Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 7.djvu/726

 ILLINOIS

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ILLINOIS

was originally peopled by other races. New England had held P>ench power in Canada under control until Wolfe broke it on the plains of Abraham; but the Americans had not driven the red man from the lake region until a considerable time after Clark had entered Illinois from the south. Finally the red man gave way at the narrow gateway, between Lake Erie and the Ohio River, and then there was an inrush of Americans of varied foreign descent as well as more recent immigrants from Europe. The majority were the Puritans of New England, Irish Catholics, and Germans from Pennsylvania. Up to the year 1850 the Irish immigration was the largest and the German second; afterwards the German was the largest and the Irish second, then come the Swedes, the Poles, the English, the Bohemians, the Canadians, the Nor- wegians, the Danes, the Scotch, the Swiss, the Welsh, and the Belgians in order. Since about 1900 the great tide of immigration has been Slavic and Italian. Admis.sion to the Union. — Illinois was admitted , to the Union 31 December, ISIS, during the presi- dency of James Monroe. The enabling Act of 1S18 gave the people the right to form a state constitution within the limits fixed by Congress. There was a constitutional convention, the members of which were .selected by the white citizens who were six months in the territory. The delegates were empowered to call a new convention to form a constitution or they might do the work themselves. The only conditions imposed were that the form of government must be republican, and not in conflict with the ordinance of 1787, except in the matter of boundaries. Congress did not promise to recognize the new state imless a census were taken which should show at least 40,000 population. A census was taken, showing a little over the required number. The election for the convention was held in July, 1818, and assembled at Kaskaskia in August, 1818. This convention, con- sisting of 32 members, adopted the first constitu- tion known as the Constitution of 1818, which was modelled on the constitutions of Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana. Another constitution was adopted in 1848, and the present one in 1870.

Political History. — The history of Illinois up to 1803 is treated in the article Louisiana. The political history of Illinois had its beginning on the Heights of Abraham, at Quebec. The defeat of Montcalm by Wolfe was the last act of a great drama. By this defeat Illinois became British territory instead of French and such it remained until Colonel George Rogers Clark, an Irish-American, acting under the commission and receiving the assistance of Patrick Henry, Governor of Virginia, put Illinois under the American flag in 1778. The surprise of Kaskaskia and taking of Rocheblave, the English commandant, the fourth of July, 1778, the surrender of Cahokia, the diplomatic handling of hostile Indians, the march on Vincennes and capture of Hamilton, the British com- mandant, make one of the most thrilling chapters in the history of the American Revolution. Illinois did not become a territory of the United States by the Louisiana Purchase (1803) but by the sword of Clark. On 4 July, 1778, the English flag was hauled down at Kaskaskia and the Illinois Country was taken posses- sion of in the name of Virginia, whose governor, Patrick Henry, had authorized the expedition. In October, 1778, the House of Delegates of Virginia extended jurisdiction over the newly acquired terri- tory. A law was passed in Virginia creating the County of Illinois, and Captain John Todd was ap- pointed commandant in 1779. The treaty of peace with Great Britain in 1783 gave the North-Westtothe Thirteen States, and in 1784 Virginia ceded her claim to the United States.

The famous ordinance of 1787, one of the last acts of the old confederation, provided first for a tempo- rary form of government and then decreed how states

should be created and their governments established. By this ordinance religious freedom and civil rights, the writ of habeas corpus, and trial by jury were guaranteed. By its provisions the states to be formed out of the North-West territory were torcmain forever a part of the United States of America, and it was also provided, that in them "neither slavery nor involun- tary servitude should exist in the territory otherwise than for crime, whereof the party should have been duly convicted". By the Act of Congress in May, ISOO, the North- West territory was divided, the In- diana territory being created. This new division embraced the present States of Indiana and Illinois; the seat of government was at Vincennes. In 1809 the territory of Illinois was formed with the seat of government at Kaskaskia.

On 18 April, 1818, an enabling Act was passed by Congress to the efTect that "the inhabitants of the territory of Illinois be, and are hereby authorized to form for themselves a constitution and state govern- ment, and to assume such name as they should deem proper and the said state when formed shall be ad- mitted into the Union upon the same footing with the original states in all respects whatever". By an amendment proposed by Judge Pope, the Illinois delegate to Congress, the northern lioundary of the state was extended to the parallel of 42° 30' N. lat. instead of 41° 39' as reported by the committee. The object of this amendment, as stated by Judge Pope, was "to gain for the proposed state a coast on Lake Michigan; but this would afford additional security to the perpetuity of the Union, inasmuch as Illinois would thereby be connected, through the lakes with the states lying to the eastward". The bill, as amended, pa.s.sed; and if the amendment had not been adopted the territory out of which fourteen counties have been carved, would have been lost to Illinois and become a part of Wisconsin. By adding this territory covered by the amendment, Illinois in 1824 was saved from Ix-coming a .slave state, and thereby, afterwards under the guiding hand of Lin- coln, made safe for the Union. Although the ML-isouri compromise of 1820 prohil)ited slavery north of 36° SC, and Illinois was north of 36° 30', yet the slave- holders made a desperate attempt to make Illinois a slave state; but the friends of freedom, especially those in the northern counties, led by Governor Cole won the fight in 1S24, when the state declared against slavery; but slavery was not legally abolished until the adoption of the Constitution of 1S4S.

Mormonism got a foothold in Illinois between 1840 and 1S4G, at a place called Nauvoo on the Mississippi, but Jo.seph Smith, the so-called prophet, precipitated a local civil war and was killed by a mob while in jail; the Mormons were driven out of Illinois and after- wards moved to Utah. Nauvoo now contains a Catholic academy for girls. Extensive internal im- provements in the state were projected between 1830 and 1S40, and some were made, the most important and successful enterprise being the building of the Illinois and Michigan canal. The state was saved from bankruptcy and its credit established by the foresight and able leadership of Governor Ford.

In the fifties Illinois assumed the most important role in the life of the nation. Stephen A. Douglas and Abraham Lincoln became national characters. The Kansas-Nebraska bill, which was fathered by Stephen A. Douglas, declared in one section the Mis.souri Com- promise to be inoperative and void because it was inconsistent with the principle of non-intervention by Congress with slavery in the states and territories as recognized by the compromise measure of 18.50. The goal of the ambition of Douglas was the presidency. The Fugitive Slave Law had been passed and the demands of the slaveholders were confirmed by the Supreme Court of the United States in the Dred Scott decision. Douglas wanted to be senator from