Lincoln in Lawrenceville
CITY:
Lawrenceville
COUNTY:
Lawrence
DEDICATED BY:
Lawrence County Historical Society and The Illinois State Historical Society
DEDICATION DATE:
January 1, 1970 at 6:00:00 AM
The marker is located in Lawrenceville, on the north side of the Courthouse Square, facing US Route 50, between 11th Street and 12th Street.
In 1840 Abraham Lincoln, as a Whig elector, campaigned in Southern Illinois for William Henry Harrison, Whig Presidential Candidate. Here in Lawrenceville, on October 28, he had a dispute with a local physician, William G. Anderson, who the previous August had run as a Democrat and lost the election for State Representative. In writing to Lincoln on October 30, Dr. Anderson said that Lincoln was the “aggressor” in the dispute and that his “words imported insult.” Lincoln denied the charge, saying that he regretted the incident.