Summary of Speech at Chicago, Illinois, 6 October 18481
Mr. Lincoln’s speech occupied about two hours, which time he devoted to a most earnest, candid and logical examination of the great questions involved in the present Presidential canvass. He clearly and conclusively showed that the defeat of Gen. Taylor would be a verdict of the American people, against any restriction or restraint to the extension and perpetuation of slavery in newly acquired territory.2 In this he resorted to no special pleading, but with well arranged and pertinent facts, and sincere arguments he fully demonstrated it. During his speech he introduced several humorous, but very appropriate illustrations.3
1The Illinois Gazette drew Lincoln’s speech from the Chicago Commercial Advertiser.
Illinois Gazette (Lacon), 14 October 1848, 2:2.
2Reference to territory acquired from Mexico through the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo that ended the Mexican War.
3At the end of the first session of the Thirtieth Congress, Lincoln spent eleven days in Massachusetts stumping for Zachary Taylor. He then returned to Illinois via the Great Lakes and the Illinois River, arriving in Chicago on October 5. Lincoln spent most of October canvassing his congressional district on behalf of Taylor and the Whig Party.
Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:280-84; The Lincoln Log: A Daily Chronology of the Life of Abraham Lincoln, 5 October 1848, http://www.thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1848-10-05; Illinois Gazette (Lacon), 14 October 1848, 2:2.

Copy of Printed Document, 1 page(s), Illinois Gazette (Lacon), 14 October 1848, 2:2.