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April 24,
2004: Awarded "Best Web Site of the Year" by the Illinois State Historical
Society
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Marquee Lights of the Lincoln Theater, est. 1923, Lincoln, Illinois |
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Pictorial Supplement to an Article About
Lincoln's Political Rhetoric by D. Leigh Henson, Ph.D.
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Commemorating Lincoln's Foundational Speech: Bust
Portion of Lincoln Draws the Line Photo by the author Note: Sculptor John McClarey is remarkably effective in creating a face of Lincoln that captures both his good nature and his inexorable determination to succeed in law and politics--especially in politics--, as his law partner William Herndon phrased it: "the little engine that knew no rest." This web page presents more photos of Mr. McClarey's research-based, commendable work.
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The lead article in the winter 2014 issue of the Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association (JALA) is an 11,000-word composition by D. Leigh Henson, professor emeritus of English at Missouri State University. The title of the article is “Classical Rhetoric as a Lens for Reading the Key Speeches of Lincoln’s Political Rise, 1852–1856.” A link to the full text of this article is below under Suggested Sources. JALA “is the only journal devoted exclusively to Lincoln scholarship.” JALA, published twice a year by the University of Illinois Press, selects only a few article submissions, and articles published have been revised by their authors according to critiques provided by several anonymous scholars. "Online issues are published six months after the print version." (As of 10-14, the full text of Henson's article is available online; the link is below under Suggested Sources.) Henson, a native of Lincoln, Illinois, attended Lincoln College his freshman year and earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in English at Illinois State University. He taught English at Pekin Community High School in Pekin, Illinois (a suburb of Peoria), for thirty years (1964--1994) and technical and marketing communication at the undergraduate and graduate levels at Missouri State University, Springfield, for fourteen years (1994--2008). Based on rhetorical/textual analysis and interpretation, Henson’s article discusses fundamental communicative elements in several of Lincoln’s speeches just before, during, and after he began his celebrated, second political career in 1854: the 1852 eulogy on Henry Clay, the 1852 Scott Club speech, the 1854 Peoria speech, four 1856 campaign stump speeches, and the 1856 banquet speech in Chicago. Historical Background After Abraham Lincoln's single term in the U.S. House of Representatives ended in 1849, he returned to Springfield and resumed his legal career, with considerable success. He played no major role in Illinois politics at first, but he did deliver a couple of noteworthy political speeches, and he followed national politics by reading newspapers. In 1850 Lincoln gave an invited eulogy for President Zachary Taylor, and in 1852 Lincoln delivered a more significant eulogy for the Whig Congressman and statesman Henry Clay, Lincoln's political hero. Also in 1852, Lincoln delivered a more explicit political speech to the Scott Club of Springfield in which Lincoln supported the Whig presidential candidacy of Winfield Scott, a Mexican War hero. Much of that speech was a vigorous, legalistic refutation of a speech by Stephen Douglas, who supported the Democratic presidential candidate, Franklin Pierce. Then in 1854 Lincoln re-entered mainstream politics because like many of his contemporaries, he was deeply troubled by the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, which repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and opened the way for slavery to spread to new territories. U.S. Senator Stephen A. Douglas, Lincoln's political opponent since the 1830s, had used his considerable power in Congress to pass the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, which was signed by Democratic President Buchanan in May 1854. In the fall of 1854 Lincoln became a candidate for the Illinois state legislature, and he later aspired to the U.S. Senate. State legislatures chose their U.S. Senators in those days. In the fall of 1854 Lincoln began to follow Douglas as he delivered stump speeches in various Illinois communities, and Lincoln's speeches were lawyerly rebuttals of Douglas's defense of the Nebraska Bill. These 1854 speeches have been described as the first Lincoln-Douglas debates. Lincoln's most famous speech in this series was given October 4th at Springfield and repeated about two weeks later in Peoria, including a rebuttal of Douglas's response to Lincoln's October 4th Springfield speech. In developing the Springfield-Peoria speech (also known as just the Peoria speech), Lincoln conducted research in the Illinois State Library in the Statehouse, and the speech was carefully written. The Peoria speech presents the central legal, historical, and moral arguments that Lincoln used to oppose slavery and its extension throughout his second political career, including the presidency. Lincoln revised the Peoria speech for newspaper publication, which greatly expanded the public's familiarity with his arguments.
Early in 1855 Lincoln failed to get enough support in the Illinois
legislature for it to elect him to the U.S. Senate, so Lincoln used his
influence to get the antislavery Democrat Lyman Trumbull elected.
Lincoln persevered with his ambition to rise in national politics.
Senator Trumbull later became a Republican--one of Lincoln's many
political allies. Lincoln’s 1854 return to politics led him to help
establish the Illinois Republican Party in 1856. His party leadership in
turn led to the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates, then to his 1860
presidential election. |
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Lincoln
in 1854 |
Douglas
in the mid 1850s |
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Photos from the Library of Congress |
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More About the Author's Article The communicative elements Henson discusses in Lincoln’s political speeches from 1852--1856 trace to classical rhetoric—the work of Greek and Roman writers who established the field of study dealing with the theory, practice, and instruction of discourse. Henson explains that familiarity with classical rhetoric enables readers to gain a better understanding of how Lincoln adapted the content, organization, and style of his speeches to suit his political purposes and audiences. Some of Lincoln’s key speeches of this period refute Stephen A. Douglas’s position that local governments in new territories should decide whether to allow slavery. Lincoln argued that slavery is a national, not a local, problem. Lincoln found the solution to it rooted in the principle of the Declaration of Independence that “all men are created equal.” Lincoln was always a proponent of the natural rights of blacks, but in the 1850s did not favor social and political equality between the races. (Late in his presidency he became more receptive to extending civil rights to educated blacks.) Beginning in 1854, Lincoln argued that slavery should be confined to Southern states, where the Constitution allowed it and where it would eventually die out. Lincoln’s political rhetoric benefited from his legalistic ability to expose contradictions and fallacies in the speeches of his opponents.
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Charles Overall's Painting of Lincoln Addressing Peorians on the Evening of October 16, 1854 Note: Lincoln rarely delivered speeches outdoors at night. Adapted from B.C. Bryner, Abraham Lincoln in Peoria, Illinois (1924) Henson's article pays special attention to Lincoln’s strategies of organizing his arguments. Henson explains that Lincoln’s two-hour, 1854 Peoria address is a textbook example of how to organize a political speech according to classical rhetoric, including the use of a formal introduction (exordium), "statement of fact" review of the history relating to slavery agitation, refutation of opposing arguments, explanation/justification for Lincoln's solutions to slavery agitation, and a formal conclusion (peroration). Lincoln’s subsequent speeches of this period demonstrate flexible use of classical organization to suit his message and audience. These speeches were the first indication of Lincoln’s growing communicative power that enabled him to advance to the White House. His presidential writing eventually distinguished him as a statesman and world-renowned man of letters.
This article also explores sources of classical rhetoric that may have
influenced Lincoln’s communicative knowledge and skill during his
life-long efforts at self-education. Those sources include textbooks and
anthologies he read in his youth and the speeches he later studied of
Senator Daniel Webster, whose formal education included the study of
classical rhetoric. Biographers and historians have long identified
Lincoln's interest in Webster's rhetoric, but studies of how Webster's
rhetoric influenced specific qualities of Lincoln's rhetoric have been
lacking. Henson's article identifies parallels between Webster's and
Lincoln's speeches that suggest Webster's influence. |
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Lincoln was also greatly influenced by Henry Clay's political positions and speeches, but Clay lacked formal education in classical rhetoric. Henson notes that today’s students continue to study rhetoric as an academic field to help them analyze, evaluate, and create written and spoken discourse, including communication on the job. Lincoln's political speaking and writing show that rhetorical knowledge and skill are essential for success in the professions. Today's students, just as Lincoln did, will benefit from the study of writing models that embody fundamentals derived from classical rhetoric. Origins of Author's Lincoln Interest Henson is a fourth-generation link in a chain of historians and Lincoln buffs from Logan County, Illinois, who passed their interest in Abraham Lincoln to the next generation. As a student at Jefferson School in the early 1950s, Henson heard stories of the Lincoln legend told by E.H. Lukenbill, a Lincoln buff and county superintendent of public instruction.
Henson’s interest in Abraham Lincoln further stems from a course he took
as a freshman at Lincoln College in 1960–61. That course on Lincoln’s
life and times was taught by the renowned historian James T. Hickey. For
many years Hickey was the curator of the Lincoln Collection at the
Illinois State Historical Library, now the Abraham Lincoln Presidential
Library and Museum. Hickey taught with authoritative knowledge of
Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War, and with a charming wit. In addition,
Hickey spoke in the Lincoln tradition of telling humorous stories.
Hickey's research on Lincoln was published as The Collected
Writings of James T. Hickey (Springfield, IL: the Illinois State
Historical Society, 1990). |
John McClarey's The Campaigner |
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Hickey was a protégé of Judge Lawrence B. Stringer, author of the encyclopedic History of Logan County, Illinois, 1911. It features a chapter on Abraham Lincoln’s legal and political activity in central Illinois that has been cited by major Lincoln biographers. Stringer drew upon the friendship with and reminiscence of Robert B. Latham, one of the three founding fathers of Lincoln, Illinois (1853)—the first namesake town. Abraham Lincoln was the attorney for the town’s founders, and the town was founded before he became famous. Latham was also a founder of Lincoln University, now Lincoln College. He was a personal and political friend of Abraham Lincoln and a Union colonel in the Civil War. Stringer was the first major benefactor of the newly relocated and enhanced Lincoln Heritage Museum of Lincoln College. Author's Other Research-based Lincoln Projects The Lincolnian seed that Lukenbill and Hickey planted in Henson’s education lay dormant for forty years. It did not germinate until after he was in the middle of his second teaching career, at Missouri State University. When Henson began to research Abraham Lincoln in the early 2000s, some of the first material he discovered was information about Lincoln's connection to his first namesake town, including material published by the late Raymond Dooley, president of Lincoln College in the 1950s and 1960s. In 2004 the Illinois State Historical Society gave a Superior Achievement Award to Henson’s community history website of Lincoln, Illinois. In 2008–09 he was a member of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission of that town. He researched and wrote the play script for the 2008 re-enactment of the 1858 Republican rally there the day after the last Lincoln-Douglas debate. Lincoln delivered a stump speech at the rally, but no copy of it has been found. Henson’s play script features a “reasonable facsimile” of that speech and rally, including give-and-take with the audience. The re-enactment was accomplished through collaboration with Paul Beaver, professor emeritus of history at Lincoln College; Ron Keller, director of the Lincoln Heritage Museum; and Wanda Lee Rohlfs, civic leader. In 2008 Henson proposed erecting a statue of Abraham Lincoln the 1858 Senate candidate and a corresponding historical marker, both to be installed on the lawn of the Logan County Courthouse, where the 1858 rally took place. Presently a local committee is raising funds for those purposes. In 2012 Henson’s book titled The Town Lincoln Warned: The Living Namesake History of Lincoln, Illinois, received a Superior Achievement Award from the Illinois State Historical Society. In 2013 he proposed several additional statues of Lincoln in Lincoln to expand its namesake heritage, strengthen civic pride, and increase heritage tourism. Also in 2013 the Lincoln Elementary School District honored Henson as one of four distinguished alumni. Henson continues to research Lincoln’s political rhetoric. Henson is an elected member of the Society of Midland Authors. He is also a member of the Illinois Center for the Book, an affiliate of the Library of Congress. He shares information about technical and marketing communication, his Abraham Lincoln research, American literature, Illinois history, historic preservation, and heritage tourism on social media at Facebook and LinkedIn (see links below under Suggested Sources). Springfield Photos Associated with Lincoln's Political Speeches in the Illinois Statehouse |
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Abraham Lincoln gave the first version of his Peoria address in the Representative Hall of the Illinois Statehouse (Capitol) on October 4, 1854, the day after Douglas had given a political speech at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield, a few blocks west of the Statehouse. The Statehouse was--and is-- located across the street from the building with the Lincoln-Herndon Law Offices. Sculptor Larry Anderson assigned the date of October 4, 1854, to his work titled Springfield's Lincoln, as seen below. Representative Hall was also the location where Lincoln delivered his 1858 speech accepting the unanimous Illinois Republican party nomination for the U.S. Senate--his famous, provocative House Divided speech.
Photos below
of Larry Anderson's Lincoln statues are by Henson and his wife, Pat
Hartman, unless otherwise noted. The first three photos were taken
during the June 2004 installation, and the others were taken on April 26,
2014.
Note: When the above photo was taken, the
sculpture of William Wallace ("Willie") Lincoln, age three and a half,
had not yet been installed. The Lincolns' last child, Thomas ("Tad"),
was just over a year old in October 1854.
Larry Anderson's
Springfield's Lincoln
on Oct. 4, 1854, in Front of the Lincoln-Herndon Law Offices,
with Son Robert Todd, age 11, Waving to His Younger Brother, William Wallace
("Willie")
"Willie" Lincoln Waves to
Older Brother Robert Todd
Mrs. Lincoln's
Adjustments as Her Husband Prepares to Speak Across the Street in the
Statehouse
Fifth Illinois Statehouse
(1839--1876):
Where Lincoln Delivered the First Version of the Peoria
Address, Where He Delivered the 1858 House Divided Speech, and
Below: On the first floor of the Statehouse,
the State Library provided key resources Lincoln used to research his
1854 Peoria address.
Stairs
Leading to Second-Floor Representative Hall and Senate Chamber
Stephen A. Douglas Statue at Representative Hall Entrance
For a brief time in the late 1830s, Doulas and Lincoln served
in the Illinois House of Representatives together. In these chambers on
October 3, 1854, Douglas delivered a speech defending his position on
the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, and Lincoln responded the next day in the same
location--the first version of his celebrated Peoria address.
Portrait of Lincoln's Exemplar George Washington in Representative Hall
The desk tops feature candlesticks, ink wells, and quill
pens.
Representative Hall as Seen from the Balcony The bunting hangs on the railing of the balcony, where visitors could observe proceedings and political speeches. Source: Illinois Guide to State Historic Sites and Memorials (Illinois Historic Preservation Agency) Photos and Other Images Associated with the Peoria Address
The Peoria Courthouse, 1835--1876 Adapted from B.C. Bryner, Abraham Lincoln in
Peoria, Illinois (1924)
Charles Overall's Painting of the Night Scene of Lincoln's Peoria Address Adapted from B.C. Bryner, Abraham Lincoln in Peoria, Illinois (1924) During the
1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates, Lincoln delivered stump
speeches at Peoria and nearby Pekin on October 5, 1858, two days before
the fifth debate (at Galesburg). No text of those stump speeches has
been found. |
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John McClarey's
Lincoln Draws the Line
Above three photos by the author. He proudly notes that for thirty years he was one of the
teachers referred to in the above photo of the dedicatory plaque.
The author thanks the past and present
executive and managing editors of the Journal
of the Abraham Lincoln Association: Dr. Thomas Schwartz, Dr. Bryon
Andreasen, Dr. Daniel Stowell, and Dr. Christian McWhirter. Dr.
McWhirter was especially helpful, patient, and prompt in the close
communication involved in the exacting process of refereed publication. The author is
deeply grateful to
the Journal's anonymous reviewers for their astute guidance in
helping him to refine the purpose and scope of his article in its early
stage. The author is blessed with the patience of his wife, Patricia
Steinke Hartman, and grateful for her copyediting skill.
D. Leigh Henson, 5-14 Suggested Sources for Browsing and Research About Sculptor Larry Anderson's art, http://www.showcasemedialive.com/fall2009/community/larry-anderson. Larry Anderson's work on Flickr, https://www.flickr.com/photos/7532804@N02/sets/72157631971314806/. Basler, Roy P., et al., eds., Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, 9 vols. (New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1953–1955), http://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/. Bryner, B.C., Abraham Lincoln in Peoria, Illinois (1924; reprt., Henry, IL: M and D Printing, 2001). (The author is grateful to Caryl Steinke Schlicher, his sister-in-law, for the gift of this book.) Corbett, Edward P.J., and Robert J. Connors, Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student, 4th ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 17–22. The late Dr. John Heissler, professor of English at Illinois State University, introduced the author to Corbett and Connors' work, which is available in various editions and is a widely used contemporary text for reference and instruction in classical rhetoric. Access and scroll down to Editorial Reviews, http://www.amazon.com/Classical-Rhetoric-Modern-Student-4th/dp/0195115422/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397594896&sr=1-2&keywords=Corbett+connors/. Douglas, Stephen A., online, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_A._Douglas and http://ehistory.osu.edu/world/PeopleView.cfm?PID=26. Guillory, Dan, "Statues with Soul: The Lincoln Bronzes of Sculptor John McClarey," http://www.lib.niu.edu/2005/ih050708.html. For Mr. McClarey's work available for purchase, see http://webpages.charter.net/lincolnbooks/McClarey.html. Note: the preceding site was not created by Mr. McClarey, so the prices specified are dated. His contact information given there, however, is correct. Henson at Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/leigh.henson, and LinkedIn, http://la.linkedin.com/pub/d-leigh-henson/16/1a5/923. The LinkedIn site has links to a variety of online materials developed by Henson. Henson, "A Tribute to the Historians and Advocates of Lincoln, Illinois," http://findinglincolnillinois.com/historians.html, includes information about James T. Hickey, Lawrence B. Stringer, and Raymond Dooley. Information about E.H. Lukenbill appears at http://findinglincolnillinois.com/memoirofpostville.html#ehl. Mr. Stringer and Mr. Lukenbill rest near Lincoln, Illinois, in Old Union Cemetery. Mr. Hickey rests in Holy Cross Cemetery, adjacent to Old Union Cemetery. The late Mr. Raymond N. Dooley spent his retirement in Arizona. He passed away in 1991 and rests a few miles north of Lincoln in Funks Grove Cemetery near McLean, with his wife Florence Dooley. Funks Grove is just south of Bloomington, Illinois, where Dooley was born and raised. Henson, “Classical Rhetoric as a Lens for Reading the Key Speeches of Lincoln’s Political Rise, 1852–1856," http://quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jala/2629860.0035.103/--classical-rhetoric-as-a-lens-for-reading-the-key-speeches?rgn=main;view=fulltext. Hickey, James T., The Collected Writings of James T. Hickey (Springfield, IL: the Illinois State Historical Society, 1990). Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association website, http://www.abrahamlincolnassociation.org/Journal.aspx. Lehrman, Lewis E., Lincoln at Peoria,The Turning Point: Getting Right with the Declaration of Independence (Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2008). John L. Lupton's review of Lehrman's book on the Peoria speech published in the Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association, http://quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jala/2629860.0031.109/--lincoln-at-peoria-the-turning-point?rgn=main;view=fulltext. Library of Congress, Digital Collections, American Memory, http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html. "Lincoln Family Sculpture Unveiled in Springfield," http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/news/looking.htm. Lincoln Heritage Museum of Lincoln College, Lincoln, Illinois, http://www.lincolncollege.edu/museum/. Papers of Abraham Lincoln, with links to the CVs of its staff, including those of Dr. Daniel W. Stowell and Dr. Christian McWhirter, http://www.papersofabrahamlincoln.org/about-us/staff-descriptions. Sorensen, Mark W., "The Illinois State Library: 1818--1870," http://www.lib.niu.edu/1999/il990133.html. |
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"The Past Is But the Prelude" |
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