The Illinois state constitution of 1848, for example, denied all blacks the right to vote, hold public office, or serve in the militia. In 1853 a bill was passed in the state legislature that prohibited free blacks from moving to the state, thus limiting the number of blacks in Illinois. The new law was triggered by white residents who feared that blacks would intermarry with white citizens, make what they believed to be unfair demands for social and political equality, and take jobs away from whites.
The southern part of Illinois in particular had a number of ties to the states where slavery was permitted. Illinois was bordered on its southern tip by two slave states, Missouri and Kentucky. Thousands of southern Illinois residents had originally come from these and other Southern states or had parents who had done so. This factor is illustrated in Across Five Aprils; the protagonist's mother, Ellen, had grown up in Kentucky, where most of her family continued to live.
In addition to family ties, southern Illinois had economic ties to the South. The region's farmers frequently sent their goods south along the Mississippi River, and they often traded Illinois products such as corn for Southern crops like cotton.
