missouri Compromise, Paul Selbi/
Jacksonville Anti-Slavery Men, Paul Selby
Newspapers Participating- in . . .
Lincoln at Editorial Convention, Paul Selby
Ray, Charles n., Paul Selby . . . .
Schneider, George. Paul Selby
Platform Editorial Convention. Paul Selby
Pittsburg Convention, February 21, 1856
Republican State Convention, 1S54. Paul Selby
Vocke, William, the Germans and German Press
Germans, The, and German Press, William Vocke
Slaverv. William Voclr
Republican Party, Origin of, William Vocle
Germans, Drifted to Democratic Party, William TocAv
Germans, Attitude Towards Slavery, William Vocke
Germans, Slaveholders hatred of, William Vocke
PAGE.
9
10
12
12, 90
13
14
14
14
15
16
16
21
22
23
24
25
25
25
26
26
28
30
43
30
31
33
36
37
37
38
37
41
43
49
49
49
50
51
51
52
182 Index.
PAGE.
Schneider, George, and Mass Meeting, William Vocke . . 53, 56
Douglas, Stephen A., burnt in effigy, William Vocke ... 53
German Press Opposed to Slavery, William Vocke .... 54
Germans, The, Charles Sumner 55
Germans, The, Loyalty to Union, William Vocke .... 55
Palmer, John M . 113, 114, 170
Douglas, Stephen A., Report on Repeal Missouri Compromise . 117
Douglas, Stephen A,, Repeal Mo. Comp., Jolm M. Palmer . . 118
Anti-Nebraska Democrats, Position of. John M. Palmer . . 119
Missouri Compromise, John 31. Palmer 120
Abolitionism, John M. Palmer ' . 120
Douglas and Palmer, Interview, John J/. Palmer .... 121
Trumbull Elected Senator . ' 122
Davis, Fell and Swett, .fohn 31. Palmer 124
Morrison, Isaac L. 102
The "Whigs and Whig Leaders of Illinois, Isaac L. 3Iorrison . 102
Texas, Annexation of, isaaci. Jkfomson 104
Clay, Henry, Isaac L. 3Iorrison 104
Webster, Daniel, i.sortc L. 3Iorrison 104
Illinois Legislature, Instructions 1849, Isaac L. 3Iorrison . . 105
California. Admission of, Isaac L. 3Iorrison 106
Compromise of 18.')0. Isaac L. Morrison 106
Fugitive Slave Law, Isaac L, Morrison 106
Compromise of 1850, Wisdom of. Isaac L. Morrison .... 106
Whig National Convention, 1852, Isaac L. 3lorrison .... 106
Missouri Compromise, Repeal of, Isaac L. Morrison . . . 107
Anti-Nebraska Party, Isaac L. 31orrison 107
Trumbull, Lyman. Elected Senator, Isaac L. Morrison . . . 108
Whig Leaders Who Joined Republican Party, Isaac L. 3[orrison . 108
Whig Leaders Who Joined Democratic Party, Isaac L. Morrison . 109
Republican Party, Its Achievements, isaac i, J/ormo?i . . 112
Lincoln, Zsaac L. 3Iorrison 112
Shaw. Benjamin F 26, 59
Owen Lovejoy, Abolitionists and Republican Party. B. F. Shaw . 59
Republican Party, Achievements of, Benjamin F. Shaw . 59
Abolitionists, Prejudice Against, iJenjamm i^. *S/mi« ... 60
Constitutional Abolitionists 62
Church, The, and Abolitionism, Benjamin F. Shaiv . . .60
Funk, Isaac, Benjamin F. Shaw 66
Missouri Compromise, Repeal of, Benjamin F. Shaic ... 66
Kansas. Attempt to Force Slavery on, Benjamin F. Shato . . 66
Lincoln at Editorial Convention, Story of, Benjamin F. Shavj . 68
Lincoln, Southerner Interview with, Benjamin F. Shaw . . 69
Lovejoy, Constitution to Protect Liberty, Benjamin F. Shaw . 71
Lovejoy, Address at Freeport, Benjamin F. Shaw .... 72
Douglas, Stephen A., iJe/)jamjft i^, /S/iaw 72
Official Record of Convention, May 29, 1856 148
Delegates to Convention of May 29, 1856 149
Index.
183
Con
Cor
Bissell, W. H., Letter to Convention of May 29, 1856
Bissell,W. H., Nominated for Governor .
Hoffman, Francis A.. Nominated for Lieutenant-Governor
Officers State, Others Nominated ....
Miller, James, Letter Repudiating American Party
Electors Nominated
Delegates to Philadelphia Convention Elected
Resolutions of Convention, May 29. 1856 .
Committee. Central
Telegram to Ohio Republican Convention
Telegram. Ohio Republican Convention to Illinois Rep
McLean County Convention, Appointing Delegates to
tion May 29, 1856
Contemporaneous Accounts of Convention
Democrat, Chicago. Account of Convention
Hecker, Frederick, Democrat
Whigs, Henry Clay, Democrat
Democratic Press ....
Reeder, Governor, Press
Pike House. Mass Meeting at, Press
Editorial Correspondence of Press
Browning, O. H.. Address, Press
Lincoln, "Lost Speech," Press .
Lovejoy, Owen, Address, Press .
Reeder. Governor, Address, Press
Nicolay & Hay on Convention
Cook, B. C, Address
Bryant, John H., Letter to New York Evening
"Lost Speech, The," .
James M. Ruggles, Address
Governor Matteson Defaulter, Ruggles
Republican Party, Ruggles .
Henderson, Gen. Thomas J.
Campaign of 1856. Henderson
Convention of 1856, Importance of, Henderson
Palmer. John M., Henderson
"Lost Speech" of Lincoln, Henderson
Douglas and Lincoln Debates, 1858, Henderson
Lincoln, a Great Leader Then, Henderson
Whig Convention at Springfield, 18-10, Henderson
Nicolay, John G.,
Lincoln, Abraham, Xicolan ....
Campaign of 1856. Nicolay ....
The People and the Supreme Court, Xicolay
Lincoln Defines the Pending Issue, Nicolay
Slavery, Nicolay
Cunningham, J. O.
Going to the Convention, /. O. Cunningham
Post
PAGE.
154
155
155
156
158
158
159
160
165
166
165
ven-
166
166
166
167
167
168
168
168
172
172
174
174
176
177
175
178
. 180
74
74
76
78
78
80
80
81
82
83
84
95
95
96
99
100
100
91
92
184
Index.
The "Lost Speech," J. O. Cunningham ....
Emery, James S., Letter of
Lincoln. Effect of His Address. James S. Emery
Schneider, Gearge
Know-Nothing's and Germans, George Schneider
Slavery, Attempted Nationalization of, George Schneider
Revolution, German of 1848-9, George Schneider
Decatur Convention, George Schneider
Platform of Convention, George Schneider .
Know-Nothing-, Anti, Resolution, George Schneider
Lincoln and Know-Nothing Resolution. George Schneider
Lincoln as Prophet, George Schneider
Lincoln Gave the Philosophy of the Campaign, George Schneider
Bissell, William H., Frank M. Elliott
Bissell, Early Struggles, Frank M. Elliott
Bissell and Mexican War, Frank M. Elliott
Bissell, Representative in Congress, Frank M.
Bissell, Appearance, Frank M. Elliott
Bissell, On Slavery, Frank M. Elliott .
Bissell and Seddon of Virginia .
Bissell, Reply to Seddon ....
Illinois' Attachment to the Union, Bissell
Davis, Jefferson, Challenge to Bissell, Elliott
President Taylor Averts Duel, Elliott
Lincoln urged Bissell for Governor, Elliott
Bissell, Paralysis of, Elliott
Bissell, Address at Belleville in 185(5. Elliott
Bissell, Message to the Legislature. Elliott
Bissell, Last Sickness and Death, Elliott
Bissell, Monument to, Elliott
Miller. James
Punk, Isaac
Hecker, Frederick
Yates, Richard
Browning, O. H.
Davis, David
Swett, Leonard
Fell, Jesse W.
Lovejoy, Owen . . . .
Election of 185(3, Vote of Illinois
Hoffman, Francis A.
Oglesby, Richard J. . .
Elliott
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r
^.^atiJ
Pablications of tt)e AcLean Coant^
Historical Society,.
Volume I. War Record of McLean County and other papers,
1899, 539 pages. The society's supply of this volume were all
destroyed by the g^reat fire of June 19, 19(K), but the publishers,
The Pantagraph Printing and Stationery Company, have a few
copies. Price, $1.5».
Volume II. School Record of McLean County, and other
papers. This volume is in preparation and will be issued March.
1901. It will contain not only a complete history of the public and
private schools of the county, but sketches of many pioneers and
soldiers of the county and other valuable historical papers.
Price $3.00.
Volume IIT. Bloomington. Illinois, Republican Convention,
May 29, 185(1 187 pages, $1.50.
.
