CHAPTER XXV.

CIVIL AFFAIRS OF THE ILLINOIS TERRITORY FROM 1812 TO 1818.

Meeting of the Legislature-The Members-Laws-Conflict between the Legislature and Judiciary-Curious Acts-Territoriai Banks -Cairo Bank-Commerce-First Steamboats-Pursuits of the People.

For nearly four years after the organization of the territorial government no legislature existed in Illinois. The governor was both executive and, in great part, the law-making power. These extraordinary powers, authorized by the ordinance of 1787, viewed at this day, seem strangely inconsistent with our republican notions of the necessity of co-ordinate branches of government. Under that celebrated ordinance, the political privileges of the citizen were few or none. He could not exercise the elective franchise unless he was a freeholder of 50 acres, nor aspire to a seat in the territorial legislature unless he was a freeholder of from 200 to 500 acres. Those of the territorial officers whom the president did not appoint, were appointed by the governor. The people could not elect justices of the peace, county surveyors, treasurers, coroners, sheriffs, clerks, judges of the inferior courts, nor even choose the officers of the territorial militia; all this power and much more was vested in the governor. By the act establishing the Illinois territory, it was provided that whenever his Excellency was satisfied that a majority of the freeholders desired it, then he might authorize a legislature. While none of these extraordinary powers were perhaps ever arbitrarily exercised by any of the governors, unless it was St. Clair, the people were all the time clamorous for an extension of suffrage. Congress (not the governor) finally, by act of May 21, 1812, raised Illinois to the second grade of territorial government, and further extended the right of suffrage to any white male person 21 years old, who had paid a territorial tax and resided one year in the territory next preceding any election, authorizing such elector to vote for representative, member of the legis lative council and delegate to congress. The property qualification, under the ordinance of 1787, was abolished. This was a very great concession to the people. The governor was required to apportion the territory. On the 14th of February, 1812, accordingly, he issued his proclamation, ordering an election to take the sense of the people for or against entering upon the second grade of territorial government. The election was to be held for three successive days in each county, commencing on the second Monday in April. The question was decided in the affirmative by a large

majority. On September 16th, following, the governor and judges having organized the new counties of Madison, Gallatin and Johnson, making now, with the two old counties of St. Clair and Randolph, a total of five, a proclamation was issued, publishing their establishment. By another proclamation of the same date, an election for 5 members of the legislative council, 7 representatives and a delegate to congress, was ordered to be held in each county on the 8th, 9th and 10th days of October following. At this elec tion, Shadrach Bond was elected to congress. The members elect of the legislative council were, Pierre Menard, of Randolphchosen to preside; William Biggs, of St. Clair; Samuel Judy, of Madison; Thomas Ferguson, of Johnson, and Benjamin Talbot, of Gallatin.

The members elect of the house of representatives were, George Fisher, of Randolph; Joshua Oglesby and Jacob Short, of St. Clair; William Jones, of Madison; Phillip Trammel and Alexander Wilson, of Gallatin, and John Grammar, of Johnson.

We subjoin brief sketches of the members constituting the first general assembly of Illinois. Pierre Menard, a Canadian Frenchman, settled at Kaskaskia in 1790. He was a merchant and enjoyed an extensive trade with the Indians, over whom he exerted a great influence and was for many years the government agent for them. He was well informed, energetic, frank and honest, and was very popular with all classes. William Biggs was an intelligent and respectable member, who had been a soldier in Clark's expedition, and ten years afterward had been a prisoner for several years among the Kickapoos. He wrote and published a complete narrative of his Indian captivity, and in 1826, congress voted him three sections of land. He was for many years county judge. Samuel Judy-the same who, in the fall preceding, commanded the corps of spies in Governor Edwards' military campaign to Peoria lake-was a man of "energy, fortitude and enterprise." Some of his descendants now reside in Madison county. Joshua Oglesby was a local Methodist preacher of ordinary education, who lived on a farm and was greatly respected by his neighbors. Jacob Short, the colleague of Oglesby, removed to Illinois with his father, Moses, in 1796, and pursued farming. During the war of 1812, he distinguished himself as a ranger. George Fisher possessed a fair education, and was by profession a physi cian. He removed from Virginia to Kaskaskia in 1800, and engaged in merchandizing, but at this time he resided on a farm. He was afterward in public life. Phillip Trammel was a man of discriminating mind, inclined to the profession of arms. He was the lessee of the United States saline in Gallatin county. His colleague, Alexander Wilson, was a popular tavern keeper at Shawneetown, of fair abilities. William Jones was a Baptist preacher, grave in his deportment, and possessed of moderate abilities. He was born in North Carolina, removed to Illinois in 1806, and settled in the Rattan prairie, east of Alton* This was the first appearance in public life of John Grammar. He afterwards represented Union county frequently during a period of 20 years. He had no education, yet was a man of shrewdness. After his election, it is related that to procure the necessary apparel to appear at the seat of government, he and the family gathered a

*Annals of the West.

large quantity of hickory nuts, which were taken to the Ohio saline and traded for blue strouding, such as the Indians wore for breech-cloth. When the neighboring women assembled to make up the garments, it was found that he had not invested quite enough nuts. The pattern was measured in every way possible, but was unmistakably scant. Whereupon it was decided to make a "bob-tailed coat and a long pair of leggings." Arrayed in these, he duly appeared at the seat of government, where he continued to wear his primitive suit for the greater part of the session. Notwithstanding his illiteracy, he had the honor of originating the practice much followed by public men since, of voting against all new measures-it being easier to conciliate public opinion for being remiss in voting for a good measure, than to suffer arraignment for aiding in the passage of an unpopular one.*

On the 10th of November, the governor, by proclamation, ordered the members elect to convene, on the 25th instant, at Kaskia, the seat of government. The two bodies met in a large, rough old building of uncut limestone, with steep roof and gables of unpainted boards, situated in the centre of a square, which, after the ruin and abandonment of Fort Chartres, had served the French as the headquarters of the military commandant. The first floor, a large, low, cheerless room, was fitted up for the house, and a small chamber above for the council chamber. The latter body chose John Thomas their secretary, and the former elected for clerk William C. Greenup. The two houses had a door-keeper in common. All the 12 members boarded with one family, and lodged, it is said, in one room. How unlike the present times! members addressed themselves to the business in hand, without delay or circumlocution. Windy speeches or contention were unheard of, and parliamentary tacticians, if any there were, met with no indulgence. It has been naively remarked that not a lawyer appears on the roll of names.

The

The assembly effected a peaceful revolution of the civil polity of the territory, at a time when actual war was the all-absorbing public question. By act of December 13, 1812, all the laws passed by the Indiana legislature, and in force March 1, 1809, general in their nature and not local to Indiana, which stood unrepealed by the governor and judges of Illinois, and all laws originally adopted for Illinois under the first grade of territorial government, remaining unrepealed, were by them re-enacted. The idea manifestly was, that by the assembling of the legislature, the territory stood forth in utter nakedness, divested of all law until re-invested by them. The enacting clause of the territorial laws was: "Be it enacted by the legislative council and house of representatives, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same." To the courts of common pleas was given the same jurisdiction previously had under the Indiana territory. The general court, established at the seat of government, besides being a tribunal of oyer and terminer for jail delivery on indictments found by the grand juries of the common pleas court, was also constituted a court of original jurisdiction, of appeals, to correct errors of inferior courts, and to punish the contempts, neglects, favors or corruptions of the justices of the peace, clerks, sheriffs, etc., its process running to any county, to the great inconvenience of the

*Ford's Illinois.

people. Such other laws as it was deemed the country required, were passed, and after a brief session, the first legislature adjourned.

The laws of the territory were afterward revised and digested, under the authority of the legislatue, by Nathaniel Pope, and printed in one volume by Matthew Duncan, printer of the terri tory, which bears the date June 2, 1815. There are besides, two small volumes, by the same printer, of the session laws of 1815--16 and 181-718. While the laws are faithfully rendered, the mechanical appearance of these books, owing to the great coarseness of the paper and the use of clumsy type, illy compares with work of the present time. Many of the laws imported, revised and adopted by the governor and judges, were well drawn but the great body of those originated in the legislature present much crudity, both in composition and grasp of the subjects intended to be subserved. We will allude to some features of the territorial code, now happily obsolete, which give, by contrast with the present, an idea to the reader of the progress and amelioration attained in criminal jurisprudence and the punishment for debt. Thus, in the punishment of crimes, both felonies and misdemeanors, the barbarous practices of whipping on the bare back, confinement in stocks, standing in the pillory, and branding with hot irons, were the penalties frequently prescribed; besides fines, imprisonment, and loss of citizenship. These summary modes of chastisement grew, in part, out of the condition of the country. It was but sparsely settled, the people were poor, they had no general prison or penitentiary, and the few jails were so insecure as to present scarcely any barrier to the escape of prisoners. Whipping upon the bare back, besides other punishments at the option of the court, was prescribed in burglary or robbery, 39 stripes; in perjury, larceny, the receiving of stolen goods, and obtaining goods by fraudulent pretenses, 31 stripes; horse-stealing, first offence, from 50 to 100 lashes; hog-stealing, from 25 to 39 lashes; altering and defacing marks or brands on domestic animals at large, 40 lashes "well laid on;" bigamy, punished with from 100 to 300 stripes; for sodomy, from 100 to 500 lashes were prescribed; forcibly taking away a female to marry against her consent, was declared a felony and might be punished by whipping; children or servants for disobedience, might, upon complaint and conviction before a justice, be whipped not exceeding 10 stripes. In all these offences there were other penalties provided, alternatively or additionally, at the option of the court-such as fines, imprisonment, restitution, etc. Fines were collected from those unable to pay, by the sheriff hiring or selling them to any one who would pay the fine or costs, for such terms as the court might deem reasonable, and if the delinquent should abscond, the penalty was double the term of servitude and 39 stripes. Standing in pillory was prescribed, in addition to other penalties, in perjury, forgery, and the altering or defacing of brands or marks on domestic animals. For this last offence, on second conviction, the culprit was to have the letter T branded in the left hand with a red-hot iron. To prevent the common crime of killing stock running on the range, every one, including the owners, was required to exhibit the ears of hogs, or hides of cattle, killed, to a magistrate or two freeholders within three days, under a penalty of 10. For aiding the escape of a

convict, the punishment was the same as that of the culprit, except in capital cases, when stripes, standing in pillory, or sitting on the gallows with the rope adjusted about the neck, at the option of the court, was the penalty. Besides in treason and murder, the penalty of death by hanging was denounced against arson and rape, and horse-stealing on second conviction. For selling intoxicating liquors to Indians, slaves, apprentices and minors, severe penalties were enacted. For reveling, quarreling, fighting, profanely cursing, disorderly behavior at divine worship, and hunting on the Sabbath, penalties by fines were prescribed. Cockfighting, horse-racing on the highways, gambling, keeping E. O. tables, sending challenge to fight or box at fisticuffs, lotteries, etc., were punished by fines. In 1810, a law was adopted to suppress dueling, which made the fatal result of a duel murder, including the aiders, abettors or counselors as principals in the crime.

In regard to the collection of debts, the principles of the common law obtained, which wholly favored the creditor. All the property of the judgement debtor, both real and personal without any of the present humane features as to exemption, might be levied upou and sold under execution. The sale was absolute-no time of redemption, as at present, was allowed in the case of realty. If the land failed to sell for want of bidders, it was the judgment creditor's right, at his option, to take it absolutely at the appraised value made by 12 jurors. But this was not all. If the property was insufficient to pay the judgment, the body of the debtor might be seized and cast into prison. Here he would be allowed the prison bounds, extending 200 yards from the jail in any direction, on condition only of giving bonds in double the sum of the debt, not to depart therefrom.

The

The territorial revenue was raised by a tax upon lands. Those situated in the river bottoms of the Mississippi, Ohio and the Wabash were taxed at the rate of $1 on every 100 acres. uplands were classed as second rate, and were taxed at the rate of 75 cents per 100 acres. Unlocated, but confirmed land claims, were taxed at the rate of 373 cents per 100 acres. The county revenue was raised chiefly by a tax upon personal property, including slaves or indentured servants between the ages of 16 and 40, not to exceed $1 each. The only real property taxed was lots and houses in towns, and mansion houses in the country, worth $200 and upwards. There was levied also a capitation tax of $1 on every able-bodied single man, having attained his majority and owning $200 worth of taxable property. This ought to have induced marriage. Two men were appointed to appraise the property required to be assessed. Merchants and ferries were licensed at $15 and $10 respectively. Horses and cattle were taxed by the head, not exceeding 50 and 10 cents, respectively-not according to value, as at present.

The entire territorial revenue, between the 1st of November, 1811, and the 8th of November, 1814 (3 years), was reported by the legislative committee on finance, in 1814, to be $4,875 45. But of this amount, only $2,516 89 had actually been paid into the treasury; the balance-nearly half-$2, 378 47 remained in the hands of delinquent sheriffs. The delinquencies of sheriffs, in their capacity as collectors of the revenues, remained a curse to