"Prairies on Fire": The Organization of the 1856 Mass Republican Rally in Beloit, Wisconsin

The 1856 election marked the debut of the Republican and Know Nothing parties in presidential politics as they vied with each other to become the alternative to the reigning Democrats in the North. A genuinely three-cornered race in many states, the 1856 contest sparked considerable enthusiasm among the American electorate as the new parties scrambled to establish themselves, and the Democrats mobilized to maintain their control over the White House and Congress. Urgent issues also prompted people's interest in the race, with the spread of slavery, the rise of immigration, and the potential for disunion among other concerns spurring on the partisans. Still, it was not the most heated election of the antebellum era; the campaigns of 1840 and 1860 rank above that of 1856 in terms of the degree to which they agitated the American public. The 1856 election represents, then, an interesting time to investigate the question, recently debated anew among historians, of the degree to which antebellum Americans became involved in the practice of democracy.

In light of recent assertions that ordinary Americans may have participated less in electoral campaigns than had been previously believed, this article examines the various people and institutions that hosted and attended the Republican mass rally held in Beloit, Wisconsin, on September 3, 1856. On the surface, the Beloit rally looks as if the city's political elite staged it; many Republican city officials took leadership roles in the planning of the event. Nevertheless, a detailed look at the rally reveals that dozens of men and women from a range of social classes participated in preparatory work for the event. In addition, the large numbers of participants who either carried banners or took their places in the Republican parade indicates that people chose to go beyond passive spectatorship and embraced a partisan identity in front of their neighbors. While local party leaders heavily influenced the day's events, many rank and file women and men worked hard to make the rally a success.

The Beloit rally, while only one example, is a rewarding place to analyze antebellum political culture. ¹ A large number of newspaper accounts from before and after the meeting have survived, offering a surprising array of details. There also exist rich sources of supporting information about the city of Beloit and its people. Further, while the Beloit meeting was described at the time as "the largest convention ever assembled in the Northwest," the smaller components of the rally—such as the parade, speakers platforms and food stand—were typical of those found at other Republican meetings. ² Because of these similarities, conclusions drawn from an analysis of the Beloit rally may be valid for political organizations elsewhere in the United States.

On the day after the mass Republican rally in Beloit, Wisconsin, the sympathetic editor of the local party newspaper, Benjamin Hale, ran a string of excited headlines down one of his columns. Boasting of the gathering's success, he claimed that 25,000 people had attended, a figure that justified his claim that it had been "the largest and most enthusiastic Republican Rally ever known in this portion of the West." ³ Hale cared deeply about the size of the crowd that arrived in his city on September 3, 1856, because with the party's candidates already nominated, the rally served only to energize Republicans, win over the undecided, and intimidate their rivals. In the political culture of the early United States, however, turnout for the event was only part of the story; equally important was Hale's assertion that the crowd was also the "most enthusiastic" to attend such a rally. "GREAT ENTHUSIASM!" Hale's newspaper yelled in banner type. Hale also added the cryptic headline "Prairies on Fire" to his more straightforward ones proclaiming the size and spirit of the crowd. Why did Hale want to compare this rally, supposedly...