Lewis & Clark College

Ingersoll, Robert G.

Robert Green "Bob" Ingersoll was a lawyer, a Civil War veteran, political leader, teacher, and orator of United States during the Golden Age of Freethought, noted for his broad range of culture and his defense of agnosticism. He was nicknamed "The Great Agnostic". Ingersoll practiced law and 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 charged with blasphemy. Although he did not win acquittal, his vigorous defense is considered to have discredited blasphemy laws and few other prosecutions followed. Ingersoll represented the noted con-artist, James Reavis, the 'Baron of Arizona' for a time, pronouncing his Peralta Land Grant claim airtight. 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. Many of Ingersoll's speeches advocated freethought and humanism, and often poked fun at religious belief. Ingersoll died from congestive heart failure at the age of 65.

Politicians

1877

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Nineteenth Century Political Party Photograph Collection