Illinois (state)
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Authority (click on a title below to view laws involved in the formation or governance of the area)
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Background (general information on the area to put it in the context of history)
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The Virginia Colony originally claimed the land of present-day Illinois through its Second Charter to the Treasurer and Company, for Virginia, erecting them into a Corporation and Body Politic, and for the further enlargement and explanation of the privileges of said Company and First Colony of Virginia, 1609 [click here for more information].
The claim to the northwest lands was later vacated in 1783 by the Act to authorize the delegates of this state in congress, to convey to the United States, in congress assembled, all the right of this commonwealth to the territory north westward of the river Ohio, 1783 [click here for more information].
At the time of the cessation of land by Virginia, a Federal committee suggested dividing the area into ten states in the Plan for the Temporary Government of the Western Territory, 1784 [click here for more information].
Three years later, the land of Illinois was organized into the Territory Northwest of the River Ohio under the An ordinance for the government of the territory of the United States, North-west of the river Ohio, 1787 [click here for more information], and subsequently a part of Indiana Territory [click here for more information]. Later the Illinois Territory [click here for more information] was organized on March 1, 1809. The following clause from the act separating it from Indiana Territory defines its boundary:
From and after the first day of March next, all that part of the Indiana Territory which lies west of the Wabash River and a direct line drawn from the said Wabash River and Post Vincennes due north to the territory line between the United States and Canada shall, for the purpose of temporary government, constitute a separate Territory and be called Illinois. (Tenth Congress, second session.)
On December 3, 1818, it was admitted as a State, with its present boundaries. The enabling act defines these boundaries as follows:
The said State shall consist of all the territory included within the following boundaries, to wit: Beginning at the mouth of the Wabash River; thence up the same and with the line of Indiana to the northwest corner of said State; thence east with the line of the same State to the middle of Lake Michigan; thence north along the middle of said lake to north latitude forty-two degrees thirty minutes; thence west to the middle of the Mississippi River; and thence down along the middle of that river to its confluence with the Ohio River; and thence tip the latter river along its northwestern shore to the beginning. (Fifteenth Congress, second session.)
The northern boundary of Illinois was run and marked in 1832-3.
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Census (click on a year below to view information on the population of the area)
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For an introduction to the censuses enumerated for Illinois see Illinois Censuses. To see information on a particular census, select a year from the table below.
| Date | Population | Change |
| 1723 | 334 | --- |
| 1726 | 512 | +34.7% |
| 1732 | 502 | -1.9% |
| 1752 | 1290 | +160% |
| 1767 | 903 | -30% |
| 1787 | --- | --- |
| 1800 | 3287 | +264% |
| 1807 | --- | --- |
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Maps (click on title below to see a contemporary map of the State)
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- Melish, John and Samuel Harrison. Map of Illinois Constructed from the Surveys in the General Land Office and other Documents, 1818
- Melish, John. Map of Illinois Constructed from the Surveys in the General Land Office and other Documents, 1819
- Melish, John. Map of Illinois Constructed from the Surveys in the General Land Office and other Documents, 1820
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Resources (click on a title below to learn more specifics about the area)
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- An Act to extend the right of suffrage in the Illinois territory, and for other purposes, 1812 [click here for further information] set forth the framework for voting for the territorial legislature.
- An Act supplemental to an act entituled "An act for dividing the Indiana territory into two separate governments," 1812 [click here for further information] leaves in the place the court system that existed under the Indiana Territory.
- An Act to authorize the surveying and making a road in the territory of Illinois," 1816 [click here for further information] authorized the surveying of a road from Shawneetown to the U.S. Saline and then to Kaskaskia.
- An Act to provide for the appointment of a surveyor of the public lands in the territories of Illinois and Missouri, 1816 [click here for further information]
- An Act to ascertain and mark the line between the state of Alabama and the territory of Florida, and the northern boundary of the state of Illinois, and for other purposes, 1831 [click here for further information]
- An Act to create additional land districts in the states of Illinois and Missouri, and in the territory north of the state of Illinois, 1834 [click here for further information]
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Bibliography (click on the title of the following works to learn more about life in the area; for those items not available online, check with your local library for availability)
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- Alvord, Clarence Walworth. The county of Illinois. [Springfield]: Illinois State Historical Library, 1907
- Alvord, Clarence Walworth. Kaskaskia records, 1778-1790. Springfield, Ill: Trustees of the Illinois State Historical Library, 1909
- Buck, Solon Justus. Illinois in 1818. Chicago: A.C. McClurg & Co., 1918
- Constitution of the State of Illinois. Springfield: Lanphier & Walker, Printers, 1847
- Illinois constitution, 1818
- Norton, Margaret Cross. Illinois census returns 1810, 1818. Springfield, Ill: Trustees of the Illinois State Historical Library, 1935
- The constitution of the State of Illinois. Springfield, Ill.: Illinois Journal Company, 1870
- Verlie, Emil Joseph. Illinois constitutions. Springfield, Ill: Trustees of the Illinois State Historical Library, 1919
- White, C. Albert. A history of the rectangular survey system. Washington, D.C. : U.S. Dept. of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, [1983]
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