Pages 180-183

180

When Peter Cartwright came from Kentucky to Sangamon county in 1823 and bought a farm seven miles west of Springfield, he found the people greatly agitated (as I have said in a former letter) over the question whether Illinois should be a slave or free state. An election to settle the question was called for the first Monday in August, 1824. He had left Kentucky to get away from slavery, and it was natural, with his combative disposition, that he should go into battle for freedom with all his soul and might. He thoroughly canvassed the counties of Sangamon and Morgan, making speeches against slavery in all the churches and schoolhouses, or wherever he could get an audience.

At that time there were but thirty counties in the state, and Sangamon and Morgan were the two northern counties on the east side of the Illinois river. Pike and Fulton were the only counties on the west side of the river. Fulton was the extreme northern county, taking in Fort Clark (now Peoria) and Galena and Chicago.

There was at that time in Fulton county a man who perhaps did as much to defeat slavery as did Mr. Cartwright or any other man in Illinois. His name was Ossian M. Ross. He thoroughly

canvassed the counties of Fulton and Pike. He was a Quaker, and the Quakes were bitterly opposed to human slavery. He went into the conflict with all his might, and never ceased until the votes were counted and the battle of freedom won. I believe there was more credit due him and Peter Cartwright for carrying the state against slavery than any other two men in Illinois. Following is the vote on that question. The vote of Morgan, Sangamon, Pike and Fulton will show how well they succeeded.

181

Majority against slavery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1872

After Mr. Cartwright had finished his fight against slavery he returned to Kentucky to finish his preparations for removal to Illinois. In the fall of 1824 he started with two wagons drawn by horses for his new home in the wilderness of Illinois. They met with some sad misfortunes on the road. At one time one of the wagons was overturned, seriously injuring one of his daughters. While encamped one night in the great forest a tree fell upon another daughter, crushing her to death. They had to carry the mangled body twenty miles before they could procure a coffin and give the child decent burial.

When they arrived at their new home Mr. Cartwright found that the election had gone to his satisfaction. Notwithstanding slavery had been voted down by the decisive majority of 1,872 votes, the slavery party was not annihilated. They pretended to believe that their vote had not all turned out, and hoped that they might win in another election. They had a large majority in both branches of the legislature, and were determined to secure

182

another election. It was true that Edward Coles, an anti-slavery man, had been elected governor; but there had been four candidates, and the slavery vote had been divided causing Coles to be elected by a small majority.

In the early settlement of Illinois the southern part of the state was settled first, and mainly by people from the slave states. These people brought with them their slave laws, slave prejudices, and many of them also brought their slaves. They found that many of the staple products of the South, such has hemp, tobacco, and cotton, could be raised in southern Illinois, and they believed that these products could not be profitably raised without slave labor. There was another condition that influenced the people to favor slavery: About that time a tremendous emigration was pouring through southern Illinois into Missouri from Virginia and Kentucky. In the fall of the year every great road was crowded with these movers in long trains of teams, and with their negroes, and with plenty of money. They were the wealthiest and best educated emigrants from the slave states. The early settlers of Illinois saw it all and with great envy for Missouri’s good fortune. The lordly emigrant as he passed along with his droves of negroes and piles of money took malicious delight in adding to the unrest by pretending to regret the shortsighted policy of Illinois which excluded him by declaring against the institution of slavery. This gave the people of southern Illinois a strong desire to hold another election, hoping that slavery might be voted in.

And so the agitation was kept up from year to year. The same infamous old "black laws" were still on the statute book, and many negroes were held in slavery, especially in the southern counties along the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. They were hemmed in by slave states, Kentucky on the southeast and Missouri on the west. So the sentiment was strong for slavery. There were but few men in the legislature who dared oppose these bad laws or slavery. It would have been a very unpopular if not dangerous step. Then there was great fear of being called

183

an "abolitionist," the odious epithet that in those times could be applied to a man.

But in 1828 there was to be an election for representatives, and the friends of free territory prevailed upon Mr. Cartwright to become a candidate, and he was elected without much opposition from the northern counties. He believed that he could for a few months serve his God and his country as acceptably in the general assembly as in preaching the gospel.

By this time the northern counties were settling up with people from the East, and the tide turned forever against the friends of slavery. Mr. Cartwright with the help of other members of the legislature was able to have some of the infamous "black laws: repealed and excellent laws enacted in the stead. It was a grand and noble work. I may have more to say on this subject in a later sketch.

PREV          NEXT