Illinois Government

Introduction

President James Monroe on December 3, 1818 signed the legislation that admitted Illinois as the 21st state in the Union. Native Americans however, did have their own form of government before Europeans arrived.

From 1784-1786, Virginia and other eastern states wanted territory in the Midwest. The area was under control of the Northwest Orthodontist of 1787, and for the next few years, things would get very chaotic with the French, English, and Americans fighting for territory.

The Northwest Territory was under the jurisdiction of a General Court, and in 1800, the Indiana Territory was established from the Northwest Territory.

The Illinois Constitutions

1818

1848

1870

1970

The Constitution of 1818

The Constitution of 1818 described the new Illinois’s judicial system and gave the general assembly power to create courts of inferior jurisdiction, which were called Circuit Courts. In 1824, the General Assembly appointed the new Supreme Court judges. By 1838, there were nine Circuit Courts and Circuit Court judges in Illinois. The picture on the left is Illinois when it was first established a state.

The Constitution of 1848

The Constitution of 1848 established a Supreme Court of three judges with two of the three forming a quorum. It established nine circuits with each able to elect one judge for six years. The constitution and subsequent legislation established a County Court in each county with one judge for four years. The two decades following the enactment of the 1848 Constitution saw a great population increase in Illinois. The picture on the right is Illinois in 1848.

The Constitution of 1870

The Constitution of 1870 initiated a rewrite of the judicial system. By Act of Legislature of March 28, 1873, judicial districts were organized according to the 1870 Constitution. Meanwhile, during those years, cases in counties such as Cook County (Chicago) began to grow. In turn provisions were also added to the number of judges in both the Superior and Circuit courts. The picture on the left is Illinois in 1848.

The Constitution of 1970

The Constitution of 1970 is the most recent version of the Illinois Constitution. It granted larger municipalities and counties broad powers to govern themselves, broadened individual protections, introduced a specific article establishing the right of each individual to a healthy environment, streamlined the state's judicial system, and placed a question on the general election ballot every twenty years asking for a rewrite of the constitutional constitution. The picture on the right is a picture of Illinois in 1970.

These are the 3 court systems. The Supreme court is on top, Apellate right in the middle, and county on the bottom.

Illinois Court System

The Illinois court system is a three-tiered judiciary. The Supreme Court is the highest court in the State. Cases are normally channeled to the Supreme Court from the Appellate Court, but in cases where a Circuit Court has imposed a death sentence, the law allows direct appeal to the Supreme Court, bypassing the Appellate Court. The Illinois Appellate Court is divided into five Judicial Districts. The Appellate Court affirms the trial court decision if it finds there has been no error committed in the application of the law, or if the error was so minimal that it made little difference in the outcome of the trial. The State of Illinois is divided into twenty-five Judicial Circuits. Each Judicial Circuit is composed of one or more contiguous counties. Circuit Courts (trial courts), are established within each judicial circuit.

Legislative Branch

The Illinois Legislative Branch contains the General Assembly as the legislature of our state. It has two chambers, the Illinois House of Representatives and the Illinois Senate. The General Assembly was created by the first state constitution adopted in 1818. Since 1983 the Senate has had fifty-nine members and the House has had 118 members. In both chambers, all members are elected from single-member districts. Each Senate district is divided into two house districts. Members of the Illinois Senate serve two four-year terms and one two-year term each decade. This ensures that Senate elections reflect changes made when the General Assembly is redistricted.

Legislative History

House of Representatives History

The 1818 Amendment established the lower chamber, the 1954 amendment reapportioned the House districts to reflect population shifts, and the 1983 cutback amendment reduced the size from 177 to 118 members. Influential people include Abraham Lincoln, John W. E. Thomas, and Lottie Holman O’Neill.

Senate History

The 1818 Amendment also established the upper chamber. Ninian Edwards and Jesse Burgess Thomas became the first U.S. senators to represent Illinois. Shelby Moore Cullom (1883-1913) holds the record as the longest-serving U.S. senator from Illinois. Illinois also holds the distinct honor of being the state with the highest number of African-American U.S. senators in American history.

Executive Branch

The Illinois Executive Branch is composed of six elected officers and their offices, as well as numerous other departments. Illinois is one of twenty-six states that elect their governor on the same ticket as their lieutenant governor. The officers that mainly run the executive branch in Illinois are the governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, comptroller, and finally, the treasurer. You need to be at least twenty-five years old, a US citizen, and an Illinois resident for three years to qualify for each.

Executive History

Corrupt History

Illinois government has had a very corrupted executive branch for many reasons, such as pay-to-play schemes, patronage, internal unaccountability, and no separation between the public service and private influence. The carousel above shows the four govenors that have gone to prison.

Corruption Rank

Corruption in Illinois has always been a problem since 1818, and Illinois had one of the most federal criminal convictions for public corruption between 1976 and 2012, right behind New York and California. In the image shown above, Illinois ranks high on illegal corruption (left) & legal corruption (right)

Judicial Branch

The Illinois Judicial Branch is responsible for interpreting the law, providing equal access to justice, resolving disputes, and upholding the rule of law entrusted by the Illinois Constitution. The branch consists of three courts: Supreme, Appellate, and Circuit Courts. The Supreme court is the highest in the state composed of seven judges. The appellate is organized into five districts. Meanwhile the Circuit Courts are where most court cases begin and have twenty-three judicial circuits.

Judicial History

1964

The judicial article of 1964 let the judicial power of Illinois be vested in a Supreme, Appellate, and Circuit Courts. On the trial court level, all courts other than the Circuit Courts were abolished and all their jurisdiction, judicial functions, powers and duties were transferred.

1970

The judicial article of 1970 provides for a unified, three-tiered judiciary, comprising of the Circuit Courts, the Appellate Courts, and the highest court in the State, the Illinois Supreme Court. Illinois now had a judicial system to meet the needs of its citizens.

Important Figures

J.B. Prizker

J.B. Pritzker is Illinois’ 43rd Governor, elected in 2018 and reelected in 2022 with the highest vote count for any democratic governor in over sixty years He has worked with the General Assembly to overcome years of mismanagement by balancing the state budget every year, eliminating the state’s multi-billion-dollar bill, improving pension funding, and achieving credit rating upgrades. He is Illinois’s richest governor.

Kwame Raoul

Kwame Raoul is Illinois' 42nd attorney general, elected in 2018,. He has worked with the General Assembly to overcome years of mismanagement by balancing the state budget every year, eliminating the state’s multi-billion-dollar bill, and improving pension funding.

Alexi Giannoulais

Alexi Giannoulais is Illinois’ 38th secretary of state elected in 2023. Overseeing the largest Secretary of State’s office in the nation, he works on road safety, modernizing office operations, and making programs and services more accessible for residents.

Significance

The Illinois government plays a significant role as a legislative and economic leader across the midwest. It operates at an economy around $1 trillion. Presidents like Abraham Lincoln and Barack Obama have started their careers in politics on Illinois soil. Illinois also governs around 8,000 local government units higher than any other state in the nation.

Learn More

Video

Government Website

Podcasts

Book

Entire History of Illinois

Annotated Bibliography

Introduction

Illinois, Early U.S. History | 19th Judicial Circuit Court, IL. (2023). State.il.us. https://www.19thcircuitcourt.state.il.us/1283/Illinois-Early-US-History ‌

Four Constitutions

Illinois Constitution of 1818 | 19th Judicial Circuit Court, IL. (2023). State.il.us. https://www.19thcircuitcourt.state.il.us/1284/Illinois-Constitution-of-1818 ‌
Illinois Constitution of 1848 | 19th Judicial Circuit Court, IL. (2023). State.il.us. https://www.19thcircuitcourt.state.il.us/1285/Illinois-Constitution-of-1848 ‌
Illinois Constitution of 1870 | 19th Judicial Circuit Court, IL. (2023). State.il.us. https://www.19thcircuitcourt.state.il.us/1286/Illinois-Constitution-of-1870 ‌
Illinois Constitution. (2022). Ilga.gov. https://lrb.ilga.gov/Commission/lrb/conent.htm ‌

Structure

Structure of the Illinois Court System | 19th Judicial Circuit Court, IL. (n.d.). Www.19thcircuitcourt.state.il.us. https://www.19thcircuitcourt.state.il.us/1273/Structure-of-the-Illinois-Court-System ‌