and school indebtedness. This article was also submitted to a separate vote of the people; the vote for it was 41,449; against, 31,869; majority for, 9,580. This article laid the foundation for the extinguishment of the State debt, incurred by the internal improvement system of 1837, and it is of itself enough to immortalize the framers of that constitution, because it gave hope and courage to the people who wanted to pay the obligations of the State dollar for dollar, and it enabled them to do it.

STATE GOVERNMENT-1849-53.

Under the constitution of 1848, a new election for State officers had occurred in that year, and Gov. French was re-elected; William McMurtry, of Knox, was elected Lieut.Governor; Horace S. Cooley, of Adams, Secretary of State; Thomas H. Campbell, of Randolph, Auditor of Public Accounts; John Moore, of McLean, Treasurer. No provision having been made in the constitution for an AttorneyGeneral, that office became extinct.

The first session of the Sixteenth General Assembly convened January 1, 1849, the new constitution having changed the time of the meeting of the General Assembly from December to January. A second session convened October 22, and adjourned November 7, 1849.

Lieut.-Gov. McMurtry presided over the Senate, and William Smith was elected Secretary. Zadok Casey was elected Speaker of the House, and Nathaniel Niles Clerk.

The duties of this General Assembly were more than routine legislation. A new era marked the progress of the State. The framers of the new constitution had adopted a feasible plan for providing means for relieving the State of its financial embarrassment, and wise legislation was necessary to carry into effect the provisions of the constitution, and the people happily selected many able representatives, among whom may be mentioned, of the

Senate, John T. Stuart of Sangamon, Joseph Gillespie of Madison, J. L. D. Morrison of St. Clair, William Reddick of LaSalle, Joel A. Matteson of Will, and Norman B. Judd of Cook. Of the House, were Wesley Sloan of Pope, Zadok Casey of Jefferson, U. F. Linder of Clark, Thomas Carlin of Greene, Richard Yates of Morgan, Ninian W. Edwards of Sangamon, Onias C. Skinner of Adams, and William Kellogg of Fulton.

CHAPTER XXI.

IMPROVEMENT SYSTEM.

Internal Improvement System of 1837-Appointment of Fund Commissioners-Illinois and Michigan Canal-Board of Public Works-System of Railroads-Mail Routes-Improvement of the Rivers-$10,607,000 Appropriated by the General Assembly for Public Improvements-Who Voted for the Bill-Bankruptcy.

The internal improvement system of 1837, which bankrupted the State and wrecked many private fortunes, was a gigantic enterprise, and while it was a signal failure, yet it taught the people a valuable lesson. In this system was included, incidentally, the project of constructing the Illinois and Michigan Canal, which had been mooted in the message of Gov. Bond as early as 1818, and it continued to be the subject of discussion and legislation by every Governor and General Assembly, until the collapse of the whole system. The canal was regarded as the means above all others for the development of the State. The General Assembly of 1826, in a memorial addressed to Congress, asking for a donation of lands in aid of the construction of the canal, gave vent to their views

upon the importance of the work in these words: "The construction of a canal connecting the waters of Lake Michigan with the Illinois river, will form an important addition to the great connecting links in the chain of internal navigation, which will effectually secure the indissoluble union of the confederate members of this great and powerful Republic. By the completion of this great and valuable work, the connection between the North and the South, the East and the West, would be strengthened by the ties of commercial intercourse and social brotherhood, and the Union of States might bid defiance to internal commotion and sectional jealousy, and foreign invasion." Acting on this memorial, Congress passed an act March 2, 1827, granting some 300,000 acres of land to the State, in aid of the canal. Stimulated by what Congress had done, the Legislature passed an act, January 22, 1829, authorizing the construction of the canal, but the termini was not fixed until March 1, 1833. The total expenditures for the construction of the canal, under the direction of the Canal Commissioners and Trustees, up to 1848, when it was opened for business, was $6,557,681.50. (See Report of Auditor of Public Accounts to the Constitutional Convention of 1870.) The Records of the Auditor of Public Accounts further show that the total expenditures on this 92 miles of waterway was over $10,000,000. This enormous expenditure would have built, on the prairies of Illinois, 666 miles of railway.

The law which authorized the internal improvement system was passed by the General Assembly in February, 1837. It provided for the appointment of Fund Commissioners, whose duties were to negotiate loans of money, on the credit of the State, and to promote and maintain a general system of internal improvements. The same act provided for the biennial election, by the Legislature, of a Board of Public Works, whose duty it was to take

charge of and prosecute the public improvements; and it provided for the improvement of the navigation of the Wabash, Illinois, Rock, Kaskaskia and Little Wabash rivers; the construction of a mail route from Vincennes to East St. Louis, and the following railroads: Cairo to Galena, Alton to Mt. Carmel, Alton to Shawneetown, Quincy to Danville and the State line, a branch from the Cairo and Galena via Hillsboro and Shelbyville east to Terre Haute; Peoria to Warsaw, Lower Alton ria Hillsboro, to intersect the Cairo and Galena, Belleville to intersect the Alton and Mt. Carmel, Bloomington to Pekin and Peoria. There was appropriated by this act $400,000 for the improvement of the rivers, $250,000 for the mail routes, $9,460,000 for railroads, and $200,000 to counties in which no railroads were to be built. Provision was made for creating an internal improvement fund, and certificates of stock were to be issued on the faith of the State. The journal of the House of that session shows that John Crain, John Dougherty, John Dawson, John Dement, Stephen A. Douglas, Jesse K. Dubois, Ninian W. Edwards, William F. Elkin, Augustus C. French, William W. Happy, John J. Hardin, John Hogan, Abraham Lincoln, U. F. Linder, John A. McClernand, John Moore, Joseph Naper, James Shields, Robert Smith, Dan Stone and James Semple voted for the bill, and that Milton Carpenter, John Harris, William McMurtry, William A. Minshall and William A. Richardson voted against it. It will thus be seen that the internal improvement system was not the work of bad men, nor was it the creature of a combination for speculative purposes, for it was championed by some of the purest and ablest men of the State.

In March, 1839, an act was passed by the Legislature providing for the construction of a railroad from Upper Alton via Hillsboro to Carlinville, and one from Rushville

to Era. At the same session $150,000 was appropriated to the improvement of the Little Wabash; $20,000 to improve the Big Muddy; $7,000 to improve the Embarrass, and $20,000 for mail routes.

In 1840, the Legislature passed an act prohibiting the Board of Public Works from letting any more contracts, and providing for the settlement of the debts incurred by the system, and the offices of the Board of Public Works and the Board of Fund Commissioners were abolished.

In 1841, the Legislature passed an act authorizing the Auditor and Treasurer of State to audit and settle the claims of contractors on public works. At the same session $100,000 was appropriated for the completion of the Northern Cross Railroad. Here we have the beginning and ending of the legislation relating to the internal improvement system, in which was included the construction of the Illinois and Michigan Canal.

To illustrate the utter blindness of the system, we note the fact that Ford says, there were no previous surveys of the proposed roads, nor estimates of their cost of construction, and that the work was commenced on all of them at the same time, and at each end. Large brick depots were built at different points regardless as to whether the roads were built or not. One of these was burned at Equality some years ago, and another is still standing on the bank of the Ohio river at Shawneetown, as a monument to the folly of that age.

When the affairs of the internal improvement system were settled, it was shown that the State was involved in a debt of $12,000,000, with nothing to show for it. Here, indeed, was a crisis in the affairs of the young State. The population was less than half a million. There was neither business nor commerce; and a loud cry went forth in favor of repudiation, but this was soon checked,