Illinois Territory

“ On the third of February, 1809, an act of Congress was passed, defining the boundaries of Illinois, and establishing the “First Grade” of Territorial Government. The population of the whole territory did not then exceed twelve thousand; and, with the exception of Chicago, and a few settlements on the Wabash, was confined to a narrow strip of country along the Mississippi. ”

“ Among the early difficulties in the way of settlement, one of the most persistent was the presence of prairies. This is by no means far-fetched, although it sounds so to modern ears. In 1786, Monroe wrote to Jefferson concerning the Northwest Territory: “A great part of the territory is miserably poor, especially that near Lakes Michigan and Erie, and that upon the Mississippi and the Illinois consists of extensive plains which have not had, from appearances, and will not have, a single bush on them for ages. ”

“ In 1806, a congressional committee reported on the various memorials and petitions from Illinois, but the report led to no legislation and thus settled nothing, and in 1807 petitioning continued.200 Illinois again petitioned for separation from the remainder of Indiana Territory, this petition bearing seventeen signatures. An inclosed census is lost, but a population of five thousand is spoken of. ”

“ Four States only had been admitted into the Federal Union, and the population of the entire country was less than that of the State of New York to-day. This same year witnessed the first organization of Illinois into a distinct political community and its creation, by act of Congress, as the Territory of Illinois, with a white population less than one-twentieth of that of this good county to-day. The United States having barely escaped a war with France,—our ally in securing our independence,—was earnestly struggling for distinct place among the nations. ”

“ No preëmption act had yet been passed, and of the more than twelve thousand inhabitants of Illinois some two hundred and twenty possessed a freehold of fifty acres, thus giving the balance of power, if the territory should enter the second grade under the old provision, to one hundred and eleven persons. Nearly one-third of the entire population lived either near the Ohio or between it and the Kaskaskia, and among them there were not more than three or four freeholders, and not one who possessed two hundred acres—the necessary qualification for a representative. ”

“ An act to extend the right of suffrage to the Illinois territory, and for other purposes. May 20, 1812, ch. 90. An act supplementary to the act, entitled “An act dividing the Indiana territory into two separate governments.” June 10, 1812, ch. 93.
An act to enable the people of the Illinois territory to form a constitution and state government, and for the admission of such state into the union on an equal footing with the original states. April 18, 1818, ch. 67.
An act to provide for the due execution of the laws of the United States within the state of Illinois. March 3, 1819, ch. 70. ”

“ Mississippi—they cannot but shudder at the horrors which may arise from a disaffection in the West....” A government was needed, and that of Indiana Territory was not acceptable to the people of Illinois. One hundred and two inhabitants of Illinois sent a counter-petition, in which they said that Illinois had paid no taxes and needed no separate government, also that the committee that prepared the above petition was not legally chosen. ”

“ The laws passed were eminently practical for the frontier conditions under which they were to operate.272 A man contemplating settlement in Illinois could now be sure that he would be governed by Illinois men whom he had a share in electing.
The rude character of the facilities for transportation is indicated by the fact that the earlier laws of the territory deal with ferries only rarely and with bridges not at all, while as time progresses and population increases, ferries multiply and bridges begin to be constructed. ”

“ No qualification less suitable to the time and place could well have been devised, and this is especially true of the Illinois portion of the territory, because there unsettled French claims were to delay the sales of public lands until 1814, and thus early settlers could neither buy land nor vote unless they owned it, unless indeed they purchased land claims from the needy and unbusiness-like French. An interesting petition of 1807 from the settlement on Richland Creek,166 for the right of preëmption, throws light upon conditions then obtaining. ”

“ There shall be no territory stricken from any county unless a majority of the voters living in such territory shall petition for such division, and no territory shall be added to any country without the consent of a majority of the voters of the county to which it is proposed to be added. ”

“ Each and every person who has been bound to service by contract or indenture in virtue of the law of Illinois territory heretofore existing, and in conformity to the provisions of the same, without fraud or collusion, shall be held to a specific performance of their contracts or indentures ”

“ That no inconveniences may arise from the change of a territorial to a permanent state government, it is declared by the convention, that all; rights, suits, actions, prosecutions, claims, and contracts both as it respects individuals and bodies corporate, shall continue as if no change had taken place in this government in virtue of the laws now in force. 2. All fines, penalties, and forfeitures due and owing to the territory of Illinois. ”

“ Probably there were not more than three thousand white people in the territory when this treaty was signed, and these were principally wandering French traders; very few of them cultivators of the soil. In 1778 Virginia conquered the northwest from Great Britain, and erected the entire territory into a county, by the name of Illinois. Soon after the close of the War of the Revolution, in the year 1787, the United States established in the same region its first provincial government, and gave it the above title, which in common parlance was known as the “Northwestern Territory.” ”

“ From 1810 to 1820 the number of slaves in Illinois increased from 168 to 917, Illinois being the only state north of Mason and Dixon's line having an increase in the number of slaves during the decade, although in the Territory of Missouri, during this time, the number increased from about 3000 to over 10,200. ”

“ Whether, therefore, the State of Missouri will recognise or give effect to the laws of Illinois within her territories on the subject of slavery is a question for her to determine. Nor is there any constitutional power in this Government that can rightfully control her. [p460]
Every State or nation possesses an exclusive sovereignty and jurisdiction within her own territory, and her laws affect and bind all property and persons residing within it. ”

“ More reliable than so popular a book usually is.
Henderson, John G. Early History of the “Sangamon Country,” being Notes on the first Settlements in the Territory now comprised within the Limits of Morgan, Scott and Cass Counties. Davenport, Iowa: Day, Egbert & Fidlar, 1873. 33 pp.
Of great interest for a study of early troubles with the Indians. Treats of East vs. South in Illinois and of Regulators. Deals almost exclusively with the period before 1830. Compiled largely from interviews with old settlers, hence not wholly reliable. ”

“ IN traveling over the great fertile prairie State of Illinois, and viewing its many railroads, its many beautiful cities and towns, its school houses, its churches, its broad fields of waving grain, its orchards bending under their load of golden fruit, its vast population of industrious and intelligent citizens, its mills, and its factories, one can hardly realize that nearly all of this great improvement has been made in the last sixty years, but such is the case. ”

“ The men prominent in Illinois politics at the close of the territorial period, and at the beginning of the state period, were natives of southern states, a fact hardly conceivable if New England had been largely represented in Illinois. ”

“ No one can be surprised if our feelings prompt us to speak pretty highly of our native home, Illinois, the great fertile prairie valley between the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, like a choice gem placed between the more hilly states on the East and the West. Illinois, the second and soon to be the first agricultural state in the Union; destined by her Creator to do a worthy share in feeding the world. Her merits and her charms have drawn on the intelligence and industry of every nation upon the globe.
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Pioneer Work. ”

“ Nowhere can there be seen fairer landscapes, nowhere richer farms, than here in your own great State of Illinois, a State whose history has been full of illustrious achievements, rich in possibilities, where lived our illustrious sons; a State whose population is intelligent, contented, orderly, and liberty-loving; a State whose development has not yet begun to approach its possible limits; a State having advantages by the location, swept as it is by two of the great waterways of the continent, advantages of access and markets by lake and rail and river unexcelled by any State in the Union ”

“ The changes in government and in the land question in Illinois were typical of changes in other frontier regions, but although worthy of note as helping to make a more attractive place for settlement, they are by no means sufficient to account for the great migration to the westward. ”

“ No State of the American union has a history of more intense interest than our own. Its early chapters, indeed, savor of the romantic rather than of the real. I do not speak of the long-ago time when Illinois forest and prairie were the house and hunting-ground of the red men, and his frail bark the only craft known to its rivers. That period belongs to the border-land age of tradition rather than of veritable history. It is of Illinois under the domination of civilized men I would speak. ”

“ Illinois is a State which has sprung up, as if by magic, to be one of the most fruitful in the West. It was settled by men from the New England States—men who carried with them those characteristics which have made the New Englander's career one of active enterprise, and successful progress, wherever he has been. Not many years ago the name of Illinois was nearly unknown, and on her soil the hardy settler battled with the forest-trees for space in which to sow his first crops. ”

“ The greatest absolute gain was made in the last decade of the century, the per cent. of increase being 26.0, as compared with 20.7 for the United States. The earlier movements of population into the State were largely composed of Southerners, who crossed the Ohio River into southern Illinois, or were attracted up the Mississippi River to the lead-mining districts in the northwestern part of the State. These, however, were soon greatly outnumbered by immigrants from the Eastern States. ”

“ Illinois is where things grow; the corn, the wheat, the hay, the oats, the fruit, the vegetables, the horses, the cattle, the hogs; the eggs don’t grow on bushes in Illinois, but they come as near to it as they do in any other State. And not only these things, which have been mentioned, grow in Illinois, but brains grow in Illinois too; and if they are about to be bothered to find a man who is smart enough for President, tell them not to be uneasy, that Illinois can furnish five hundred, if that many were needed. Yes, Illinois is where things grow. ”

“ Illinois should be exempt from taxation for five years from date of sale; the Illinois Constitution provided for the employment of slaves at the salt works; an act provided for the location of the college township ”

“ That no freeman shall be imprisoned or disseized of his freehold, liberties, or privileges, or outlawed or exiled, or in any manner deprived of his life, liberty, or property, but by the judgment of his peers or the law of the land. And all lands which have been granted as a common to the inhabitants of any town, hamlet village, or corporation, by any person, body politic or corporate, or by any government having power to make such grant, shall forever remain common to the inhabitants of such tow n, hamlet, village, or corporation ”

“ An early traveler wrote in 1796: “The province of the Illinois is, perhaps, the only spot respecting which travelers have given no exaggerated accounts; it is superior to any description which has been made, for local beauty, fertility, climate, and the means of every kind which nature has lavished upon it for the facility of commerce.”16 The wide-spreading prairies added to the beauty of the country. Land which now produces one hundred bushels of corn to the acre must have been capable of producing wonderful crops at the beginning of its cultivation. ”

“ Nor can it be forgotten that the deed of cession by which Illinois became part and parcel of the general Government, bears—as commissioners upon the part of Virginia—the honored names of Arthur Lee, James Monroe, and Thomas Jefferson. Is it to be wondered at, that a magnificent Illinois building adorns the grounds of the Jamestown Exposition,—and that Illinois hearts everywhere beat in unison with yours in the celebration of one of the epoch-marking days of all the ages? ”

“ Illinois, in all that constitutes true grandeur in a people, knows no superior among the great sisterhood of States. Her pathway from the beginning has been luminous with noble achievement. It is high privilege and high honor to be a citizen of this grand republic. It is in very truth a government of the people, in an important sense a government standing separate and apart; its foundations the morality, the intelligence, the patriotism of the people. Never forget that citizenship in such a government carries with it tremendous responsibility, a responsibility that we cannot evade. ”