Three Poll Books from the 1842 Illinois Election from Jacksonville, a Whig Stronghold, Showing a Decisive Loss for Thomas Ford.
Jacksonville, Illinois: August 1842. Three packets, each 13 pp and measuring appx. 12 x 16 inches. Folded and delicate with damage at folds; staining including water stains, though entirely legible. Overall good. Item #List3740
Three manuscript poll books recording votes cast in Jacksonville, Illinois, in the August 1842 state election, preserving a detailed, name-by-name account of voting in a major Whig stronghold in antebellum Illinois. The books list individual voters alongside their choices for governor, lieutenant governor, sheriff, county commissioner, coroner, representatives, and a proposed constitutional amendment. Each concludes with signed certifications by election judges and clerks tallying the results.
Jacksonville in this period was one of the intellectual and political centers of Illinois, home to Illinois College (founded in 1829), the first college in the state and a hub of New England–influenced reform culture. The town was closely associated with the so-called “Yale Band” of missionaries and educators, whose influence helped shape its strong Whig, evangelical, and antislavery-leaning character in the decades before the Civil War. As records of open voting prior to the adoption of the secret ballot, the volumes offer an unusually granular view of political participation, documenting not only outcomes but the alignment of individual voters within a defined community, and provide a fantastic resource for genealogical and historical data on the Jacksonville area. The inclusion of a full slate of offices reflects the structure of mid-19th century elections, in which local, county, and state contests were conducted simultaneously and recorded in a single return.
The results are particularly notable for the sharp contrast between local and statewide outcomes. Thomas Ford, the Democratic candidate who ultimately won the governorship over Joseph Duncan by a comfortable statewide margin, fared poorly in Jacksonville. Across the three poll books, Ford receives just 202 votes to Duncan’s 571, with Morgan County overall favoring Duncan. The disparity reflects the strong Whig orientation of Jacksonville—home to Illinois College and a center of reformist and evangelical culture—and illustrates the regional fragmentation of Illinois politics in the years preceding the Civil War. Ford’s election would soon carry broader historical consequences. His administration coincided with rising tensions surrounding the Latter-day Saints at Nauvoo, where Joseph Smith had established a rapidly growing and politically influential community. Conflicts between Mormon settlers and their opponents culminated in Smith’s arrest and murder in 1844.
Overall, a scarce and informative set of primary documents offering a detailed snapshot of antebellum voting practices, local political identity, and the mechanics of democratic participation in early Illinois, as well as demographic information on the reform-minded Jacksonville area. A scarce survival, we find only a single poll book from Illinois in auction records.
Price: $1,500.00