anything else; for it was during his term of office
that the " Latter- Day Saints " becama so strong at
Nauvoo, built their temple there, increased their num-
bers throughout thecount-y, committed misdemean-
ors, taught dangerous doctrines, suffered the loss of
theirleader, Jo Smith, by a violent death, .vere driven
out of Nauvoo to the far West, etc. Having been a
Judge for so many years previously, Mr. Ford of
course was noi-conimittal concerning Mormon affiiirs,
and was therefore claimed by both parties and also
accused by each of sympathizing too greatly with the
other side. Mormonism claiming to be a system of
religion, the Governor no doubt was " between two
fires," and felt compelled to touch the matter rather
" gingerly," and doubtless felt greatly relieved when
that pestilential people left the State. Such compli-
cated matters, especially when religion is mixed up
with them, expose every person participating in
them to criticism from all parties.
The Mexican War was begun in the spring of
1845, and was continued into the gubernatorial term
of Mr. Ford's successor. The Governor's connection
with this war, however, was not conspicuous, as it
was only administrative, commissioning officers, etc.
Ford's " History of Illinois " is a very readable and
entertaining work, of 450 small octavo pages, and is
destined to increase in value with the lapse of time.
It exhibits a natural flow of compact and forcible
thought, never failing to convey the nicest sense. In
tracing with his trenchant pen the devious operations
of the professional politician, in which he is inimit-
able, his account is open, perhaps, to the objection
that all his contemporaries are treated as mere place-
seekers, while many of them have since been judged
by the people to be worthy statesmen. His writings
seem slightly open to the criticism that they exhibit
a little splenetic partiality against those of his con-
temporaries who were prominent during his term of
office as Governor.
The death of Gov. Ford took place at Peoria, 111.,
Nov. 2, 1850.
I
'.i^^^-^^-^T^-^
GO VER IVORS OF ILLINOIS.
143
I Augustus €. French, |
UGUSTUS C. FRENCH,
Governor of Illinois from
1846 to 1852, was born in
the town of Hill, in the
State of New Hampshire,
â– y^ Aug. 2, 1808. He was a
^l'^ descendant in the fourth
generation ot Nathaniel
Frcnrli, who emigrated from England
in 16S7 and settled in Saybury, Mass.
In early life young French lost his
father, but continued to receive in-
struction from an exemplary and
Chrisli m mother until he was 19 years
old, when she also died, confiding to
his care and trust four younger broth-
ers and one sister. He discharged his trust with
parental devotion. His education in early life was
such mainly as a common school afforded. For a
brief period he attended Dartmouth College, but
from pecuniary causes and the care of his brothers
and sister, he did not graduate. He subsequently
read law, and was admitted to the Bar in 1831, and
shortly afterward removed to Illinois, settling first at
Albion, Edwards County, where he established him-
self in the practice of law. The following year he
removed to Paris, Edgar County. Here he attained
eminence in his profession, and entered public life
by representing that county in the Legislature. A
strong attachment sprang up between him and Ste-
phen A. Douglas.
In 1839, Mr. French was apixjinted Receiver of
the United States Land OflSce at Palestine, Craw-
ford County, at which place he was a resident when
elevated to the gubernatorial chair. In 1844 he was
a Presidential Elector, and as such he voted for
James K. Polk.
The Democratic State Convention of 1846, meet-
ing at Springfield Feb. 10, nominated Mr. French
for Governor. Other Democratic candidates were
Lyman Trumbull, John Calhoun (subsequently of
Lecompton Constitution notoriety), Walter B. Scates.
Richard M. Young and A. W. Cavarly, — an array of
very able and prominent names. Trumbull was per-
haps defeated in the Convention by the rumor that
he was opposed to the Illinois and Michigan Canal,
as he had been a year previously. For Lieutenant
Governor J. B. Wells was chosen, while other candi-
dates were Lewis Ross, Wm. McMurlry, Newton
Cloud, J. B. Hamilton and W. W. Thompson. The
resolutions declared strongly against the resuscita-
tion of the old State Banks.
The Whigs, who were in a hopeless minority, held
their convention June 8, at Peoria, and selected
Thomas M. Kilpatrick, of Scott County, for Governor,
and Gen. Nathaniel G. Wilco.x, of Schuyler, for
Lieutenant Governor.
In the campaign the latter exposed Mr. French's
record and connection with the passage of the in-
ternal improvement system, urging it against his
election ; but in the meantime the war with Mexico
broke out, regarding which the Whig record was un-
popular in this State. The war was the absorbing
and dominating question of the period, sweeping
every other political issue in its course. The elec-
tion in August gave Mr. French 58,700 votes, and
Kilpatrick only 36,775. Richard Rells, Abolitionist
candidate for the same office, received 5,152 votf«s
144
AUGUSTUS C. FRENCH.
By the new Constitution of 1848, a new election for
State officers was ordered in November of that year,
before Gov. French's term was half out, and he was
re-elected for the term of four years. He was there-
fore the incumbent for six consecutive years, the
only Governor of this State who has ever served in
that capacity so long at one time. As there was no
organized opuosition to his election, he received 67,-
453 votes, to 5,639 for Pierre Menard (son of the
first Lieutenant Governor), 4,748 for Charles V.
Dyer, 3,834 for W. L. D. Morrison, and 1,361 for
James L. D. Morrison. But Wm. McMurtry, of
Knox County, was elected Lieutenant Governor, in
place of Joseph B. Wells, who was before elected
and did not run again.
Governor French was inaugurated into office dur-
ing the progress of the Mexican War, which closed
during the summer of 1847, although the treaty of
Guadalupe Hidalgo was not made until Feb. 2,
1848. The policy of Gov. French's party was com-
mitted to that war, but in connection with that affair
he was, of course, only an administrative officer.
During his term of office, Feb 19, 1847, the Legisla-
ture, by special perinission of Congress, declared that
all Government lands sold to settlers should be im-
mediate.y subject to State taxation; before this they
were exempt for five years after sale. By this ar-
rangement the revenue was materially increased.
About the same time, the distribution of Government
.and warrants among the Mexican soldiers as bounty
threw upon the market a great quantity of good
lands, and this enhanced the settlement of the State.
The same Legislature authorized, with the recom-
mendation of the Governor, the sale of the Northern
Cross Railroad (from Springfield to Meredosia, the
first in the State and now a section of the Wabash,
St. Louis & Pacific) It sold for $100,000 in bonds,
although it had cost the State not less than a million.
The salt wei'.s and canal lands in the Saline reserve
in Gallatin County, granted by the general Govern-
ment to the State, were also authorized by the
Governor to be sold, to apply on the State debt. In
1850, for the first time since 1839, the accruing State
revenue, exclusive of specific appropriations, was
sufficient to meet the current demands upon the
treasury. The aggregate taxable property of the
State at this time was over $100,000,000, and the
population 851,470.
In 1849 the Legisiature adopted the township or-
ganization law, which, however, proved defective,
and was properly amended in 1851. At its session
in the latter year, the General Assembly also passed
a law to exempt homesteads from sale on executions
This beneficent measure had been repeatedly urged
upon that body by Gov. French.
In 1850 some business men in St. Louis corrv-
menced to build a dike opposite the lower part of
their city on the Illinois side, to keep the Mississippi
in its channel near St. Louis, instead of breaking
away from them as it sometimes threatened to do.
This they undertook without permission from the
Legislature or Executive authority of this State; and
as many of the inhabitants thera complained that
the scheme would inundate and ruin much valuable
land, there was a slight conflict of jurisdictions, re-
sulting in favor of the St. Louis project ; and since
then a good site has existed there for a city (East St.
Louis), and now a score of railroads center there.
It was in September, 1850, that Congress granted
to this State nearly 3,000,000 acres of land in aid of
the completion of the Illinois Central Railroad,
which constituted the most important epoch in the
railroad — we might say internal improvement — his-
tory of the State. The road was rushed on to com-
pletion, which accelerated the settlement of the in-
terior of the State by a good class of industrious citi-
zens, and by the charter a good income to the State
Treasury is paid in from the earnings of the road.
In 185 I the Legislature passed a law authorizing
free stock banks, which was the source of much leg-
islative discussion for a number of years.
But we have not space further to particularize
concerning legislation. Gov. French's administra-
tion was not marked by any feature to be criticised,
while the country was settling up as never before.
In stature. Gov. French was of medium height,
squarely built, light coraplexioned, with ruddy face
and pleasant countenance. In manners he was
plain and agreeable. By nature he was somewhat
diffident, but he was often very outspoken in his con-
victions of duty. In public speech he was not an
orator, but was chaste, earnest and persuasive. In
business he was accurate and methodical, and in his
administration he kept up the credit of the State.
He died in 1S65, at his home in Lebanon, St
Clair Co., Ill
LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
URBAKA
(^?^^,,-/^^^:^L-^^S^^S^^ - Z^
GO VERNORS OF ILLINOIS.
1 47'
!:OEL A. MATTESON, Governor
1853-6, was born Aug. 8, 1808,
in Jefferson County, New York,
to which place his father had re-
moved from Vermont three years
before. His father was a farmer
in fair circumstances, but a com-
mon Enghsh education was all
that his only son received. Young
Joel first tempted fortune as a
small tradesman in Prescott,
Canada, before he was of age.
He returned from that place to
his home, entered an academy,
taught school, visited the prin-
cipal Eastern cities, improved a farm his father had
given him, made a tour in the South, worked there
in building railroads, experienced a storm on the
Gulf of Mexico, visited the gold diggings of Northern
Georgia, and returned via Nashville to St. Louis and
through Illinois to his father's home, when he mar-
ried. In 1833, having sold his farm, he removed,
with his wife and one child, to Illinois, and entered
a claim on Government land near the head of Au
Sable River, in what is now Kendall County. At
that time there were not more than two neighbors
within a range of ten miles of his place, and only
>hree or four houses between him and Chicago. He
opened a l.irge farm. His fjiuily was boarded 12
miles away while he erected a house on his claim,
sleeping, during this time, under a rude pole shed.
Here his life was once placed in imminent peril by
a huge prairie rattlesnake sharing his bed.
In 1835 he bought largely at the Government land
sales. During the speculative real-estate mania which
broke out in Chicago in 1836 and spread over the State,
he sold his lands under the inflation of that period
and removed to Joliet. In 1838 he became a heavy
contractor on the Illinois & Michigan Canal. Upon
the completion of his job in 1841, when hard times
prevailed, business at a stand, contracts paid in State
scrip; when all the public works except the canal
were abandoned, the State offered for sale 700 tons
of railroad iron, which was purchased by Mr. Mat-
teson at a bargain. This he accepted, shipped and
sold at Detroit, realizing a very handsome profit,
enough to pay off all his canal debts and leave him a
surplus of several thousand dollars. His enterprise
next prompted him to start a woolen mill at Joliet,
in which he prospered, and which, after successive
enlargements, became an enormous establishment.
In 1842 he was first elected a State Senator, but,
by a bungling apportionment, j'ciSn Pearson, a Senator
holding over, was found to be in the same districr,
and decided to be entitled to represent it. Mat-
teson's seat was declared vacant. Pearson, however
with a nobleness difficult to appreciate in this day of
148
JOEL A. MATTESON.
greed for office, unwilling to represent his district
under the circumstances, immediately resigned his
unexpired term of two years. A bill was passed in a
few hours ordering a new election, and in ten days'
time Mr. Matteson was returned re-elected and took
his seat as Senator. From his well-known capacity
as a business man, he was made Chairman of the
Committee on Fini. 'ce, a position he held during
this half and two full succeeding Senatorial terms,
discharging its imixirtant duties with ability and faith-
fulness. Besides his extensive woolen-mill interest,
when work was resumed on the canal under the new
loan of $t, 600,000 he again became a heavy con-
tractor, and also subsequently operated largely in
building railroads. Thus he showed himself a most
energetic and thorough business man.
He was nominated for Governor by the Demo-
cratic State Convention which met at Springfield
April 20, 1852. Other candidates b^ore the Con-
vention were D. L. Gregg and F. C. Sherman, of
Cook ; John Dement, of Lee ; Thomas L. Harris, of
Menard; Lewis W. Ross, of Fulton; and D. P. Bush,
of Pike. Gustavus Koerner, of St. Clair, was nom-
inated for Lieutenant Governor. For the same offices
the Whigs nominated Edwin B. Webb and Dexter A.
Kuowlton. Mr. Matteson received 80,645 votes, at
the election, while Mr. Webb received 64,408. Mat-
teson's forte was not on the stump; he had not cul-
tivated the art of oily flattery, or the faculty of being
all things to all men. His intellectual qualities took
rather the direction of efficient executive ability. His
turn consisted not so much in the adroit manage-
ment of party, or the powerful advocacy of great gov-
ernmental principles, as in those more solid and
enduring operations which cause the physical devel-
opment and advancement of a State, — of commerce
and business enterprise, into which he labored with
success to lead the people. As a politician he was
just and liberal in his views, and botli in official and
private life he then stood untainted and free from
blemish. As a man, in active benevolence, social
rirtues and all the amiable qualities of neighbor or
citizen, he had ieyt superiors. His messages present
a perspicuous array of facts as to the condition of the
State, and are often couched in forcible and elegant
diction.
The greatest excitement during his term of office
was the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, by Con-
gress, under the leadership of Stephen A. Douglas in
1854, when the bill was passed organizing the Terri-
tory of Kansas and Nebraska. A large portion of
the Whig party of the North, through their bitter op-
position to the Democratic parly, naturally drifted
into the doctrine of anti-slavery, and thus led to what
was temporarily called the "Anti-Nebraska" party,
while the followers of Douglas were known as " Ne-
braska or Douglas Democrats." It was during this
embryo stage of the Republican party that Abraham
Lincoln was brought forward as the "Anti-Nebraska"
candidate for the United States Senatorship, while
Gen. James Shields, the incumbent, was re-nom-
inated by the Democrats. But after a few ballotings
in the Legislature (1855), these men were dropped,
and Lyman Trumbull, an Anti-Nebraska Democrat,
was brought up by the former, and Mr. Matteson,
then Governor, by the latter. On the nth ballot
Mr. Trumbull obtained one majority, and was ac-
cordingly declared elected. Before Gov. Matteson 's
term expired, the Republicans were fully organized
as a national party, and in 1856 put into the field a
full national and State ticket, carrying the State, but
not the nation.
The Legislature of 1855 passed two very import-
ant measures, — the present free-school system and a
submission of the Maine liquor law to a vote of the
people. The latter was defeated by a small majority
of the popular vote.
During the four years of Gov. Matteson's admin-
istration the taxable wealth of the State was about
trebled, from $[37,818,079 to $349,951,272; the pub-
lic debt was reduced from $17,398,985 to $12,843,-
r44; taxation was at the same time reduced, and the
State resumed paying interest on its debt in New
York as fast as it fell due ; railroads were increased
in their mileage from something less than 400 to
about 3.000 ; and the population of Chicago was
nearly doubled, and its commerce more than quad-
rupled.
Before closing this account, we regret that we have
to say that Mr. Matteson, in all other respects an
upright man and a good Governor, was implicated
in a false re-issue of redeemed canal scrio, amount-
ing to $224,182.66. By a suit in the Sangamon Cir-
cuit Court the State recovered the principal and all
the interest excepting $27,500.
He died in the winter of 1872-3, at Chicago.
LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
URBANA
GO VERNORS OF ILLINOIS.
IS*
II, LI AM H. BISSELL, Gov-
ernor 1857-60, was born
j8 April 25, 181 1, in Ihe
State of New York, near
Painted Post, Yates County.
His parents were obscure,
lionest, God-fearing people,
'ill re ired tJK'ir children under the daily
xam[)le of industry and frugality, accord-
ing to the custom of that class of Eastern
ociety. Mr. Bissell received a respecta-
i le but not thorough academical education.
\'<\ assiduous application he acquired a
fi knowledge of medicine, and in his early
manhood came West and located in Mon-
roe County, this State, where he engaged in the
practice of that profession. But he was not enam-
ored of his calling; he was swayed by a brojdcr
ambition, to such an extent that the mysteries of the
healing art and its arduous duties failed to yield him
further any charms. In a few years he discovered
his clioice of a profession to be a mistake, and when
he approached the age of 30 he sought to begin
anew. Dr. Bissell, no doubt unexpectedly to him-
self, discovered a singular facility and charm of
speech, the exercise of which acquired for him a
ready local notoriety. It soon came 10 be under-
stood that he desired to abandon iiis profession and
take up that of the law. During terms of Court he
would spend his time at the county seat among the
members of the Bar, who extended to him a ready
welcome.
It was not strange, therefore, that he should drift
into jjublic life. In t84o he was elected as a Dem-
ocrat to the Legislature from Monroe County, and
was an efficient member of that body. On his re-
turn home he qualified himself for admission to the
Bar and speedily rose to the front rank as an advo-
cate. His powers of oratory were captivating. With a
pure diction, charming and inimitable gestures,
clearness of statement, and a remarkable vein of sly
humor, his efforts before a jury told with irresistible
effect. He was chosen by the Legislature Prosecut-
ing Attorney for the Circuit in which he lived, and
in tliat position he fully discharged his duty to the
State, gained the esteem of the Bar, and seldom
failed to convict the offender of the law.
In stature he was somewhat tall and slender, and
with a straight, military bearing, he presented a dis-
tinguished appearance. His complexion was dark,
his head well poised, though not large, his address
pleasant and manner winning. He was exemplary
in his habits, a devoted husband and kind parent.
He was twice married, the first time to Miss James,
^52
WILLIAM H. BISSELL.
of Monroe County, by whom he had two children,
both daughters. She died soon after the year 1840,
and Mr. B. married for his second wife a daughter
of Elias K. Kane, previously a United States Senator
from this State. She survived hiro but a short time,
and died without issue.
When the war with Mexico was declared in 1846,
Mr. Bissell enlisted and was elected Colonel of his
regiment, over Hon. Don Morrison, by an almost
unanimous vote, — 807 to 6. Considering the limited
opportunities he had had, he evinced a high order of
military talent. On the bloody field of Buena Vista
he acquitted himself with intrepid and distinguished
ability, contributing with his regiment, the Second
Illinois, in no small degree toward saving the waver-
ing fortunes of our arms during that long and fiercely
contested battle.
After his return home, at the close of the war, he
was elected to Congress, his opponents being the
Hons. P. B. Fouke and Joseph Gillespie. He served
two terms in Congress. He was an ardent politician.
During the great contest of 1850 he voted in favor
of the adjustment measures ; but in 1854 he opposed
the repeal of the Missouri Compromise act and
therefore the Kansas-Nebraska bill of Douglas, and
thus became identified with the nascent Republican
party.
During his first Congressional term, while the
Southern members were following their old practice
of intimidating the North by bullying language,
and claiming most of the credit for victories in the
Mexican War, and Jefferson Davis claiming for the
Mississippi troops all the credit for success at Buena
Vista, Mr. Bissell bravely defended the Northern
troops ; whereupon Davis challenged Bissell to a duel,
which was accepted. This matter was brought up
against Bissell when he was candidate for Governor
and during his term of office, as the Constitution of
this State forbade any duelist from holding a State
office.
In 1856, when the Republican party first put forth
a candidate, John C. Fremont, for President of the
United States, the same party nominated Mr. Bissell
for Governor of Illinois, and John Wood, of Quincy,
for Lieutenant Governor, while the Democrats nomi-
nated Hon. W. A. Richardson, of Adams County,
for Governor, and Col. R. J. Hamilton, of Cook
County, for Lieutenant Governor. The result of the
election was a plurality of 4,729 votes over Richard-
son. The American, or Know-Nothing, party had a
ticket in the field. The Legislature was nearly bal-
anced, but was politically opposed to the Governor.
His message to the Legislature was short and rather
ordinary, and was criticised for expressing the sup-
posed obligations of the people to the incorporators
of the Illinois Central Railroad Company and for re-
opening the slavery question by allusions to the
Kansas troubles. Late in the session an apportion-
ment bill, based upon the State census of 1855, was
passed, amid much partisan strife. The Governor
at first signed the bill and then vetoed it. A furious
debate followed, and the question whether the Gov-
ernor had the authority to recall a signature was
referred to the Courts, that of last resort deciding in
favor of the Governor. Two years afterward another
outrageous attempt was made for a re-apportionment
and to gerrymander the State, but the Legislature
failed to pass the bill over the veto of the Governor.
It was during Gov. Bissell's administration that
the notorious canal scrip fraud was brought to light;
'mplicating ex-Gov. Matteson and other prominent
State officials. The principal and interest, aggregat-
ing $255,500, was all recovered by the State except-
ing $27,500. (See sketch of Gov. Matteson.)
In 1859 an attempt was discovered to fraudu-
lently refund the Macalister and Stebbins bonds and
thus rob the State Treasury of nearly a quarter of a
million dollars. The State Government was impli-
cated in this affair, and to this day remains unex-
plained or unatoned for. For the above, and other
matters previously mentioned. Gov. Bissell has been
severely criticised, and he has also been most shame-
fully libelled and slandered.
On account of exposure in the army, the remote
cause of a nervous form of disease gained entrance
into his system and eventually developed paraplegia,
affecting his lower extremities, which, while it left
his body in comparative health, deprived him of loco-
motion except by the aid of crutches. While he was
generally hopeful of ultimate recovery, this myste-
rious disease pursued him, without once relaxing its