"Rights and Responsibilities in Illinois History," the theme of this issue of Illinois History Teacher, brings to mind many possible topics in a state whose history is so rich as ours. We have assembled four topics in this volume and offered new and exciting ways of investigating them.

Whether Illinois was to be a slave or a free state was the central issue facing Governor Edward Coles during his administration. A land- and slave-holding Virginian, Coles nonetheless opposed slavery and readied to free his slaves in Virginia. He was persuaded not to. After working for six years as private secretary to President James Madison, he relocated to the Northwest Territory, where slavery was prohibited, and finally freed his slaves. In Illinois, his interest turned to politics, and three years into his term as governor he faced a strong effort to revise the Illinois Constitution to permit slavery Coles headed the effort to defeat the reform, and his victory fatefully placed Illinois in the free-state category. As a result, Coles ranks as one of the most important men of principle in the history of Illinois' public life.

The second article and its curriculum materials investigates a number of critical issues regarding rights that stemmed from Copperhead resistance in Pike County, Illinois, during the Civil War. The author asks in conclusion if the civil rights of the Democratic majority were ignored. Should President Lincoln have been permitted virtual dictatorial powers in wartime? Did the war justify the suspension of habeas corpus and other constitutional laws?

The author of the third article investigates the conflict between segregationists and blacks in the Alton School Case that endured between 1897 and 1908. Despite the sympathy in Illinois for black civil rights immediately following the Civil War, the era of Jim Crow took its toll by the end of the nineteenth century, as it did in many places. The Alton school system had been integrated for twenty-four years, when, in 1897, segregation was invoked again. For nine years, black Altonians and some whites attempted to overturn the practice but were unsuccessful. It was not until the civil rights movement in the late twentieth century when the Alton's schools were integrated. The curriculum materials' author has provided some insightful opportunities for investigating the questions of rights and responsibilities in this case study.

In the final article, the author discusses several laws that the backlash against labor unrest produced at the end of the nineteenth century It is common knowledge that the Haymarket Affair fouled class relations for many years, but virtually unknown are the legislative consequences. The Cole Anti-Boycott and the Merritt Conspiracy laws assumed that labor had unleashed the violence in the Haymarket Affair. Later, the Pullman Strike resulted in President Cleveland's use of federal troops to end the railroaders' strike and a federal injunction against the strikers' right to interfere with the mails or interstate commerce. As a result of those legal encounters, labor learned to present its rights in labor legislation and in court.

Tough questions raised in these articles and the curriculum materials help us look more deeply into their implications. The result will stimulate much thought. Yet an essential realization will arise in our search that through a shared history we can strengthen a shared future. Complexity and adversity only challenge us to "get it right" next time. Thus, Illinois history education is an important building block in constructing a greater Illinois.

Keith A.Sculle Editor, Illinois History Teacher

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