Chapter VI.
(O. J. Page)
Page 47-51
Legislative History
When the first territorial legislature was elected, Oct. 9, 10, and 12, 1812, there were five counties, St. Clair
and Randolph, created 1795, and Madison, Gallatin, and Johnson, organized Sept. 14, 1812. This legislature comprised
five councilmen (Senators) and seven representative. Pierre Menard was president of the council. Thomas Furgeson
was the councilman from this territory then comprised in Johnson county. He held the position from 1812--the first
session--until the close of the early session, 1816, when John Grammar, then of Johnson county, succeeded him,
having previously been the representive. Grammar was a member of the council when the state was admitted. Joseph
Palmer was the representative from Johnson county, from 1816 to 1818 and Samuel Omelveney became a member of the
last session from the newly formed county of Pope.
By the constitution adopted upon the admission of the state, 1818, the number of representatives must not be less than twenty-seven, nor more than thirty-six until the population equaled 100,000 inhabitants, the senators were to be at least one-third the number of representatives and not more than one-half. Massac county being a part of Johnson and Pope counties until 1843, was represented in the General Assembly of Illinois by the Senators and Representatives from the districts in which they were apportioned. From 1818 to 1848 the adoption of the second constitution, Senators from Pope were Lewis Baker in the first, second, third and fourth assemblies (1818-'26); Samuel Alexander, fifth, sixth, seventh and part of eighth, (1826-1833); John Raum, part of eighth, and succeeded by James A. Whiteside in ninth and tenth; J. Worthington Gibbs, the eleventh and twelfth; George Waters, the thirteenth and fourteenth; Thomas G. C. Davis, afterwards of Massac county, and a member of the constitutional convention of 1848, of the fifteenth. The Senators from Johnson county were Thomas Roberts of the first; Milton Ladd of the second and third; John Ewing of the fourth and fifth; Willis Allen of Franklin county, afterwards State's Attorney in Massac county served diring the fourteenth and fifteenth sessions.
The Representatives from Pope county up to 1848 were Hons. Green B. Field; Robert Hamilton; William M. Alexander; Edward Robertson; Samuel Alexander; James A. Whiteside; Wiliam Sims; Charles Dunn; Jonathan Dairman; John W. Read, afterwards Sheriff of Massac county; George T. Waters; Philip Vineyard; William Rhodes; Joseph Diarman, and Wesley Sloan.
Johnson county has furnished Isaac D. Wilcox, William F. McFatridge; John Bridges; Joseph L. Priestly; John Oliver; Benjamin S. Enloe; John Dement; Andrew J. Kuykendall, and Enoch Enloe.
The constitution adopted in 1848 gave the senate twenty-five membersand the house of representatives seventy-five until the population should reach one million, when the number in the house could be increased to 100. By section VII., the state was divided into twenty-five senatorial districts.
Alexander, Union, Pulaski, Johnson, Massac, Pope and Hardin comprised the first senatorial district. This apportionment stood until 1854. The Senators were William Y. Davis, Johnson county, sixteenth session; Andrew J. Kuykendall, Johnson county, seventeenth and eighteenth. The senatorial district did not, as now, coincide with the representative districts. Thus, Massac, Pope and Hardin were allowed one representative and they were as follows: Wesley Sloan, Pope county, during three successive terms--the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth. Judge Sloan proved a most effective member in the statutory revision.
February 27, 1854, Alexander, Union, Johnson, Pulaski, Massac, Pope, Hardin and Gallatin constituted the twenty-fifth senatorial district until 1861. Andrew J. Kuykendall of Johnson county served during all this time. Pope, Hardin, and Massac formed the second representative district as before and George W. May, Massac, Wesley Sloan, Pope; W. H. Green, Massac, served during the time, Hon. W. H. Green serving two terms.
By an act of Jan. 31, 1861, Alexander, Pulaski, Massac, Union, Johnson, Pope, Hardin, Gallatin and Saline were formed into the first senatorial district and continued so until the adoption of the constitution, 1870. Hon. W.H. Green, Massac, served as Senator in the twenty-third and twenty-fourth General Assemblies. He was the last democrat senator, being succeeded in the twenty-fifth and sixth by Hon. Daniel Munn of Alexander, now of Cook county. During this time Massac, Pope and Johnson continued as the second representative district and was represented by Hons. Thomas B. Hicks, Massac; William A. Looney, Johnson; Phil G. Clemens, Pope; and Jonathan C. Willis, Massac.
By the constitution of 1870, the twenty-seventh General Assembly, convening Jan. 4, 1871, there were fifty senators from twenty-five districts. Alexander, Pulaski, Massac, Union, Pope, Johnson, Gallatin and Saline made the first district. Simon K. Gibson, Gallatin, was chosen Senator and soon after died. He was succeeded by William G. Bowman, Alexander. The other Senator was T.A.E. Holcomb, Union. Pulaski and Massac sent one representative to this assembly, William R. Brown, who was the most influential member in making the apportionment under the new constitution. Beginning with the twenty-eighth General Assembly, which convened Jan. 8, 1873, there were by virtue of the apportionment of March 2, 1872, under the new constitution, fifty-one senators, each representing a senatorial district containing the number of people obtainable by dividing the population of Illinois by the census of 1870, by fifty-one, which number of senators is fixed by the constitution and is unchangeable. The senators serve for a term of four years and the districts were numbered from one to fify-one, beginning at Alexander county, and ending with Cook. This was only for the numbering of the districts under the first apportionment, which is done every ten years. The even numbered districts, however, elected new senators in 1872 and the odd numbered in two years following, thus having what is termed "hold-over" senators in each assembly, insuring experience in legislation in that body. Hon. Charles M. Ferrell, Hardin, Democrat; Samuel Glassford, Johnson, Republican; Andrew J. Kuykendall, Johnson, Republican, were the Senators until the apportionment of 1882.
By the same apportionment of 1872 each senatorial district elects three members of the lower house in each General Assembly every two years. What is termed minority representation was also established by the constitution, which seeks to give the party having a majority of voters in a district two representatives and the party having the minority vote one representative in the lower house. Each voter may, therefore, vote, one vote each, for three candidates, two of one party and one of another. Instead, however, if the voter's party has the two candidates, he may vote his three votes for the two, giving one and one-half votes each or he may give all three votes to one candidate. This is termed "plumping." In several districts three candidates of one party have been elected. The members of the lower house during the twenty-eighth, twenty-ninth, thirtieth and thirty-first assemblies, representing the fifty first senatorial district comprised of Pulaski, Massac, Johnson, Pope and Hardin were as follows: James L. Wymore and Francis McGee, Johnson county, and Newton R. Casey, Pulaski, in the twenty-eighth; Benjamin O. Jones, Massac, James R. Steagall, Pope, and Lewis F. Plater, Hardin, in the twenty-ninth; W.S. Morris, Hardin, Alonzo D. Pierce, Pope, and E.B. Watkins, Pulaski, thirtieth; James H. Carter, Johnson, Henry H. Spencer, Pulaski, and Thomas G. Farris, Johnson, who soon died, and William V. Eldredge succeeded him in the thirty-first; William A. Spann, Johnson, W.S. Morris, Hardin, and J.D. Young, Massac in the thirty-second.
Under the apportionment of 1882, Saline, Gallatin, Hardin, Pope and Massac formed the forty-ninth district until the apportionment of 1893. During this time, William S. Morris, Republican, of Pope, served four years; John Yost, Republican, Gallatin, four years, and Thomas H. Sheridan, Pope, four years, as senators. During this apportionment, the Republican members in the house were Robert W. McCartney, Massac, and William H. Boyer, Saline, in the thirty-third; James M. Gregg, Democrat, Saline, John Yost, Republican, Gallatin, Simon S. Barger, Republican, Pope, and W.V. Choisser, Democrat, in the thirty-fourth; William G. Sloan, Republican, Saline, Simon S. Barger, Republican, Pope, and J.F. Taylor, Democrat, Pope in the thirty-fifth; William G. Sloan, Republican, Saline, Royal R. Lacey, Republican, Hardin, and Hugh C. Gregg, Democrat, Gallatin, in the thirty-sixth; Fowler A. Armstrong, Republican, Massac, Thomas R. Reid, Republican, Gallatin, and Geo. B. Parsons, Democrat, Gallatin, in the thirty-seventh; H.R. Fowler, Democrat, Hardin, F.A. Armstrong, Massac, A.W. Lewis, Saline, Republicans, in the thirty-eighth.
June 15th, 1893 the counties of Pulaski, Massac, Johnson, Pope and Saline were formed into the fifty-first senatorial district, and Hon. P.T. Chapman, Johnson, has been the senator continuously. Fowler A. Armstrong, Massac, and Richard M. Johnson, Pulaski, Republicans, and C.A.F. Rondeau, Democrat, Pope, represented the district in the thirty-ninth; Joseph W. King, Pope, and William H. Parish, Saline, Republicans, F.A. Trousdale, Massac, Democrat, in te fortieth; Geo. E. Martin, Pulaski, and Oliver J. Page, Massac Republicans, and A.G. Dabney, Democrat, of Saline, in the forty-first. The Republican candidates nominated July 8th, 1900, for the forty-second General Assembly at the Senatorial convention in Mound City were S.B. Kerr, Massac, and C.P. Skaggs, Saline. The Democrats have nominated L.H. Frizzell of Vienna, Johnson county, as the minority candidate for the forty-second General Assembly.
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