•December 13, 2017•

By Mick Zawislak
Of the Daily Herald

Were it not for the action of an enterprising lawyer 200 years ago, the northern portion of Illinois would have the badger as the state animal and Green Bay Packers as the home football team.

Indeed, the shrewd move in 1818 by Nathaniel Pope, the Illinois territory’s delegate in Congress, to relocate the original proposed boundary from the southern tip of Lake Michigan is regarded as a decisive event in Illinois history.

The shift meant Chicago, then an unincorporated backwater, became part of the nascent state with a port on the Great Lakes.

How Illinois’ northern boundary was designated 42 degrees, 30 minutes latitude was a tactical maneuver that effectively set Wisconsin statehood back 30 years.

Pope’s move provided the groundwork for Chicago to become Illinois’ economic juggernaut and turned state politics upside down as the area grew. But it also had the national implication of ensuring Illinois would be a free state at a time of percolating political unrest over slavery.     Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.