USA > Illinois > Pike County > Past and present of Pike County, Illinois > Part 2
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1813-Pre-emption act passed by Congress for Illinois.
1816-Ft. Dearborn rebuilt. Act establishing banks at Shawneetown and Edwards- ville.
1817-First steamboat, "The General Pike," as- cends the Mississippi above Cairo.
1818-April 18 .- Act of Congress enabling the people of Illinois to form a constitution and fixing the present northern bound-
ary. August. Constitutional conven- tion (elected in July) adopted and pro- claimed a constitution.
ILLINOIS A FRONTIER STATE, 1818-1848.
Sept. 17 .- First election of State officers. Octo- ber 5. First General Assembly met at Kaskaskia. October 6. Shadrach Bond inaugurated first governor of the State. December 3. Illinois formally admitted as a state.
1819-Legislature provides for the selection of a new capital.
1820-Removal of State offices to Vandalia.
1821-Legislature charters the State Bank of Il- linois.
1823-Legislature passes resolution for constitu- tional convention. December 9. State House destroyed by fire.
1824-August 2. Attempt of pro-slavery men to call a convention to amend the consti- tution defeated. November. Special session of the Legislature to amend the election law.
1825-First general school law enacted. Gen- eral LaFayette visits Illinois. Illinois and Michigan Canal association incor- porated.
1826-First steamboat began to ply on the Illi- nois river.
1827-Winnebago Indian scare near Galena. The building of penitentiary at Alton. First State institution. Congress makes a grant of land for Illinois-Michigan canal, in answer to a memorial from the State Legislature.
1829-Illinois college at Jacksonville founded. Law providing commissioners for the Illinois-Michigan canal. School laws of 1825 repealed.
1831-Congressional re-apportionment. Illinois gets three Congressmen.
1832-Black Hawk war.
1833-Chicago incorporated as a village. Its first newspaper, "The Democrat," pub- lished.
1835-Illinois, Shurtleff and McKendree colleges
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PAST AND PRESENT OF PIKE COUNTY.
incorporated. December 7. Special ses- sion of the Legislature to provide for a canal loan and to re-district the State. 1836-Old State house torn down and new one erected. September 8. Elijah P. Love- joy issues the first number of "The Ob- server," at Alton.
1837-February. Bill passed making Spring- field future capital. Internal improve- ment scheme. July 4. Corner stone of State House at Springfield laid. Panic of '37. Special session of the Legis- lature, July 10-22. November 7. Love- joy killed by pro-slavery mob at Alton. December 4. First Democratic conven- tion at Vandalia.
1838-Nov. 8. First locomotive in Illinois run on the Northern Cross Railroad.
1839-Completion of the Northern Cross Rail- road by the State. The first line in Il- linois. Act creating Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb at Jacksonville. April 9. First daily paper in the State issued, "The Daily American," of Chicago. Oc- tober 7. First Whig convention in the State. December 9. Special session of the Legislature at Springfield, the capi- tal having been removed there during the year.
1840-November. Special session of the Legis- lature to provide money for interest on State debt. Springfield incorporated as a city.
1841-$46,289.00 received from Congress as the share of Illinois from sale of public lands. Knox college opens.
1842-Call for constitutional convention is de- feated.
1843-Act of Legislature puts the State Bank and the Bank of Illinois into liquida- tion. State re-districted. Illinois gets seven congressmen.
1844-Legislature votes to submit call for con- stitutional convention. June 27. Joseph Smith killed by a mob while in jail at Carthage.
1846-Call for constitutional convention carried. Expulsion of the Mormons. Troops
leave Alton for the Mexican war. Lin- coln elected to the Thirtieth Congress. 1847-June 7. Second constitutional convention met at Springfield. Founding of the Il- linois State Hospital for the Insane at Jacksonville. First University of Chi- cago chartered.
THE ERA OF SECTIONAL CONFLICT, 1848-1870.
1848-New constitution ratified by the people. Wisconsin admitted as a state. In spite of Wisconsin's opposition, Congress confirmed the northern boundary of Il- linois as established by the enabling act of 1818. Illinois-Michigan canal com- pleted. First boat, "General Thornton," passes the entire length of the canal, April 23.
1849-Special session of Legislature charters In- stitution for the Blind at Jacksonville ; passes resolutions in favor of the "Wil- mot Proviso ;" enacts township organi- zation law.
1850-Congressional land grant for the Illinois Central Railroad.
1851-Completion of the Bloody Island dike, op. posite St. Louis. The Illinois Central Railroad Company incorporated. First geological survey provided for.
1852-June. Special session of Legislature en- acted laws relating to.swamp, seminary . and canal lands. Congressional re-ap- pointment. Illinois gets nine congress- men.
1853-January I. State debt reaches highest . point, $16,724,177. State Agricultural Society incorporated. First state fair held at Springfield. Act providing for the erection of an executive mansion. Sale of remaining lands of the State 1854-Special session of the Legislature re-ap- pointed the State for the General As- sembly and established the office of State Superintendent of Public Instruc- tion. Ninian W. Edwards appointed first superintendent.
1855-General education act ; basis of the pres- ent school system.
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PAST AND PRESENT OF PIKE COUNTY.
1856-May 29. State convention at Blooming- ton organizes the republican party in Il- linois. September. Completion of the Illinois Central Railroad from Cairo to East Dubuque.
1857-Building of State Penitentiary at Joliet. State Board of Education created. State Normal University at Normal estab- lished.
1858-Republican State convention nominated Lincoln for United States Senator. Lincoln-Douglas debate.
1859-Bill passed in relation to the "Canal Fraud."
1860-May 19. Lincoln nominated for presi- dent at the republican national conven- tion at Chicago. Elected November 6. 1861-General re-apportionment act. Illinois gets thirteen congressmen. April 15. Presi- dent Lincoln calls for yolunteers. April 16. First call for volunteers by Gover- nor Yates. April 19. Governor Yates takes military charge of Cairo. April 23. Special session of Legislature for war emergencies. April 26. Arms at St. Louis seized and transferred to Springfield. June 3. Death of Stephen A. Douglas. August. Logan resigns his seat in Congress and accepts com- mission as colonel. September 4. U. S. Grant takes command at Cairo. No- vember. Election of delegates to the constitutional convention.
1862-January 7. Third constitutional conven- tion met at Springfield. The constitu- tion it drafted was rejected by the peo- ple. Fall elections in Illinois go against the State and national administrations on the war issues.
1863-General Assembly adopts a hostile atti- tude toward the State and national ad- ministrations. February. House passes the "Armistice Resolutions." June 10. Governor Yates prorogues the Legisla- ture. June 17. Mass convention of democrats opposed to the war meets at Springfield. September 3. Union mass meeting at Springfield.
1864-March. Clash at Charleston between soldiers and citizens opposed to the war. August. Democratic national conven- tion at Chicago nominated George B. McClellan. November. Discovery of plot to liberate Confederate prisoners at Camp Douglas. Lincoln re-elected.
1865-Asylum for Feeble Minded Children at Jacksonville and the Soldiers' Orphans' Home at Normal established. Feb- ruary I. Illinois the first State to rati- fy the Thirteenth Amendment. April 14. Lincoln assassinated. May 5. Burial of Lincoln at Springfield.
1867-Legislative acts : Illinois ratifies the Four- teenth Amendment ; State Reformatory at Pontiac established; Erection of present State House provided for ; Es- tablishment of Illinois Industrial Uni- versity, now University of Illinois, at Urbana; State Board of Equalization created; Office of State Entomologist established. June. Special sessions provided for taxing banks and banking corporations and for the management of the State Penitentiary at Joliet.
1868-May. Republican National Convention at Chicago nominated U. S. Grant. No- vember. Call for constitutional con- vention carried by the people.
1869-Legislative acts: Fifteenth Amendment ratified; Lincoln and West Park boards created; Establishment of State Board of Charities; Northern Hospital for the Insane at Elgin and of the Southern Hospital for the Insane at Anna. De- cember 13. Fourth constitutional con- vention met at Springfield.
THE ERA OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, 1873-1901. 1870 .- Present constitution adopted in conven- tion May 13, ratified by the people July 2, in force August 8.
1871-Legislative acts: Railroad and Ware- house Commission created. October 9-10. Great Chicago fire. October 13. Special session of the Legislature to relieve the city of Chicago. October 20.
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PAST AND PRESENT OF PIKE COUNTY.
Governor Palmer protests against the use of United States troops in Chicago. 1872-Congressional and legislative reappor- tionment. Illinois gets nineteen con- gressmen.
1873-Legislative acts; Women allowed to hold office under the school law; Gov- ernor Oglesby elected Senator; bill to prevent discrimination in railroad rates ; bill to establish three cent railroad fares. 1874-State Board of Canal Commissioners created. July 14. Second great fire in Chicago.
1875-January I. New State house occupied ; asylum for Feeble-Minded Children re- moved to Lincoln.
1876- Illinois railroad sustained by the United States Supreme Court.
1877-Legislative acts: Palmer-Logan contest ; election of David Davis United States Senator; State Board of Health creat- ed; the State Commission of Claims es- tablished; appellate courts created ; ap- propriation for the completion of the State House. July 25. Beginning of the great railroad strike at Chicago.
1878- Amendment to the Constitution, giving the Legislature power to create drain- age districts.
1879-Creation of the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Board of Fish Commissioners ; tax- ing power of cities and villages limited. 1880-June. Republican national convention at Chicago nominated James A. Garfield ; greenback national convention nomi- nated James B. Weaver at Chicago; the power of Railroad and Warehouse Commission sustained by the Supreme Court of the United States.
1881-January. Last State bonds called in; the State debt practically extinguished. Legislative acts : Creation of the Board of Dental Examiners and the Board of Pharmacy ; pure food law.
1882-State and congressional re-apportion- ments; Illinois gets twenty congress- men.
1883-Legislative acts: Creation of State Min- ing Board and the office of State Inspec-
tor of Mines; "Harper High License Law."
1884-June. Republican national convention at Chicago nominated James G. Blaine. July. Democratic national convention at Chicago nominated Grover Cleveland. An amendment to the Constitution, per- mitting the Governor to veto items in appropriation bills.
1885-Legislative acts: Logan-Morrison sena- torial contest, Logan elected ; establish- ment of Soldiers' and Sailors' Home at Quincy; office of State Veterinarian and State Game Wardens; Illinois In- dustrial University becomes the Uni- versity of Illinois.
1886-Labor troubles: April. Railroad strike at East St. Louis. March. Strike at McCormick Harvester works. May 4. Anarchist riot, Haymarket square, Chi- cago. Trial and conviction of anarchists. Amendment to the Constitution, for- . bidding the contracting of convict labor. 1887-Legislative acts: Creation of Live Stock Commission and the Industrial Home for the Blind at Chicago; laws against conspiracy ; provision for Arbor day. Execution of Chicago Anarchists.
1888-Republican national convention at Chi- cago nominated Benjamin Harrison.
1889-Legislative acts: Establishment of Asy- lum for Insane Criminals at Chester ; State Horticultural Society, and Chicago Sanitary District ; a general school law with compulsory clauses, "The Ed- wards Law." Coal miners strike in La- Salle and adjoining counties.
1890-World's Columbian Exposition: Febru- ary. Congress selects Chicago as the site; special session of the Legislature to provide for the Columbian Exposi- tion ; amendment to the Constitution, enabling Chicago to issue five millions of five per cent. bonds for World's Fair purposes. New University of Chicago incorporated.
1891-Legislative acts: Palmer-Oglesby sena- torial contest ; Palmer elected by a com-
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PAST AND PRESENT OF PIKE COUNTY.
bination of democratic and F. M. B. A. votes ; anti-trust law ; legal rate of in- terest reduced to five per cent .; child labor law; Australian ballot system is adopted.
1892-October I. Chicago University opened. October 21. Dedication of World's Fair buildings.
1893-Legislative acts: Congressional and leg- islative re-apportionment ; Illinois gets twenty-two congressmen; modification of Edward's compulsory educational law; creation of the State Insurance Department, State Board of Factory Inspectors and State Home for Juve- nile Female Offenders. June 26. Gov- ernor Altgeld pardons the anarchists, Nebee, Fielden and Schwab. World's Columbian Exposition opened May I. Closed October 30.
1894-Labor .troubles: Pullman and American Railway Union strikes. State and Fed- eral troops called out. Protest by Gov- ernor Altgeld against the use of Fed- eral troops in Chicago.
1895-Legislative acts: Establishment of East- ern Normal School at .Charleston, the Northern Normal at DeKalb, Asylum for Incurable Insane at Bartonville and Farmer's institutes ; prison parole sys- tem adopted; inheritance tax law ; mu- nicipal civil service law. Special ses- sions, June 25 to August 2, provided additional revenue and established the State Board of Arbitration.
1896-July. Democratic national convention at Chicago nominated William Jennings Bryan and adopted the "Chicago Plat- form."
1897-Legislative acts: Establishment of State Board of Pardons. State Board of Ex- aminers of Architects, State Board of Examiners of Horseshoers ; second "Torrens Land Act" (first act of 1895 declared unconstitutional.)
mary election law; general revision of the revenue law. r.
1899-Legislative acts: "Juvenile Court Act ;" establishment of offices of State Food Commissioner and State Commissioner of Game; creation of Western Normal School at Macomb.
1900-Chicago drainage canal in operation ; wa- ter turned in January 2.
1901-Legislative acts. Senatorial and congres-, sional re-apportionment. Illinois gets twenty-five congressmen; the "Little Ballot Law ;" new primary election law.
THE CAPITALS AND CAPITOLS OF ILLINOIS.
Since its organization as a state, Illinois has had three capitals or seats of government, and five capitol buildings which were the property of the State-three at Vandalia and two at Spring- field. Of these five capitol buildings, three are still standing, one at Vandalia, now the court house of Fayette county, and two at Springfield, one the present court house of Sangamon county, and the other the present State capitol.
From the earliest occupation of the country until its organization as a state in 1818, a period of nearly 150 years, the seat of government was at, or in the near vicinity of, Kaskaskia.
During the occupation of the Illinois country by the French and their immediate successors, the British, the government was essentially mili- tary in character, and the seat of government was the principal fort or block house occupied as headquarters by the military commandant of the country. For a short time, about 1680, Fort Creve Couer, near the present site of Peoria, was the military headquarters of the country and the seat of government, so far as the country had a government and so far as that government re- quired a seat. But the "American Bottom" seemed to have greater attractions for the early French settlers than any other part of the im- perfectly explored country, and Kaskaskia soon thereafter became the metropolis of the country, the center of missionary effort among the Indians as well as military headquarters and seat of gov-
1898 -- Special session of the Legislature, Decem- ber, 1897. February, 1898. New pri- · ernment. In 1711, by royal decree of the king of
LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HINAUS.
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LINCOLN MONUMENT, SPRINGFIELD
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PAST AND PRESENT OF PIKE COUNTY.
France, the Illinois country ceased to be a de- pendency of Canada and was attached to the Dis- trict of Louisiana, the lieutenant commandant and acting governor still maintaining his head- quarters at Kaskaskia until the erection of Fort Chartres about twenty miles northwest of Kas- kaskia in 1720, which then became the seat of government and so continued during the remain- der of the French administration of affairs, and after the British occupation in 1765 until 1772. In this year the walls of the fort, yielding to the gradually encroaching waters of the Mississippi, tumbled into the river, and the military head- quarters and seat of government were trans- ferred once more to old Kaskaskia.
After the conquest of the country by the Vir- ginia troops in 1778 under Colonel George Rog- ers Clark, military headquarters were continued at Kaskaskia ; and when in 1778 Virginia created the "County of Illinois," including not only all the area of the present State, but that of Ohio and Indiana as well, Colonel John Todd, of Ken- tucky, was commissioned lieutenant command- ant, with his headquarters at Kaskaskia, and was acting governor of the entire region, which later (1787) was organized as the Northwest Ter- ritory.
From 1787 to 1800, while a part of the North- west territory, Marietta first, and Chillicothe and Cincinnati afterward, were the capitals of the territory, but Illinois retained its name and ident- ity as a county with its county seat at Kaskas- kia until 1790, when the name of the county was changed by Governor St. Clair, in honor of him- self, to St. Clair county, and the county seat was established at Cahokia. From this time until the organization of the territory in 1809, "Illinois" had no place upon the map and no legal status anywhere; and Kaskaskia ceased to be the seat of government, either civil or military, for terri- tory or county, until 1795, at which time St. Clair county was divided, Randolph being formed out of the southern portion. The county seat of the new county was fixed at Kaskaskia, where it re- mained until its removal to Chester in 1848.
In 1800, when Indiana territory was organized with General Harrison its first governor and . Vincennes its capital, the division of the Illinois
country into the two counties of St. Clair and Randolph, with their respective county seats at Cahokia and Kaskaskia, was continued; and in 1809, upon the organization of the Illinois terri- tory, the same division of counties was preserved and confirmed by proclamation of the acting gov- ernor. By the act of 1809 creating the territory, the name "Illinois" was officially restored to the country and the government re-established at its ancient seat at Kaskaskia.
During the territorial period of nine years and the first two years of statehood with the seat of government at Kaskaskia, it seems that no capi- tol building, assembly hall for the Legislature nor offices for the executive departments was ever owned by the territory or State. Nothing of the sort had been inherited by the common- wealth nor were any provisions made for such purchase or construction. Several of the early historians inform us that the first territorial leg- islature met (November 25, 1812) in a house formerly occupied by the military commandant during the French and English periods and de- scribe it as "a large, rough old building of uncut limestone, with steep roof and gables of un- painted boards, situated in the center of a square. The first floor, a large, low, cheerless room, was fitted up for the House (seven members) and a smaller room above for the Council (five mem- bers). The two houses had one doorkeeper in common and the twelve legislators constituting the assembly all boarded with the same family and lodged in the same room." However this may be, it appears from the acts of the several territorial legislatures and of the first General Assembly of the State, that each assembly held its session in a different building, or else that the rented "capitol" was continually changing own- ers. The appropriation bills of the various as- semblies show that, at the first session of the First Assembly, an appropriation was made (De- cember 26, 1812) "To Hugh H. Maxwell, agent for the heirs of Elijah Backus, deceased, for a house for the use of the Legislature during the present session, $1.00 per day for each day the same may have been occupied." At the second session of the same assembly no appropriation was made for house rent; but (December II,
.
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PAST AND PRESENT OF PIKE COUNTY.
1813), there was appropriated to "John Hogue used for legislative assemblies and executive of- for certain repairs done to the court house of fices, the first capitol of Illinois was located at Randolph county for the use of the Legislature - Vandalia. during the present session, $15.00," and "To Pierre Menard for plank furnished for repairs THE FIRST STATE CAPITOL. on court house and for two tin pitchers, $10.40;" from which it seems that this session was held in the Randolph county court house. At the third session an appropriation was made (December 24, 1814) "To James Gilbraith for firewood and house rent, $1.25 per day during the present ses- sion." At the' fourth session an appropration was made (January 1I, 1816) "To William Ben- · nett for house room and firewood during the present session, $2.00 per day." Again at the fifth session an appropriation was made (Janu- ary 13, 1817) "To William . Bennett, $2.00 per day for rent and firewood for two days during the present session," and "To William Morrison, for house rent furnished the present session, $1.50 per day." Again at the sixth and last ses- sion of the territorial legislature an appropriation was made (January 9, 1818) "To John W. Gillis, $2.00 per day for each day the. Legislature sat in his house at this session."
At the second session of the First General As- sembly of the State appropriations were made (March 29, 1819) to cover rent for the two ses- sions of the First General Assembly of the State, as well as for the Constitutional Convention of 1818, as follows: "To George Fisher for the use of three rooms of his house during the present and preceding session, $4.00 per day ; also for the use of one room during the sitting of the conven- tion, $2.00 per day."
From these appropriation items it seems clear that, while the seat of government remained at Kaskaskia, neither the State nor the territory owned a capitol building, that each legislature was left to its own devices to provide a place of meeting, and that each session secured a different building, or, at least, paid rent to a different land- lord. If, by the term, "Capitol" or "State House" is meant any building in which the legislative body holds its sessions, there may have been, and most probably were, several capitols at Kaskas- kia. If, however, the term is restricted in its ap- plication to a building owned by the State and
At the first session of the First General As- sembly of the State, in compliance with section 13, of the schedule of the' constitution of 1818, a petition was prepared and approved (October 12, 1818) asking Congress to donate to the State not less than one nor more than four sections of land "situate on the Kaskaskia river, as near as may be east of the third principal meridian for a seat of government for this State." On March 3, 1819, Congress passed an act in conformity with this petition donating four sections of land for the purposes set forth in the petition, and on March 30, 1819, at the second session of the First General Assembly an act was passed in con- formity to the constitution, appointing five com- missioners who were authorized to make a proper selection for a site, to employ a surveyor to lay off a town, to select a name for the town, to sell 150 lots, not more than ten of which were to be on the public square and to contract for the building of a suitable house for the reception of the General Assembly. The act provided that the said house should be located on some lot belong- ing to the State, but not on the public square, that it should consist of two stories, and be of sufficient capacity to accommodate the House of Representatives on the lower floor and the Sen- ate on the upper floor, with suitable rooms for the council of revision, clerks, etc., all of which was to be done within six months ; and the act further provided, "That the next stated session of the General Assembly shall be holden at the town thus laid off and in the building before de- scribed."
The commissioners did their work within the time specified, locating the capital eight or ten miles north of the point where the third principal meridian crosses the Kaskaskia river. The place was known at the time as "Reeve's Bluff," and was about eighty miles from Kaskaskia and twenty miles from the nearest "settlement." To the capital they gave the name of Vandalia, and
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