e complained of a landed aristocracy,(269) and
letters written by Governor Edwards early in 1812 show how well founded
was the complaint. No preemption act had yet been passed, and of the more
than twelve thousand inhabitants of Illinois some two hundred and twenty
possessed a freehold of fifty acres, thus giving the balance of power, if
the territory should enter the second grade under the old provision, to
one hundred and eleven persons. Nearly one-third of the entire population
lived either near the Ohio or between it and the Kaskaskia, and among them
there were not more than three or four freeholders, and not one who
possessed two hundred acres--the necessary qualification for a
representative. With no public lands yet offered for sale, with no right
of preemption, with a freehold qualification for the suffrage, this law
enfranchising squatters was of prime importance.(270)

The first legislature had few French members, and was apparently southern
in nativity.(271) After more than three years and a half of legislation by
the Governor and judges, the inhabitants at last had an elective
legislature. The journals of the two houses indicate that the belief that
had been expressed in petitions to Congress some years before that such a
body would provide an efficient government, was well founded. The laws
passed were eminently practical for the frontier conditions under which
they were to operate.(272) A man contemplating settlement in Illinois
could now be sure that he would be governed by Illinois men whom he had a
share in electing.

The rude character of the facilities for transportation is indicated by
the fact that the earlier laws of the territory deal with ferries only
rarely and with bridges not at all, while as time progresses and
population increases, ferries multiply and bridges begin to be
constructed. By 1817-18 the desire for banks and for internal
improvements, which was to be disastrous to the state at a later period,
began to show itself. As examples, the Bank of Cairo and the Illinois
Navigation Company will suffice. Nine men purchased the low peninsula
lying near the junction of the Ohio and the Mississippi, and were
incorporated by "An Act to Incorporate the City and Bank of Cairo." A site
for a city comprising at least two thousand lots, with streets eighty feet
wide, was to be laid out. The lots were to be sold at one hundred and
fifty dollars each and were to be not less than one hundred and twenty