USA > Illinois > Whiteside County > History of Whiteside county, Illinois, from its first settlement to the present time, with numerous Biographical and Family Sketches > Part 72
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Illinois was the eighth State admitted into the Union, and is situated be- tween Latitude 36 degrees and 56 minutes, and 42 degrees and 30 minutes north, and longitude 87 degrees and 30 minutes, and 91 degrees and 40 min- utes west from Greenwich. The extreme length of the State from north to south is three hundred and eighty-eight miles, and its extreme breadth from east to west is two hundred and twelve miles. Its area is fifty-five thousand four hundred and five miles, or thirty-five million, four hundred and fifty-nine thous- and, two hundred acres. It is bounded on the north by the State of Wisconsin; on the northeast by Lake Michigan; on the cast by the State of Indiana, from which it is separated in part by the Wabash river; on the south by the Ohio river; and on the west by the Mississippi river. The number of counties at present is one hundred and two.
In pursuance of the act of Congress, a convention was called in Illinois, in the summer of 1818, to form a Constitution for the new State. In the election of delegates to the convention the only questions before the people were, the right of the constituent to instruct his representative, and the introduction of slavery, both of which were debated with great earnestness during the canvass.
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A majority of delegates elected were found to be in favor of the former, and opposed to the latter. Jesse B. Thomas, of St. Clair, was chosen President of the Convention, and William C. Greenup, Secretary. At that time there were only fifteen counties in the State, as follows: St Clair, Randolph, Madison, Gal- latin, Johnson, Edwards, White, Monroe, Pope, Jackson, Crawford, Bond, Union, Washington, and Franklin. This Constitution was not submitted to a vote of the people for their approval or rejection, nor did they have much to do with the choice or election of officers generally under it, except as to the Governor, General Assembly, Sheriff and Coroner.
The first election under the Constitution for Governor, Lieutenant Govern- or, and members of the General Assembly, was held on the third Thursday, and two succeeding days, in September, 1818. All white male inhabitants twenty- one years old, who were residents of the State at the passage of the Constitu- tion, were allowed to vote. Shadrach Bond was elected Governor, and Pierre Menard, Lieutenant Governor, without opposition. Their terms of service were until 1822, or four years. The General Assembly met at Kaskaskia on the 5th of October following, and organized the government by appointing Joseph Phil- lips, Chief Justice, and Thomas C. Browne, John Reynolds, and William P. Foster, Associate Justices of the Supreme Court. Ninian Edwards and Jesse B. Thomas, were elected Senators in Congress. Elias P. Kane was appointed Secretary of State; Daniel P. Cook, Attorney General; Elijah C. Berry, Audi- tor of Public Accounts; and John Thomas, State Treasurer. Under the auspices and guidance of these gentlemen, Illinois was launched on her career of admin- istration as an independent State of the Union. The assembly having organized the State government and put it in motion, adjourned to meet in the winter of 1818-'19.
At this adjourned session a code of statute law was passed, borrowed most- ly from the statutes of Kentucky and Virginia. One of the most remarkable laws of this code was the one concerning negroes and mulattoes. It really re- enacted in Illinois all the severe and stringent laws to be found in a slave State. Among its provisions were the following: No negro or mulatto should be allowed to reside in the State until he had produced a certificate of freedom, and given bond, with security, for good behavior, and not to become a county charge. No person was to harbor or hire a negro or mulatto who had not complied with the law, under the penalty of five hundred dollars fine. All such free negroes were to cause their families to be registered. Every negro or mulatto not having a certificate of freedom, was to be deemed a runaway slave; was liable to be taken up by any inhabitant; committed by a justice of the peace; imprisoned by the sheriff; advertised; sold for one year, and if not claimed within that time, was to be considered a free man, unless his master should afterwards reclaim him. Any person bringing a negro into the State, to set him free, was liable to a fine of two hundred dollars. Riots, routs, unlawful assemblies, and seditious speeches of slaves, were to be punished with stripes, not exceeding thirty-nine, at the discretion of any justice of the peace. Slaves were to be punished with thirty- five lashes for being found ten miles from home without a pass from their mas- ter, and it was made lawful for the owner of any dwelling or plantation to give, or order to be given, to any slave or servant coming upon his plantation, ten lashes upon his bare back. Persons who should permit slaves and servants to assemble for dancing or revelling, by night or day, were to be fined twenty dol- lars. It was made the duty of all sheriff's, coroners, judges, and justices of the peace, on view of such an assemblage, to commit the slaves to jail, and order each one of them to be whipped, not exceeding thirty-nine stripes on the bare back to be inflicted the next day, unless the same should be Sunday, and then
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on the next day after. In all cases where free persons were punishable by fine under the criminal laws of the State, servants were to be punished by whipping, at the rate of twenty lashes for every eight dollars fine. No person was to buy of, sell to, or trade with a slave or servant, without the consent of his master; and for so doing, was to forfeit four times the value of the artiele bought, sold, or traded. Lazy and disorderly servants were to be corrected by stripes, on the order of a justiee of the peace. These unjust and unholy provisions were eon- tinued in all the revisions of the law subsequently made, until 1865, when by an aet of the General Assembly, approved February 7th, they were entirely re- pealed. For nearly half a century the people of Illinois had permitted them to remain as a foul blot on the eseutcheon of the State. To be sure they were to all intents and purposes a dead letter for years, but the fact that they remained on the statute book ready for enforcement at any time, shows shameful negli- genee on the part of the people, as well as of their representatives to the Legislature.
The Legislature of 1818-'19 also provided for the removal of the seat of government from the ancient town of Kaskaskia which had elaimed it as its in- dividual property for more than one hundred and fifty years, under all the ruling powers. Commissioners were appointed to select a new site, and as there was no town in existence which appeared to be eligible, they made choice of a place then in the wilderness, on the Kaskaskia river, northeast of the settlements. Having made the selection, the question of name arose, and for some time re- mained a debatable one. It was agreed that the future capital should bear a high sounding eognomen, and at the same time have the elassie merit of per- petuating the memory of the ancient race of Indians by whom the country had first been inhabited. The name of Vandalia was finally seleeted, and although high sounding enough, it has ever sinee remained a puzzle as to what par- tieular raee of Indians it alludes, and whose memory it intends to perpetuate.
The population of the State in 1820 was 55,211, showing a ratio of in- erease exceeding three hundred per cent. within the preceeding deeade. Of this population scarcely a twentieth part were the descendents of the old French or Canadian settlers. The entire balanee were Americans, and with the excep- tion of some from Pennsylvania, were almost wholly from the Southern States. Agriculture was the principal pursuit of the people. A very few merchants supplied them with the necessaries which could not be produced or manufactur- ed at home. Nothing was exported, or if there had been any property fit for exportation, there was no market for it abroad. Money was searee, and peo- ple began to sue one another for their debts.
To remedy the existing evils, the Legislature of 1821 ereated a State Bank. It was founded without money, and wholly upon the credit of the State. It was authorized to issue one, two, three, five, ten and twenty dollar notes, bearing two per cent. annual interest, and payable by the State in ten years. A principal bank was established at Vandalia, with four or five branches in other places. The Legislature elected all the officers and directors, a large number of whom were members of the two houses, and all of them professional politieians. The bank was directed by law to lend its bills to the people, to the amount of one hundred dollars, on personal seenrity, and for a greater sum upon the security of mortgages upon lands. The bills were to be received in pay- ment of all State and county taxes, and for all costs and fees, and salaries of publie officers, and if a creditor refused to endorse on his execution his willing- ness to receive them in payment of debt, the debtor could replevy, or stay its collection for three years by giving personal security. The bank went into operation in the summer of 1821, and every man who could get an endorser
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borrowed his hundred dollars. Three hundred thousand dollars of the new money was soon lent without much attention to security or care for eventual payment. As a consequence the notes first fell twenty-five cents, then fifty, and then seventy cents below par. For about four years there was no other kind of money in circulation but this uncurrent State bank paper, and more than half of those who had borrowed considered what they had gotten from it as so much clear gain, and never intended to pay their loans from the first. This state of things existed to a greater or lesser extent until Gov. Ford's ad- ministration, when a sound and healthy system of finance was adopted.
The general election in August, 1822, resulted in the election of Edward Coles as Governor, and Adolphus F. Hubbard, Lieutenant Governor. The ques- tion of slavery entered into this election to a very considerable extent, Coles being the anti-slavery candidate, and Judge Phillips, his principal opponent, the pro-slavery. The country had but just emerged from the angry contest over the subject of slavery as connected with the admission of Missouri into the Union, in which the then Senators in Congress, Messrs. Edwards and Thomas had taken a leading part, being the originators of the compromise line of 30 degrees and 30 minutes, while the member of the House, Daniel P. Cook, had opposed the admission of Missouri as a slave State. The Legislature chosen at this election, however, was pro-slavery, showing that while a majority of the people of the whole State was opposed to slavery, the small counties were sufficiently favor- able to it to send a majority of members to the General Assembly who held views in consonance with its advocates. A strong effort was therefore put forth by this majority to make Illinois a slave State. This could only be done by amend- ing the constitution, which required a two-thirds vote in each House to pass the proposition submitting the question to a vote of the people. It was soon ascer- tained that the requisite two-thirds vote could be obtained in the Senate, but in the House one vote was lacking. There had been a contested election case from Pike county, but the then sitting member, Nicholas Hanson, had been awarded the seat. Hanson was opposed to making Illinois a slave State, while his con- testant, John Shaw, favored it, and the question came up of reversing the decision already made. It was easily carried, and Shaw admitted, and by his vote the proposition for a convention was carried. The campaign which followed was one of the most fierce and bitter ever known in the State, but resulted in defeating the convention scheme by a vote of 6,640 against, to 4,972 for it. That vote saved Illinois from the disgrace of slavery, and the attempt to enroll it as one of the slave States was never afterwards repeated.
At the election in August, 1826, Ninian Edwards was elected Governor, and Rev. William Kinney, a Baptist minister, Lieutenant Governor. In 1830, John Reynolds was elected Governor, and Zadoc Casey, Lieutenant Governor. During this administration both the Governor and Lieutenant Governor were elected to Congress, and consequently resigned their positions. Lieutenant Governor Casey was elected in 1822, and upon his resignation Gen. W. L. D. Ewing, a senator, was chosen to preside over the Senate. At the August elec- tion in 1834, Gov. Reynolds was also elected to Congress, more than a year ahead, as was then the law, to succeed Mr. Slade, but shortly afterwards the in- cumbent died, when Reynolds was also chosen to serve out his unexpired term. Accordingly he set out for Washington in November of that year to take his seat in Congress, and Gen. Ewing, by virtue of his office as President of the Senate, became Governor for just fifteen days, when, upon the meeting of the Legislature, to which he sent his message as acting Governor, he was relieved of his exalted position by the Governor elect. This is the only time that such a conjuncture has happened in the history of the State. It was during the ad-
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ministration of Gov. Reynolds that the Black Hawk war broke out, and termin- ated. This war was commenced under the pretence that the treaties made by the Indians with Gen. Harrison in 1804, and the subsequent ones with Gov. Edwards and August Chouteau, in 1815, and 1816, by which the former ceded all their land on Rock river, and much more elsewhere, were void. Black Hawk's account of the treaty of 1804, which was the main one, the others being confir- mations of it, is as follows: Several of the members of the tribe had been arrested and imprisoned in St. Louis for murder, and that some of the chiefs had been sent down to provide for their defence; that while there, and without the consent of the nation, they were induced to sell the Indian country; that when they came home it appeared they had been drunk most of the time they were absent, and could give no account of what they had done, except that they had sold some of the land to the white people, and had come home loaded with jewelry and Indian finery. This was all the nation ever heard of or knew about the treaty. Looking upon it in this light, he resisted the order of the Govern- ment for the removal of his tribe west of the Mississippi, and in the spring of 1831, re-crossed the river with his women and children, and three hundred war- riors of the British band, together with some allies from the Potawottamie and Kickapoo nations, to establish himself upon his ancient hunting grounds and in the principal village of his nation. This village was situated near the mouth of Rock river, and the lands covering the site and for some distance around had been surveyed and sold under the treaty by the United States Government. The purchasers had moved there, built their houses and fences, and improved the land, and when Black Hawk came across the Mississippi he found them in full occupation. His first act was to order them away, and when they refused, threw down their fences, unroofed their houses, cut up their grain, drove off and killed their cattle, and threatened the people with death if they remained. These acts of the Indians were considered by the Government to be an invasion of the State, and Gov. Reynolds addressed letters to Gen. Gaines of the United States army, and to Gen. Clark, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, calling upon them to use the influence of the general Government to procure the peaceful removal of the Indians, if possible, and at all events to defend and protect the American citizens who had purchased the lands from the United States, and were now about to be ejected by the Indians. Gen. Gaines repaired to Rock Island with a few companies of regular soldiers, and soon ascertained that the Indians were bent on war. He immediately called upon Gov. Reynolds for seven hundred mounted volunteers, and the Governor obeyed the requisition. A call was made upon some of the northern and central counties, in obedience to which fifteen hundred volunteers rushed to his standard at Beardstown, and about the 10th of June were organized and ready to be marched to the seat of war. The whole force was divided into two regiments, an odd battalion, and a spy battalion. The 1st Regiment was commanded by Col. James D. Henry; the 2d by Col. Daniel Lieb; the odd battalion by Major Nathaniel Buckmaster; and the spy battalion by Major Samuel Whiteside. The whole brigade was put under the command of Major General Joseph Duncan, of the State Militia. The subsequent events of the war will be found on pages 35 to 39 inclusive, of this history, and in the elaborate and eloquent address of Hon. Elihu B. Washburne, upon the presen- tation of the portrait of the Prophet to the people of Whiteside, published at the close of this volume.
At the election in August, 1834, Joseph Duncan was elected Governor, and Alexander M. Jenkins, Lieutenant Governor. During this administration the gigantic system of Internal Improvements was adopted, an account of which will be found in the general history of Whiteside in this work. In 1838,
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Thomas Carlin was elected Governor, and S. H. Anderson, Lieutenant Governor. During this administration, in 1839, the State Capital was moved to Springfield. In 1842 Thomas Ford became Governor, and John Moore, Lieutenant Governor. Gov. Ford entered at once upon the work of devising means to relieve the State from its financial embarrassment, and to restore its credit, both of which objects were fully completed during his term. He was one of the ablest Gov- ernors Illinois ever had. In 1846, Augustus C. French was elected Governor, and Joseph B. Wells, Lieutenant Governor. The Convention to revise the Con- stitution of the State was held in 1847, and the organic law enacted by that body, and afterwards endorsed by the people, remained in force until the Convention of 1870. The Mexican war also broke out during Gov. French's administration, and Illinois sent her full quota of troops to the field. By the constitution of 1847 a new election for State officers was ordered in November, 1848, before Gov. French's term was half out, the result of which was, that he was re-elected for the term of four years, and was thus the only Governor of the State who has ever held the office for six consecutive years. William McMurtry was elec- ted Lieutenant Governor. In 1852, Joel A. Matteson became Governor, and Gustavus Koerner, Lieutenant Governor.
In 1856, the new Republican party had gained such strength that it elected William H. Bissell, Governor. The contest was exceedingly acrimonious. The Legislature, however, was pretty evenly divided, and stood as follows: Senate, 13 Democrats, 31 Republicans, and 1 American or Know Nothing; House, 37 Democrats, 31 Republicans, and 6 Americans. Gov. Bissell was Colonel of the 2d Illinois Regiment in the Mexican War, and on the bloody field of Buena Vista acquitted himself with intrepid and distinguished ability, contributing with his regiment in no small degree toward saving the wavering fortunes of the United States arms during that long and fiercely contested battle. On his re- turn home he was elected to Congress, and served two terms.
In 1860 Richard Yates was elected Govornor, and Francis A. Hoffman, Lieutenant Governor. Gov. Yates received the appellation of the "Great War Governor of Illinois," for his devotedness to the interests of the Union during the war of the Rebellion, and for the zeal and energy he displayed in having every call of the government for troops fully answered in his own State. Al- most simultaneously with the call for troops enlistments commenced in the State, favored by the Governor in every way possible within his power, and within ten days 10,000 volunteers offered their services, and the sum of nearly $1.000.000 was tendered by patriotic citizens to procure supplies, for which the State, in the sudden emergency, had no time to make provision. Of the volunteers who offered their services under the call of Gov. Yates, only six regiments could be accepted under the quota of the State. These, in accordance with an act of the Legislature, which met on the 23d of April, 1861, were designated by the num- bers commencing with 7, as a mark of respect for the six regiments which had served in the Mexican war, and the entire force styled the 1st Brigade of Illi- nois Volunteers. Following this came Regiments and Brigades faster even than the respective quotas of the State demanded, until the whole number of enlist- ments during the war aggregated 256,000. Of these 5,888 were killed in action: 3,032 died of wounds; 19,496 died of disease contracted while in the service; 967 died in rebel prison pens; and 205 were lost at sea. The two principal camps in the State were Camp Butler, at Springfield, and Camp Douglas, at Chicago. The immediate location of the former was near where the Toledo, Wabash & Western Railroad crosses the Sangamon river, and that of the latter near the last resting place of the great Statesman after whom it was named. Each of these camps was provided with commissary and ordnance warehouses,
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general prison and small pox hospitals, company and prison barracks, officers' quarters, and other structures necessary for the outfit of an extensive encamp- ment. Both places became principal points of rendezvous and instruction of volunteers, and mustering them out of service after the war. As the result of the battle of Fort Donelson about 10,000 prisoners were sent to these camps, and thereafter they became places of custody for other prisoners captured in the war. The site of Camp Butler is still preserved as a national cemetery, in which many of the gallant sons of Illinois sleep in honored graves. Other camps were formed in different parts of the State, but they served only temporary purposes. Illinois can feel proud of her war record, and to the honorable making of it much credit is due to her great war Governor.
The 23d General Assembly, which met on the 5th of January, 1863, con- tained a majority who were opposed to the prosecution of the war. They first refused to order printed the usual number of copies of Gov. Yates' long and able message. Their next movement was to introduce and pass resolutions declaring the war a failure, and that hostilities ought to be immediately sus- pended, and a national convention held to settle the unpleasantness. The most notorious of these resolutions were introduced by Mr. Wike, of Pike county, afterward Democratic member of Congress. The resolutions called forth long and acrimonious debate, delaying all other business. Another object of this majority was to defeat the appropriation bills, and every parlimentary expedient was resorted to to effect it. But while these dishonorable members of the Leg- islature were endeavoring to cripple the Union army, as far as possibly could be done by the State, the people were active in furnishing men and supplies.
In 1864 Richard J. Oglesby was elected Governor, and William Bross, Lieutenant Governor, and in 1868 John M. Palmer, Governor, and John Dough- erty Lieutenant Governor. In 1872 Richard J. Oglesby was again elected Governor, and John L. Beveridge, Lieutenant Governor. Gov. Oglesby was soon afterwards chosen United States Senator, and Lieutenant Gov. Beveridge became Governor. In 1876, Shelby M. Cullom was elected Governor, and Andrew Shuman, Lieutenant Governor.
It became evident not long after the adoption of the Constitution of 1847 that many of its provisions were objectionable in their features, and would be entirely ignored. An attempt was made to compel an observance of these pro- visions, but it was found impossible, and for years they were openly and syste- matically violated. The matter was brought to the attention of the Legislature and the people at various times, and in 1861 an election ordered for delegates to a constitutional convention to revise and amend it. The election was held in November, 1861, and the Convention assembled at Springfield, January 7, 1862. The constitution framed by this body, however, was so distasteful to the people that they rejected it by an emphatic vote, when it came to be submitted to them, thus leaving the old constitution of 1847 still in force. In 1868 Gov. Palmer stated positively in his message, that "the history of American States presented no example of a government more defective than that of Illinois." The question of a revision of the constitution was soon afterwards again sub- mitted to the people, and carried by a large majority. The succeeding Legisla- ture authorized the election of delegates, the number corresponding with that of the Representatives in the Lower House of the General Assembly, who were to meet at Springfield, December 13, 1869. Of the 85 members returned, 44 were set down as Republicans, and 41 as Democrats. But, 15 were elected on independent tickets, all in Republican districts, of whom 8 were Republicans, and 7 Democrats. The members were composed of learned jurists, experienced statesmen, and thorough business men. Their work was prepared with much
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