NORTHWEST ORDINANCE: The Significance for Illinois
1. Opening of territories to the West
2. Navigable transportation routes to New Orleans
3. Migration and development
*Oral Notes: The NW Ordinance outlawed slavery in the creation of new states, something which factored into the Civil War.
The Louisiana Purchase, 1803
Acquisition of the trans-Mississippi West (today: 14 states, about ¼ of the current US landmass—at the time, one-half of the nation
From the Spanish via Napoleon and the French—a surprise
The significance for Illinois:
Westward expansion with Illinois as the jumping off point (eg, Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1803-1804)
Continual warfare against the Indians (due to expansion)
Expansion of transportation systems, population, industry, and commerce in IL

Illinois Statehood, 1818
Population:
34,620 whites and African Americans, perhaps 1/3rd of the population; the rest, Native peoples
This is considered too sparely populated (especially devoid of white males), but the government makes an “allowance” for this
Constitution:
Arranged legislative, executive, and judicial powers and bodies
Outlawed slavery and indentured servitude
Present day boundaries
*There were slaves at the time that the constitution was created. The French living in the NW also used them.
*The NW ordinance made existing indentured servitude legal, but outlawed new indentured servants…but in most ways, this was still slavery
*Black Hawk
Village chief @ Saukenuk (Rock Island)
1804: Sauks sign treaty with US ceding Saukenuk to US. Black Hawk not involved
1812: BH fights with Tecumseh against US
1828: Keokuk, rival chief, agrees to leave Illinois. BH refuses, but then finally departs
1832: BH returns with band (500 men, 1000 women, children, and elderly). Seek alliance with Ho Chunks. Attacked Fighting to August.
LINCOLN: Symbol and Representative Man
Terms
Stephen A. Douglas (1813-1861)
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)
Lincoln-Douglas Debates (1858)
Dred Scott Decision (1857)
Free labor/free soil ideology
*Lincoln is a symbol to the United States, but even more so a symbol of Illinois, because his life and ideas were formed primarily in Illinois.
*For ID’ing terms on exams: know date, brief description, and interpret significance
“Lincoln Everywhere”
10,000 to 12,000 titles in the Library of Congress
An expensive car
A rose
A submarine and aircraft carrier
The first president on US currency
The most reproduced portrait in the world
Lincoln: Myth and Symbol
Why such reverence and presence?
Does the myth have anything to do with reality?
What does it have to do with Illinois history?
I. Myth and Symbol
From backwoods to White House (there is something to this idea, he was a blue collar worker in the definition of the past)
The Great Emancipator (this is oversimplified, as Lincoln’s ideals of race and freedom were complicated and changed over time—many black troops self-emancipated themselves)
Savior of the Union
II. A Capsule Biography
Family
Migration
Work
Flat