CHAPTER XX.

FOURTEENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY-1844-46.

The Fourteenth General Assembly convened December 2, 1844, and adjourned March 3, 1845.

Lieut.-Gov. Moore presided over the Senate, and Merritt L. Covell was elected Secretary. William A. Richardson was elected Speaker of the House, and Newton Cloud Clerk.

James A. McDougall, of Morgan county, became Attorney-General, January 12, 1843; Thompson Campbell, Secretary of State, March 4, 1843; William L. D. Ewing, Auditor of Public Accounts, March 26, 1848.

Mr. McDougall was born in New York; he removed to Pike county, Illinois, in 1887; in 1849, he originated and accompanied an exploring expedition to Rio del Norte, the Gila and Colorado; he afterward emigrated to California, and followed his profession at San Francisco; in 1850, he was elected Attorney-General of California; was a Representative in Congress from that State from 1859 to 1855, and in 1861 he was elected United States Senator; he was a delegate to the Chicago Convention in 1864. He died at Albany, New York, September 3, 1867.

The administration of Gov. Ford was a very arduous and embarrassing one. Besides the financial embarrassments of the State, he had the Mormon war upon his hands; but he successfully subdued the Mormons, and by his wise counsel greatly assisted the General Assembly in passing laws which gave the State and the people partial relief from their indebtedness.

Gov. Ford was born in Pennsylvania. In 1804, while a child, his parents emigrated to Illinois. When he attained manhood's estate, and prior to his election as Governor, he was a Justice of the Supreme bench, which position he resigned to become Governor. He wrote a history of Illinois from 1818 to 1847, which was printed by his friend, Gen. James Shields, after Gov. Ford's death, which occurred at Peoria, November 2, 1850.

MEXICAN WAR.

In the war between the United States and Mexico, which Congress declared on the 11th of May, 1846, and which prevailed two years, Illinois bore an honorable and conspicuous part. Six regiments of volunteer soldiers was her contribution in that sanguinary struggle. In a volume recently prepared by Adj.-Gen. Isaac H. Elliott, by authority of the General Assembly, we find the familiar names of Colonel John J. Hardin, who fell while gallantly leading the first regiment in a charge at the battle of Buena Vista, February 23, 1847; Major William A. Richardson, Lieutenant-Colonel B. M. Prentiss, First Lieutenant Isham N. Haynie, Second Lieutenant John A. Logan, Lieutenant-Colonel James L. D. Morrison, Colonel Stephen G. Hicks, Major S. D. Marshall, Captain M. K. Lawler, Second Lieutenant Green B. Field, Colonel Edward D. Baker, Second Lieutenant William B. Fondey, Sergeant Dudley Wickersham, First Lieutenant Richard J. Oglesby, Captain L. W. Ross, Sergeant Robert M. Peeples, Second Lieutenant John G. Ridgway, Colonel Wm. H. Bissell, and Lieutenant-Colonel Wm. B. Warren. The reports of that campaign, printed in the volume referred to, show that, in their official reports, Generals Taylor, Wool, Scott, Twiggs and Patterson each warmly commended the gallantry of Illinois soldiers; and Gen. Taylor complimented personally the services of Colonel Bissell, Lieutenant-Colonel

Morrison, Lieutenant-Colonel William B. Warren, Colonel William Weatherford, Major X. F. Frail, Adjutant A. G. Whiteside, and Major Noah Fry, for gallant conduct at the battle of Buena Vista.

Most, if not all, of these men subsequently became distinguished in civil or military life, but death has claimed all of them except Prentiss, Logan, Morrison, Wickersham, Oglesby and Ross.

STATE GOVERNMENT-1846-49.

The eighth State Government was inaugurated December 9, 1846, with Augustus C. French, of Crawford, as Governor; Joseph B. Wells, of Rock Island, Lieutenant Governor; Horace S. Cooley, of Adams, Secretary of State; Thomas H. Campbell, of Randolph, Auditor of Public Accounts; Milton Carpenter, of Hamilton, Treasurer; David B. Campbell, of Sangamon, Attorney-General. The Fifteenth General Assembly convened December 7, 1846, and adjourned March 1, 1847.

Lieutenant-Governor Wells presided over the Senate, and Henry W. Moore was elected Secretary. Newton Cloud was elected Speaker of the House, and John McDonald Clerk.

CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF 1847.

The Convention which framed the Constitution of 1848 convened at Springfield, June 7, 1847. Zadok Casey was elected President pro tempore; Newton Cloud President, and Henry W. Moore Secretary. There were one hundred and sixty-two delegates, whose names are given below:

William Laughlin, Wm. B. Powers, Jacob M. Nichols, Archibald Williams, Martin Atherton, Michael G. Dale, Daniel H. Whitney, James W. Singleton, James Brockman, Alexander McHatton, Simon Kinney, Wm. Bosbyshell, Garner Moffett, Henry E. Dummer, Thompson R. Webber, D. D. Shumway, Wm. Tutt, Justin Harlan, Uri Manly, Peter Green, Benjamin Bond, Thomas A. Marshall,

Thomas B. Trower, Patrick Ballingall, Francis C. Sherman, Reuben B. Heacock, E. F. Colby, David L. Gregg, Nelson Hawley, Wm. H. Blakely, George H. Hill, George B. Lemen, Jeduthun Hatch, Samuel Anderson, Wm. Shields, George W. Rives, Alvin R. Kenner, John W. F. Edmonson, Joseph T. Eccles. George W. Akin, David Markley, Hezekiah M. Wead, Isaac Linley, George Kreider, Albert G. Caldwell, Jacob Smith, Franklin Witt, L. E. Worcester, D. M. Woodson, George W. Armstrong, James M. Lasater, Thomas C. Sharpe, William S. Moore, Charles Choate, Robert Miller, Thomas Geddes, Andrew McCallen, Gilbert Turnbull, Joshua Harper, Lewis J. Simpson, Jesse O. Norton, Alexander M. Jenkins, Richard G. Morris, Franklin S. Casey, Zadok Casey, Walter B. Scates, A. R. Knapp, Thompson Campbell, W. B. Green, O. C. Pratt, John Oliver, Alfred Churchill, Augustus Adams, Thomas Judd, John West Mason, Curtis K. Harvey, James Knox, Horace Butler, Hurlbut Swan, Wm. Stadden, Abraham Hoes, John Mieure, John Dement, Samuel Lander, James Tuttle, David Davis, F. S. D. Marshall, James Graham, John M. Palmer, James M. Campbell, John Huston, John Sibley, Peter W. Deitz, Stephen A. Hurlbut, Cyrus Edwards, E. M. West, Benaiah Robinson, George T. Brown, Henry D. Palmer, George W. Pace, Edward O. Smith, Thomas G. C. Davis, Benjamin F. Northcott, Frederick Frick, Hiram Roundtree, James M. Davis, Anthony Thornton, Newton Cloud, James Dunlap, Samuel D. Lockwood, William Thomas, James A. James, John D. Whiteside, Daniel J. Pinckney, H. B. Jones, John Crain, Wm. W. Thompson, Lincoln B. Knowlton, Onslow Peters, Wm. R. Archer, Harvey Dunn, William A. Grimshaw, Montgomery Blair, William Sim, Oaks Turner, Ezekiel W. Robbins, Richard B. Servant, Alfred Kitchell, John W. Spencer, John Dawson, James H. Matheny, Ninian W. Edwards, Stephen T. Logan, N. M. Knapp, Daniel Dunsmore, William A. Minshall, Edward Evey, Wm. W. Roman, Wm. C. Kinney, John McCulley, George Bunsen, Seth B. Farwell, Thomas B. Carter, William H. Holmes, Henry R. Green, Samuel Hunsaker, John Canady, John W. Vance, Charles H. Constable, Abner C. Harding, Zenos H. Vernor, James M. Hogue, Aaron C. Jackson, S. Snowden Hayes, Daniel Hay, Samuel J. Cross, Selden M. Church, Robert J. Cross, John T. Loudon, Willis Allen, Hugh Henderson, William McClure.

Politically, this convention was rather evenly balanced. On the Democratic side there were such representatives as Zadok Casey, John Dement, John M. Palmer, Anthony Thornton, Walter B. Scates, Willis Allen, L. B. Knowlton, Thompson Campbell; and among the Whigs, Archibald Williams, James W. Singleton, Henry E. Dummer, Jesse O. Norton, Stephen A. Hurlbut, David Davis, Cyrus Edwards, Samuel D. Lockwood, Stephen T. Logan and Abner C. Harding.

The convention was in session eighty-four days. The constitution was voted upon and adopted by the people, March 6, and went into effect April 1, 1848. We note some of its peculiar features: It provided that the salary of the Governor should be $1,500; Secretary of State, $800 and fees; Auditor of Public Accounts, $800 and "no more;" State Treasurer, $800 and "no more;" Judges of Supreme Court, $1,200 and "no more;" Circuit Judges, $1,000 and "no more;" military duty was confined to "all free male able-bodied persons, between the ages of 18 and 45, negroes, mulattoes and Indians excepted;" a capitation tax was to be collected from "all able-bodied free white male inhabitants;" the pay of members of the General Assembly was fixed at $2.00 per day for forty-two days, and $1.00 per day for each day thereafter, and 10 cents mileage each way. Article fourteen provided that "the General Assembly, at its first session under the amended constitution, should pass such laws as would effectually prohibit free persons of color from immigrating to and settling in this State; and to effectually prevent the owners of slaves from bringing them into this State for the purpose of setting them free." Article fifteen provided that there should be annually assessed and collected a tax of two mills upon each dollar's worth of taxable property, in addition to all other taxes, to be kept separate and to be apportioned to the payment of the State indebtedness other than the canal