Editing Union County, North Carolina (section)

==History==
The county was formed in 1842 from parts of [[Anson County, North Carolina|Anson County]] and [[Mecklenburg County, North Carolina|Mecklenburg County]]. Its name was a compromise between [[United States Whig Party|Whigs]], who wanted to name the new county for [[Henry Clay]], and [[United States Democratic Party|Democrats]], who wanted to name it for [[Andrew Jackson]]. The Helms, Starnes, McRorie, and Belk families were prominent in the town as well as Monroe and Charlotte. Most of these families came from Goose Creek Township.

Monroe, the county seat of Union County, also became a focal point during the Civil Rights Movement. In 1958, local NAACP Chapter President [[Robert F. Williams]] defended a 9-year-old African American boy who had been kissed by a white girl in an incident known as the [[Kissing Case]]. A second African-American boy, aged 7, was also convicted and sentenced to live in a juvenile reformatory until he was 21 for simply witnessing the act. After three months in a detention center, Governor [[Luther H. Hodges]] pardoned the boys.