(203) In the following December, the representative of
Indiana Territory in Congress was appointed chairman of a committee to
consider the expediency of dividing the territory, and to this committee
petitions both for and against division were referred. This territorial
delegate was in favor of division, and his committee presented a favorable
report, in which the number of inhabitants of Indiana east of the Wabash
was estimated to be seventeen thousand, and the number west of the Wabash
to be eleven thousand--numbers thought to be sufficiently large to justify
division, and an estimate which the census of 1810 proves to have been
almost correct. In February, 1809, the bill providing for the division so
ardently desired by Illinois was approved, the division to take place on
the first of the next March. The western division was to be known as
Illinois Territory and was to have for its eastern boundary a line due
north from Vincennes to the Canadian line.(204) In the debate in the House
of Representatives, preceding the passage of the bill for division, the
arguments in its favor were that the Wabash was a natural dividing line;
that a wide extent of wilderness intervened between Vincennes and the
western settlements; that the power of the executive was enervated by the
dispersed condition of the settlements; that to render justice was almost
impossible; that the United States would be more than compensated for the
increased expense by the rise in value of the public lands. Opponents of
the bill declared that the complaints made by Illinois were common to many
parts of the country; that the number of officers would be needlessly
increased by the proposed division; and that "a compliance with this
petition would but serve to foster their factions, and produce more
petitions." No significant geographical division of the vote on the bill
is apparent.(205)

III. Obstacles to Immigration. 1790 to 1809.

In addition to the inability to secure land titles on account of unsettled
French claims, to the presence of Indians and to the discontent with the
government of Indiana Territory, almost every cause which made settlement
on the frontier difficult was found in the Illinois country in its most
pronounced form, because Illinois was the far corner of the frontier. The
census reports of the United Status give the following statistics of
population:

1790. 1800. 1810.
Kentucky 73,677 220,955