Posters recall Cannon’s 1880 opponent

In 1980, John Mendenhall found three 1880 J. R. Scott campaign posters in a home he was restoring. The Commercial-News did a full-page article on Mendenhalls restoration project on the historic house Enoch Newkirk built, but little was written about the politicians competing in the election mentioned on the posters. The posters had been carefully folded. Two were placed in a newel post and the third behind the trim on a kitchen door. They had been there 100 years when John found them.

I have always wondered who J. R. Scott was, and how he did in the election, John told me as he showed me one of the posters in his Danville home. He lives in the Renaissance District and the rooms of his home are furnished with heirlooms from the past. He has a deep appreciation for fine woodcraft of the past, and the expertise to restore it.

The candidates in 1880 were James R. Scott and Joseph Gurney Cannon (Uncle Joe) and they were competing for a seat in Congress. Scott was a wealthy farmer and was representing the Democrats. Cannon was the incumbent Republican and he was running for his fifth term as a U. S. representative.

Scott was campaigning on the issue the Greenback Party backed. That was the printing of paper money by the government rather than a monetary system based on gold and silver. The party believed flooding the market with new greenbacks would allow farmers to pay off their debts with cheaper dollars. Farmers were attempting to recover from a severe recession that followed the Civil War.

Cannons supporters referred to Scott as a democratic greenback puttyhead and noted the incumbent by all means should be sent back to Washington. But Scott also had his supporters and one of them was Danville Medal of Honor recipient John Charles Black. When Black spoke at the Lincoln Opera House on Danvilles Main Street, he backed Scott and the Democratic ticket with a fiery speech that his party cheered. The Republicans cited the address as being as bitter as wormwood and gall.

Campaign events in 1880 werent only speeches by the candidates; there was also entertainment. Nearly every village had a band and they played at these events. Uncle Joe Cannon also was assisted at his engagements by the Rough and Ready Glee Club of Danville.

Scott was a worthy candidate; he was credited with assisting in establishing the University of Illinois and was very active in various agricultural organizations. But Cannon did not take him seriously enough to include him in his memoirs; the election of 1880 was not mentioned. Cannon felt the contest of 1874 was his greatest contest to date, when he was opposed by James H. Pickerel of Harristown. Like Scott, Pickerel was supported by the Democrats and Greenbackers. Cannon recalled they gave him a lot of trouble in that contest.

Pickerel, like Scott, was a wealthy farmer and he had a prize bull, which he took with him to fairs where farmers showed their livestock. Fairs were fine venues for political speakers during the era, and Cannon noted Pickerel used his bull to draw a crowd, and would then deliver a speech.

On one occasion Cannon was speaking and noticed his listeners were drifting away. He then discovered Pickerel had moved his bull near enough for the people to see him and they were going over for a look. He told the crowd, I see there are three candidates here Mr. Pickerel, the bull and me and I would like to know whether you are going to vote to send Pickerel or the bull to Congress in my place. Cannon observed that statement was soon being told all over the district and it ran Pickerel and the bull out of the campaign.

Scott didnt have a bull to draw a crowd, but he did speak often and effectively to large audiences in the county. What has he (Cannon) done? was a question posed by the Democrats. Evidently the voters thought he had done enough, for they sent Uncle Joe back to Congress. But Scott did give him a run in Vermilion County, defeating him in four townships; Blount, Carroll, Newell, and Sidell.

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Posters recall Cannon’s 1880 opponent