Chapter Nine of the History of Southern Illinois

The Northwest territory had grown in population since the institution of the Ordinance of 1787. Governor St. Clair had done much for the territory and yet there were loud complaints about the inefficiency of the government. Courts were held infrequently and criminals were seldom punished. Great discontent existed because of the failure of the government to confirm the land claims of the people. St. Clair and the legislature often were bitterly opposed to each other. The Indians were numerous and insolent. The center of population had moved rapidly eastward and St. Clair’s interests were carried eastward.

HARRISON AND THE INDIAN PROBLEMS

In the congress of 1799-1800 a bill passed providing for the separation of what is now the state of Ohio from the territory to the west. The western part was to be called the Indiana territory while the eastern part retained the name of Northwest territory. On July 4, 1800, the Indiana territory came into existence. Gen. William Henry Harrison, at that time a delegate in congress, was made governor of the new territory. The organization was that of a territory of the first class, and John Gibson was appointed secretary, the judges being William Clark, John Griffin, and Henry Vranderburg. The county organization of Knox, St. Clair, and Randolph remained quite similar to that in force before the division.

The most important work which lay before Governor Harrison was the Indian problems. Governor Harrison was made superintendent of Indian affairs in addition to that of civil governor. By the treaty of Greenville in the summer of 1795, General Wayne acquired about 18,000,000 acres of land in the Northwest territory for the United States. The treaty was agreed to by thirteen tribes who claimed lands in the eastern part of the Northwest territory. But now population was moving west rapidly and the Indians in Indiana, Illinois, and the territory to the north were very restless and troublesome. It required the greatest diplomacy to handle these Indians. It has been said that Governor Harrison exhibited just such a remarkable aptitude in handling the Indian question as was needful at that time. By the year 1805, Harrison had made treaties with as many as eight or ten tribes in the west. The most noted were the treaties at Fort Wayne, Vincennes and P 105 St. Louis. By these treaties the United States came into possession of about 30,000,000 acres of land in the western part of the old Northwest territory.

It must not be thought that because the Indians had made treaties in which they ceded their lands to the general government that therefore the Indian problems were all solved. Many of these Indians still lingered in the region of their old hunting grounds, and often it occurred that the whites and the red people were closely intermingled in many regions.

SLAVERY IN THE TERRITORY

It has already been shown that slavery had been introduced into the Illinois country by Philip Renault in 1721. In that year he brought 500 slaves to the Louisiana territory, but probably all were not brought to the Illinois country. But a large number was brought to Kaskaskia and from that day forward for a century, slavery was a fixed institution in Illinois. In 1763, France ceded the Illinois country to Great Britain, and while there was nothing said in the treaty about slaves, the French people could freely remove to other countries or stay as they liked, and if they stayed they were to retain all their rights and privileges which they held prior to the treaty. General Gage in a proclamation to the people of the Illinois country in 1763 stated among other things, “That those who choose to retain their lands and become subjects of his majesty, shall enjoy the same rights and privileges, the same security for their persons and effects and the liberty of trade, as the old subjects of the king.” So there was slavery in Illinois as a British possession just as when it was French territory. In 1783 Great Britain transferred this same territory to the United States. The United States in turn agreed to guarantee to the people security for persons and effects. Thus slavery was recognized. Again when Virginia ceded her territory west of the Alleghany mountains she incorporated in her deed of cession the following— “Be it enacted— That the French and Canadian inhabitants and other settlers of the Kaskaskia, St. Vincents, and the neighboring villages, who have professed themselves citizens of Virginia shall have their possessions and titles confirmed to them, and be protected in the enjoyment of their rights and liberties.” This was in 1784.

In the same year an ordinance was passed to govern the Northwest territory. An amendment was added the next year which said—”That there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in any of the states” which shall be made of the Northwest territory. In the Ordinance of 1787, article the sixth provides—’ ‘There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory otherwise than in the punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.” This clause was a source of fear to the inhabitants around Kaskaskia for they yet held many slaves. When Governor St. Clair arrived in Illinois country in 1790 he put an interpretation upon the sixth article which quieted the slave holder very much. He gave it as his interpretation that the sixth article meant that no more slaves could be brought into the territory, but that the slaves that were already there were not to be disturbed. This was the construction put upon the article for the next several years.

P 106 On January 12, 1796, a petition was sent to congress from Kaskaskia, signed by John Edgar, William Morrison, William St. Clair, and John de Moulin for and on behalf of the inhabitants of the counties of St. Clair and Randolph praying that congress would annul the sixth article of the Ordinance of 1787. This article prohibited slavery in the territory. These petitions argued (1) That Virginia promised them through George Rogers Clark that they should be protected in all their rights and interests. (2) That while they now held slaves as in the days of the British supremacy, yet it was generally agreed that children born of slave parents would be free under the ordinance. (3) That help was scarce and it was quite difficult to get laborers and mechanics. (4) Many excellent people coming from the old slave states go on into Spanish territory where slavery is permitted who else would locate in Illinois.

This petition was forwarded to congress by Governor St. Clair. It was referred to a committee, who, through its chairman, Mr. Joshua Coit, reported that there was no evidence that Edgar and the other signers spoke for any one else than themselves, and that there was strenuous opposition to granting the petition coming from the eastern part of the territory. The petition was not granted.

A second attempt was made to get the sixth article repealed or annulled in 1799. This was a petition of old soldiers to the legislature of Indiana for permission to bring their slaves with them into and upon the Virginia military reserve. The committee reported that the request “was incompatible with the articles of compact.” The House endorsed the report.

In 1800 a petition was circulated about Kaskaskia, asking congress to annul the sixth article of the ordinance. It was signed by nearly three hundred names. It contained, in addition to a request for the abolition of the sixth article, a request that congress extinguish the title of the Kaskaskia Indians to lands in the Illinois country; and again, the granting of tracts of lands to those who would open roads through the country and maintain taverns on them for the convenience of travelers. This petition was presented on the 23d of January, 1801, but it was never acted upon.

In 1802, while Governor Harrison was in Kaskaskia on business, he was strongly urged to call a convention in Vincennes to take under advisement the admission of slavery into the territory. Such a convention was called, elections were held December 11, and the delegates were to come to Vincennes the 20th of that month. Randolph sent three delegates, St. Clair three, Knox four, and Clark two— twelve delegates in all. Randolph sent Pierre Menard, Robert Reynolds, and Robert Morrison. St. Clair sent Jean Francois Perry, Shadrach Bond, Sr., and John Mordeck. The convention was organized and proceeded to the business in hand. The delegates formulated their requests along the following lines: (1) They contended that the sixth article had been the cause of slow growth in the Indiana territory. (2) They asked only for a suspension of the article for ten years, after which it shall be in force. (3) Extinction of Kaskaskia Indian titles. (4) Preemption laws. (5) Encouragement of schools. (6) Granting large sections of land to those who would open roads. (7) The grant of the Saline Springs below the mouth of the Wabash to the Indiana territory.

P 107 The petition was presented to congress and on the 2d of March, 1803, the committee reported. They said: “The rapidly increasing population of the state of Ohio sufficiently evinces, in the opinion of your committee, that the labor of slaves is not necessary to promote the growth and settlement of colonies in that region.”

The refusal of congress to grant the request of the Vincennes convention roused the people to a determination to take the matter into their own hands. Although the Ordinance of 1787 provided that the governor and judges acting as a legislative body could adopt only such laws as were found upon the statute books of some one or more of the older states, the governor and judges acting as the law-making branch of the Indiana territory, on September 22, 1803, passed “A Law Concerning Servants.” It provided that a person coming into the territory “under contract to serve another in any trade or occupation shall be compelled to perform such contract during the term thereof.” The contract was assignable to any citizen of the territory, if the servant consented.

Intimately related with this subject of slavery in the Indiana territory, was the question of advancement to the second grade of territorial form of government. This indenture law of 1803, was not regarded as a very safe guarantee to the southern slave holder, and few slaves were brought in. Notwithstanding this timidity on the part of the slave owner to migrate into the Northwest territory, there was a constant stream of people coming from the non-slaveholding states and also non-slaveholders from the slave states. There can be little doubt that Harrison and his friends were favorable to some plan by which slavery could be introduced, but unless something could be done soon there would be no chance as the whole territory would be anti-slavery.

The law of congress creating the Indiana territory, also provided that the government might at any time be changed to the second class when the majority of the people favored such a change. It was argued that laws passed by a representative legislature would be regarded with more consideration than those enacted by the governor and judges. Besides they would have a delegate in congress who while not being allowed to vote would yet be of great service to the people of the territory. The governor, therefore, issued a call for an election to test the wish of the people as to the change from the first grade of government to the second grade. The election was called August 4, 1804, to be held September 11; and the complaint was made that the time was too short for even all the voters to learn of the election. Certainly something worked against a full poll of the territory as only four hundred votes were cast. The majority in favor of the change was one hundred and thirty-eight.

The governor called an election for members of the legislature. The election was held on January 3, 1805, and on February 1, they convened at Vincennes. There were nine members of the lower house. Randolph sent Dr. George Fisher, while St. Clair sent Shadrach Bond and William Biggs. The council was selected in the usual way. Pierre Menard represented Randolph and John Hay was St. Clair’s representative in that body. The full legislature met July 29, 1805. The first thing was the election of a representative or delegate to congress. Benjamin Parke was chosen. The next thing was P 108 to pass “An Act concerning the introduction of negroes and mulattoes into this territory.” This was an indenture law. It provided that any slave-holder might bring his slave into the territory, and enter into an agreement with the slave as to the length of time the slave was to work for the owner. If the slave refused to enter into a contract, the owner had sixty days in which to return him to a slave state. The “indenture” was acknowledged before the clerk of the court and placed on record. The slave was then known as an indented slave or an indented servant. If the slave-holder has slaves under fifteen years of age he may simply register them with the clerk of the court. The males must then serve the owner till they are thirty-five, and females till they are thirty-two. Children born of indented parents must serve their masters—males till they are thirty-two, females till they are twenty-eight.

ILLINOIS TERRITORY ERECTED

From the day the Indiana territory was set off from what came to be the state of Ohio, the people of Illinois began to agitate the matter of dividing the Indiana territory. The Illinois people complained that it was a great inconvenience to go so far to the seat of government. In a petition to congress the Illinois people complained that the road to Vincennes was a hundred and eighty miles through an uninhabited country which it was really dangerous to travel.

Another argument was that the governor, William H. Harrison, appointed only friends to office and that all important places were filled with the governor’s Indiana friends.

A third argument in favor of the division was that the people in the Illinois region were favorable to slavery while the Indiana people were quite indifferent to the subject of introducing slavery. The Illinois people thought if they could get a separate territorial government, they could manage many problems peculiar to the Illinois people better than could the legislature as then composed.

In the session of the legislature in Vincennes in 1808, a delegate to congress was to be elected. Mr. Jesse B. Thomas, the presiding officer, promised the Illinois members if they would vote for him as delegate to congress, he would secure the division. The bargain was made and carried out.

February 3, 1809, congress passed an act separating the Indiana territory, by a line running north from Vincennes to Canada, into the two territories of Indiana and Illinois.

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