Trumbull's senatorial term expires in 1873—Not reëlected—He resumes the practice of law in Chicago—The second Grant administration worse than the first—The Republican party beaten in the congressional elections of 1874—The Hayes-Tilden campaign in 1876—Disputed returns in Louisiana, South Carolina, and Florida—The Electoral Commission—"Visiting Statesmen" sent to Louisiana to watch the count of the votes—Trumbull chosen as one of them—Chosen also to support Tilden's claim before the electoral commission—His argument thereon—E. W. Stoughton, in behalf of Hayes, contends that the returns of election certified by the governor of a state must be accepted—Also that the status of a governor recognized by the President of the United States cannot be questioned—Both these contentions are sustained by the Electoral Commission—By a vote of 8 to 7 Hayes is declared elected President—Trumbull's marriage to Miss Mary Ingraham—He is nominated for governor of Illinois by the Democrats in 1880—Is defeated by Shelby M. Cullom—My last meeting with Trumbull at the World's Columbian Exposition—Trumbull's professional services in the Debs case—His public speech, after the case was decided—He sides with the Populist party—Prepares their declaration of principles in December, 1894—Text of the Declaration407
CONCLUSION
Trumbull goes to Belleville to attend the funeral of Gustave Koerner—Is taken with illness at hotel—On his return to his home he is found to be suffering from an internal tumor—His physicians decide that a surgical operation would be fatal—He lingers till June 5, 1896—Dies in his eighty-third year—Impressive funeral—His great qualities as a lawyer and political debater—His conscientiousness and courage—His generosity, and fondness for little children—His place in the country's history—Eulogy by Joseph Medill, and other contemporaries—Trumbull's estimate of Lincoln—His religious views—His surviving family and descendants418
[Index] 433
INTRODUCTION
Events in the year 1854 brought into the field of national politics two members of the bar of southern Illinois who were destined to hold high places in the public councils—Abraham Lincoln and Lyman Trumbull. They were members of opposing parties, Lincoln a Whig, Trumbull a Democrat. Both were supporters of the compromise measures of 1850. These measures had been accepted by the great majority of the people, not as wholly satisfactory, but as preferable to never-ending turmoil on the slavery question. There had been a subsidence of anti-slavery propagandism in the North, following the Free Soil campaign of 1848. Hale and Julian received fewer votes in 1852 than Van Buren and Adams had received in the previous election. Franklin Pierce (Democrat) had been elected President of the United States by so large a majority that the Whig party was practically killed. President Pierce in his first message to Congress had alluded to the quieting of sectional agitation and had said: "That this repose is to suffer no shock during my official term, if I have the power to avert it, those who placed me here may be assured." Doubtless the Civil War would have come, even if Pierce had kept his promise instead of breaking it; for, as Lincoln said a little later: "A house divided against itself cannot stand."
It was not at variance with itself on the slavery question solely. In fact, the North did not take up arms against slavery when the crisis came. A few men foresaw that a war raging around that institution would somehow and sometime give it its death-blow, but at the beginning the Northern soldiers marched with no intention of that kind. They had an eye single to the preservation of the Union. The uprising which followed the firing upon Fort Sumter was a passionate protest against the insult to the national flag. It betokened a fixed purpose to defend what the flag symbolized, and it was only slowly and hesitatingly that the abolition of slavery was admitted as a factor and potent issue in the Northern mind.