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 25
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51
278
ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
early improvement of the entire region. The successful prose- cution of such an enterprise, would not only open up new chan- nels of trade, but would tend to bind together the East and West by a chain whose links would be welded together not only by friendship but by a community of interest. And thus with common ties, and interests reaching out to the East as well as the South, an equilibrium of sentiment would be established, which would forever oppose the formation of separate and independent confederacies on the north, south, east, or west.
The arguments adduced by Mr. Pope were deemed conclusive, and his amendment was adopted without a division. By this well-timed action, thus wisely forecasting future events, and indeed anticipating a contingency which actually occurred less than fifty years thereafter, there was secured to Illinois an addi- tional strip of territory, fifty-one miles in width, extending from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River, out of which afterward were formed fourteen populous and wealthy counties.
Had the line originally proposed by the committee been adopted, Chicago would not have grown into the imperial city she now is, because the building of the Illinois-and- Michigan Canal, and the Illinois-Central Railroad, which have contributed so largely to her progress and prosperity, and which were wholly the offspring of Illinois enterprise and statesmanship, would never have become accomplished facts.
Mr. Pope "builded even better than he knew." But for the vote of these counties since 1854, Illinois would have been as thoroughly a democratic state as Missouri; the legislature elected that year would have sustained Stephen A. Douglas in his Kansas-Nebraska bill, and Lyman Trumbull would not have been elected to the U .- S. senate. It was the vote of these counties that elected the republican state-ticket in 1856, which secured the State to that party, and rendered possible the can- didacy of Abraham Lincoln for the presidency in 1860. And the whole train of momentous events wrought out by his elec- tion, would never have occurred but for the fact that these fourteen northern counties were included within the limits of Illinois, rather than those of Wisconsin.
While Mr. Pope was aware of the fact that the place of indefinite locality called Chicago, including the country around
279
THE NORTHERN-BOUNDARY CONTROVERSY.
the southwestern shores of Lake Michigan, had always been considered as a part of the legitimate territory of Illinois, and that the project of the canal referred to by him was purely an Illinois measure, yet the securing of the adoption of the above important amendment, fraught with such material results was of his own motion, and on his own responsibility, without the instruction or advice of his constituents.
Subsequent attempts were frequently made to restore the northern boundary-line as originally reported, and as late as 1842 an effort was put forth in that direction by Gov. Jas. Duane Doty of Wisconsin Territory, who addressed a communica- tion to the residents within the district in Illinois covered by the terms of Pope's amendment urging them to avail themselves of their supposed right to form an independent government. And strange as it may now appear many of the inhabitants in the middle and western portions of the disputed territory were strenuously in favor of being set off to Wisconsin. Meetings were held, resolutions condemning the change of line as a vio- lation of the Ordinance of 1787, and in favor of the proposed action were adopted, and a committee appointed to secure the cooperation of the Wisconsin authorities. Chicago, however, had a clearer conception of her interests, and although she was offered a United-States senatorship in exchange for her support of the Wisconsin project, her citizens gave it no countenance .*
The legislative council of Wisconsin in February, 1842, re- ported a bill referring the question of forming a state govern- ment to the people at the next election, and invited the inhabitants of the disputed territory to liold an election at the same time on the question of uniting with the people of Wisconsin in forming such state government. D. A. J. Upham, a member, insisted upon this action, and in a speech stated that "with legal and immutable justice on our side, the moral and physical force of Illinois, of the whole Union, can not make us retrace our steps." But the house did not sympathize with this belligerent spirit, and refused to adopt the proposed measure. Gov. Doty, however, in the following June, officially notified Gov. Carlin that the fourteen northern counties of the State of Illinois were not within the constitutional boundaries of
* Hon. John Wentworth's MS.
280
ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
that State; and that its exercise of judisdiction therein was "accidental and temporary." To this communication no reply was made. In the following August, Gov. Doty issued a proc- lamation, on his own responsibility, calling on all the people within the "ancient limits of Wisconsin" to vote on a day named, on the question of forming a state government; to which but little attention was paid. This he repeated the following year with a like result-the general assembly having refused to make such a call.
The legislature of 1843-4 adopted an elaborate address to congress on the subject, which that body failed or refused to act upon, and the controversy thereupon ended, until the admission of the state, in 1848, when the line of 42° 30" was confirmed- not however without an unsuccessful effort to revive the question of its validity in the constitutional convention .*
Whether the action of congress in establishing the northern boundary-line of Illinois was an infraction of the Ordinance of 1787, was a question to which Pope had undoubtedly given very careful consideration before he ventured on proposing it. He was an able lawyer himself, and there were many other mem- bers of congress familiar with the subject, who would not have consented to the proposition if there had been any doubt in regard to its constitutionality.
The proviso of the ordinance in question (Art. 5) has already been given. The legal question involved, and the argument to sustain the constitutionality of the action of congress, have been by no one more clearly stated than by Gov. Ford, who was one of the ablest of Illinois' early judges, and whose attention was directed to it in consequence of his official relations to the controversy, as the executive of Illinois. "There is nothing," says the governor, "in the ordinance requiring such additional state (or states) to be formed of the territory north of that line; another state might be formed in that district of country, but not of it; it need not necessarily include the whole. By extending the limits of Illinois north of the disputed line, con- gress still had the power to make a new state in that district north of it, not including the portion given to Illinois."+ As
* "Wisconsin Historical Collections," XI, 498-500.
+ Ford's "History of Illinois, " 21.
28 I
THE ENABLING ACT.
notwithstanding all the efforts of those who advocated the other view, congress refused to disturb its former action, it is fair to conclude that the opinion thus expressed was considered sound; and indeed it has never since been seriously questioned by any competent authority.
The bill as originally presented provided that the State's pro- portion of the proceeds of the sales of the public lands should be appropriated to the construction of roads and canals. Mr. Pope offered the following amendment: "that two-fifths of said pro- ceeds be disbursed under the direction of congress in making roads leading to the State; the residue to be appropriated by the legislature of the State for the encouragement of learning, of which one-sixth part shall be exclusively bestowed on a college or university."
In support of this amendment he remarked: that the applica- tion of this fund to the construction of roads, in other states, had not been productive of the good results anticipated, but that the importance of education in a republic was universally acknowledged. He pointed out the fact that the want of roads in new communities, being immediate and local, might safely be left to the inhabitants to provide for as their existing inter- ests might require; but that education being a more remote- benefit might be neglected. This important amendment was also adopted without objection. It brought to the permanent school fund of the State a sum which now amounts to $156,613.
Another vital point calling for consideration in the enabling act, was the question of population. The Ordinance of 1787 provided that "whenever any of said states shall have 60,000 free inhabitants therein such state shall be admitted, by its delegates, into the congress of the United States, * * and so far as it can be, consistent with the general interest of the confederacy, such admission shall be allowed at an earlier period, and when there may be a less number of free inhabitants in the state than 60,000." Mr. Pope well knew that the Territory did not contain the required 60,000, and he succeeded in fixing in the act the number of 40,000 as being sufficient .*
The bill as thus variously amended became a law, April 18, 1818. No man ever rendered the State a more important ser-
* "Abridgment of the Debates of Congress," VI, 173.
282
ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
vice in congress than did Nathaniel Pope, to whom the people of Illinois are indebted for securing the passage of this enabling law, upon which he succeeded in ingrafting the important pro- visions above set forth. And if political rewards were meted out in proportion to the merits of the service rendered, the people's representatives would with one accord have selected him as their senator in congress, at one time when he had signi- fied his willingness to accept that position; bright and steady as was his fame as a jurist, it would have paled before the brilliant lustre of his career as a statesman.
The taking of the census of 1818 was certainly liable to objection as to the exceedingly doubtful methods adopted to swell the figures. The admission as a state that year depended upon the fact that the population numbered 40,000; and when it began to appear that it might fall short, the marshal sta- tioned his deputies on the large thoroughfares, and instructed them to count everybody that passed, explorers as well as movers; nor were any inquiries to be made of immigrants as to their ultimate destination. Thus entire families were sometimes counted not only when they entered the Territory, but repeatedly after as they passed through on their way to their journey's end .* In this way the returns were made to foot up the requisite 40,000, but as corrected and subsequently ascertained, the popu- lation really amounted to but 34,620.+ Illinois was therefore admitted into the Union with the smallest population of any of the thirty-eight states of which it is now composed-that of Ohio was 45,365, Indiana, 63,897, Arkansas, 52,240, Nevada, 40,000, and all the others still larger.
The way being now made clear by the completion of the census, an election was held, as provided for in the enabling act, on the first Monday in July (6), 1818, and the two following days, for the selection of delegates to a convention to frame a constitution.
The delegates thus elected assembled at Kaskaskia, on the first Monday in August (3), and the body organized by the election of Jesse B. Thomas as president, and Wm. C. Greenup, secretary. There is no official record of its proceedings, among
* William H. Brown, in “ Fergus' Historical Series," No. 14.
+ Senate doc. 49. Congressional Report 15.
283
ADMISSION AS A STATE.
the State archives. If any was made or published, neither the original nor any copy has been preserved. It was composed of thirty-three members, chiefly farmers of limited education, but many of whom were not without fine natural abilities, sound judgment, and experience in public affairs. The bar was slimly represented, having only five members, Messrs. Thomas, Hub- bard, Hall, Kitchell, and Kane. The latter it is generally admitted was its leading spirit, and to him must be awarded the credit of the arrangement, as well as of the composition, wherever original matter was introduced into the instrument adopted. The article relating to slavery was the subject of warm debate, and furnished the only exciting topic of discus- sion during the session .* The convention concluded its labors August 26, and a copy of the constitution was immediately transmitted to congress for approval.+-
When John McLean, who had been elected to congress, pre- sented himself in the house with the instrument, and asked leave to take his seat as a representative from Illinois, objection was made on the ground that congress had not concluded the act of admission. Gen. Harrison, then a member from Ohio, insisted that according to precedent, the house had taken it for granted that the requirements of the enabling act had been complied with, and that the member elect should be admitted without question. But the request was denied by a decisive majority, and the constitution at the same time was referred to a select committee composed of Richard C. Anderson, jr., of Kentucky, George Poindexter, and William Hendricks. On November 20, the committee reported a resolution in favor of the admission of the State on an equal footing with the original thirteen; which was read twice and ordered to a third reading. On November 23, it was read a third time, and on the question of its passage, James Tallmadge, jr., of New York, opposed its adoption on the following grounds: first, there was not sufficient evidence before congress that the Territory contained the requi- site population; and secondly, and chiefly because the principle of slavery, if not positively sanctioned, by the constitution, was
* William H. Brown, " Fergus' Historical Series," No. 14.
+ The pay of the members was $4 per day, and the entire amount expended for stationery was $74.55.
284
ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
not sufficiently prohibited. During the discussion he read the provision relating to this subject and called particular attention to the clause reading that slavery "shall not hereafter be intro- duced into the State." He urged his objections at some length.
Mr. Poindexter of Mississippi, in reply, stated that while he agreed with what had been said as to the evils of slavery, and that it would be a blessing if some wise plan could be devised to get rid of it, and that he hoped that neither Ohio, Indiana, nor Illinois would ever permit its introduction within their limits, yet he could see no reason to find fault with the provisions of this constitution on that subject.
Mr. Anderson also spoke in favor of the resolution, taking the ground that the people of the State, after it was admitted, had the right to change its constitution and permit slavery without the interference of congress.
Gen. Harrison also favored the adoption of the resolution, and remarked that as one of those who was opposed to the further extension of slavery, he thought the restriction was satisfactory. Tallmadge replied, and others participated in the debate, the question of the binding force of the Ordinance of 1787 prohibit- ing slavery, entering largely into the discussion .*
The vote upon the passage of the resolution when finally reached showed a favorable majority of 117 yeas to 34 nays.
The first constitution of Illinois was, in its principal provi- sions, a copy of the then existing constitutions of Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana. The bill of rights is almost identically the same in each, with the exception of the clauses relating to slavery. Many of the articles are exact copies in wording although differently arranged and numbered. As will be seen by reference to the instrument, provision was made for the election by the people of the following officers only: governor, lieut .- governor, sheriff, coroner, and county commissioners. In Ohio and Indiana, the office of justice-of-the-peace was also elective. The secretary of state, treasurer, auditor of public accounts, public printer, and supreme and circuit-court judges were to be appointed by the governor, or general assembly.
It was not yet deemed advisable to place too much power in the hands of the people-they were not even permitted to have
* "Abridgment of the Debates of Congress," VI, 205.
285
THE FIRST CONSTITUTION.
a voice in the adoption of their fundamental law, no provision being made for the submission of the constitution to popular ratification or rejection. Neither were the constitutions of Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, or Tennessee, nor indeed, subse- quently those of any slave-state submitted to the people. The first constitution thus ratified was that of Maine in 1820, and the precedent thus established was followed by Michigan in 1837, Iowa in 1845, Wisconsin in 1847, and indeed by all the free-states admitted since that time.
Instead of vesting the executive with the veto power as in Kentucky and Indiana, the governor, and the judges of the supreme court were constituted what was termed a Council of Revision, with authority to pass upon the validity of the laws as they were enacted. The return of an act with their object- tions rendered necessary its reconsideration, when a majority of all the members elected was required again to pass or approve it.
The section relating to imprisonment for debt, providing that when there was not strong presumption of fraud, the person of a debtor should not be detained in prison after delivering up his estate for the benefit of his creditors, was the same as that in the constitutions of Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana.
The elective franchise was granted to all white male inhabi- tants, above the age of 21 years, who had resided in the State . six months. No salaries were fixed except that that of the governor should not exceed $1000, nor that of the secretary of state $600, prior to 1824.
The most objectionable feature of the instrument was the vesting of the legislature with the appointing power. As origi- nally framed, this power was committed to the executive, but as it was expected that Shadrach Bond would be elected gov- ernor, and that he would not appoint a particular candidate who had secured the suffrages of the members, to the office of state auditor, a provision was inserted in the schedule that "an auditor of public-accounts, an attorney-general, and such other officers of the State as may be necessary, may be appointed by the general assembly." At first the legislature limited its exercise of this power to the appointment of the above-desig- nated officers, the governor appointing the state's-attorneys,
286
ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
recorders, and other officers and agents provided for by law; but whenever it happened that the governor was not in accord with the general assembly, it would deprive him of his patron- age. Thus there was a continual liability to a change of powers, which produced not only uncertainty and embarrass- ment, but was fruitful of intrigues and corrupt combinations.
The defects of this first constitution, are even more clearly apparent on account of the absence of necessary limitations and restrictions of the legislature, than for its prodigal grants of power to that department, as the administration of the state government subsequently proved.
Such was the first constitution, and the circumstances and proceedings under which the sovereign State of Illinois was admitted into the sovereign Union of states, on Dec. 3, 1818. It was the eighth new state added to the old thirteen, and had a greater area than any other state then in the Union except- ing Georgia .*
Table showing the date of admission of new states into the Union, from what territory acquired, population, and area :
NAME OF STATE. FROM WHAT TERRITORY.
DATE OF ACT ADMITTING.
POPULA- TION.
SQUARE
Kentucky,
Virginia,
Feb. 4, 1791,
73,677
40,400
Vermont,
New Hampshire and New York,
Feb. 18, 1791,
85,425
9,565
Tennessee,
North Carolina,
June 1, 1796,
67,000
42,050
Ohio,
Northwest Territory,
April 30, 1802, April 8, 1812,
76,556
48,720
Indiana,
Northwest Territory,
- Dec. 11, 1816,
63,897
36,350
Mississippi,
South Carolina, Georgia, and France, Northwest Territory,
Dec. 3, 1818,
34,620
56,650
Alabama,
South Carolina, Georgia, and France,
Dec. 14, 1819,
110,000*
52,250
Maine,
Massachusetts and Great Britain,
· March 3, 1820,
298,269
33,040
Missouri,
French Purchase,
March 2, 1821,
66,557
69,415
Arkansas,
French Purchase,
- June 15, 1836,
52,240
53,850
Michigan,
Northwest Territory,
Jan. 26, 1837,
70,000*
58,915
Texas,
Annexed,
-
March 1, 1845,
143,000
268,780
Iowa,
French Purchase,
March 3, 1845,
78,819
56,025
Florida,
Spain,
- March 3, 1845,
64,000*
58,680
Wisconsin,
Northwest Territory,
March 3, 1847,
180,000*
56,040
California,
Mexico,
Sept. 9, 1850,
92,597
158,360
Minnesota,
Northwest Territory and France,-
May 4, 1858,
120,000*
83,365
Oregon,
Ceded by France,
- Feb. 14, 1859,
50,000*
96,030
Kansas,
Ceded by France and Texas,
Jan. 29, 1861,
107,206
82,080
West Virginia,
Virginia,
- Dec. 31, 1862,
350,000
24,780
Nevada,
Mexico,
March II, 1864,
40,000*
110, 700
Nebraska,
Ceded by France,
Feb. 9, 1867,
100,COO*
76,855
Colorado,
France and Mexico,
March 3, 1875, t
100,000*
103,925
As will be seen, up to 1850, with the exception of the compromise state of Mis- souri, the states were admitted in the order of first a slave-state and then a free-state.
* Estimated.
t Took effect Aug. 1, 1876.
45,365
41,060
Louisiana,
French Purchase,
Dec. 10, 1817,
70,000*
46,810
Illinois,
MILES.
Edward Coles
CHAPTER XX.
First State-Election-Gov. Bond-First General Assem- bly-Officers-Laws-Election of United-States Sen- ators-Congressional Election-Cook vs. McLean- Removal of the Capital.
T THE first election for State-officers, and members of the general assembly under the constitution of 1818, was held on the third Thursday (17), and the two following days in September. The mode of voting was by ballot, which was continued until 1829, when a return to the viva-voce method was determined upon.
Shadrach Bond was elected the first governor of the State by a practically unanimous vote. He came to the Territory from Maryland in 1794, having barely passed the age of twenty-one, and resided at first with his uncle, of the same name, on the American Bottom, in what is now Monroe County. He was raised a farmer, and so continued. He received only a common- school education. His hand-writing was poor, and his acquain- tance with the spelling-book was not intimate; yet in the school of experience, and of every-day intercourse with his fellow-men, he acquired a large stock of useful knowledge and practical in- formation, which was of even greater value to a public man in those early days than the learning to be derived from schools .. His person was erect, compact, and formed with perfect sym- metry; his bearing was noble, dignified, and commanding. His complexion was dark, and his hair a glossy jet-black. He had a high forehead, indicating a large brain, and a countenance expressing rare intelligence. He was a great admirer of and favorite with the ladies; "yet" says Gov. Reynolds, "his gallant- ries, though many, were always circumscribed with propriety"- a remark which can not be truthfully repeated of all his successors in the executive chair. He kept his horses and his. hounds, and was fond of racing and hunting. Being of a jovial and convivial spirit, in society as in public life, he was person- ally agreeable and popular. He was decided in his opinions.
287
288
ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
and faithful to his friends and allies. He participated promi- nently in the political controversies of his day, one of which resulted in the sending and accepting of a challenge to fight a duel with Rice Jones. After the parties had taken their position in the field, the pistol of Jones, a hair-trigger, was acci- dentally discharged. Bond's second promptly declared it a fire, and insisted upon the right of his principal to return it. But Bond, with characteristic magnanimity, at once exclaimed "it was an accident," and refused to take advantage of a purely technical right, even at the hazard of his life, declaring that Jones was entitled to the stipulated shot. This magnanimity on the part of Bond led to an honorable adjustment of the quarrel .*
Gov. Bond had been a member of the territorial legislatures of Ohio and Indiana, a captain in the war of 1812, and was the first delegate elected to Congress from Illinois Territory, taking his seat Dec. 3, 1812. The latter position he resigned in 1814, to accept the appointment of receiver of public moneys; when he removed from his farm in St. Clair (now Monroe) County to another just west of Kaskaskia, on which, in sight of that ancient village, he erected a large, and as was thought at that time, palatial brick-residence, where he spent the remain- ing years of his life.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.