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Usher F. Linder: Orator from Coles
by Roma Linder Bradley
5 January 2004
Submitted to the faculty of the Graduate School in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts in the Department of Speech and Theater, Indiana University
August, 1963
Acknowledgement
The writer wishes to express appreciation to Mr. Archie Motley of the Chicago Historical Society, Mr. Clyde C. Walton of the Illinois State Historical Society, the library staffs of Indiana University and the University of Illinois and Mr. Clarence Bell of Mattoon, Illinois for their help in this project.
For their efforts in investigation, although no material was available, the author is grateful to the following: Mrs. Dorothy Thomas Cullen, The Filson Club; Mr. Richard Colles Johnson, The Newberry Library; Mr. Frank G. Burke, The University of Chicago Library; The library staffs of Eastern Illinois University and the University of Kentucky and the personnel of the courthouse of Coles, Edgar, and Madison Counties.
A special expression of gratitude is extended to Professor Robert Gray Gunderson who directed and constructively criticized this thesis; to Mr. Don Wilson Chenoweth, without whose encouragement and assistance this work could not have been completed and to my parents who have continually guided and supported my education.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. THE GENTLEMAN FROM COLES.............................................1
II. IMPRESSIONABLE ILLINOISANS: LINDER'S AUDIENCE......................18
III. FRIENDS OF FREE INQUIRY: LINDER AND THE ALTON RIOTS...............36
IV. PLACARDS ON THE PRAIRIE: LINDER AND THE LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATES....54
V. WESTERN ELOQUENCE: LINDER'S STYLE AND DELIVERY......................64
BIBLIOGRAPHY...........................................................79
VITA...................................................................83
CHAPTER I
THE GENTLEMAN FROM COLES
On April 17, 1865, lawyers gathered at a meeting of the Chicago Bar Association to pay tribute to the late President -- Abraham Lincoln. The man scheduled to deliver the final eulogy had known the Great Emancipator intimately since boyhood. As the speaker approached the flag-draped platform, the audience saw a middle-aged man of six feet in stature, slender, raw-boned, and quite similar in appearance to the rail-splitter himself.[1] His voice, usually clear and low, was toned down by the deep emotion he felt for the occasion. His remarks were extremely moving and more than one, as he listened to the tremulous tones of the stately speaker, was visibly moved to tears.[2] The man had been at various times engaged in public service with Lincoln and his references to the many kindnesses that he had received from the President abounded in pathos and wistfulness. The next day the address was tagged in the Chicago Times as the "speech of the day," and described as a "masterpiece of eloquence."[3] The man responsible for this memorable tribute was Usher Ferguson Linder.
1 Albert J. Beveridge, Abraham Lincoln (Boston and New York, 1928), I, 180.
2 Chicago Times, April 19, 1865.
3 John M. Palmer, ed. The Bench and Bar of Illinois (Chicago, 1899), II, 658.
To those who have resided in Hardin County, Kentucky, the name of Linder is familiar. From the earliest wilderness days, there were Linders at the Severn's Valley settlement -- the first permanent town in the territory. Here was created the original Hardin County, some four thousand or more square miles, reaching from Salt River and the Rolling Fork to the Green River.
After Usher Linder's grandfather, Ensign Daniel Linder, had defended his young country in the War for Independence, he moved into this valley where there were "upward of twenty" people in the little frontier community.[4] Here he and his wife, Rebecca, reared a family as did his brother Jacob and his wife. When Kentucky became a state, the legislature officially created Hardin County and the court diligently began the "laying out" of roads. It was young Daniel, an experienced borderman, who proved an especially valuable asset in this service.[5]
His oldest son by the same name married Elizabeth, daughter of John and Catherine Ferguson, who once operated an early tavern in their log home on the lot where the Elizabethtown United States Post Office Building now stands.[6] Their first son was born on March 20, 1809, and given a name familiar
4 Processioners Book, p. 20 as cited in George K. Holbert, "Lincoln and Linder in Kentucky," Lincoln Herald, XLIV (June 1942), 2-12.
5 Hardin County Court Order Book A, p. 89 cited in Holbert, p. 2.
6 Hardin County Court Order Book A, p. 366, cited in Holbert, p. 2.
in the family -- Usher.
Only ten miles away and five weeks earlier another first son was born to a young couple named Lincoln, and he also was given a name familiar in the family -- Abraham. Here in this Hardin County wilderness, two boys were born close together in time and place and in the years to come their paths often met, separated, crossed and recrossed in an eminent period in the nation's history.
The father of Usher, like the father of Abraham, met with disappointment in his efforts to establish a permanent home in Kentucky. All together, the earthly possessions of Dan Linder consisted of three horses, one cow, nine head of sheep, farming utensils, household and kitchen furniture, two beds, one press, and one table.[7] Because of increasing debts, Dan Linder executed a mortgage on these items and the land was given over to young Usher when he was thirteen.[8]
Linder's section of the Kentucky countryside lay in that particular region known as the "Barrens" -- meadows of wild grass, and largely barren of trees. Here, young Linder rode on his father's back to a little dirt floor schoolhouse set among the blackjacks. It was in "these sylvan shades," this "Arcadian grove" as Linder called it, that he first began the study of the alphabet under the tutelage of John Dougherty.[9]
7 Deed Book H, p. 12, cited in Holbert, p. 3
8 Deed Book K, p. 53, cited in Holbert, p. 3
9 Usher F. Linder, Reminiscences of Early Bench and Bar of Illinois, (Chicago, 1896), p. 22
When the family moved to another home on the old Shepherdsville road, Usher Linder regularly attended several sessions at schools as good as could be found in the country. They were primitive A B C classes that at best went no further than reading, writing, and simple ciphering. Ursh, as he was called by his family, made fair progress, but his real interests lay in his boyish love of sports, games, and fun.[10]
Soon he transferred to the school in town held in the old Elizabethtown Seminary where he first delved into his work in real earnest. In town he had the advantage of Eastern graduates for teachers and he described his first instructor, John Seward Sweesy, as "an excellent man and teacher and a ripe scholar."[11] The boy's favorite study was English grammar, but he also showed a marked ability in other courses including Latin in which he specialized for a year.[12]
Linder's favorite pastime occurred on Saturdays when court was in session at Elizabethtown. He would go to the old courthouse and listen for hours to the dynamic encounters between some of the most eminent barristers of the day. It was probably during these impressionable years that he first decided to enter the legal profession.
After reading law, Linder was admitted to practice by order of the Hardin County court in 1829. He took the "several oaths" required by law, which are almost the same as laywers take in the state today.[13] A promising attorney at twenty-one, Usher soon demonstrated a lively and quick wit in addition to exhibiting a great thirst for distinction and fame.[14]
While Linder was riding the Kentucky circuit, there was a story that he once sued William Ross, an inn-keeper with whom he and his horse were "guests," for negligence as the host. The young circuit rider liked his morning dram in those days, but unfortunately did not always have ready cash. The two taverns on the old country road, one kept by Ross and the other by Cunningham, were both frequently patronized by young Ursh. The story goes that one morning Ross saw Linder leisurely making his way to his tavern, and remembering that Linder was somewhat in arrears, wrote a bit of jingle which he struck on the outside of the locked door. After knocking, Linder noticed the paper which read:
My barrel is empty and it I must fill
Pay up the old score and I'll credit you still.
Linder immediately took out a pencil, wrote the following lines and walked away:
My stomach is empty and it I must fill
If you will not credit me Cunningham will.[15]
There were doubtless many such episodes in the colorful career of this country lawyer and the times were few indeed when
13 "Usher F. Linder," Who Was Who in Hardin County (Hodgenville, 1920).
14 Marshall Telegraph, May 26, 1855.
15 Holbert, p. 11.
Linder did not have the last word.
In 1830 Usher F. Linder married Lilly Ann Stevenson, a former classmate at his first country school. Realizing that he would now have to be more financially stable, he decided to break his judicial lance with the Kentucky bar and migrate with his young wife to the Prairie State of Illinois. Traveling on the National Road through Indiana, they arrived first at Greenup and finally made their home in Charleston -- county seat of Coles County. Upon his arrival, Linder described the countyside as "a vast wilderness of flowers, with soil as rich and fertile as ever a crow flew over."[16]
Because of poor health, Linder did not enter the practice of law during his first year in Illinois. Nevertheless he attended court regularly at Charleston and it was at one of these sessions that he first met Abraham Lincoln of Springfield. Linder later wrote in his Reminiscences that the young attorney from Sangamon "had the appearance of a good-natured, easy, unambitious man of plain good sense and unobtrusive in his manners."[17] The two men discussed mutual acquaintances in Hardin County and so began a friendship that was to last for the rest of their lives.
In a country of comparative strangers, Linder was very poor, but with his talent, imagination, and ready wit, he did not remain unknown for long. Soon he began to ride the Wabash circuit, coupling his talents with many of the ablest legal minds in the state. Some of these leading advaocates with whom Linder was often associated, included: Stephen T. Logan, Lyman Trumbull, O.H. Browning, William H. Bissell, David J. Baker, W.H. Underwood, Gustavus Koerner, as well as Lincoln.[18]
In 1836, the Gentleman from Coles, as he was soon called, represented his county in the Tenth General Assembly and took an active part in that historic session. When this notable legislative body convened at Vandalia, the state capital, there was assembled a remarkable group of potential leaders. Out of this gathering emerged one President, six United States Senators, two Attorney Generals, five State Senators, two State Auditors, one Superintendent of Schools, and a number of well-known judges.[19]
Most of these men were in their twenties -- young men in a young country, filled with the urge to plunge into the vital questions of the day. Albert Beveridge described Linder at this time as "one of the most picturesque figures in the House and a member of power and influence."[20] Prominent among the roll of honor, was the Sangamon delegation, dubbed the "Long Nine" since each was some six feet in stature, with Lincoln the longest of the nine.
18 Palmer, I, 68
19 Holbert, p. 2.
20 Beveridge, p. 180.
During the sessions, Linder played the chief role in the investigation of the State Bank of Illinois. The Gentleman from Coles introduced the resolution calling for an investigation of the condition and policies of Springfield's pet institution -- the Bank. In a running debate which lasted for two or three weeks, Lincoln led the fight supporting the Bank. Linder lost on the resolution but won on the investigation.[21]
Before the end of the session, the Legislature elected Linder to the office of Attorney General and then he resigned from the House on February 11, 1837.[22] Linder, just twenty-seven years of age, attributed his election and "laurels in the House" to his role in the Bank controversy.
A local paper -- the Shawneetown Voice, styled the convocation at Vandalia "the Democratic-Republican-Internal Improvement Convention," a cognomen about as long as that of the "Anti-go-to-bed-barefoot Society," but with half as much meaning.[23] Nevertheless, it can be concluded that the question of Internal Improvements was made an important factor in the selection of candidates.
Linder and Lincoln were both Whigs in this session, but by the time the next session came, Linder had become a Democrat. The Gentleman from Coles was extremely inconsistent in politics, so much so that it was difficult for him to define his
21 William Baringer, Lincoln's Vandalia (Boston, 1949), pp. 98-99.
22 Sangamo Journal, January 28, 1837.
23 Alton Telegraph, July 3, 1838.
own position at times. He started out as a Jackson Democrat and was an ardent admirer of the old hero. However, by 1844, he was profoundly convinced of the correctness of the old Whig principles. As an enthusiastic supporter of Clay, he wrote his old friend John J. Hardin, "Let me see Henry Clay the President, and Illinois resurrected, and so help me God I am contented to go into retirement and quit politics forever."[24]
Being a man of strong Southern proclivities, he believed that the abolition of slavery would be ruinous to the South and therefore he differed from his old friend Lincoln on the question of emancipation. In 1860 Linder became what was called a War Democrat -- one who believed in the unification of the country, but feared that the emancipation of the slaves would be attended by ruinous consequences to the white man.[25] There was some good-natured joshing on Linder's political uncertainty and when the Gentleman from Coles moved to Chicago, a writer for the Illinois State Democrat wrote, "We'll bet two bits Linder turns Republican before the end of the year."[26]
Linder, however, did not follow this young reporter's prediction, but remained a Democrat for the rest of his life. Unfortunately, his political party affiliations contributed to his lack of complete success as a politician. He was a Whig when the Democrats dominated Illinois politics and became a
24 Letter from Usher F. Linder to John J. Hardin, February 21, 1844. Chicago Historical Society.
25 Linder, p. 19.
26 Illinois State Democrat, February 12, 1860.
Democrat just at the time the Republicans replaced the Democrats as the majority party in the state. Nevertheless he managed to be elected to the position of Attorney General and it was while holding this office that he played a major part in the growing controversy over slavery.
Although the law required the Attorney General to reside at the capital, Linder moved to Alton. It was a picturesque location and the young attorney later wrote to Joseph Gillespie, "I have never been in any country more striking and bold than the bluffs of the Mississippi."[27] On this colorful countryside the pot was already boiling and Linder soon became involved in an incident that scalded the nation -- the Alton Riots. He played a dominant role in the first meeting of the Illinois Anti-Slavery Society and was the leading prosecutor in the trials that followed Lovejoy's death.
After the trials, Linder was reproached for his beliefs. Because his pro-slavery sentiments were supported by only the lowest class of reprobates in the community, the newly elected Attorney General came under severe criticism. He was outrageously attacked by the Missouri Republican which accused him of being connected with the escape of some prisoners from the Alton Penitentiary. Furthermore, the Republican paper insinuated that the Attorney General had not been attending to his circuit duties.[28]
27 Letter from Usher F. Linder to Joseph J. Gillespie, August 8, 1867. Chicago Historical Society.
28 Missouri Republican, June 2, 1837.
The Illinois State Register soon came to the rescue and stated that "the assiduity with which Mr. Linder has attended to his duties may be estimated by the fact that he has already convicted more criminals than were before confined."[29] In regard to Linder's connection with the escaped prisoners, the following correspondence was published:
Gentlemen of the Grand Jury,
I deem it due to my honor, and to the responsible office I hold, to ask at the hands of the Grand Jury that Justice which cannot be expected from scurrilous newspaper editors. I am apprised that you have had under investigation the conduct of the present and former warden of the Penitentiary. I humbly desire that you will state whether the evidence before you connected my name with their conduct or misconduct with the escape of the prisoners, or reflected upon my integrity in the slightest, if so wherein.
I appeal to the magnamity [sic] of an intelligent and honorable Grand Jury of Madison county not to withhold from me this small piece of justice, in as much as it has been asserted in a public newspaper that my name was connected with the recent transactions of the present warden in a most disreputable manner.
With sentiments of profound esteem and respect.
Your obedient servant
U.F. Linder[30]
Shortly afterwards, this reply was submitted:
U.F. Linder Esq.
Attorney General of the State of Illinois
Sir:
Your letter of this morning is before us. In reply to which we take pleasure in saying that your name or conduct was not called in question
29 Illinois State Register, June 9, 1837.
30 Illinois State Register, June 9, 1837.
in the slightest manner by the witnesses who testified before us yesterday respecting the warden of the penitentiary.
With sentiments of esteem and respect
Your obedient and humble servants.
In behalf of the Grand Jury of Madison county.
James Reynolds, Foreman[31]
Due to this unfortunate episode, Linder resigned as Attorney General and returned to his home in Coles County in 1838. He ran for Congress in 1844 but was beaten by another Gentleman from Coles - Orlando B. Ficklin. He later wrote his close friend John J. Hardin, "I have a very great desire to go to Congress, if I could -- but between you and me, I think Congress is a place I shall never see, other than as a spectator."[32]
Linder's luck took a turn for the better, however, and he was elected to the Legislature in 1846 and remained through the sessions of 1848 and 1850. He soon gained wide popularity as a campaign orator and Albert J. Beveridge described him as a "terror on the stump."[33] John J. Palmer later wrote that he was in many respects more like Tom Corwin of Ohio than any man that he had ever met.[34] The Illinois State Journal carried this editorial in 1850: "Large crowds attend the speaking of Usher F. Linder. He is one of the most eloquent men in the
31 Illinois State Register, June 9, 1837.
32 Letter from Usher F. Linder to John J. Hardin, February 21, 1844. Chicago Historical Society.
33 Beveridge, p. 180.
34 Palmer, II, 657.
West. His satire and wit are enimitable. Before the campaign closes we want him here."[35]
During his active years of campaigning, Linder continued to ride the circuit and later he wrote, "I have recently made the discovery that I can do better at my profession of law than anything else."[36] He was one of the best-trained lawyers of his day and while his fame was doubtless largely due to the fact that he tried successfully many cases in all the southern counties of the state, it is also due in part to his reputation as a wit, orator, and story-teller.[37] A writer for the Marshall Telegraph said of his abilities, "If any man in or out of the state can find Mr. Linder deficient in any case arising on the docket, even without midnight study, he is welcome to his discovery."[38]
Linder tried many cases with Lincoln in and around Coles County. One of the most famous cases in the state was that involving the Matson slaves. Linder was chief attorney for Robert Matson in the litigation which arose when Matson, a young planter of Bourbon County, Kentucky, bought a large farm in southeastern Coles County and took his slaves there to cultivate it. The legal status of these slaves was immediately
35 Illinois State Journal, September 22, 1852.
36 Letter from Usher F. Linder to John J. Hardin, February 2, 1844. Chicago Historical Society.
37 Frederic B. Crossley, Courts and Lawyers of Illinois (Chicago, 1916), I, 207.
38 Marshall Telegraph, May 26, 1855.
questioned. Linder procured Lincoln to enter the case as assistant counsel on Matson's side.
Linder, speaking for Matson, argued that the recognition of slavery by the Federal Constitution created an obligation to protect slave property wherever the Constitution applied. O.B. Ficklin of the defense commented in later years that Linder's speech, because of the eloquence and boldness with which he defended Matson's claim to the Negroes, "would have been vociferously cheered in South Carolina."[39] Lincoln, however speaking for Matson, did not endorse the position taken by Linder; but admitted that if the Matson Negroes had been permanently located by their master in Illinois, such action made them free. Beveridge found that those present felt that Lincoln argued weakly, and that his speech was fatal to his client's case.
Consequently, Matson lost his slaves and was charged with all costs involved in their arrest and detention in jail. When the decision was announced, according to a spectator, Matson hurriedly left for Kentucky, evaded his creditors and never paid his attorneys their fee.[40]
All told, Linder and Lincoln were associated in ten law cases in Coles County. The close professional relationship between these two men is shown by a letter from Lincoln to Linder, written from Springfield on March 2, 1853.
39 Charles Coleman, Abraham Lincoln and Coles County, Illinois (New Brunswick, New Jersey, 1955), p. 107.
40 Coleman, p. 109.
The change of circuits prevents my attending the Edgar court this Spring, and perhaps generally hereafter. There is a little Ejectment case from Bloomfield, in which the name of Davidson figures...and for defending which I have been paid a little fee. Now I dislike to keep the money without doing the service; and I also hate to disgorge; and I therefore request of you to defend the case for me; and I will, in due time, do as much or more for you.[41]
Indeed, there was mutual admiration and respect between these two men. In a letter to Joseph Gillespie, Linder wrote of Lincoln, "I think his greatest fort was, as a lawyer -- and I don't know whether he was strongest before the judge or the jury -- I certainly never asked to have him against me."[42]
Similarly, Mr. Lincoln admired Linder greatly as a speaker. When he and Linder were once defending a man who was being tried on a criminal charge before Judge David Davis, who said at dinner time that the case must be disposed of that night, Linder suggested that the best thing they could do would be to run the prosecuting attorney as far into the night as possible, in hopes that he might, in his rage, commit some indiscretion that would help their case. Lincoln commenced, but to save his life he could not speak one hour, and the laboring oar fell into Linder's hands; "but," said Lincoln, "he was equal to the occasion." He spoke most interestingly three mortal hours about everything in the world. He discussed the other attorney from head to foot, and put in about three-fourths of an hour on the subject of his whiskers. Lincoln
41 Roy P. Basler, ed. Collected Works (New Brunswick, New Jersey, 1953), II, 191.
42 Letter from Usher F. Linder to Joseph J. Gillespie, August 8, 1867. Chicago Historical Society.
said he never envied a man so much as he did Linder on that occasion. He thought he was inimitable in his capacity to talk interestingly about everything and nothing by the hour.[43]
It was not long before the Gentleman from Coles was in the thick of the final storm that broke over the question of slavery. He was an active supporter of the Little Giant in the campaign of 1858 and spoke at many rallies following the historic debates. Neither he nor Douglas sought to justify slavery as a moral institution, but committed themselves to the principle of "squatter sovereignty" -- the right of the people of a new territory to say by popular vote whether they would come into the union as a free or slave state.[44]
Finally in the fateful year of 1860, Linder was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention which met in Charleston, South Carolina, and nominated Douglas in Baltimore. Thus the eloquent voice of Usher Linder was lifted in support of Douglas against Lincoln. The whole country was astir with party rivalry and acute competition pervaded the political scene.
Linder moved to Chicago and opened a law office the year Lincoln was elected but he continued to take an active part in the political affairs of the time. During the last four years of his life, he wrote a series of articles unde the title of "Reminiscences of the Early Bench and Bar of
43 Linder, p. 18.
44 Who Was Who in Hardin County.
Illinois" which was published in book form in 1876. This small volume relates entirely to men with whom Linder was acquainted and who were prominent in southern Illinois at a critical period in the history of the state and nation. It is a frequently quoted source book and forms a valuable contribution to early Illinois history. On June 5, 1876, only a few months after the publication of this book, Linder died in Chicago, survived by his wife and five children.
Usher F. Linder lived in one of the most important periods of Illinois history. He was believed to have been one of the best-trained lawyers of his day and his distinguished ability brought fame to the Illinois bar in the first half of the century. His practice as a lawyer was widespread and led him into all parts of Illinois. Indeed, this Gentleman from Coles filled a large space in public estimation and rendered important service to his country.
CHAPTER TWO
IMPRESSIONABLE ILLINOISANS: LINDER'S AUDIENCE
During the first half of the nineteenth century, Linder spoke in almost every section of the state of Illinois. He was forced to adapt to many different types of people with peculiar habits and beliefs. In order to better understand Linder's speaking as it developed, one must know something about the prevailing trends that molded and influenced the people in the state -- the people who comprised his listening audience.
Linder, his wife and two small children migrated to Illinois in the summer of 1835. When they arrived they found a vast fertile plain, bounded on the west by the Mississippi and on the north by Lake Michigan. The state was truly the great prairie of the middle west. When they reached Greenup on July 12, Linder wrote, "It looked to me like a vast wilderness of flowers, with a soil as rich and fertile as ever a crow flew over it. It seemed to me as if the Lord had created it as a paradise for farmers."[1]
According to the Immigrant's Guide for 1837, the prairies were covered with tall grasses and flower-producing weeds during the spring and by July they seemed like an ocean of various hues, waving in the breeze. These numerous tall flowering shrubs which grew abundantly over the plains presented
1 Linder, p. 35.
a most striking picture to the prairie pioneer.[2]
Within this setting, the period of 1830 to 1860 was one of development for Illinois. The northern part of the state was inhabited the earliest because of its proximity to the Great Lakes. The scarcity of settlement in the southern section prior to 1860 was due to its inaccesability.[3] The population of eastern Illinois was less than 14,500 in 1830, and two-thirds of this number were in towns around the Wabash River.[4]
Many early pioneers came from Kentucky, Tennessee, the Carolinas, and Ohio, traveling the great road which ran through Kentucky, crossed the Ohio at Ford's Ferry, and then proceeded into Illinois. On this passageway could be seen every conceivable kind of conveyance from a handsome family carriage to the humblest sort of ox-cart.[5] Pioneers coming from Ohio took advantage of their river which made a convenient route. If the journey was made by way of the Great Lakes, the migrants' point of destination was always Chicago.
At a comparatively early date, lines of transportation were established from Chicago to all parts of the state. The chief road to the settlements along the Vermillion and Wabash
2 Illinois in 1837 (Philadelphia, 1837), p. 12.
3 William V. Pooley, The Settlement of Illinois from 1830 to 1850, (Madison, 1908), p. 156.
4 Pooley, p. 156.
5 John M. Palmer, Personal Recollections (Cincinnati, 1901), p. 11.
rivers was the "Hubbard Trace" or the "State Road" which led from Chicago to Danville.[6] In 1836 a line of wagons, operating between Chicago and the Kankakee River, was also established which immigrants soon traversed.
The influence of timber upon the location of these settlers was especially important at this time. Even in 1860, pioneers felt more secure when surrounded by a friendly strip of woodland in the process of building a homestead in the forests. In the southern and central counties these timber tracts had been wholly taken up and around each patch of trees was always a circle of cabins whose occupants cultivated that part of the prairie lying close by. Inevitably there would be a string of settlers' cabins wherever the well-traveled roads crossed the prairie.
Lines of transportation and communication had a considerable influence on the character of the settlement. In the early fifties, the chief means of travel were on horseback, in wagons and by boat. Thus on the outskirts of the Great Prairie in the timbered portions were found the pioneers of the southwestern states who took the southern wagon routes. Similarly, the upper Illinois River counties and the valleys of the Fox and Rock Rivers were peopled by New Englanders who took the easiest route which was over the Great Lakes.
Across the state in the lead region, a community with southern sympathies was planted. With the Mississippi River
6 Hiram W. Beckwith, History of Vermillion County (Chicago, 1879), p. 651.
as their highway, southern influences were brought to bear directly on the inhabitants of this area. Cities in the South became their outlet for commerce and the entire region soon gained a marked southern tone.
In Illinois, the decade of the fifties was an era of railroad building, surprising in extent and undreamed of in results. By 1850 there were 111 miles of railroads stretched throughout the state. There soon developed a fever for railroad construction and by 1860 the number of miles of railroad track increased to 2,913 miles.[7] The most extensive of these tracks was the Illinois Central which spanned from Chicago to the southernmost tip of Cairo. Senator Stephen A. Douglas and Usher F. Linder did a great deal to cause this road to be a reality.
Joseph Gillespie writes that it was mainly owning to Linder's transcendent abilities that Illinois established three railroads running across the central portion of the state.[8] The Gentleman from Coles and the men who cooperated with him insisted upon stamping a tax upon the charter of the railroad. Although he did not accomplish this in the House, he succeeded in the Senate where his influence was predominant. Had this stand not been taken at this time, most of the characters would probably have made railroad property virtually
7 Statistics of the United States in 1860; compiled from the original returns and being the final exhibit of the eighth census (Washington, D.C., 1866), IV, 330.
8 Linder, p. 11.
exempt from taxation.
By the middle of the century, nearly every town and village had its enthusiasts for a railroad. Some of these were destined to be only dreamers and hence never permitted to see the "iron horse" whisk through the hamlet, other than in imagination. But, indeed, the farmers whose homes were near enough to see the trains rush by were deemed fortunate in being permitted to view so novel a sight.
Hence, by means of these various modes of transportation, people came to the great Prairie State. The census states that 736,931 native-born Americans resided in Illinois in 1850. Of these, 343,618 were born in the state, and 393, 313 had come from other localities. Of these other regions, over 36,500 were from New England, 112,000 from the Middle States, and nearly 52,600 from the South Atlantic States.[9]
Immigration first assumed large proportions during the decade 1830 to 1840 and increased progressively during the next twenty years. By 1850, 110,000 people, out of a total population of 851,470, were foreigners.[10] Generally speaking, these immigrants tended to settle together in localities apart from the other settlers in order to maintain their national language and customs as long as possible. However, in selecting places for settlement there were decided preferences displayed
9 The Seventh Census of the United States 1850 (Washington, D.C., 1853), I, 36.
10 Eigth Census of the United States 1860, Statistics of Population (Washington, D.C., 1864), I, 104.
by the various nationalities. The Germans, English, Scotch, French and Swedes were most frequently found in the agricultural districts, while the Irish tended to stay in the cities.
The Germans were the most numerous by 1860, composing 130,804 people or one-third of the foreign-born population.[11] As a class the Germans were desirable settlers owing to their quiet, sober traits of industry and ambition. In politics they were strongly democratic, often tending toward socialism and supporting radical positions on questions of land reform.[12]
There were 87,573 Irish composing the second largest group of foreigners at this time.[13] Their mission in the early days seemed to have been the construction of internal improvements. By their native adaptibility to new surroundings the Irish seemed best fitted for city life and most of them settled in the urban areas with the largest percentage residing in Chicago.
From England there also came many immigrants and by 1860 there were 41,745 English settlers on the prairie.[14] As a class they did not make good pioneers for their knowledge of agriculture was inadequate to meet the needs of the fertile farmland. In contrast to the English, the Scotch numbering 10,540 were regarded highly and distinguished themselves as
11 Seventh Census, III, 111.
12 Pooley, p. 213.
13 Seventh Census, III, 111.
14 Seventh Census, III, 111.
agriculturalists. There was also a sprinkling of Scandinavian, Swiss, Portugese, Polish, Welsh and French with the latter being the most numerous.[15]
All in all, the foreign element comprised a very significant portion of the population and their divergent traditions and mores influenced their paths of development. Out of the total population of 1,711,951 in 1860, forty-one percent were native to the state, thirty-nine percent born out of state, and nineteen percent were foreign born.[16]
During the first half of the century, the largest percentage of the population was rural. With the exception of Chicago, the state was made up of a host of little frontier outposts. There were 394 towns with a population exceeding 6,000. Thus seventy-eight percent of the towns had under one thousand inhabitants.[17]
Industry in the great part of Illinois was almost wholly agricultural. When the railroads were built from Chicago to the south and southwest, tapping this productive region, prosperity was assured for the farmer. Thus business increased with the increase of markets for farm produce.
By 1850, farms throughout Illinois were valued at $96,133,290. Swine, sheep, and cattle along with other livestock
15 Seventh Census, III, 111.
16 Eighth Census, I, 104.
17 Seventh Census, I, 703-717.
was worth more than twenty-four million dollars. The total yearly value of all slaughtered stock was $4,972,286, which serves as a partial indicator of farm income.[18] In terms of agricultural yield, the major products were: Indian corn, butter, oats, and wheat.
By means of railroad, these products of this rich agricultural portion of Illinois poured into the city of Chicago bound for the east. It was through this agricultural wealth more than anything else that the city was able to lay claims to importance. In 1836 the harbor received 456 vessels, bringing goods valued at something over $325,000; exports for the year amounted to but $1,100. The following decade, however, wrought a big change. In 1846 the vessels arriving at Chicago and leaving numbered 2,790 and carried merchandise valued at $4,938,000.[19] Thus the value of products arriving in this great midwestern port increased fifteen fold over this period.
In addition to farming, the male population of the state was employed in a variety of occupations. In manufacturing and industry, the largest number, 5,737, were connected with building construction. In terms of employment the next most important industries were lumber mills with 2,204 workers and the making of bricks and lime with 995 workers. Other areas of employment all had under 300 laborers.
18 Seventh Census, I, 728-735.
19 Pooley, p. 199.
The total capital invested at this time in all manufacturing was $3,136,512.[20]
In 1850, forty-eight percent of the male population was employed. Out of this number, sixty-seven percent were farmers. Laborers ranked second with thirteen percent of the working population and carpenters ranked third with three percent. Although many other trades and professions were presented, two out of every three employed persons were farmers.[21]
The Congress of the United States, in the act of admitting the state of Ilinois into the Union, granted to it the section numbered sixteen in every township or one thirty-fifth of all the public lands within the state, for the use of schools.[22] Education, however, did not thrive well among the early pioneers of the state. Except for a few settlers who came from New England, the major portion of the population was composed of people from Kentucky and Tennessee, states where the common school system had not been developed. Consequently, little attention was paid to the development of such a system in early Illinois.
Education was not wholly neglected, however. Occasionally in the pioneer communities, teachers, such as they were, gathered the children of the neighborhood together in some kitchen or abandoned log cabin and gave them instruction for a small fee.
20 The Sixth Census of the United States 1840. (Washington, D.C., 1843).
21 Seventh Census, I, 727-728.
22 Ilinois in 1837, p. 59.
It was not until the influx of New Englanders and New Yorkers to northern Illinois, that there were changes for the better. These pioneers thoroughly believed in the value of education wherever two or three families settled together it was certain a school was soon to be started. The effect of these changes is seen in the results of the years 1841 to 1850. By the latter date, there were 2,640 public schools having doubled in the ten years and the attendance having increased fourfold.[23]
By 1850, seventy-five percent of school-age children were attending school. This enrollment as reported by families composed an aggregate of 182,292 pupils. There were 4,054 public schools and eighty-one academies throughout the state. On an average, each county maintained forty-five schools with a mean attendance of 2,033 pupils. Only 4,283 or eleven percent of the population over twenty years of age could not read or write.[24] More than half of this number was found in the southwestern portion of the state with the least number of illiterates residing in northern Illinois.[25]
In addition to the three R's, spelling, history, geography, grammar, Latin, algebra, chemistry and philosophy were taught in the classes. "Olmstead's Natural Philosophy" was
23 Pooley, p. 271.
24 Seventh Census, I, 724-725.
25 Seventh Census, I, 103-104.
the textbook used in physics, and among other things it delineated the wonderful workings of Morse's electric telegraph, the great power of Watt's low-pressure engine, and the remarkable motor capabilities of Stevenson's locomotive.[26]
Important texts in the schools of that day were Webster's Elementary Spelling Book and McGuffey's Readers. Not infrequently on Friday afternoons, the whole school would have a spelling bee. At other times there would be declamations and compositions, participated in by all the older pupils. Webster's speeches afforded favorite selections, especially his reply to Hayne and his speech on John Adams.[27]
Colleges established by mid-century seemed to promise success. There were six institutions in 1850 with a total faculty of thirty-five and an aggregate enrollment of 442.[28] The major course of study was confined to the basic liberal arts program.
Books were few in the homes throughout Illinois and a considerable proportion of those found were of a religious nature. Many of these were devoted to biblical history and Bible characters such as Daubigne's History of the Reformation and Fox's Book of Martyrs. It was also not uncommon to find the life of some noted preacher such as John Wesley, or Whitefield and maybe even a copy of Pilgrim's Progress.
26 Charles B. Johnson, Illinois in the Fifties (Champaign, 1918), p. 103.
27 Johnson, p. 105.
28 Seventh Census, I, 720-724.
Of books secular in nature, Rollin's Ancient History, Hume's History of England, and Weem's Life of George Washington would be most frequently found. In few homes, however, were there books enough to fill a two-foot shelf and in many instances all that could be found were the Bible and an Almanac with the latter in many cases more often consulted than the former.[29]
For additional reading matter, the man on the prairie had to travel to the nearest library. Most of the collections were found in the Sunday schools. The various churches maintained eighty-six libraries with volumes numbering up to 12,829. There were also thirty-three public libraries, twenty-nine school libraries, and four college libraries making a grand total of 152 libraries in the state.[30]
Although there was a lack of books, newspapers helped to make up for the deficiency. The mid-fifties was the golden era of the weekly newspaper and subscribers looked forward with the greatest interest to the day when their paper would come through the mails. Eighty-four weekly newspapers were circulated in the state with 3,575,936 copies distributed annually. People had not yet been educated to the idea that news a day old is considered stale and there were only eight daily papers in existence at this time.[31]
29 Johnson, p. 118.
30 Seventh Census, I, 736-737.
31 Seventh Census, I, 736.
Magazines, however, were vastly less common than today. The political magazine was the most popular with seventy-three different titles circulating as many as 51,111 copies. The next most frequent types dealt with literature of which there were twenty-two with a circulation of 17,725.[32] For the most part Harper's Monthly and the Atlantic Monthly had the field to themselves, in addition to Putnam's Magazine which had a short-lived existence.[33]
The daily life of the pioneer was indeed a varied one. Besides cultivating his farm and repairing his building, he found time to hunt, assist his neighbors, and enjoy the recreation and entertainment of the day. Naturally enjoying society, these early settlers met often at races, shooting matches, house raisings, log rollings, weddings, funerals, elections, and court days.[34] Political and religious questions were freely and sometimes violently discussed at such meetings and often with adeptness and skill.
Amusements were few and simple; foremost among these were horse racing, jumping, wrestling, hunting and dancing. Sometimes there was an exhibition by a traveling showman who, in a wagon or other vehicle, transported his curios and other attractions from village to village. Another source of no
32 Seventh Census, I, 736.
33 Johnson, p. 120.
34 James Haines, "Social Life and Scenes in the Early Settlement of Central Illinois," Transcriptions of the Illinois State Historical Society, No. 10 (Springfield, Illinois, 1906), pp. 35-57.
little social pleasure was the Ladies Sewing Society where the women of the community kept busy with their needles as well as their tongues.
Singing was a favorite pastime and such tunes as "Blue Juniata," "The Prairie Flower," and "Nellie Grey" were frequently hummed at social gatherings.[35] House raisings, barn raisings, and corn huskings all served to get the people together; and on such occasions there were always bountiful and elaborate dinners. At these gatherings the whiskey jug seemed indispensable, occasioning at times noisy disturbances. Card playing, however, was not tolerated by respectable people and a fiddle was, to the church people, only the devil painted red.[36]
One of the never-to-be-forgotten sights of the fifties was Donati's Comet which filled nearly the whole of the northwest heavens during the time of th great Lincoln-Douglas debates.[37] There was also an epidemic of "spirit rappings," "table-turnings," and "table-rappings" sweeping over Illinois at this time. But the spirits invariably refused to answer all of the questions propounded and the meetings gradually subsided.
Churches developed gradually in this era of Illinois history. While meetings were held with regularity among the pioneers of southern Illinois, it was not until the advent of
35 Johnson, p. 81.
36 Chicago Inter Ocean, December 14, 1904.
37 Johnson, p. 83.
the northern stream of immigrants that there were churches for every community of any size. The circuit riders continued until pioneer communities were wealthy enough to maintain a resident pastor.
In 1835, the Methodist Episcopal Church had the most members. The Illinois Conference which embraced the state and a portion of the Wisconsin territory had sixty-one circuit preachers, 308 local preachers, and 15,097 members. Baptists were the next most numerous with 260 churches, and Presbyterians maintained eighty parishes.[38] There was a considerable expression of good feeling among the different religious denominations, and the members frequently heard preachers from another sect on Sunday mornings.
By 1850 the order of preference for the various denominations had altered little. The Methodists still ranked first with 405 churches and an average attendance of 178,452. In other words, thirty-three percent of the churches were Methodist. Twenty-three percent were Baptist, and seventeen percent Presbyterian. Linder's denomination of Universalist was one of the least numerous with only seven churches in the state or .57 percent of all existing denominations.[39]
Somehow, the zealous circuit rider managed to carry the gospel of the Lowly Nazarene to practically all the people.[40]
38 Illinois in 1837, p. 63.
39 Seventh Census, I, 740-746.
40 Johnson, p. 70.
Attendance at religious services was always referred to as going to "meeting." These meetings were held in churches -- wooden in structure, complete with a mourner's bench and "amen-seats." Such a thing as church music was rare; and anything besides the spoken word in worship was deemed sacrilegious.
Politics were in ferment in the state of Illinois from 1830 to 1850. By 1835, the Whigs and Democrats composed the two leading political parties. The position of the Democratic party had at last definitely taken form. The heart of their creed was the sentence used on the heading of the Globe, "The world is too much governed."[41] They preached the doctrine of strict construction of the powers of government on such matters as internal improvements and corporation characters. The party had also given its support to the democratic principle of preemption rights for actual settlers in the public lands. In political organization it professed allegiance to the convention system.
The principles of the Illinois Whigs were not as easy to catalogue. Essentially bourgeois in their beliefs, many Whigs nourished a prejudice against foreigners, especially those who were Roman Catholic. They also established the doctrine that legislative power should be above the executive. On national issues, Whigs hesitated to shoulder Clay's distribution bill. They were for a tariff and avowedly for a bank of the United States. On principle they disapproved the convention system,
41 Theodore Calvin Pease, Illinois Election Returns, 1818-1848 (Springfield, Illinois, 1923), p. xlii.
preferring the old loose system of self or committee nomination.[42]
Regarding the geographical distribution of parties in Illinois, it is possible to make certain generalizations. There were several Whig strongholds in the state and outlying districts that were inconsistent in party loyalties. The main strength of the Whigs was in Sangamon and the surrounding counties. There was also a Whig stronghold in the northwest part of the state centering in Boone County.
The heart of the Democratic power in the state was the solid block of inland counties between the Wabash and the Mississippi. The counties of this district could be relied on for overwhelming majorities at any time. In the northern part of the state, the Democratic strength lay in Cook County and surrounding areas.
In order to understand the election returns for the period, some consideration of the laws under which they were made is necessary. Generally speaking, the Illinois election law under the Constitution of 1818 provided for popular vote for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Senators and Representatives in the General Assembly, Representative in Congress and a few county officials. The manner in which they were chosen was by viva voce vote except for a few years when vote by ballot was substituted.[43]
42 Pease, p. xliii.
43 Pease, p. lix.
Anti-slavery in Illinois in the forties was the center of a whirlpool of new ideas in politics. Soon the slavery conflict had its reflection more and more in national politics within the state. During the period 1830 to 1850, the subject was coming into ever greater focus as the leading issue of the day. Therefore it is interesting to note the proportion of whites, free colored and slaves at this time.. There were: 846,934 whites, 5,436 free colored and no slaves.[44] by 1850 the ratio was 157 whites for every free colored. Thus thirty years after the admission of Illinois to the Union, the United States was once more riven on the question of slavery; and the two great political parties that had developed opposed this emerging abolitionist doctrine.
These were the people to whom Linder spoke as candidate for political office and lawyer for the people. Both the orator and his listeners were influenced by a variety of forces during the first half of the nineteenth century and some of the most important issues in our history took shape during this time. Preeminent among these were the questions of the abolition of slavery and loyalty to a political party. Linder's speechmaking took him into all sections of the state and his success as an orator was due in part to his ability to adapt to a wide variety of impressionable Illinoisans with great acuity and skill.
44 Seventh Census, I, 702.
CHAPTER III
FRIENDS OF FREE INQUIRY: LINDER AND THE ALTON RIOTS
In 1837, Upper Alton, Illinois, was a thriving little city of some 2,5000 inhabitants, situated on a cluster of hills overlooking the broad Mississippi. It lay on the east side of the river about twenty miles north of St. Louis. The town's reputation was excellent, its future promising, and its citizens industrious, enterprising, and benevolent.[1] There
were many men of Southern birth and sympathies among her inhabitants and the people were to a large extent pro-slavery in their sentiments.
Because of the many advantages of Alton, Usher F. Linder, newly elected Attorney General, moved to this growing community overlooking the "Father of Waters," even though the law required him to reside at the capital. The young lawyer soon became a popular ex-officio prosecuting attorney in the circuit courts of the second district. A favorite among the Southerners of the town, he had no use for "Yankee" doctrines and frequently spoke out against anti-slavery ideas.
The increased activity of abolitionists began to bring the subject of slavery under wider discussion throughout the state.[2] Thus for Illinois, a radical editor, Elijah P.
1 Illinois in 1837, p. 81.
2 Theodore Calvin Pease, The Frontier State, 1818-1848 (Springfield, Illinois, 1918), p. 363.
Lovejoy, was representative of a movement already underway, the organization of the anti-slavery forces in the state. So vehement were his attacks against slavery that local mobs destroyed his press three times in four months. Lovejoy soon learned that neither laws nor public sentiment could be assured to protect his property in Alton. Four-fifths of the inhabitants of the city favored the destruction of his press and although the respectable elements professed to hate mobs, they appeared to hate abolitionists even more.
On July 6, readers of Lovejoy's paper, the Alton Observer, found an open letter in its columns entitled "Illinois Anti-Slavery Society." In it Lovejoy advocated formation of such a society, saying, "The voice of three million slaves calls upon you to come and unloose the heavy burdens, and let the oppressed go free."[3] In addition, the abolitionist editor asked all people in favor of the measure to attach their names to the call. He then anxiously awaited the gathering of the abolitionists from all over the state on the twenty-sixth of October in Alton. The convention would indicate the strength of the sentiment on which he could draw, as well as decide the fate of his newspaper. This initial step toward an anti-slavery society concluded with:
Wearily every bosom pineth
Wearily, oh! Wearily, oh!
Where the chains of slavery twineth,
Wearily, oh! Wearily, oh!
3 Henry Tanner, The Martyrdom of Lovejoy (Chicago, 1881), p. 106.
There the warrior's dart
Hath no fleetness,
There the maiden's heart
Hath no sweetness.
Every flower of life declineth,
Wearily, oh! Wearily, oh!
By August it was generally agreed that a state convention should be held in Alton. The Madison County Anti-Slavery Convention extended an invitation to the State Anti-Slavery Society and Mr. Lovejoy took his stand in the front ranks of abolitionism. His anti-slavery editorials had already brought him into disfavor in Alton, stirring up strong opposition to his newspaper.
The proposal to found a state Anti-Slavery Society met with silence in Southern Illinois and over the whole state, the majority sentiment was against the abolitionists. Leading the opposition and serving as the leading spokesman against the Lovejoy forces was the obvious representative, Attorney General Usher F. Linder.[5] His widespread practice as a lawyer led him into all parts of the state. According to Joseph Gillespie, "He had a faculty of becoming acquainted with and finding out about other people that was unequalled. He could penetrate character at a glance; he was quick as lightning and as unerring as the shafts of fate."
Being a man of strong Southern sympathies, Linder believed that the abolition of slavery would be disastrous for
4 Tanner, p. 106.
5 Linder, p. 39.
6 Linder, p. 12.
the South, and feared that the emancipation of the slaves would be attended with ruinous consequences to the white man. Accordingly, he spoke out against the abolitionist editor, indicating publicly in a speech that Lovejoy's press was "brought here to teach rebellion and insurrection to the slave; to excite servile war; to preach murder in the name of religion; to strike dismay to the hearts of the people, and spread desolation over the face of the land." [7]
Although the response to Lovejoy's call was varied, the editor believed there was a general desire on the part of many groups to form a convention.[8] Heading the adherents in favor of the proposed meeting was Edward Beecher, President of Illinois College. He complained, however, that Lovejoy had posed the issue too narrowly, and advised that it be extended to include all who were undecided on the abolition question. Lovejoy reluctantly agreed and the call was changed to include "all who are disposed to maintain and defend the rights of free inquiry and discussion on the subject of slavery."[9]
From October 25 through 26, abolitionists and other interested parties from all parts of Illinois arrived in Alton, prepared to help organize a state society. Most of the eighty-five members of the convention were Presbyterian and Congregational clergymen who came as advocates of the
7 William S. Lincoln, Alton Trials (New York, 1838), p. 77.
8 Edward Beecher, Narrative of Riots at Alton (Alton, 1838) p. 20.
9. Alton Telegraph, October 18, 1837.
freedom of inquiry. Reverend John J. Miter, a former "Lane rebel" and lecturer for the American Anti-Slavery Society, Gideon Blackburn and James Buchanan, close friends of James G. Birney, were all present.[10] The thirty-two men attending from Alton and Madison County included Frederick W. Graves, Lovejoy's loyal supporter, and Thaddeus B. Hurlbut, the abolitionists' editorial associate.[11]
Since the call for members was so broad, many more came to the convention who were not abolitionists, but strongly opposed the meeting of anti-slavery forces. Some of these men identified with the pro-slavery doctrine included: Colonel Alexander Botkin, Reverend John Hogan, and Usher F. Linder. Beecher, who was responsible for insisting that the call include all those interested in free inquiry, wrote, "On my arrival at Alton, I entered the house in which the convention was assembled and found a tumultuous speaker claiming seats for himself and friends as patrons of free inquiry...and none of those citizens of Alton on whom I had mainly relied to aid in an effort to unite good men."[12]
At two o'clock Lovejoy rose to call the convention to
10 Gilbert H. Barnes and Dwight L. Dumond, eds., Letters of Theodore Dwight Weld, Angelina Grimke and Sarah Grimke -- ed., Letters of James G.. Birney -- 1831-1857 (New York and London, 1938), p. 416.
11 A.L. Bowen, "Anti-Slavery Convention Held in Alton, Illinois, October 26-28, 1837." Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, XX (Springfield, Illinois, 1928), 113.
12 Beecher, pp. 28-29.
order, and called the venerable Gideon Blackburn to the chair to preside as temporary chairman. A resolution was adopted declaring that all the officers would be elected by viva voce vote and the parliamentary rules in Jefferson's Manual were agreed upon for the regulations of the proceedings.[13] When the motion for Reverend Mr. Graves to be temporary clerk was presented, several voices loudly cried out, "No!" The "friends of free inquiry" strongly protested this choice. Although the regular members of the convention outnumbered the others, the Chair, not knowing the exact count, hesitated to declare the vote in the affirmative.[14]
This event precipitated an angry and disorderly debate which continued the rest of the afternoon. At the commencement of this disturbance, the editor of the Observer declared that the meeting had been called by abolitionists to discuss slavery. No one, he insisted, who did not agree with abolitionists' views had any right to a seat. Colonel Botkin was the first to conceive the idea of capturing the convention by adopting the doctrines of the call, and he insisted on adhering to it.[15] Next, Linder stood up with the ingratiating courtroom poise for which he was famous and announced that he would respond to the original call since he too believed slavery a sin, and wished to discuss the subject fairly and
13 Missouri Republican, October 29, 1839.
14 Joseph C. and Owen Lovejoy, Memoir of the Reverend Elijah P. Lovejoy (New York, 1838), p. 264.
16 Lovejoy, p. 219.
reasonably.
Indeed, it became a matter of much importance, to know what the immediate abolition of slavery implied. At some points in the debate, the argument grew so hot that both Linder and Lovejoy walked over to each other and shook their fists insultingly in the other's face. By now it was late afternoon, and the debate had been long, tedious and profitless. Since nothing more could be accomplished and both sides needed time to decide on further action, Blackburn adjourned the meeting until the next morning at nine o'clock.
While the delegates were leaving the hall, the young Attorney General mounted a wood-pile in the churchyard and began an extemporaneous address to his followers gathered around him. He inveighed strongly against the abolitionists for denying them their right of free inquiry. He also commenced a tirade against the benevolent operations of the day, including: home missionaries, Sunday schools, abolitionism, and temperance societies. Linder went on to attack Yankees in general, abolitionists in particular, and Mr. Lovejoy especially. He then charged his listeners to fear the abolitionists and to bring their friends with them at nine o'clock next morning.[16] Linder's wood-pile speech was remembered by a number of observers for its intense and persuasive attacks against Lovejoy and his press. The Attorney General himself recalled the fact that Cyrus Edwards, an avowed abolitionist,
16 Beecher, p. 31.
was present, and was "one of my most delighted auditors."[17]
Friday morning, October 27, at nine o'clock, both sides returned to the church prepared for a battle over control of the convention. In the entry of the church stood a young fellow who accosted everyone coming in the door with, "Join the convention? Botkin and all our men are joining."[18]
Gideon Blackburn opened the meeting with a prayer, followed by the declaration that the proceedings of the previous afternoon were out of order. The chairman began to organize the convention by reading Lovejoy's original call, followed by an invitation for all to sign it whose consciences allowed them to do so. After this, he said the group would vote on the question of admitting other "friends." The convention then proceeded to the election of officers. Dr. Blackburn was elected by a considerable majority over Dr. T.M. Hope of the free inquiry. The anti-slavery men were also able to elect their candidate, Frederick W. Graves, for secretary. By this time, the numbers on both sides were nearly balanced. Linder, aware of the situation, nominated William Carr, a friend of free discussion, and he was elected.
All the time the elections had been going on, the boy at the door was calling in more adherents for the pro-slavery men, and soon the abolitionists found themselves in the minority. At this time, a communication was sent to the president
17 Linder, p. 353.
18 Tanner, p. 221.
protesting the church being used for "a one-sided discussion."[19] Colonel Botkin moved the adoption of the letter and an important obstacle to the control of the convention by Linder's men had been removed.
The convention participants, finally organized, could at last begin working. The chairman then appointed abolitionists Edward Beecher and Asa Turner and pro-slavery representative Usher F. Linder to draw up a report of sentiments for the assembly to debate during the afternoon. The convention adjourned while these three men, divergent in background and point of view, withdrew to formulate a statement on civil rights and slavery.
Accordingly, the representatives could not agree on a statement to present to the group. Beecher and Turner drafted resolutions defending civil rights, but Linder refused to accept all of them. Intead, he insisted upon preparing his own report, maintaining that Congress did not have the power to abolish slavery. According to the Attorney General, slavery was a "political evil" for which the present generation could not be held responsible.[20]
When the convention reassembled at two o'clock, the church was filled. Almost the entire population of Alton had gathered to watch the proceedings destined to play an historic
19 Alton Observer-Extra: Proceedings of the Illinois Anti-Slavery Convention Held at Upper Alton on the Twenty-Eighth of October, 1837 (Alton, 1838), p. 7.
20 Alton Observer Extra, p. 9.
part in defending the fate of abolitionism. Every seat was taken and men were jammed in the aisles, with the rest crowded around open doors. The meeting was promptly called to order, and Beecher presented the resolutions for the committee, indicating which items had been approved by Linder alone. The convention soon began discussing Linder's resolution.
After a brief period of discussion, Mr. Linder made a long speech explaining the views of the committee. He commended, in the highest terms, their liberality and indulgence. The resolution was viewed by the speaker as a remarkable instance of moderation, considering the provocation that had been given. However, in the course of his remarks, he openly denounced the abolitionists:
Is this the age when virtue, religion and morals are to be forced upon us by the strong arm of power..... When we are to be compelled to swallow, whether we will or not, any doctrine which this set of people may tell us is good for instruction, or profitable for salvation?[21]
After Linder had concluded his speech, which professed to be very mild and conciliatory, but was in fact of the most inflammatory character, Mr. Lovejoy obtained the floor. He proceeded to the desk in front of the audience, laid aside his overcoat, and in the most calm and deliberate manner addressed the meeting. He repelled, in a spirit of meekness, several charges and insinuations that had been hurled at him. He told the meeting he had not asked or desired any compromise.
21 Frank H. Dugan, "An Illinois Martyrdom" Papers in Illinois History (Springfield, Illinois, 1939), p. 151.
He desired only to be protected in his rights as a citizen, rights which God had given him, and which were guaranteed to him by the constitution of his country.
Soon his feelings overcame him and he burst into tears. Many others in the room also wept, several sobbed aloud, and one spectator thought for a time that the sympathies of the meeting were so much excited that there would be a reaction in his favor. His manner of speaking was described as calm and serious, but firm and decided. Not an epithet or unkind allusion escaped his lips, not withstanding he knew he was in the midst of those who were seeking his blood and he was well aware of the influence that the meeting, if it should not take the right turn would have in infuriating his opposition.[22]
As soon as he had finished speaking, he left the room and the Attorney General again obtained the floor. He treated as hypocritical cant everything that Mr. Lovejoy had said. He held him up as a fanatic of the first order, and as a dangerous man in the community. Linder's idea that Lovejoy was a fanatic, if not partially insane, was countenanced by many religious men in the meeting. Thus his whole thesis was to impress upon the minds of his audience that Mr. Lovejoy was not entitled to the protection of the laws in the exercise of his rights.
After speaking in a most dynamic manner, he introduced a resolution as a substitute for those in the report of the
22 Alton Observer, December 28, 1837.
committee. It stated that a religious paper might be established in Alton, under certain circumstances. The manifest spirit and design of his resolution was that no independent religious paper should be tolerated.[23] Dominated by Linder's men, the members moved the adoption of the resolution; Linder's report was adopted; and the convention adjourned sine die.[24]
Beecher, Lovejoy, and Buchanan considered calling another meeting in the evening, but later decided that it would only be an invitation to violence. Instead, the opponents of slavery met that night in small groups throughout Alton. Since most of them were members of the clegy and all of them religious men, they spent the evening in prayer, asking for divine counsel in carrying out their work.[25] The representatives of free inquiry remained at home.
On Saturday afternoon, the anti-slavery delegates assembled at the spacious two-family home of Thaddeus B. Hurlbut in Upper Alton. While the meeting was in session, the radical members of the pro-slavery party were prepared to interfere. They surged around the house and some of the members beat against the doors threatening interference. Not until Mayor Krum had sworn in forty special constables to clear the streets could the meeting proceed. With order once again restored, the Reverend Asa Turner took the chair. The
23 Alton Observer, December 28, 1837.
24 Beecher, p. 331.
25 Beecher, p. 34.
delegates to the anti-slavery convention faced a difficult job. Two important questions were yet to be decided -- what course to take: 1) as to the organization of a state society and 2) as to the reestablishment of the Alton Observer.
On the first point, it was evident that all offers of compromise and cooperation were fruitless. Since Beecher insisted in "standing on entirely independent ground," Lovejoy asked him to write out his own statement of principles. The college president complied; his proposal was read; and with a few minor changes adopted. This became the charter of the Illinois Anti-Slavery Society.
The formation of a state anti-slavery society, however, had carried out only one of the projected aims. Now the convention had to decide what to do about the Observer. While the question was being discussed, the deciding argument was presented by a delegate from the Ohio State Anti-Slavery Society. A retreat, he warned, would weaken the anti-slavery cause throughout the country and might even prove fatal to the movement in Illinois. He used as evidence the continued publication of James G. Birney's Philanthropist after a mob had attacked it and the ultimate strengthening of civil rights in Ohio.[26] The vote was almost unanimous for maintaining the paper. Lovejoy said nothing during the discussion but voted for its continuance.[27]
26 Beecher, p. 45.
27 Lovejoy, p. 267.
The final meeting of the convention was held that evening. The session opened with prayer as usual, followed by a discussion of plans for the next annual meeting. Mr. Beecher introduced twelve motions, all of which were carried; followed by a mapping of future strategy. It was decided that Beecher should present a sermon on slavery in the Upper Alton church on Sunday, creating a fitting climax to the week of meetings. As the evening drew to a close, members "gave thanks for the protection of a kind Providence, and for the harmony and kind feelings which had prevailed in their deliberations. Thus the final session of the Illinois Anti-Slavery Society adjourned."[28]
The next day the Alton Telegraph published the proceedings of the church meetings without any narration of the facts, under the heading "Illinois Abolition Convention." News of the Illinois convention spread, and in Boston, a writer for the Liberator wrote, "I have full confidence that Illinois, in less than two years, will not be a whit behind a single sister state, in her zeal for the cause of humanity."[29] All reactions were not so favorable, howevever, the Missouri Republican reported, "We perceive that an anti-slavery society has been formed at Upper Alton, and many others doubtless will shortly spring up in different parts of the state. We had hoped that our neighbors would have ejected from amongst them
28 Bowen, p. 345.
29 Boston Liberator, October 30, 1837.
that minister of mischief, the Observer, or at least corrected it in its course..... The good people of Illinois must either put a stop to the efforts of these fanatics or expel them from the community."[30]
Alton men of great prestige had proved they would not tolerate the publication of abolitionist views among them. They had demonstrated that they could organize the support of many citizens for their stand. This opposition, led by Usher F. Linder, professed their privilege to speak in anti-slavery meetings. Linder's speechmaking was inflammatory and effective in its direct and biting attacks against Lovejoy and his press. Abolitionist leaders, on the other hand, confident that they had acted in accordance with the will of God, were determined to continue such publication and to secure its safety. Their leading spokesman, Lovejoy, relied heavily upon emotional appeals in his speaking and directed his remarks toward the sympathies of the audience in his efforts to gain his end. As the convention came to a close, both Linder and Lovejoy had successfully used speechmaking of a highly emotional and persuasive kind and each had converted a large group of people to his way of thinking.
At this point, both sides waited for the imminent arrival of Lovejoy's fourth printing press, which at that moment was being prepared in Cincinnati for shipment on a steamboat bound for Alton. The anti-slavery convention drew
30 Missouri Republican, October 30, 1837.
a sharp line between the abolitionists and pro-slavery men and ensuing events drifted inevitably toward the final riot resulting in the deaths of Lyman Bishop of the mob and Elijah Lovejoy of the Abolitionists. There were voices of both acquiescence and protest against this unfortunate event. The popular sentiment in Alton, however, ran against the editor. The Alton Telegraph and Western Pioneer printed only a short notice of riot, and throughout the state, the press seemed willing to give the event a quiet burial.
The question as to the rights of abolitionists had perplexed the country for several years. Some agreed that they had no rights which the majority was bound to respect. Others said that they had all the rights of free speech and press, even though they were a small minority. The Alton Riots had forced the question into the national forum, and the trials which followed were watched by conscientious citizens with great concern.
The Alton Municipal Court convened on January 16, 1836, and brought to trial the defenders of the press. Usher F. Linder, supported by a petition signed by sixty Altonians, assisted Francis B. Murdock in the prosecution.[31]
The legal sanction of the defenders of the press was the central issue of the trial. After the defense, Linder replied for the prosecution. In true frontier fashion this
31 J.F. Snyder, "Alfred Cowles" Transactions of the Illinois State Historical Society, No. 14 (Springfield, Illinois, 1909), 173.
matter of showmanship paraded the character of the "militant friends" of Lovejoy before the jury. He called Lovejoy an "alien to our laws" and denounced the doctrines of his followers as "fiendish."
On Friday, January 19th, the leaders of the mob were arraigned for trial in the same court, but with the positions of the principal attorneys reversed. Now Mr. Murdock appeared for the state and Attorney General Linder for the rioters. Before the crowd which packed the courtroom, Linder arose in defense of the rioters and held both audience and jury spellbound. In commencing his address to the jury, Linder alluded to Mr. Cowles who was to make the closing speech for the prosecution.
You will be addressed in the cold and chilling expression or puritanical feeling and the severe language of the law; and while I was anticipating the remarks to which you will be called to listen, as I came down to this courtroom from dinner, and looking upon the broad current of the mighty river which flows by these walls, I could not help drawing a comparison between the fate of his address in the hands of this jury and that of the ice which is borned upon the bosom of the water; and I could not help feeling that his address would meet with the same fate in the warm hearts of this honest jury that the ice finds when it is borne by the current within the influence of a warmer atmosphere.[32]
In such a manner Linder's eloquence held the attention of the crowd of people that filled the room for more than an hour.
The trial had taken up the entire day and lasted well into the night. After midnight on January 20, Alexander
32 Snyder, p. 174.
Botkin, the foreman, returned for the jury a verdict of "not guilty." Thus ended one of the most famous events in the history of the state, and Usher F. Linder played no small part in the proceedings.
[End of chaps. 1-3; 4-5 to follow.]
ROMA LINDER BRADLEY
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