USA > Illinois > Madison County > Centennial history of Madison County, Illinois, and its people, 1812 to 1912, Volume I > Part 34
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COUNTY SUPERINTENDENTS, 1870-1910
Prior to the constitution of 1870, school affairs of the county were presided over by a school commissioner; since then by a county superintendent of schools. Following is the list of county superintendents who have served the schools of this county since the adoption of the constitution of 1870:
1870-74, John Weaver.
1874-8, A. A. Suppiger.
1878-82, B. F. Sippy.
1882-6, James Squire.
1886-90, A. A. Suppiger.
1890-4, T. P. Dooling.
1894-8, D. M. Bishop.
1898-1902, M. Henson. 1902-6, R. L. Lowry. 1906-10, J. U. Uzzell. 1910-4, J. U. Uzzell.
MADISON COUNTY TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION
A factor in developing the splendid system of schools in Madison has been the Madison County Teachers' Association. This organi- zation includes all active public school teach- ers in the county and is presided over by a president and five members of the executive committee. It has, for years, been the prac- tice of the association to honor the county superintendent by selecting him president. The association holds quarterly one-day ses- sions at which interesting programs are ren- dered. Many noted men and women have appeared before this organization.
The records show that there was a county association of teachers in Madison county as early as 1856, when the membership did not exceed seventy-five. The organization now has four hundred sixty members.
CHAPTER XXXI
POLITICS IN THE COUNTY
WHIGS AND DEMOCRATS -- POLITICAL CONDITIONS IN ILLINOIS-POPULAR PRESIDENTIAL VOTE, 1820-1908-VOTE FOR ELECTORS, Nov. 6, 1820, AND NOV. 1, 1824-LIQUOR QUESTION, 1855 -POLITICAL SUMMARY-TEMPERANCE IN MADISON COUNTY-THE GREAT LINCOLN-DOUG- LAS DEBATE OF 1858-SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION-REVERSION TO EARLY POLITICAL TYPE.
Illinois was separated from Indiana in 1809 and became a distinct territory under the first administration of James Madison, who had been elected as a Republican over the Federal- ists, Charles C. Pinckney of South Carolina and Rufus King of New York. Under Mr. Madison's second administration Madison county was organized and named in honor of the president. The close of the second war with England, in 1815, resulted in a political realignment of parties. The main differences heretofore between the Federal and Repub- lican parties, the one headed by Hamilton and the other by Jefferson, had been upon the powers of the Federal government, the Fed- eralists contending for a strong central govern- ment and the Republicans demanding a liberal construction of the rights of the several states. The war, while it resulted in the annihilation at the polls of the Federal party, on account of their opposition to it, had also the result of forcing the Republicans to adopt, as war measures, at first, some of the political ten- ets of their opponents in order to preserve and perpetuate the government. Thus the two parties were brought almost together, and James Monroe, Republican, was elected in 1816 over Rufus King, Federalist, the latter receiving only the votes of Massachusetts, Connecticut and Delaware. The Federalists
had no candidate for vice president. This was the end of the Federal party and the beginning of "the era of good feeling," which resulted in reelection of Monroe in 1820, with but one opposing vote, which was cast for John Quincy Adams.
WHIGS AND DEMOCRATS ALIGN
Up to 1824 there were still no definitely or- ganized political parties and the presidential contest of that year was a personal one. There were four contestants: Andrew Jack- son, John Quincy Adams, William H. Craw- ford and Henry Clay. No one had a majority of the electoral votes and the choice was de- termined by the house of representatives where, by a coalition between Clay and Adams, the latter was elected. But during these years the Whig party had been forming as the suc- cessor of the Federal, under the leadership of Clay, and the votes cast for him were the nucleus of the new party.
In the next campaign the Republican party became known as the Republican-Democratic party and later as the Democratic. It sup- ported Andrew Jackson for president. Their opponents, the Clay and Adams adherents, who had been known as National Republic- ans, changed their designation to Whigs. They supported Adams for relection but were
227
228
HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY
defeated. The name Whig was assumed first by the patriots in the Revolutionary war, while the loyalists were termed Tories. The name is of Scottish origin and was at first a nick- name of the peasantry and was later applied to the Covenanters who took up arms against the oppression of the government. The op- ponents of Jackson in the next campaign for- mally assumed it as significant of their opposition to the oppressive methods of that president in office.
POLITICAL CONDITIONS IN ILLINOIS
All this is necessary to an understanding of political conditions in Illinois, in the early days. Although far removed from the scene of strife in Washington the situation in Madi- son county was affected thereby. For years Calhoun and Crawford were ambitious aspir- ants for the presidency and the tentacles of their intrigues stretched out even to Illinois. Senator Edwards was known to be a follower of Calhoun while Governor Coles was a sup- porter of Crawford. This caused a coolness between these two Illinois statesmen which kept them always in opposite camps during their careers from 1819 to the death of Ed- wards and the removal of Coles from the state, both events occurring the same year, 1833. The parties existing in territorial times were personal not political. The quarrels be- tween Federalists and Republicans did not reach Illinois. Personal leadership was con- tinued under the state government with such men as Governor Edwards, Daniel P. Cook and Nathaniel Pope on one side, while Gov- ernor Bond, Elias Kent Kane, John McLean, Judge Thomas and Judge Smith were arrayed on the other. This alignment was dissolved in the fiery antislavery contest of 1824 and new leaders, in addition to those named, came to the front, chief among whom was Governor Coles.
In previous chapters the writer has reviewed the careers of the public men of Madison
county who have held state, congressional and legislative positions and will not repeat here, but gives as an index to the political condition of the county since 1820, the vote it cast for presidential candidates from its first participa- tion in national politics up to the last election for president in 1908. It will be found in- valuable for reference and as a record of the political drift of public opinion. It will be noticed that in the first presidential election in which Illinois participated as a state a very light vote was cast, Monroe having no opposi- tion. Prior to 1820 Illinois, as a territory, had no vote for president. It is stated above that the Federal party practically ceased to exist under that name after the election of 1816. But it seems that in Illinois the old party des- ignation of Federal was retained in the first two elections thereafter, but that its new name of National-Republican was assumed in the elections of 1828 and 1832. The later desig- nation as Whig did not appear in the election returns until 1836.
POPULAR PRESIDENTIAL VOTES, 1820-1908
The popular vote of Madison county for President from 1820 to 1908 is here appended :
Year Party
Candidate Vote
1820 Democrat
Monroe
*150(?)
Federal Adams
1824 Federal Adams 243
Democrat Jackson 204
Federal Clay 49
Federal Crawford
0
1828 Democrat
Jackson 390
Nat. Rep.
Adams
348
1832 Democrat
Jackson
553
Nat. Rep.
Clay
444
Anti-Masonic
Wirt 3
1836 Democrat
Van Buren
682
Whig
Harrison
959
1840 Whig
Harrison
1,704
Democrat
Van Buren
1,184
Liberty
Birney
3
HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY
229
Year Party
Candidate
Vote
Year Party
Candidate
Vote
1844 Democrat
Polk
1,496
1896 Republican
Mckinley
7,43I
Whig
Clay
1,655
Democrat
Bryan
6,323
Liberty
Birney
12
Peoples
Bryan
2I
1848 Whig
Taylor
1,820
Gold-Dem.
Palmer
83
Free Soil
Van Buren
162
Soc .- Labor
Matchett
4
1852 Democrat
Pierce
1,715
1900 Republican
McKinley
8,106
Free Soil
Hale
31
Prohibition
Woolley
169
Republican
Fremont
1, III
American
Fillmore
1,658
Soc .- Labor
Maloney
57
Union Democrat
Douglas
3,100
United Christian
Leonard
4
Democrat
Breckenridge
21
Democrat
Parker
5,429
1864 Republican
Lincoln
3,156
Prohibition
Swallow
506
Democrat
McClellan
3,287
Socialist
Debs
903
1868 Republican
Grant
4,192
Soc .- Labor
Corregan
97
Democrat
Seymour
3,653
Peoples
Watson
24
1872 Republican
Grant
3,671
Continental
Holcomb
3
Lib. Rep. and Dem.Greeley
3,564
1908 Republican
Taft
9,463
Straight-Democrat O'Conor
8
Democrat
Bryan
7,812
1876 Republican
Hayes
4,554
Democrat
Tilden
4,730
Greenback
Cooper
39
Temperance
Smith
I
United Christian
Turney
3
Democrat
Hancock
4,677
Greenback
Weaver
II5
1884 Democrat
Cleveland
5,321
Year First History
Electors
Republican
Blaine
5,069
1820 Madison
James B. Moore 27
Prohibition
St. John
18I
County
Abraham Pruitt
2I
People's
Butler
19
William Kinney
20
1888 Republican
Harrison
5,485
Democrat
Cleveland
5,175
Total Vote
Prohibition
Fisk
215
Union-Labor
Streeter
85
County
James Turney
198
1892 Democrat
Cleveland
5.680
John W. Scott
5
Republican
Harrison
5,355
Jonathan Berry
I
Peoples
Weaver
354
John Todd
49
Prohibition
Bidwell
280
Total Vote
496
3
Whig
Scott
1,548
Democrat
Bryan
6,753
1856 Democrat
Buchanan
1,451
Soc .- Dem.
Debs
82
Peoples
Barker
13
1860 Republican
Lincoln
3,161
Union-Reform
Ellis
6
Const. Union
Bell
178
1904 Republican
Roosevelt
9,009
Prohibition
Chafin
35I
Socialist
Debs
814
Soc .- Lab.
Gilhouse
44
Independent
Hisgen
6
1880 Republican
Garfield
5,024
Peoples
Watson
IO
VOTE FOR ELECTORS, NOV. 6, 1820, AND NOV.
1, 1824
J. Y. Sawyer
82
150
1824 Madison
William Harrison
243
Democrat
Cass
1,203
Prohibition
Levering
85
National
Bentley
230
HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY
LIQUOR QUESTION, 1855
The Prohibition vote in Madison county at the election held June 4, 1855, was 1,725; against Prohibition, 2,135.
From these returns it will be seen that the Federalists carried the county in 1824 and the Democrats in 1828 and 1832. The Whigs car- ried it in 1836, 1840, 1844 and 1848; the Democrats in 1852; the Know Nothings in 1856; the Republicans in 1860; the Democrats in 1864; the Republicans in 1868 and 1872; the Democrats in 1876; the Republicans in 1880 ; the Democrats in 1884; the Republicans in 1888; the Democrats in 1892, and the Re- publicans in 1896, 1900, 1904 and 1908. In the last four elections the trend of public sen- timent was increasingly towards the Repub- licans at each quadrennial test.
POLITICAL SUMMARY
To summarize: The Federalists carried the county once ; the Whigs four times ; the Know Nothings once; the Democrats eight times, if we count Monroe a Democrat, and the Repub- licans nine times. The Republican party, made up of Anti-Slavery Whigs. Free Soil Democrats, Anti-Nebraska Democrats and old-line Abolitionists, first participated in a na- tional election in 1856 and have won all their nine victories since then, during which period the Democrats have won four. There has been but little disposition to fight outside of party lines since 1828 in national elections, but in the last two elections there were scattering votes of from 100 to 1,500 cast for various "isms." In 1904, owing to dissatisfaction with their party candidate, Parker, the Demo- crats cast only about two-thirds of their party vote. At the present time both the leading parties are discordant, rent with factions and feuds, and the outcome of the next presiden- tial election in Madison county would be hard to forecast. Both parties are divided on the tariff question; both condemn the trusts, which Democrats and Progressive Republi-
cans claim are the outgrowth of a high protec- tive tariff, and both unite in denouncing the existing extravagance and corruptions re- vealed in the conduct of many officials and machine politicians.
Until the last three elections the closeness of the vote between the two leading parties on national questions made Madison county an exciting political battleground. Here the lead- ing statesmen and politicians of both parties, including leaders of national renown, have fired the party spirit from the rostrum and the stump. Collinsville, Edwardsville, Highland and Alton have been the scene of vast politi- cal gatherings where the eloquence and logic of renowned orators have held great audi- ences spell-bound. Especially was this the case in the "Tippecanoe-and-Tyler-too," "log cabin and hard cider" campaign of 1840, when Harrison carried the county; the Lincoln- Douglas campaign of 1860, when Lincoln won by a narrow margin of 61, and the campaigns for thirty years following the war. These were characterized by immense torchlight pro- cessions, with rockets and red-fire flaring along the way, with general illuminations of stores and residences, while wild cheers went up from the throats of enthusiastic thousands. But throughout all the exciting campaigns, immediately preceding and following the war, Madison county was always loyal. Men dif- fered as to the measures best calculated to re- flect their principles, but they had a common end in view-and that was the good of the country. The so-called Wide Awake march- ing clubs were organized in 1860. They were followed by the Tanners in 1868, Grant's first campaign. These and other marching com- panies were often mounted on horseback and made imposing displays with their torches all alight. The ladies took an enthusiastic part in some of the campaigns and often provided dinners for the various visiting or marching companies and waited on tables themselves.
Although the Whigs never carried Illinois,
1846.
Whig Ticket.
Governor T. M. Killpatrick Lieut. Governor N. G. Wilcox
Congress Robert Smith L. Trumbull
Senator Jos. Gillespie
Representatives George Smith Wm. F. D'Wolf Gershom Flagg C. Blakeman
Sheriff Andrew Miller Co. Commissioner Wm. B. Reynolds E. Harnsberger
Coroner H. S. Summers
232
HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY
Madison county was a stronghold of that Colfax, Henry Wilson and Adlai E. Steven- party from 1836 to 1848. The nearest the son. Whigs ever came to carrying the state was in Among those named as governors, Ninian Edwards, Richard Yates, Sr., R. J. Oglesby. S. M. Cullom and John M. Palmer have also served as United States senators. 1838, when a Madison county statesman, Hon. Cyrus Edwards, a younger brother of Ninian Edwards, was their candidate for governor. The majority against him was only 996.
Among the governors who have addressed political meetings in this county are Ninian Edwards, Edward Coles, John Reynolds, Jo- seph Duncan, Thomas Carlin, Thomas Ford, William H. Bissell, Richard Yates, Sr., Rich- ard J. Oglesby, John M. Palmer, John L. Bev- eridge, S. M. Cullom, John M. Hamilton, Jo- seph W. Fifer, John P. Altgeld, Richard Yates, Jr., and Charles S. Deneen.
Senators : Jesse B. Thomas, David J. Baker, John McLean, Elias Kent Kane, Samuel Mc- Roberts, Sidney Breese, James Semple, Ste- phen A. Douglas, Lyman Trumbull, William A. Lorimer, John A. Logan, W. E. Mason and A. J. Hopkins.
Congressmen : Robert Smith, John N. Mc- Clernand, Owen Lovejoy, W. R. Morrison, E. C. Ingersoll, Jehu Baker, John B. Hay, Scott Wike, S. W. Moulton, George E. Adams, W. S. Foreman, George E. Foss, J. A. Connolly, James R. Mann, W. A. Roden- berg, T. J. Selby and H. T. Rainey.
Among presidents of the United States who have visited Madison county may be named Millard Fillmore, Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, U. S. Grant and Theodore Roose- velt.
Among statesmen who have been candidates for president before national conventions, or as nominees, may be mentioned Stephen A. Douglas, Daniel Webster, Lyman Trumbull, Horace Greeley, S. M. Cullom, John M. Palmer and William J. Bryan. All of these except General Grant and possibly Fillmore, made addresses in Alton.
Vice presidents who have addressed audi- ences in Madison county include Schuyler
Of non-political orators who have addressed Madison county audiences are Wendell Phil- lips and Fred Douglass.
The two greatest natural orators in the above list were undoubtedly John A. Logan and Richard J. Oglesby. As stump speakers they were unsurpassed. Old residents will re- call a speech of General Oglesby in which, in the midst of an impassioned period he ex- claimed, in accents of infinite scorn: "The Democrats brag about their being able to run this government : My God! it's all we can do to run it ourselves !" Such interjections were common in his speeches.
The names of these men will recall many great gatherings which they addressed in various towns in the county. Capt. Joseph Brown, in his "Reminiscences of Early Days in Alton," relates this anecdote of the august Daniel Webster: "I heard Daniel Webster in Alton when he ran against Henry Clay for the nomination for president. He was given a banquet at the Alton House, and after the banquet at which the champagne flowed freely, he was called out to speak and held on to the railing of the porch of the Alton House, which was then situated on Front street, and made his speech. It was said of him as of Prentiss, of Mississippi, and Humphrey Mar- shall, of Kentucky, and many others, that he made his best speeches when partly intoxi- cated. After Webster's speech, which was a political one, Major Hunter, the founder of Hunterstown, said to him: 'Mr. Webster, I want to take you a short drive to see my fine pasture.' 'D- your pasture,' said Webster, 'tell me who is going to be elected!' Major Hunter was religiously paralyzed, but they went to ride."
233
HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY
Both Webster and Clay, it will be remem- bered, missed the nomination in this campaign the prize going to Harrison. Such incidents remind us that even such popular idols as the "God-like" Daniel have feet of clay.
It seems hard to believe now but the Ameri- can, or Know Nothing, movement which swept over the country in the middle fifties took a strong hold in Madison county as shown by the presidential vote in 1856. Fill- more, the candidate of the American party, carried the county by a plurality vote. Fill- more received 1,658 votes to 1,451 for Bucha- nan and I,III for Fremont; a majority of 207 over Buchanan and of 547 over Fremont.
During the war there was a decrease in the popular vote. In 1860 the total vote cast was 6,460 and in 1864 it was 6,443, a decrease of 23. In 1860 Lincoln carried the county by 61 votes and lost to McClellan in 1864 by 137. Both the decrease in the popular vote and Lincoln's loss of the county were owing to the absence of Madison county soldiers in the army.
TEMPERANCE IN MADISON COUNTY
Another election worthy of mention was that on prohibition held June 4, 1855. The legislature, the previous January, passed a prohibitory law subject to ratification by the people. The law was defeated in the state by a small majority. The northern counties, ex- cept Cook and Rock Island, voted for prohi- bition and the southern counties generally voted against it. The vote of Madison county was 1,725 for prohibition and 2,135 against ; majority against, 410. That is forty-five per cent of the total vote cast was in favor of prohibition. In 1908 the vote for prohibition was some 300, or less than three per cent of the total vote.
But this small per cent does not measure the temperance strength in the county. That sentiment is now expressed in township votes
on the local option law which leaves the ques- tion of licensing saloons to the decision of the voters of each township. Under this law Foster township voted against licensing saloons, while all other townships, where the question was submitted, voted in favor of saloon license. Local optionists, as they are termed, have no party organization but draw their strength from all parties. The decline in the relative temperance sentiment in the county, in the last sixty years, is due mainly to the immense influx of the foreign element, the liquor interests of the county being con- trolled almost entirely by immigrants and their descendants.
Jesse B. Thomas, of Edwardsville, one of the first two senators from Illinois, wrote his name in the annals of his country by his authorship of the Missouri compromise fixing 36 degrees 30 minutes as the northern limit of slavery thereafter, and thus it remained until 1854 when another Illinois senator. Stephen A. Douglas, introduced and had passed the Kansas-Nebraska bill which abolished the Missouri compromise by per- mitting slaves to be introduced into western territories, north of that line, leaving the ques- tion of slavery thereafter to be settled by the people of the several states formed north of the line of demarkation. The passage of this bill by congress occasioned intense excitement in the north and eventuated in the formation of the Republican party pledged to resist the further extension of slavery. The first named Illinois senator set up a barrier to this further extension of slavery northward; the second, tore down the barrier and opened the flood gates which eventuated in the Civil war and the destruction of slavery. It is a long sequence of events from 1820 when our sena- tor from Edwardsville introduced his compro- mise measure, but that enactment and Doug- las' repeal measure of 1854 stand as mile- posts in our national annals.
234
HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY
THE GREAT LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATE
From a national standpoint the most im- portant political meeting ever held in Madi- son county was the seventh and last joint debate between Lincoln and Douglas in the famous campaign of 1858, which brought Lin- coln to the forefront as a great Republican leader and made him and Douglas rival can- didates for the presidency in 1860. This meeting was notable not only as closing the series of great debates, but from the presence of a large number of men who afterwards became makers of history and four of them aspirants for the presidency-Lincoln and Douglas in 1860; Lyman Trumbull in the Lib- eral convention of 1872 and John M. Palmer, nominee of the Gold Democrats in 1896, when he received 83 votes in Madison county to 6,353 cast for Bryan. Other notables present were Hon. David J. Baker, former United States senator and chairman of the first Re- publican, or fusion State Central committee of 1854; Hon. O. M. Hatch, secretary of state; Hon. James Miller, state treasurer ; Hon. J. O. Norton, congressman from the Joliet district; former Governor John Rey- nolds, Lieutenant Governor Koerner, of Belleville; Hon. Joseph Gillespie and Hon. A. W. Metcalf, of Edwardsville; Hon. Cur- tis Blakeman, of Marine; Hon. Cyrus Edwards, of Upper Alton, former Governor J. A. Matteson and Gen. I. B. Curran, of Springfield.
There were also-present representatives of the New York Evening Post, Boston Travel- ler, St. Louis Republican, St. Louis Evening News and the Chicago Press and Tribune. The last-named journal was represented by Messrs. Horace White and Robert R. Hitt, the latter being Mr. Lincoln's official stenog- rapher. These two young reporters became famous men: Mr. White as a Chicago and New York journalist and publicist and Mr. Hitt as a congressman and diplomat. Mr.
White came on from New York October 15, 1908, to attend the semi-centennial anniver- sary of the great debate and was one of the speakers on the occasion. Of all the famous men named above he was the sole survivor. Of State journalists there were several pres- ent, the most prominent of whom were Hon. George T. Brown, editor of the Alton Courier and a leading State politician, and John Fitch of the Alton National Democrat. There were also two Madison county former members of the legislature Judge H. S. Baker and Dr. George T. Allen, who, together with Norman B. Judd of Chicago, B. C. Cook of Ottawa, and John M. Palmer of Carlinville, stand in a group by themselves as the five Anti- Nebraska Democrats, in the legislature of 1855, who, by their support of Trumbull in opposition to Lincoln for United States Sena- tor, probably saved the latter to the nation.
At the time of the Alton meeting the con- test between Lincoln and Douglas had lasted almost four months, during which time each had made almost one hundred speeches. The six joint debates had carried them from the extreme north to the southern part of the state and from the eastern to the western boundary. Now there remained only one more joint meeting scheduled for Alton, Fri- day, October 15, 1858.
It must have been with a feeling of relief that the two speakers found themselves drift- ing down the Mississippi from Quincy on the steamer "City of Louisiana" on the day be- fore their final combat. They arrived before daybreak and repaired to the Alton House, then kept by H. S. Mathews, which had been selected for Democratic headquarters. After breakfast a committee of Republicans called on Mr. Lincoln and escorted him to the Frank- lin House, of which S. Pitts was the land- lord, where he held a reception to visiting delegates. No processions or displays of any kind were attempted except a parade by the Springfield Cadets accompanied by the Ed-
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