Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

Summary of Remarks to Salutation at Rushville, Illinois, 20 October 18581

The wagons and carriages now dispersed while the horsemen moved down to Mr. Ray’s residence, where Mr. Lincoln was stopping, and saluted him with a round of hearty cheers. Mr. Lincoln then came forward, and in a few appropriate remarks, expressed his thanks for the honor conferred.2

1This summary of remarks appeared in the October 27, 1858 edition of Rushville’s Schuyler Citizen.
Schuyler Citizen (Rushville, IL), 27 October 1858, 2:1.

2Abraham Lincoln spoke at 2 PM in Rushville, Illinois, on October 20, 1858 to an audience of between 2,000 and 3,000. He discussed his views on slavery and defended his “House Divided” speech. At one point, hecklers forced Lincoln to pause his talk and ask for quiet.
Abraham 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.
The Lincoln Log: A Daily Chronology of the Life of Abraham Lincoln, 20 October 1858, https://thelincolnlog.org/Results.aspx?type=CalendarDay&day=1858-10-20; 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.