“In close connection with this subject, is my former recommendation, to which I again solicit your attention, that the law as it respects those held in service should be rendered less severe, and more accordant with our political [pg 186] institutions and local situation; and that more severe penalties should be enacted against the unnatural crime of kidnapping, which then prevailed to a great extent and has since considerably increased, in consequence of the defects of the present law. Regarding the former, our laws in general are a mere transcript of those of the more southern states, where the great number of slaves makes it necessary for the safety of the whites, that the laws for their government, and concerning free blacks, should be very strict.—But, there being no such motive here, the necessity of such laws ceases, and consequently their injustice and cruelty are the more apparent. The latter are found every day more and more defective and inefficient; and kidnapping has now become a regular trade, which is carried on to a vast extent to the country bordering on the lower Mississippi, up the Red River, and to the West Indies. To put an immediate and effectual stop to this nefarious traffic, is the imperious duty of the Legislature.”[522]
The house of representatives referred the governor's remarks concerning kidnapping to a select committee. A bill was reported, but after being weakened by amendments it was tabled.[523] In his message in 1826 the governor renewed his recommendations,[524] and a section of the criminal code of January, 1827, provided that kidnapping should be punishable by confinement in the penitentiary for not less than one nor more than seven years.[525] An act of January, 1825, provided that anyone who had failed to give the bond required by the black code of 1819 from [pg 187] those who emancipated slaves, should be released from any verdict or judgment arising from such failure, upon indemnifying the county for any money expended for the relief of the freedmen.[526] By an act of 1829 relating to slaves, whites were not to marry blacks, slaves were not to come to the state in order to be free, and runaway slaves should be advertised in the newspapers of the state.[527] The number of slaves in Illinois decreased after 1820. In 1820 there were 917 slaves in the state; in 1830, 747; in 1840, 331,[528] and before the next census slavery in the state was abolished.
The vote of 1824 against calling a constitutional convention marked the end of the slavery question as an obstacle to the immigration of an anti-slavery population. Slaveholders, never a large proportion of the immigrants, practically ceased to come to the state, while the immigration of anti-slavery southerners continued, and the aggregate immigration greatly increased. The population of the state was 55,162 in 1820; 72,817, in 1825; and 157,445 in 1830. Missouri, more populous than Illinois by more than 11,000 in 1820, was less so by 17,000 in 1830.[529] Governor Coles, in his message of January 3, 1826, said: “The tide of emigration, which had been for several years checked by various causes, both general and local, has again set in, and has afforded a greater accession of population during the past, than it had for the three preceding years. This addition to our population and wealth has given a new impulse to the industry and enterprise of our citizens, and has sensibly animated the face of our country. And as the causes which have impeded the [pg 188] prosperity of the state are daily diminishing, and the inducements to emigration are increasing, we may confidently anticipate a more steady and rapid augmentation of its population and resources.”[530]
From 1820 to 1825 the increase of population in Illinois was 17,655, while from 1825 to 1830 it was 84,628. Contemporaries have left some interesting records of immigration during the latter five years—a period in which the population of the state increased more than 116 per cent. Immigration had begun to be brisk by the fall of 1824. At the general election in August, 1820, there were 1132 votes cast in Madison county, while at a similar election in August, 1824, there were 3223 votes cast in the same territory, Madison county having been divided into Madison, Pike, Fulton, Sangamon, Morgan and Greene counties. A Madison county newspaper said: “That country bordering on the Illinois River is populating at this time more rapidly than at any former period. Family wagons with emigrants are daily passing this place [Edwardsville], on their way thither.”[531] During the five weeks ending October 28, 1825, about two hundred and fifty wagons, with an average of five persons to each, passed through Vandalia, bound chiefly for the Sangamo country.[532] The unsettled condition of the slavery question from 1820 to August, 1824, is given as the cause of the slight increase in population during that period, and the settlement of the question is thought to have been a chief cause for the increase after 1824.[533] It must not be supposed, however, that any one cause excludes all others. The country as a whole had scarcely recovered from the great financial depression of 1819; [pg 189] Kentucky was in turmoil over her bank, land titles and old and new courts;[534] early in 1825 over 65,000 acres in a single county in Tennessee were advertised for sale for the delinquent taxes of 1824;[535] and in 1826 a great drought in North Carolina caused a marked emigration from that state.[536]
In 1829 emigration was great. Some forty English families from Yorkshire came by way of Canada and settled near Jacksonville, Illinois. They brought agricultural implements and some money.[537] The Kentucky Gazette lamented the fact that a large number of the best families of Lexington were removing to Illinois.[538] An Illinois newspaper reported: “The number of emigrants passing through our Town [Vandalia] this fall, is unusually great. During the last week the waggons and teams going to the north amounted to several hundred. At no previous period has our State encreased so rapidly, as it is now encreasing.”[539] Another editor estimated the annual increase in population from 1826 to 1829 at not less than 12,000[540]—a figure which was almost certainly too low. In 1830 a meeting of gentlemen from the counties of Hampshire and Hampden (Massachusetts) was held at Northampton to consider the expediency of forming a colony to remove to Illinois. After a discussion it was voted to adjourn to meet on the 10th of October at Warner's Coffee House in Southampton. Similar meetings were held at Pawtucket and Worcester.[541]
The immigration to Illinois was but part of a general westward movement. From Charleston, Virginia, we hear: “The tide of emigration through this place is rapid, and we believe, unprecedented. It is believed that not less than eight thousand individuals, since the 1st September last [written on November 6, 1829], have passed on this route. They are principally from the lower part of this state and South Carolina, bound for Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan.—They jog on, careless of the varying climate, and apparently without regret for the friends and the country they leave behind, seeking forests to fell, and a new country to settle.” The editor attributes this movement to the fact that slavery had rendered white labor disreputable.[542] Three thousand persons bound for the West arrived at Buffalo in one week and six thousand per week were reported as passing through Indianapolis, bound for the Wabash country alone.[543] The great northern tide was chiefly bound to Ohio and Michigan,[544] northern Illinois not being open to settlement. Five years after Detroit received three hundred arrivals per week, Chicago had about a dozen houses, besides Fort Dearborn. This was the Chicago of 1830.[545]
Chapter VII. Successful Frontiersmen.
The character of the men who succeed in gaining the favor of those among whom they live indicates the character of those whose favor has been gained. Preachers, land dealers, lawyers, town builders, and politicians can not thrive in a hostile community. It is worth while in studying Illinois in its frontier stage to notice some of the chief traits of its leaders.