Colonel Robert G. Ingersoll was the most famous of orator during the later 1800's in America. He was a lifelong defender of freedom, liberty, equal rights for all men, women and children regardless of race, he was pro-evolution, pro-science, pro-free education for all, pro-contraception, pro-an 8 hour work day & fair wages, and pro-separation of church and state. He was anti-slavery, and anti-religion which he regarded as a kind of enslavement - "the rule by priest". He co-founded the 11th Regiment of the Illinois Volunteers Cavalry and fought in the Civil War - no coward he, as the rebels admitted. Captured by Forrest, he was paroled and having sworn not to fight, he resigned his commission in 1863. He supported Lincoln, promoted Thomas Paine, Robert Burns and Walt Whitman. His lectures covered many topics. Essentially unschooled, he set about educating himself and then studied and entered the law profession as a criminal lawyer, along with his older brother, in Peoria. As a lawyer, he rose the Attorney General of Illinois but was unsuccessful as a Republican candidate for governor due to his atheism. As an orator he was witty, charming and spoke to the common man - often speaking from memory although his lectures sometime lasted for three hours. And the people flocked to hear him. I recommend him to you and his collected works, in 12 volumes, are available for free from Internet Archive.