NO RETURNS FROM the most exciting election in Pike county history, that of August 2, 1824, are to be found of records
in the county in which that election was held. No data of any description bearing upon that momentous viva voce
balloting is of record in any of the county offices. Not even is there any local newspaper record, for this election
occurred 18 years before the first issue of the first newspaper in Pike county. Only in the archives division of
the state public library in the Centennial building has the historian been able to find any official records of
the Pike county election of 1824.
Not even at Springfield, among the certified returns of the 1824 election, is there any record of a single vote
having been cast at Atlas, the stronghold of the Ross party. The Atlas vote is missing to this day. James W. Whitney
certified to the secretary of state and auditor of public accounts the returns from the other Pike county precincts
of Coles' Grove, Cap au Gris and Franklin. My Lord Coke did not, as county clerk, certify any abstract of the vote
from Atlas.
Not even on the convention or slavery question was the Atlas vote certified. It is known from an early reference
in a letter written by Judge Thomas of Jacksonville that Atlas cast 100 votes in that election and that all but
four were against the convention and slavery, but Whitney did not certify this vote to the office of the secretary
of state and auditor of public accounts at Vandalia and to this day the Atlas vote of 1824 on the great slavery
issue is missing from the state's official totals. On the basis of Whitney's certified returns, a certificate of
election was issued to John Shaw for the legislature and commissions were issued to Shaw's candidates for the county
offices, none of whom, not even Shaw, were elected, but all of whom appeared to be elected by large majorities
on the face of Whitney's certified returns.
Whitney's failure to certify the Atlas vote, certifying instead a fictitious election total upon which the Shaw
ticket was declared elected, may or may not have been a keeping of compact incident to the strange session of the
county commissioners who had met in special session at Atlas three days before election, when they declared Whitney's
office vacant, and on the following day reinstated him in that office and gave him another office, that of county
surveyor, in addition. The records, inconclusive as they are, strongly suggest collusion, which suggestion is strengthened
in view of Whitney's indictment for malconduct in office and a suit brought against him in the name of the people,
a suit later dismissed upon Whitney's agreement to resign as county clerk.
The slavery party was all but annihilated in Pike county in the 1824 election. In the certified returns at Springfield,
Pike county is shown to have cast 19 votes for the convention and 165 against, votes for and against the convention
being tantamount to votes for ans against slavery. The certified vote does not include the four votes cast for
and the 96 votes cast against slavery at Atlas, the actual vote in the county being 261 against slavery and 23
for. The Atlas vote is based upon reference in a letter of Judge William Thomas of Jacksonville read at the second
Pike County Old Settlers' meeting in 1873, in which he said, speaking of the anti-slave sentiment at Atlas: "The
people there were almost unanimously opposed to slavery. The settlement cast a total of 100 votes, all but four
against slavery, in 1824."
By precincts, the vote in Pike county on the convention question, with Atlas unofficial, was as follows: Coles'
Grove, 6 for and 51 against; Cap au Gris, 8 for and 64 against; Franklin, 5 for and 50 against; Atlas, 4 for, 96
against.
In the state, as well as in the county, slavery received a crushing blow from which it never recovered. The official
state vote was 4,972 for the convention and 6,640 against. This does not include the Atlas vote of 96 against and
4 for. The southern counties generally returned large majorities in favor of slavery. Immigration having been largely
along parallels of latitude, the southern counties had a large population from slave states south of the Ohio river.
In the central and northern counties, the tide ran heavily against slavery. Hostility against the slave men over
the disgraceful unseating of Hansen had embittered the central and northern communities. Pike county cast 92 per
cent of its vote against slavery; Fulton, which had been cut off from Pike, cast 5 for and 50 against; Morgan 42
for and 440 against; Sangamon 83 per cent against; Clark 79 per cent and Edgar 99 per cent against. In eleven counties
south of St. Clair, Washington, Marion, Wayne and White, 3,788 votes were cast, 62 per cent of which were for the
convention and slavery. In the nineteen counties north of that line, 7,814 votes were cast, of which only 33 per
cent were for the convention and slavery. Thus, after a campaign of exceeding violence, the pro-slavery element
found itself so completely routed that never again was there any organized attempt to make Illinois a slave state.
To understand of what tremendous import was this 1824 election, it is necessary to look beyond the borders of Illinois
and direct our inquiry to the nation at large. We have seen to what extent Pike county and its representatives,
Nicholas Hansen and John Shaw, influenced the final decision on slavery in Illinois. At the time this heated campaign
was waged in 1823-24, the nation stood half slave and half free. Twelve states were free soil (counting Illinois
as free) and twelve were slave-holding. Had Illinois held the proposed constitutional convention in 1824 and amended
the 1818 constitution to legalize slavery in the state, the states of the Union would then have stood 11 free and
13 slave. In that event, Illinois, instead of being one of 12 free states would have become one of 13 slave states.
Inasmuch as each state was entitled to two senators in the Congress, the national Senate would then have stood
22 free and 26 slave. The power of the slavery majority would have been sufficient to alter the destiny of the
nation. The pro-slave majority in the Senate, had Illinois gone slave, could have prevented any limitations or
restrictions upon slavery in the Union. Any territory applying for admission into the Union and offering a constitution
forbidding slavery within its borders could have been denied admission by the pro-slave Senate. States electing
to be slave-holding could have gained admission while those electing to be free-soil could have been denied.
It is readily apparent therefore that the election in Illinois in 1824 constituted a great crisis in American history
that affected both state and nation. In that crisis, as we have seen, Pike county, incident to a chain of events
initiated by its county-seat war, played a mighty role. As Governor Dunne well says in his History of Illinois:
"If Illinois had become a slave state in 1824 the whole future of the United States possibly and probably
would have been materially changed."
The Missouri Republican, a few days after the election, echoed this view. Said this early newspaper: "We look
upon this election in Illinois as an important era in the history of her politics. The question of slavery had
divided the state into two parties, and absorbed in its vortex all former parties and distinctions. Its divisions,
which have resulted in the triumph of the opponents of slavery, will probably have an important bearing on the
measures and policies of Illinois for many years."
In the heat of the great campaign, some noble characters were moulded, while others were blemished for life. David
Blackwell, noted pleader at the early Pike county bar, commenting in his Illinois Intelligencer at Vandalia, following
the election, said: "In the collisions of party, through which we have just passed, many individuals have
shown a laxity of principles, and of moral sentiment, which probably would not have been developed but for this
occasion. On such men, the people will set a mark and will be careful how they trust them in future. But the honorable
of both sides, whose integrity could not be swerved by the excitement of a great question, will be respected and
confided in by a wise people. They come out of the fiery ordeal purer than when they went in."
And now, what of the Hansen-Shaw legislative contest and the battle of the Shaw and Ross parties for county offices
in the election that was so decisive on the slavery issue? It is clear from the records available that while the
Shaw partisans deserted him on the slavery question, they rallied behind him for the legislature and behind his
candidates for the county offices. It was in these battles, wherein the county-seat was at stake, that the pent-up
bitterness of the opposing factions broke with a fury that blazed for many a day in the early settlements.
On the face of the returns certified by Whitney, the Shaw party won a sweeping victory, defeating the Ross party
three to one. The certified returns, however, do not include the Atlas vote in which precinct lay the strength
of the Ross party. The Atlas vote was the final and deciding factor in the many contests that followed the election,
but nowhere do we find any record of the Atlas vote, other than Judge Thomas' reference to it on the slavery question,
and the unofficial vote on the convention question and the Congressional contest, as given in the Illinois Intelligencer
of August 13, 1824. The Intelligencer gave the Pike county vote on the convention as 23 for and 261 against, which
supports Judge Thomas' statement as to the Atlas vote. Atlas cast 100 votes, if the references noted are correct,
and Judge Thomas probably spoke with definite knowledge of the matter. He had frequently attended court at Atlas
in the 1820's and doubtless had the information at first hand.
It is probable that Atlas, voting almost unanimously on the slavery question, did likewise in respect to the legislative
and county tickets. In fact, in face of the returns from the other precincts, it would have been necessary for
Atlas to cast approximately 100 votes for Hansen and the Atlas candidates in order to overcome the Shaw vote elsewhere.
Even with Atlas casting its 100 votes 100 per cent for the Atlas candidates, the vote on all offices would even
then have been perilously close.
John Shaw defeated Nicholas Hansen for representative in the state legislature 165 to 83 on the face of Whitney's
certified returns to the State Secretary and Auditor, and a certificate of election was issued to Shaw on the basis
of those returns. Whitney, however, seems to have courted favor in both camps, for we find him later issuing a
certificate of election to Nicholas Hansen, and, when the legislature convenes in November, we find both Shaw and
Hansen appearing in the house of representatives, each bearing a certificate of election from the hand of My Lord
Coke.
Pike and Fulton counties (the original Pike county) constituted the legislative district voting on Hansen and Shaw.
The certified returns show that Shaw carried Pike county (Atlas missing) by 137 votes to Hansen's 42. It appeared
later, however, that the Pike vote was 140 for Shaw and 189 for Hansen, indicating that Shaw got three votes in
Atlas precinct and Hansen 97. The certified returns from Fulton county gave Shaw 28 and Hansen 41, a total of 69
votes being cast in Fulton, which included the sites of Peoria and Chicago. The actual vote in the district, therefore,
was 180 for Hansen and 168 for Shaw, a majority of 12 for Hansen.
In the three Pike county precincts that were certified by Whitney, the Shaw-Hansen vote was as follows: Coles'
Grove, Shaw 49 and Hansen 6, Cape au Gris, Shaw 68 and Hansen 4; Franklin, Shaw 20 and Hansen 32. Franklin precinct,
embracing the present sites of Pittsfield, Rock Island and Galena, cast a total of 52 votes in 1824. Pike and Fulton
together, embracing all of the state west of the Illinois and north of the Kankakee rivers, cast a total of 348
votes in the 1824 election, including the 100 votes at Atlas. This same territory, the original Pike county, had
cast a total of 179 votes in the famous 1822 election, out of which grew the noted Shaw-Hansen contest.
Whitney in certifying the Pike county vote (three precincts) for Shaw and Hansen for representative and for Thomas
Carlin and Isaac N. Piggott for the state senate, appended the following naive comment:
"I think proper to remark that in the poll books returned to me from Franklin precinct, the clerks of election
spelled the first name of Mr. Piggott ‘Isac' and the surname of Mr. Carlin ‘Carling' and the Christian name of
Mr. Hansen was spelled ‘Nicles': - the judges and clerks in that precinct were not sworn into office by a justice
of the peace, nor by each other, but by a county commissioner.
"According to the above I certify the foregoing abstract to be a correct one from the legal returns made to
my office.
"Atlas, August 5, 1824.
"J. W. WHITNEY, Clerk of the Commissioners' Court Pike County.
"LEVI ROBERTS, G. V'DUSEN, Assisting Justices."
The above certification showed a total of 137 votes for Shaw and 42 for Hansen for state representative, and 116
for Carlin and 70 for Piggott for state senator. All of Whitney's abstracts are dated at Atlas on August 5, three
days after the election, and all show that they were dispatched by Whitney from Coles' Grove. Two certified abstracts
were returned in each instance, one to David Blackwell, secretary of state, and the other to E. C. Berry, auditor
of public accounts, at Vandalia, the then state capital. In each instance Whitney purports to certify the returns
as being a "true abstract of the votes given in Pike county at the late biennial election." Atlas, it
is to be inferred from these certifications, either had not returned its poll books to the clerk's office in Atlas
on August 5, or the clerk construed the Atlas returns as not legal.
The fourth General Assembly convened at Vandalia on November 15, 1824. The Journal of the House contains the following
of record, as of that day:
"In calling the roll of members, Nicholas Hansen and John Shaw both presented themselves from the counties
of Pike and Fulton, to be qualified (the counties being entitled to but one). On motion of Mr. Kane (Elias Kent
Kane), they were required to exhibit to the Speaker (Risdon Moore, temporary Speaker), the evidence of their claims
to the seat, who was required to determine whether either, and if either, which of the claimants was entitled to
the seat. Mr. Hansen produced to the Speaker a regular certificate from the Clerks of Pike and Fulton counties,
of his election; and Mr. Shaw produced a certificate from the Clerk of Pike county, in which he recited that the
Clerk of Fulton county had failed and refused to exhibit the poll books of the latter county to compare them; and
that, therefore, he (the Clerk of Pike) certified Mr. Shaw duly elected. The Speaker decided that Mr. Hansen was
entitled to the seat. Mr. Hansen was then qualified and took his seat."
Three days later, November 18, the Journal shows that "The Speaker laid before the House a communication from
John Shaw (with sundry papers), claiming a seat in this House from Pike and Fulton counties.
Read and referred to committee on elections."
On November 24, the Journal further recites: "Mr. Churchill, from the committee on elections, made a report
in the case of John Shaw, who claimed the seat of Nicholas Hansen - stating that the evidence of Mr. Shaw was all
ex parte, and that Mr. Shaw had failed to prove by competent evidence any of his allegations; and that therefore
they could only report from the evidence contained in the certificates of the clerks of the counties of Pike and
Fulton; and from those papers they reported a resolution that Mr. Hansen is entitled to a seat in the House. Mr.
Shaw presented another paper, in which he charged that Mr. Hansen obtained his certificate from the clerks by fraud,
and that the fact was concealed from him (Shaw) until after the period for contesting had elapsed, and referred
to Hugh R. Colter and Ossian M. Ross (both of Lewistown and officials of Fulton county) for proof - who were then
called to the bar of the House, together with Leonard Ross, who were sworn and examined, and retired -and the resolution
declaring Nicholas Hansen entitled to a seat, was decided in the affirmative, by yeas and nays, unanimously."
Leonard Ross and Rigdon C. Fenton, opposing candidates of the Atlas and Coles' Grove parties for county sheriff,
appear to have battled to a tie in the final reckoning and they are found going into a special election on October
23, 1824 to settle the issue. The certified returns from the August (1824) elections show that Ross received 47
votes in the three precincts outside of Atlas, to 134 for Fenton. Had Ross received the entire 100 votes of Atlas
he would have had a majority of 13 votes. It is evident that Fenton must have picked up a half-dozen or so votes
in Atlas. Ross led the Atlas ticket in the other three precincts.
In the special election for sheriff on October 23, Ross is credited in the official returns at Springfield with
106 votes and Fenton with 165. Official returns, however, seem to have had little to do with seating officials
in those days, for we find that Ross is eventually declared the legally elected sheriff, some of the "fancy
poll books designed to defeat the Ross party," described by the historian Grimshaw, having appeared again
in this election.
In the archives at Springfield are the following yellowed documents bearing upon this special election for sheriff:
"We the undersigned Clerk of the Commissioners' Court of Pike county, and Assistant Justices, having proceeded
to open and examine the returns of a special election for sheriff in Pike county, held on the 23rd instant, do
declare the same as follows:
"From Cape aux Gries Precinct, Ross 5, Fenton 54; From Colesgrove Precinct, Ross 5, Fenton 102; From Franklin
Precinct, Ross 11, Fenton 6; From Atlas Precinct, Ross 85, Fenton 3; Total, Ross 106, Fenton 165.
"And we have evidence before us that in the two precincts of Colesgrove and Cape aux Gries (Cap au Gris is
thus spelled in Whitney's records) there are at least 80 illegal ballots, but considering that we have no power
to purge the polls we return them as they appear to us. - In witness whereof we have hereto set our hands and seals
at Atlas this 28th day of October, 1824.
"J. W. WHITNEY, Clerk of Commissioners' Court, Pike County.
"LEVI HADLEY, G. V'DUSEN, Assistant Justices."
Also, the further affidavit of James W. Whitney:
"State of Illinois, Pike County, ss-
"I, James W. Whitney, Clerk of the County Commissioners' Court of said County, do hereby certify that of the
votes returned to me of a special election for sheriff in said county, holden on the 23rd instant, there was a
majority of 59 votes for Bigelow C. Fenton for that office:-but there were depositions laid before myself and the
assistant justices on the canvass of the returns that there was given in the Colesgrove and Cape au Gries Precincts
more than eighty illegal votes, but considering that we had no power to reject them, they were returned in the
abstract of the votes and their character as they appeared to us.
"Atlas, October 28, 1824.
"J. W. WHITNEY, Clerk of the County Commissioners' Court Pike County."
The returns on File at Springfield show that Joel Bacon, Shaw candidate for coroner, received 137 votes as against
42 for John G. Curtiss, the Ross candidate. The Shaw candidates for county commissioners beat the Ross candidates
in the official returns better than three to one. James Nixon received 138 votes, Ebenezer Smith 136 and Thomas
McKee 137, as against 44 votes for James M. Seeley, 43 for Levi Hadley and 42 for Zepheniah Ames, the Ross candidates.
Daniel Church received one vote for commissioner. The Atlas vote, however, added approximately 100 votes to the
total for each of the Ross candidates, giving them a scant lead over their rivals, but, by virtue of duly executed
certificates of election from Clerk Whitney, the Shaw candidates for a time usurped authority and dominated the
county government.
In this election, Daniel Pope Cook, who had taken the stump in Pike county against slavery, received 270 votes
for Congress as against 25 votes for Shadrack Bond (the state's first governor), as reported in the Illinois Intelligencer,
which report included the Atlas vote.