Indiana had become a state in 1816. Mississippi had become a state that year. Missouri was getting its paperwork together. And the frontier folk in Illinois weren’t about to let Missouri beat them out.
There was just one problem...
They didn’t even have 35,000 people, the number of people for Congressional representation at the time.
So? What to do? Gotta beat Missouri.
Surprisingly, Congress not only agreed to allow Illinois in as a state if a census proved they had the right number of people; that number was lowered from 60,000 to 40,000
And shortly after, candidates began to campaign to be delegates to Illinois’ very first Constitutional Convention.
Then disaster. The census results came back in June and Illinois only had 34,620 people. Uh-oh.
They convened in Kaskaskia, IL. An old French settlement in the southwest part of the state; the area where the majority of Illinoisans lived at the time.
The convention delegates tensely reviewed the census results.
The Miracle on the Mississippi River.
While later investigation found the results dubious, no one raised any doubts at the convention.
IL would be a state! Beat MO to boot
Cook County has lived up to his legend ever since.