Beckman was a Democratic Party member, serving on the resolutions committee of the 1861 Dodge County Democratic convention which denounced secession and sectionalism, and denounced the Radical Republicans as sectionalists, calling instead for "a union of all conservative men" to fight alike the secessionists and the Republicans [REF].
He was elected to the assembly's 1st Jefferson County district (which included the Towns of Ixonia and Watertown as well as the entire City of Watertown, including those two wards which actually were in Dodge County) as an independent candidate, receiving 834 votes to 753 for Democratic incumbent Patrick Devy.