USA > Illinois > Rock Island County > Past and present of Rock Island County, Ill., containing a history of the county-its cities, towns, etc., a biographical directory of its citizens, war record of its volunteers in the late Rebellion, portraits of early settlers and prominent men > Part 10
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ARTICLE III.
SECTION I. The judicial power of the United States shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The Judges, both of the Supreme and inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good behavior, and shall, at stated times, receive for their services a compensation, which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office.
SEC. 2. The judicial power shall extend to all cases, in law and equity, arising under this Constitution, the laws of the United States, and treaties made, or which shall be made, under their authority ; to all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers, and consuls ; to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction ; to controversies to which the United States shall be a party ; to controversies between two or more states; between a state and citizens of another state; between citizens of differ- ent states ; between citizens of the same state claiming lands under grants of different states, and between a state or the citizens thereof, and foreign states, citizens, or subjects.
In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers, and consuls, and those in which a state shall be a party, the Supreme Court shall have original jurisdiction.
In all the other cases before mentioned, the Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as to law and fact, with such exceptions and under such regulations as the Congress shall make.
The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be by jury ; and such trial shall be held in the state where the said crimes shall have been committed ; but when not committed within any state, the trial shall be at such place or places as the Congress may by law have directed.
SEC. 3. Treason against the United States shall consist only in levy- ing war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the tes- timony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court.
The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of treason, but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture, except during the life of the person attainted.
ARTICLE IV.
SECTION 1. Full faith and credit shall be given in each state to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state. And
1
Daniel Edging low
ONE OF THE FIRST SETTLERS IN EDGINGTON TOWNSHIP
95
AND ITS AMENDMENTS.
the Congress may, by general laws, prescribe the manner in which such acts, records, and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect thereof.
SEC. 2. The citizens of each state shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several states.
A person charged in any state with treason, felony, or other crime, who shall flee from justice and be found in another state, shall, on demand of the executive authority of the state from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the state having jurisdiction of the crime.
No person held to service or labor in one state, under the laws thereof escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on the claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due.
SEC. 3. New states may be admitted by the Congress into this Union ; but no new state shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other state ; nor any state be formed by the junction of two or more states, or parts of states, without the consent of the Legislatures of the states concerned, as well as of the Congress.
The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United States ; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to prejudice any claims of the United States or of any particular state.
SEC. 4. The United States shall guarantee to every. state in this Union a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion, and on application of the Legislature, or of the Execu- tive (when the Legislature can not be convened), against domestic vio- lence.
ARTICLE V.
The Congress, whenever two-thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on the ap- plication of the Legislatures of two-thirds of the several states, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of this Constitution, when rati- fied by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several states, or by con- ventions in three-fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratifi- cation may be proposed by the Congress. Provided that no amendment which may be made prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any manner affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first article ; and that no state, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate.
ARTICLE VI.
All debts contracted and engagements entered into before the adop- tion of this Constitution shall be as valid against the United States under this Constitution as under the Confederation.
This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land ; and the Judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding.
The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the mem-
7
.
96
CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES
bers of the several state Legislatures, and all executive and judicial offi- cers, both of the United States and of the several states, shall be bound by oath or affirmation to support this Constitution ; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.
ARTICLE VII.
The ratification of the Conventions of nine states shall be sufficient for the establishment of this Constitution between the states so ratifying the same.
Done in convention by the unanimous consent of the states present, the seventeenth day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, and of the independence of the United States of America the twelfth. In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names.
GEO. WASHINGTON, President and Deputy from Virginia.
New Hampshire. JOHN LANGDON, NICHOLAS GILMAN.
Massachusetts. NATHANIEL GORHAM, RUFUS KING.
Connecticut. WM. SAM'L JOHNSON, ROGER SHERMAN.
New York. ALEXANDER HAMILTON.
New Jersey. WIL. LIVINGSTON, WM. PATERSON, DAVID BREARLEY, JONA. DAYTON.
Pennsylvania. B. FRANKLIN,
ROBT. MORRIS,
THOS. FITZSIMONS, JAMES WILSON, THOS. MIFFLIN, GEO. CLYMER, JARED INGERSOLL, GOUV. MORRIS.
Delaware. GEO. READ, JOHN DICKINSON, JACO. BROOM, GUNNING BEDFORD, JR., RICHARD BASSETT.
Maryland. JAMES M'HENRY, DANL. CARROLL, DAN. OF ST. THOS. JENIFER.
Virginia. JOHN BLAIR, JAMES MADISON, JR.
North Carolina. WM. BLOUNT, HU. WILLIAMSON, RICH'D DOBBS SPAIGHT.
South Carolina. J. RUTLEDGE, CHARLES PINCKNEY, CHAS. COTESWORTH PINCKNEY, PIERCE BUTLER.
Georgia. WILLIAM FEW, ABR. BALDWIN.
WILLIAM JACKSON, Secretary.
97
AND ITS AMENDMENTS.
ARTICLES IN ADDITION TO AND AMENDATORY OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
Proposed by Congress and ratified by the Legislatures of the several states, pursuant to the fifth article of the original Constitution.
ARTICLE I.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
ARTICLE II.
A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.
ARTICLE III.
No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war but in a manner to be pre- scribed by law.
ARTICLE IV.
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be vio- lated ; and no warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized.
ARTICLE V.
No person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment, or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia when in actual service in time of war or public danger ; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb ; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
ARTICLE VI.
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation ; to be confronted with the witnesses against him ; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor; and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.
ARTICLE VII.
In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact
98
CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES
tried by a jury shall be otherwise re-examined in any court of the United States than according to the rules of the common law.
ARTICLE VIII.
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
ARTICLE IX.
The enumeration, in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
ARTICLE X.
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.
ARTICLE XI.
The judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by citizens of another state, or by citizens or sub- jects of any foreign state.
ARTICLE XII.
The Electors shall meet in their respective states and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person to be voted for as president, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice- President, and of the number of votes for each, which list they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates, and the votes shall then be counted. The person having the greatest number of votes for President shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed ; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest number not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by States, the representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two- thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a Presi- dent whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the Vice-President shall act as President, as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the President. The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice- President, shall be the Vice-President, if such number be the majority of the whole number of electors appointed, and if no person have a major-
99
AND ITS AMENDMENTS.
ity then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President ; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. . But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.
ARTICLE XIII.
SECTION 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their juris- diction.
SEC. 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appro- priate legislation.
ARTICLE XIV.
SECTION 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States, and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
SEC. 2. Representatives shall be appointed among the several states according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of per- sons in each state, excluding Indians not taxed ; but when the right to vote at any election for the choice of Electors for President and Vice- President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the execu- tive and judicial officers of a state, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such state, being twenty-one years of age and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged except for participation in rebellion or other crimes, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the num- ber of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such state.
SEC. 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or Elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previ- ously taken an oath as a Member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state Legislature, or as an execu- tive or judicial officer of any state to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each house, remove such disability.
SEC. 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States author- ized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and boun- ties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be ques- tioned. But neither the United States nor any state shall pay any debt or obligation incurred in the aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any loss or emancipation of any slave, but such debts, obligations, and claims shall be held illegal and void.
100
CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES.
SEC. 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this act.
ARTICLE XV.
SECTION 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States, or by any state, on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
SEC. 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appro- priate legislation.
ELECTORS OF PRESIDENT AND VICE-PRESIDENT.
NOVEMBER 7, 1876.
COUNTIES.
ilayes and
Wheeler,
Republican.
Tilden and Hendricks,
Democrat.
PeterCooper
Greenback.
Prohibition
Anti-Secret
Societies.
COUNTIES.
Hayes and
Republican.
Tilden and
ilendricks,
Democrat.
PeterCooper
Greenback.
Prohibition.
Anti-Secret
Societles.
Adams
4953
6308|
41|
17
Livingston.
3550
2134
1170
3
Alexander.
1219
1280
Logall
2788
2595
Bond
1520
1142
17
Macon.
3120
2782
268
16
Boone.
1965
363
43
Macoupin.
3567
4076
114
Brown
944
1495
183
1
Madison.
4554
4730
39
1
Bureau
3719
2218
145
2
11
Marion
2009
2444
209
Calhoun
441
.900
111
1
3
Mason ..
1566
1939
86
Cass
1209
1618
74
Massac
1231
793
20
Champaign
4530
3103
604
McDonough
2952
2811
347
Christian
2501
3287
207
McHenry
3465
1874
34
Clark
1814
2197
236
9
6363
4410
518
Clay
1416
1541
112
Menard.
1115
1657
10
Clinton
1329
1989
132
Mercer.
2209
1428
Coles
2957
102
Monroe
845
1651
7
Cook
39240
277
Montgomery
2486
3013
Crawford
1355
1643
38
Morgan .
3069
3174
109
3
De Kalb
3679
1413
65
3
Ogle
3833
1921
104
8
DeWitt.
1928
1174
746
10
3
Peoria.
4665
5443
Douglas
1631
94
Pope
1319
800
2129
1276
25
Perry.
1541
1383
48
Edgar.
2715
2883
161
Piatt
1807
1316
Edwards ..
970
466
61
l'ike
3055
4040
35
4
1145
2265
43
Pulaski
1043
..
Fayette
1881
2421
57
Putnam
646
Ford
1601
742
Richland
1410!
1552
55
27
.
641
Greene
1695
3160
Sangamon
4851
5847
29
Grundy
1996
1142
108
Schuyler.
1522
1804
115
Hamilton
627
1433
4
Scott.
910
1269
182
Ilancock
3496
4207
Shelby
2069
3553
341
llardin
330
611
134
Stark.
1140
786
96
Henderson
1315
1015
1
St. Clair
4708
5891
99
1
Iroquois.
3768
2578
249
14
1
Jackson.
2040
2071
106
978
2155
Vermilion
4372
3031
288
9
Jefferson
1346
1667
647
Wabash.
650
936
207
Jersey
1345
2166
1
Warren
2795
1984
138
1
Jo Daviess.
2907
2276
140
3
Johnson
1367
893
61
Wayne ..
1570
1751
5398
2850
172
5
Kankakee
2627
1363
26
Whiteside.
3851
2131
133
8
1
Kendall
1869
524
309
Will
4770
3999
677
Knox.
5235
1647
55
1
Winnebago
4505
1568
70
13
La Salle
6277
6001
514
15
Woodford
1733
2105
237
1
4
Lawrence.
1198
1329
...
6
Total
275958 257099 16951 130 157
Lee
30871
20801
100
Williamson
1672
1644
41
. .
Lake
2619
2632
141
1
Washington
1911
1671
39
482
1297
2066
469
4
Kane.
4177
1928
340
4
6
Stephenson
3198
2258
26
Tazewell
2850
3171
44 3
20
Jasper
4187
4669 89
1
Rock Island.
3912
2838
Gallatin
703
1140
282
Saline .
980
1081
90
3
Cumberland
1145
1402
129
Moultrie
1245 1622
28
..
115
Effingham
772 459
14
204
Randolph
2357
2589
2
Franklin.
966
1302
391
Fulton.
2231
918
Marshall ..
1553
1430
135
1
Carroll .
ยท
1
6
McLean
-100.
2822
36548
201
95 5
DuPage
135~
8
1
9
Henry.
Union .
White.
Wheeler,
Smith,
Smith,
HISTORY OF ROCK ISLAND COUNTY
TOPOGRAPHY.
Rock Island County comprises a strip of land along the east side of the Mississippi river, about sixty miles in length, and of a very irregular shape, owing to the crookedness of the rivers which in part form its boundaries. That portion of it lying north of Rock river is bounded on the south by Rock river, on the west by the Mississippi, and on the north and east by the Marais d'Ogee slough and a part of Whiteside county. It is an irregu- lar shaped, triangular piece of land, some twenty-eight and a half miles long on its western boundary, about seventeen miles wide across its north end, and gradually tapers to a point at the junction of the two rivers a short distance below the city of Rock Island.
Its physical features and surface configuration are a good deal diversi- fied. Broad sand prairies, low alluvial bottom lands, abrupt bluffy high- lands, and various combinations of these, make up the general face of the country. At Cordova the bluffs rise abruptly from the sandy plain. They follow the trend of the Mississippi river close along its shore, and are ab- rupt, broken and rough. About Moline and Rock Island they recede a mile or two from the river, but strike Rock river at Milan, up which stream they continue for a few miles, rising high and abrupt from the water's edge. Soon they commence drawing away from the latter river, leaving a low, al- luvial bottom. They then trend off to the north, leaving the same low bot- tom between themselves and the Maredosia slough, along the Whiteside county line. Following this course five or six miles, they suddenly bend to the west, and strike the Mississippi near Cordova, the place of beginning. This part of the county has in it six named townships not bounded by the regular township lines, but made up mostly of irregular shaped, fractional government townships. These contain somewhere near 178 square miles or sections of land.
All that portion of the county within the above bluff line boundary, is highlands, or uplands, from fifty to one hundred feet above the general wa- ter level of the Mississippi River. It is abrupt, broken, rolling and rough. Much of it, especially the hills and ravines, is covered with a scattered growth of timber and brush. Pleasant Valley, cutting across this upland . region from Hampton on the Mississippi to Carbon Cliff on Rock River, is the only considerable depression in this elevated plateau. This valley, though small, contains some good farm lands. Over this elevated region, especially towards the northeast, there are many good farms. The soil is thin, but well adapted to the growth of cereals and fruits. The alluvial bottoms, when dry enough to cultivate, make the best and richest corn lands, and the wet portions make good meadows. The agricultural resources of , northern Rock Island County are not very rich or varied. Much of the
102
HISTORY OF ROCK ISLAND COUNTY.
land is unproductive, much of it is too high, or too low, or too sandy, while small portions of it are almost unsurpassed for fertility.
As a fruit-growing region, this portion of the county ought to excel. Some of the large apple orchards along the bluffs near Cordova bear abun- dantly and uniformly fruit of superior quality; and that whole encircling range of bluffs lias hundreds of localities where the hardier varieties of the vine might be raised with great success. There is no reason why grape- growing and wine-making might not be made an important producing in- terest of the county. The few local experiments with the vine tried by amateurs give good promise.
That part of the county lying south of Rock River contains five full townships and six fractions of regular townships, with an area of 260 square miles. It is bounded north by the Rock and Mississippi Rivers, west by the Mississippi, south by Mercer county, and cast by Henry county. It has an average width of about nine miles from north to south, and a lengthi from east to west of about thirty-three miles. The Mississippi River above Rock Island makes an abrupt bend to the west, and continues to flow in that direction for some twenty miles, when it turns south again, and thus washes almost the entire north and west sides of this part of the county.
The surface is diversified, and is made up of alluvial bottom lands, hilly barrens, and fertile and somewhat rolling upland prairies. The southern townships and large portions of Rural, Coal Valley, Bowling, Edgington, and Buffalo Prairie, are made up of the latter, under a high degree of cul- tivation. These prairies are the handsomest part of the county, and gently roll away towards the south and east to the borders of Mercer and Henry counties. On the south side of Rock River, from the Henry county line to its confluence with the Mississippi, below the city of Rock Island, is a strip of alluvial or bottom land from one to two miles in width. Portions of this are swampy and boggy; others sandy, with ridges of fine gravel and sand blows; others again are rich farming lands, which yield heavy crops of In- dian corn, grass and grains. Along the south side of this Rock River bot- tom the range of bluff's rises abruptly to an average height of more than a hundred feet. At Andalusia the binffs approach the Mississippi River, which washes their base almost to the southern line of the county, except in a few places where an uncultivated low bottom intervenes, seamed with running slonghs. This range of bluff's is cut up with hollows and ravines, covered with a moderate growth of timber, principally the oaks. The rough land extending back into the highlands from two to five or six miles, has a white, thin soil, such as is found in the timber barrens of other portions of the State, and is the least valuable portion of the county for agricultural pur- poses.
Rock River, the principal water course in this county, which, next to the Mississippi, furnishes its most considerable water-power, rises in Wis- consin, about midway between Lake Michigan and the Wisconsin River. Its course in Illinois is nearly one hundred and eighty miles in extent: It receives its most important tributary, the Pe Ratonica, from the lead-mine regions of Wisconsin, a few miles below the northern boundary of the State. Its valley is one of the richest and most healthy in the northern part of Illi- nois. After forming a portion of the boundary between Henry and Rock Island counties, it divides the latter into its northern and southern portions, and falls into the Mississippi, by a series of beautiful rapids, about three miles below Rock Island.
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