308 
Sanborn—Railroad Land Grants. 
It was about this time that the attempts to secure a land 
grant for Illinois began. Senator Breese had done something 
before, but the real work began when Stephen A. Douglas en¬ 
tered the Senate in 1848. As active in this as in political 
questions, to him belongs the credit for the final passage of the 
Illinois Central bill. 1 In the thirtieth Congress the Illinois 
bill — substantially as it became a law, except for the grants 
to Alabama and Mississippi—-passed the Senate but failed in 
the House. During the next Congress it passed both houses 
and became a law September 20, 1850. 2 Its passage in the 
House seems to have been secured by an alliance between the 
western Democrats and the eastern Whigs and the trading of 
votes on the tariff question. 3 It appears, however, that the 
Democrats did not deliver the goods contracted for, much to the 
sorrow of the advocates of other land grant bills. 4 I cannot 
accept the account of the passage of the bill as given by Doug¬ 
las, 5 as there are a number of inconsistencies in his version of 
the affair. 
Before its passage the bill was amended so as to include 
grants to Alabama and Mississippi for a continuation of the road 
from the mouth of the Ohio to Mobile. The road contemplated 
in the bill thus made a north and south highway following the 
natural trend of commerce down the Mississippi river. And it 
is significant that it was the only great north and south grant 
made, thus marking the change of commercial channels to east 
and west which took place about this time. 
1 For controversy between Breese and Douglas as to their respective 
shares in the honor of securing the grant, see letters in the Chicago Times, 
republished in Fergus Historical Series , No. 23, pp. 63-98. Breese seems 
to have been more cautious and considered a right of preemption all that 
could be secured, while Douglas was willing to risk all on an attempt to 
secure the grant of lands. Breese was chairman of the Public Lands com¬ 
mittee in 1848-49, but only urged his preemption bill. Shields had suc¬ 
ceeded Breese when the bill passed. 
2 9 Statutes at Large, p. 466. 
3 See Wentworth, “Congressional Reminiscenses,” Fergus Historical 
Series, No. 24, p. 40. 
4 Globe, 1st Sess., 31st Cong., 1953. 
6 Cutts, A Brief Treatise upon Constitutional and Party Questions , 
p. 187; quoted by Donaldson, p. 262. 
