Creating the Land of Lincoln

Creating the Land of Lincoln: The Forgotten History of Illinois tells the development of Illinois through the history of its 19th century constitutions. Illinois in the early 19th century was essentially a southern state sympathetic to slavery. Boundarychanges written into the 1818 constitution that added a large land area in the north and a rapidly growing population immigrating from the north and east pushed the state's political trajectory northward. The debates about slavery changed, with intensified concern about the presence of free blacks, and legislative abuses grew, leading to the 1848 document. That process accelerated through the eighteen fifties, Lincoln's presidency, and the Civil War, resulting in the progressive 1870s constitution. In Creating the Land of Lincoln, Frank Cicero, Jr. takes a fresh look at generally neglected aspects of Illinois's political history, offering new insights into Abraham Lincoln, slavery, and Illinois politics as we approach the states 200th anniversary. It covers the period from 1673 to 1870, the year the third Illinois Constitution went into effect to last for 100 years. The events of that early period, and the three 19th century constitutions that reflected them, enabled the election of Abraham Lincoln and shaped the Illinois of the subsequent 150 years--