had not been done in 1818.1 Even in the making of laws, the legislature was required in certain cases to submit its action to a popular vote, or what would be called today a referendum. The people also had much more to do with the choice of public officers. Under the constitution of 1818, some were appointed by the governor, a very large number by the legislature, and very few by the people. This system had worked badly and the legislature particularly had been demoralized by having so much patronage to distribute. Under the new constitution, nearly all important State and local officers were to be elected by the people. Even the judges who had previously been elected by the legislature for life and could be removed only by impeachment or by a two-thirds vote of both houses of the legislature, were now to be elected by the people directly for fixed terms, judges of the Supreme Court serving for nine years and others for shorter terms.3 Under the constitution of 1818, the legislature had Power of been given large powers and almost complete freedom the legisla in the use of them. The new constitution was full of restrictions upon the power of the legislature. It was forbidden to charter State banks, to make appropriations in excess of revenue, to borrow more than $50,000, unless authorized to do so by a special vote of the people, or to lend the credit of the State for private enterprises.* These provisions show clearly how the mistakes of the early legislatures had made the people suspicious of IO. 1Constitution of Illinois, 1848, Preamble and Schedule, §§ 4, 2 Ibid., Art. III. § 37; Art. X. § 5. 3 Ibid., Art. IV. § 12; Art V.; cf. with Constitution of 1818, Schedule, § 10, and Art. IV. §§ 4, 5. *Constitution of Illinois, 1848, Art. III. §§ 37, 38; Art. IV. §§ 5, 22-24; Art. V. § 10; Art. X. § 3. ture limited. Powers of the governor. Legal discrimination against the negro. Township organization. their representatives and disposed to tie their hands. Probably the most honorable thing in these constitutional restrictions was the determination shown to guard the financial honor of the State. This was also provided for by Article XV which established a special annual tax of two mills on the dollar to be used exclusively for the payment of the State debt. The powers of the governor were not much changed, except that he was given, for the first time, an independent veto power, the old council of revision being abolished. This was, however, a very weak veto, for a majority in each of the houses could pass a bill after the governor had rejected it.1 An important part of the constitution of 1848 was its treatment of the colored people. Slavery was now, for the first time, absolutely prohibited in the State, but the negro was not yet given the ordinary duties and privileges of citizenship. He was not liable to militia service or the payment of poll taxes and he could not vote. The strong feeling against free negroes was best shown by Article XIV of the constitution which required the legislature to adopt at once laws which would prevent the immigration of free negroes into the State and would also prevent slaveholders from bringing in their slaves, as Governor Coles had done, in order to set them free.2 The constitution of 1848 is also noteworthy because it made possible a radical change in the system of local government. The early settlers of the State coming largely from the South had been accustomed to what is called the county system, in which the county was the 1 Constitution of Illinois, 1848, Art. IV. § 21. 2 Ibid., Art. XIII. § 16; Art. VI. § 1; Art. VIII. § 1; Art. IX. § 1; Art. XIV. unit of local government, without any township organization.1 The new settlers from New York and New England were, however, accustomed to some form of township government and through their influence the constitution now provided that the legislature should pass a law authorizing the majority of the voters in any county to adopt the township system. Under this system the county board was to be made up of supervisors representing the various towns. During the next few years, the northern and central counties were generally organized on this plan, which has sometimes been called the county-township plan because it is a compromise between the Virginia and New England principles.2 amendments. The new constitution was much longer and more Constituelaborate than that of 1818. There was, therefore, tional greater need for a comparatively simple way of correcting mistakes which might be found by experience. The new constitution made it somewhat easier to correct particular articles. One article at a time might be amended, if the amendment, after being recommended by two successive legislatures, the first time by a twothirds vote, should be ratified by the people at a general election.3 'The word town was used before 1848 in nearly the same sense as the word village to-day. Thus the town government of Chicago in 1833 was what would now be called a village government. See below, ch. 7. 2 Constitution of Illinois, 1848, Art. VII. § 6. Ibid., Art. XII. The antislavery movement. CHAPTER III THE NEW INDUSTRIAL STATE-1848-1901 16. REFERENCES Secondary Authorities: Moses, Illinois Historical and Statistical, II.; Davidson and Stuvé, Complete History of Illinois; Dresbach, Young People's History of Illinois; Anthony, Constitutional History of Illinois, chs. 22-36; Lusk, Politics and Politicians of Illinois; Andreas, History of Chicago, 3 vols.; county and other local histories; Smith, Liberty and Free Soil Parties in the Northwest; Nicolay and Hay, Abraham Lincoln, A History, and the numerous other lives of Lincoln; Sheahan, Stephen A. Douglas; see also lives or memoirs of other public men, e. g., Wentworth, Palmer, Logan, Grant. Sources: Lincoln, Works (ed. Nicolay and Hay); The American Annual Cyclopaedia, 1861-1903; General Assembly of Illinois, Journals of the House and Senate, and Reports; The Laws of the State of Illinois, 1849-1903 (session laws); Supreme Court of Illinois, Reports; Constitutional Convention (1862), Proceedings; Constitutional Convention (1869-70), Proceedings and Debates; Report of the Adjutant-General of Illinois, 186166, 8 vols., esp. I. (For bibliography of State publications, see Bowker, State Publications, Part II., 229-249); U. S. Census Reports (1850-1900); Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Third Series, I., IV. 17. SECTIONAL CONTROVERSIES IN STATE AND NATIONAL POLITICS. 1848-1870 During the next twenty years after the adoption of the second State constitution, the most prominent thing in Illinois politics is the conflict of parties in the State on great national issues of a sectional character, particularly those relating to slavery. During the early 42 years of Statehood, Illinois had been very conservative During the next four years, the State was pretty Lincoln and evenly divided between the two parties, the most in- Douglas. teresting single event being the great senatorial contest of 1858 between Stephen A. Douglas, the author of the Kansas-Nebraska bill, and Abraham Lincoln, the Republican candidate. Douglas was able to keep his place in the Senate of the United States, but the election showed that Illinois was becoming more and more northern in its political sympathies. These two Illinois men became in 1860 the leaders of the two 1 See on this subject Smith, Liberty and Free Soil Parties in the Northwest. 2 Cf. Koerner, Das Deutsche Element, ch. 13. |