A disabled man once came to Abe Lincoln’s defense

In some respects, political speeches and debates these days certainly are vastly different from the ones held in the past. With television, prime time audiences, advertising dollars, and a host of other influences, speeches and debates are structured more as entertainment than they are as information sessions about political goals. During the course of a “debate”, one or both candidates often devolve into insults, interruptions, and in one case in the recent past, a personal attack on the other candidate’s family.

But even in the past, politics on any public stage was still a tough format for any speaker. And it often became embarrassingly personal. Here’s an Abraham Lincoln story about just such a moment.*

In 1858 – before Stephen Douglas agreed to the series of debates between them – Lincoln traveled across the state of Illinois giving solitary speeches. One of those speeches was in Cumberland County.

As Lincoln finished his speech that afternoon, Dr. Hamburgher – a local man (and a dedicated Democrat) – jumped on the stand and rudely said to Lincoln and the crowd that he would reply to Lincoln’s speech. Though it was not part of the day’s activities, Lincoln, without comment, took a seat on the outer edge of the platform to listen.

Hamburgher, however, soon went off-topic and began to insult Lincoln and the Republican Party. At that point, a diminutive and rather insignificant-looking disabled man awkwardly approached the side of the platform near Lincoln and quietly said: “Don’t mind him; I know him; I live here; I’ll take care of him – watch me.”

Two or three times during Hamburgher’s continuing rant at Lincoln, the man leaned over to Lincoln and repeated his promise.

Finally, when Hamburgher was done, he waited for Lincoln to rise and reply. Instead, the little disabled man stood and made good on his promise.

He was only a few minutes into his rather scathing personal reply to Hamburgher, when the doctor interrupted with a shout: “That’s a lie!”

“Never mind,” retorted the disabled man smugly, “I’ll take that from you. In fact, I’ll take anything from you EXCEPT your pills!”

The doctor roared back: “You scoundrel! You know I’ve quit practicing medicine.”

The disabled man instantly dropped to his good knee, raised his hands in mock worship, and exclaimed: “Then thank God – the country is safe!”

Lincoln never responded to the doctor’s attack that day, but he always enjoyed telling the story about the “the lame man” who came to his defense.

This was another tale from Abe Lincoln, storyteller.

Mac

*[Please note: I took the liberty of updating the language to make it less colloquial for the 21st Century reader. For the original text, see the following source: Gross, Anthony (1912). Lincoln’s Own Stories. New York City, NY: Harper & Brothers. pp.57-58.]

** The painting leading this post is "Stump Speaking (1854) by George Caleb Bingham, an American artist who depicted frontier life. Bingham's work remains a valuable documentation of American history. His was a truly "American" art in both subject and form.