Douglas, a Democrat from Illinois and a champion of states’ rights, spoke here Sept. 8 at the invitation of then-Dayton postmaster Clement Vallindigham, a nationally-known anti-war agitator and congressman who was later banished to Canada.
On Sept. 17, eight days after Douglas’ speech, Lincoln, a Republican from Illinois, stood on the Old Court House steps to revile the evils of slavery and warn Daytonians of “a house divided” unless the new American territories in the West were slave free.
To commemorate Lincoln’s 90-minute speech, nationally-renowned Lincoln scholar Harold Holzer will speak on “Lincoln and the Dayton, Ohio Connection” beginning at noon Thursday, Sept. 17, in the rotunda of the Old Court House, Third and Main streets. Holzer is national co-chair of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission.
“Lincoln did a lot of campaigning in Ohio that led up to his Cooper Union speech” in New York City, Holzer said last week. That little-known speech on Feb. 27, 1860 gained Lincoln the support of the Eastern elite for his presidential bid. But, ultimately, it was the Ohio GOP delegation that clinched Lincoln’s nomination for the presidency, Holzer noted.
To be honest about Abe, Lincoln’s campaign through Ohio in 1859 was not official — he had yet to declare his candidacy. But it was clear what Lincoln’s intentions were as he followed Douglas across Ohio in a recap of the Lincoln-Douglas debates in Illinois the year before.
Lincoln spent just four hours in Dayton, a visit squeezed between speeches in Columbus and Cincinnati. In that time, he managed to visit five different sites, including lunch and a short nap at the old Phillips House Hotel at Third and Main.
From 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Thursday, you can hop an RTA Trolley for free and follow the route of Lincoln through Dayton — where he arrived by train, where he was greeted, where he stayed, where he was photographed and where he spoke. Wright State graduate students will conduct the tours. Trolleys leave every 20 minutes from the Third Street side of the Court House.
For more information, visit www.lincolnsocietyofdayton.org/ or call (937) 558-2073
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2437 or jdebrosse@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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