Life
Lawrence worked as a painter and there is speculation that exposure to the chemicals in his paints may have contributed to his derangement. By the early 1830s he was unemployed and had succumbed to the delusion that he was King Richard III of England.
His personality changed dramatically around this point. He was previously conservatively dressed, but now he dressed flamboyantly, and grew a mustache. He gave up his job, saying that he had no need to work as the American government owed him a large sum of money but that President Andrew Jackson was keeping him from receiving it. He also said that when he received the money, he could take up his rightful place as King of England. Lawrence also blamed Jackson for killing his father.
Read more about this topic: Richard Lawrence (failed Assassin)
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