page_title: Decatur, Illinois
section_title: Abraham Lincoln
hierarchical_section_title: Decatur, Illinois / History / Abraham Lincoln
caption_attribution_description: English: Plaque reads “Abraham Lincoln’s first political speech: Lincoln mounted a stump by Harrell’s Tavern facing this square and defended the Illinois Whig party candidates near this spot at age 21 in the summer of 1830”
context_page_description: Decatur is the largest city and the county seat of Macon County in the U.S. state of Illinois, with a population of 76,122 as of the 2010 Census. The city was founded in 1829 and is situated along the Sangamon River and Lake Decatur in Central Illinois. Decatur's estimated population for 2019 was 70,746. Decatur is the thirteenth-most populous city in Illinois, and the state's sixth-most populous city outside the Chicago metropolitan area. Decatur is listed by the United States Census Bureau as number 3 in "The 15 Fastest-Declining Large Cities" which showed a 7.1% population loss of from 2010 to 2019.
  The city is home of private Millikin University and public Richland Community College. Decatur has an economy based on industrial and agricultural commodity processing and production, including the North American headquarters of agricultural conglomerate Archer Daniels Midland, international agribusiness Tate & Lyle's largest corn-processing plant, and the designing and manufacturing facilities for Caterpillar Inc.'s wheel-tractor scrapers, compactors, large wheel loaders, mining class motor grader, off-highway trucks, and large mining trucks.
context_section_description: Decatur was the first home in Illinois of Abraham Lincoln, who settled just west of Decatur with his family in 1830. At the age of 21, Lincoln gave his first political speech in Decatur about the importance of Sangamon River navigation that caught the attention of Illinois political leaders. As a lawyer on the 8th Judicial Circuit, Lincoln made frequent stops in Decatur, and argued five cases in the log courthouse that stood on the corner of Main & Main Streets. The original courthouse is now on the grounds of the Macon County Historical Museum on North Fork Road. John Hanks, first cousin of Abe Lincoln, lived in Decatur.
  On May 9 and 10, 1860, the Illinois Republican State Convention was held in Decatur. At this convention Lincoln received his first endorsement for President of the United States as "The Railsplitter Candidate." In commemoration of Lincoln's bicentennial, the Illinois Republican State Convention was held in Decatur at the Decatur Conference Center and Hotel on June 6 & 7, 2008.
caption: Statue of Abraham Lincoln in downtown Decatur on the site of his first political speech. The plaque reads "Abraham Lincoln's first political speech: Lincoln mounted a stump by Harrell's Tavern facing this square and defended the Illinois Whig party candidates near this spot at age 21 in the summer of 1830"
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