History of medical practice in Illinois - Bushnell Historical Society

History of Anatomy Laws in Illinois 363the state of Wisconsin. A Board of Governor and Judges represented thesole legislative authority under Congress in this larger Illinois up tomeeting of the first territorial legislature in November, 1812, at Kaskaskia.The Act provided that authentic copies of the laws passed by the Governorand Judges should be sent every six months to the President of the UnitedStates for permanent preservation. For some reason or other, these laws, ifthey were ever sent to Washington, were not preserved, with the exceptionof four on file, nor were they printed so far as known in any documentof the federal government. 4During the two decades immediately prior tothe1818, when Illinois waselected to statehood, permanent settlements were planted in rapid successionin its southern regions. In that year most of its 35,000 inhabitantslived south of the mouth of the Illinois River. Four out of every six personswere of southern stock, one was of foreign origin, and one a northernemigrant. At firstthere was some animosity between the southern settlersand the 'Yankees,' but eventually "The Mississippi," "the river" or "OleMan River" bound them together. The tide of immigration which had setin soon after the Revolution brought not only adventurous emigrantsfrom the east through the Cumberland Gap and down the Ohio, but alsoup the Mississippi, especially large numbers of Germans, Irish and otherforeign countrymen who had landed at the port of New Orleans and wereseeking a home in the interior.It is natural that Kaskaskia should have been selected as the seat ofthe territorial government. For it was in effect the first settlement of thewhite man in Illinois, and played the leading role not only in its earlypolitical but also in its early cultural and medical history, both duringthe period of the French occupation and during American territorialtimes. The first meetings of the territorial legislature— the LegislativeCouncil and House of Representatives—of Illinois were held at Kaskaskiain 1812, one on December 12 and the other on December 26. The firstprinted edition of the laws passed at these sessions was issued in a pamphletof 60 pages by Matthew Duncan at Russelville, Kentucky, the followingyear. The first law declared that all laws decreed by the Legislature ofthe Indiana Territory which were in force on March 1, 1809, and whichare of general nature and not local to Indiana Territory, shall remain inforce in the Illinois Territory until altered or repealed by the latter.The building at Kaskaskia, in which the territorial government wasinstituted and made its decrees, and which served as the capitol until 1820and even as the place of assembly during the organization of the stategovernment, had been the headquarters of the Military Commandant dur-* cf. James, ibid.