Pike v. Shaffer, Lincoln for plaintiff, is continued at plaintiff's costs. Reynolds & Fuller v. Steele et al., trespass, is tried by jury. Lincoln, for defense, gets acquittals for Steele and Price, while Platt and Davidson are found guilty and assessed $600 damages. Record.

Lincoln and T. Lyle Dickey address Republican meeting in Major's Hall. Lincoln speaks with "great eloquence and power. He showed up the position of the Fillmore party in fine style, both as to its prospects of success, and as to the propriety of supporting a candidate whose greatest recommendation . . . is that he is neutral upon the one only great political question of the times." Bloomington Pantagraph, 17 September 1856; Speech at Bloomington, Illinois, 12 September 1856, CW, 2:375; Sherman D. Wakefield, How Lincoln Became President: The Part Played by Bloomington, Illinois, and Certain of Its Citizens in Preparing Him for the Presidency and Securing his Nomination and Election (New York: Wilson-Erickson, 1936), 71-72.