ILLINOIS (ante), is the eighth state admitted to the onion tinder the federal consti tution, and lw the cen S113 of 1870 the fourth in population; of 1880, the same. It lies between lat. 30° 59' and 42° 30' n., and long. 87° 35' and 91° 40' Iv.; extreme length n. and s , 385 in.; extreme breadth e. and w., 218 m.; area, 55,410 sq.m., or 3•,462,400 acres. Its name is derived from its principal river, and is of mixed Indian and French deriva tion. The first white settlements in the state were made by the French from Canada. who fedlnwedpisAmp)olAtinfis offM49444,t_tp..fand Salle. The latter, having crossed the lakes in 1675, Uckeicided'ilie 143.0.'1•11th he pained Illinois and built a fort at the foot of lake Peoria, a broad expansion of the stream for a distance of some 25 in. about midway in its course throngh the state. After descending the Mississippi for some dis tance he returned to Canada, but came again in 1682 with a colony, and founded Kas kaskia, Kahokia, and sonic other towns. These settlements, early in the 18th c., were visited by Jesuit missionaries, who described the country as a new paradise. The colo nists were on the most friendly terms with the Indians, and finally degenerated to their level. In 1762 Canada and tile whole American territory e. of the Mississippi passed under British control, but the Illinois settlements were not disfurbed. After the peace of 1783 the Illinois country was ceded to the United States, and in 1787 the whole national domain n. of the Ohio was organized under the name of the North-west terri tory, by an ordinance which protected it forever from the inroads of slavery. In 1800 this immense territory contained only a little more than 50,000 inhabitants. In the same. year Ohio was organized as a separate territory; in 1805 Michigan was set apart in the sante way; and in 1809 the territory of Indiana was organized. What remained of the original North-west territory was soon organized under the name of Illinois. It embraced, besides the state itself as at present bounded, Wisconsin and part of Minnesota, and contained a white population of a little over 12,000. The Indians at this time were very troublesome, and the settlement of the territory was consequently much impeded. After
the close of the war of 1812 Indian hostilities ceased, and the territory began to be occu pied by emigrants from the eastern states. In 1818 Illinois, with its present bounda ries, was admitted to the federal union as a state. The census of 1820 reported the population to be 55,211; that of 1830 showed it to be 157,445. In 1831 there was further trouble with the Indians, which culminated in the Black Hawk war and the removal of all the Indian tribes from the state. After this the population increased rapidly, con gress made an appropriation for the improvement of the harbor of Chicago, and the construction of the Illinois and Michigan canal was begun. In spite of the financial revulsion of 1837, the effects of which upon.the new state were of the most serious char acter. the census of 1840 showed a population of 476,188, a gain of 318,738 in ten years. In 1840 the Mormons settled at Nauvoo, intending to make it their " Jerusalem." Their doctrines and practices were very distasteful to their neighbors, and a great excitement was the result. Joseph Smith. the founder of the sect, and his brother Hyrum, were arrested and put into jail at Carthage for destroying a press established by a party of Mormons to oppose polygamy. They refused to submit to an arrest by the civil officer, and the sect, numbering 20,000 people, organized for their protection. They finally surrendered to the military, but the public mind had now become so inflamed that before they could be tried, the jail was invaded by a mob and they were killed. The sect soon afterwards removed to Utah. The population of the state in 1850 had increased to 851,470. The grant by congress of extensive sections of the public lands to aid in the construction of the Central railroad, which was completed in 1856, had the effect of drawing multitudes of people to the region through which it passed, and of build ing tip many flourishing towns and villages, and in the course of a fetv years every acre of government land in the state was sold. Kaskaskia was the territorial capital; the state capital from 1818 to 1830 was at Vandalia. At the last mentioned date it was removed to Springfield, where it has since remained.