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Jan 02, 2020

Stump Speech: The Ultimate Speechwriting Guide

by Martín Diego Garcia

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Stump Speech: Connect With Voters by Creating a Campaign Speech.

Here is our ultimate guide to writing a great stump speech. We all know that the candidate is the campaign’s best asset, and the stump speech is the best campaign tool for delivering a 7C’s (clear, concise, contrastive, connective, creative, compelling, consistent) message and personal story about the candidate and campaign. 

WHAT IS A STUMP SPEECH?  A political Campaign speech has been a staple on the campaign trail since the 1800s and is still a critical tool for modern day campaigns. Your stump speech should be the core message for you campaign and repeated at almost every campaign event or activity. A candidate should be able to repeat their stump speech in their sleep and might just start doing that involuntarily after delivering it a couple of hundred times. The speech should be a quick way for the candidate to answer the following questions for their audience:  

• WHO the candidate is? This should be a short introduction of the candidate’s name and a little background to humanize them to voters. Where you’re from, your family, your connection to the community?
• WHY they are running for this office? There should be a very clear and compelling connection between your person story and the collective challenge your community is facing that has prompted you to run for office. Tell a story about the issue(s) you’re running on. Who specifically is being harmed by these problems? 
• WHAT is the contrast/choice for voters? This is VERY important. You need to lay out your vision for the future and differentiate it from your opponent(s)’s idea for the future of your community. If there is no clear contrast the voters will not have a compelling reason to cast a vote. 
• WHAT is the ask for the audience? Lastly, you need a simple and specific ask for your audience. Do you need them to vote for you? Knock on doors? Donate to your campaign? And by when do you need them to do it? 

HOW LONG SHOULD YOUR STUMP SPEECH BE?  An average campaign speech given at an event, at the doors, on an interview can be between 5-10 minutes in length. However, most often a candidate has about 90 seconds to 3 minutes when on the campaign trail for an introduction. So be prepared! 

Think of the shorter version as a quick introduction like cliff notes or a synopsis. This can be used to start a conversation at the door or introduce yourself on the fly. For the longer version of the speech you are merely adding a little more context and color to the story depending on your audience. 

WHAT SHOULD BE IN YOUR STUMP SPEECH?  Here are the core campaign speech writing components that should be in your speech. They do NOT need to be in this order necessarily, but the speech should have a nature order that flows together. 

• INTRODUCTION: You need to have a hook to grab a person’s (peoples) attention right from the start (be careful with telling jokes unless you’re good at them) and then give the basics – your name and office you’re running for. 
• PERSONAL STORY: Weave in your personal story. What is your motivation for stepping up to run for office? What are the values you hold that are needed in the office or to solve this issue? But whatever your do, please DO NOT list off your resume. No one is interested in hearing that. Trust me.
• PROBLEM STATEMENT: Present a clear and relevant (to audience and electorate) issue that needs to be solved. What is wrong that needs to be fixed? (For incumbents, what needs more work OR to be protected?).  Why do you care about this issue and why is it relevant to the community at large? What is at stake for them? 
• SOLUTION/VISION: What is your solution to solving this program? What skills, experiences or qualities do you have that make you suited to solve this issue? Paint a picture for the audience about what their future could look like if this problem was solved. 
• ASK: What is it you need from the audience you’re speaking to? You need a clear and concise call to action that allows them to be part of your vision and get involved with your campaign. Do you need an endorsement? Donations? Volunteers? Votes? Tell them exactly how they can help be part of the solution. 
• Thank them for their time! 

WHY SHOULD YOU TELL YOUR PERSONAL STORY? 

Stories have been a part of civilization since the dawn of time. Stories have been used to pass down history through generations. It is also how we connect with each other through a shared humanity. It’s no wonder we’re all wired to engage with and react to stories that includes voters! Stories are all around us in books, TV, movies, music, news, brunch, literally everywhere.  As a candidate you’ll get much farther with your constituents by telling a story to show people your vision versus just throwing facts and data at them. 

Utilizing your personal stories can be extremely beneficial due to one thing: it makes you seem normal. One of the issues that America faces today is the lack of care for politics. Candidates who use their personal stories are able to create a positive feeling around their candidacy. Talk about yourself as a way to relate to your audience. Funny stories are great icebreakers. Lastly, and most importantly, always tell the truth. Especially in today’s technological age, it is much easier to find out if a candidate isn’t speaking the truth or is speaking in half-truths.

DO YOU KNOW WHY YOU’RE RUNNING? 

Voters want to know why you are running for office. They want to hear your motivation, so they can see if they trust you or not. Voters know what the problems in their communities are, so instead of repeating them back, tell them how they’ve affected you and your community. 

For example, if education is your core issues, don’t start by throwing out all the stats and facts about struggling, underfunded schools. Start by showing voters how this is affecting actual people, specifically children, talk about a student who was not able to reach their full potential because of the lack of funding or current policies in place. That way, you’re painting a picture and humanizing the issue for voters, so they see it more personally. 

WHY DO YOU NEED TO USE AN EMOTIONAL APPEAL? 

People are not rational beings and we often make decisions based on our emotions rather than the facts. If you look at the sweeping victories for Biden, Obama or Trump the one thing that connects them is that they both got voters to feel something. Biden campaign was based on empathy, Obama’s entire campaign was based on hope and aspiration, while Trump’s was based in fear and division. Two very different strategies but both based in telling emotionally captivating narratives. 

WHY SHOULD YOU AVOID LISTING OFF YOUR RESUME? 

We’ve all been there. Waiting to hear from a candidate and all we get is a rundown of their resume of accomplishment.  Spoiler alert: your degrees and awards won’t buy you love from voters. Yes, having them is important but defining yourself by them is not going to create an emotional connection with your audience. Your stump speech should show not tell your story. It should weave in your accomplishments as supporting evidence but not the main plot line. 

Remember that every  campaign speech will be different, but if you can speak from the heart and tell people your story, they are much more likely to remember you when it comes to casting their vote. So practice, practice, practice and if you need help please feel free to reach out to our team. 

Have questions about writing a stump speech? Drop us a note. 

Questions? Email Us

The Reason Why Some Political Addresses Are Called “Stump Speeches”

Yes, it once involved stumps.

Every election season, U.S. presidential candidates hit the campaign trail to deliver what’s known as a stump speech. So what exactly is it, and why do we call it that?

The Origin of Stump Speeches

The state of the stump speech.

Back in Revolutionary War–era America, orators in rural communities sometimes stood on actual tree stumps to elevate themselves above listeners. By the early 19th century, the terms stump orator and stump oratory had started appearing in newspapers, and stump speech was in print by 1820 . In June of that year, for example, the Knoxville Register mentioned the stump speech of a West Tennessee man running for a seat in the state legislature.

“It was proposed, we are informed, in a stump speech delivered by the candidate, with loud exclamations of applause to a number of the electors of the county,” the paper wrote (emphasis theirs), “That if they would elect him he would use his talents and influence to have a law passed laying a tax on the state which should be applied exclusively to paying the debts of all those who are involved .”

The passage illustrates what a typical stump speech involved (and still involves): a political candidate telling local people why they should vote for said candidate. Eventually—though it’s hard to say exactly when—stump speeches stopped featuring literal stumps.

“[W]e often mount the stump only figuratively: and very good stump-speeches are delivered from a table, a chair, a whiskey barrel, and the like. Sometimes we make our best stump-speeches on horse-back,” Baynard Rush Hall wrote in his account of pioneer life in Indiana for the 1855 edition of The New Purchase . During the climax of one memorable stump speech given from an ox cart, pranksters removed the pins keeping the cart level, causing the speaker to tumble into the dirt.

“e often mount the stump only figuratively: and very good stump-speeches are delivered from a table, a chair, a whiskey barrel, and the like. Sometimes we make our best stump-speeches on horse-back,” Baynard Rush Hall wrote in his account of pioneer life in Indiana for the 1855 edition of The New Purchase . During the climax of one memorable stump speech given from an ox cart, pranksters removed the pins keeping the cart level, causing the speaker to tumble into the dirt.

Hall’s book may also shed light on why stump speeches are associated with the United States . Throughout the 19th century (and beyond), as the nation expanded its borders and communities coalesced into new towns and cities, there were more opportunities to run for office. He described the “social state” as “always in ferment; for ever was some election, doing, being done, done or going to be done; and each was as bitterly contested as that of president or governor. … And everybody expected at some time to be candidate for something; or that his uncle would be; or his cousin, or his cousin’s wife’s cousin’s friend would be: so that everybody, and everybody’s relations, and everybody’s relations’ friends, were for ever electioneering.”

Not everyone viewed the importance of public speaking in elections as positive (or at least neutral). In an 1850 pamphlet , Scottish philosopher Thomas Carlyle eviscerated the stump orator as a “mouthpiece of Chaos to poor benighted mortals that lend ear to him as to a voice from Cosmos.” Carlyle disputed the correlation between being able to talk about accomplishing things and being able to actually achieve them—and he felt voters were too dazzled by the former to see the difference. Moreover, Carlyle believed that the focus on public speaking prevented the best leaders—in his estimation, doers, not talkers—from even running for office, leaving voters to stack the government with charismatic windbags.

“Your poor tenpound franchisers and electoral world generally, in love with eloquent talk, are they the likeliest to discern what man it is that has worlds of silent work in him? No,” Carlyle wrote. “Or is such a man, even if born in the due rank for it, the likeliest to present himself, and court their most sweet voices? Again, no.”

But the reality, then and now, is that candidates have to convince people to vote for them, which is hard to do without talking.

The modern conception of a stump speech isn’t just any speech given to a group of voters. It’s one speech that a candidate travels around repeating to various groups of voters. Naturally, we hear about them most frequently during presidential campaigns, which involve lots of travel and the largest constituency (and which usually get the most attention). While today’s presidential candidates don’t orate atop whiskey barrels or ox carts, that homespun spirit is preserved in some of the locations they choose as campaign stops : churches, union halls, and even barns.

The media often references a stump speech in conjunction with its recurring themes. In November 2020, for example, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette mentioned that Joe Biden “gave some of his standard economy-focused stump speech.” Earlier that year, The Buffalo News said that Amy Klobuchar’s “entire stump speech [was] littered with appeals to the heartland.” During the 2016 campaign season, the same paper noted how John Kasich’s stump speech almost never failed to cover “his work to produce a budget surplus” during his time on the House Budget Committee. “He brings a national-debt clock to town halls,” the article said.

The media often references a stump speech in conjunction with its recurring themes. In November 2020, for example, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette mentioned that Joe Biden “gave some of his standard economy-focused stump speech.” Earlier that year, The Buffalo News said that Amy Klobuchar’s “entire stump speech littered with appeals to the heartland.” During the 2016 campaign season, the same paper noted how John Kasich’s stump speech almost never failed to cover “his work to produce a budget surplus” during his time on the House Budget Committee. “He brings a national-debt clock to town halls,” the article said.

However, candidates modify and refine their stump speeches on the campaign trail—not unlike how stand-up comedians workshop bits while touring. In 2008, The Washington Post published an anatomy of Barack Obama’s 45-minute stump speech (transcribed from one appearance in Boise, Idaho), detailing what points were added when and even which parts garnered applause or laughter. 

“Many of the additions are riffs that he’s created in response to criticisms made against him, lines of attack that he absorbs and tries to turn against the opposition,” The Post wrote. After fellow candidate John Edwards accused him of being “too nice a guy” and “too conciliatory” to effect change, for example, Obama made it a selling point in his stump speech, claiming that his willingness to “reach out across the aisle” was a product of his strong principles and clear view of what he was fighting for.

Another tentpole of the stump speech is tailoring it to the audience with a little local color. When Hillary Clinton addressed a crowd at Tampa’s University of South Florida in September 2016, she started with, “I know I’m only the second most exciting thing that’s happened here in the last few days. Your big win to open your football season got some attention.” When Mitt Romney spoke in Bedford, New Hampshire, in December 2011, he thanked people for “coming out on a cold winter night” and mentioned that the state’s ski resorts would probably “start making snow … and get people from Massachusetts across the border to come up and ski.”

Generally, stump speakers are always searching for the perfect balance between specificity and universality. You want your audience to feel understood and confident that you’re committed to fixing their issues, but you also want to be broad enough not to alienate voters. So stump speeches can be heavy on the hedging. In 2016, when FiveThirtyEight tasked former Republican speechwriter Barton Swaim and former Democratic speechwriter Jeffrey Nussbaum with writing a completely bipartisan stump speech, they filled it with wording like “We need to start thinking seriously” and “The U.S. will not ignore.” As Swaim pointed out, “to ‘start thinking seriously’ about something isn’t actually to do anything,” and “not to ignore something isn’t necessarily to act.”

Discover Other Phrase Origins:

6 Key Components of a Winning Stump Speech

As a candidate for elected office you’re going to be giving plenty of speeches, so you’ll need to have your stump speech down pat.

Strong public speaking conveys confidence and leadership to voters.  

It assures donors and supporters that you’re the right person for office.

Unfortunately, too many candidates are not good public speakers.

They don’t have a key message or theme.

Their words wander all over the place.

They don’t make sense and wind up confusing their audience.

I witnessed this the one night by a candidate who is running his own campaign.

He had good ideas. He had a solid resume.

His speech however did not effectively convey that he’s up for the job.

With a little fine-tuning he would be much better.

A good stump speech makes a huge difference in a candidate’s race, their fundraising, and in gathering endorsements.

That’s why I always work with my candidates on their stump speeches.

I’ve even turned the things I teach candidates into a premium course The Secrets of a Winning Stump Speech .

Most of my clients have never ran for office before.

They’re not used to public speaking, even in front of small groups.

Over the course of my career, I’ve noticed that there are six key components that make for a good stump speech.

If you follow these, you’ll be in good shape as a candidate and might even surprise yourself as a public speaker.

1.  Who You Are and What You’re Running For

Never assume that the voters know who you are.

They likely don’t.

Your mission as a candidate for office is to build your name recognition and support for your candidacy.

Even if you’ve been introduced by someone, always begin your stump speech by telling your audience who you are and the office your running for.

If you’re married, say so and tell them how long you’ve been married.

If you have children, list your kids and how old they are, and what kind of things they’re into.

Should your spouse, children, parents, or other family members be present, be sure to point them out by name and thank them for their support for your campaign — especially if it’s your spouse.

It’s a cardinal sin in the political world to not introduce or thank your spouse.

2.  Where You Come From

Voters like to elect real people from real places with real lives.

After you introduce yourself and the office you’re running for, tell them where you grew up, a little about your family life, and how that impacted your life.

If you’re running in a community where you’ve lived all of your life, or most of it, make sure that’s highlighted in your stump speech.

Mention the schools you went to, where you played sports, your first job in town, your favorite place to eat, or that your parents still live there.

This creates an instant connection with the voters and will make it easier for them to become supporters.

3.  What You’ve Dones

Experience matters to voters.

They want to know that you’ve accomplished something in your life.

In your stump speech, tell them about where you graduated from college (if you did), your military service (if you served), the jobs you’ve had (if you’ve never had a job or a business  — why are you even running?)

Voters want to know these things for two reasons:

1) it shows you can set goals and accomplish them

2) it demonstrates you’re not afraid of hard work

This is especially true in today’s political environment when the perception of elected officials is that they’re only in office to cash for themselves and their family members, rather than work hard and accomplish something for their constituents.

Have you noticed that critics of both Joe Biden and Donald Trump each use this line of attack?

Talk about your professional experience — the things you’ve done and learned that have prepared you for office.

If you volunteer or are active in community organizations, put this in your stump speech.

But please be careful not to come off as bragging.

That will turn off voters rather than endear them to you.

Yes, Donald Trump violates this admonition often, and it reflects negatively his approval ratings and poll numbers.

If Trump who can get away with so much that other candidates cannot is still damaged by this, don’t think you’ll fare any better.

4.  What You Want to Accomplish

Voters like candidates who have a plan.

They want to know why you’re running for office and what you intend to do once you’re elected.

The best way to clarify this is by understanding what your campaign is about in one sentence, as detailed in this article.

When giving your stump speech, incorporate your One Sentence into your remarks and build upon it.

It’s best to have three specific things you want to accomplish.

Your goals should align with three problems that need to be fixed.

Hopefully you’ve done some polling or other type of opinion research so you’ll know what issues and problems are foremost on your voters’ minds.

State each problem, describe how you’d like things to be better, and outline the steps you believe that can be taken to get there.

While you need to show that your plan is realistic, be careful not to get into too many specifics with your solutions to these problems.

While you need to know the specifics for when you are elected, and when people ask you for details, giving specifics and details in your stump speech will bore your audience.

Bored voters don’t convert into supporters.

Excited voters do, plus they tell their friends to vote for you.

5.  It’s Not About I, It’s About We

One of the biggest pitfalls candidates for elected office can face is making it all about themselves.

While you may be the one running, elections are not about candidates.

They are about voters.

Elections are where the voters get to have their say on people and policy.

If you make it about you, you’ll fall into the “I, me, mine” trap, become labeled as a “politician” and turn off the voters you need.

When giving your stump speech always change the word “I” to the word “we” when it’s possible.

Clearly, when talking about where you grew up, went to school, work, and your family, you’re going to use “I.”

But when you are talking about what you want to do in office, things that you’ve been a part of in your community, or accomplishments you were involved in as part of a larger organization, use the word “we.”

Speaking to your audience with the word “we” creates a bond and buy-in with your ideas.  That’s the effect that you’re after with your stump speech.

In 2016, Hillary Clinton severely violated this rule.

She had supporters say, “I’m with her.”

It didn’t work because she was asking the voters to focus on her as the candidate — rather than focusing on the voters and the shared mission they were on together.

Donald Trump spun that around masterfully and told his supporters “I’m with you.”

6. Close Strong

Closing your stump speech the right way is important.

After you’ve listed what you want to do in office, tell the audience that you can’t do this without their help.

Weaving “we” throughout your stump speech ties this in nicely for your finish.

If you’re talking to voters, ask them for their votes.

If you’re talking to donors, ask them for their contributions.

If you’re talking to leaders of an organization that endorses, ask them for their support.

There’s no reason for anyone to give you what you want unless you specifically ask for it.

As one professor I had always said, “If you don’t ask, you don’t get.”

Make the ask then it’s time for you to go.

End by thanking your audience for their time.

Always do this. Tell them you appreciate taking the time to listen to you.

Grateful candidates tend to be winning candidates.

Candidate Take-Aways

If you follow these six rules you’ll be able to craft an effective stump speech.

Go figure yours out and write it out word for word.

After you write it out, go and learn it.

Learn it and practice your stump speech, but don’t memorize it.

You don’t want to come off like a robot.

If it helps, write an outline of our speech and refer to that when you’re speaking.

The first speech you give will likely be difficult and you may hate doing it.

That’s fine.

Keep giving your stump speech.

You’ll get better at it each time you speak.

Before you know it you won’t need an outline to refer to, you won’t be nervous, and people will be coming up to you when you’re finished telling you what a great speaker you are.

Now if you’d like to go deeper and learn exactly how to write, rehearse, and deliver a solid stump speech, t ap this link for instant access to the premium course Secrets of a Winning Stump Speech.

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Stump Speech

A stump speech is a speech that a politician makes again and again as they travel to different places during a campaign.

The speech might change slightly depending on the audience – for example, the candidate might add a few words to the speech to mention local politicians, or to refer to a local specialty.

Origin of “Stump Speech”

The expression dates back to early American history , when candidates would travel through the countryside building support for their campaigns.

Most of the time, there weren’t any formal stages where a politician could address a crowd, so candidates stood on tree stumps to give their speeches.

Today, candidates still travel around the country delivering standardized speeches to win over voters.

A typical stump speech has a lot of distinctive elements , all woven together into an appealing whole.

The speech sets out the candidate’s values and their overarching plans, as well as specific campaign promises and talking points .

And of course, the speech also needs to forge an emotional connection between the candidate and the voters.

Stump speeches are not intended to be newsworthy or dramatic.

Normally, a candidate repeats the same stump speech, word for word, at every one of his campaign stops.

In 2015, the FiveThirtyEight blog created two “perfect” stump speeches – one for Republicans, and one for Democrats.

The speeches weren’t real, but they imagined what highly pandering possible speeches for each party would look like, based on the values reflected by the majority of voters from each party.

The Republican speech , as written by former Republican speech writer Barton Swaim, focused on the need for smaller government, reduced Federal spending, and free trade.

The Democratic speech, written by Democratic speechmaker Jeff Nussbaum, talked about social inclusion, income inequality, and education.

Even in the age of social media, the old-fashioned stump speech continues to be important during a campaign.

During the 2020 presidential campaign, most candidates continued to use standardized stump speeches to present their talking points and to reach out to voters.

President Donald Trump’s stump speech clocked at just over an hour and touches on issues like the economy, conservative values, and tax cuts.

Some candidates, though, seemed to be moving away from the classic stump speech.

After all, stump speeches are also full of potential pitfalls, since they present opportunities for candidates to make gaffes or lose their audience’s attention.

Joe Biden shortened his stump speech to just 15 minutes in the 2020 presidential campaign.

And Senator Elizabeth Warren replaced her own stump speech with a town hall format.

The Atlantic once cited this speech by one Phil Davidson, the would-be GOP nominee for treasurer in Stark County, Ohio, as the worst stump speech in American history .

The speech is striking because of Davidson’s highly emotive delivery, even when he is discussing non-controversial subjects like his own biography. At moments, Davidson seems enraged or on the verge of tears.

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Stump speech is a term used today to describe a candidate's standard speech, delivered day after day during a typical political campaign. But in the 19th century, the phrase held a much more colorful meaning.

The phrase became firmly established in the early decades of the 1800s, and stump speeches got their name for a good reason: they would often be delivered by candidates who literally stood atop a tree stump.

Stump speeches caught on along the American frontier, and there are numerous examples where politicians were said to be "stumping" for themselves or for other candidates.

A reference book in the 1840s defined the terms "to stump" and "stump speech." And by the 1850s newspaper articles from around the United States often referred to a candidate "taking to the stump."

The ability to give an effective stump speech was considered an essential political skill. And notable 19th-century politicians, including Henry Clay , Abraham Lincoln , and Stephen Douglas , were respected for their skills as stump speakers.

Vintage Definition of Stump Speech

The tradition of stump speeches became so well-established that A Dictionary of Americanisms , a reference book published in 1848, defined the term "To stump":

"To Stump. 'To stump it' or 'take the stump.' A phrase signifying to make electioneering speeches.

The 1848 dictionary also mentioned "to stump it" was a phrase "borrowed from the backwoods," as it referred to speaking from atop a tree stump.

The idea of linking stump speeches to the backwoods seems obvious, as the use of a tree stump as an improvised stage would naturally refer to a location where land was still being cleared. And the idea that stump speeches were essentially a rural event led to candidates in cities sometimes using the term in a mocking manner.

The Style of 19th Century Stump Speeches

Refined politicians in the cities may have looked down on stump speeches. But out in the countryside, and especially along the frontier, stump speeches appreciated for their rough and rustic character. They were free-wheeling performances that were different in content and tone from the more polite and sophisticated political discourse heard in the cities. At times the speech-making would be an all-day affair, complete with food and barrels of beer.

The rollicking stump speeches of the early 1800s would typically contain boasts, jokes, or insults directed at opponents.

A Dictionary of Americanisms quoted a memoir of the frontier published in 1843:

"Some very good stump speeches are delivered from a table, a chair, a whiskey barrel, and the like. Sometimes we make the best stump speeches on horseback."

John Reynolds, who served as governor of Illinois in the 1830s , wrote a memoir in which he fondly recalled giving stump speeches in the late 1820s .

Reynolds described the political ritual:

"Addresses known as stump-speeches received their name, and much of their celebrity, in Kentucky, where that mode of electioneering was carried to great perfection by the great orators of that state.

"A large tree is cut down in the forest, so that the shade may be enjoyed, and the stump is cut smooth on the top for the speaker to stand on. Sometimes, I have seen steps cut in them for the convenience of mounting them. Sometimes seats are prepared, but more frequently the audience enjoys the luxury of the green grass to sit and lie on."

A book on the Lincoln-Douglas Debates published nearly a century ago recalled the heyday of stump speaking on the frontier, and how it was viewed as something of a sport, with opposing speakers engaging in spirited competition:

"A good stump speaker could always attract a crowd, and a wit combat between two speakers representing opposite parties was a real holiday of sport. It is true that the jokes and counterstrokes were often feeble attempts, and not very far removed from vulgarity; but the stronger the blows the better they were liked, and the more personal, the more enjoyable they were."

Abraham Lincoln Possessed Skills as a Stump Speaker

Before he faced Abraham Lincoln in the legendary 1858 contest for a U.S. Senate seat, Stephen Douglas expressed concern about Lincoln's reputation. As Douglas put it: "I shall have my hands full. He is the strong man of the party — full of wit, facts, dates — and the best stump speaker, with his droll ways and dry jokes, in the West."

Lincoln's reputation had been earned early. A classic story about Lincoln described an incident the occurred "on the stump" when he was 27 years old and still living in New Salem, Illinois.

Riding into Springfield, Illinois, to give a stump speech on behalf of the Whig Party in the 1836 elections, Lincoln heard about a local politician, George Forquer, who had switched from Whig to Democrat. Forquer had been generously rewarded, as part of the Spoils System of the Jackson administration, with a lucrative government job. Forquer had built an impressive new house, the first house in Springfield to have a lightning rod.

That afternoon Lincoln delivered his speech for the Whigs, and then Forquer stood to speak for the Democrats. He attacked Lincoln, making sarcastic remarks about Lincoln's youth.

Given the chance to respond, Lincoln said:

"I am not so young in years as I am in the tricks and trades of a politician. But, live long or die young, I would rather die now, than, like the gentleman," — at this point Lincoln pointed at Forquer — "change my politics, and with the change receive an office worth three thousand dollars a year. And then feel obliged to erect a lightning rod over my house to protect a guilty conscience from an offended God."

From that day forward Lincoln was respected as a devastating stump speaker.

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stump speech

Definition of stump speech

Examples of stump speech in a sentence, dictionary entries near stump speech.

stump speaking

Cite this Entry

“Stump speech.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stump%20speech. Accessed 12 Dec. 2024.

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