Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of Winnebago County, Volume I, Part 54

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913; Church, Charles A., 1857-
Publication date: 1916
Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 724

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JOHN M. PALMER Governor Jan. 11, 1869- Jan. 13, 1873

JOHN L. BEVERIDGE Governor Jan. 23, 1873- Jan, 8, 1877

SHELBY M. CULLOM Governor Jan. 8. 1877- Feb. 6, 1883

JOHN M. HAMILTON Governor Feb. 6, 1883-Jan. 30, 1885 (1885-1889 see Richard J. Oglesby)

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in the Senate and seventy-five in the House, subject to a certain specified ratio of in- crease when the population should exceed 1,000,000.

As the Constitution of 1818 had been modeled upon the form then most popular in the Southern States - especially with reference to the large number of officers made appointive by the Gov- ernor, or elective by the Legislature-so the new Constitution was, in some of its features, more in harmony with those of other Northern States, and indicated the growing influence of New Eng- land sentiment. This was especially the case with reference to the section providing for a sys- tem of township organization in the several counties of the State at the pleasure of a majority of the voters of each county.

ELECTIONS OF 1848 .- Besides the election for the ratification of the State Constitution, three other State elections were held in 1848, viz .: (1) for the election of State officers in August; (2) an election of Judges in September, and (3) the Presidential election in November. At the first of these, Governor French, whose first term had been cut short two years by the adoption of the new Constitution, was re-elected for a second term, practically without opposition, the vote against him being divided between Pierre Menard and Dr. C. V. Dyer. French thus became his . own successor, being the first Illinois Governor to be re-elected, and, though two years of his first term had been cut off by the adoption of the Constitution, he served in the gubernatorial office six years. The other State officers elected, were William McMurtry, of Knox, Lieutenant- Governor; Horace S. Cooley, of Adams, Secretary of State; Thomas H. Campbell, of Randolph, Auditor; and Milton Carpenter, of Hamilton, State Treasurer - all Democrats, and all but McMurtry being their own successors. At the Presidential election in November, the electoral vote was given to Lewis Cass, the Democratic candidate, who received 56,300 votes, to 53,047 for Taylor, the Whig candidate, and 15,774 for Martin Van Buren, the candidate of the Free Democracy or Free-Soil party. Thus, for the first time in the history of the State after 1824, the Democratic candidate for President failed to receive an absolute majority of the popular vote, being in a minority of 12,521, while having a plurality over the Whig candidate of 3,253. The only noteworthy results in the election of Con- gressmen this year were the election of Col. E. D. Baker (Whig), from the Galena District, and that of Maj. Thomas L. Harris (Democrat), from

the Springfield District .. Both Baker and Harris had been soldiers in the Mexican War, which probably accounted for their election in Districts usually opposed to them politically. The other five Congressmen elected from the State at the same time-including John Wentworth, then chosen for a fourth term from the Chicago Dis- trict-were Democrats. The Judges elected to the Supreme bench were Lyman Trumbull, from the Southern Division; Samuel H. Treat, from the Central, and John Dean Caton, from the Northern-all Democrats.

A leading event of this session was the election of a United States Senator in place of Sidney Breese. Gen. James Shields, who had been severely wounded on the battle-field of Cerro Gordo; Sidney Breese, who had been the United States Senator for six years, and John A. Mc- Clernand, then a member of Congress, were arrayed against each other before the Democratic caucus. After a bitter contest, Shields was declared the choice of his party and was finally elected. He did not immediately obtain his seat, however. On presentation of his credentials, after a heated controversy in Congress and out of it, in which he injudiciously assailed his prede- cessor in very intemperate language, he was declared ineligible on the ground that, being of foreign birth, the nine years of citizenship required by the Constitution after naturalization had not elapsed previous to his election. In October, following, the Legislature was called together in special session, and, Shields' disabil- ity having now been removed by the expiration of the constitutional period, he was re-elected, though not without a renewal of the bitter con- test of the regular session. Another noteworthy event of this special session was the adoption of a joint resolution favoring the principles of the "Wilmot Proviso." Although this was rescinded at the next regular session, on the ground that the points at issue had been settled in the Compro- mise measures of 1850, it indicated the drift of sentiment in Illinois toward opposition to the spread of the institution of slavery, and this was still more strongly emphasized by the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860.

ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD .- Two important measures which passed the General Assembly at the session of 1851, were the Free-Banking Law, and the act incorporating the Illinois Central Railroad Company. The credit of first suggest- ing this great thoroughfare has been claimed for William Smith Waite, a citizen of Bond County, Ill., as early as 1835, although a special charter

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for a road over a part of this line had been passed by the Legislature in 1834. W. K. Ackerman, in his "Historical Sketch" of the Illinois Central Railroad, awards the credit of originating this enterprise to Lieut .- Gov. Alexander M. Jenkins, in the Legislature of 1832, of which he was a member, and Speaker of the House at the time. He afterwards became President of the first Illi- nois Central Railroad Company, organized under an act passed at the session of 1836, which pro- vided for the construction of a line from Cairo to Peru, Ill., but resigned the next year on the sur- render by the road of its charter. The first step toward legislation in Congress on this subject was taken in the introduction, by Senator Breese, of a bill in March, 1843; but it was not until 1850 that the measure took the form of a direct grant of lands to the State, finally passing the Senate in May, and the House in September, following. The act ceded to the State of Illinois, for the pur- pose of aiding in the construction of a line of railroad from the junction of the Ohio and Mis- sissippi, with branches to Chicago and Dubuque, Iowa, respectively, alternate sections of land on each side of said railroad, aggregating 2,595,000 acres, the length of the main line and branches exceeding seven hundred miles. An act incorpo- rating the Illinois Central Railroad Company passed the Illinois Legislature in February, 1851. The company was thereupon promptly organized with a number of New York capitalists at its head, including Robert Schuyler, George Gris- wold and Gouverneur Morris, and the grant was placed in the hands of trustees to be used for the purpose designated, under the pledge of the Company to build the road by July 4, 1854, and to pay seven per cent of its gross earnings into the State Treasury perpetually. A large propor- tion of the line was constructed through sections of country either sparsely settled or wholly unpopulated, but which have since become among the richest and most populous portions of the State. The fund already received by the State from the road exceeds the amount of the State debt incurred under the internal improvement scheme of 1837. (See Illinois Central Railroad.)

ELECTION OF 1852 .- Joel A. Matteson (Demo- crat) was elected Governor at the November election, in 1852, receiving 80,645 votes to 64,405 for Edwin B. Webb, Whig, and 8,809 for Dexter A. Knowlton, Free-Soil. The other State officers elected, were Gustavus Korner, Lieutenant- Governor; Alexander Starne, Secretary of State; Thomas H. Campbell, Auditor; and John Moore, Treasurer. The Whig candidates for these

offices, respectively, were James L. D. Morrison, Buckner S. Morris, Charles A. Betts and Francis Arenz. John A. Logan appeared among the new members of the House chosen at this election as a Representative from Jackson County; while Henry W. Blodgett, since United States District Judge for the Northern District of Illinois, and late Counsel of the American Arbitrators of the Behring Sea Commission, was the only Free-Soil member, being the Representative from Lake County. John Reynolds, who had been Gov- ernor, a Justice of the Supreme Court and Mem- ber of Congress, was a member of the House and was elected Speaker. (See Webb, Edwin B .; Knowlton, Dexter A .; Koerner, Gustavus; Starne, Alexander; Moore, John; Morrison, James L. D .; Morris, Buckner S .; Arenz, Francis A .; Blodgett Henry W.)

REDUCTION OF STATE DEBT BEGINS .-- The State debt reached its maximum at the beginning of Matteson's administration, amounting to $16,724,177, of which $7,259,822 was canal debt. The State had now entered upon a new and pros- perous period, and, in the next four years, the debt was reduced by the sum of $4,564,840, leaving the amount outstanding, Jan. 1, 1857, $12,834,144. The three State institutions at Jacksonville - the Asylums for the Deaf and Dumb, the Blind and Insane-had been in suc- cessful operation several years, but now internal dissensions and dissatisfaction with their man- agement seriously interfered with their prosperity and finally led to revolutions which, for a time, impaired their usefulness.

KANSAS-NEBRASKA EXCITEMENT .- During Mat- teson's administration a period of political ex- citement began, caused by the introduction in the United States Senate, in January, 1854, by Senator Douglas, of Illinois, of the bill for the repeal of the Missouri Compromise-otherwise known as the Kansas-Nebraska Bill. Although this belongs rather to National history, the prominent part played in it by an Illinois states- man who had won applause three or four years before, by the service he had performed in secur- ing the passage of the Illinois Central Railroad grant, and the effect which his course had in revolutionizing the politics of the State, justifies reference to it here. After a debate, almost unprecedented in bitterness, it became a law, May 30, 1854. The agitation in Illinois was intense. At Chicago, Douglas was practically denied a hearing. Going to Springfield, where the State Fair was in progress, during the first week of October, 1854, he made a speechi in the

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State Capitol in his defense. This was replied to by Abraham Lincoln, then a private citizen, to whom Douglas made a rejoinder. Speeches were also made in criticism of Douglas' position by Judges Breese and Trumbull (both of whom had been prominent Democrats), and other Demo- cratic leaders were understood to be ready to assail the champion of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, though they afterwards reversed their position under partisan pressure and became supporters of the measure. The first State Convention of the opponents of the Nebraska Bill was held at the same time, but the attendance was small and the attempt to effect a permanent organization was not successful. At the session of the Nineteenth General Assembly, which met in January, fol- lowing, Lyman Trumbull was chosen the first Republican United States Senator from Illinois, in place of General Shields, whose term was about to expire. Trumbull was elected on the tenth ballot, receiving fifty-one votes to forty-seven for Governor Matteson, though Lincoln had led on the Republican side at every previous ballot, and on the first lad come within six votes of an election. Although he was then the choice of a large majority of the opposition to the Demo- cratic candidate, when Lincoln saw that the original supporters of Trumbull would not cast their votes for himself, he generously insisted that his friends should support his rival, thus determining the result. (See Matteson, Joel A .; Trumbull, Lyman, and Lincoln, Abraham.)

DECATUR EDITORIAL CONVENTION .- On Feb. 22, 1856, occurred the convention of Anti-Neb- raska (Republican) editors at Decatur, which proved the first effective step in consolidating the opposition to the Kansas-Nebraska Bill into a compact political organization. The main busi- ness of this convention consisted in the adoption of a series of resolutions defining the position of their authors on National questions-especially with reference to the institution of slavery-and appointing a State Convention to be held at Bloomington, May 29, following. A State Cen- tral Committee to represent the new party was also appointed at this convention. With two or - three exceptions the Committeemen accepted and joined in the call for the State Convention, which was held at the time designated, when the first Republican State ticket was put in the field. Among the distinguished 'men who participated in this Convention were Abraham Lincoln, O. H. Browning, Richard Yates, Owen Lovejoy, John M. Palmer, Isaac N. Arnold and John Went- worth. Palmer presided, while Abraham Lin-

coln, who was one of the chief speakers, was one of the delegates appointed to the National Con- vention, held at Philadelphia on the 17th of June. The candidates put in nomination for State offices were: William H. Bissell for Governor; Francis A. Hoffman for Lieutenant-Governor (afterward replaced by John Wood on account of Hoffman's ineligibility); Ozias M. Hatch for Secretary of State; Jesse K. Dubois for Auditor; James H. Miller for State Treasurer, and William H. Powell for Superintendent of Public Instruction. The Democratic ticket was composed of William A. Richardson for Governor; R. J. Hamilton, Lieu- tenant-Governor; W. H. Snyder, Secretary of State; S. K. Casey, Auditor; Jolin Moore, Treas- urer, and J. H. St. Matthew, Superintendent of Public Instruction. The American organization also nominated a ticket headed by Buckner S. Morris for Governor. Although the Democrats carried the State for Buchanan, their candidate for President, by a plurality of 9,159, the entire Republican State ticket was elected by pluralities ranging from 3,031 to 20,213-the latter being the majority for Miller, candidate for State Treas- urer, whose name was on both the Republican and American tickets. (See Anti-Nebraska Editorial Convention, and Bloomington Convention of 1856.)

ADMINISTRATION OF GOVERNOR BISSELL. --- With the inauguration of Governor Bissell, the Republican party entered upon the control of the State Government, which was maintained witlı- out interruption until the close of the administra- tion of Governor Fifer, in January, 1893-a period of thirty-six years. On account of physical disa- bility Bissell's inauguration took place in the executive mansion, Jan. 12, 1857. He was immediately made the object of virulent personal abuse in the House, being charged with perjury in taking the oath of office in face of the fact that, while a member of Congress, he had accepted a challenge to fight a duel with Jefferson Davis. To this, the reply was made that the offense charged took place outside of the State and be- yond the legal jurisdiction of the Constitution of Illinois. (See Bissell, William H.)

While the State continued to prosper under Bissell's administration, the most important events of this period related rather to general than to State policy. One of these was the deliv- ery by Abraham Lincoln, in the Hall of Repre- sentatives, on the evening of June 17, 1858, of the celebrated speech in which he announced the doctrine that "a house divided against itself can- not stand." This was followed during the next

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few months by the series of memorable debates between those two great champions of their respective parties-Lincoln and Douglas-which attracted the attention of the whole land. The result was the re-election of Douglas to the United States Senate for a third term, but it also made Abraham Lincoln President of the United States. (See Lincoln and Douglas Debates.)

About the middle of Bissell's term (February, 1859), came the discovery of what has since been known as the celebrated "Canal Scrip Fraud." This consisted in the fraudulent funding in State bonds of a large amount of State scrip which had been issued for temporary purposes during the construction of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, but which had been subsequently redeemed. A legislative investigation proved the amount ille- gally funded to have been $223,182, and that the bulk of the bonds issued therefor-so far as they could be traced-had been delivered to ex-Gov. Joel A. Matteson. For this amount, with ac- crued interest, he gave to the State an indemnity bond, secured by real-estate mortgages, from which the State eventually realized $238,000 out of $255,000 then due. Further investigation proved additional frauds of like character, aggre- gating $165,346, which the State never recovered. An attempt was made to prosecute Matteson criminally in the Sangamon County Circuit Court. but the grand jury failed, by a close vote, to find an indictment against him. (See Canal Scrip Fraud.)

An attempt was made during Bissell's adminis- tration to secure the refunding (at par and in violation of an existing law) of one hundred and fourteen $1,000 bonds hypothecated with Macalis- ter & Stebbins of New York in 1841, and for which the State had received an insignificant consideration. The error was discovered when new bonds for the principal had been issued, but the process was immediately stopped and the new bonds surrendered-the claimants being limited by law to 28.64 cents on the dollar. This subject is treated at length elsewhere in this vol- ume. (See Macalister & Stebbins Bonds. ) Governor Bissell's administration was otherwise unevent- ful, although the State continued to prosper under it as it had not done since the "internal improvement craze" of 1837 had resulted in im- posing such a burden of debt upon it. At the time of his election Governor Bissell was an invalid in consequence of an injury to his spine, from which he never recovered. He died in office, March 18, 1860, a little over two months

after having entered upon the last year of his term of office, and was succeeded by Lieut .- Gov. John Wood, who served out the unexpired term. (See Bissell, William H .; also Wood, John.)

POLITICAL CAMPAIGN OF 1860 .- The political campaign of 1860 was one of unparalleled excite- ment throughout the nation, but especially in Illinois, which became, in a certain sense, the chief. battle-ground, furnishing the successful candidate for the Presidency, as well as being the State in which the convention which nominated him met. The Republican State Convention, held at Decatur, May 9, put in nomination Richard Yates of Morgan County, for Governor; Francis A. Hoffman for Lieutenant-Governor, O. M. Hatch for Secretary of State, Jesse K. Dubois for Auditor, William Butler for Treasurer, and Newton Bateman for Superintendent of Pub- lic Instruction. If this campaign was memorable for its excitement, it was also memorable for the large number of National and State tickets in the field. The National Republican Convention assembled at Chicago, May 16, and, on the third ballot, Abraham Lincoln was nominated for President amid a whirlwind of enthusiasm unsur- passed in the history of National Conventions, of which so many have been held in the "conven- tion city" of the Northwest. The campaign was what might have been expected from such a beginning. Lincoln, though receiving consider- ably less than one-half the popular vote, had a plurality over his highest competitor of nearly half a million votes, and a majority in the elect- oral colleges of fifty-seven. In Illinois he received 172,161 votes to 160,215 for Douglas, his leading opponent. The vote for Governor stood: Yates (Republican), 172,196; Allen (Douglas- Democrat), 159,253; Hope (Breckinridge-Demo- crat), 2,049; Stuart (American), 1,626.

Among the prominent men of different parties who appeared for the first time in the General Assembly chosen at this time, were William B. Ogden, Richard J. Oglesby, Washington Bushnell, and Henry E. Dummer, of the Senate, and Wil- liam R. Archer, J. Russell Jones, Robert H. McClellan, J. Young Scammon, William H. Brown, Lawrence Weldon, N. M. Broadwell, and John Scholfield, in the House. Shelby M. Cul- lom, who had entered the Legislature at the previous session, was re-elected to this and was chosen Speaker of the House over J. W. Single- ton. Lyman Trumbull was re-elected to the United States Senate by the votes of the Repub- licans over Samuel S. Marshall, the Democratic candidate.

JOSEPH W. FIFER Governor Jan. 14, 1889-Jan. 9, 1893

JOHN P. ALTGELD Governor Jan. 9, 1893-Jan. 11, 1897

JOHN R. TANNER Governor Jan. 11, 1897-Jan. 14, 1901

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BEGINNING OF THE REBELLION .- Almost simul- taneously with the accession of the new State Government, and before the inauguration of the President at Washington, began that series of startling events which ultimately culminated in the attempted secession of eleven States of the Union-the first acts in the great drama of war which occupied the attention of the world for the next four years. On Jan. 14, 1861, the new State administration was inaugurated; on Feb. 2, Commissioners to the futile Peace Conven- tion held at Washington, were appointed from Illinois, consisting of Stephen T. Logan, John M. Palmer, ex-Gov. John Wood, B. C. Cook and T. J. Turner; and on Feb. 11, Abraham Lincoln took leave of his friends and neighbors at Spring- field on his departure for Washington, in that simple, touching speech which has taken a place beside his inaugural addresses and his Gettysburg speech, as an American classic. The events which followed; the firing on Fort Sumter on the twelfth of April and its surrender; the call for 75,000 troops and the excitement which prevailed all over the country, are matters of National his- tory. Illinoisans responded with promptness and enthusiasm to the call for six regiments of State militia for three months' service, and one week later (April 21), Gen. R. K. Swift, of Chicago, at the head of seven companies numbering 595 men, was en route for Cairo to execute the order of tlie Secretary of War for the occupation of that place. The offer of military organizations pro- ceeded rapidly, and by the eighteenth of April, fifty companies had been tendered, while the public-spirited and patriotic bankers of the prin- cipal cities were offering to supply the State with money to arm and equip the hastily organized troops. Following in order the cix regiments which Illinois had sent to the Mexican War, those called out for the three months' service in 1861 were numbered consecutively from seven to twelve, and were commanded by the following officers, respectively: Cols. John Cook, Richard J. Oglesby, Eleazer A. Paine, James D. Morgan, W. H. L. Wallace and John McArthur, with Gen. Benjamin M. Prentiss as brigade com- mander. The rank and file numbered 4,680 men, of whom 2,000, at the end of their term of serv- ice, re-enlisted for three years. (See War of the Rebellion.)

Among the many who visited the State Capitol in the early months of war to offer their services to the Government in suppressing the Rebellion, one of the most modest and unassuming was a gentleman from Galena who brought a letter of

introduction to Governor Yates from Congress- man E. B. Washburne. Though he had been a Captain in the regular army and had seen service in the war with Mexico, he set up no pretension on that account, but after days of patient wait- ing, was given temporary employment as a clerk in the office of the Adjutant-General, Col. T. S. Mather. Finally, an emergency having arisen requiring the services of an officer of military experience as commandant at Camp Yates (a camp of rendezvous and instruction near Spring- field), he was assigned to the place, rather as an experiment and from necessity than from convic- tion of any peculiar fitness for the position. Having acquitted himself creditably here, he was assigned, a few weeks later, to the command of a regiment (The Twenty-first Illinois Volunteers) which, from previous bad management, had manifested a mutinous tendency. And thus Ulysses S. Grant, the most successful leader of the war, the organizer of final victory over the Rebellion, the Lieutenant-General of the armies of the Union and twice elected President of the United States, started upon that career which won for him the plaudits of the Nation and the title of the grandest soldier of his time. (See Grant, Ulysses S.)

The responses of Illinois, under the leadership of its patriotic "War Governor," Richard Yates, to the repeated calls for volunteers through the four years of war, were cheerful and prompt. Illi- nois troops took part in nearly every important battle in the Mississippi Valley and in many of those in the East, besides acconipanying Sher- man in his triumphal "March to the Sea." Illi- nois blood stained the field at Belmont, at Wilson's Creek, Lexington, Forts Donelson and Henry; at Shiloh, Corinth, Nashville, Stone River and Chickamauga; at Jackson, during the siege of Vicksburg, at Allatoona Pass, Kenesaw Moun- tain, Resaca, Peach Tree Creek and Atlanta, in the South and West; and at Chancellorsville, Antietam, Gettysburg, Petersburg and in the battles of "the Wilderness" in Virginia. Of all the States of the Union, Illinois alone, up to Feb. 1, 1864, presented the proud record of hav- ing answered every call upon her for troops without a draft. The whole number of enlist- ments from the State under the various calls from 1861 to 1865, according to the records of the War Department, was 255,057 to meet quotas aggre- gating 244,496. The ratio of troops furnished to population was 15.1 per cent, which was only exceeded by the District of Columbia (which had a large influx from the States), and Kansas

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Historical encyclopedia of Illinois and history of Winnebago County, Volume I, Part 54

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913; Church, Charles A., 1857- Publication date: 1916 Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 724

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913; Church, Charles A., 1857-
Publication date: 1916
Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 724