Robert G. Ingersoll

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Robert G. Ingersoll

Colonel Robert Green Ingersoll (August 11, 1833 – July 21, 1899) was a Civil War veteran, American political leader and orator during the Golden Age of Freethought, noted for his broad range of culture and his defense of agnosticism.

1 Life
2 Trivia
3 Further reading
4 External links

[edit] Life

Robert Ingersoll was born in Dresden, New York. His father, John Ingersoll, was an abolitionist preacher, whose radical views forced his family to move frequently before finally settling in Peoria, Illinois. Ingersoll apprenticed himself to lawyers there and hung out his shingle.

With the advent of the American Civil War, he raised the 11th Illinois Cavalry Regiment and took command. The regiment fought in the Battle of Shiloh. Ingersoll was later captured, then released on his promise that he would not fight again, which was common practice early in the war.

Robert G. Ingersoll

After the war, he served as Illinois Attorney General. He was a prominent member of the Republican Party, although never holding an elected position, he was nonetheless an active participant. His speech, nominating James G. Blaine for the 1884 Presidential election, resulted in Blaine receiving the Republican nomination. His candidacy was unsuccessful, but the speech itself, known as the "Plumed Knight" speech, was considered a model of political oratory.

Ingersoll was involved in several prominent trials as an attorney, notably the Star Route trials, a major political scandal in which his clients were acquitted. He also defended a New Jersey man for blasphemy. Although he did not win acquittal, his vigorous defense is considered to have discredited blasphemy laws and few other prosecutions followed.

Ingersoll was most noted as an orator, the most popular of the age, when oratory was public entertainment. He spoke on every subject, from Shakespeare to Reconstruction, but his most popular subjects were agnosticism and the sanctity and refuge of the family. He committed his speeches to memory although they were sometimes more than three hours long. His audiences were said never to be restless.

Ingersoll statue in Peoria, IL

His radical views on religion, slavery, woman's suffrage, and other issues of the day effectively prevented him from ever pursuing or holding political offices higher than that of Attorney General. Illinois Republicans tried to pressure him into running for Governor on the condition that Ingersoll conceal his agnosticism during the campaign, which he refused on the basis that concealing information from the public was immoral.

Many of Ingersoll's speeches advocated freethought and humanism, and often poked fun at religious belief. For this the press often attacked him, but neither his views nor the negative press could stop his rising popularity. At the height of Ingersoll's fame, audiences would pay $1 or more to hear him speak, a giant sum for his day.

Ingersoll died from congestive heart failure, aged 65. Soon after his death, Clinton P. Farrell, a brother-in-law, collected copies of Ingersoll’s speeches for publication. The 12-volume Dresden Editions kept interest in Ingersoll's ideas alive and preserved his speeches for future generations. In 2005, a popular edition of Ingersoll's work was published by Steerforth Press. Edited by the Pulitzer Prize-winning music critic Tim Page, "What's God Got to Do With It: Robert Ingersoll on Free Speech, Honest Talk and the Separation of Church and State" brought Ingersoll's thinking to a new audience.

[edit] Trivia

Colonel Bob Mountain in Washington state was named after him by the climbers who discovered the peak in 1893.

[edit] Further reading

Tim Page, editing Robert Green Ingersoll, What's God Got to Do with It? : Robert Ingersoll on Free Thought, Honest Talk and the Separation of Church and State, Random House (August, 2005), trade paperback, ISBN 1-58642-096-8
Robert G. Ingersoll, The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Dresden (1902), 12 volume set
Orvin Larson, American Infidel: Robert G. Ingersoll a Biography, Citadel Press (1993)