MEN AND MANNERS OF THE EARLY DAYS IN ILLINOIS.

I have sought to bring back to the memory of the aged, and to secure for the instruction and amusement of those who have come later upon the stage of life some of the incidents of the early happenings in the social, religious and political experience of the men and women who preceded us in the occupancy of this prairie land. Some of the events related have received notice before and descriptions are to be found in the now musty records of the early years of the nineteenth century-records known to few, and familiar to only a minute part of even reading people. Other matters, perhaps of little importance have come under the observation of the writer and may not be deemed wholly unworthy of preservation. It has not escaped the notice of the reader of history, indeed it is ineradically stamped upon his mind before he has finished the first chapter, that human life is but the conscious experience of a swift succession of little occurrences which make up the sum of what we do, and what we are. A recital of some of the struggles and some of the disasters which are part of the history of the settlement of a new country can I but enhance the appreciation of our inheritance derived from the early settlers of Illinois. Some of them with an almost prophetic eye caught a glimpse of the grandeur which to us is a daily spectacle. it was their part to plant, it is ours to reap. It will ever be our duty and our pleasure to honor them, and not less to profit by their errors.

Railroads had been experimented with as early as 1822 and even to a very limited extent before that year, but very crude notions in regard to their construction prevailed at the time when, in 1833, and some subsequent years the Legislature of Illinois, strongly backed by the whole people, determined to construct a sufficiency of them to cross almost every township and to get the full benefit of the contrivance and to have that benefit equally distributed over the State without partiality or favor. Canals were also in much favor, and either one or the other seemed so nearly within the grasp, and there was so little to choose between them that when a member arose to offer a bill for instance for the incorporation of the "Springfield and Beardstown Canal Company," a slip naming a railroad company instead would probably not have been deemed worthy of correction.

As local jealousies, or perhaps it would be fairer to say local ambitions, necessarily existed, and to a great extent dominated the people, all bills organizing railroads or canal companies required that construction should begin at each end and sometimes at other points so that no county could get much ahead of any other in the enjoyment of these improvements.

A committee says, "that all of the works having been commenced in various sections in the State, the people of these sections are competent to judge of the value and utility of the system to them respectively and that so long as they are unwilling to surrender their respective claims the irresistable conclusion is that the system is not too large."

To give some idea of the operation of this distribution of improvements, I will cite some of the details: Grading-From Galena southward, from Peru northward, from Cairo northward, from Peoria west. ward, from Warsaw easterly, from Shawneetown to Equality, from Shawneetown to Silver Creek, from Shawneetown to Quincy, from Shawneetown to Danville, from Shawneetown to Meridocia, from Shawneetown to Naples, from Alton to Edwardsville, from Mt. Carmel to Alton, from Viaduct to Okaw, from Alton eastward, from State line westward, from Embarrass river, from Pekin to Tremont, from Cairo to Vandalia, from Shelbyville, from Decatur to Louisiana, Mo., from Bloomington to Mackinaw, from Bloomington to Peru, and many others, Total estimated cost $11,000,000, exceeding estimates, but the committee remarks, "that this is mainly owing to the fact that the roads upon actual measurement are found to be longer, and they will consequently accommodate more inhabitants and supply the wants of a greater extent of country than was at first contemplated."

A committee of the House in 1839 made a quite exhaustive report on the feasibility of railroads, on the chance of getting business and particularly on their power to compete with other modes of transportation in respect to expedition, costs, etc.

They say, "A journey of one hundred miles on horseback for the purpose of transacting business at Alton, Chicago or St. Louis or any other place, would require three days' travel in each direction, making six days' expenses for man and horse at $1 per day is $6; two days' time and expenses of horse whilst attending to business of the journey, $1.50; six days' time of man and horse at $1.50, $9--$16.50. By railroad-Fare, 200 miles, $10; one day's time on journey each way, $2; two meals on the journey, $1-$13."

"Making $3.50 in favor of the railroad conveyance, by putting the journey on horseback, which is the cheapest mode of private conveyance, at the lowest rates and valuing the time of the person at the small sum of $1 per day," The committee concludes gravely, "If these views of the subject can be correct, there cannot exist a doubt of the entire ability of the railroads to come into the most successful competition for a large share of the travel of the country." The last inquiry the committee desires to institute into the financial ability and business capacity of railroads is in reference to the tonnage, which it has been shown will exist in the State at the time of their completion."

The minimum average rate of transportation over common roads is not less than $1.00 per hundred pounds, per hundred miles, or per ton $20.00,

The ordinary rates of toll and transportation on railways being 5 cents per mile, per ton for one hundred miles $5.00; balance in favor of railroads $15.00.

"Thus at the lowest possible rates that a common team during the season of best roads can perform the transportation, there would be a clear saving of money of $15.00 a ton besides the advantage of superior speed, certainty and safety of the railway conveyance."

"Take for instance the article of corn, which is the cheapest of all our productions compared with its tonnage it will be found that even this article will bear transportation on the railways to the rivers." "From an inspection of the map it will be seen that if the present system of railroads is carried out the roads will bring most portions of the State within 70 or 80 miles of a navigable stream."

This was the dream of the time.

"Then the transportation of one ton of corn at 34 bushels a distance of 80 miles at the rate of 5 cents per ton per mile would be per ton $4.00, or per bushel 11 1/2 cents, the cost of a bushel of wheat for 80 miles 11 cents, of 100 pounds of tobacco 20 cents, on other products the same rate."

"The Springfield & Jacksonville Railroad with the Naples branch about 60 miles, is cited to show what reasonable expectations may be in the near future."

"Twenty passengers in each direction at 5 cents per mile or $3.60, $144.00. Ten tons of imports and exports in each direction at 5 cents per ton, $120.00. U. S. Mail, $25.00. Deduct repairs, power, etc., and other expenses, $131.00. Net daily profits, $158.00."

A committee of an earlier Senate had been instructed to make a reliable comparison between the utility and practicability of canals and railroads. Though without a dollar in the treasury they had only to choose what they would have. They report:

"The first proposition that presents itself is, as to the relative expediency of making canals or railroads. The railroads would cost less to construct, but for heavy transportation of cumbrous articles canals are preferable, but for lighter articles and especially for travel, railroads would have the preference. They arrive at the conclusion that either would facilitate and cheapen commerce and travel. The dubiety and uncertainty in regard to the kind of improvement which should be chosen continued long and is brought to mind anew by Act of Congress."

I find in the archives of Congress that on March 2, 1827, a strip of land a mile wide on each side of the Illinois & Michigan Canal survey was granted to the State to aid the construction of the canal. Nothing had been done with the grant when on March 2, 1833, six years after the donation had been made, Congress passed the following act: "'Enacted, that the lands granted to the State of Illinois by the act to which this is an amendment may be used and disposed of by said State for the purpose of making a railroad instead of a canal, as in said act contemplated, and that the time for commencing and completing said canal or railroad, whichever the State of Illinois may choose to make, be, and is extended five years: Provided, that if a railroad is made in place of a canal the State of Illinois shall be subject to the same duties and obligations, and the government of the United States be entitled to the same privilege on said railroad which they would have had through the canal if it had opened."'

"With a railroad across the State to St. Louis the committee is prepared to state, from the best information obtainable, that the distance from St. Louis to New York can be made in 16 to 20 days, Voyage from New York to Buffalo five days; Buffalo to Chicago by steamboat seven to eight days; Chicago by rail to foot of rapids ten hours; from foot of rapids to St. Louis two days.

"Making the whole 16 days and deducting probable hindrances, it may be placed with tolerable accuracy at 20 days, which is at least ten days sooner than by any other route."

In 1835 the committee on internal improvements in a long report said: "The only question unsettled is the kind of communication and the means of accomplishment. As to the kind of communication the question lies between railroads and canals." So hope and confidence ran ahead of capacity to perform until dishonor and disgrace seemed the inevitable fate of the State. Under natural law mistakes and blunders incur the same penalties as wilful wrong doing. The punishment comes also to states and nations whenever an error is committed.

The people by 1839 had involved the State in debt that would have been a heavy burden to the oldest of the Union. Fourteen million dollars at that time was a vast sum.

But what assets were there? Owing to the scattered condition of the investments, no part was of use. A ridge of earth thrown up here and there all over the State, and a few scores of tons of iron in New Orleans awaiting freight money. Frantic efforts had been made to get money by the sale of bonds. The rate of interest fixed by law was 6 per cent. The bonds were discounted 20 or 30 per cent, or lower still.

The fund commissioner and other agents had been sent to New York and then to Europe to find money, but were coldly received. Bonds deposited in London for sale were sent back as the credit of the State was greatly shaken, Rumors of repudiation were prevalent and it was the opinion of a large part of the people that nothing could be done--of a large portion, that nothing ought to be done!

The Governor called a special session of the Legislature in 1839.

He says: "Our system of internal improvements presents a subject of deep and absorbing interest in which the destiny of our State is involved and when compared with its prosperity and resources is truly alarming-the public credit has been and continues to be extended to exhaustion with a view of increasing the enormous debt which has been incurred. The revenue law passed at the last session has been a subject of animadversion and dissatisfaction, and some of the counties I regret to say have resisted it by refusal to assess their taxable property."

R. F. Barrett was for some years fund commissioner, and as such was sent to Now York and sometimes to Europe to endeavor to raise money on State bonds on any State indebtedness. His wailing is pitiful to hear. He says: "New York, December, 1840: 1 reached here yesterday, and have inquired around what could be done for January interest, I find prospects worse than I expected, every paper here and elsewhere is abusing and misrepresenting our policy, and 1 find the best friends of the State heretofore, now in doubt and despondency, I am afraid I shall fail to get the money. The credit of our State will go down, and I out of office in disgrace, I was a fool to come and I knew it at the time, but if I had resigned another fund commissioner would have failed to get the money most certainly, then I would have been charged with deserting the State in time of greatest need. I accepted the office with no hope of reward for I told my friends, that I should charge nothing for my services. But as it is, the faith and credit of the State may sink in my hands and my reputation sink with it. If we fail here we shall go to Boston the next day and use every means till Monday 3:00 o'clock, when the thing will be up with us, and the State; if we are unsuccessful--God forbid that such should be the result, but such it may be-young and prosperous Illinois will be the first State in this great Confederacy to fail to pay her public debts. She will be cursed from one end of the Union to the other, and by every civilized power on earth-My God! talk to the members, and do not suffer our State to be the first to go down in disgrace."

On Now Year's day be wrote: "I shall neither eat nor sleep nor rest till the money is procured, and if I fail I will make my escape from the State as quick as possible, as she will be disgraced and I shall forever be the disgraced instrument of her disgrace. The difficulties have been a thousandfold greater than I expected and ultimate failure may be the result."

A minority report on finances 1840, reads like this:

"The undersigned would ask the House, that, burdened with a debt of nearly $14,000,000, the annual interest of which exceeds $700,000, a prostrate bank, $400,000 of your bonds already pledged at one-third of their value, part of which are now forfeited and the balance shortly will be, upward of $600,000 lost or in immediate danger in New York by the bad management of your agents; between one and two millions in Europe in like condition-your interest falling due before the Legislature meets again; unprovided for-an extra session in consequence inevitable your bonds selling at 60 or 70 cents on the dollar; a bankrupt treasury and an oppressed and dispirited people; the State so poor that she cannot pay the doorkeepers, much less her members: your commissioners knocking at the door of every pawnbroker and shaver, begging them to lend money on our bonds-Illinois bonds."

R. M. Young, State financial agent, writes:

"I do deplore exceedingly the present condition of things, and see nothing but mist and gloom in the prospective; and regret exceed. ingly that the last Legislature did not do something effectual to place the credit and integrity of the State on some substantial basis. July interest should at all events be provided for with certainty and not 'left to depend on remote probabilities."

The Committee on Finance in 1840 also rendered a report not free from bitterness. Among other suggestions and complaints they say, "By the clamors of those who frequently prefer personal popularity, no matter how acquired, to the ultimate good of the State, and who seek to ingratiate themselves in the special favor of the public by abusing and misrepresenting those who may have contributed to create the State debt, which in its inception met with almost universal approval, the people have been made to suffer, unnecessarily, feelings of pain and distrust. They have heard so much of millions of indebtedness, the horrors of which have been portrayed in such dismal lamentations of despair that each man is involuntarily led to feel in his pocket to ascertain if he has any hundreds or thousands in his possession with which to pay off his part of the debts."

The mode of construction of railroads in the early days will excite a smile by those who have never seen any other than that now in use. I have copied from proposals for a contract on the Northern Cross railroad published in 1848. A road had been built on this line many years before on a very imperfect grading but had been abandoned. "The crossties 5x10 inches are to be prepared for the superstructure by boring two holes in each tie at the guaged distance assunder for the intermediate ties 11 inches in size. The string pieces 5x6 are to be prepared for the work by boring a hole within 3 inches of the end. 1 1/2 inches, and at intervals of 30 inches." The old iron rails which were about the weight of a wagon tie, were, to be taken up and straightened and then spiked down on the middle of the stringer, the end joints to be strengthened by a piece of wood spiked down on the ties. To make room for the flange of the wheels the string piece was to be beveled down with an adz.

Here you have woodsills first, then ties across them and then wood stringers to be pegged down to the ties with wooden pins, and last, a little strip of iron nailed to the top. This looks like a light structure but the great New York Central railroad was first made in this manner. I passed over it in 1845 when the speed was 15 to 20 miles per hour. One of the perils of this kind of track was that the thin bar under constant rolling got loose and the end would rise to the top of a wheel and be thrust up through the floor of the car to the great peril of the passengers. Many travellers lost their lives in this manner.

The furore in the early 30's for State improvements in the mode of transportation which was one of importance, but not the only one By any means, has often been referred to and commented upon. But in this state of excitement, and the recklessness accompanying it, Illinois was not alone, nor did she lead, but simply participated in an unreasoning craze which originated in the eastern and central states, Confidence, so useful in intercourse between men, was unbounded and nothing seemed necessary to the enhancement of values and the promotion of enterprises but a free and vivid imagination. I remember well when in 1835 and 1836 an emigration fever seized the people of the eastern states, and the rude and rough highways which led westward were dotted thickly with hundreds of emigrant wagons headed towards Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio and Illinois, or anywhere towards the setting sun. All of the inhabitants could not go, however willing they might be, but all who had any money could share in the sure rewards of enterprise by sending it along to be invested in the soil which soon would enrich them by its swiftly increasing values.

Inspection was hardly thought of, and the swamps and bays of Michigan compared successfully in price with the choicest lands, The spirit of speculation swept around the lakes and Illinois received large accessions to her population, and her lands passed swiftly from government ownership to private hands but a small part only to actual settlers. Money invested in this sure way was better than settlers, and the enthusiastic had only to wait.

Lands bought then at $1.25 per acre, within my knowledge, 30 years after, had scarcely doubled in value.. But the immense bubble reached its full expansion in 1837 and many who had sent to the west all of their available means, from eager buyer became urgent sellers, and financial distress took the place of the late exuberant prosperity and bankruptcy prevailed in the whole country.

In many cities of the eastern states bankruptcy was universally present. In some lines of trade not a single merchant or manufacturer stood up, and when the storm had swept by nearly every business man was prostrated. All are not idiots! but we are so helpful to one another when any great folly is to be perpetrated that each gives up the better part of his judgment under the influence of others, and the opinion of the combination is the reverse of the units composing it.

Illinois was traveling along as well as so isolated a people could .expect to do. Settlers were coming in pretty fast, considering the great distance, from the ever teeming east and from the bordering slave states, and there was no unusual lack of individual prosperity when she felt the spirit of unrest.

In 1834 a committee of the House reported the State practically free from debt, but schemes had already been devised which would greatly alter this state of affairs. As in all new settlements, means of communication were required. One of the first necessities is a road. Let us have enough roads or canals so that we can go everywhere and carry our products with us. The population was widely scattered, 200,000 on 45,000 square miles of territory. The Legislature, assembled from every part of this varying and vast field, were men who were born in many different states and in foreign lands, and who held very divergent views in regard to most human interests, but on one there was nearly perfect agreement, all thinking that facilities for inter. communication must be bettered. Without any available resources on the part of the State or its inhabitants, without seemingly to ask one another the question how are these benefits to be paid for, together with a stubborn resolve not to submit to any_ thing like adequate taxation, the construction of more miles of railroads than then existed in the whole world was decided to be feasible, and these, too, to be supplemented by a few hundred miles of canal.

The Illinois and Michigan canal had already been begun, but this had some, though very inadequate resources in the large grant of land by the general government. Many other canals were perfected, and bills for their immediate construction had become laws. Of course this could not go on forever. One House passed a bill repudiating the entire debts, but it failed in the other by a not large majority. The State faced bankruptcy and dishonor. More than enough money could be seen, (in imagination) to carry out these vast schemes. In 1839, in regard to the gift of money to counties not classed by any surveys, the committee on internal improvements said:

"First that the $200,000 appropriated by the 18th section of the internal improvement act to be distributed to the several counties through which no canal or railroad was authorized by the act to be constructed, is vested in the original counties and cannot be justly withdrawn from them in whole or in part for the purpose of being granted to other counties" It seems that new counties put in a claim to share in the bounties granted, and were told they must look to the counties from which they were severed, and that as it was through their own wrong, that they cannot now claim to redivide the original grant; precautions taken that the gift should fall into the right hands of the mere bagatelle of $200,000, which should equalize the benefits of State improvements. This large bounty which was already an object of discord between the counties that remained Intact and those created by subdivision was as likely to be paid as the other obligations.

It is a pleasure to note that literature was encouraged. In 1833 the Legislature passed a resolution with reference to a forthcoming Illinois book, now much sought after.

"WHEREAS, J. M. Peck has set forth by his petition that he its engaged in making a gazetteer of Illinois, and also collecting material towards a history of the State and that it would aid him greatly in these labors to have free accession to the printed laws, journals, etc."

"Resolved, that the Secretary of State be authorized to furnish said J. M. Peck one copy of each of the laws and journals, Territorial and State.';

The people who are now called early settlers were possessed of great theoretical piety. This was perhaps manifested more markedly in their legislation than in their private lives, and daily conduct. The laws in respect to the observance of the Sabbath were rigid and penalties for violation were severe and would not have done dis. credit to Connecticut under the pilgrims,

Their abhorrence of gaming was intense, and the laws pertaining to it were fully abreast of the lives of the people in respect to the practice. I will give a sample from the third session: "If any person shall hereafter bring into the State, or cause to be brought or imported into this State for sale, or shall sell or offer for sale any pack or packs of playing cards, or any dice, billiard tables, billiard balls or any other device or thing intended, or made for the purpose of being used at any game; shall, on conviction be fined in the sum of not exceeding $25."

I was cognizant of one conviction for selling a pack of cards under this law.

Another law should be preserved for its unique English, and for other reasons.

"To prevent unlawful driving of stock," enacted: "That no individual or individuals who may be driving stock through the country or to market, (should any stock or fat hogs failing into their drove be left at the place where they may stop for the first night, after said stock have fallen into their drove) shall be subject to the penalties of this bill, and that no persons who may be driving other stock, (should any stock falling into their drove) be left at the first premises on the road having (suitable lot or inclosure for separating them from the drove) shall be subject to the penalties of this bill."

THE SENATORS' BALL.

Few are now living who have a personal recollection of a custom about as old as the State, which ought not to pass altogether from human memory. It may be said to have had a flavor of its own, and belonged only to the time and the then condition of society. Though, as intimated, there had been a succession of these events, I have chosen for this brief description, one at which I was an invited guest, and was privileged to be present. I refer to the operation of an unwritten law which required a newly elected Senator to give a public ball in the State House immediately after his election to that high

office. It was not to be a "nobby," or exclusive, party where satins and diamonds were to magnify the light and compete with the tallow candles which crowded one another in the huge chandelier and wide branching candelabra, which decorated the dancing hall and sent

their drippings down impartially upon the gay costumes of the ladies and the plain jeans of the law-makers and the laborers, but cards of invitation had been distributed, in the absence of a directory, by the poll list, as all men found in the city were supposed to rejoice over the election of a Senator, so all should participate in this manifestation of joy, and join hands in the dance and partake of the feast.

Judge Douglas had been elected a Senator.

With characteristic generosity and self-abnegation and following old precedents he placed in the hands of his local friends the sum of $1,500 with which they were to get up the affair on the most approved lines. When the evening arrived the State House at an early hour was crowded so that not a midget could get in. When the music was ready to begin the first difficulty encountered was to get space sufficient to form a cotillion. As there was no elephant present to press back the crowd, some of the leading politicians and 'statesmen who for one reason or another were in attendance on the occasion, assisted, and after some delay a space somewhat larger than a family dining table was cleared in the center of representative hall, and a dance was begun by the few who gained access to the ring. If "joy was unconfined," this could not be said of the dancers.

The Senate chamber had been reserved as the refreshment room, and long tables were well supplied with the elements of a supper. This chamber was opened about half past ton o'clock and the company invited in. As a considerable part, not to say a large majority, of the assemblage bad been in attendance since dark in one of the short days of winter, and music and dancing could not well begin in good earnest before it war, bedtime for many of the guests, these good people, pressed on by impatient appetite, lost much of that degree of self-restraint which is always necessary under such circumstances, and the orderly march to the table, which was attempted, was broken up, and the strongest and hungriest getting first within reach, the viands were very unequally distributed among the guests of the ball. This was soon followed by the departure of many of the guests, chiefly of those who had inadvertently left at home their dress suits. This celebration of a Senatorial election by some was called a fiasco, by others as only the exemplification in practice of the beauty of the theory that the enjoyments of life should be shared by all alike, and especially by those best able to obtain them.

The next Senator to be elected was Judge Trumbull. In regard to celebrating the event by a ball, he felt the necessity of yielding something to precedent, but being of a somewhat fastidious nature he could not contemplate with any degree of composure the celebration of two years before as being repeated in his name and at his expense.

Like the thoughtful man he was, he proposed to steer clear of the Scylla of popular disapprobation on one hand and the Charybdis of popular misconstruction on the other by avoiding the State House and hiring a hall, to which his friends were invited, and where a social talk was had.

This ended the custom, and Senators-elect have since that time escaped this popular initiation into office.

SECTIONAL FORCES IN THE HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

Evarts B. Greene, Ph. D.

The strongly sectional character of Illinois politics during the first half century of its existence as a State is familiar to even the casual student. There have also been detailed studies of particular phases of the sectional struggle. Thus we have the very useful volume by E. B. Washburne on Governor Coles and the slavery controversy of 1822-1824. For the decade between 1850 and 1860 there is, of course, the great mass of Lincoln literature. On the other hand, the conflict of sectional forces during the whole period from 1818 to 1861 has never had any thorough and comprehensive treatment. It is the purpose of this paper merely to survey the field and to suggest opportunities for special research by students of local history. On the foundation of such intelligent local studies it may be possible to build up finally an adequate account of Illinois sectionalism. Such a study will in turn be indispensable to every one who wishes to understand the political history of the nation.

One important factor in Illinois sectionalism is the geographical situation of the State. The parallels of latitude which include Illinois included on the one hand the abolitionist centers of New England and on the other the capital of the Southern Confederacy. The importance of this great north and south extension, which would have been evident in any case, was greatly increased by the success of Mr. Pope's amendment to the enabling act, which modified the ordinance lines of 1787 and gave us our present frontage on Lake Michigan.

In 1818, however, Illinois was far more open to northern than to southern influences, The easiest lines of approach for many years were the river routes of the Mississippi and the Ohio which were most accessible to the people of the down states from Pennsylvania southward. The portions of the State which were first settled

lay close to these great waterways in contact with the slaveholding commonwealths of Kentucky and Missouri.

These geographical facts determined in large measure the constituent elements of the population. The French inhabitants, picturesque but politically of minor importance, may be passed over briefly, noting only that the perpetuation or slavery among them tended to produce a southern bias. Of the American born immigrants, we have no definite statistical knowledge, but contemporary testimony indicates a preponderantly southern origin. This somewhat indefinite conclusion is corroborated by more tangible facts with regard to the political leaders of the new State. The territorial delegate who carried through the enabling act was a Kentuckian by birth and education. The first Governor, the first two Representatives and the first two Senators were all natives of southern or border slaveholding states.¹

Southern birth did not, however, always mean sympathy with the "peculiar institution." The ordinance of 1787, though so construed as to permit the retention of slaves previously held in the territory and though doubtless evaded by loose indenture laws was undoubtedly effective to check the movement into Illinois of a really slaveholding class. If it had not been so, there would not have been such frequent and strenuous efforts to secure its repeal. There were among the social and political leaders of the State a few representatives of this class, but numerically, they were in a small minority. Even within this group, men of anti-slavery convictions were occasionally to be found, as, for example, Governor Coles who bronght his slaves to Illinois only to set them free.

The southerners who came to Illinois belonged, therefore, mainly to two classes, the "poor whites" and the more substantial, but often forgotten, small farmer class. Between the small farmer and the large planter, there has been in the history of the southern states an antagonism of long standing, varying somewhat in intensity, but almost never wholly absent.² Some of these poorer whites were, doubtless, willing to become large slave owners themselves in a new country, but we are told of at least some others that they came to Illinois in order to escape slavery with its inevitably depressing influence upon the poorer whites.³

The net result as to slavery may be summed up in two facts. The first is the census return of 1820, which shows 917 slaves, about one in 60 of the total population. The other is the first State Constitution which refused to prohibit slavery altogether, but barred the way for its future development.⁴

The first six years of statehood are marked by the unsuccessful efforts to secure a constitution more favorable to slave property. The story of this conflict has often been told and need not be repeated here. A few facts should, however, be emphasized. The first is a clear division of the popular vote along geographical lines. The older southern countries were, as a rule, strongly for the convention to amend the constitution. The heavy majorities against it came from the newly organized counties more remote from Kentucky and Missouri influences. It is equally clear, on the other hand, that there was no sharp line of division between men of northern and those of southern origin. In a test vote on the convention resolu. tion, at least half the anti-convention votes came from men of southern birth. Two of the most aggressive anti-slavery leaders, Coles and Cook, were born in slave-holding states. Clearly then, the great decision which finally closed the door to slave importation was largely due to the leadership and the votes of southern men.⁵

SECTION II.

By 1824, Illinois had definitely rejected the "peculiar institution," but the dominance of southern men and the strength of southern sympathies were still conspicuous factions in the life of the State. Every one of the first six Governors of the State came to Illinois from the south, and all but one were natives of slaveholding states. During the same period, the State elected eight men as Senators and eight as Representatives in the Federal Congress. Of the eight Senators, one was born in Illinois, one in New York, and the rest in the states of Maryland, North Carolina and Kentucky. Of the eight Representatives, all, with possibly one exception, came to Illinois from the states of Kentucky and Tennessee. It has been observed too, that the prominent advocates of the convention, though defeated upon that particular issue, did not generally love their political leadership.

One result of this southern predominance is to be seen in the polical status of the negro in Illinois He was not to be hold permanently as a slave, but he was not, on the other hand, regarded as a citizen. The right to vote was restricted to whites, and the negro's testimony could not be admitted in the courts against a white man. In short, the status of the free negro in Illinois was not very different from that of his southern brother.⁶

A similar conservatism was shown in the attitude of Illinois people on all questions of national policy affecting slavery. Though they did not want slavery at home, they generally disliked the "Yankee abolitionist." In 1887, both Houses of the General Assembly passed resolutions condemning antislavery legislation, and but one member of the House joined Lincoln in his famous protest against them.⁷ The same year saw the assassination of Lovejoy at Alton. Such conservative leaders as Governor Duncan condemned the murder, but they generally considered Lovejoy himself as distinctly censurable.⁸

A similar attitude on sectional issues was taken by Illinois men in Congress. In May, 1836, the National House of Representatives forced the first of the so called "gag resolutions" intended to prevent the consideration of anti-slavery petitions. This Pinckney resolution of 1836 provided that "all petitions, memorials, resolutions, propositions or papers relating in any way, or to any 3xtent what. ever, to the subject of slavery, be laid upon the table and that no further action whatever shall be had thereon." This resolution was supported by Messrs. Casey, May and Reynolds, the three members from Illinois.⁹

In December, 1844, John Quincy Adams finally secured the repeal of a still more stringent rule. which had been in force during the previous session. Public opinion in the north, generally, had by this time been thoroughly aroused against this supposed violation of the right of petition. The Illinois representatives, however, stood with the south against repeal. Of the Illinois members only two supported Adams. These were John Wentworth and John J. Hardin, representing the Chicago and Jacksonville districts, Douglas, then a member of the House, is not recorded as voting, but in a later speech he recorded his opposition to the consideration of anti-slavery petitions. The remaining four members voted against Adams and for the "gag resolutions."¹⁰

The position of the Illinois members on the question of territorial expansion to the southwest is interesting in the same connection. The annexation of Texas and the Mexican war were regarded by a large element in New England as simply parts of a conspiracy to shift the balance of power in favor of the south. New territory was to be secured in order that now slave states might be represented in Congress. As Lowell put it, the Southerners were seeking "nigger pens to crown with Slaves."

This policy was comparatively weak in Illinois. The State as a whole strongly favored Texan annexation, and gave enthusiastic support to the Mexican war. On the joint resolution of 1845 for the annexation of Texas, both of the Illinois Senators and six out of seven Representatives voted "aye." The single negative vote was cast by Hardin of Jacksonville.¹¹ On May 11 and 12, 1846, the Illinois men in the Senate and House supported unanimously on test votes the war policy of the administration, including the famous preamble declaring that war existed "by the act of Mexico".¹²

Other illustrations might be given to show that while slavery received a crushing defeat in 1824, the politics of the State were largely dominated by southern men, and southern feeling showed itself in the inferior legal status of the negro and in a general dislike of "Yankee" abolitionism, whether in Illinois or at the National Capital.

SECTION III. THE GROWTH OF NORTHERN INFLUENCES, 1847-61.

The now Constitution of 1847-8 marks in a convenient way the beginning of a new era in the history of the State, One important fact of this new period is the gradual passing of frontier conditions. At the same time it was becoming clear that the controlling forces of the mature commonwealth were to differ largely from those which had dominated its youth. On the conflict of sectional forces, those of the north were steadily gaining and gradually making of Illinois a distinctly northern State.

One important factor in this development was improved means of communication between Illinois and the states of the northeast. The building of the Erie canal, improvement of' steam navigation on the lakes, and finally, the rapid railroad building of the fifties-all these things opened the way for a large "Yankee" immigration '' into northern Illinois. The commercial development of Chicago, resting upon the larger growth of the whole northwest, was bringing into the life of the State an aggressively northern spirit of business enterprise, quite in contrast with the civilization of the rural south.

The census returns of 1850 and 1860 show clearly the growing importance of the northern immigration, particularly in the statistics of nativity. The New Yorkers stand first with about one-sixth of the total American born immigration.¹³ The next states in order are Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Indiana, Virginia, North Carolina and Vermont.

The next census shows a still more marked northern prepondrance. According to the nativity statistics of 1860 the three slaveholding states which had contributed most largely to the population of Illinois were Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia. In 1850, the aggregate number of natives of this group was slightly larger than the total for New York and Now England. By 1860, the ratio had changed radically. While the gain in immigration from the three slave states was less than 25 per cent, those from New York and New England had increased about 75 per cent or three times as fast.

In reckoning the forces working against the old southern tradition, we must not forget the foreign immigrant. The foreign born population originally small, had increasead by 1850 to about one-eighth and by 1860 to about one-fifth of the total population of the state. Of these the Germans were the most numerous and probably the most important politically. This foreign population had gathered about a few centers in the central and southern parts of the State, as around Quincy and in the counties opposite St. Louis, but was mainly to be found in the northern counties.¹⁴ Since the greater volume of foreign immigration had, been one of the most striking characteristics of the northern states as compared with the southern states of the Union, the influence in Illinois of her large foreign population was to differentiate her still more from the south.

Like the foreign born immigrants, the now settlers from the northeast generally settled in northern Illinois. In 1818 the three northern counties were Madison, Bond and Crawford. By 1840, 57 new counties had been organized farther north which had come to include a large majority of the total population of the State. By the same year the Territory added by Mr. Pope's forethought in 1818 had been organized into 14 now counties, only one of which appears on the map of 1830. In 1850, these counties had about 21 per cent of the population of the State, and by 1860 they had nearly one-fourth of the total.¹⁵

By this movement of immigration largely along parallels of latitude, the northern and southern sections of the State were sharply differentiated in spite of some fusion of northern and southern elements in the central counties. Until the building of the Illinois Central in the fifties, this differentiation between northern and southern Illinois was intensified by the comparative difficulty of communication between the sections. We are told, for example, that when the Chicago division of the Illinois Central was first built, it passed for over a hundred and thirty miles through "an almost unbroken wild."

Let us now examine the working of these social forces in the politics of the State. One interesting result is to be seen in the personnel of the political leaders. In place of the preponderate southern leadership of the first two decades, we now find the northern men making their way to the front. Between 1840 and 1862, 46 different men were elected as Senators, Congressmen and Governors. Omitting ton men whose nativity could not readily be found, we find that nine of the remaining 36, or just one-fourth, come from slaveholding states (Kentucky, 7; Tennessee, 2.) An exactly equal number came from New England. Eight were born in Ohio or Illinois, and seven in the middle states. One each came from Canada, England, and Ireland, In some instances, men of New England origin represented southern districts, but the extreme northern constituencies were generally represented by New England men. Familiar examples of, this class are "Long John" Wentworth, Elihu B. Washburne, Jesse Norton and Owen Lovejoy.¹⁶

As northern men came to hold positions of leadership, northern ideas gradually made themselves felt in the politics of the State. Striking evidence of this is to be found in the convention of 1847.

The most important victory of the "Yankee" element was on the question of township organization. The settlers from New York and New England had been accustomed to some kind of township organization and favored its adoption in Illinois. The older communities of the State had, however, worked under the southern system of local government which took the county as its unit and vested its government in the county court. When the decisive vote was taken in the convention, township organization received the almost unanimous support of delegates from the northern third of the State, while the southern third gave a decisive majority against it. A few representatives from the extreme southern counties voted for the township clause of the Constitution, but their constituencies had never adopted the system. On the other hand, every one of "Mr. Pope's" 14 northern counties had been organized on the new plan, and in the next decade a large number of the central counties followed their example.¹⁷

More striking in its relation to national politics was the sectionalism shown in the discussion of the race question. The final abolition of slavery in the State was accepted as a matter of course without division. The status of free negroes was, however, an exciting topic and led to divisions along roughly sectional lines. The convention finally agreed upon an article requiring the Legislature to prohibit the immigration of free negroes or the bringing in of slaves for the purpose of setting them free. The 14 northern counties gave a decisive majority against this article in the convention, but the old counties voted almost solidly for it and the votes of the central region turned the scales in its favor. This article was submitted to the popular vote separately and ratified in spite. of majorities against it in the northern counties.¹⁸

Another evidence of conservatism on the race issue is to be seen in the Constitutional provision which reserves the full legal and political privileges and responsibilities of citizenship to men of the white race, Many of the southern delegates desired even more explicit assertions of the inferiority of the colored race. Thus the northern victory on the township question had a set off in the conservative treatment of the race problem.¹⁹

Let us now turn again to the position of Illinois on questions of national politics. The period from 1847 to 1861 was one of intense sectional feeling centering about the question of slavery In the territories. I In Illinois, the growth of anti-slavery feeling had been comparatively slow. Though numerous anti-slavery societies had been organized, particularly in the northern counties, the radical liberty party had only an insignificant following in the State. In 1848, the union of Genuine Free Soilers with Van Buren Democrats had given the Free Soil ticket a somewhat deceptive appearance of strength in the presidential contest. In 1852, however, with a clearer issue between conservative and radical Free Soil views the weakness of the latter seemed very clear. In accordance with its steadily Democratic traditions the State gave Pierce a heavy majority., In more than one-third of the counties of the State extending from Cairo to Champaign no Free Soil vote whatever was returned, and in several more it was infinitesimal. On the other hand, there were seventeen counties, all with one exception north of Springfield, in which the Free Soilers mustered 10 per cent, or more of the total vote of the county.²⁰

Free soil feeling was not, however, confined to the third party. It was to be found in both the old parties and particularly among the Whigs. There was indeed, a strong Democratic organization, led by Douglas, and, in spite of his New England origin, strongly in sympathy with the old conservative traditions. Yet there were already indications of a revolt.

The next four years, however, brought radical changes in Illinois politics. In 1855 Douglas had to accept an anti-slavery colleague in the Senate, and in 1856 he saw his party defeated for the first time in a gubernatorial contest, by a new organization bearing the name of Republican, but maintaining essentially Free Soil principles. Four years later the same party carried the State against him in a Presidential contest and gave to an Illinois man the responsibility of directing the northern forces in the great struggle with the south.

The condition of Illinois feeling is well illustrated by the controversies over slavery in the territories and over the fugitive slave law, which received their supposed final settlement in the compromise measure of 1850. In March, 1847, the votes of the Illinois members in the House of Representatives were evenly divided on the Wilmot proviso, but four members failed to vote.²¹ In 1849 the State Legislature declared in favor of the Wilmot proviso. Douglas himself, though opposing the proviso in other ways, felt obliged to obey the letter of his instructions by an affirmative vote.²² On the other hand, when the vote on the fugitive slave bill was taken in the House of Representatives, five of the seven Illinois Congressmen supported it, including Bissell, who was so soon to become the anti-slavery candidate for Governor. The two negative votes were cast by Wentworth of Chicago and Baker of the Galena district.²³ Douglas' support of the fugitive slave law made him for a time extremely unpopular in Chicago, but the Legislature of 1851 accepted his leadership and repudiated the Wilmot proviso resolutions of 1849. Finally the weakness of the Free Soil vote in 1852 seemed to indicate general acquiescence in the conservative policy of compromise on the slavery question.²⁴

In the familiar story of this period of our political history, a few aspects only will be noted for special emphasis. The rapid rise of the Republican party was, of course, due in the first instance to the influence upon modern anti-slavery men, of the repeal of the Missouri compromise. They had refused to follow the abolitionist agitators or even the more moderate free soiler, but the increasing aggressiveness of the pro-slavery party gradually brought moderates and radicals together in the new party. Counties in which the free soil vote had been insignificant were carried for Fremont in 1856.²⁵

Among the moderate voters brought over to the republican party in this way was a considerable body of German democrats of whom Koerner²⁶ may be taken as a good representative. One of the German democratic strongholds was the Belleville district. In 1854 this district electecj~Lyman Trumbull, an anti-Nebraska democrat, as its congressman. Ten years later St. Clair county, which had not given a single free soil vote in 1852 was carried for Fremont. Still more striking changes appeared four years later, when Lincoln succeeded Fremont and the native American vote had been largely eliminated.

A second factor in Republican success was the steady stream of immigration from the northeast during the 50's which has already been noted and which constituted a heavy handicap for the Douglas Democracy in its struggle to retain political control.

In the meantime the extreme southern counties remained almost wholly unmoved. Eleven of them gave Fremont in 1856 a total of only 146 votes and even in 1860 their vote for Lincoln was insignificant. With the single exception of St. Clair, no county organized before 1824 gave its vote to Fremont. The old State was holding pretty steadily to its conservative traditions, but was being overpowered by the immense volume of northern immigration. Partly through the influence of Douglas and Logan, this section held to the Union in the crisis of 1861, but the force of old traditions was shown in an opposition to Republican policies during the war which has been somewhat too sweepingly condemned as simple disloyalty.

One fact of curious interest may be noted in conclusion. Though the northern farm population had come to predominate in the affairs of the State, the new sectional party of the north found its most conspicuous leaders in men of southern birth. To this class belong Palmer, Yates, Oglesby, and Lincoln himself.

EVARTS B. GREENE.

¹ These facts as to place of birth were drawn from various sources but mainly from Moses, Illinois Historical and Statistical. and Bateman and Selby Encyclopedia of Illinois.

² See e. g. W. A. Schaper, Sectionalism and Representation in South Carolina, in Annual Report of the American Historical Association. 1900, Vol, I.

³ Ford, History of Illinois. 38: Patterson, Early Society In Southern Illinois. 104-105, 113-114; Brown, Early History of Illinois, 82.

⁴ Const. of 1818, Art. VI. This constitution was attacked by the anti-slavery men in the National House of Representatives and defeated by William Henry Harrison. then a congressman from Ohio. Annals of Congress, 15th Cong., 2d session, 1. 297-298,305-311.

⁵ See on this subject E. B. Washburne. "Governor Coles and the Slavery Struggle in Illinois."

⁶ Constitution of 1818. Art. If, ~27:The Public and General Statutes of Illinois (1829) 201, 501. 505, 536.

⁷ Lincoln. Works (Nicolay and Hay, eds.) I. 15.

⁸ Kirby. Life of Joseph Duncan. 48. (Letter to Rev. Gideon Blackburn.)

⁹ Cong. Globe, 21th Cone.. Ist session 505-506.

¹⁰ Cong. Globe. 2nd session, 28th Cong. T Conz.

¹¹ Globe, 28th Cone.. 2d Seas., 194, 362.

¹² lbid, 29th Cone., 2d Sess., 794, 901.

¹³ It should be remembered that many of the Now York immigrants were of Now England stock.

¹⁴ Compendium of Seventh census (1850),116-118, 218-225; eighth census (1860). 1, (Population), 102-103,616-623.

¹⁵ See statistical table In Moses. Illinois Historical and Statistical. -Appendix.

¹⁶ Lists in "The Illinois Blue Book," 1900; with biographical data, mainly from Moses. Illinois Historical and Statistical, and Bateman and Selby Encyclopedia of Illinois.

¹⁷ Journal of the convention, nassim; M. H Newell. Township Government in Illinois. (Manuscript thesis in Library of University of Illinois.)

¹⁸ Journal of the convention. 463-456; Const. of 1848, Art. XIV

¹⁹ Const. of 1848. Arts. VI, VIII, IX. (Elections, Militia. Revenue).

²⁰ Statistical tables In Moses, Illinois Historical and Statistical. T. C. Smith, Liberty and Free Soil Parties in the Northwest; passim.

²¹ Cong. Globe, 29th Cong., 2d Sess., 573.

²² Laws of Illinois. let Seas., 16th Gen. Ass., 231.

²³ Sheahan, Douglas. 136-137,163-168.

²⁴ Cong. Globe. 31st Cong., lst Sess., 1807.