its territorial existence, should have a
government similar to that of the Northwest Territory under the Ordinance
of 1787. In 1809 there were in Illinois two distinct and hostile parties,
which had been formed on questions arising in Indiana Territory before
division. It was with sound judgment, therefore, that the President, going
outside of Illinois, appointed as Governor, Ninian Edwards of Kentucky, a
native of Maryland, who successfully resisted all efforts to involve him
in party quarrels.(265)

Laws for the government of the territory were to be chosen by the Governor
and the judges from the laws of the states. The judges were Jesse B.
Thomas and William Sprigg, natives of Maryland, and Alexander Stuart, a
native of Virginia. It is worthy of note that of the twelve laws chosen
before the meeting of the first territorial legislature, five were from
Kentucky, three from Georgia, two from Virginia, one from South Carolina,
and one from Pennsylvania.(266) A people practically southern in origin
was being governed by officials from the south under southern laws.

Illinois entered the second grade of territorial government in 1812,
electing its first legislature in October.(267) In the preceding May,
Congress had passed an act making radical and most important extensions in
the suffrage in Illinois, over that which had been prescribed by the
Ordinance of 1787. The new provision was: "Every free white male person
who shall have attained the age of twenty-one years, and who shall have
paid a county or territorial tax, and who shall have resided one year in
said Territory previous to any general election, and be at the time of any
such election a resident thereof, shall be entitled to vote for members of
the Legislative Council and House of Representatives of the said
Territory." Each county was to elect one member of the Legislative
Council, to serve for four years. The territorial delegate to Congress was
also made elective by the citizens.(268) One has but to consider what a
complete revolution this act brought about to appreciate its great
significance. Previously the Legislative Council had been appointive by
the President of the United States, from nominees of the territorial House
of Representatives, the nominees being twice the number necessary; the
delegate to Congress had not been chosen by popular vote; and a freehold
qualification for the elective franchise had obtained. Early petitions
show how much the peopl