Champaign County's Lincoln

Champaign County's Lincoln (HMG58)

Location: Mahomet, IL 61853 Champaign County
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Country: United States of America
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N 40° 12.335', W 88° 23.644'

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— Looking for Lincoln —

(Top Section)

Champaign County was always on Lincoln's circuit. Abraham Lincoln spent nearly 20 years of his life practicing law on the 8th Judicial Circuit, traveling from one county seat to another. Even as the circuit shrank while population grew (from 8 counties in 1841 to 15 counties in 1845 to 8 in 1853 to 5 in 1857) the county seat of Urbana in Champaign County was always on Lincoln's circuit. Each fall and spring, Lincoln traveled the dusty roads, on horseback or by carriage from Decatur to Urbana to Danville often with a group of lawyers and a judge assisting in whatever civil and criminal cases were before the court.
Lincoln unsuccessfully defended the first person accused of murder in Champaign County. Ironically, the defendant escaped shortly after the trial. He defended the interests of the Illinois Central Railroad at the Urbana courthouse. All the while Lincoln was becoming a familiar face in the county and a friend to many early residents.

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Lincoln not only practiced law, he also politicked in Champaign County when he heard about the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854, and spoke against it. Lincoln spoke for Fremont (in his presidential campaign against Buchanan) at an all day rally in Urbana. In his famous senatorial campaign against Stephen Douglas, Lincoln gave an impassioned defense of his "House Divided" speech at the county courthouse. Douglas had spoken on the last day of the county fair, September 23, 1858. Although the fair was over, Lincoln spoke the next day to nearly as many people. Enthusiast escorted Lincoln in a full-scale parade from the Doane House to the fairgrounds to the courthouse. By the 1860 Presidential election, all townships, save Stanton, would vote for Lincoln.
Details
HM NumberHMG58
Series This marker is part of the Illinois: Looking for Lincoln series
Tags
Placed ByThe Dodds Family Descendents of Benjamin Franklin Harris
Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Friday, October 10th, 2014 at 6:34pm PDT -07:00
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Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)16T E 381358 N 4451507
Decimal Degrees40.20558333, -88.39406667
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 40° 12.335', W 88° 23.644'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds40° 12' 20.10" N, 88° 23' 38.64" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Area Code(s)217
Closest Postal AddressAt or near 2242-2268 County Rd 350 E, Mahomet IL 61853, US
Alternative Maps Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap

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