Speech of Francis A. Arenz Welcoming Abraham Lincoln to Beardstown, 12 August 18581
Mr Lincoln
While we cannot greet you with such numbers, nor with such display, as we might desire,
for the reason, that your kind acceptance of the invitation of the Beardstown Republican club, to speak here on this day, of which notice could be given only for a few days
and to very limited extent; yet, there is ample evidence, judging from the vast numbers
in attendance, that a patriotic people will,— even upon very short notice,— come to
hear an orator, whose name and fame is well known; not only in Illinois, but also in other States.3
You have filled with great ability and distinction, many several political ^many^ important political stations!4 You have gallantly borne the flag of the great Whig party in many an hot contest, and when that party at last lost its great leaders & finnally succumbed, you surrendered not, nor did you abandon the principles advocated by the
immortal Clay & Webster; but you were one of the foremost to rally again and unfurl to the breeze the banner
of a party, which, by its organization upon^immutable^ everlasting principles of justice & true liberty, is bound to be victorious sooner, or later.
By an honest, candid & straightforward conduct you have not only earned the full approval
& confidence of your
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political friends; but you have compelled unwilling praises even from your political
opponents, among whom I especially name your distinguished competitor, Senator S. A. Douglas–5We behold in you a man eminently fitted to represent Illinois in the United States Senate, and we confide in you as a trustworthy expounder of the Constitution and the great
& glorious principles taught by the ^immortal^ fathers of American Independence and true liberty.– Mr. Lincoln, once more, in the
name of this people, I bid you welcome!
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08/12/1858
08/12/1858
Address to A. Lincoln
Aug[August] 12. 1858
Aug[August] 12. 1858
2Abraham Lincoln was the Republican candidate from Illinois for the U.S. Senate. At this time the
Illinois General Assembly elected the state’s representatives in the U.S. Senate, thus the outcome of races
for the Illinois House of Representatives and Illinois Senate were of importance to Lincoln’s campaign. Lincoln campaigned extensively in Illinois
in the summer and fall of 1858, delivering speeches and campaigning on behalf of Republican
candidates for the General Assembly. He and his opponent, Democrat Stephen A. Douglas, the incumbent, both focused their campaign efforts on the former Whig stronghold
of central Illinois, where the state legislative races were the closest. In local
elections, Republicans gained a majority of the votes, but Pro-Douglas Democrats retained
control of the General Assembly, and Douglas won re-election. See 1858 Illinois Republican Convention; 1858 Federal Election.
Lincoln arrived in Beardstown on the morning of August 12 on a steamboat from Naples. Greeted by several hundred citizens, Lincoln traveled by carriage to the National Hotel. Lincoln commenced his speech after 2 p.m. He spoke for two hours to an audience
of as many as 3,000, directly addressing a charge against Douglas that the Kansas-Nebraska Act—passed in 1854 and establishing popular sovereignty as a means of deciding slave
status for southwestern territories—was part of a larger conspiracy to make slavery
perpetual and national.
Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:457-61, 476-77, 513-14,
546-47; Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 17 June 1858, 2:1-6; Allen C. Guelzo, “Houses Divided: Lincoln, Douglas,
and the Political Landscape of 1858,” The Journal of American History 94 (September 2007), 392-99, 400-401, 414-16; The Lincoln Log: A Daily Chronology of the Life of Abraham Lincoln, 12 August 1858, https://thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1858-08-12; Report of Speech at Beardstown, Illinois; Summary of Speech at Beardstown, Illinois.
3Frank W. Tracy, secretary of the Beardstown Republican Club, corresponded with Lincoln, inviting Lincoln to speak on behalf of the club.
4Lincoln was elected to the Illinois General Assembly as a member of the House of Representatives
and served four terms from 1834 to 1842. He also served as a representative from Illinois
in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1847 to 1849.
Ron J. Keller, Lincoln in the Illinois Legislature (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2019), ix; The Lincoln Log: A Daily Chronology of the Life of Abraham Lincoln, 28 October 1847, https://thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1847-10-28; 29 March 1849, https://thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1849-03-29.
5When Douglas learned that Lincoln had been nominated for the U.S. Senate seat, he
said of Lincoln, “He is the strong man of his party—full of wit, facts, dates—and
the best stump speaker, with his droll ways and dry jokes, in the West. He is as honest
as he is shrewd, and if I beat him, my victory will be hardly won.”
Gerald M. Capers, Stephen A. Douglas: Defender of the Union (Boston and Toronto: Little, Brown, 1959), 182.
Copy of Handwritten Document, 2 page(s), Abraham Lincoln Association Files, Lincoln Collection, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum (Springfield, IL).