The appearances of Abraham Lincoln and Sen. Stephen Douglas in Greenville in 1858 received
wide publicity throughout the state. And in keeping with the partisan press of those times, the
newspaper accounts were highly partisan in nature.
Republican papers portrayed Lincoln in a favorable light and Douglas in a negative light and
Democratic newspapers did just the opposite.
Douglas, a very prominent Democratic U.S. Senator, probably tended to get more publicity than
Lincoln, who was not as well known at that time as was Douglas.
In the general election in November of 1858 Douglas won another term in the U.S. Senate by
defeating Lincoln. Two years later Lincoln was the Republican candidate for President and of
course won that election.
Douglas' visit to Greenville in early August of 1858 was "covered" rather heavily by the press.
The Chicago Press and Tribune printed an account on August 9. It was a Republican paper and
the story was slanted heavily against Douglas.
The newspaper's correspondent wrote: "I am well satisfied Mr. Douglas lost a number of votes
yesterday and that he did not gain one. Nearly every sober man that I spoke to said they were
sadly disappointed in the man, feeling that they had been insulted by the style of his speech,
knowing that Mr. Douglas could have done much better had he thought us capable of
comprehending him."
As we shall see later, this is in sharp contrast to accounts in Democratic, pro-Douglas newspapers.
The Chicago paper did, however, concede - at least in a backhanded way - that there was a good
crowd for Douglas:
"Yesterday morning the booming of cannon informed us that something unusual had happened to
the city of Greenville, whereupon we all concluded to go down and see if the Mormons had really
attacked the city. We found no Mormons - but Hon. S.A. Douglas, Hon. Robert Smith, 'the Old
Settler,' (better known as, 'Long Jim') and a host of gentlemen from neighboring towns.
"At one o'clock p.m. a considerable crowd of men, women, children, babies and dogs assembled
in the grove south of town, where everything had been prepared, even to the importation of a
traveling grocery from Litchfield, expressly for this occasion."
Douglas, who was introduced by Samuel Stevenson, began by saying: "Ladies and gentlemen it
gives me great and supreme gratification and pleasure to see this vast concourse of people
assembled to hear me upon this my first visit to Old Bond."
But the account of the visit was vastly different in the Democratic and pro-Douglas Illinois State
Register in Springfield.
Its correspondent wrote that "Judge Douglas arrived here last night" and "more than six thousand
people assembled to meet him."
He added, "I've seen many gatherings in Old Bond county but I never saw anything equal to this
and never expect to. It astonished all of us old settlers and we never saw a political crowd of
one-tenth the size in which such unanimity of feeling prevailed. They all seemed to be on one side -
all for returning Douglas to the Senate."
Douglas "held his hearers spellbound for two hours and I know now as I write of at least one
hundred men who were opposed to Douglas when he came here who will vote for Douglas
representatives. I hear it from every side. The revolution is complete."
The Springfield paper noted that within the next three days Douglas would ride 170 miles by
carriage and make stops in three more towns. The article, signed "Old Settler," said, "He cannot fail
of being elected to the Senate and his opponents know it."
This writer could not find an actual account of Lincoln's visit to Greenville in the Chicago Press and
Tribune or in the Illinois State Register or the Illinois State Journal in Springfield.
But many papers mentioned Greenville as being on Lincoln's itinerary and the Chicago paper made
at least one reference to it prior to Lincoln's visit.
In an account of Lincoln's speech at Edwardsville in early September of 1858 the Chicago paper
noted:
"From that point (Highland) Mr. Lincoln proceeds to Greenville, Bond county, where unusual
preparations have been made to receive him" and from there to Jonesboro for one of the
now-famous Lincoln-Douglas debates.
Charles Hoiles of Greenville, a close friend and supporter of Douglas, was elected to the Illinois
House of Representatives in the 1858 election.
One reason the Greenville Advocate was founded in February of 1858 was
to support Lincoln's candidacy for the U.S. Senate.
Prior to Douglas' appearance in Greenville, the Advocate editorialized:
"It would be passing strange indeed if a man who has created so much
commotion in the political world for the last few years, should not draw
a large crowd to hear him speak; but not withstanding the fact that
thousands will flock to see and hear him, he is doubtless one of the
greatest humbugs of the age, Barnum not excepted."
The Advocate gave a great deal of advanced publicity to Lincoln's visit.
After Lincoln's September appearance in Greenville, the Advocate
reported that 1,200 to 1,500 people showed up to hear him.
Lincoln's speech, according to the Advocate, was "clear, logical,
argumentative, eloquent, powerful and convincing..." The paper reported
that Lincoln showed clearly "that slavery is a great moral, social and
political evil."
During their visits to Greenville, both Lincoln and Douglas spoke in
Colcord's Grove. A monument is now located at 411 South Fifth Street.
Colcord's Grove was located to the west of the monument.
The tablet is "dedicated to the memory of Abraham Lincoln, who spoke
here..." and was placed by the Benjamin Mills chapter of the Daughters
of the American Revolution.
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Lincoln's Address Reveals Differences with
Douglas
By Allan H. Keith
Abraham Lincoln, on a visit to Edwardsville in 1858, gave his view of the difference between the
Democratic and Republican parties during that memorable election campaign.
In an article in the Chicago Press and Tribune filed from Edwardsville shortly before Lincoln's visit
to Greenville, he was quoted as saying:
"The difference between the Republican and Democratic parties on the leading
issues of this contest, as I understand it, is that the former consider slavery a
moral, social and political wrong, while the latter do not consider it either a
moral, social or political wrong.
"And the action of each as respects the growth of the country and the expansion
of our population is squared to meet these views.
"I will not allege that the Democratic party considers slavery morally, socially
and politically right, though their tendency to that view has in my opinion been
constant and unmistakable for the past five years. I prefer to take as the
accepted maxim of the party put forth by Judge Douglas that he 'don't care
whether slavery is voted down or voted up.' I am quite willing to believe that
many Democrats would prefer that slavery be always voted down and I am sure
that some prefer that it always be voted up..."
The views of Sen. Stephen Douglas were reflected in this from the account of his visit to Greenville
in the Illinois State Register:
"Douglas was described as 'the renowned champion of popular rights - the
successful and triumphal leader of those who demand that the people of these
states and territories shall respectively arrange and adopt their own domestic
institutions to suit themselves, subject only to the Constitution of the United
States."
He was described as "the advocate of territorial rights and frontier progress." |
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