disturb his friendly relations with the extreme South.
But Jefferson made no secret of his antipathy for slavery, though
unwilling that the fact should be known that he sent James Lemen to
the new country especially to defend it against slavery, as he knew it
would arouse the {p.55} resentment of the extreme pro-slavery element
against both him and his agent and probably defeat their movement.

[24]James Lemen also first suggested the plan to extend the boundary
of Illinois northward to give more territory and better shape, and had
a government surveyor make a map showing the great advantages and gave
them to Nathaniel Pope, our territorial delegate, asking him to
present the matter, which he did, and Congress adopted the plan. The
extension gave the additional territory for fourteen counties and
Chicago is included.

James Lemen was a noted Indian fighter in Illinois, ever ready with
his trusty rifle to defend the homes of the early settlers against the
savage foe, and in every way he fully justified Jefferson's judgment
in sending him to look after the best interests of the people in the
new territory.

Mr. Lemen possessed every moral and mental attribute in a high degree,
and if any one was more marked than another it was his incomparable
instinct against oppression, which his wonderful anti-slavery record
accentuated as his chief endowment, though in all respects he was well
equipped for a leader among men. That instinct, it might be said,
fixed his destiny. At Jefferson's request he settled in the new
territory to finally oppose slavery. That was before the Ordinance of
1787 with its anti-slavery clause, but Mr. Lemen had Jefferson's
assurance beforehand that the territory should be dedicated to
freedom; though they both believed the pro-slavery power would finally
press for its demands before stated, and the facts proved they were
right. The reasons which necessitated the secrecy of the
Jefferson-Lemen anti-slavery pact of May 2, 1784, under which Mr.
Lemen came to Illinois on his anti-slavery mission at Jefferson's
wish, and which was absolutely necessary to its success at first, no
longer exists; and the fear of James Lemen's sons that its publication
would so overshadow his great church work in Illinois with Jefferson's
wonderful personality, as to dwarf his merits, is largely groundless.
Senator Douglas, who with others is familiar with all the facts, says
that when the matter is fully published and well k