Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Volume II, part 1, Part 32

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago, Munsell Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 864

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EARLY PARTY CONDITIONS .- Previous to 1835 political parties In Illinois, as well as In West- ern States generally, were In a chaotic condition, the principal issues of a uational character be- ing a protective tariff, a national bank and In- ternal improvements, the attitude on these ques- tlons of what became the Whig party being In the affirmative, while that of thelr opponents was In the negative, These were measures sup- ported by Henry Clay, while Abraham Lincoln, in a brief speech made In the presence of hls friends at New Salem, Menard County, after his first electlon to the General Assembly In 1834, announced that they expressed hls "sentiments and polltical principles." On mlnor Issues vot- ers were Influenced largely by local Interest or the personal popularity of the candidate.

A PERIOD OF EVOLUTION .- After the passing away of the "Federalists," which followed the election of James Monroe to the presidency in 1816, It Is generally conceded that for several years there was practically but one organized party, the "Republican," Its principles, If not Its name, largely Inherited from Thomas Jefferson, but In 1828, the year of Andrew Jackson's first election to the presidency, there came a split In the party, the supporters of Jackson belng known as "Jackson Republicans,' 'and thelr op- ponents (then supporters of John Quincy Ad- ams) as "National Republicans," Henry Clay be- coming principal leader of the latter. The is- sucs most vigorously advocated by the Jackson Republicans during this period were the doctrine

of "State Rights," as enunciated in the resolu- tion of 1798, and the right to "rotation In office" so vigorously enforced by Andrew Jackson, on the ground that "to the victors belong the spoils." In the campaign of 1832 the Jackson Republi- cans took on the name "Democratic," and, fol- lowing thelr example, the National Republicans before 1836 became the "Whlg" party, the name having been freely used for some years pre- vlous.

FIRST STATE CONVENTION .- According to the history of "Political Parties In Illinois," by J. McCan Davis, published In the "Illinois Blue Book" for 1907, the National Republicans are entitled to the distinction of having held the first State Convention in Illinois, which met at Vandalia September 19, 1832, and which had been preceded by the nomination of Henry Clay as the Republican candidate for the presidency at Baltimore in December, 1831. The Vandalla convention was composed of political friends of Mr. Clay, chosen as delegates by mass meetings of citizens of the several countles of the State, as was the case with inost of the delegates to the first convention of the present Republican party at Bloomington In 1856. Besides Indors- ing Henry Clay as thelr candidate for the Presl- dency, the Vandalla convention adopted a serles of resolutlons favoring the principles alluded to in a preceding paragraph in this chapter, and which, It has been claimed, "may be called the first party platform ever drafted in Illinols." It also appointed a Central Committee of five members, and nominated five candidates for Presidential Electors (one for each Congressional District and two for the State-at-large), Elijah Iles being named for the Sangamon District.

It has also been claimed that a Democratic State Convention was held at Vandalia In 1835 or 1836 (there belng some discrepancy or In- definlteness of statement on this point), at which John Calhoun and Peter Cartwright were dele- gates from Sangamon County-the latter a short time previously having abandoned the National Republican party. From this time on for the next twenty years, the Whlg party uniformly secured a majority vote In Sangamon County. for Its candidates for President and State officers, as well as for members of the General Assem- bly and local offices. The same rule applied dur- Ing this perlod to Congressmen for the Sanga- mon District from 1838 to 1854, with the excep- tlon of one term (that of 1849-51) when Thomas

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY

L. Harris, a soldier of the Mexican War, de- feated Judge Stepheu . T. Logan, of Sangamon County, the latter, however, receiving a majority In his own county. At this election the State retained its rauk with one Whlg Congressinan, by the election of Col. Edward S. Baker, also an ex-soldier of the Mexican War, and previously Congressman from the Springfield District. In 1850 the Sangamon District resumed its place in the Whig column, which it retained for four years, with Richard Yates-later the War Gov- ernor-as its Representative. This was due to the rapid increase In population in the central part of the State, a large proportion of which, especially in Sangamon County, came from Ken- tucky and other border Southern States. (The roll of State officers and Congressmen from the district, of which Sangamon County formed a part, will be given in the succeeding chapter in this volume.)

ANTI-SLAVERY ORGANIZATIONS .- The Liberty and the Free-Soil parties had respectively a brief existence as political organizations, the former taking part in the campaigns of 1840 aud 1844, and the latter as Free-Soil Democrats in 1848 and 1852, but in 1856 being merged into the newly organized Republican party. Popularly known as "Abolitionists," neither of these organ- izations ever gained much numerical strength in Sangamon County, although a few prominent citizens, of whom Erastus Wright was one, were advocates of the abolition of slavery. In a few northern counties of the State this doctrine re- ceived a more zealous advocacy, and occasionally its supporters secured the election of a member of the Legislature. One of these was the late Judge Henry W. Blodgett, who in the early '50s was elected as an Anti-Slavery Representa- tive in the General Assembly from the Lake County District, while William B. Plato, as Sen- ator from the Kane County District, occupied a similar position.

A PERIOD OF POLITICAL REVOLUTION .- With the accession of Texas and other Mexican provinces as new territory of the United States following the Mexican War, there came an increased agi- -tation on the subject of slavery. This was due largely to the belief in many of the Northern States, that the chlef motive influencing the ad- ministration and its most zealous supporters in advocacy of the war policy of that perlod, was a desire for the acquisition of more slave terri- tory. The lack of unanimity in parties on this

issue was strikingly Illustrated in the votes taken in Congress, during the Mexican War, on what was called the "Wilmot Proviso," provid- ing that, "as an express and fundamental condi- tion to the acquisition of any territory from the Republic of Mexico . . ueither slavery nor Involuntary servitude shall exist in any part of said territory." This "proviso" was offered by David Wilmot, of Pennsylvania, as an amuend- ment to a bill making appropriations for secur- ing peace and the purchase of territory from Mexico, and the ballot in the House-Committee of the Whole stood 83 votes for to 64 against it, only three members (all Democrats) from free States voting in the negative. Ou the bill being reported to the House, the motion that it lie upon the table was defeated by 79 yeas to 93 nays, and the bill finally passed that body without further division. Two of the three Democrats from free States voting against the measure were Stephen A. Douglas and John A. McClernand, of Illinois, while two Whigs from Kentucky (evidently friends of Henry Clay) voted in its favor. The Senate failed to take any action on this measure, so the issue col- lapsed. This proposition was taken up in the subsequent sesslon of Congress, and Abraham Lincoln claimed that he voted for it 42 times.

The next step in this line consisted in the adoption of the Compromise Bill of 1850, intro duced by Henry Clay, while serving his last term in the United States Senate. One of the principal objects of this bill was to fix the status of territory acquired from Mexico, under it California being admitted as a free State, while other portions were organized as Territories. with the condition that their status as free or slave States should be subject to the will of the people as to the admission of slavery on adoption of State constitutions.

While the object of the Compromise of 1850 was to establish more friendly relations between the northern and southern portions of the Unlon, the Fugitive Slave Law-which was the fifth in a series of six different measures constituting what was called the "Omnibus Bill"-with Its stringent provisions relating to the return of fugitive slaves from free States to their masters, produced a directly opposite effect in sections of the Union averse to slavery. As a conse- quence political agitation grew more earnest and the process of party disorganization assumed in- creased activity. Although for fourteen years

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY

the Whig representation in Congress had been limited to one member, in 1852 it secured four out of a totai of nine, indicating the popular change then going on, especially in the northern ilaif of the State.

It was during this year (1852) that the Whig party, as such, cast its last vote for President, the defeat of Gen. Winfield Scott as its candi- date and the passage by Congress, two years iater, of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, with the chaotic conditions following, resulting in its dis- solution and the organization of a new party. For a time following this period what was known as tie "American" or "Know Nothing" party had a brief bnt sensational existence. This was the outgrowth of a secret organization known as "Know-Nothings," made up of native-born citi- zens of the United States who were opposed to the eiection to office of persons of foreign birth, and requiring a residence of twenty-one years as a qualification for citizenship. This organization owed its existence largely to a class of local poli- ticians, who, foreseeing the dissolution of other parties, took advantage of the sitnation to be- come leaders of a new organization. Its devel- opment began about 1854, and it became quite active, carrying local elections, especially in cit- ies, and in 1856 nominated, as its candidate for President, Millard Filimore, who as Vice Presi- dent had filled out the unexpired term of Zach- ary Tayior, after the death of the latter in 1850. It secured the electoral vote of only one State- Maryiand-and as its secret methods and princi- ples became more widely known, it dwindled into insignificance, although in the border and the Southern slave States, maintaining some ac- tivity through the support of former Whigs who were reluctant to identify themselves with the Democratic party. In 1860 it took on the name of the "Constitutional Union" party, with John Beil, of Tennessee, and Edward Everett, of Massachusetts, as candidates for President and Vice President. With the advent of the Civil War this new party went out of existence, its members identifying themselves with the Demo- cratic (or Secession) party, or, in a few in- stances, retaining the name of Unionists, though suppressing their opinions or compelied to move northward.

In 1SCO the Democratic party was divided into two factions. After an eight days' session of the reguiar Democratic Convention held at Charleston, S. C., in April of that year, with-

out success in the nomination of a candidate for President, a majority of the delegates from Southern States (representing in whole or part nine States) withdrew, and the remainder be- ing unable to select a candidate under the two- thirds ruie, adjourned to meet in Baltimore on June 18th following. At this time delegates from four other slave States and from one free State (Indiana) withdrew, with the re- suit that Senator Douglas was nominated for President by the remainder by an almost unani- mous vote, while John C. Breckinridge, who became a leader in the secession movement, re- ceived the nomination of the seceding faction. This, of course, proved an important factor in the Presidential election of that year, as the two factions of the party, if united, would have had a large plurality on the popular vote. This division in the ranks of the Democratic party continued during the war period, the southern branch of the party becoming aimost unani- mously Secessionists, while the northern wing was divided into "War" and "Anti-War Demo- crats"-some of the latter becoming members of the "Golden Circle," an organization in sym- pathy with the rebellion.

In 1872 came another breach in the party ranks, when a majority of the party, after repudiating their principles in opposition to the "reconstruction policy" and other measures of previous Republican administrations, accepted Horace Greeley, a former Anti-Slavery, or (as he had been called by his Democratic oppo- nents) "Abolition" leader, as their candidate for President under the name "Liberal Republican." This, as was to be expected, proved a failure, and, although the party won the Presidency in 1884, it was nniformly defeated for Nationai and State offices in Illinois until 1892, when it car- ried both in Illinois-two years earlier, however, in what is called the "off-year," having elected its candidates in Illinois for State Treasurer and Superintendent of Public Instruction."

In 1896 came another partial break, No. 3, in the Democratic party, this being the year of the first nomination for President of William J. Bryan, a native, and former popuiar citizen of Illinois. This division grew out of what was called the "16 to 1" or "free-silver" issne, the regular convention having adopted a platform demanding "the free and unlimited coinage of both siiver and goid, at the present legal rate of sixteen to one." This proposition was vigor-

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HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY

ously opposed by a considerable branch of the party, with the result that Gen. John M. Pal- mer was nominated for President, "making the race" as a "Gold Democrat," although inany of the most zealous advocates of the principle for which he stood, realizing the impossibility of his election, cast thelr votes for William Mc- Kinley, the Republican candidate, for President. This condition continued in somewhat modified form during Mr. Bryan's second campaign In 1900, many former Democrats thus becoming permanently allled with the Republican party.

THE REPUBLICAN PARTY .- While hostility to the extension of slavery into free territory had been growing for years, as shown in the his- tory of the "Free-Soil" and "Abolition" parties, this took on an especially active character im- mediately after the passage, In May, 1854, of the Kansas-Nebraska act, which had been intro- duced by Senator Douglas, repealing the Mis- souri Compromise and opening the way for the spread of slavery into all territory not under State government north of 39 degrees 30 min- utes north latitude. According to the testimony of Henry Wilson of Massachusetts, afterwards Vice President of the United States, a group of Senators and Representatives in Congress met in the city of Washington on the evening after the final passage of the Nebraska bill, and de- cided that the time had arrived for the organ- ization of a new party, and are said to have favored the name Republican. It is also claimed that, as early as March 29th of the same year -more than one month before the pasage of the Nebraska act-Maj. Alvin E. Bovay, of Ripon, Wis., in a public meeting, had suggested the adoption of that name by the opponents of slavery extension, and It is a matter of record that the first State Convention to take this step was held at Jackson, Mich., on July 6th of that year. In Illinois, Senator Douglas' home State, the agitation was wide-spread, but espe- clally active in the northern section where the anti-slavery element from Eastern and Northern Middle States was the largest. So, In anticipa- tion of the election of State Treasurer in No- vember following, and the election of United States Senator by the next General Assembly, a movement was started for the holding of a State Convention of opponents of the Nebraska act. In the absence of any party organization, this finally took the form of a proposition for the meeting of opponents of that measure. to be

held in Springfield on October 4, 1854, this be- Ing the period during which the Second State Fair was to be held, and which was considered a favorable occasion for securing a representa- tion from different parts of the State. When ou the afternoon of the day mentioned, a num- ber of citizens who had contemplated taking part in the proposed convention met in the State House, they found the Hall of Representatives already occupied by a mixed assemblage who had gathered to listen to speeches by Senator Douglas and others, Hon. Lyman Trumbull, who was elected to the United States Senate during the next session of the General As- sembly, being a speaker on that afternoon in reply to Douglas, and Abraham Lincoln in the evening. The "extremists," as they have been called by some professed historlans who knew nothing of the actual character of those who had come together to take part in the Anti- Nebraska meeting-held a meeting in the Sen- ate Chamber late in the afternoon and effected an organization, with A. G. Throop, of Chicago, as President, also appointing a Committee to draft a series of resolutlons and suggest a can- didate for State Treasurer, the only officer to be elected that year, after which they adjourned to meet the next morning. When the conven- tion reassembled on the morning of the 5th of October, the committee on resolutions submitted its report and Hon. John E. McClun, of Mc- Lean County, was named for State Treasurer, but later withdrew, Mr. James Miller, also of Bioomington, being accepted as his successor. Although then defeated, Mr. Miller was re- nominated two years later and elected. A State Central Committee was also appointed, of which Abraham Lincoln was named as a member, but it never formally organized. Both of the papers then published in Springfield being hostile to the movement,-one being an organ of the Whlg party and the other Democratic-no accurate report of the proceedings was published by either, the former Ignoring the convention al- together, and the latter, instead of the actual platform, publishing a series of radical resolu- tions favoring the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, which had been adopted by a county convention in the northern part of the State. It was this set of resolutions which' Senator Douglas quoted against Lincoln In the first of his serles of debates with the latter at Ottawa in 1858, but the bogus character of

David SrceKell

B.G. Puckett

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IHISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY

wilch Lincoln exposed in the debate at Freeport one week later-an event which proved a seri- ous embarrassment to Douglas during the re- mainder of that campaign. Briefly summarized this platform covered the following points: (1) Condcumatlon of the repeal of the Missouri Compromise; (2) Affirmation of the constitu- tional right of Congress to exclude slavery from the Territories; (3) "That, as freedom is Na- tionai and siavery sectional and local, the ab- sence of aii law on the subject of slavery presumes the existence of a state of freedom aione;" (4). That "siavery can exist in a Terri- tory only by usurpation aud violation of law;" (5) Concession to all of the States of the rights "included In the sacred compact of the Con- stitution ;" (6) Denlai of antagonism or hos- tillty towards citizens of Southern States; (7) Their recognition 'as kindred and brethren of the same family, having a common origin," with the hope for "a common and glorious destiny ;" (S) In "fraternal spirit," inviting the people of the South to aid "iu restoring the action of the Government to Its primitive usage," as "the only guaranty of future harmony" and "perpetuation of the Union." In conclusion the platform in- dorsed the policy of river and harbor improve- ments and urged cooperation of the States in behalf of free labor and free soll. In spite of the vituperatlon aud denuuciatlon with whicli the advocates of this policy were assailed It is doubtful if the convention of any party, Re- publican or otherwise, ever put forth a more conservative platform, one which would com- inand more general approval to-day or has been inore thoroughly vindicated in national history. Although Mr. Lincoln did not Immediately join in this organization, he was more thoroughly In sympathy with its opinions than he was then aware, while at the time he recognized its sup- porters as "Republicans."

The next Important step toward the organ- ization of the Republicau party in Iilinois came in the holding of a convention of Antl-Nebraska editors at Decatur in 1856. Of this conven- tion an article on the history of "Polltical Par- ties In Illinois," by J. McCau Davls, in the "Blue Book" of Illinols (1907) says :

"Early In 1856 it became clear to Lincoin, as It did to all of those opposed to the Nebraska act, that a new party must be formed. Late In December, 1855, the 'Morgan Journal,' edlted by Paul Seiby, suggested a meeting of Anti-

Nebraska editors, to outline a policy to be pur- sued in the campaign of the year about to open. There was a ready response from the Anti- Nebraska newspapers. The conventiou was held in Decatur, February 22, 1856. Mr. Selby was made Chairman and W. J. Usrey, editor of the Decatur Chronicie, was Secretary.

The call for this conventiou received the in- dorsement of twenty-five Anti-Nebraska editors, but owing to a heavy snow storm which oc- curred the night before the meeting, causing a blockade on some of the railroads, only about a dozen arrived In time to be present at the opening, aithough two or three came in later In the day, and were present at a bauquet given In the evening by the citizens of Decatur, at which Richard J. Oglesby presided and Abra- ham Lincoln delivered the principal speech. Mr. Lincoin had beeu In conference during the day with the Committee on Resolutions-of which Dr. Charles H. Ray, then editor of the "Chicago 'Tribune," was Chairman-and, no doubt, exerted an Influence in framing the platform reported to the convention and adopted by that body as a whoie. On national issues this platform followed the general principies outlined in that adopted at Springfield two years earlier, pro- testing against the introduction of siavery In free territory and demanding the restoration of the Missouri Compromise. An additional feat- ure was a declaration in favor of the widest toleratlon -in matters of reilgion and in prac- tlcai protest against the doctrines of "Know- Nothingism"-a result which was due to the personai influence of Mr. Lincoin, after a per- sonai conference with Mr. George Schnelder, a member of the Committee on Resolutions and then editor of the "Staats-Zeitung" of Chicago, a leading German anti-slavery paper of the West. A resolution recommending that "a State delegate convention be held in Bloomington on Thursday, the 29th day of May" following, and naming a "State Central Committee" to Issue a cali for the same, was also adopted. This committee, after a change of three of Its mem- bers on account of absence or other causes, dis- charged its duty in the manner prescribed. When the Bloomington convention met, It adopted a platform advocating the same prin- ciples which had been enunciated by the con- vention at Springfield in October, 1854, and had been indorsed by the editorial convention at Decatur in February. It was this conven-

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IIISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY

tion before which Mr. Lincoln delivered his cele- brated "lost speech," and which later nominated a State ticket, headed by Wm. H. Bissell, for Governor, which was elected in November fol- lowing. About the same time (1857) the Dred Scott decision, sustaining the right to hold slaves, Ilke any other property, indefinitely in free territory, aroused a strong · sentiment throughout the North against the further ex- tension of slavery. And thus it was that the Republican party in Illinois was born, and which has since won every general State election ex- cept that of 1892, and a majority in every Na- tional election except those of 1856 and 1892. It is a matter of curious interest that, while the name Republican in modern days has been regarded by its opponents as synonymous with "Abolition," the most zealous champions of the introduction of slavery in Illinois during the historic campaign of 1822-24 were known as Jackson "Republicans," and the leading organ in favor of that measure at Edwardsville, Ill., was the "Illinois Republican." The only issue of the opponents of slavery at that time was simply retention of the provision of the Ordl- nance of 1787 and perpetuated in the enabling act of 1818, excluding slavery from Iliinois ter- ritory. Coming down to a later period it is an equally curious faet that, while the 'Republi- can party of to-day owes its existence to the passage of the Nebraska Act of 1854, that meas- ure led to the final defeat of the party which was responsible for its enactment after a quar- ter of a century of almost uninterrupted control of the National Government, just as the policy of the advocates of sccession, in the effort to perpetuate slavery, resulted in the total aboli- tion of that institution as the outcome of the Civil War. And thus it devolved upon the Republican party to preserve the Union and reestablish it on a basis of prosperity such as It never before had enjoyed, as shown by- the development of the past half century.

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Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Volume II, part 1, Part 32

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913 Publication date: 1912 Publisher: Chicago, Munsell Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 864

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago, Munsell Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 864