DOCSLIB.ORG

Illinoiswhigsbef00thom.Pdf

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Illinoiswhigsbef00thom.Pdf it flOT A PERIODICAL THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS' LIBRARY 305 cop. before the Return this book on or below. latest Date stamped University of Il!inoi.Library_ JW- JULIO FEB. | MAR 6 1982 MAP 1 MAYS 3 H41 Of THE TYOf JUN 1915 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS STUDIES IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES MARCH, 1915 VOU IV. NO. I BOARD OF EDITORS ERNEST L. BOGART JOHN A. FAIRLIE LAURENCE M. LARSON PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS URBANA COPYKIGHT, BY THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 3-oS" The Illinois Whigs Before 1 846 BY CHARLES MANFRED THOMPSON, Ph.D. Associate in Economics, University of Illinois PRICE 95 CENTS PUBLISHED UNDER THI, AUSPICES OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL BY THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 34555-4 PREFACE. This study is intended to be but preliminary to a history of the Illinois Whigs, which will consider not only the origin and development, but also the decline and decay of that party. It has seemed advisable, therefore, to defer the slavery agitations of the thirties and early forties to the more complete discussion. Occasionally the history of the Whig party, and even the political narrative itself, gives way to discussions of a purely social or economic nature. Such a procedure is the result of a conscious attempt to examine the social and economic environ- ment of a minority party within a limited geographical area, to make accessible hitherto unpublished information on the political affiliations of hundreds of Illinois office holders, and to show some of the relations between the politics of the state and the politics of the nation. To the county and state officers who have opened their respective archives and rendered whatever aid they could to facilitate research, I wish at this point to express my thanks; likewise to the officials and attendants of the Chicago Historical Library, of the Indiana State Library, of the Illinois State His- torical Library, of the Mercantile Library, St. Louis, and of the Library of the University of Illinois. I am particularly indebted to Professor Solon J. Buck of the Universiy of Minnesota, for advice during the early stages of investigation; to Professor Evarts B. Greene for kind and helpful criticisms, and above all to Professor Clarence W. Alvord whose advice and oversight have made the study possible. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I. PAGE Genesis of the Illinois Whigs, 1809-1934 Territorial politics 9 Distribution of offices, 1818 II Edwards and anti-Edwards factions 13 Cook vs. McLean, 1819 13 The Missouri question _ 13 Cook vs. Kane 15 Cook vs. McLean, 1822 15 Gubernatorial campaign and election, 1822 16 Question of constitutional convention before the General Assembly.. 23 Convention campaign and election, 1823-1824 25 Cook vs. Bond, 1824. 27 Presidential election, 1824 27 Cook casts vote of Illinois for Adams, 1825 29 Gubernatorial campaign and election, 1826 31 J^ook vs. Duncan, 1826 32 ' Presidential election, 1828 35 Gubernatorial campaign and election, 1830 36 Shifting of political lines 38 Presidential election, 1832 38 Opposition to Van Buren 38 Summary 39 CHAPTER II. The Emergence of the Whig Party, 1834-1839 Composition of parties 42 Gubernatorial campaign and election, 1834 43 9th General Assembly, 1834-36 47 Fight over United States Bank 48 White endorsed by senate Si Expunging resolution endorsed 5i Van Bvjren endorsed by house 52 Harrison becomes a candidate for president 54 Presidential election of 1836, a three-cornered tight 55 loth General Assembly, 1836-38 57 Gubernatorial campaign and election, 1838 59 nth General Assembly, 1838-40 60 Summary 61 -h CHAPTER III. Harrison and Tyler, 1839-1841 Beginning of Whig organization 62 Whig members of General Assembly meet 63 Proposals for Whig state convention 64 County meetings 64 First Whig state convention 65 PAGE Whig policies _ 65 Nomination of Harrison 67' Political machinery 68 Lincoln's "famous plan" 69 Characteristics of the campaign 69 Issues 70 Jackson's influence _ 75 The "Springfield Junto" 76 General election, August, 1840. _ 76 Presidential election, November, 1840 _ 77 The foreign vote 79 Field's contest for office 80 Special session of the General Assembly 82 The Bank question 83 Reform of the judiciary 85 Summary 87 CHAPTER IV. Sectionalism and State Issues, 1841-1845 Preponderance of local affairs 89 Gubernatorial campaign and election, 1842 91 Carlin's administration weak 92 i3th General Assembly, 1842-44 93 The banks put into liquidation 94 The state debt 95 State taxes 96 Proposition for completing canal 97 The Mormons in politics 99 Attempts to impeach Judge Browne 101 I4th General Assembly, 1844-46 104 Canal and interest legislation 107 Sectionalism intensified 107 Summary _ 1 1 1 CHAPTER V. The Illinois Whigs and National Politics, 1841-1845 Political affiliations and local affairs 113 The Whigs in power _ 114 Harrison's death 115 Tyler inaugurated _... 115 Congressional election, 1841 117 Tyler's veto of the Bank bill.... 118 Breach between Tyler and the Whigs 118 Congressional election, 1843 120 "Address to the People of Illinois" 122 Whig state convention, 1843 , 124 Clay nominated, 1844. 126 Clay vs. Polk 126 General election, August, 1844. 129 Presidential election, November, 1844 130 Analysis of vote for president 130 Appendix, showing political affiliations 132 Bibliography 151 Index .. .. 161 CHAPTER I. GENESIS OF THE ILLINOIS WHIGS. 1809-1834. Throughout the territorial period, and even before, political factions and cliques existed in Illinois. Local rather than national issues determined the lines of cleavage ; and the location of these lines usually depended on personal adherences. Prior to about 1817, the bone of contention was the judiciary; one party supported, another opposed, the system as it existed. Just before the government was changed from territorial to state, the slave question began to assume large proportions. Without any known reason the party that favored the judiciary favored the extension of slavery, and the anti-judiciary party became anti- extensionist. The struggle over the admission of Missouri, and the subsequent contest over the proposition to legalize slavery in Illinois, served to make the line of party cleavage more dis- tinct and to crystalize parties and factions. These parties and factions, with variations, persisted down to the time when the Whig party emerged in 1834. 1 Ninian Edwards, governor of Illinois Territory from 1809 to 1818, was the leader of one of the territorial factions, and he continued until the time of his death in 1833 to be one of the prominent figures in Illinois politics. The*leader of the faction opposed to Edwards was Shadrach Bond, who was the first territorial delegate in Congress from Illinois. Edwards had two able lieutenants in Nathaniel Pope and Daniel Pope Cook, both of whom held appointive offices in the territory. Pope was the first territorial secretary, holding that position until 1816, when he was elected delegate to Congress. Cook came to the territory in 1815, became auditor of public accounts the next year, served as clerk of the territorial house of representatives from 1816 to 1818, and in the latter year was J The study of Illinois politics from 1809 to about 1822 has been unsatisfactory. As far as the writer has been able to ascertain there is little contemporary evidence on the subject. See, however, Washburne, Edwards, no, 149, 150, 154, 159, 160; Churchill-Lippincott, (Third Paper) ; Western Intelligencer, August 21, 1816; Edwardsville Spectator, December in 4, 1821 ; W. H. Brown Chicago American, December 22, 1840. 9 10 THE ILLINOIS WHIGS [10 elevated to the judiciary. Associated with Edwards, Pope and Cook were Thomas C. Browne and Pierre Menard, two men whose abilities, although of a different order, were only a little less than those of the leaders. Both served in the territorial legislature, the latter being president of the council during its entire existence from 1812 to 1818. Among the close political friends of Bond were Elias Kent Kane, John McLean, Jesse Burgess Thomas, and Michael Jones. Kane and Thomas were territorial judges and kept up a continuous controversy with 2 Edwards over the functions of the judiciary, McLean was a political free lance, while Jones appears to have opposed Edwards on personal grounds. Of the five prominent members of the Edwards faction, Pope, Cook and Browne were natives of Kentucky, Menard of Canada, and Edwards of Maryland. 3 The nativity of the members of the other faction differed some- r : ere in in New- what Bond and Thomas w born Maryland ; Kane York; McLean in North Carolina; and Jones in Pennsylvania. With one or two exceptions all the ten leaders were lawyers, and at least three had had college training : Kane at Yale, Edwards at Dickinson, and Pope at Transylvania. Around Edwards were grouped his appointees, their friends, and all those who felt that adherence to him would further their own interests; opposed were disappointed office-seekers, their friends, those hostile to authority from a centralized source, and finally that frontier element which confounded liberty with license, and hence hated legal restraint. Between the political poles stood the great majority of the people. The division among this great majority was transitory, depending very much upon personal predilections and temporary issues. ^Western Intelligencer, August 21, 1816. 3 To avoid being tedious, references in this work to such statements as nativity are omitted unless cpntroverted and necessary for proof. Besides consulting the standard biographies and other works on Illinois history, members of the family have been appealed to, and on some occa- sions the inscriptions on grave stones have been used. Newspaper adver- tisements, and a consultation of circuit court records in the county archives may be depended upon for a determination of profession in many- cases. Likewise in cases where there are disputes as to the spelling of proper names, the spelling found in contemporary public documents has been followed.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Lyman Trumbull and Gustave Koerner: Allies for Freedom
    Lyman Trumbull and Gustave Koerner: Allies for Freedom Jack W. LeChien Illinois Senator Lyman Trumbull, a lawyer who crafted the Thirteenth Amendment banning slavery and other key civil rights legislation during the Civil War, honed his legal and political skills while living in Belleville, Illinois, from 1837 to 1849. During that period he also would create relationships with Gustave Koerner and James Shields that would last the rest of his life. The three men would also have an impact on the career of Abraham Lincoln. Trumbull was born in 1813, in Colchester, Connecticut, taught school in Greenville, South Carolina, for three years and then read law under the tutelage of a Georgia judge. He came to Belleville in 1837, with letters of introduction to present to Democrat Congressman Adam Snyder, who had a law office in the northwest corner of the Belleville Public Square. (1) Snyder, apparently, was not looking for an addition to his firm as he had already partnered with Gustave Koerner and James Shields. The careers of Trumbull, Koerner and Shields would intersect in court and politics for the next several decades. Trumbull “became associated in law practice with former Governor John Reynolds. Reynolds was the most distinguished citizen of Belleville and of Illinois. He was a former Illinois Supreme Court Judge, assemblyman, governor and a member of the U.S. House of Representatives”. (2) Reynolds decision to take on Trumbull was a “recognition of the young man’s unusual ability “ that caused Reynolds “to entrust his law business to an unknown twenty-four year old lawyer.
    [Show full text]
  • Coles Family Papers 1458 Finding Aid Prepared by Amanda Fellmeth
    Coles Family Papers 1458 Finding aid prepared by Amanda Fellmeth. Last updated on November 09, 2018. Historical Society of Pennsylvania 2010 Coles Family Papers Table of Contents Summary Information....................................................................................................................................3 Biography/History..........................................................................................................................................5 Scope and Contents....................................................................................................................................... 6 Administrative Information........................................................................................................................... 6 Related Materials........................................................................................................................................... 7 Controlled Access Headings..........................................................................................................................7 Bibliography...................................................................................................................................................8 Collection Inventory...................................................................................................................................... 9 - Page 2 - Coles Family Papers Summary Information Repository Historical Society of Pennsylvania Creator Coles, Edward, 1786-1868. Title
    [Show full text]
  • Lyman Trumbull: Author of the Thirteenth Amendment, Author of the Civil Rights Act, and the First Second Amendment Lawyer
    KOPEL (1117–1192).DOCX (DO NOT DELETE) 5/2/16 4:20 PM Lyman Trumbull: Author of the Thirteenth Amendment, Author of the Civil Rights Act, and the First Second Amendment Lawyer David B. Kopel* This Article provides the first legal biography of lawyer and Senator Lyman Trumbull, one of the most important lawyers and politicians of the nineteenth century. Early in his career, as the leading anti-slavery lawyer in Illinois in the 1830s, he won the cases constricting and then abolishing slavery in that state; six decades later, Trumbull represented imprisoned labor leader Eugene Debs in the Supreme Court, and wrote the Populist Party platform. In between, Trumbull helped found the Republican Party, and served three U.S. Senate terms, chairing the judiciary committee. One of the greatest leaders of America’s “Second Founding,” Trumbull wrote the Thirteenth Amendment, the Civil Rights Act, and the Freedmen’s Bureau Act. The latter two were expressly intended to protect the Second Amendment rights of former slaves. Another Trumbull law, the Second Confiscation Act, was the first federal statute to providing for arming freedmen. After leaving the Senate, Trumbull continued his fight for arms rights for workingmen, bringing Presser v. Illinois to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1886, and Dunne v. Illinois to the Illinois Supreme Court in 1879. His 1894 Populist Party platform was a fiery affirmation of Second Amendment principles. In the decades following the end of President James Madison’s Administration in 1817, no American lawyer or legislator did as much as Trumbull in defense of Second Amendment.
    [Show full text]
  • Interview with Dawn Clark Netsch # ISL-A-L-2010-013.07 Interview # 7: September 17, 2010 Interviewer: Mark Depue
    Interview with Dawn Clark Netsch # ISL-A-L-2010-013.07 Interview # 7: September 17, 2010 Interviewer: Mark DePue COPYRIGHT The following material can be used for educational and other non-commercial purposes without the written permission of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library. “Fair use” criteria of Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976 must be followed. These materials are not to be deposited in other repositories, nor used for resale or commercial purposes without the authorization from the Audio-Visual Curator at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, 112 N. 6th Street, Springfield, Illinois 62701. Telephone (217) 785-7955 Note to the Reader: Readers of the oral history memoir should bear in mind that this is a transcript of the spoken word, and that the interviewer, interviewee and editor sought to preserve the informal, conversational style that is inherent in such historical sources. The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library is not responsible for the factual accuracy of the memoir, nor for the views expressed therein. We leave these for the reader to judge. DePue: Today is Friday, September 17, 2010 in the afternoon. I’m sitting in an office located in the library at Northwestern University Law School with Senator Dawn Clark Netsch. Good afternoon, Senator. Netsch: Good afternoon. (laughs) DePue: You’ve had a busy day already, haven’t you? Netsch: Wow, yes. (laughs) And there’s more to come. DePue: Why don’t you tell us quickly what you just came from? Netsch: It was not a debate, but it was a forum for the two lieutenant governor candidates sponsored by the group that represents or brings together the association for the people who are in the public relations business.
    [Show full text]
  • Legislative Oversight in Illinois
    Legislative Oversight in Illinois Capacity and Usage Assessment Oversight through Analytic Bureaucracies: Moderate Oversight through the Appropriations Process: Moderate Oversight through Committees: Moderate Oversight through Administrative Rule Review: High Oversight through Advice and Consent: Moderate Oversight through Monitoring Contracts: Limited Judgment of Overall Institutional Capacity for Oversight: High Judgment of Overall Use of Institutional Capacity for Oversight: High Summary Assessment Illinois’ legislature appears to do an adequate job of overseeing the executive, despite having substantial institutional capacity to produce information and institutional structures that facilitate bipartisan participation. We note that the absence of recordings of oversight hearings and other committee hearings makes it very difficult to assess legislators’ performance on oversight. The appropriations process appears to be controlled by legislative leadership. And there is a contest of wills between the executive branch and the legislature that led to a two year budget stalemate. Major Strengths Illinois balances partisan membership on its oversight committee, the Legislature Audit Committee (LAC) and its Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR), which insures that the minority party has a voice in these hearings. The legislature’s rule review powers are extraordinarily strong—trending toward a legislative veto. Furthermore, the state’s legislature does appear to make substantial use of audit reports in creating legislation and during the budget and appropriations process. Joint committee meetings make it easier to communicate audit reports to both chambers. The appropriations process is often contentious, however, and appears to be infused with partisan politics. The Illinois General Assembly seems to scrutinize appointees thoroughly, and it intervenes in the governor’s efforts to reorganize agencies.
    [Show full text]
  • A Tri-Annual Publication of the East Tennessee Historical Society
    Vol. 26, No. 2 August 2010 Non-Profit Org. East Tennessee Historical Society U.S. POStage P.O. Box 1629 PAID Knoxville, TN 37901-1629 Permit No. 341 Knoxville, tenn ANDERSON KNOX BLEDSOE LOUDON BLOUNT MARION BRADLEY McMINN CAMPBELL MEIGS CARTER MONROE CLAIBORNE MORGAN COCKE POLK CUMBERLAND RHEA FENTRESS ROANE GRAINGER GREENE SCOTT HAMBLEN SEQUATCHIE HAMILTON SEVIER HANCOCK SULLIVAN HAWKINS UNICOI A Tri-Annual Publication of JEFFERSON UNION JOHNSON WASHINGTON The East Tennessee Historical Society Heritage Programs from The easT Tennessee hisTorical socieTy Were your ancestors in what is now Tennessee prior to statehood in 1796? If so, you are eligible to join the First The easT Tennessee hisTorical socieTy Families of Tennessee. Members receive a certificate engraved with the name of the applicant and that of the Making history personal ancestor and will be listed in a supplement to the popular First Families of Tennessee: A Register of the State’s Early Settlers and Their Descendants, originally published in 2000. Applicants must prove generation-by-generation descent, as well as pre-1796 residence for the ancestor. The We invite you to join one of the state’s oldest and most active historical societies. more than 14,000 applications and supporting documentation comprise a unique collection of material on our state’s earliest settlers and are available to researchers at the McClung Historical Collection in the East Members receive Tennessee History Center, 601 S. Gay St. in downtown Knoxville. • Tennessee Ancestors—triannual genealogy
    [Show full text]
  • Schools by Ward Based on Chicago Public Schools - Progress Report Cards (2011-2012)
    Schools by Ward Based on Chicago Public Schools - Progress Report Cards (2011-2012) School ID Name of School Street Address Ward 609966 Charles G Hammond Elementary School 2819 W 21st Pl 12 610539 Marvin Camras Elementary School 3000 N Mango Ave 30 609852 Eliza Chappell Elementary School 2135 W Foster Ave 47 609835 Daniel R Cameron Elementary School 1234 N Monticello Ave 26 610521 Sir Miles Davis Magnet Elementary Academy 6730 S Paulina St 15 609818 Luther Burbank Elementary School 2035 N Mobile Ave 29 610298 Lenart Elementary Regional Gifted Center 8101 S LaSalle St 21 610200 James N Thorp Elementary School 8914 S Buffalo Ave 10 609680 Walter Payton College Preparatory High School 1034 N Wells St 27 610056 Roswell B Mason Elementary School 4217 W 18th St 24 609848 Ira F Aldridge Elementary School 630 E 131st St 9 610038 Abraham Lincoln Elementary School 615 W Kemper Pl 43 610123 William Penn Elementary School 1616 S Avers Ave 24 609863 Christopher Columbus Elementary School 1003 N Leavitt St 32 610226 Socorro Sandoval Elementary School 5534 S Saint Louis Ave 14 609722 Manley Career Academy High School 2935 W Polk St 28 610308 Wilma Rudolph Elementary Learning Center 110 N Paulina St 27 609749 Northside College Preparatory High School 5501 N Kedzie Ave 40 609958 Frank W Gunsaulus Elementary Scholastic Academy 4420 S Sacramento Ave 14 610121 Washington Irving Elementary School 749 S Oakley Blvd 25 Page 1 of 28 09/23/2021 Schools by Ward Based on Chicago Public Schools - Progress Report Cards (2011-2012) 610352 Durkin Park Elementary School
    [Show full text]
  • Governors Conference on the Management of the Illinois River
    I_cee_ags 1993 Governor's Conference On the Management Of the Illinois River System Fourth Biennial Conference September 21-22, 1993 Hotel P_re Marquette Peoria, lllinois OIS Prepared by Holly Korab, editor, University of Illinois Water Resources Center. Photos by Kay Kitchen-Maran, public affairs specialist, USDA Soil Conservation Service. Printed with financial support from the illinois Department of Energy and Natural Resources. (400/February 1994) Printed on recycled paper. Procee_ngs 1993 Governor's Conference On the Management Of the Illinois River System Fourth Biennial Conference September 21-22, 1993 Hotel Pbrc Marquette Pcoria, Illinois Issued as Special Report No. 20 Water Resources Center University of Illinois 1101 W. Peabody Dr., Urbana, IL 61801 217/333-0536 Contents Acknowledgments Opening Address Robert W. Frazee ................................. 3 Session I. Citizen Initiative Reports Champaign County Pheasants Forever Filter Strip Feeding Program Mark Cander and Jane Kielzman ........................ 6 Site M: The Resource, the Opportunity and the Plan James R. Reynolds ................................ 8 Economic Impact of BASSMASTERS Superstars Tournament Lynn Uphoff .................................... 14 Neighbor to Neighbor Program Nancy Bennett ................................... 17 A Plan for an Illinois RiverWatch Network Using Citizen Volunteers Patrick Reese .................................... 19 Keynote Speech Mud, Flood and the Illinois River Stanley A. Changnon ............................... 28 Session II. Main River Issues Long Range Navigation Improvement on the Upper Mississippi River System and Illinois Waterway System Teresa Kitkeeng-Kincaid ............................. 42 Sedimentation and In-Stream Sediment Management Nani G. Bhowmik and Gary R. Clark .................... 47 Aquatic Habitats and Biodiversity of the Illinois River Drainage Kevin S. Cummings ............................... 62 Watershed Protection Approach-A Strategy for Comprehensive Resource Management Nancy J. Phillips and Thomas E.
    [Show full text]
  • H. Doc. 108-222
    THIRTIETH CONGRESS MARCH 4, 1847, TO MARCH 3, 1849 FIRST SESSION—December 6, 1847, to August 14, 1848 SECOND SESSION—December 4, 1848, to March 3, 1849 VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES—GEORGE M. DALLAS, of Pennsylvania PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE OF THE SENATE—DAVID R. ATCHISON, 1 of Missouri SECRETARY OF THE SENATE—ASBURY DICKINS, 2 of North Carolina SERGEANT AT ARMS OF THE SENATE—ROBERT BEALE, of Virginia SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES—ROBERT C. WINTHROP, 3 of Massachusetts CLERK OF THE HOUSE—BENJAMIN B. FRENCH, of New Hampshire; THOMAS J. CAMPBELL, 4 of Tennessee SERGEANT AT ARMS OF THE HOUSE—NEWTON LANE, of Kentucky; NATHAN SARGENT, 5 of Vermont DOORKEEPER OF THE HOUSE—ROBERT E. HORNER, of New Jersey ALABAMA CONNECTICUT GEORGIA SENATORS SENATORS SENATORS 14 Arthur P. Bagby, 6 Tuscaloosa Jabez W. Huntington, Norwich Walter T. Colquitt, 18 Columbus Roger S. Baldwin, 15 New Haven 19 William R. King, 7 Selma Herschel V. Johnson, Milledgeville John M. Niles, Hartford Dixon H. Lewis, 8 Lowndesboro John Macpherson Berrien, 20 Savannah REPRESENTATIVES Benjamin Fitzgerald, 9 Wetumpka REPRESENTATIVES James Dixon, Hartford Thomas Butler King, Frederica REPRESENTATIVES Samuel D. Hubbard, Middletown John Gayle, Mobile John A. Rockwell, Norwich Alfred Iverson, Columbus Henry W. Hilliard, Montgomery Truman Smith, Litchfield John W. Jones, Griffin Sampson W. Harris, Wetumpka Hugh A. Haralson, Lagrange Samuel W. Inge, Livingston DELAWARE John H. Lumpkin, Rome George S. Houston, Athens SENATORS Howell Cobb, Athens Williamson R. W. Cobb, Bellefonte John M. Clayton, 16 New Castle Alexander H. Stephens, Crawfordville Franklin W. Bowdon, Talladega John Wales, 17 Wilmington Robert Toombs, Washington Presley Spruance, Smyrna ILLINOIS ARKANSAS REPRESENTATIVE AT LARGE John W.
    [Show full text]
  • Executive Summary of Report by Illinois Assembly on Political
    ILLINOIS ASSEMBLY ON POLITICAL REPRESENTATION AND ALTERNATIVE # ELECTORAL SYSTEMS E X E C U T I V E S U M M A R Y ILLINOIS ASSEMBLY ON POLITICAL REPRESENTATION AND ALTERNATIVE #ELECTORAL SYSTEMS E X E C U T I V E S U M M A R Y S P R I N G 2 0 0 1 2 CONTENTS Foreword ..................................................................................................... 5 Introduction ................................................................................................ 7 Background .............................................................................................. 15 Participants, Illinois Assembly on Political Representation & Alternative Electoral Systems................................................................ 25 Appendix. A Comparison of Selected Electoral Systems .................. 29 Executive Summary, Report on Political Representation and Alternative Electoral Systems I 3 4 FOREWORD In Spring 2000, the Institute of Government and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois created the Illinois Task Force on Political Representation and Alternative Electoral Systems. Governor Jim Edgar and Judge Abner Mikva served as co-chairs. The task force examined the effects of the change from cumulative to plurality voting in Illinois House elections, gathered information about alternative electoral systems that are used throughout the world, and considered how and how well those systems work in other regions of the country and world. With that information in hand, they brought together leaders from politics, the media, academe, business, and nonprofit organizations for the Illinois assembly on Political Representation and Alternative Electoral Systems. The assembly met to explore the pros and cons of various electoral systems as they might be used in Illinois House elections. I am happy to present you with the final report of the Illinois Assembly. This report is very timely. Work on reapportionment and redistricting of local, state, and federal legislative districts has already begun.
    [Show full text]
  • Interview with Frank Watson # ISL-A-L-2012-036 Interview # 01: August 7, 2012 Interviewer: Mark Depue
    Interview with Frank Watson # ISL-A-L-2012-036 Interview # 01: August 7, 2012 Interviewer: Mark DePue COPYRIGHT The following material can be used for educational and other non-commercial purposes without the written permission of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library. “Fair use” criteria of Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976 must be followed. These materials are not to be deposited in other repositories, nor used for resale or commercial purposes without the authorization from the Audio-Visual Curator at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, 112 N. 6th Street, Springfield, Illinois 62701. Telephone (217) 785-7955 A Note to the Reader This transcript is based on an interview recorded by the ALPL Oral History Program. Readers are reminded that the interview of record is the original video or audio file, and are encouraged to listen to portions of the original recording to get a better sense of the interviewee’s personality and state of mind. The interview has been transcribed in near- verbatim format, then edited for clarity and readability, and reviewed by the interviewee. For many interviews, the ALPL Oral History Program retains substantial files with further information about the interviewee and the interview itself. Please contact us for information about accessing these materials. DePue: Today is Tuesday, August 7, 2012. My name is Mark DePue, Director of Oral History for the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library. Today I’m in Greenville, Illinois with former Senator Frank Watson. Good afternoon. Watson: Mark, good afternoon. DePue: I hope this is the first of many sessions that we have. Watson: It’s hopefully not as many as Jim Edgar had (laughs).
    [Show full text]
  • Lincoln Studies at the Bicentennial: a Round Table
    Lincoln Studies at the Bicentennial: A Round Table Lincoln Theme 2.0 Matthew Pinsker Early during the 1989 spring semester at Harvard University, members of Professor Da- vid Herbert Donald’s graduate seminar on Abraham Lincoln received diskettes that of- fered a glimpse of their future as historians. The 3.5 inch floppy disks with neatly typed labels held about a dozen word-processing files representing the whole of Don E. Feh- renbacher’s Abraham Lincoln: A Documentary Portrait through His Speeches and Writings (1964). Donald had asked his secretary, Laura Nakatsuka, to enter this well-known col- lection of Lincoln writings into a computer and make copies for his students. He also showed off a database containing thousands of digital note cards that he and his research assistants had developed in preparation for his forthcoming biography of Lincoln.1 There were certainly bigger revolutions that year. The Berlin Wall fell. A motley coalition of Afghan tribes, international jihadists, and Central Intelligence Agency (cia) operatives drove the Soviets out of Afghanistan. Virginia voters chose the nation’s first elected black governor, and within a few more months, the Harvard Law Review selected a popular student named Barack Obama as its first African American president. Yet Donald’s ven- ture into digital history marked a notable shift. The nearly seventy-year-old Mississippi native was about to become the first major Lincoln biographer to add full-text searching and database management to his research arsenal. More than fifty years earlier, the revisionist historian James G. Randall had posed a question that helps explain why one of his favorite graduate students would later show such a surprising interest in digital technology as an aging Harvard professor.
    [Show full text]