Frontier Illinois
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Frontier Illinois
（A history of the Trans-Appalachian frontier）
Indiana University Press, c1998
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Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. [485]-504) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
"O, this is a delightful country!" one newly arrived settler wrote to a friend back East. Indeed, as James E Davis shows, many newcomers found Illinois a hospitable and relatively peaceful place in which to start a new life. Davis tells a sweeping story of the making of the state from the Ice Age to the eve of the Civil War. He describes the earliest Indiana civilisations, the coming of LaSalle and Joliet and the founding of the French colony, the brief history of British Illinois, and the complex history of subsequent settlement, which brought distinct cultural traditions to Illinois. A major theme of this book is the relative absence of violence, at least after the Black-hawk War of 1832, even over explosive issues such as slavery. Throughout, Davis keeps the reader mindful of Illinois' ordinary people. James E Davis begins his volume on the frontier period in Illinois history with three eyewitness accounts of the settlement process during its highest tide, the 1830s.
We hear Sarah Aiken, of northern New York, David Henshaw, of Massachusetts, and Charles Watts, an Englishman, describe what Illinois life was really like in those days, and why Sarah wrote to a friend back home, 'O, this is a delightful country!' Professor Davis then looks far back into the Illinois of the glaciers, and the series of Indian civilisations that changed the land. These included the villages around Cahokia, where 20,000 people lived in the year 1100 CE, more than in any city in Europe. The French explorers La Salle and Jolliet appear next, the precursors of other French men and women who created stable settlements like Kaskaskia and the rest of the old French colonial zone, in uneasy accommodation with the Indians. The brief history of British Illinois, and the Revolutionary War which assured Illinois' American future, then follow. Davis then traces the complex settlement process, first from Kentucky to the south, and later from New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio to the east, bringing distinct cultural traditions to Illinois.
One of his most important findings, and a major theme of this book, is the relative absence of violence, at least after the Black-hawk War of 1832, which removed the last substantial Indian presence from the state. Among whites, however, whether they came from the upland South or from Yankee roots, struggles over land, court houses, county seats, railroads, markets, and even the explosive fugitive slave question were resolved with a minimum of bloodshed. Davis explains all of these events in Illinois' early history and many more. Railroads started crisscrossing the state in the 1840s; Chicago began its role as the gateway between East and West; and in the 1850s, on the eve of the Civil War, Illinois passed beyond its frontier period. Throughout the book, James E Davis keeps the reader mindful of what happened to Illinois' ordinary people. This will not surprise those familiar with his best-known previous work, Frontier America, 1800-1840, a path-breaking synopsis of the early demographic history of Trans-Appalachia.
For many years a professor of history at Illinois College in Jacksonville (the oldest continuing higher-educational institution in the state), and a renowned teacher there, Davis brings to life in this book the frontier period of Illinois history.
Table of Contents
Preface Acknowledgments A Note on Quotations, Citations, and Sources Prologue Part I. Vast Lands and Contending Peoples Chapter 1. The Shaping of Settlement Chapter 2. Commingling Cultures Chapter 3. The South and War for Empire Chapter 4. Light British Rule Part II. American Presence Chapter 5. A Tenuous Conquest Chapter 6. Firm Foundations Chapter 7. Rumblings Across the Land Part III. Statehood and Troubles Chapter 8. Shaping a State Chapter 9. Migration, Trials, and Tragedy Part IV. The Formative 1830s Chapter 10. Excitement in the Land Chapter 11. Transportation, Towns, and Institutions Chapter 12. Social Clashes and Economic Collapse Part V. Cooperation and Conflict Chapter 13. Race, Ethnicity, and Class Chapter 14. Conflicts and Community Part VI. Frontier Illinois Fades Chapter 16. Ties that Bind Chapter 17. Changing Ecology, Evolving Society Notes Works Cited Index
by "Nielsen BookData"
