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Pre-Columbian
Cahokia, the urban center of the
pre-Columbian Mississippian
culture, was located near present-day
Collinsville, Illinois.
That civilization vanished circa 1400-1500 for unknown
reasons. The next major power in the region was the
Illiniwek Confederation, a
political alliance among several tribes. The Illiniwek gave
Illinois its name. The Illini suffered in the seventeenth
century as Iroquois expansion forced
them to compete with several tribes for land. The Illini
were replaced in Illinois by the
Pottawatomie, Miami,
Sauk, and other tribes.
European exploration
French explorers
Jacques Marquette and
Louis Joliet explored the
Mississippi and Illinois Rivers in 1673.
As a result of their exploration, Illinois was part of the
French empire until 1763, when it passed
to the British. The area was ceded to the new United States
in 1783 and became part of the
Northwest Territory.
The 1800s
The
Illinois-Wabash Company
was an early claimant to much of Illinois. The
Illinois Territory was
created on February 3,
1809. In 1818,
Illinois became the 21st U.S. state. Early U.S. settlement
began in the south part of the state and quickly spread
northward, driving out the native residents. In 1832, some
Indians returned from Iowa but were driven out in the
Black Hawk War, fought by
militia.
Illinois is
known as the "Land of Lincoln"
because it is here that the 16th President spent his
formative years. Chicago
gained prominence as a lake and canal port after
1848, and as a rail hub soon afterward.
By 1857, Chicago was the state's dominant metropolis.
Mormons at Nauvoo
In 1839
members of the
Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, also known as
Mormons or LDS,
fleeing persecution in Missouri, purchased a tiny town that
would be renamed Nauvoo. The city,
situated on a prominent bend along the Mississippi River,
quickly grew to 12,000 inhabitants, and was for a time
rivaling for the title of largest city in Illinois. In some
ways it was a theocracy, but it
held democratic elections. The fact that LDS voted in blocs,
and that Mormons benefited from a collective effort as
opposed to the more isolated and independent non-Mormon
farmer, caused many non-LDS in the nearby areas to become
suspicious and jealous. By the early 1840s the LDS church
built a large stone temple in
Nauvoo, one of the largest buildings in Illinois at the
time, which was completed in 1846. In 1844 Smith was
assassinated in nearby
Carthage, Illinois, even though he was under the
protection of Illinois judicial system, with assurances of
his safety from then
Governor Ford. In 1846 the Mormons under
Brigham Young left Illinois for
what would become Utah, but what was
still then Mexican territory. A small breakaway group
remained, but Nauvoo fell largely into abandonment. The
Nauvoo temple was completed in 1846, but only used for a few
months before it was sold in 1846 as the LDS left Nauvoo.
Years later an Icarian utopian
community came to Nauvoo, but it eventually disbanded.
Nauvoo today has many restored buildings from the 1840s.
Today large
visitor centers are operated by the LDS church as well as
the Community of Christ church. The LDS church rebuilt the
Nauvoo temple in 2002, which once again occupies the exact
same spot, atop a hill overlooking a prominent bend in the
Mississippi river.
The Civil War
During the
Civil War, over 250,000 Illinois men served in the Union
Army, more than any other northern state except New York,
Pennsylvania and Ohio. Beginning with President Lincoln's
first call for troops and continuing throughout the war,
Illinois mustered 150 infantry regiments, which were
numbered from the 7th IL to the 156th IL. Seventeen cavalry
regiments were also mustered, as well as two light artillery
regiments.
Throughout
the war the Republicans were in control, under the firm
leadership of Governor
Richard Yates.
Twentieth century
In the 20th
century, Illinois emerged as one of the most important
states in the Union. Edward F.
Dunne was a Chicago Democrat and leader of the
progressive movement, who served as governor 1913-1917. He
was succeeded by Frank Lowden,
who led the war effort and was Republican presidential
hopeful in 1920.
Democrat
Adlai Stevenson served as
governor in 1948-52. William
G. Stratton led a Republican statehouse in the 1950s. In
1960 Otto Kerner, Jr. led
the Democrats back to power. He promoted economic
development, education, mental health services, and equal
access to jobs and housing. In a federal trial in 1973,
Kerner was convicted on 17 counts of bribery while he was
governor, plus other charges; he went to prison.
Richard Ogilvie, a
Republican, won in 1968. Bolstered by large Republican
majorities in the state house, Ogilvie embarked upon a major
modernization of state government. He successfully advocated
for a state constitutional convention, increased social
spending, and secured Illinois' first state income tax. The
latter was particularly unpopular with the electorate, and
the modest Ogilvie lost a close election to the flashy
Democrat Dan Walker in 1972. The
state constitutional convention of 1970 wrote a new
document that was approved by the voters. It modernized
government and ended the old system of three-person
districts which froze the political system in place.
Walker did
not repeal the income tax that Ogilvie had enacted and
wedged between machine Democrats and Republicans had little
success with the Illinois legislature during his tenure. In
1987 he was convicted of business crimes not related to his
governorship. In the 1976 gubernatorial election,
Jim Thompson, a Republican
prosecutor from Chicago won 65 percent of the vote over
Michael Howlett. Thompson was
reelected in 1978 with 60 percent of the vote, defeating
State Superintendent Michael
Bakalis. Thompson was very narrowly reelected in
1982 against former
U.S. Senator
Adlai E. Stevenson III,
and then won decisively against him in a rematch in 1986.
Thompson was succeeded by Republican
Jim Edgar who won a close race in 1990 against his
Democratic opponent, attorney general Neil Hartigan, and was
reelected in 1994 by a wide margin against another
Democratic opponent, state comptroller and former state
senator Dawn Clark Netsch. In the elections of 1992 and
1994, the Republicans succeeded in capturing both houses of
the state legislature and all statewide offices, putting
Edgar in a very strong political position. He advocated
increases in funding for education along with cuts in
government employment, spending and welfare programs. He was
succeeded by yet another Republican,
George H. Ryan. Ryan worked
for extensive repairs of the Illinois Highway System called
"Illinois FIRST." FIRST was an acronym for "Fund for
Infrastructure, Roads, Schools, and Transit." Signed into
law in May 1999, the law created a $6.3 billion package for
use in school and transportation projects. With various
matching funds programs, Illinois FIRST provided $2.2
billion for schools, $4.1 billion for public transportation,
another $4.1 billion for roads, and $1.6 billion for other
projects. Ryan gained national attention in January 2003
when he commuted the sentences of everyone on or waiting to
be sent to death row in Illinois—a total of 167 convicts—due
to his belief that the death penalty was incapable of being
administered fairly. Ryan's term was marked by scandals, and
as of late 2005 he was himself on trial.
Rod Blagojevich, elected in
2002, was the first Democratic governor in a quarter
century. Illinois was trending sharply toward the Democratic
party in both national and state elections. After the 2002
elections, Democrats had control of the House, Senate, and
all but one statewide office. Blagojevich signed numerous
pieces of progressive legislation such as ethics reform,
death penalty reform, a state
Earned Income Tax Credit,
and expansions of health programs like KidCare and
FamilyCare. Blagojevich signed a bill in 2005 that
prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation in
employment, housing, public accommodations, and credit.
Other notable actions of his term include a strict new
ethics law and a comprehensive death penalty reform bill
that was written by Sen. Barack
Obama in his capacity as a state senator, and the late-Sen.
Paul M. Simon. Despite an
annual budget crunch, Blagojevich has overseen an increase
in funding for health care and education every year without
raising general sales or income taxes. He has been feuding
with his powerful father-in-law Chicago Alderman
Richard Mell. Blagojevich has
been criticized for using what his opponents call "gimmicks"
to balance the state budget. Republicans have also claimed
that he is simply passing the state's fiscal problems on to
future generations by borrowing his way to balanced budgets.
Indeed, the 2005 state budget called for paying the bills by
shorting state employees' pension fund by $1.2 billion,
which led to a backlash among educators. Blagojevich has
been
criticized for too rapidly expanding the role of state
government. In October 2005, the state had $1.4 billion in
overdue medical bills, yet in November 2005, Blagojevich
created two new government agencies and signed the All Kids
health insurance bill, which obligates Illinois to provide
affordable, comprehensive health insurance to every child in
the state.
Illinois,
as of the census of 2000, currently has the 6th largest
population of the 50 U.S. states. Chicago, in terms of
populations, is the third largest city in the country.
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