Part 44 (2/2)
”In this hurried review I reach now an event of transcendent interest and one far-reaching in its consequences While our Revolutionary War was in progress, and its glorious terers Clark planned an expedition whose successful terreat conquerors Bearing the coinia, the heroic Clark crossed the Ohio and began his perilousuntold hardshi+ps, the undaunted leader and his little band reached Kaskaskia The British coarrison were surprised and quickly captured The British flag was lowered, and on the fourth day of July, 1778, the Illinois country was taken possession of in the name of the Commonwealth whose Governor had authorized the expedition
”Five years later occurred an event ofconsequence--one that in very truth enesis of Illinois history I refer to the cession by Virginia of the vast area stretching to the Mississippi--of which the spot upon which we are now asseeneral Government
To the deed of cession, by which Illinois became a part of the United States, as coned the now historic names of Arthur Lee, James Monroe, and Thomas Jefferson
”The next milestone of Illinois upon the pathway to statehood hat is so well known in our political history as the Ordinance of 1787 Not inaptly has it been called 'the second Magna Charta,'
'a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night,' in the settleovernreat ordinance possessed a value that cannot be measured by words: One, that the States to be formed out of said territory were to remain forever parts of the United States of America; the other, that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude should exist therein, otherwise than for crime whereof the party should have been duly convicted
”The value of the great Ordinance to millions who have since found homes within the limits of the vast area embraced within its provision cannot be overstated Our eyes behold to-day thestatesmanshi+p in which it was conceived
”Momentous events now followed in rapid succession: the disastrous defeat of General St Clair, first Governor of the Northwest Territory, near the old Miae; the appointment of General Wayne, hero of Stony Point, to the co defeat of the Indian foe at the Mauave protection to the frontierse; the attempt of the French minister, Genet, to create discord in the western country, and in fact to establish a Government in the Mississippi Valley, independent of that of the United States; and the threatened conflict with Spain regarding the free navigation of the Mississippi--all possess an interest to Illinoisans which time cannot abate
”All apprehension, however, was for the time removed by the treaty between our Government and Spain, by which it was provided that the middle of the Mississippi should be our western border and that the navigation of the entire river to the Gulf should be free to all the people of the United States Passing over the later faithless atteate this salient provision of the treaty, it is enough that the question was forever put at rest by the purchase by our Governreat Napoleon, of the entire Louisiana country, stretching from the Gulf to the donificent States, destined to abide and ren parts of our federal Union
”And while Spain has sustained crushi+ng and retributive defeat and her flag has disappeared forever froathering its tributaries frohty realm that knows no symbol of authority save only our own Stars and Stripes
”Illinois was represented for the first tieneral assembly of the Northwest Territory, which convened in Cincinnati in 1799 By act of Congress in May, 1800, a new territorial organization was created, by which the territory now embraced in the States of Indiana and Illinois was formed, to be known as 'Indiana Territory,' and the capital located at Vincennes In February, 1809, by act of Congress, the 'Territory of Illinois' was duly organized, its seat of government established at Kaskaskia Nine years later--December, 1818--with a population scarcely one-half that of McLean County to-day, it was duly ad with Illinois at the co of Joliet and Marquette in the seventeenth century, we have rapidly followed its thread of history for a century and a half, until it became a State of the American Union We have seen it under the rule of the Frenchinian, under its various territorial organizations, until eighty-nine years ago it reached the dignity of statehood
We have seen its seat of authority at Quebec, at New Orleans, at Cincinnati, at Vincennes, and finally at Kaskaskia We have noted so of its marvellous development, of its wonderful increase in population
”Just one hundred and seven years ago, when by act of Congress Illinois became part of the Indiana Territory, it contained a population of less than two thousand white persons, only eight hundred of ere of the English-speaking race Less than two decades later, with a population of less then forty thousand, and an area greater, with a single exception, than any of the original States, we have witnessed its admission to the Union How marvellous the retrospect at this hour! And yet, 'the penduluress of the huher and nobler civilization'
”Events of thrilling interest and of scarce less consequence than those already mentioned followed the admission of the State into the Union In brief summary: The unsuccessful attempt to introduce slavery; the fatal duel between Stewart and Bennet and the trial and execution of the survivor forthe ban of judicial condemnation upon the barbarous practice; the visit of Lafayette to Illinois and his brilliant entertainislature at the old executive mansion; the ree of Kaskaskia to Vandalia, and near two decades later to Springfield; the ress between Cook and McLean, each possessing in largelaanization of two splendid counties that will keep the honored names of Cook and McLean in the memories of men to the latest posterity; the Black Hawk War and the final treaty of peace which followed the defeat and capture of the renowned Sac chief; the riots at Alton and the assassination of the heroic Lovejoy while defending the right of free speech and of a free press; the advent of the prophet Joseph Srowth of the Mormon Church, its power as a political factor in the State, the building of the million-dollar temple at Nauvoo, the murder of the Mormon prophet, and the final exodus of his adherents to the valley of the Wasatch and the Great Salt Lake; the construction of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, the precursor of grander material achievements soon to follow; the bravery of the Illinois troops during the ith Mexico; the wonderful tide of i in from the older States and frolas in securing the celebrated land grant under which the Illinois Central Railroad was constructed, and Chicago brought into commercial touch with the River Ohio and the States to the southward; the dawn of the era of stupendous agricultural developh all channels of trade; the wonderful growth of Chicago, springing with giant bound, within the span of a single life, from a mere hamlet to be the second city upon the continent; the unparalleled railroad construction, giving Illinois a greater e than any one of her sister States; the immense development of its untoldall lines of her conception and purpose of human life by the creation of a splendid system of public schools and universities; the establishment of institutions and asylums for the considerate care and relief of the unfortunate and afflicted of our kind; the building of homes 'for him who hath borne the battle and for his orphan'; the las, the prelude to events destined to give pause to the world, and to change the trend of history And, to crown all, hohen the nation's life was in peril, Illinois, true to her covenant under the great Ordinance that had given her being, gave one illustrious son to the chief istracy of his country, another to the captaincy of its ar every pathway of danger and of glory
”As one standing, alas, 'upon the western slope,' let nificent county--hly the history of our own State, and of the grand republic of which it is a part Illinois, in all that constitutes true grandeur in a people, knows no superior ainning has been luh honor to be a citizen of this grand republic It is in very truth a governovern separate and apart; its foundations the ence, the patriotisovernment carries with it tremendous responsibility, a responsibility that we cannot evade Study thoroughly how our liberties were achieved, and the benefits of stable governreat co the storm and stress of war, has held States and people in indissoluble union; and how, during the great civil conflict--the h baptis, and the Union established by our fathers wasfor all time”