USA > Illinois > Illinois, historical and statistical, comprising the essential facts of its planting and growth as a province, county, territory, and state, Vol. I > Part 24
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* Dillon's "Historical Notes," 324.
266
ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
In 1829, the legislature provided for the sale of the entire reservation in Vermilion County, the proceeds of which were appropriated to the improvement of various streams, and roads, and the building of bridges. In 1833, provision was made for the disposition of the saline-lands in Bond County. Further provision was made for the sale of the salines in Gallatin County in 1836, and $12.000 of the proceeds appropriated for the erec- tion of a bridge across Saline Creek, and the balance for other bridges and roads. In 1847, an act was passed authorizing the sale of the salt-wells and coal-lands in Gallatin County not already disposed of. No report of the quantity sold, or the amount received from any of these sales, appears among the published reports made to, or proceedings of the legislature.
The receipts and expenditures, in gross, of the territorial government, were, as nearly as can be ascertained, as follows:
Total amount of revenue from Nov.1, 1812, to
Nov. 1, 1814
$4875
Total amount collected 2516
Amount uncollected in hands of sheriffs
$2359
(No returns published for 1815, and 1816).
Received by treasurer in 1817
1508
Received by treasurer in 1818
2471
$3979
Amount paid out -
4039
Deficit $60
Authorities: "Laws of Congress;" Reynolds' "Pioneer History of Illinois;" Edwards' "History of Illinois;" Laws and Reports of Illinois.
CHAPTER XVIII.
Early Territorial Towns-Growth, Population-Politics.
T HE oldest town in Illinois is Cahokia, on whose site, near the villages occupied by the Tamaroa and Cahokia Ind- ians, Father Pinet established a mission in 1699, where many French were found settled the following year," as heretofore stated. It is situated on the eastern bank of the creek of that name, three-fourths of a mile east of the Mississippi, and four miles from St. Louis. There is no evidence to support the state- ment that some of LaSalle's followers, or Tonty, made a settle- ment at this place or at Kaskaskia prior to this time; but a continuous occupancy by the priests, traders, and voyageurs can be traced from 1699. A house of worship and other buildings were erected, and to each new-comer was given a lot three hundred feet square, which continues to be the size of the town- lots to this day. Owing to the natural disadvantages of loca- tion it remained a mere trading-post and mission-station with but little growth for many years. In 1722, this village was granted two tracts of land, one for the use of the inhabitants as "common fields" and one for "commons," the latter four leagues square; which was subsequently confirmed by congress. In 1766, it contained, according to Capt. Pittman, forty-five houses. After the Revolution its growth was more marked, and in 1795, it was designated as the county-seat of the county of St. Clair, which it remained until 1814. In 1800, its population was about 400, which in 1818 with 100 houses had increased to 500. During this latter decade, the place was really prosper- ous and a large amount of business was transacted. It was greatly damaged by the flood of 1844, and thereafter gradually fell into decay, its trade and some of its best citizens having been attracted to St. Louis, and later to East St. Louis, so that at this time it is a mere hamlet, rejoicing, however, in the recent restoration of its post-office, of which it was deprived some years ago.
* Vide Chapter IV, page 85.
267
268
ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
Kaskaskia, the largest of these first villages, was situated on the right bank of the Kaskaskia River, six miles north of its junction with the Mississippi and four miles east of that river. It is at the southern extremity of the American Bottom, the bluff upon which Fort Gage was erected overlooking it from the east.
1.
A PLAT OF KASKASKIA, 1765.
It was known as a thriving and populous village long before the founding of New Orleans, Pittsburg, or St. Louis. It is half a century older than Cincinnati, and had passed the merid- ian of its fame, and into the sere and yellow leaf of decadence before Chicago was even dreamed of. Old as the town really is, it must be admitted, however, that it is neither so old nor was it ever so large as some authorities have claimed. The evidence is conclusive that there was no village known by that name in that locality prior to A.D. 1700.
The journals of Fathers St. Cosme and Gravier, and the nar-
* Reduced from a plate in Philip Pittman's "Present State of European Settle- ments on the Mississippi" (London, 1770). Key: A, the fort; B, the Jesuits' resi- dence; C, formerly commanding-officer's house; D, the church. Used by permission from Winsor's "Narrative and Critical History" (W. F. Poole's chapter on the West, Vol. VII).
269
KASKASKIA.
rative of Pierre LeSueur, of expeditions down and up the Mis- sissippi about this time, conclusively establish this fact .*
According to the traditions of the inhabitants, the village of Kaskaskia was founded in 1707, it being conceded that the settlement of Cahokia was some years earlier.+ In 1710, M. Penicaut informs us that near the village of the Illinois (Kaskaskias) Indians there were three mills for grinding corn; "one wind-mill owned by the Jesuits, and two horse-mills belonging to the Illinois;" and that they had a very large church in their village, which was well arranged in the interior; besides the baptismal fonts, there were "three chapels, orna- mented with a bell and belfry,"# which statement was confirmed by Father Marest in 1711, who stated further "that many French had arrived there and established themselves." It is said to have become an incorporated town in 1725;§ and in 1743, a grant of land for a commons, previously made by Boisbriant in 1722, was confirmed to it by Gov. Vaudreuil. The decade from 1740 to 1750 constituted the halcyon period of its existence, when the villagers enjoyed all the blessings of peace and con- tentment and a prosperous trade; and the village had a steady growth. In 1765, according to Capt. Pittman, it contained sixty-five families of whites, "besides merchants and casual people." In 1771, as stated by Thomas Hutchins -- afterward the government geographer, it contained eighty houses, "many of them well built, several of stone, with gardens and large lots adjoining," and a population of 500 whites and 500 negroes. ||
Although the largest village therein, Kaskaskia did not become the capital of the Illinois country until 1772, after the abandonment of Fort Chartres by the British, as before related. Before this time, however, it is supposed that one-third of the
* " Early Voyages Up and Down the Mississippi." " Magazine of American History," Vol. VI, 161, article by E. G. Mason.
+ Historical Sketch, page 7, by William H. Brown, who formerly resided at Kaskaskia. Also confirmed by Pittman, p. 83.
# French's "History of Louisiana," VI, 108.
§ " History of Randolph County," p. 304.
|| The statement of Maj. Bowman, with Col. Clark, that Kaskaskia contained 250 houses at the time it was captured, in 1778, was undoubtedly erroneous, prob- ably a typographical error, as was that placing the number of inhabitants at 8000 at one time, an extra cipher making all the difference.
270
ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
French inhabitants had removed to Ste. Genevieve and St.Louis rather than become subjects of British rule. After its capture by Col. Clark, the town still further declined in population, as well as in wealth, until the American immigration began after the Revolution. From this time its growth steadily increased, receiving a new impetus from the arrival of the territorial officers in 1809. In 1816, the number of houses had increased to 160 .* Judge Breese, who became a resident of the place in 1818, and continued to live there for several years, says, that the popula- tion did not exceed 800 whites "in its palmiest days."
With the removal of the State capital in 1821, the fame of Kaskaskia began to wane. It still continued to be the county- seat of Randolph County, however, until 1847. The loss of this prestige, following the great overflow of 1844, was the finishing- stroke to its greatness. The first brick-house built west of Pittsburg, in 1792, still stands, and the dwelling occupied by Gov. Coles; but the old academy, or convent as it was some- times called, which cost $30,000, and the mansions of Edgar and Morrison have long since gone to decay. It is now a still- declining and out-of-the-way village, whose final destruction the mighty Mississippi, which has already made an island of its site by cutting its way through to the Okaw, threatens soon to accomplish.
For over half a century, however, it was the metropolis of the Upper- Mississippi Valley, and during this period it was the Mecca of all explorers, and the focus of commerce in the North- west Territory. The most interesting associations cluster around its historic name.
Here resided John Edgar, Wm. and Robert Morrison, Pierre Menard, Ninian Edwards, Shadrach Bond, Edward Coles, Dan'l P. Cook, Nathaniel Pope, E. K. Kane, Jesse B. Thomas, Benj. Stephenson, Thomas Mather, Sidney Breese, David J. Baker, Richard M. Young, Philip Fouke, William H. Brown, James Shields, and Thomas Reynolds, all of whom have borne a dis- tinguished part in the formative political movements of the State. Some of them were married there, and the remains of others are there buried. The old-church bell, memento of a dim past, cast expressly for the Church of the Illinois, and which
* Brown's "Gazetteer," p. 27.
271
EARLY TOWNS.
first pealed forth its glad or solemn sounds a hundred and fifty years ago, still swings in the belfry, calling to matins or vespers. as of yore; but all those who walked the streets of the old town, and carved high their names upon the roll of fame, are now in their silent graves, and today the old bell seems only to chant the solemn requiem of the past .*
Prairie du Rocher, another of the ancient French villages, having a church and a store at this early period, being more isolated than Cahokia and Kaskaskia, did not experience the adverse fortunes of those towns, but pursued the even tenor of its way, and at this time contains a population of over 300.
Peoria, an ancient French and Indian village of this name, was situated on the west bank of Peoria Lake, at a very early day; it was called by the French Opa, and was first occupied by them it is said, in 1711. This village was abandoned by the French about 1775, for a healthier and more convenient location, near the outlet of the lake, the site of the present city. From 1778, when the first house was built, this village was continu- ously occupied until 1812, when the place was taken by Capt. Craig, the inhabitants to the number of seventy-five forcibly removed therefrom, and the village destroyed. At this time it contained a population of about two hundred.+ No attempt was made to re-occupy the town from that time until 1819 when a colony, consisting of Abner Eads, J. Henry, Seth Fulton, Josiah Fulton, S. Dougherty, J. Davis, and T. Russell immi- grated to the place, then called Fort Clark, from Shoal Creek in Clinton County .¿ From the rude log-cabins of these hardy pioneers has arisen the present beautiful and growing city of this name.
Shawneetown, which was laid out in 1808, had by 1818, grown to be one of the largest towns in the Territory. Then as now, it was the county-seat of Gallatin County, and was for years the
* This old bell, the first of any size in the Upper- Mississippi Valley, weighs about six hundred and fifty pounds-height about twenty-eight inches-ornamented on one side with three groups of fleur-de-lis in relief; on the other by a cross and pedestal, the top and arms of cross terminating in grouped fleur-de-lis. The follow- ing inscription is cast in the bell: " Pour l'eglise des Illinois. Par les Soins du Sr. Dutreleau, L. B.M., Normand, a la Rochele, 1741." O. W. COLLET.
+ Gov. Coles, in Edwards' " Illinois, " 66.
+ Balance's "History of Peoria," 45.
272
ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
first stopping place for immigrants to Illinois. It boasted of a bank, a printing-office, a land-office, 100 dwelling-houses, and a population of 500. It was in some respects a rival town to Kaskaskia. Here resided, John McLean, Thomas C. Browne, Joseph M. Street, Michael Jones after 1814, Wm. J. Gatewood, and Adolphus Frederick Hubbard.
Upper Alton was founded in 1816, and two years later con- tained nearly one hundred houses. The inhabitants were chiefly enterprising immigrants from the Eastern States.
Alton was laid out in 1818, and grew rapidly. It very soon assumed a leading place among the growing towns of the State. Having a fine steamboat-landing, and inexhaustible beds of coal and limestone of superior quality in its immediate vicinity, large amounts of capital were attracted to the place, and business of a considerable volume transacted.
Belleville was situated in the flourishing settlement called Turkey Hill. It was selected as the site of the county-seat of St. Clair in 1814, and by 1818, contained a population of 500, priding itself on the possession of a court-house, jail, an acade- my, and a public library. At different periods in its history it has been the home of three of the State's executives-Edwards, Reynolds, and Bissell.
Edwardsville was founded in 1815, and three years thereafter, it contained seventy dwellings, besides a number of public buildings, among them a land-office, court-house, jail, and a brick market-house. Gov. Edwards, in whose honor the town was named, resided here at one time, as did also Gov. Coles.
The towns of Carmi, Fairfield, Waterloo, Golconda, Lawrence- ville, Mt. Carmel, Harrisonville, and Vienna, had just sprung into existence, Neither Springfield, Jacksonville, Carrollton, or Quincy, had as yet been thought of, and Chicago was men- tioned in "Beck's Gazetteer" as "a village in Pike County."
With the close of the war in 1815, the inhabitants of Illinois Territory entered upon a new era of peace and prosperity. During that dark period many settlers, discouraged in their efforts to protect themselves from the attacks of the Indians, and finding only a precarious security for their possessions, had packed up their "plunder" and turned back whence they came. These, with large additions, now returned to the "beautiful
273
GROWTH OF TOWNS AND SETTLEMENTS.
country of the Illinois." No more glowing accounts of its attractive features could have been given than those of the soldiers who had lately traversed its prairies and groves in battle array. Their praise of its rich soil, its forest-fringed streams, and agreeable climate, was carried back not only to their own neighborhoods, but to other states, and as a result old settlements were henceforth continually enlarged and new ones formed.
The passage of the preemption law in 1813, by which the settler was given an opportunity to secure a title to his home, the tenure to which had been before uncertain, disposed of one of the gravest objections to removing to the Territory. When immigrants realized that they might acquire a title in fee to the soil whereon they lived, and provide permanent homes for their families, both old and new settlers conceived a stronger attach- ment as citizens to the country of their choice.
During the four years of unprecedented territorial growth which followed the close of the war, to the counties of St. Clair, Randolph, Madison, Johnson, and Gallatin, which had been or- ganized prior to 1814, there were added the following: Edwards and White, taken from Gallatin; Jackson, from Randolph and Johnson; Monroe, from Randolph and St. Clair; Pope, from Gallatin and Johnson; Crawford, from Gallatin; Bond, from Madison; Franklin, from Gallatin, White and Jackson; Union from Johnson; and Washington from St. Clair; making in all at the close of the territorial period, fifteen counties, covering the southern one-fourth of the State, and in each of which were sparse, but rapidly-increasing settlements and communities.
The old familiar French names in the counties of St. Clair, Randolph, and Monroe, gradually disappeared from the lists of officers and juries. American ideas, with the introduction of American laws and customs, began to predominate. Yet the two classes were not antagonistic, but rather mingled harmoni- ously, and formed a society, at once agreeable and lively, and conducive to the growth and importance of the towns formerly nearly all French.
Although parties were not then organized as they came to be after 1832, they existed nevertheless in all their fulness and strength. The cry of "Measures not men" had not yet been
18
274
ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
evoked from political chaos, but on the contrary, party-lines and divisions were formed altogether upon personal predi- lections for public men. It thus frequently happened that a candidate's warmest supporter was a friend with whom on public questions he was as likely to differ as to agree. Or while there might be some point of agreement on a particular question upon which there had been a union of interest, upon all others their views would be widely separated.
Inconsistent as was this division of voters, it was not without its advantages to the people. A public man was required to possess certain qualifications, without which no road to success was ever opened to him. One of these was a prepossessing personal appearance; another was the ability to make a speech. He must also be good natured, generous, witty, and brave. He was the focus of all eyes, and the constant object of the critical watchfulness of his opponents. Woe be to the candidate for official preferment, who was known or even suspected of doing a mean or cowardly act; for this the judgment was sudden and severe, and there was no forgiveness. Mistakes, unless com- mitted by a sufficient number to form a party, met with as swift, and unrelenting condemnation, as crimes. A man might be known to be fond of cards or the turf, or to indulge too freely in his cups, without detriment, but to support and vote for an unpopular measure was an offence not to be overlooked or for- gotten-it was ever after "thrown up to him."
During the territorial period of Illinois, and for some ten years thereafter, parties thus constituted were divided as follows: on the one side were arrayed Gov. Edwards, Judge Pope, D. P. Cook, Judge Browne, George Forquer, and others of less note; on the other Gov. Bond, Judge Thomas, Michael Jones, John McLean, E. K. Kane, and Wm. Kinney. John Reynolds so managed as to be friendly with and receive support from both sides, but was generally found with the Edwards party.
The people were no mean politicians, and were not unin- formed in regard to all public questions. Although they pos- sessed but few books, and the one or two newspapers of but four pages in the Territory contained only advertisements and official publications; with the mails only bringing them a few documents now and then, and the most of the voters being
275
EARLY POLITICAL PARTIES.
barely able to read "coarse print," and sign their names, they had a thorough comprehension of the status of parties, a keen appreciation of the arguments by which their measures were sustained, and a clear insight into the lives and characters of all public functionaries. Having no occupations demanding much time or attention, they devoted the largest portion of both to the gaining of information through oral discussions at their firesides, and all public gatherings.
The contests at elections with parties thus constituted, during these many years, as may well be imagined, were full of interest and attended by great excitement. The success of a personal friend, or of an admired public man was at stake; and every effort was put forth to secure him votes at the polls.
PERIOD V .- UNDER THE FIRST CONSTITUTION, 1818-1848.
CHAPTER XIX.
Admission as a State-The Enabling Act-Constitutional Convention-First Constitution-Action of Congress.
N EITHER the Ordinance of 1787 nor the constitution pre- scribes any form of procedure for the organization and admission of new states. Each application has been considered solely upon the merits of the particular case inviting congres- sional action, according to the facts. Nor have the enabling acts of congress shown any uniformity in either the rules laid down, or the limitations and restrictions imposed; and indeed the following-named states: Vermont, Kentucky, Tennessee, Maine, Michigan, Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, California, and Ore- gon, were admitted into the Union without the preliminary passage by congress of any enabling act whatever.
At the January session, 1818, of the Illinois territorial legisla ture, so greatly had the population increased, that a resolution was adopted directing Congressional-delegate Nathaniel Pope, who had been elected in 1817 to succeed Benjamin Stephenson to present a petition to congress requesting the enactment of a law to enable the people to form a state government; and a bill for that purpose was introduced, April 7, 1818.
The Ordinance of 1787, in fixing the limits of the three states to be formed out of the Northwest Territory, provided that congress should have authority to form one or more states out of so much of that portion of the territory set apart for the western state therein "which lies north of an east-and-west line drawn through the southerly bend or extreme of Lake Mich- igan."
With this provision in view, in the bill as reported by the committee, the northern boundary of the proposed new state was fixed on the north parallel of 41º 39". The house having resolved itself into a committee of the whole to con-
276
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277
ACTION OF CONGRESS.
sider the same, Mr. Pope moved to amend by striking out the lines defining the boundary of the new state and inserting the following: "Beginning at the mouth of the Wabash River, hence up the same, and with the line of Indiana to the north- west corner of said State, thence east with the line of the same State to the middle of Lake Michigan, thence north along the middle of said lake to north latitude 42° 30", thence west to the middle of the Mississippi River, and thence down along the middle of that river to its confluence with the Ohio River, and thence up the latter river along its northwest shore to the beginning."
Mr. Pope explained the object of his amendment, and urged its adoption for the following reasons: that the proposed new state by reason of her geographical position even more than on account of the fertility of her soil, was destined to become populous and influential; that if her northern boundary was fixed by a line arbitrarily established rather than naturally determined, and her commerce was to be confined to that great artery of communication, the Mississippi, which washed her entire western border, and to its chief tributary on the south, the Ohio, there was a possibility that her commercial rela- tions with the south might become so closely connected that in the event of an attempted dismemberment of the Union, Illinois would cast her lot with the Southern States. On the other hand to fix the northern boundary of Illinois upon such a parallel of latitude as would give to the state territorial jurisdiction over the southwestern shores of Lake Michigan, would be to unite the incipient commonwealth to the states of Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York in a bond of common interest well-nigh indissoluble. By the adoption of such a line, Illinois might become at some future time the keystone to the perpetu- ity of the Union.
The feasibility of opening a canal between Lake Michigan and the Illinois River, was admitted by every one who had inspected the location, and given the subject consideration. If the port of Chicago were included within the boundaries of the proposed state, the attention of the inhabitants of the latter would naturally be directed to the opening up of a water-way, between the river named and the great fresh-water sea, and the
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