ma I 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. y^^ ^ y .^^' \i i^\ XI #r\ 1a A. :> V \im % t>s^ .jji^'-'^^^^'^^^S^^ 9^ Committee on Publication. John H. Bubnham. George P. Davis. Ezra M. Prince. Copyrighted 1900. C<^ r pRnrACC 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 "'^ > o w > 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 >\^\ 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 i7; 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[or44i_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. (71 o P re 1 < o o n p 3 n -I O c 3 5" ■ P c o: P o ^% p S" ■X. O a 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 .^-.'*^ l^-^vi* ■ ''^ml^ ^^^% «^'^ t ^^ % 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. \'2 or> ^\i * |- 4 ^n^ 1 ^m^~' 1 1^1^ 1 5^ ^^ ' '|b^:^ i F- : i ^^^F Cm ^ ^H|r 1 f ' fl^H^- - r \ IlAx^ a - 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 93 94 93, 56, PAGE. . 93 170 170 87 87 87 88 88 89 90 90 91 91 124 124 126 128 130 131 131 132 134 135 136 138 139 139 142 146 147 157 26, 56 167, 169 170 173 23 22 22 174 164 56 167 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. .