Editing Duel (section)

====United States====
The most notorious American duel is the [[Burr–Hamilton duel]], in which notable [[Federalist Party|Federalist]] and former [[United States Secretary of the Treasury|Secretary of the Treasury]] [[Alexander Hamilton]] was fatally wounded by his political rival, the sitting [[Vice President of the United States]] [[Aaron Burr]].

Another American politician, [[Andrew Jackson]], later to serve as a [[General Officer]] in the [[United States Army|U.S. Army]] and to become the [[List of Presidents of the United States|seventh president]], fought two duels, though some legends claim he fought many more. On May 30, 1806, he killed prominent duellist [[Charles Dickinson (historical figure)|Charles Dickinson]], suffering himself from a chest wound that caused him a lifetime of pain. Jackson also reportedly engaged in a bloodless duel with a lawyer and in 1803 came very near dueling with [[John Sevier]]. Jackson also engaged in a frontier brawl (not a duel) with [[Thomas Hart Benton (politician)|Thomas Hart Benton]] in 1813.

In 1827, during the [[Sandbar Fight]], [[James Bowie]] was involved in an arranged pistol duel that quickly escalated into a knife-fighting [[melee]], not atypical of American practices at the time.<ref>Edmondson, J. R. (2000), ''The Alamo Story-From History to Current Conflicts'', Plano, Texas: Republic of Texas Press (2000), ISBN 1-55622-678-0</ref>

On September 22, 1842, future [[President of the United States|President]] [[Abraham Lincoln]], at the time an [[Illinois]] state [[legislator]], met to duel with state auditor [[James Shields (politician, born 1810)|James Shields]], but friends intervened and persuaded them against it.<ref>[http://www.historynet.com/abraham-lincoln-prepares-to-fight-a-saber-duel.htm "Abraham Lincoln Prepares to Fight a Saber Duel"], originally published by ''Civil War Times'' magazine</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Carnegie |first=Dale |author-link=Dale Carnegie |title=How to Win Friends & Influence People |publisher=Pocket Books |year=1982 |location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/howtowinfriendsi00carn/page/9 9] |isbn=978-0-671-72365-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/howtowinfriendsi00carn |url-access=registration}}</ref>

In 1864, American writer [[Mark Twain]], then a contributor to the ''[[Sunday Mercury (New York)|New York Sunday Mercury]]'', narrowly avoided fighting a duel with a rival newspaper editor, apparently through the intervention of his second, who exaggerated Twain's prowess with a pistol.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.classicauthors.net/Paine/twainbio/twainbio46.html |title=Mark Twain, A Biography by Albert Bigelow Paine: Part I A Comstock Duel |publisher=Classicauthors.net |access-date=2010-05-30 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100611095708/http://classicauthors.net/Paine/twainbio/twainbio46.html |archive-date=2010-06-11}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://twain.classicauthors.net/autobiography/autobiography8.html |title=Chapters from my Autobiography by Mark Twain: Chapter VIII |publisher=Twain.classicauthors.net |access-date=2010-05-30 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100704042345/http://twain.classicauthors.net/autobiography/autobiography8.html |archive-date=2010-07-04}}</ref><ref>[http://www.twaintimes.net/page4.htm] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080202005156/http://www.twaintimes.net/page4.htm|date=February 2, 2008}}</ref>