The Dred Scott vs. Sanford case was a slave incident that occurred in America. In 1834 Dred Scott, a negro slave of Missouri, was taken by his master, who was a surgeon in the regular army, first into Illinois and then into Minnesota, a region from which slavery was expressly excluded by the celebrated Missouri Compromise of 1820. While in MinnesotaDred Scott was married with his master's consent, but on being brought back to Missouri in 1838, he and his wife and children were sold to another master.
Dred Scott brought action for trespass in a St Louiscourt, and a decision was made in his favour on the ground that, under the provisions of the Missouri Compromise, the negro was free. The Supreme Court of Missouri reversed this decision, and the case came before the Federal CircuitCourt in 1854. The defendant slave-holder pleaded that Dred Scott was not a citizen entitled to sue and be sued in the US Courts. The court held the contrary, but the jury's verdict decided the plaintiff still a slave. The case came before the Supreme Court of the United States in 1857. Here the judgment of the CircuitCourt was reversed, and the case dismissed on the ground that no negro, bond or free, could plead in the US Courts as a citizen. The court then, though denying its jurisdiction over the dispute, discussed the constitutional points. Dred Scott's status in Illinois was declared determined by his Missouridomicile. As regarded the Minnesota Territory the court declared the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional and void, it being held that States alone could prohibit slavery from their boundaries. Chief Justice Taney read the opinion of a majority of the court, all slave-holders, declaring 'negroes so inferior that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect'. Justices Curtis and McLean dissented. Dred Scott was afterwards freed by his master. The decision and case roused great excitement in the North. Research Dred Scott vs. Sanford
The Grand Army of the Republic was an American organisation for former members of the Armed forces, organized during the winter of 1865-66 at Springfield, Illinois, chiefly through the activity of Dr. B. F. Stephenson, late surgeon of the FourteenthIllinois Infantry. The first post was established at Decatur, Illinois, in 1866. The ritual is secret. All soldiers and sailors of the US army, navy and marine corps between April 12, 1861, and April 9, 1865, were eligible for membership, provided they had an honourable discharge. National conventions were held each year. The first commander-in-chief was Stephen A. Hurlbut, of Illinois. Grand army posts were established in nearly every city in the North and West. The last National Encampment was held at Indianapolis, Indiana in 1949. Six surviving Comrades attended that Encampment. The last member of the Grand Army of the Republic, Albert Wollson, died in 1956. Research Grand Army of the Republic
The Haymarket Massacre was an Anarchist riot in Chicago, USA. The troubles originated in labour troubles which culminated in an open-air meeting in Haymarket Square, Chicago on May the 4th, 1886. Violent speeches were made by the Anarchists Spies, Parsons and Fielden. A bomb was thrown among the police, causing great loss of life. Spies, Parsons, Fischer, Engel, Schwab, Lingg and Neebe were arrested and tried. The first four were hanged on November 11, 1887. Fielden and Schwab were imprisoned for life. Lingg committed suicide. Governor Altgeld, of Illinois, pardoned Fielden and Schwab in 1893. Research Haymarket Massacre
The Illinois Intelligencer was the first newspaper published in Illinois. It was established in 1815, at Kaskaskia, by Mathew Duncan, and was removed to Fayette County in 1820. It was afterward called the Vandalia Whig and Illinois Intelligencer and was suspended in 1839. Research Illinois Intelligencer
The Loyal Order of Moose is a fraternal organisation founded in 1888 at Louisville, Kentucky, by John Henry Wilson. The first lodge was established in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Supreme Lodge, headquartered in Mooseheart, Illinois, co-ordinates the activities of the lodges and chapters in the USA and Canada. Two major philanthropic projects of the Moose are Mooseheart, a home and school for dependent children of deceased members, and Moosehaven in Orange Park, Florida, a home for aged members and their spouses. Moose lodges and chapters are also involved in local civic projects. Research Loyal Order of Moose
The Missouri Compromise was a compromise in America effected by the Act of Congress of March the 3rd, 1830, between those who desired the extension of slavery into the regions beyond the Mississippi and those who desired its restriction. Missouri having applied for admission as a State, Tallmadge, of New York, in February, 1819, proposed an amendment which would ultimately destroy slavery in the new State. The House passed the bill with this amendment; the Senate refused to concur. Next year the bill, in the same form, passed the House again. The Senate voted to admit Maine, provided Missouri was admitted as a slave State. The House rejected the proposal. Thomas, of Illinois, proposed as a compromise that Missouri be admitted as a slave State, but that in future slavery should be prohibited in all territory forming part of the Louisiana cession north of 36 degrees 30 minutes. When Missouri's Constitution was laid before Congress, however, it appeared that she had introduced clauses excluding free negroes from the State. The House then refused to admit Missouri. Clay effected a further compromise, whereby Missouri agreed not to deprive of his rights any citizen of another State. Research Missouri Compromise
Munn Vs Illinois was an American legal case, known as one of the 'elevator cases'. The case was decided by the Supreme Court of the US. In 1872, Munn and Scott, lessees of a grain elevator and warehouse in Chicago, were found guilty in the Criminal Court of Cook County, Illinois, of violating Article thirteen of the State Constitution relating to the storage of grain. They had neglected to take out a license and give bond, and were charging rates higher than prescribed in the above-mentioned act. They were fined, and the decision was confirmed by the Supreme Court of Illinois, whence the case was transferred to the Supreme Court of the United States. That body confirmed the judgment on the ground that the Act of the Illinois Legislature was not repugnant to the national Constitution, and that a State could lawfully determine how a man. might use his own property, when the good of other citizens was involved. Research Munn Vs Illinois
On March the 29th, 1806, the American Congress authorized the President to •appoint three commissioners to lay out a road from Cumberland on the Potomac, to the Ohio River, and $30,000 were appropriated for the expenses. The road was built as far as Illinois in 1838, the last act in its favour being of May 25 of that year. The total amount appropriated was $6,831,246. Bills appropriating money for this were often opposed in the American Congress on grounds of the unconstitutionality of appropriations for internal improvements. Research National Road
Playboy is an American soft-porn men's magazine founded in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and world famous for it's 'bunny head' logo. Since the magazine, Playboy has extended into cabaret clubs, the first club being opened in Chicago, Illinois in 1960, famed for their waitresses dressed as 'Playboy Bunnies', a television channel and in 1994 a web site. In 1988 the last American Playboy club closed and in1991 the last international Playboy club, in Manila, closed. Research Playboy
The term popular sovereignty originated in America about the time of the acquisition of additional territory from Mexico in 1848. A suggestion was made of a middle course between the Wilmot Proviso, which prohibited the introduction of slavery into newly acquired or organized territories, and the positive permission of slavery under federal legislative enactment; namely, the question was to be settled by the inhabitants of the territories. The Kansas-Nebraska bill of 1854 purported to enforce the popular sovereignty idea. The Dred Scott decision of 1857 decided against it. The Democratic National Convention of 1856 approved of non-interference by Congress. with slavery in the Territories. Douglas, of Illinois, was an ardentadvocate of this policy, and he vainly defended it against the Dred Scott decision. The popular sovereignty idea disappeared with the outbreak of the rebellion. It was called in derision " squatter sovereignty". Research Popular Sovereignty
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