Summary of Speech at the Congressional Convention of the Fourth District, Peoria,
Illinois, 19 August 18581
At 2 o’clock this afternoon, Mr. Lincoln took the stand, in the public square, and
addressed an immense crowd, estimated at fully 3,000 men, for over two hours, in one
of the most cool, candid and able arguments I have ever listened to. A drizzling
rain continued throughout the speech; but the crowd, composed of men from ten or a
dozen counties, stood out in it, a large number of them with umbrellas hoisted. Many
honest, fair-minded Democrats who heard him, say their votes will be with Lincoln in November.
2On August 19, approximately ninety delegates gathered at Peoria’s courthouse to endorse the nomination of Abraham Lincoln for a U.S. Senate seat at the 1858 Illinois Republican Convention. The delegation also nominated William Kellogg for the U.S. House of Representatives. Kellogg delivered a nomination speech before Lincoln spoke, and he also addressed
the crowd for several hours after Lincoln delivered his speech.
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.
Kellogg, the incumbent, retained his seat, defeating James W. Davidson, his Democratic challenger, with 52.8 percent of the voted compared to Davidson’s
45.7 percent.
Chicago Daily Press and Tribune (IL), 21 August 1858, 2:5; Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:457-61, 476-77, 513-14,
546-47; 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; Louis L. Emmerson, ed., Blue Book of the State of Illinois, 1923-1924 (Springfield: Illinois State Journal, 1923), 642; Howard W. Allen and Vincent A.
Lacey, eds., Illinois Elections, 1818-1990 (Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press, 1992), 10, 11.
Printed Document, 1 page(s), Chicago Daily Press and Tribune , (Chicago, IL) , 21 August 1858, 2:5.