The settlement of Illinois, 1778-1830

by Arthur Clinton Boggess

I. The Land and Indian Questions.

Probably nothing affected settlement in Illinois from 1809 to 1818 more profoundly than did changes in the land question, for during this period Congress passed important acts relative to land sales, and this was also the period of the first sales of public lands in the territory. It seems strange that such sales should have been so long delayed, yet the settlement of French claims, although begun by the Governor of the Northwest Territory at an early day, and continued by commissioners authorized by Congress and appointed in 1804, was incomplete when Illinois became a separate territory, and the United States government adhered to its policy of selling no land in the territory until the claims were finally adjudicated. When a list of decisions reported by the commissioners to Congress late in 1809 was confirmed in the following May,[225] and the next year a long list of rejected claims arising chiefly from the work of professional falsifiers, was reported,[226] it seemed probable that the work was nearing completion, but a final settlement was still delayed, and the long-suffering Illinois squatters were bitterly disappointed when, in February, 1812, in accordance with a resolution presented by the Committee on Public Lands, Congress made provision for the appointment of a committee to revise the confirmations made by the Governor years before.[227] The [pg 100] first legislature of Illinois met in the succeeding November, and adopted a memorial to Congress in which it was pointed out that the establishment of a land-office in the territory, several years before, had led to the opinion that the public land would soon be sold, and that because of this opinion those who constituted the majority of the inhabitants of the territory had been induced to settle, hoping that they would have an opportunity to purchase land before they should have made such improvements as would tempt the competition of avaricious speculators. The fulfillment of this hope having been long deferred, many squatters had now made valuable improvements which they were in danger of losing, either at the public sales of land or through the designs of the few speculators who had bought from the needy and unbusinesslike French most of the unlocated claims. For the relief of the squatters a law was desired that would permit actual settlers to enter the land on which their improvements stood, and requiring persons holding unlocated claims to locate them on unimproved lands lying in the region designated by Congress for that purpose. It was also hoped that as Congress had given one hundred acres of land to each regular soldier, as much would be granted to each member of the Illinois militia, since the militiaman had not only fought as bravely as the regular, but had also furnished his own supplies. If such a donation was not made it was hoped that a right of preëmption would be given to the militia, or failing even this, that they might be given the right, legally, to collect from anyone entering their land, the value of their improvements.[228] In proof of the fact stated in the memorial, that speculators had bought many French claims, it may be noted that William Morrison [pg 101] had ninety-two of the claims granted at Kaskaskia, his affirmed claims comprising more than eighteen thousand acres, exclusive of a large number of claims measured in French units, while John Edgar received a satisfactory report on claims aggregating more than forty thousand acres, in addition to a number of claims previously affirmed to him.[229]

A few days after preparing the above memorial, the legislature prepared an address to Congress, in which reference was made to the arrangement made between Congress and Ohio by the Act of April 30, 1802, granting to Ohio two salt springs on condition that the state should agree not to tax such public lands as should be sold within her borders, until after five years from the date of sale. Illinois wished in similar fashion to gain control of the salt springs on Saline creek. The Illinois delegate in Congress was instructed that if the bargain could not be made, he should attempt to secure an appropriation for opening a road from Shawneetown to the Saline and thence to Kaskaskia. It was also desired that the Secretary of the Treasury should authorize the designation of the college township reserved by the Ordinance of 1787 and by the Act of 1804, and because “labor in this Territory is abundant, and laborers at this time extremely scarce,” it was hoped that slaves from Kentucky or elsewhere might be employed at the salines for a period of not more than three years, after which they should return to their masters.[230] Each prayer of this address was granted. The enabling act and the Illinois constitution ceded the salt springs to the state and agreed that public lands sold in [pg 102] 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; and in 1816 the making of the desired road was authorized, although at the beginning of 1818 the route had been merely surveyed and mapped.[231]

The memorial which preceded the address was also in large measure successful. An act of February, 1813, granted to the squatters in Illinois the right of preëmpting a quarter section, each, of the lands they occupied, and of entering the land upon the payment of one-twentieth of the purchase money, as was then required in private sales.[232] This act was of prime importance. For more than thirty years settlers in Illinois had improved their lands at the risk of losing them. Since the appointment, in 1804, of commissioners to settle the French land claims, the settlers had been expecting the public lands, including those they occupied, to be offered for sale; thus it was inevitable that anxiety concerning the right of preëmption should increase as the settlement of claims neared completion, and contemporaries record that the inability to secure land titles seriously retarded settlement;[233] now, however, the granting of the right of preëmption, before any public lands in Illinois were offered for sale, ended the long suspense of the settlers. Years before this, Kentucky, now selling its public lands at twenty cents per acre, had passed liberal preëmption laws, and they were repeatedly renewed,[234] facts which increased the anxiety of Illinois.

Year after year the settlement of land claims dragged on, thus delaying the sales of land.[235] In an official report of December, 1813, it is stated that: “In the Territory of Illinois, two land-offices are directed by law to be opened; one at Kaskaskia, the other at Shawneetown, so soon as the private claims and donations are all located, and the lands surveyed, which are in great forwardness.”[236] A tract of land was set apart in April, 1814, to satisfy the claims recommended by the commissioners for confirmation.[237] A report of November, 1815, said that the commissioners hoped to open the land-office at Kaskaskia on May 15, 1816; and finally, in a report on the public lands sold from October 1, 1815, to September 30, 1816, we find that about thirty-four thousand acres have been sold at Shawneetown and somewhat less than thirteen thousand acres at Kaskaskia, the price at the latter place being precisely the two dollars per acre which was then the minimum, while that at Shawneetown was slightly higher,[238] presumably due to the sale of town lots, which had been authorized in 1810, although no sales took place earlier than 1814.[239]

The long delay in opening the land-offices in Illinois was fatal to an early settlement of the region, because the old states had public lands which they offered for sale at low rates, thus depriving Illinois of a fair chance as a competitor. In 1779 Kentucky granted to each family which had settled before January 1, 1778, the right of preëmption—four hundred acres if no improvement had been made and one thousand acres if a hut had been built. The preëmptor, by a law of 1786, was to pay 13s. [pg 104] 4d. per one hundred acres.[240] In 1781 the sheriffs of Lincoln, Fayette, and Jefferson counties, Virginia, were authorized to survey not more than four hundred acres for each poor family in Kentucky, for which twenty shillings per one hundred acres should be paid within two and one-half years.[241] In 1791 more than three and one-half millions of acres were sold in New York at eight pence per acre, while many thousands of acres in addition were sold for less than four shillings per acre—many for less than two shillings.[242] Pennsylvania offered homestead claims, in 1792, at seven pounds ten shillings per hundred acres.[243]

In December, 1796, Kentucky sheriffs were ordered to sell no more land for taxes until directed by the legislature to do so.[244] In 1800, and again in 1812, Kentucky offered land at twenty cents per acre, and in 1820 at fifteen cents per acre,[245] while during the interval preëmption acts were repeatedly passed.[246] Land in Tennessee sold at from twelve and one-half to twenty-five cents per acre in 1814, and in 1819 at fifty cents.[247]

In 1816 various classes of claimants were given increased facilities and an extension of time for locating their claims in Illinois. The business of satisfying claims was to linger [pg 105] for years, but with the opening of the land-offices it ceased to be a potent factor in retarding settlement.[248]

One writer says of Illinois: “The public lands have rarely sold for more than five dollars per acre, at auction. Those sold at Edwardsville in October, 1816, averaged four dollars. Private sales at the land-office are fixed by law, at two dollars per acre. The old French locations command various prices, from one to fifty dollars. Titles derived from the United States government are always valid, and those from individuals rarely false.”[249] At this time emigrants were going in large numbers to Missouri, and the Illinois river country, not yet relieved of its Indian title, was being explored.[250]