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 41
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Ever since the abandonment of the internal-improvement system, and consequent cessation of operations on the various public works, the State had been passing through a remarkable period of financial depression. Individual enterprise had been paralyzed, and all improvements undertaken on private account had been discontinued. "The channels of trade had been obstructed, and the vitality of business seemed almost extinct." To add to the accumulating public distress the State Bank in February, 1842, followed by the Shawneetown bank in June, "exploded with a great crash." The paper of these institutions -over $3,000,000 of which was in circulation, and which had before been at a discount of 12 to 15 per cent-soon depreci- ated until it was worth only fifty cents on the dollar. The tide of immigration ceased to flow into the State, and there could hardly be found sufficient money to pay taxes. Produce could not be sold for cash at any price, and was valuable to the owner only as a sort of circulating medium available in trade. The following were the "market prices" in central Illinois for leading articles, namely: wheat 40 to 50 cents per bushel, corn 10 to 12, pork $1.50 per hundred. It required forty pounds of butter (selling at from 5 to 8 cents per pound) to buy the farmer's wife a calico dress of eight yards-the usual size of the pattern at that time - the price being from 1834 to 371/2 cents per yard; twenty-five dozen of eggs would only purchase one dollar's worth of coffee, five pounds. Ten bushels of corn would scarcely outweigh in value eight pounds of sugar, and the hog
452
ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
had to be a large one that would liquidate the price of a pair of boots.
Everything was sold on a long credit, generally understood to be twelve months, unless otherwise specified, and the mer- chant who could not command sufficient capital or credit to carry his stock of goods a year had to go out of business. Everybody was in debt, and there was only "produce" to pay with, at these starvation prices. The newspapers were filled with notices of bankruptcy and of sales by trustees and sheriffs. Such was the financial condition of the people, who found them- selves confronted with the necessity of meeting obligations, public and private, apparently overwhelming.
Although it had been intended, and with some confidence expected, that the measures adopted at the last session would provide a sufficient sum to meet accruing interest until the meeting of the present general assembly, they had entirely failed to produce that result. The actual current revenue, owing to the low valuations of property, was not half the amount counted upon, and such had been the depreciation of State securities that it was not thought advisable to place any of them on the market after July, 1841, to which time only interest had been paid.
The message of Gov. Carlin was delivered Dec. 7, and that of his successor on the day following. Owing to the lack of any proper system in keeping State accounts, they differed in their statements of the amount of the State debt, excluding estimates of interest due, $1,350,969, Gov. Ford's being the larger, and neither correct. The following table shows the amount as given by each governor and the true sum as sub- sequently ascertained and reported by Isaac N. Arnold, from the House Committee on Finance:
COMMITTEE.
To banks for stock -
CARLIN. $2,665,000
FORD. $2,665,000 6,014,749
$2,665,000
Internal improvements
5,614,197
6,014,749
Canal-debt
4,338,907
4,436,408 4,504,160
State-house - - 1 16,000
121,000
121,000
808,084
808,084
School, col., and sem. funds 808,085 Due State Bank, advanced 294, 190 Due Bank of Illinois -
294,190
369,998
453
GOV. CARLIN'S VALEDICTORY MESSAGE.
Due for surplus revenue (counted twice) 477,919
$13,836,379 $15,187,348 $14,112,993
Add amount due banks not included by committee 664,188
14,777,18I
Interest due January 1, 1843 - 880,769
Total debt and interest due January 1, 1843 $15,657,950
Gov. Carlin and his advisers had evidently grappled with the problem presented to them with unsatisfactory results. A review of the State's resources in view of the financial strin- gency convinced him, humiliating as the admission was, to use his own words, "that neither from taxation nor any other source" could any provision be made for the payment of interest on the State debt. Such was the unpopularity of the raising of money for this purpose by taxation, he felt compelled to recommend that further efforts in that direction be abandoned.
In the draft of his message which he had read to Gov. Ford, he recommended the adoption of legislation conciliatory and favorable to the banks. It also contained a paragraph in which he urged the repeal of bank charters, but this he informed his successor he had decided not to include therein. But the press- ure of party leaders overcame his convictions, and very much to the surprise and embarrassment of Gov. Ford the message was delivered as it had been originally prepared, recommending repeal.
Under the act of congress of 1841, distributing the proceeds of the public lands among the several states, the share of Illinois was $46,289. As this was an anti-democratic measure, Gov. Carlin argued against its acceptance by Illinois -the example of other states being cited as a precedent-notwith- standing its need of funds. But at the same time he com- mended the action of congress in donating, by the provisions of the same law, public lands to certain states-the portion of Illinois being 210,135 acres. That is, it was "just and proper" for the United States to give away her lands, but not the money arising from their sale. Gov. Carlin was even desirous of receiving still further donations from congress to aid in the completion of the canal; and while he could see no
454 .
ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
means at hand which could be applied to this work, he was opposed to its entire abandonment.
Gov. Ford had been elected as the democratic candidate, on the supposition that not having been in any sense a party leader he would acquiesce in the new doctrine of "measures not men," and be willing to subject himself to the dictation of party cau- cuses. But, as the leaders soon discovered, the governor had a policy of his own, and while he was not unwilling to consult with them on all suitable occasions, whenever, as frequently happened, they undertook to outline the course which they required him to pursue, whether he considered it best or not, he very coolly informed them that he believed the returns showed the fact that he had been elected governor. His inau- gural message was consequently his own production, and ex- pressed his own views, which he persistently maintained. Taking strong ground in favor of paying every dollar of the State debt, including interest, after showing the inability of the State to meet its obligations through violent and spasmodic exertions to raise money by taxation, and the sacrifices which would inevitably have to be made by attempting to realize any considerable sums from the sale of its lands and other property, he recommended that the legislature should in some appropriate manner assure our creditors that in due time funds should be raised by moder- ate taxation to pay its debts in full, and that the disgrace of repudiation was not countenanced by the people. As a further evidence of our sincerity he proposed to offer to our creditors, at fair and reasonable prices, the lands donated to the State by the general government, and the railroads finished and unfin- ished, with their appurtenances.
He also recommended that means should be adopted to complete the canal on a smaller and more economical plan; and that the banks should be required to resume specie pay- ments, or that failing therein, proper steps be taken to wind them up, and that especially some arrangement should be made with them for the exchange of the stock owned by the State for the bonds held by the banks.
The condition of the State finances at this time, while no worse than it had been, was bad enough. The ordinary expenses of the government were $170,000 per annum, and its ordinary
455
ELECTION OF UNITED-STATES SENATOR.
receipts only a little over $140,000-the State having by this time incurred an indebtedness on this account alone of $313,000. Auditor's warrants were selling at fifty cents on the dollar, State- bonds brought but fourteen cents on the dollar, and there was not enough ready cash in the treasury to pay the postage account of the executive department, for which the postmaster refused to grant credit to the State.
Public men of all parties stood appalled by the financial problems which confronted them. No one could foresee what would be the popular or the most advisable solution. The two great political parties were watching each other with eager eyes, hoping to make capital and command success out of the mistakes of each other. At the democratic State convention in June, a resolution against repudiation was laid on the table; and such was the uncertainty of action and lack of fixedness of purpose, that there is no doubt that Gov. Ford was correct in saying that he had it in his power to make Illinois a repudiating State-at least for the time being. Fortunately for the good name and prosperity of the commonwealth he had no such wish or intention.
Preliminary, however, to entering upon the consideration of measures relating to State policy was the settlement of the contest for a United - States senator to succeed Judge Young. This was brought to an issue in the democratic caucus Dec. 9, -the candidates being Judges Breese, Douglas, and Young, and Mr. McClernand. After a stormy session, lasting from seven o'clock p.m. until one o'clock a.m., Judge Breese was successful on the nineteenth ballot, by the narrow margin of one majority, he receiving 56 votes, Douglas 52, and McClernand 3. He was elected in joint session December 18 by a strictly party vote - the whigs supporting Archibald Williams - and the ballot standing 108 to 49, with three scattering.
Sidney Breese was born in Whitesborough, Oneida County, New York, July 15, 1800, and graduated from Union College in 1818. Soon afterward he immigrated to Illinois, arriving at Kaskaskia, December 24 of that year, where he read law with E. K. Kane. Previously to his election as senator he had served as postmaster at Kaskaskia, as state's attorney, (1822-27), as United-States district-attorney, appointed by President Adams,
1
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456
ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
as a lieutenant-colonel in the Black- Hawk War, and as a judge of the circuit and supreme courts. He had been also an unsuccessful candidate for the legislature and congress. He was married at Kaskaskia in 1823, to Eliza, daughter of William Morrison. He was a close student, and had evinced conspicu- ous ability as a lawyer and judge.
The legislative election for state officers and judges occurred on Jan. 14, 1843, and resulted as follows: James Shields auditor of public accounts, Milton Carpenter treasurer, James Semple- vice Sidney Breese elected United - States senator, Richard M. Young-vice Theophilus W. Smith resigned, and John M. Rob- inson-vice Thomas Ford elected governor, as members of the supreme court.
The attention of the law-makers was also turned aside from the great business before them by the consideration of a peti- tion from Jo Daviess County praying for the removal of Judge Thomas C. Browne "for the want of capacity to discharge the duties of his office." A week's time was consumed by the supporters of the petition in a fruitless effort, the charges and specifications against the judge being finally dismissed by a nearly unanimous vote. Although a whig he was able to com- mand very strong support from leading democrats, who re- garded the attack upon him as a persecution set on foot by disappointed attorneys.
The work of the session now began in earnest, and after a thorough discussion of the various financial measures proposed relating to the bank, canal, the State debt, and the payment of interest, the following were adopted:
I. The passage of the compromise bill drawn by the gov- ernor, requiring the State Bank to go into liquidation, and for the surrender of State-bonds to the amount of $2,050,000 in exchange for the same amount of bank stock to be delivered up by the State. A similar law was passed relating to the Bank of Illinois at Shawneetown, and providing for the surren- der of State indebtedness to the amount of one million dollars.
2. An act for the completion of the canal and the payment of the canal-debt; by which the governor was authorized to negotiate a loan of $1,600,000 on the credit of the canal, its tolls, revenue, and lands.
457
RELIEF MEASURES AND LAWS.
3. An act providing for the acceptance of the distributive share of the State of the proceeds of the sales of public lands, the opposition of Gov. Carlin and other democrats to the con- trary notwithstanding.
4. For the redemption of the bonds amounting to $913,215 hypothecated with Macallister and Stebbins as a pledge for the $261,500 advanced by them to pay interest.
5. Appointing the governor fund commissioner and author- izing that officer, together with the auditor, to collect, have appraised, and sell at public auction, the railroads and other property belonging to the State.
6. Providing for a tax of twenty cents on one hundred dollars worth of property, to be collected in gold or silver; and, finally, a resolution, which fully recognized the moral and legal obligation of the State to discharge "punctually every debt contracted by any authorized agent for a good and valuable consideration and that the revenues and resources of the State shall be appropriated for that purpose so soon as they can be made available."
Other laws of general interest were passed at this session as follows:
To re-district the State into seven congressional districts.
An act to establish a system for the registration of births and deaths.
An act making the secretary of state librarian, and pro- viding for the use and care of the books, which, in its principal features, has been continued in all the revised statutes to the present time.
An act regulating the sale of property on judgments and executions, providing for the appraisement of property levied on, and that it should not be sold unless two - thirds of the appraised value was bid therefor.
Companies were chartered to complete the Central and Northern-Cross railroads, but the incorporators failing to com- ply with the terms imposed by the State, the same became inoperative.
By the adoption of the financial measures above enumerated the State debt on account of the banks was reduced $3,050,000. As a further result, auditor's warrants soon came to be worth
458
ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
ninety cents, and State-bonds 40 to 45 cents on the dollar. The banks in liquidation gradually retired their depreciated circulation, replacing it with specie and currency of solvent banks.
The relations between Gov. Ford and Lyman Trumbull, secretary of state, had been unfriendly for some time, owing to a difference of opinion on certain executive measures; and on March 4, Thompson Campbell was nominated to the senate as his successor. Mr. Trumbull, while looked upon by the whigs as a strong partisan, was also regarded by them, and indeed generally, as an "able, efficient, and obliging" officer. Accord- ingly the governor found it difficult to secure the confirma- tion of his nominee. At first, indeed, he was rejected, but upon a reconsideration of the vote he was confirmed by barely one majority-20 to 19. As soon as the news of the action of the governor had reached the house, Mr. McClernand, the democratic leader of that body, as a salve to the political wounds which had been inflicted, introduced a series of resolu- tions, which were agreed to without opposition, recognizing the right of each governor to nominate a secretary of state and his power to remove him from office; and tendering the thanks of the house to "His Excellency, Governor Thomas Ford," and Lyman Trumbull, secretary of state, and the other State officers "for their efficient, zealous, and patriotic efforts to promote the honor and interests of the State and people."
On the same day, March 4, Gen. W. L. D. Ewing was in joint session elected auditor in the place of James Shields, resigned. The session adjourned March 6.
The whig national convention which assembled at Baltimore, May 1, 1844, nominated Henry Clay as a candidate for presi- dent by acclamation. Theodore Frelinghuysen was nominated for vice-president. At the democratic convention which met in the same city, May 27, James K. Polk received the nomination on the ninth ballot for president, and Silas Wright for vice- president. The latter having declined the honor, George M. Dallas was subsequently selected for that position. James G. Birney and Thomas Morris were the candidates for president and vice-president, respectively, of the liberals or abolitionists, nominated at Buffalo, Aug. 30, 1843.
459
THE FOURTEENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY.
The democrats achieved their greatest national victory in their defeat of "Harry of the West," and again carried the State of Illinois by a largely increased majority, that for Mr. Polk being 12,290. The fourteenth general assembly convened December 2. The senate stood 26 democrats to 15 whigs- in the house the democrats numbered 80 and the whigs 39. Ninian W. Edwards and E. B. Webb, formerly of the house, now appeared in the senate, as did Norman B. Judd, Joel A. Matteson, Michael Ryan, Robert Boal, Willis Allen, and John D. Whiteside. In the house, Arnold, Churchill, Stephen T. Logan, Manning, Gregg, S. G. Hicks, Kuykendall, Pickering, Richardson, Starne, and Yates were again returned, and for the first time, George W. Armstrong, David Davis, Anson S. Miller, J. L. D. Morrison, Lewis W. Ross, Francis C. Sherman, W. S. Wilkinson, and N. D. Strong.
Wm. A. Richardson was elected speaker, receiving 73 votes to 37 cast for Stephen T. Logan; Newton Cloud clerk of the house; Merritt L. Covell secretary of the senate, and Wm. C. Murphy, for the third time, sergeant-at-arms.
Mr. Richardson had previously served in both houses of the legislature, and being fitted by experience as well as natural aptitude, filled the office of speaker with distinguished honor and credit.
United-States Senator Samuel McRoberts having died March 27, 1843, James Semple was appointed in his place from the supreme court, August 16. He received the democratic caucus nomination, and was duly elected in joint session December II, to fill out the term, receiving 100 votes to 47 cast for John J. Hardin, then a member of congress from the seventh district.
James Semple was a native of Green County, Kentucky, where he was born Jan. 5, 1798. His parents came from Virginia, and were descendants of an old Scotch family of Renfrewshire. He received only a common-school education, and learned the trade of tanner and currier. This being unsuited to his tastes, he decided to study law in Louisville. He first im- migrated to this State in 1818, and in 1822 removed to Chariton, Mo., where he was admitted to the bar. In 1828, he returned to Illinois and settled in Edwardsville, where he entered upon the successful practice of his profession. Being six feet three inches
460
ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
in height, he was distinguished for his personal presence and bearing. He was a brigadier-general in the Black-Hawk war, and, as has already appeared, served three successive terms in the general assembly having been twice elected speaker of the house. In 1837, he was appointed minister to Santa Fé de Bogota or New Grenada, now Columbia, S. A. Returning home in 1842, he was soon after elected to the supreme court, and was transferred thence to the senate.
After the expiration of his congressional term in 1847, he became so disgusted with the prevarications, trickery, and dem- agogism with which the life of a politician seemed to him to be inseparably .connected, that he determined to withdraw from public life and devote his time to the prosecution of his large private business.
He laid out the town of Elsah in Jersey County, and pur- chased a large estate on the bluffs of the Mississippi just south of it, where he passed the evening of his life surrounded by the comforts and enjoyments of a home beautiful for situation and adorned by tasteful art.
He was careful in business, straightforward and upright in his dealings, affectionate in all his family relations, and kindly and sociable with his neighbors. His public life was character- ized by unswerving rectitude and faithful service. He died at his home December 20, 1866 .*
The financial measures passed at the last session, with the exception of those relating to the banks, were valuable rather on account of their moral effect than for the material benefits produced by them. The canal bond-holders had not been suffi- ciently advised in regard to the amount of the canal debt and value of the property to justify further advances without mak- ing a special investigation.
Sales of the public lands were not effected so readily as had been anticipated. Of the 210,000 acres donated by congress under the distribution law, and the 42,000 acres owned by the State under the internal-improvement system offered for sale, only 19,938 acres, producing the sum of $73,199 in bonds and scrip, had been sold.
* Since his decease, his daughter, Mrs. Lucy V. Semple Ames, of St. Louis, has erected a splendid mansion on the paternal estate, where she resides a portion of the time; his son, Eugene Semple, is now the governor of Washington Territory.
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James Semple
461
ILLINOIS-AND-MICHIGAN CANAL.
Compliance with the law providing for the refunding of the Macalister-and-Stebbins bonds was found impossible because the bonds had been re-hypothecated by the firm to raise the money advanced by them, and were beyond their control.
The revenue law of the last session had not produced a sufficient sum to liquidate indebtedness incurred for ordinary expenses; and the State treasury had nothing left therefrom with which to pay interest.
At this session a supplemental canal bill was passed, under which the governor was enabled to complete the negotiation of a loan of $1,600,000, and that property was transferred to trustees.
It having now become apparent that something more deci- sive must be attempted than the mere utterance of vaporous and intangible declarations against repudiation, it was finally determined to pass another revenue law by which was imposed the collection of a tax of three mills on each dollar's valuation of property for 1845, and three and one-half mills thereafter; and the proceeds of one mill of this tax for 1845, and one and one-half mills for 1846 and "forever thereafter" should be "set apart and sacredly held for the payment of interest on the State debt." *
The idea of connecting the waters of Lake Michigan with those of the Illinois River by a canal passing through that invisible but no less actual dividing line upon which the accum- ulating waters pause to determine whether they will find their way to the Gulf of St. Lawrence or to that of Mexico, occurred to the earliest explorers of the Northwest; the first to suggest it having been Louis Joliet in 1673.
The attention of congress was first directed toward it as a connecting link between the east and west in an able report on roads and canals by Albert Gallatin, secretary of the treasury,
* The amount of the State-debt, not including the school-fund, Jan. 1, 1845, as reported by the governor, was as follows :
Illinois - and - Michigan Canal debt -
$4,741,783
Internal improvement, bank stock, and state-house
6,712,886
Total $11,454,669
Upon which no interest had been paid since July 1, 1841. The amount of interest now due being $2,323, 199. The assessed value of real estate for 1844 in the State was $50,989,854; and of personal property, $16,473,056.
462
ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
April 4, 1808 .* It was subsequently referred to by A. B. Woodward in a report to the Michigan territorial legislature on internal navigation in January, 1812;+ and was favorably men- tioned in Niles' Register in an editorial on "resources and improvements," Aug. 6, 1814.
It was the subject of frequent discussion up to 1816, at which time, with a view to the ultimate construction of such a work, Governors Edwards of this State, and Clark of Missouri, and Col. A. Chouteau, as United-States commissioners, made a treaty with the Indians, by which the latter ceded a tract of land ten miles wide along the proposed route extending from Lake Michigan to the Illinois River. In a report to congress, Jan. 19, 1819, Mr. Calhoun, the secretary of war, made favor- able mention of a canal from "the Illinois River to Lake Michigan which the growing population of the State renders very important" and which would be "valuable for military purposes." § In December of the same year, he transmitted to congress the reports of Major Stephen H. Long of the corps of topographical engineers (dated March 4, 1817) and one made by Richard Graham and Chief-Justice Joseph Phillips of Illinois, in both of which the practicability and importance of the improvement is strongly commended. ||
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