Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

Summary of Speech in Virginia, Illinois, 23 February 18441

We had a meeting at night, and on the morning of the 23d, addresses were received from Mr. Killpatrick and Mr. Lincoln.2 They portrayed the absurdities of loco focoism, and the soundness of whig principles, with great success.3
FRANKLIN.Virginia, Cass County, March 21, 1844.

1This summary comes at the end of Franklin’s summary of the meeting held at Virginia on February 22, 1844.

2The Cass County Clay Club held a meeting at the Cass County Courthouse on February 22 to celebrate George Washington’s birthday. Abraham Lincoln and John Pearson debated the constitutionality of a national bank. Editors of the Whig Sangamo Journal published two summaries of this meeting, a condensed version on February 29, and a more detailed version before Franklin’s account of this meeting. The Democratic Illinois State Register published two summaries on March 15, one coming from an unknown contributor, and one from “A Van Buren Sentinel.”

3During the winter of 1843 and 1844, Lincoln stumped Illinois on behalf of Henry Clay, the Whig party standard bearer in the presidential election of 1844.
Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:224-26.