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Volume 15: 2—Illinois as the West

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In the early nineteenth century the Mississippi River Valley was still part of the western frontier of the young United States of America. Nevertheless, over the period of a few short decades, emigrants from the East rapidly settled the region which went from being the West to the Midwest as the nation extended its reach to the Pacific Coast. Illinois' pioneer history is explored in this issue of the Illinois History Teacher by four historians and curriculum materials authors who offer important insights into this crucial period of Illinois and American frontier history. The themes of race, gender, culture, and land use predominate among these narratives and lesson plans, giving greater attention to sometimes overlooked elements of this state's formative historical development. Concomitantly, all of the themes in this issue give students the ability to examine part of the American settlement frontier when it was Illinois.

The first unit in this issue is an examination of Native American and Euro-American interaction in the northwest portion of what would become Illinois. The land possessed valuable resources, one of the most important being lead, which Native Americans were the first to exploit. The French and later Anglo-Americans traded with native peoples for the metal. Eventually, an extensive social and economic system developed, with Galena at its heart. The "lead rush" of the early nineteenth century followed many of the same patterns that distinguished Anglo-American and Native American relations throughout America's frontier and western history. Metal-seeking stimulated in many cases the first wave of western expansion, resulting in socioeconomic conflict and displacement of native peoples. Students will have an opportunity to wrestle with the positive and negative aspects of western settlement in Illinois and to analyze frontier theory as a point of democratic expansion, conflict, and/or a meeting ground of peoples.

The next topic deals with American emigrants from the older settled eastern regions of the country who pioneered in Illinois. Southerners began settling the territory and then state from the bottom up, starting in the mountainous and forested areas in the south and ascending to the prairie where they met Yankee settlers. The rich traditions of both Southerners and Yankees shaped the development of Illinois social, cultural, economic, and political life and institutions in the first half of the nineteenth century. Few states have such a distinctive blending of traditions when they were frontier regions. Students have the chance in this unit to break through the monolithic stereotype of the antebellum "free states," with Illinois being a good example of the complexity of pre-Civil War history.

Women's lives and work are not an adjunct to western or American history but a significant element that is woven into the tapestry of the entire historical experience. Women contributed to all phases of Illinois history. This issue of the Illinois History Teacher focuses on those phases, including the pre-contact, frontier, and antebellum periods and demonstrate that women's work was essential to the survival of communities be they Native American, Euro-American, or African American. For students, the ability to document the lives of women settlers and to analyze their correspondence can reveal to students the daily struggle and isolation that many western women experienced.

Finishing off this issue is a unique feature of western and frontier history that took place in Illinois. Free Frank McWorter was the first African American to establish a town in the United States and he did so in Illinois, which, though a "free state," had many discriminatory policies towards African Americans. His personal story and that of his town—New Philadelphia—illustrate the contradictory nature of the United State's democratic value system as it expanded west and as emigrants, both white and black, settled the land. The history of McWorter and New Philadelphia will enable students to study the frontier from a distinctive perspective that is not often available in history textbooks.

The themes in this issue bring a much needed treatment of Illinois' frontier history from perspectives that are not often explored. The narratives and lesson plans reveal the complexity of social relations and cultural developments. Moreover, land use is one of the central concerns of the state's early history, and the conflicts that ensued over different visions of the state's future many times resulted from different cultural values. It is my hope that teachers and students will benefit from these discussions of Illinois when it was the West.

Greg Hall
Guest Editor
Illinois History Teacher


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