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THE LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATES: A Case Study in "Stump Speaking" Richard Allen Heckman As the leading edge of the American frontier moved westward beyond the crest of the Appalachians, a significant and colorful trend in political expression emerged, played its role, and eventually faded from the national scene. The zenith of this phenomenon called "stump speaking," was the Lincoln-Douglas debates on the prairies of Illinois in the fall of 1858. Probably so named from a frontier practice of felling a tree in order to utilize the stump as a platform for a speaker, stump speaking was a common means of reaching the sparse populace in semiliterate areas where a scarcity of newspapers made it essential that candidates personally communicate their campaign promises.1 Illinois, partially through the influence of migrations of people from Kentucky and Tennessee familiar with this custom, and in part due to its own frontier situation in the early nineteenth century, used the technique extensively. John Moses, an authority on early life in Illinois, remarked: "Unless a candidate at all accustomed to public speaking—and few others were selected—was able and willing to meet his opponent on the stump, his prospect of success was sum."2 By the middle of the nineteenth century political speeches and debates had become an integral part of the Illinois scene. Not only did the practice serve its purpose of informing on political matters and acquainting the electorate with the candidates for office, it also provided a social function. To a family living in a semi-frontier atmosphere, attending political rallies became a means of entertainment which added variety to the often drab, monotonous aspects of rural living.3 Although the wit and manner of expression of the speakers were frequently coarse and vulgar, it was rare that an audience !Edwin Erie Sparks (ed.), The Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858 (Springfield, ??., 1908), p. 2. sjohn Moses, Illinois, Historical and Statistical (Chicago, 1895), II, 612. 3 Another favorite pastime on the frontier was attendance at trials at the county seat. 54 took offense. Nor did the crowds seem to mind if the speeches continued for hours. Many travelers to Illinois, accustomed to the more settled and restrained East, recorded surprise at the enthusiasm generated for outdoor politics. A reporter for the New York Evening Post, viewing the Illinois political scene in 1858, commented: It is astonishing how deep an interest in politics this people take. Over long dreary miles of hot and dusty prairie, the processions of eager partisans come—on foot, on horseback, in wagons drawn by horses or mules; men, women and children, old and young; the half sick just out of the last 'shake'; children in arms, infants at the maternal front, pushing on in clouds of dust and beneath a blazing sun; settling down at the town where the meeting is, with hardly a chance for sitting, and even less opportunity for eating, waiting in anxious groups for hours at the places of speaking, talking, discussing, litigious, vociferous, while the roar of artillery, the music of bands, the waving of banners, the huzzas of the crowds, as delegation after delegation appears; the cry of pedlars, vending all sorts of wares, from an infalible cure for 'Agur' to a monster watermelon in shoes to suit purchasers—combine to render the occasion one scene of confusion and commotion.4 Much of the nation turned its attention to Illinois in the fall of 1858 as Stephen A. Douglas, the nationally famous "Little Giant," and the less famous Abraham Lincoln met in debate to determine who would represent the state in the next session of the United States Senate. Both men engaged in an extensive speaking schedule in addition to the famous debates. Douglas addressed his constituents in fifty-seven counties, making fifty-nine pre-arranged speeches of from two to three hours in length. He also responded to serenades with seventeen speeches of from twenty-five to forty-five minutes, and made thirty-seven replies to addresses of welcome. All but two of the addresses were made out of doors, and seven were delivered during rain storms. In his tour of the state, it is estimated that he traveled over...

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