USA > Illinois > The era of the Civil War, 1848-1870 > Part 13
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The idea of common cause for all anti-Nebraska forces, regardless of former party lines, made its appearance at an early day. A large and enthusiastic mass meeting at Rockford on March 18 passed a resolution that " The free States should now blot out all former political distinctions by uniting them- selves into one great Northern Party." 10 The Pekin Tazewell Mirror suggested that a state convention be held of all parties opposed to the repeal of the Missouri compromise, and the Morgan Journal heartily indorsed the proposal; the Illinois Journal, however, frowned upon the idea, complaining that as the whigs were a unit on the Nebraska "outrage" there was "no necessity of breaking up their organization for the purpose of becoming a new political party, with a single object in view." 11 It preferred that anti-Nebraska democrats should adopt an independent organization. But anti-Nebraska demo- cratic papers acceded neither to the idea of their own perma-
8 Alton Weekly Courier, October 12, 1854; Alton Courier, October 26, 1854; Illinois Journal, October 17, 1854.
9 Illinois State Register, September 7, 14, 1854.
10 Rock River Democrat, March 28, 1854. A meeting of "respectable farmers and mechanics" at Freeport went on record in favor of uniting as one party in common cause against the extension of slavery. Illinois Journal, April 5, 1854. Ibid., July 27, 1854; Morgan Journal, July 27, 1854.
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THE ERA OF THE CIVIL WAR
nent organization nor to that of a fusion party; instead they directed their energies toward healing the schism.
Many confirmed free soilers and abolitionists, however, eagerly embraced the idea of fusion, or "cooperation," as their organ, the Free West, preferred to call it.12 Ichabod Codding, a well-known antislavery evangelist, toured the state during the summer months in the interest of the new dispensa- tion. Influenced by similar movements in Wisconsin and Michigan a mass meeting of antislavery independents at Ottawa, August I, assumed the name " republican " as the title by which the new party was to be known; they passed a reso- lution recommending that a state mass meeting of the oppo- nents of slavery extension be held later at Bloomington. Later "republican " conventions were held in La Salle, Will, Putnam, and other counties, followed by a congressional convention for the third district at Bloomington, September 12, which was attended by full delegations from ten counties.13 There the name " republican " was formally adopted. A mass con- vention in the first district at Rockford, August 30, agreed to cooperate in defense of freedom "as republicans," while a "people's " mass convention at Aurora, September 30, acting for the second district assumed the name of republican; both of these put republican candidates for congress into the field. In the first and third districts whig and republican fusion was complete while the only obstacle to such a combination at Aurora was the difficulty of agreeing upon terms.
The republican state convention finally met at Springfield on the fourth and fifth of October. Though the state fair was at the same time in session, hope of political capital to be made thereby was extinguished when it was found that in spite of a public invitation by Lovejoy to the assembled throng, only a small band of twenty-six tested antislavery men appeared in the convention. Ichabod Codding, Owen Love- joy, H. K. Jones of Morgan county, and Erastus Wright of Sangamon were the leading spirits. To their disappointment Abraham Lincoln carefully avoided the meetings though he
12 Free West, May 4, 1854.
13 Ottawa Free Trader, August 12, 1854; Ottawa Republican, August 12, 19, September 16, 1854.
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had made a thrilling anti-Nebraska speech at Springfield just before the opening of the convention. This effort was highly commended; "Ichabod raved and Lovejoy swelled, and all endorsed the sentiments of that speech," sarcastically com- mented the editor of the State Register. Aggressive anti- slavery extension resolutions were adopted, after which John L. McClun of Bloomington, a whig member of the legislature, was named as the republican candidate for state treasurer.14 McClun's name was posted by the Illinois Journal, October 9, and other papers, but was shortly withdrawn in favor of James Miller, an anti-Nebraska leader who, as the nominee of a whig convention, was of more orthodox stripe.
A state central committee was appointed by the conven- tion, including Lincoln as the Sangamon county representative. Lovejoy vouched for Lincoln's agreement with the principles enunciated in the platform, but the wily whig leader, unwilling as a candidate for the United States senate to incur the political unpopularity that would follow association with abolitionists, had absented himself from the city in order not to be identified with the convention and later repudiated the use of his name. 15 It was this douche of cold water, probably, that prevented the organization of the state committee, and a similar party loy- alty deterred all except discredited " abolitionists" from par- ticipating in the movement. It was that fact, rather than any radicalism in the proposed course of action, that caused the prompt death of this " republican " state organization.
Seldom in the history of Illinois had there been such con- fusion in the congressional canvass as in 1854. The Chicago district presented one of the worst tangles. Strongly demo- cratic and antislavery in tone, it had been repeatedly repre- sented in congress by the able but demagogical "Long John" Wentworth, a noted champion of river and harbor improve- ment, of land reform, and of freedom. Dominating the party machine in the district, he was not without his rivals, who frankly dubbed him a corrupt knave, "an unscrupulous demo- gogue and political Ishamelite," and denounced the abuses of 14 Illinois State Register, October 12, 1854; McLean County Historical Society, Transactions, 3: 43-47.
15 Herndon and Weik, Abraham Lincoln, 1: 40-41; Nicolay and Hay, Abra- ham Lincoln, Complete Works, 1 : 209.
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the convention system, that prevailed under his "misrule." Several independent anti-Nebraska candidates, therefore, were announced to dispute his control long before the democratic convention was held; but strangely enough the Free West decided to support Wentworth on the strength of his sturdy fight against the Nebraska act. 16
During this pre-convention canvass by democratic forces, the local anti-Nebraska "people's " movement was gathering headway. At a district convention at Aurora representative leaders decided to repudiate all previous party attachments and "hereafter cooperate as the Republican party;" James H. Woodworth, a free soil democrat since 1848, former mayor of Chicago and member of the general assembly, was nomi- nated for congress. A whig convention simultaneously placed a capable candidate, R. S. Blackwell, in nomination. These developments fostered democratic humility. Wentworth's anti-Nebraska rivals withdrew; and he announced that, though his election was as certain as his nomination, he would step aside in favor of any true democrat who might be nominated. Again, Aurora became the scene of bustling political maneu- vers. "Long John" and his men found their control disputed by a rival camp of Douglasites who held a convention of their own. Wentworth's cohorts merely reaffirmed the Baltimore platform of 1852 and repudiated all new tests of democracy as heresy. They nominated E. L. Mayo of De Kalb county, an old-time democrat, while the Nebraskaites put up a polit- ical unknown, John B. Turner of Chicago, president of the Galena and Chicago railroad. A four-cornered fight was there- upon waged which terminated in the success of Woodworth, the republican candidate.17.
In the first and third districts, Elihu B. Washburne and Jesse O. Norton, the whig members of congress, were nomi- nated as the candidates of the republican party; both had excel- lent free soil records that had stood out above their national whiggery. In the first district the democratic convention split
16 Chicago Daily Democratic Press, August 12, September 22, 1854; Free West, September 7, 1854.
17 Ibid., September 21, 1854; Chicago Weekly Democrat, October 7, 1854; Aurora Guardian, October 5, 1854; Chicago Daily Democratic Press, October 6, 1854; Illinois State Register, October 12, 1854.
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on the Nebraska issue with the result that rival democratic candidates contested for Washburne's seat. 18
In the Alton district the democratic party found itself embarrassed by the numerous candidates for the nomination. The Nebraska faction seemed to control the organization but the anti-Nebraskaites served notice that they would not cooper- ate under any new test or issue. The result was a split in the district convention before a nomination was effected. Joseph Gillespie had been in the field as a whig candidate; but when Lyman Trumbull, a prominent democrat, came out in bold defi- ance of Douglas and the "new test" even the whigs rallied with enthusiasm in favor of his election to congress.19 Trum- bull made a brilliant campaign against Philip B. Fouke, a Nebraska democrat, and won a handy victory.
In the Springfield district, the democrats nominated Thomas L. Harris, a Douglasite, to make the contest for Yates' seat. Yates was, therefore, supported by the anti-Nebraska forces. He was doubtless injured, however, by the participation of Ichabod Codding in the canvass and the charge that he was the candidate of the abolitionists. Harris showed great confidence in his support of the principle of popular sovereignty; he per- mitted himself to be placed on record as willing on this prin- ciple to admit a state with a constitution recognizing and per- mitting polygamy.20 But fear of abolition at their doors was so strong in the hearts of the conservatives that even "Polyg- amy Harris" was able to win, though by a small vote. In the remaining districts, the anti-Nebraska forces were under whig leadership. James Knox was easily reelected in the Knox- ville district. Archibald Williams made an unsuccessful con- test for Richardson's seat in the Quincy district. William R. Archer ran James C. Allen a neck and neck race in the Decatur- Olney region, while no effective opposition was organized against Samuel S. Marshall in the Cairo district.
These signs of an impending political revolution in Illinois summoned Douglas from his triumph at Washington to avert
18 Free West, September 21, 1854.
19 Belleville Advocate, August 2, 1854; Alton Courier, August 30, Sep- tember 9, 1854; Illinois Journal, September 30, 1854; Alton Telegraph clipped in Alton Weekly Courier, October 26, 1854.
20 Illinois Journal, September 28, 1854.
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THE ERA OF THE CIVIL WAR
the crisis. The announcement that he would address his con- stituents at Chicago, Saturday, September I, caused a public demonstration of the unpopularity of his recent course. At one o'clock on the appointed day, the flags in the harbor were lowered to half-mast; later at six o'clock the bells of the city were tolled for an hour. Then eight or ten thousand persons gathered near North Market Hall; in spite of Mayor Milli- ken's admonition to remain quiet, the crowd greeted Douglas with a storm of hisses and groans, that overwhelmed the plaudits of his supporters. Unable to proceed he announced his intention to stay until he could be heard, whereupon the mob broke into the chorus: "We won't go till morning, till morning, till morning, till daylight doth appear." 21 Douglas defiantly faced the mob, "The spirit of a dictator flashed out from his eye, curled upon his lip, and mingled its cold irony in every tone of his voice and every gesture of his body." 22 He and the mob defied each other until midnight when at length the "little giant" was compelled to acknowledge his defeat. Shaking his fist at the audience, his face distorted with rage, he shouted: "It is now Sunday morning- I'll go to church, and you may go to Hell !" 23
This incident gave Douglas an opportunity to travel over the state and say that he had been refused a hearing by the abolitionists of Chicago. He met with very little more suc- cess, however, throughout the northern counties. At Geneva he was compelled to leave off speaking until his opponent, Icha- bod Codding, responding to the calls of the audience, gra- ciously urged that Douglas be heard through.2+ Undaunted, he continued on his canvass, dashing from point to point in the country of the enemy and in the more favorable terri- tory in central Illinois. The climax came at Springfield during the state fair, where his supporters hoped to score heavily by arranging for a formal address. The anti-Nebraska forces made their preparations to meet Douglas; Judge Trumbull, Judge Breese, Colonel McClernand, Judge Palmer, Colonel
21 Free West, September 7, 1854.
22 Chicago Daily Democratic Press, September 4, 1854.
23 See Chicago Tribune account in Illinois State Register, September 7, 14, 1854
24 Free West, September 28, 1854; Aurora Guardian, September 21, 1854.
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I33
ORIGIN OF REPUBLICAN PARTY
E. D. Taylor, and other democrats, were easily prevailed upon to be at hand to make reply. With them enlisted Abra- ham Lincoln, the whig anti-Nebraska champion. Douglas made his main address on October 3 and was answered the next day by Lincoln in behalf of the anti-Nebraska group. Douglas replied in a "brief" hour and a half speech. On the fifth, with McClernand and Palmer standing by ready to meas- ure lances with Douglas, Breese, Trumbull, and Taylor fell upon their erstwhile leader.25 Douglas himself, with no oppor- tunity to deliver a formal speech, had to content himself with brief answers to the assaults of his opponents with such assist- ance as could be given by his Sangamon county lieutenant, John Calhoun. All this opposition seems to have made no impres- sion upon the fighting senator; he was soon off to other battle- grounds to get in his blows during the remaining weeks of the canvass.
Loudly and aggressively did the democrats fling the charge of "abolitionism " at their opponents, pointing to the active participation in the campaign of such antislavery extremists as Ichabod Codding and Owen Lovejoy, the brother of the mar- tyr, Salmon P. Chase and Joshua R. Giddings, the well-known Ohio leaders; even Cassius M. Clay, and Frederick Douglass, the Negro abolitionist, invaded the state on short anti- Nebraska speech making tours. "Hired gangs of abolition- ists of the Horace Greeley and Garrison school," warned the Cairo City Times, "are traversing the State, addressing the people and telling them how to vote."26
The returns in November showed a sweeping democratic defeat. "Never before have the democracy of Illinois been so completely vanquished," lamented the Joliet Signal of November 14. A clear anti-Nebraska legislature was elected ; and though democrats elected John Moore state treasurer, it was only by a policy of silence on the Nebraska question. The congressional elections went against their regular candi- dates by five to four. The shout of triumph in the anti- Nebraska camp brought humility to the Douglas democracy,
25 Illinois Journal, October 10, 1854; Alton Weekly Courier, October 12, 1854. 26 See the Free West, June-November, 1854; Cairo City Times, October 18, 1854.
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THE ERA OF THE CIVIL WAR
which at length showed a disposition to let the Nebraska issue rest.27
The biggest stake in the elections of 1854 was Shield's seat in the United States senate. The anti-Nebraska majority in the legislature seemed to assure his defeat, though party allegiance still called loudly to democrats of all stripes. Among Shield's competitors were Governor Matteson, Lyman Trumbull, and Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln, still clinging to the obsolete whig tradition, was a champion of antislavery whiggery; and the main body of anti-Nebraska legislators supported him mainly because they themselves were of whig sympathies. But could the anti-Nebraska democrats support a candidate who hailed from the camp of the traditional enemy ? Yet success depended upon the support of these democratic heretics. They were inflexibly committed against Shields, instinctively preferred Trumbull, but regarded Matteson a very moderate Nebraska man, as second choice. Matteson, indeed, might well have been elected had it not been that Lieutenant Governor Koerner, a foreigner and an anti-Nebraskaite, would then have been automatically promoted to the gubernatorial chair.
The house promptly elected anti-Nebraska officers. In the senate, however, the Douglas men delayed organization with obstructive tactics, while the anti-Nebraska democratic sen- ators including Norman B. Judd, John M. Palmer, B. C. Cook, and Uri Osgood, refused to participate in the democratic caucus on organization. A joint resolution disapproving of the repeal of the Missouri compromise and instructing the Illinois senators to support its restoration was introduced but failed to progress to final passage, although in one vote the house committed itself to the resolution.
Hoping at least to prevent the choice of an opposition candidate, if only by preventing the election of a senator, Douglas tried to sow discord among the anti-Nebraska forces. His organ, the Chicago Daily Times, January 10, patroniz- ingly exhorted the whigs to bear proudly their ancient name and principles, as embodied in Lincoln, rather than yield to the solicitation of democratic anti-Nebraska malcontents.28 Lin-
27 St. Clair Tribune, November 11, 1854.
28 Douglas to Charles A. Lanphier, December 18, 1854, Lanphier manuscripts.
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ORIGIN OF REPUBLICAN PARTY
coln was opposed by some of these democrats, because of his "shortcomings on the Republican basis." Besides his connec- tion with a conservative "mummy of a party," his unwilling- ness to oppose the fugitive slave law and to pledge himself in opposition to the admission of any more slave states, was regarded as evidence of too much conservatism for the old time abolition forces.29 In the early balloting, Lincoln received the vote of every member of whig antecedents but still lacked a few votes. The anti-Nebraska democratic bolters supported Trumbull on the ground that as a majority of the legislature were democrats in old party allegiance, a democrat ought to be elected. Tremendous pressure was brought to bear upon them to vote for Shields or Matteson. One of the participants later charged that bribery as well as persuasion was attempted upon him. Just when the bolters, Judd and his colleagues, were on the point of abandoning Trumbull and joining their brethren to elect either Shields or Matteson, Lincoln, convinced that it was impossible to secure his own election, instructed his whig supporters to unite at once on Trumbull as a candidate who could be elected.30 As a result the tenth ballot showed Lyman Trumbull the choice of the state legislature for United States senator. His election was hailed with universal satisfaction by the entire anti-Nebraska press of the state. Douglas and his followers, considering it preferable to a whig victory, promptly acquiesced.
While the Kansas-Nebraska question was the chief issue of 1854 and 1855, other problems competed with it for attraction and contributed to the general political chaos. Whig disinte- gration and democratic schism provided a favorable atmos- phere for the many "isms " that sought a hearing. The tem- 29 Free West, December 14, 1854; Aurora Guardian, January 11, 1855.
30 Chicago Daily Democratic Press, January 13, 1855. George T. Allen claimed in 1866 that he was offered by the democrats through L. F. Mebrille, their agent, "all they could give" "to buy any vote for Gov. Matteson." George T. Allen to Trumbull, June 14, 1866, Trumbull manuscripts. See also Chicago Weekly Democrat, February 17, August 11, 1855; Illinois Journal, February 9, 1855. As it was, five anti-Nebraska members voted for Matteson on the last ballot; two of these were William C. Kinney and Albert H. Trapp of St. Clair county in Trumbull's own district, who incidentally wanted to see Koerner become governor as a result of Matteson's election. Belleville Advocate, February 14, 1855; St. Clair Tribune, February 17, 1855; Koerner, Memoirs, I : 624-625 ; Johns, Personal Recollections, 75-76 ; Lincoln to Henderson, February 21, 1855, Illinois State Historical Society, Journal, 4: 73.
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perance agitation, split though it was into various factions, suddenly acquired a magnetic appeal; after a surprising dis- play of strength in connection with the proposed liquor law of 1855, however, the movement collapsed with equal abrupt- ness. An attempt was made also to force an alignment on the issue of political nativism when a wave of native Ameri- canism swept over the country to the hospitable prairies of Illinois ; but since it sought to ignore the ever present slavery question, this became a centrifugal force which in time threw apart the elements of the conglomerate mass.
The "know nothing" party was the name given to this revival of native Americanism which, in its political aspect, was a protest against the part that the foreign born citizen was allowed to play, whether legally or fraudulently, in the prac- tical workings of the American political system. It also involved some objection to the Roman Catholic allegiance of the foreign immigrant, particularly the Irish. Arising in the form of a secret political organization which concealed even its name and existence and holding up the high ideal of pro- tecting American institutions from the "insidious wiles of for- eigners," it made a strong appeal to various political groups in the state. It furnished an opportunity for a dark lantern exodus from old party bondage both to the whigs, who came to feel quite like men without a party, and to democrats, who were permanently alienated by the unfortunate leadership of Senator Douglas; at the same time its novelty, its secrecy, and its mystery as a ritualistic secret organization attracted hun- dreds of converts. The new nativist movement claimed to herald an era of political reform which should rid the country of the corruption that had crept into high places, which should substitute devotion to the union of the fathers for slavish devotion to party. To the conservative who had grown weary of the excessive sectional agitation, it promised an opportunity to steer clear of the unfortunate slavery controversy.
During the early weeks of the canvass in 1854, the State Register and other Douglas journals issued warnings : " Beware of the Know Nothings," and "Beware of secret societies." This was clearly an attempt to rally the foreign voters, par- ticularly the Irish, in favor of the Nebraska party. Inasmuch
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ORIGIN OF REPUBLICAN PARTY
as the democratic party had always been the chief beneficiary of the foreign vote the effect was to encourage nativism in the ranks of the opposition which inherited some of the whig traditions.31 Soon evidences were discovered of local organi- zations in Joliet, Ottawa, Grayville, Canton, Vermont, Farm- ington, Alton, and other communities. A know nothing journal entitled the American Era was started at Grayville, while the Canton Register among others showed strong nativistic inclina- tions ; it challenged the " disgusting" flattery bestowed on for- eigners to secure their votes and declared that only Americans, including naturalized Protestant citizens, should rule America. By August the order numbered over three hundred in Alton and was preparing for the coming city election. One of its meetings was held "in the culvert under Prisa street." When the votes were counted on September 12 it was found that a closely contested election had quietly taken place which resulted in a complete know nothing victory. "The officers elected are among the best men in our city," declared the Alton Courier. 32
It is difficult to state to what extent the November elections were influenced by this new issue. Richard Yates was said to have lost enough foreign votes to forfeit his seat in congress, as a result of the false charge that he was a know nothing. In the Belleville-Alton district hundreds of Germans and Catholic Americans, fearful that they might vote for some know nothing candidate, remained at home or "allowed themselves to be persuaded to vote against Mr. Trumbull under the representa- tion that every anti-Nebraska man must necessarily be a Maine Law liquor man and a Know Nothing." 33 Similar reasons were said to have accounted for the defeat of the anti- Nebraskaites in the Quincy district. On the other hand, Nor- ton and Knox in the third and fourth congressional districts and Allen in the seventh succeeded with the indorsement of the nativists. It was claimed that many members of the newly elected legislature were know nothings as well as anti-Nebras-
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