<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=3NmpAy_1H2hPRGL00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=3NmpAy_1H2hPRGL00" width="748" height="517" ></figure>By the time you read this, the midterm election will be over. Hopefully, we will know the results fairly quickly. No doubt, it was an important election, but not the most important our country has ever had. That would be the presidential election of 1860, when a backwoods candidate took on a professional politician and won. The repercussions are still with us today.Historians have said that Lincoln was awkward, often dressed in raggedy clothes with just one suspender, and his shirt tail flying in the breeze. In short, he was a country boy who saw no need to put on his best clothes to feed the hogs. Early on, he became interested in the law. When he finally became a lawyer, he rode the circuit, sleeping in taverns or clients’ homes, eating when he could.His reputation was that of a hard-working, clever lawyer who always had a humorous story to tell. He was well known downstate, but up here in Will County, we rarely heard of him. We do know that he served 3 years as the treasurer of the I &amp; M Canal Company. I have looked through the archives of the Canal, and as of yet, I have not found his signature, but I am still hoping.Lincoln’s name is first found in print in Will County in 1857. Cal Zarley, editor of the Joliet Signal, wrote about him after Lincoln started working with people in the opposite party. Part of what he said in the Aug. 4, 1857, Signal is this: “The smallest part of Lincoln’s effort, and that which more glaringly proved that he felt himself incompetent and unable to cope with Judge Douglas in argument, was his little, low-flung – contemptible in the extreme. He said Judge Douglas wanted Dred Scott’s daughters kept in slavery so that they might be forced into concubinage. Comment is unnecessary. It is like the boy, when flogged by another, ran off and exclaimed, ‘If I can’t whip you, I can make mouths at your sister.’”After Lincoln was nominated by the Republican Party, a series of 7 debates was held with the Democratic candidate Senator Stephen Douglas. Editor Zarley attended the one in Ottawa. He describes it this way: “As one of the champions – Mr. Lincoln, who got aboard our train at Morris – was also in the same crowd, we were joined at the depot by quite a large number of individuals of all ages, sexes and conditions, on horseback, in carriages and on foot. It was very plain though that those who awaited the arrival of the train, were only drawn together by a feeling of curiosity to behold the wonderful ‘living dog’; (Zarley’s pet name for Lincoln) who on the day, was going to accomplish the hitherto unheard-of feat of killing over again ‘a dead lion’ for every attempt to get up a cheer – and several were made – proved wholly ineffectual.“The vast concourse dispersed in all directions, in quest of dinner or the nearest approach to dinner that could be found in the various public houses. When they again assembled around the speakers’ platform, it might be seen that all were more or less successful; for although there were no benches or seats of any kind on the ground, and all were exposed to the scorching rays of the sun, the greatest good humor prevailed the whole audience.“Mr. Douglas’ opening speech was a clear, explicit, able and most eloquent exposition of the found occupied by the Democratic party in relation to the great political issues of the day, as well as a refutation of the absurdities of Black make when he is afraid to answer so fair a question. We must say however that the leading characteristic of Lincoln’s speech was a decided leaning in the direction of abolitionism; and it fully sustained his former position in favor of negro equality.”In the week before the election, he had dire warnings: “Among the consequences of Lincoln’s election to the Presidency we would call the attention of our readers to a few which will be certain to come home to everyman’s door before the Fourth of July next. There will no longer be any confidence in the public credit; State stock will cease to be of any value; bank notes will not be worth the paper on which they are printed and in the consequent panic the laboring manufacturing and mercantile classes will be involved in one common ruin.“We would advise all who have nay considerable quantity of bank bills on hand to get rid of them as quick as possible, in the event of Lincoln’s election. Let them either exchange for gold, or pay their honest debts with them. This advice is particularly applicable to the bills of the Southern banks.“Real estate will not realize more than a mere nominal value for some years to come. It would therefore perhaps be as well for people who have payments still to make on their farms to calculate whether it will not be the wisest course to rest content with the loss of the money already paid and not risk anymore in investments in a country and under a government which, at best, must, be, for years, unstable and unsettled – liable to all the changes incident to civil war, contention and strife.“If Lincoln be elected the South will immediately discontinue her supply of cotton to the Northern factories and put stops to every branch of commerce between the two sections. The consequence of this will be to withdraw the gold and silver of the country from circulation, and to deprive millions of the working classes of employment.”Lincoln won Will County 3,219 to Douglas’ 2,515. And he took the country, too. Lincoln won the electoral college with 180 votes, but only 39% of the popular vote.And in an almost Trump-like tone, Zarley was worried about a rigged election: “Frauds! Frauds! Frauds! We understand that the Republicans have determined to poll enough illegal votes to save their county ticket. The towns of Frankfort, Homer and Lockport have been chosen as the field for their operations. We would ask the Democrats in those towns especially to keep a sharp look out. Already the boast is being made that the Republican majorities in Frankfort and Homer will be double what they were two years ago. This cannot be the case unless the most glaring frauds are perpetrated. Watch the polls, Democrats, and see that there is no ballot-box stuffing or illegal voting.”As you know, very few of Zarley’s predictions came true. The country went through bad times after that, but we survived it. And I suppose we will, too.Sandy Vasko is Lead Researcher and Collection Manager at the Will County Historical Museum and Research Center.</div></body>

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By the time you read this, the midterm election will be over. Hopefully, we will know the results fairly quickly. No doubt, it was an important election, but not the most important our country has ever had. That would be the presidential election of 1860, when a backwoods candidate took on a professional politician and won. The repercussions are still with us today.

The election that changed us forever

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By the time you read this, the midterm election will be over. Hopefully, we will know the results fairly quickly. No doubt, it was an important election, b

The election that changed us forever

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