Peoria Standard

The timing couldn’t have been any better for Rep. Tim Butler (R-Springfield) to say something celebratory about Illinois.

Using his point of personal privilege to point out Prairie State history, Butler noted at the April 18 House floor debate that on April 18, 1818 Illinois was moved to statehood.

“It outlined the parameters of delegates and called our first Constitutional Convention,” Butler said.

Rep. Tim Butler (R-Springfield)

He said though the issue to introduce Illinois as a state was initiated in 1812, it was not until six years later that it became law.

“By 1818, with concerns of the pending statehood of Missouri coming into (the) union as a slave state, our predecessors in the Illinois Territorial Assembly formerly petitioned Congress on Jan. 16 for Illinois statehood,” Butler said.

Though the required population to become a state was 60,000, the fact that Illinois only had 36,000 citizens did not stop Nathaniel Pope from charging up to the capitol's steps demanding statehood, Butler said.

“The act became law exactly 200 years ago today,” Butler said.