Decisive Dates in Illinois History: A Story of the State, Told in a Record of Events which Have Determined the History of Illinois and of the Nation; with Thirty Illustrations

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Illinois Printing Company, 1909 - 276 pages
 

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Page 159 - Can the people of a United States Territory, in any lawful way, against the wish of any citizen of the United States, exclude slavery from its limits prior to the formation of a State constitution?
Page 159 - It matters not what way the Supreme Court may hereafter decide as to the abstract question whether slavery may or may not go into a Territory under the Constitution, the people have the lawful means to introduce it or exclude it as they please, for the reason that slavery cannot exist a day or an hour anywhere, unless it is supported by local police regulations.
Page 26 - He harangued us in a few words, to congratulate us on our arrival, and then presented us his calumet and made us smoke ; at the same time we entered his cabin, where we received all their usual greetings. Seeing all assembled and in silence, I spoke to them by four presents which I made ; by the first, I said that we marched in peace to visit the nations on the river to the sea ; by the second, I declared to them that God their Creator had pity on them, since, after their having been so long ignorant...
Page 25 - How beautiful is the sun, O Frenchman, when thou comest to visit us ! All our town awaits thee, and thou shalt enter all our cabins in peace.
Page 26 - Having arrived at the great sachem's town, we espied him at his cabin door, between two old men, all three standing naked, with their calumet turned to the sun.
Page 27 - I was sent on his behalf with this design ; that it was for them to acknowledge and obey him ; by the third, that the great chief of the French informed them that he spread peace everywhere, and had overcome the Iroquois ; lastly, by the fourth, we begged them to give us all the information they had of the sea, and of nations through which we should have to pass to reach it.
Page 24 - They marched slowly, lifting their pipes toward the sun, as if offering them to him to smoke, but yet without uttering a single word. They were a long time coming the little way from the village to us. Having reached us at last, they stopped to consider us attentively. I now took courage, seeing these ceremonies, which are used by them only with friends, and still more on seeing them covered with stuffs, which made me judge them to be allies.
Page 27 - ... so free from rocks, which your canoes have removed as they passed ; never has our tobacco had so fine a flavor, nor our corn appeared so beautiful as we behold it today. Here is my son, that I give thee, that thou mayst know my heart.
Page 99 - On the 4th of July, in the evening, we got within a few miles of the town, where we lay until near dark, keeping spies ahead, after which we commenced our march and took possession of a house wherein a large family lived, on the bank of the Kaskaskia river about three-quarters of a mile above the town, where we...
Page 27 - I thank thee, black gown, and thee, O Frenchman," addressing himself to Monsieur Jollyet, "for having taken so much trouble to come to visit us. Never has the earth been so beautiful, or the sun so bright, as today; never has our river been so calm, or so clear of rocks, which your canoes have removed in passing; never has our tobacco tasted so good, or our corn appeared so fine, as we now see them.

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