Robert G. Ingersoll Biography Quotes 40 Report mistakes

Early Life
Robert Green Ingersoll was born on August 11, 1833, in Dresden, Yates County, New York, to the Rev. John Ingersoll, a reform-minded Congregationalist (later Presbyterian) minister, and Mary Livingston Ingersoll. His father's outspoken abolitionism and theological independence led the family to move frequently through Ohio, Wisconsin, and Illinois, and Robert's schooling was irregular. He read voraciously, acquired a love of literature and poetry, and developed, against the stern Calvinism of his childhood, a humane, optimistic philosophy that would shape his public life.

Legal Training and Early Career
Ingersoll read law in Illinois and was admitted to the bar in 1854. He established a practice in Peoria, where his courtroom eloquence and quick wit brought him early prominence. He handled a wide range of civil and criminal cases and soon became known as an advocate who could move juries as easily as he could command legal detail.

Civil War Service
With the outbreak of the Civil War, Ingersoll helped raise the 11th Illinois Volunteer Cavalry and was commissioned its colonel. He saw service in Tennessee and, on December 18, 1862, was captured by Confederate forces at Lexington, Tennessee, during a raid led by Nathan Bedford Forrest. Paroled and subsequently not returned to active command, Ingersoll resigned in 1863 and returned to his law practice.

Illinois Attorney General and Republican Orator
A loyal Republican, Ingersoll was elected Attorney General of Illinois and served from 1867 to 1869. His renown as an orator took him onto the national stage. At the 1876 Republican National Convention he delivered the celebrated "Plumed Knight" speech nominating James G. Blaine, a masterwork of political rhetoric that instantly made him one of the era's most sought-after speakers. Over the next two decades he campaigned for Republican presidential candidates including Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, Benjamin Harrison, and William McKinley. Although discussed for high office, his outspoken religious heterodoxy limited his political advancement.

The Great Agnostic: Freethought and Reform
Ingersoll became the most famous American freethinker of the Gilded Age, known to admirers and critics alike as "The Great Agnostic". In lectures such as The Gods (1872), The Ghosts (1877), The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child (1877), Some Mistakes of Moses (1879), What Must We Do to Be Saved? (1880), and Why I Am an Agnostic (later collected), he championed reason, science, and secular government, and attacked scriptural literalism and religious coercion. He linked unbelief not to cynicism but to compassion, insisting that "happiness is the only good; the time to be happy is now; the place to be happy is here; the way to be happy is to make others so". He supported women's suffrage, the rights of African Americans, liberalized divorce laws, and more humane criminal justice. While he addressed freethought organizations, he mostly kept clear of formal leadership, preferring independence of movement and message.

Law Practice and Notable Cases
Parallel to his public lecturing, Ingersoll built one of the nation's most lucrative legal practices, working from Peoria, later Washington, D.C., and New York. He represented major corporate clients, argued significant cases in federal courts, and was widely regarded as among the best jury advocates of his generation. He served on the defense in the federal Star Route mail fraud prosecutions in the early 1880s, helping to secure acquittals after lengthy, politically charged trials. In 1887 he defended C. B. Reynolds in a New Jersey blasphemy case, using the courtroom as a platform for a memorable plea for free speech and against the use of archaic religious statutes to police opinion.

Writings and Orations
Ingersoll's writing, like his speech, balanced logic, humor, and moral appeal. His eulogies and commemorative addresses are among his finest work, notably the Eulogy on Ebon C. Ingersoll (1879) for his brother, the memorial address for Senator Roscoe Conkling (1888), and Abraham Lincoln (1893), a luminous appraisal of Lincoln's character and statesmanship. He also delivered a moving tribute at the 1892 funeral of the poet Walt Whitman. His collected works, issued in multiple editions after his death, including the "Dresden Edition" edited and published by C. P. Farrell, circulated widely and kept his voice alive into the twentieth century.

Family and Personal Life
On February 13, 1862, Ingersoll married Eva Amelia Parker of Groveland, Illinois. They had two daughters, Eva and Maud, and the Ingersoll household became famous for warmth, laughter, and mutual devotion, an embodiment of the humane ideals he preached in public. Ingersoll was an affectionate husband and father, fond of music and poetry, and known for personal generosity; he frequently declined fees in cases involving principle or hardship.

Friends, Allies, and Contemporaries
- Family: Rev. John Ingersoll (father), Mary Livingston Ingersoll (mother), and Ebon C. Ingersoll (older brother, U.S. Representative from Illinois).
- Political associates: James G. Blaine, Roscoe Conkling, Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, and other Republican leaders for whom he campaigned.
- Literary and reform circles: Walt Whitman (whose funeral he addressed), Mark Twain (an admiring contemporary), Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony (whose causes he supported), and later admirers such as Clarence Darrow, who credited Ingersoll with shaping his own freethinking humanism.

Later Years, Death, and Commemoration
In his final years, Ingersoll divided time between New York City and the Hudson River village of Dobbs Ferry, continuing to lecture, write, and practice law. He died at his daughter's home in Dobbs Ferry on July 21, 1899, of heart failure. He was cremated, and his remains were interred at Arlington National Cemetery, a recognition of his Civil War service. His widow, Eva, and daughters, especially Eva Ingersoll Brown, were devoted custodians of his legacy.

Legacy
Robert G. Ingersoll was the foremost American orator of his age and the country's most influential nineteenth‑century advocate of secularism and the separation of church and state. He married a lawyer's precision to a poet's cadence, making rationalism sound like common sense and compassion. His arguments for civil liberties, women's rights, and freedom of conscience anticipated later constitutional developments, and his rhetoric set a standard for public speech that shaped generations of reformers. Museums, historical associations, and ongoing editions of his works continue to honor a life spent persuading Americans that reason and kindness could be the twin pillars of a modern democracy.

Our collection contains 40 quotes who is written by Robert, under the main topics: Ethics & Morality - Wisdom - Truth - Justice - Love.

• Robert Ingersoll's profession? Robert G. Ingersoll was a prominent American lawyer, a Civil War veteran, politician, and orator.
• Robert Ingersoll happiness: Robert Ingersoll emphasized happiness and joy as critical aspects of human life and liberally expressed these ideas in his speeches and writings.
• Ingersoll meaning: Ingersoll is an English-derived surname, which might mean 'someone from Ingersoll', a place name.
• At the tomb of Napoleon Robert G. Ingersoll summary: In this 1882 lecture, Ingersoll honors Napoleon as a liberator who spread the ideals of the French Revolution, though he criticizes his later abuses of power.
• Ingersoll Rand: Ingersoll Rand is an American multinational industrial manufacturing company, not directly associated with Robert G. Ingersoll.
• Robert Ingersoll we rise by lifting others: This quote isn't attributed to Robert Ingersoll. It's most commonly associated with Robert Ingersoll, an American watchmaker, and philanthropist.
• How old was Robert G. Ingersoll? He became 65 years old

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