USA > Illinois > Illinois in 1818, 2nd ed > Part 17
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103 Ford, History of Illinois, 38-40.
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"On Monday, the 18th, Jesse Walker, J. Patterson, and myself set out for the Massac camp-meeting, to be held at the Rock and Cave, on the Ohio River. We traveled this day in an easterly direction, through a generally uninhabited country and almost pathless woods, thirty-two miles, to Thomas Standard's, where a congregation, previously notified by Brother Patterson, awaited our arrival. The exercises of the evening were thrillingly inter- esting, and continued till midnight. About noon the next day we separated, still tending onward in devious paths to hold night- meetings six or eight miles apart, to meet again the next day, probably again to part for the night, to hold as many meetings as our numbers and the localities of the neighborhood would admit of. On Friday, the 22d, we arrived at the camp-ground. Services commenced immediately upon our arrival, and during the entire progress of the meeting we had precious seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord, several conversions, and many accessions to the Church. Brother J. Johnson was with us one of the nights, and preached for us. This meeting broke on Monday. Brother Walker closed the services with an interesting discourse ; but Monday night found him several miles on his way to his next appointment, again holding forth to a large congregation in Proctor's meeting-house. But to particu- larize his labors would swell this account to too great an extent. Suffice it to say that, crossing the Big Wabash near its mouth, we ascended that river in the then Territory of Indiana, crossed the Black River, Patoka and White Rivers, to Brother Johnson's, about twelve miles from Vincennes. By the next Friday, April 29th, the quarterly-meeting for Vincennes Circuit was held. It was a time of power, and closed Monday morning. We made a short travel that day of six or eight miles, and held a night- meeting at Dr. Messick's; the next day, noon, at Harrington's Tavern; at night at Anthony Griffin's, on Black River. We recrossed the Wabash, and commenced the Wabash Quarterly- meeting, Friday, May 6th, at Brother Hannah's, in a block-house, from which our next appointment was one hundred and seventy or eighty miles south-west across the Mississippi, to New Madrid Circuit, Missouri Territory, commencing Friday, the 13th;
JOHN MASON PECK [From picture owned by Illinois State Historical Library]
FOOT-WARMER USED IN THE CHURCHES OR OTHER PLACES WHERE THERE WAS NO FIRE [Original in Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis
T
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SOCIAL CONDITIONS
thence sixty miles north to Cape Girardeau Circuit, May 20th. At both these appointments, and all subsequent to them through the Summer, camp-meetings were held, the necessity for which grew out of the fact that no one-room, or even two-room, log- cabin (and we had no other sort of houses) was capable of enter- taining one-half or even one-fourth of Jesse Walker's quarterly- . meetings; for his regular Sabbath congregations collected, far and near, from ten, twenty, or thirty miles around, to these attractive centers of religious services. From Cape Girardeau Brother Walker proceeded, by himself, to hold a camp and quar- terly meeting on Saline Circuit, commencing Friday, 27th; on the Maramec Circuit, June 3d; Cold Water, 10th; and Missouri Circuit, June 17th; to which appointment, following the cir- cuitous route he had to travel, it was upwards of two hundred miles north; and here, on Monday, the 20th of June, he con- cluded his second round of meetings, about eighty miles north- west of home, and sixty from Goshen, the commencement of this round, where he again preached in returning to his family, there to enjoy a few day's respite, to repair his itinerant gear, and prepare for the still more extensive operations of the Summer campaign, under the more favorable auspices of shallow streams, better roads, longer days, and the sweltering fervor of a July sun.
"Such labors as I have recounted would, in these times of good roads, bridged waters, wealthy friends, comfortable accommoda- tions, and table luxuries, be deemed great ; but the circumstances under which Jesse Walker performed them were characterized by difficulties, dangers, privations, and sufferings almost incon- ceivable in the present improved state of things. Our roads were narrow, winding horse-paths, sometimes scarcely perceptible, and frequently for miles no path at all, amid tangled brushwood, over fallen timber, rocky glens, mountainous precipices; through swamps and low grounds, overflowed or saturated with water for miles together, and consequently muddy, which the breaking up of the Winter and the continued rains gave a continued supply of; the streams some of them large and rapid, swollen to over- flowing, we had to swim on our horses, carrying our saddle-bags
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on our shoulders. It was a common occurrence, in our journey- ing, to close our day's ride drenched to the skin by continually descending rains, for which that Spring was remarkable. Our nights were spent, not in two but in one room log-cabins, each generally constituting our evening meeting-house, kitchen, nurs- ery, parlor, dining and bed room,-all within the dimensions of sixteen feet square, and not unfrequently a loom occupying one- fourth of it, together with spinning-wheels and other apparatus for manufacturing their apparel-our congregations requiring our services till ten or twelve o'clock; our supper after dismis- sion, not of select, but of just such aliment as our hospitable entertainers could provide (for hospitable, in the highest sense of the word, they were) ; corn-cakes, fried bacon, sometimes butter, with milk or herb-tea, or some substitute for coffee. At the Rock and Cave camp-meeting, the measles being very preva- lent in the congregation, I took them. Very high fevers were the first symptom; but, unconscious of the cause and nature of my affliction, I continued traveling through all weathers for upwards of two weeks, before the complaint developed its character. My stomach became very delicate, and through a populous part of our journey I inquired for coffee at every house we passed, and was invariably directed to Mr. L.'s, several miles ahead, as the only probable place for the procurement of the grateful beverage. On making known my wants to Mrs. L., she searched and found a few scattered grains at the bottom of a chest, of which she made us two cupfuls.
"We have sometimes sat in the large fire-place, occupying the entire end of a log cabin, and plucked from out the smoke of the chimney above us pieces of dried and smoked venison, or jerk, the only provision the place could afford us, and the only food the inmates had to sustain themselves, till they could obtain it by the cultivation of the soil. Our horses fared worse, in muddy pens, or tied up to saplings or corners of the cabin, regaled with the refuse of the Winter's fodder, sometimes (when we could not restrain over-liberality) with seed-corn, purchased in Ken- tucky at a dollar per bushel, and brought in small quantities, according to the circumstances of the purchaser, one hundred miles or more at some expense and trouble. This, when they
CAIRO [From Wild, Valley of the Mississippi (1841), owned by Chicago Historical Society
Truly yours
Gershon et 0
[From copy in possession of Illinois State Historical Library]
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SOCIAL CONDITIONS
had it, our remonstrances to the contrary could not prevent being pounded in mortars to make us bread. Our lodgings were on beds of various qualities, generally feather-beds, but not unfre- quently fodder, chaff, shucks, straw, and sometimes only deer- skins, but always the best the house afforded, either spread on the rough puncheon floor before the fire ( from which we must rise early to make room for breakfast operations), or on a patched-up platform attached to the wall, which not unfrequently would fall down, sometimes in the night, with its triplicate burden of three in a bed. Such incidents would occasion a little mirth among us, but we would soon fix up and be asleep again. Now, I would here remark, that many of these privations could have been avoided by keeping a more direct course from one quarterly- meeting to another, and selecting, with a view to comfort, our lodging-places. But Brother Walker sought not personal com- fort so much as the good of souls, and he sought the most desti- tute, in their most retired recesses, and in their earliest settle- ments."194
In spite of the tremendous exertions of the pioneer preachers, many of the remote settlements must have been practically devoid of religious observances, and even in the older settlements the influence of occasional visitations, however inspiring they might be, was often lacking in permanence. "The American inhabit- ants in the Vilages," wrote John Messinger in 1815, "appear to have very little reverence for christianity or serious things in any point of view."19 Reynolds is authority for the statement that, "in early times, in many settlements of Illinois, Sunday was observed by the Americans only as a day of rest from work. They generally were employed in hunting, fishing, getting up their stock, hunting bees, breaking young horses, shooting at marks, horse and foot racing and the like. When the Americans were to make an important journey they generally started on Sunday and never on Friday-they often said 'The better the day the better the deed.' "196
104Leaton, Methodism in Illinois, 110-115, 15I.
195 Messinger to Lee, June 30, 1815, Messinger manuscripts. 196Reynolds, My Own Times, 80.
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In view of the inadequate facilities for educational and reli- gious developments, the mental quality of the Illinois pioneers was surprisingly high, according to the recollections of Robert W. Patterson. "But in spite of the prejudices and illiteracy of many of our early citizens," he states, "they were by no means an un- thinking people, their minds were stimulated by the necessity of invention imposed upon them by their peculiar circumstances ; by the political discussions in which they became interested from one election to another ; by the moral questions that were debated among them; and, above all, by the religious discourses to which they often listened, and the controversies between the adherents of different sects, in which almost everybody sympathized with one party or another. It was surprising to find men and women of little or no reading, ready to defend their opinions on almost every subject, with plausible, and sometimes exceedingly forcible, reasons. Women, especially, were even more accustomed then than now to discuss grave questions which required thought and provoked earnest reflection. Often a woman of unpromising appearance and manners would prove more than a match for a well-educated man in a religious dispute. In one sense the people were intelligent, while they had little of such knowledge as read- ers usually derive from books. Their intelligence consisted mainly in the results of reflection, and conversations one with another, and in varied information derived from their ancestors by tradition. In respect to knowledge of human nature and judgments upon the characters of men, they were far in advance of many who were learned in literature, science, art, and history ; and, accordingly, many men of inferior education in those days competed successfully with rivals who had enjoyed the best early advantages. This was often witnessed in the political conflicts of the times, and in the ministerial, legal, and medical profes- sion."
197Patterson, "Early Society in Southern Illinois," in Fergus Historical Series, no. 14:124-125.
CHAPTER VII
THE POLITICAL SITUATION
At the beginning of 1818 the region now included in the state of Illinois together with the extensive area to the northward stretching to the international boundary comprised the territory of Illinois. After the occupation of the French villages in the Illinois country by Virginia troops under George Rogers Clark, the region was organized as a county of Virginia,198 but in 1784 Virginia ceded her claims to the federal government. The act by which this cession was accomplished contained one clause of great importance for the future of the Illinois country. This provided, "that the French and Canadian inhabitants, and other settlers of the Kaskaskies, Saint Vincents, and the neighboring villages, who have professed themselves citizens of Virginia, shall have their possessions and titles confirmed to them, and be pro- tected in the enjoyment of their rights and liberties."199 At the moment this provision confirmed to the inhabitants their titles to a few negro slaves ; in future years it was to be invoked as a guarantee of the institution of slavery in the state.
The claims of other states to jurisdiction over the northwest also having been surrendered to the federal government, the con- gress of the confederation, as one of its last acts, passed the Ordi- nance of 1787, by which was organized the "territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio."200 This ordinance laid the foundation of the American colonial or territorial system; and the political and governmental conditions in Illinois territory cannot be understood without a consideration of its
198 Alvord, Cahokia Records, LII.
199 Thorpe, Constitutions, 2:956. 200 Ibid., 2:957-962.
(181)
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essential provisions. The government of the territory was vested for the time being in a governor, a secretary, and three judges, to be appointed by congress.201 The governor and judges sitting as a legislature were authorized to adopt such laws of the original states as might be necessary ; the governor singly was given the power to appoint all local magistrates and other civil officers and also all militia officers below the rank of general officers, the last being appointed by con- gress. It will thus be seen that the people of the territory were given no voice whatever in their government, either general or local. This was only a temporary arrangement ; whenever there should "be five WOOL CARDER [Original owned by William Wilkinson, Roodhouse] thousand free male inhabitants, of full age, in the district" a legislature was to be established consisting of the governor, rep- resentatives elected by the freeholders, and a council of five members selected by congress from ten nominated by the terri- torial house of representatives. This legislature was to have authority to make laws not repugnant to the ordinance; but to the governor was given the power to convene, prorogue, and dis- solve the legislature, as well as an absolute veto over all its acts. The legislature, by joint ballot, was to elect a delegate to con- gress, who should have the right to speak but not to vote. Among the qualifications required of members of the legislature was the possession of a freehold of two hundred acres of land for a rep- resentative and five hundred for a councilor.
The last section of the ordinance consisted of six "articles of compact, between the original States and the people and States in the said territory" which were forever to "remain unalter- able, unless by common consent." It should be noted, however,
201When the new government under the constitution was established, it was provided that the appointments should be made by the president instead of by congress. Thorpe, Constitutions, 2:963-964.
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THE POLITICAL SITUATION
that this was a one-sided compact, as the consent of the people residing in the district was never asked or secured. Two of these articles are of special significance in connection with a study of Illinois in 1818. One of these, the fifth, provided that "there shall be formed in the said territory not less than three, nor more than five States." The boundary between the two western states was to be the Wabash as far north as "Post Vin- cents" and thence a direct line drawn from the Wabash and "Post Vincents," due north, to the territorial line between the United States and Canada. Should the establishment of more than three states seem expedient, congress was to "have au- thority to form one or two States in that part of the said terri- tory which lies north of an east and west line drawn through the southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan." Each of these states was to be admitted into the union whenever there should be sixty thousand free inhabitants within its limits.
The most famous feature of the ordinance was that con- tained in the sixth of the articles of compact, which provided that "there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory, otherwise than in punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted." This would seem to be a positive prohibition of the continuance of slavery northwest of the Ohio; but, in view of the guarantee in the Vir- gina act of cession, it was interpreted from the beginning as applying only to the future introduction of slavery; and slaves continued to be held in the region for half a century.
The government provided for by the ordinance was estab- lished at Marietta in 1788 and two years later it was extended to the Illinois country, which was organized as St. Clair county. Knox county, formed the same year with its seat at Vincennes, included the eastern half of what is now the state of Illinois.202 In 1795 Randolph county was established from the southern part of St. Clair. In accordance with the provisions of the ordi- nance, all the officials in these counties were appointed by the
202In 1801 the boundaries of St. Clair and Randolph counties were ex- tended nearly to the Wabash, and the remainder of Knox county in what became Illinois was incorporated with them when the division took place in 1809. Illinois Blue Book, 1905, p. 376.
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governor. Aften ten years of rule by the governor and judges, the territory passed to the second grade; and the first legisla- ture met in Cincinnati in 1799. St. Clair and Randolph counties were rep- resented in the house by Shadrach Bond and John Edgar respectively. William Henry Harrison, recently ap- pointed secretary of the territory, was elected by this legislature as the dele- gate to congress and there in 1800 secured the passage of an act dividing the northwest territory and establish- ing the western part as Indiana terri- tory. He also secured his own appoint- ment as governor of the new territory. The provisions for the government of Indiana territory were practically identical with those contained in the Ordinance of 1787, with the exception that it might pass to the second grade = whenever the governor should be con- FLAX HACKLE [Original owned by William Wilkinson, Roodhouse] vinced that the majority of the people desired the change.
During the period from 1800 to 1809, when Illinois was a part of Indiana territory, the principal issues of a political char- acter were the passage to the second grade and the division of the territory; and inextricably bound up with these was the question of the admission of slavery. There is no evidence that national politics affected to any appreciable extent the politics of the territory during this period, but the people and their political leaders divided on the above issues and also to some extent into personal factions. The more influential of the new settlers in the Illinois country as well as the old French inhab- itants were strongly in favor of the repeal or at least the sus- pension of the slavery article in the ordinance, probably be- cause they believed it hampered the development of the territory. So early as 1796 a petition was sent to congress praying for the
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repeal of the article, signed by John Edgar, William Morrison, William St. Clair, and John Dumoulin, leading men in St. Clair and Randolph counties. These men professed to sign "for and on behalf of the inhabitants" of the counties and there is little doubt that they expressed the sentiments of a large majority of those inhabitants; but they presented no evidence to that effect and the petition was rejected.203
When Indiana territory was established it is probable that a majority of its inhabitants were in favor of a change in the slavery article. The Illinois people at once prepared another petition to congress praying for such a change and for the ex- tinction of the Indian title in southern Illinois. This document, dated October 1, 1800, bears 270 signatures, mostly French, but including the names of such leading Americans as John Edgar, John Rice Jones, William Morrison, Robert Morrison, and Shadrach Bond. The fact that congress ignored the petition was probably a factor in inducing the Illinois leaders the following year to agitate for advance to the second grade, in order that the territory might have a delegate to urge the desired measure in congress. In this action, however, they met with the opposi- tion of Governor Harrison who had no desire to give up so soon a part of his extensive power. The governor had a numerous coterie of followers in Knox county and by means of the pat- ronage exerted a powerful influence throughout the territory. He had little difficulty, therefore, in suppressing the movement by issuing a letter in which attention was called to the increased expenses which would be involved.
Harrison and his party differed with what may for conven- ience be called the Edgar and Morrison party as to methods rather than ends, for both factions were in favor of the in- troduction of more slaves. The method selected by the governor was the calling of an extralegal convention which met in Vin- cennes in 1802 and petitioned congress for a suspension of the
203 The best account of the politics of Indiana territory from 1800 to 1809 is in Dunn, Indiana, chs. 8-10. The originals of the petitions and memorials referred to below are in the House and Senate Files. Some of them have been printed in Indiana Historical Society, Publications, 2:447-529. See also Woollen, Biographical and Historical Sketches of Early Indiana, 4-5; Amer- ican State Papers, Miscellaneous, I :450, 467, 477, 484-485, 922, 945.
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slavery article for a term of ten years. Neither Edgar nor William Morrison were among the six Illinois men in this con- vention although Robert Morrison, a brother of William, was one of them. In the national house of representatives this peti- tion was referred to a committee, which through its chairman, John Randolph, presented an adverse report. In later sessions other committees reported in favor of suspension, but no action was ever taken.
Having failed in this direction the governor and judges pro- ceeded in 1803 to pass "A Law Concerning Servants" which provided that a person coming into the territory "under contract to serve another in any trade or occupation shall be compelled to perform such contract specifically during the term thereof." The purpose of this act was to introduce a form of slavery in the guise of indentured servitude, but the legislative powers of the governor and judges were so limited that the Harrison fac- tion executed an about face on the question of advancing to sec- ond grade; for it was believed that an unrestricted legislature could pass a more satisfactory indenture law. On August 4, 1804, therefore, the governor issued a proclamation for an election to be held September II to determine the wishes of the people on the subject.
Meanwhile the members of the Edgar and Morrison faction in Illinois, probably because of dissatisfaction with the distribution of the patronage, were becoming more and more hostile to the governor and his supporters, and in 1803 they grasped at what appeared to be an opportunity at once of escaping from his con- trol and of securing the coveted admission of slavery. Learning of the purchase of Louisiana, they prepared petitions asking congress to join the Illinois country to the new territory to be formed west of the river. Congress instead placed the new dis- trict of Louisiana temporarily under the governor and judges of Indiana territory but not as a part of that territory.
In spite of the advantages for the proslavery advocates which the advance to second grade offered, the Edgar and Mor- rison faction reversed their former position and opposed the change, apparently for no other reason than their hostility to the governor and his faction. They were able to carry St. Clair
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county against the measure, the vote being 22 to 59, but Harri- son's friends and appointees in Randolph, led by Dr. George Fisher and Pierre Menard, carried that county by a vote of 40 to 21. Knox county voted overwhelmingly for the change, but the attitude of Dearborn county in eastern Indiana, where all the 26 votes were cast against the measure, indicates the appearance of a new faction in Indiana politics, a faction strongly opposed to the introduction of slavery. The totals were 269 to 131, making a majority on the face of the returns of 138 in favor of the change. No election was held in Wayne county (De- troit) however, and the light vote cast would indicate that there was some truth in the charge that the whole affair was a snap election.
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