Abraham Lincoln Marker at Wisconsin State Fair

President Abraham Lincoln spoke September 30th, 1859 at the Wisconsin State Fair. This campaign speech was his only speech on agriculture. He would create the U.S. Department of Agriculture two years after being elected as President of the United States.

In recognition of then-Candidate Lincoln’s speech, a granite marker with a brass plaque was placed by the 4th Congressional District Republican Party at the Wisconsin State Fair. The picture features a quote attributed to Abraham Lincoln, “I cannot conceive how a man could look up into the heavens and say there is no God.”

The full quote is cited as:

“I can see how it might be possible for a man to look down upon the earth and be an atheist, but I cannot conceive how he could look up into the heavens and say there is no God.”

• • Recollection by Gilbert J. Greene, quoted in The Speaking Oak (1902) by Ferdinand C. Iglehart and Latest Light on Abraham Lincoln (1917) by Ervin S. Chapman