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John Reynolds
Christina Simon John Reynolds was born February 26, 1788, in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. His parents were Irish Protestants who emigrated to the United States in 1785. When John was six months old, he and his parents traveled further west and made their home at the bottom of the Copper Ridge Mountain in Tennessee. In 1800, after several destructive Indian attacks, the Reynolds family moved to Kaskaskia, Illinois. They had originally intended to live in Missouri. But, because of the predominance of Catholics west of the Mississippi River, the Reynoldses settled in Kaskaskia, located east of the Mississippi River. The move to Illinois proved to be profitable for young Reynolds, for it was in Kaskaskia that he received a sound education. When a neighborhood school opened about 1805, John made a point of attending, even though it meant paying a man to work in his place. Reynolds's early schooling was a positive experience, as evidenced by his feelings about a schoolhouse near the present-day city of Belleville in which he was schooled. "I revere and respect this site with the same feelings as the Jews in ancient times did the city of Jerusalem." In 1809 the twenty-year-old Reynolds decided to travel to Knoxville, Tennessee, to enroll at the local academy. Although his wealthy parents presented him with a suit and horse for his trip to Knoxville, backwoods Reynolds did not fit in. "I looked more like a trapper going to the Rocky Mountains than a student to college," he recalled. Reynolds studied law at Knoxville for two years, taking a year-long break from school because of illness. Reynolds then returned home, where he served for two years as a scout against the Indians in the War of 1812. His job in the war against Britain earned him the nickname, "The Old Ranger." In 1814 Reynolds started a law office at Cahokia, having previously passed examinations by several United States judges. Reynolds's successes kept coming. At the meeting of the first state legislature in the autumn of 1818, he was elected to serve as a justice of the Illinois Supreme Court. That position required Reynolds to oversee St. Clair, Madison, Washington, Monroe, and Bond counties, as well as to serve as a member of the court. The job was a challenge, even for the ambitious Reynolds. "The judges had laborious duties to perform, to hold both the circuit and supreme courts throughout the whole state," he later explained. Reynolds served as a judge until 1824. The next public office he held was that of representative for St. Clair County in the Illinois General Assembly. At the end of his second term, Reynolds decided to run for the office of governor of Illinois. He was opposed by the Illinois lieutenant governor, William Kinney. The campaign took an exciting twist when former governor Ninian Edwards, struggling to keep his place in politics, offered to support Reynolds, whom he had previously opposed. With Edwards's help and the support of fellow war veterans, Reynolds won the position by a majority vote.
On December 9, 1830, Reynolds was inaugurated as the fourth governor of Illinois. His inaugural speech included several subjects briefly mentioned, including recommendations for the completion of the Alton prison, a final arrangement of state bank dealings, and funding for the construction of the Illinois and Michigan Canal. His first speech to the General Assembly was also short, recommending improvements for the Lake Michigan harbor and suggesting the establishment of a common education system. Reynolds served as governor of Illinois from December 6, 1830, to November 17, 1834. Shortly after the election, Reynolds and Julien Dubuque, his wife since 1817, moved from Cahokia to the village of Belleville. During his gubernatorial term, Reynolds made several contributions to Illinois and the United States. One of these came as a direct result of his role as commander of the Illinois militia. The authority granted to him under his position enabled him to end the Black Hawk War against the Indians. Reynolds left another legacy as a result of his governorship: completion of Illinois' first penitentiary. Financed with money from the sale of the Gallatin and Vermilion County saline lands, the twenty-four-cell prison opened in Alton in 1833. Instead of punishments such as public flogging or detainment in stocks, the new jail followed the Auburn Plan, in which prisoners worked quietly during the day and spent nights in separate confinement. Reynolds resigned from the governorship in the fall of 1834, after his election to Congress. His triumphs were mixed with sorrows, however, for his wife died the same year. Soon after, while serving as a congressman in Washington, D.C., Reynolds met Sarah Wilson, whom he married in May 1836. During that same year, Reynolds made yet another contribution to Illinois history. He helped construct the first railroad in Illinois which extended six miles from the Mississippi River bluffs to the river. The railroad was built primarily for the transportation of coal to St. Louis and other parts of the country by way of the Mississippi River. In 1838 Reynolds was reelected to Congress. A highlight of that term was a trip to Europe. During the excursion, he negotiated a loan of four million dollars and visited the cities of London, Dover, and Paris. His bid for state senator in 1848 was not successful, but Reynolds did not give up. From 1853 to 1855 he represented St. Clair County in the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly, during which time he was chosen as speaker. After serving a single term in that position, Reynolds returned to Belleville. His role in politics was not over though, for in 1860, Reynolds was named a delegate to the Democratic National Convention. During the last two decades of his life, Reynolds, despite several other commitments, authored numerous books. They include Pioneer History of Illinois (1852), Adventures of John Kelly (1853), and My Own Times (1855). His last book, published in 1860, was titled The Balm of Gilead. In that book, Reynolds, himself an employer of black servants and a former slaveholder, defended the South and its cause, slavery. Another of Reynolds's literary achievements was his editorship of the Eagle, the daily Belleville paper.
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