CONVENTION OF 1862. Convened at Springfield Jan. 7. 1862. Adjourned March 24, 1862. Seventy five delegates. Constitution rejected by the people at an election June 17, 1862. John Dement William A. Hacker William M. Springer John W. Merritt Robert H. Burton John Schell William Sands James W. Singleton, Austin Brooks. Wm. A. Hacker George W. Waters.. Wm. J. Allen. Milton Bartley Andrew D. Duff Augustus C. French, James B. Underwood Samuel Stevenson Solomon Kotlie, Samuel A. Buckmaster. Isaac L. Leith James H. Barker Harmon Alexander Anthony Thornton Horation M. Vandeveer John M. Woodson Orlando B. Ficklin. Benj. S. Edwards. Jas. D. Smith Joseph Morton, Albert G. Burr Alexander Starne, Archibald A. Glenn John P. Richmond Milton M. Merrill Joseph C. Thompson Lewis W. Ross. John G. Graham. Thompson W. McNeely. E. L. Austin T. R. Webber Elias S. Terry. Wm. W. Orme (1) John A. Wilson, Daniel Reily George W. Wall. H. K. S. Omelveny, T. B. Tanner Thomas W. Stone. R. P. Hanna Thomas W. Morgan Robert B. M. Wilson Jonathan Simpson Julius Manning, Norman H. Purple John Burns Alexander Campbell, Perry A. Armstrong Francis Goodspeed, J. W. Paddock, Henry C. Stephen B. Stinson, Adoniram J. Joslyn Wm. H. Allen Timothy R. Young Robert T. Templeton George W. Pleasants John Dement Charles Newcomer. Wellington Weiglev, Henry Smith Willard P. Naramore. Porter Sheldon Wm. M. Jackson, Luther W. Lawrence. Elisha P. Ferry. John Wentworth, Melville W. Fuller, Elliott Anthony, John H. Muhlke (1) Resigned December 7, 1861. CONVENTION OF 1870. Convened at Springfield Dec. 13, 1869. Adjourned May 13, 1870. Eightyfive delegates. Constitution ratified by the people July 2, 1870; in force Aug. 8, 1870. 43 Will and Grundy 44 LaSalle and Livingston. Reuben M. Benjamin, Clinton H. Moore Bronowell, Charles Emerson (6), Abel Harwood Wm. C. Goodhue, W. P. Pierce. Geo. S. Eldridge, Joseph Hart, Nathaniel J. 45 Bureau, Putnam, Woodford and Marshall. L. D. Whiting, James G. Bayne, Peleg S. 46 Henry 47 Rock Island. 48 Whiteside 49 Lee 50 Ogle Perley George E. Wait. Calvin Truesdale THE HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. THE FRENCH IN ILLINOIS, 1673-1765. The first European visitors to Illinois, of whom we have any certain knowledge, were Louis Joliet, who represented the French Governor at Quebec, and Father Marquette, the Jesuit missonary. These two men explored together in 1673 the Mississippi and Illinois rivers. The discoveries were soon followed by actual occupation and the country remained under French control until 1765. Missions, trading posts, and forts were set up at various places; but at the close of the French period, the only substantial result of French colonization was a group of five villages on or near the Mississippi, extending from Cahokia on the north to Kaskaskia on the south, with not more than two or three thousand inhabitants in all. This Illinois colony, though founded from Quebec, was annexed in 1717 to the province of Louisiana and governed by commandants sent up from New Orleans. BRITISH DOMINION, 1765-1778. At the close of the last French war in 1763, the Illinois country with the rest of the northwest was ceded to Great Britain. Owing, however, to the Indian troubles connected with Pontiac's conspiracy, the British were not able to take possession until 1765. During the next thirteen years, the colony was governed by British officers, but there was very little English immigration. In 1778, George Rogers Clark, acting under a commission from Gov. Patrick Henry of Virginia, captured Kaskakia and the adjoining villages. In 1779, he secured this conquest by the capture of Vincennes, and in 1783, the final treaty of peace with Great Britain recognized the Illinois country as a part of the United States. THE ILLINOIS COUNTY OF VIRGINIA, 1778-1784. Under the charter of 1609, supported by Clark's conquest. Virginia laid claim to all the country north and west of the Ohio river and organized it as the county of Illinois. In 1779, Capt. John Todd was appointed county lieutenant commandant of the new county and organized a government under the authority of Virginia. This Virginia government soon went to pieces, and in 1784, Virginia finally surrendered her claim to the United States. Soon afterward Massachusetts and Connecticut ceded their claims covering territory in northern Illinois. ILLINOIS UNDER THE TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. The first act of Congress for the Government of the Northwest Territory, including Illinois, was the ordinance of 1784, which, however, never went into effect. In 1785, Congress passed the Land Ordinance of 1785, establishing the township survey system, and in 1787, the famous Northwest Ordinance was adopted. This provided for a territorial form of government for the whole country north and west of the Ohio, but provided, also, that it should ultimately be formed into the states on an equal footing with the old |