Abraham Lincoln spoke in Clinton on July 27, 1858, saying, “You can fool all the people part of the time and part of the people all the time, but you can not fool all the people all the time.” He also declared, “I must stand with anybody that stands right. Stand with him while he is right, and part with him when he goes wrong.” For nineteen years in Dewitt County, he served as a lawyer, friend, counselor, and teacher to local forefathers, and the citizens of Dewitt County erected a statue in his memory, dedicating it on Nov. 11, 1931.