Thy Wondrous Story, Illinois

Thy Wondrous Story, Illinois. . The fertile prairies in Illinois attracted the attention of French trader Louis Jolliet and Father Jacques Marquette as they explored the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers in 1673. France claimed this region until 1763 when she surrendered it to Great Britain by the Treaty of Paris. During the American Revolution George Rogers Clark and his small army scored a bloodless victory when they captured Kaskaskia for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Illinois then became a county of Virginia. This area was ceded to the United States in 1784, and became in turn a part of the Northwest Territory and the Indiana Territory before a separate Illinois Territory was created. On December 3, 1818, Illinois entered the Union as the twenty-first state. , , The fourteen northern counties of Illinois, including the site of Chicago, were made a part of the state through the foresight of Nathaniel Pope, congressional delegate from the Illinois Territory. His amendment to the statehood act moved the upper boundary from an east-west line through the tip of Lake Michigan to the present location. , , Before the first settlers came, lands in this vicinity were hunting grounds for the Potawatomi Indians, who traded furs with hunters coming up the Fox River. Lake Zurich was founded by Seth Paine, abolitionist and free-thinker, who settled there in 1836 and constructed the building which he called a "Stable of Humanity." It included a meeting hall, school, and store, and provided lodging for unfortunate families. At one time Paine considered all civil law, including marriage and taxes, a form of slavery. In later life he went to Chicago where he continued his philanthropy.