518 



ILLINOIS. 



ILLINOIS, one of the most fertile States of 

 the West, bounded on one side by the Missis- 

 sippi river and on another by the Ohio ; has in- 

 creased in population 860,481, in the ten years 

 ending in 1860, when the total population was 

 1,711,981. The population of some of the cities 

 of the State was as follows : 



The number of white males was 898,941, do. 

 females 805,350. 



The number of deaths in the State during the 

 year ending May 31, 1860, was 19,263. The 

 most fatal diseases were consumption, croup, 

 dysentery, fevers, and pneumonia. 



The number of deaf mutes was 801. 



The industrial products of the State were 

 during the year ending June 1, 1860, as fol- 

 lows: iron founding, $605,428; coal, $964, 187; 

 lead, $72,953; lumber, $2,275,124; flour and 

 meal, $18,104,804; spirits, $3,204,176; malt 

 liquors, $1,309,180; leather, $150,000; boots 

 and shoes, $963,052 ; furniture, $873,609. An- 

 nual product, $56,750,000. 



The value of real and personal property was 

 $871,860,282 : increase in ten years $715,595,276. 

 The cash value of farms was $432,531,072; do. 

 farming implements and machinery,$18,276,160. 

 Land improvements, $13,251,473. 



Some of the most important productions of 

 agriculture were as follows: horses, 575,161; 

 asses and mules, 38,881 ; milch cows, 532,731 ; 

 working oxen, 90,973 ; other cattle, 881,877 ; 

 sheep, 775,230; swine, 2,279,722 ; value of live 

 stock, $74,434,621. 



Wheat, 24,159,500 bush. ; rye, 981,322 bush.; 

 corn, 115,296,779 bush. ; oats, 15,336,072 bush. ; 

 tobacco, 7,014,230 pounds; cotton, 6 bales of 

 400 pounds each ; wool, 2,477,563 pounds ; peas 

 and beans, 112,624 bush ; potatoes, Irish, 5,799,- 

 964 bush.; do. sweet, 341,443 bush.; barley, 

 1,175,651 bush.; buckwheat, 345,069 bush.; 

 value of orchard products, $1,145,936; butter, 

 28,337,516 pounds; cheese, 1,595,368 pounds; 

 hay, 1,834,265 tons. 



There were 23 daily, 1 biweekly, 6 triweekly, 

 228 weekly, and 1 monthly political newspapers 

 published in the State; and 5 weekly and 6 

 monthly religious newspapers. 



The crops in the State during 1862 were 

 abundant as usual, and with the loss of the 

 Southern market in consequence of the war and 

 the high price of transportation by railroad to 

 the Eastern markets and the abundance of other 

 freight, corn became at some points almost val- 

 ueless, and was used as an article of fuel. 



The convention elected at the close of 1861 

 to draft a new constitution for the State, as- 

 sembled at Springfield in the beginning of Jan- 

 uary, 1862, and continued in session about three 

 months. The constitution of the State then in 

 force was adopted in 1841-'2, when the popu- 

 lation of the State was about 478,183. In some 

 of its details it was not suitable to the al- 

 tered circumstances of the people. The instru- 

 ment prepared by the convention failed to re- 

 ceive the votes of a majority of the people 

 when submitted to them, and therefore did not 

 go into operation. It extended the jurisdiction 

 of the county courts ; the finding of a jury was 

 unnecessary for the prosecution of offences not 

 punishable by imprisonment in the penitenti- 

 ary ; each county was to elect a prosecutor or 

 county attorney. The number of members of 

 the Legislature was increased from one hundred 

 to one hundred and thirty-five. The restriction 

 of the existing constitution upon the expendi- 

 tures was wisely omitted in the new instrument. 

 No fundamental law can be drafted with such 

 foresight as to anticipate all future contingen- 

 cies, and these restrictions have always led to 

 embarrassment and subterfuge in legislation. 

 The term of the office of governor was limited 

 to two years, instead of four ; soldiers in the 

 field were allowed to vote. It secured a lien to 

 the mechanic, also certain rights to married 

 women, and an exemption of the homestead 

 from execution for debt. It forbade any 

 negro or mulatto to migrate or settle in the 

 State after its adoption. It provided that no 

 negro or mulatto should have the right of suf- 

 frage or hold any office in the State. It pro- 

 hibited the creation of any banking corporation 

 or association, and withheld from the General 

 Assembly power to pass any law reviving, en- 

 larging, extending, or renewing the charter of 

 any existing bank or banking corporation. It 

 prohibited the circulation within the State of 

 any bank note, check, or draft as money, of a 

 less denomination than ten dollars, and after 

 the year 1864, of a less denomination than 

 twenty dollars, and after the year 1866, of any 

 bank note, check or draft of any denomination 

 whatsoever, as money. It also contained the 

 following addition to the Bill of Eights : 



SEC. 30. The people of this State have the exclusive 

 right of governing themselves, as a free, sovereign, and 

 independent State, and do, and forever shall, enjoy and 

 exercise every power pertaining thereto, which is not, 

 and may not hereafter be, by them, expressly delegat- 

 ed to the United States of America n pr prohibited to the 

 State by the Constitution of the United States. 



This expresses very clearly the views of the 

 American people on the important question of 

 State Eights, but,- to avoid any, even the slight- 

 est misunderstanding, the convention also in- 

 serted this section immediately after the pre- 

 ceding : 



