CHAPTER XVII
The Birth of a State
At the close of the war of 1812-14 immigration from the border slave states again poured into Illinois in a steady stream. Said a letter writer of the day, "Every ferry on the river is busy, passing families, negroes, horses, wagons, carts." That portion of Illinois Territory lying between the Mississippi and Illinois rivers, and running as far north as what was then supposed to be our northern boundary, a few miles above Rock Island, was set apart as bounty lands for the recently discharged soldiers of the war of 1812. It was therefore called the Military Tract. Each soldier was given a government certificate, good for a quarter section of unappropriated land anywhere in this Tract. Many soldiers made choice of their land and made their homes on it, but more than half of the entire tract was sold to agents and speculators under "soldiers' warrants." Land speculation was the rage at this time. The wealth the Frenchman failed to find in gold mines the American looked for in town sites. Dr. Alexander, after whom Alexander county was named, laid out "America," a few miles above Cairo, on the line of a proposed cut-off between the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and strove for years to have it appointed state capital. The same distinction was coveted by St. Louis speculators for "Porland," which they had laid out under the river bluff at the mouth of the Kaskaskia river, but it came to nothing at the time. A new start was taken in 1830 when an Englishman by the name of Sam. Smith established a ferry there, and named the place Chester in honor of the town in England where he met his wife. And Chester it remained. The Cincinnati speculators who "laid out" Vienna, the county seat of Johnson county, were more fortunate than some others, for by donating the land they secured a permanent town on their holdings. In 1817 George Flower and his English colony founded Albion; the story is the romance of Edwards county. His niece, Sarah Flower, was the author of the hymn, "Nearer, My God, to Thee."
The birthday of the state of Illinois is December 3, 1818, for on that day Congress declared Illinois to be "one of the United States of America." It took a year to bring this about. In January our territorial legislature submitted to Congress a petition for statehood, committing
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it to the care of Nathaniel Pope -- after whom Pope county is named. The northern boundary expected was a line running west from the lower end of lake Michigan, but through the influence of Mr. Pope it was extended fifty miles north to include the Galena lead mines; thus giving Illinois fourteen additional counties. That it would give us on the site of the government fort a great city like Chicago was then unknown. The reason for the change that weighed most with Congress was that Illinois would thus be a western keystone state, with her head at the lakes and her feet at the junction of the rivers, so binding together the Mississippi valley and the eastern seaboard. Aaron Burr's project to divide the Union and set up a Southwestern empire was then fresh in mind.
The new state contained fifteen counties and 40,000 white inhabitants. There was a fear that the required number would not be found, but by watching every road and counting every immigrant it was made up and some to spare. Chicago was not in sight. Five years after this Mr. Beck wrote of Chicago as "a village of Pike county, situated on lake Michigan, at the mouth of Chicago creek; contains 15 houses and 70 inhabitants." James Lemen Jr, was one of the three delegates from St. Clair county to the convention to draft a state constitution. At the first election held under it Shadrach Bond Jr., the nephew of our scripture reader at the Lemen meetings in New Design, was elected governor. William Kinney, our old friend the clerk of the Richland Creek Baptist church, and brother-in-law of Joseph Lemen, was chosen state senator.
It was decided that the state capital should be removed from Kaskaskia "to some point on the Kaskaskia river as near as might be east of the third principal meridian." Carlyle, eighty miles up the river, was the chief frontier town, but had a rival in Pope's Bluff, twenty miles farther up, owned by Nathanael Pope. Another twenty miles up the river brought the explorer to the claim of an old hunter by the name of Reeves. This was the point finally selected, and named Vandalia. A two story frame statehouse was erected in a noble grove of white oaks, but the commissioners, guided by their frontier instincts, cut down the native oaks and planted black locust trees in their stead! In 1820 the state records were removed to the new location, a small load for a one horse wagon. With the departure of that wagon departed the glory of Kaskaskia, for more than a century the metropolis of Illinois.
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The new state constitution recognized slavery under the name of "indentured servants," and we were fitted out with a regular slave code. Plainly, James Lemen was in a minority in that convention. On the part of all friends of humanity, there was cause enough for anxiousness. The seriousness of the situation justified the stand taken by James Lemen, Sr., at Richland Creek church. Quarrels over rights and dignities are of the evil one, but separation for righteousness' sake is right. As regards personal interests, blessed are the peacemakers, but there is no peace for those who wrong others, as long as God's people live. Churches usually die of spiritual disease, not of violence. History is full of it, beginfling with the Spirit's cry, "Ye have left your first love." The early church councils were largely for the purpose of hearing and settling differences between churches and "bishops."
Among the petitions sent in to the constitutional convention by those who wished special provisions, was one from the colony of Presbyterian Covenanters at Kaskaskia asking for the recognition of Jesus Christ in the preamble, as the Ruler of nations. Until his political supremacy is acknowledge they decline to vote. Their petition was not granted. They never voted but once, in the slavery contest of 1824. Their mistake is in understanding Christ to be a political Ruler. "My kingdom is not of this world." The same declaration disposes of the theory that he is an ethical Ruler. Is the world obeying Him? Let us follow Him as a spiritual Ruler, and His promised kingdom is on the way! There are some Baptists who do not vote because they belong to a rejected Christ, and have no part in the world's business. But they forget that they do not truly represent their Lord if while they wait for Him they are not champions of the oppressed. Let us pray for His coming, and vote as we pray!
The Baptists of Illinois at the time of the organization of the state numbered 10 churches and 200 members. The Friends to Humanity were strengthened by the coming of Daniel Hilton, of Maine, the first of the host of New England helpers that now began to come. He settled near New Design, and joined hands at once with James Lemen and his people. So 1818 was a year to be remembered for both state andchurch. There was another New Englander also, looking thoughtfully over to the Illinois Bottoms from the St. Louis landing, and in the providence of God he was to do more in the shaping of Illinois Baptist history than any other man. ================= [Edward P. Brand, Illinois Baptists -- A History, 1930, pp. 58-60. -- jrd]
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