alternatehistory.com
Illinois
Something I wrote months ago but did not share here:
ILLINOIS
ORIGINS OF THE ETHNIC ILLINOIS
The Illinois are a hybrid people. They are considered one of the Métis peoples of North America, because their heritage is both French and indigenous; yet they are a different ethnic group from the Métis proper, or Canadian Métis. The language of the Illinois is French, but their dialect contains words and phrases from the language of the ancestral Illinois, or Inoca.
The original Inoca confederacy united several Algonquian tribes. In the first half of the 1600s, it was the dominant power in the present-day states of Illinois, Upper Louisiana, and Arques, as well as the southeastern part of the Upper Country. A series of wars between the Iroquois and their neighbors brought many refugees into this region; the refugees created new alliances that threatened the rule of the Inoca. By the 1660s the confederation was still powerful, but its influence extended no further than the borders of the present-day state, and this influence was diminishing. During this time, the first French traders began to move through the Illinois country.
French habitants began to build farming villages around 1700, with the first appearing next to the existing Inoca villages of Cahokia and Kaskaskia. By then, the confederation was facing serious threats from Iroquois raids, ongoing friction with newcomers to the region, and diseases brought by the French themselves. With their power and their numbers declining, the Illinois had to rely more on their alliance with the French. Illinois villages that did not have adjoining French forts shrank or disappeared. The core of the confederacy shifted to the line of towns in the Mississippi Bottom, the ribbon of flat, fertile soil to the east of the river. The modern Illinois people came from the mixed settlements that took shape there.
Both the Illinois Indians and the French habitants contributed to the emerging culture. The French brought their language and the Catholic religion. The Indians brought styles of clothing and housing suited to life in the bottom lands and up on the prairie. A form of communal land ownership characterized the settlements, a practice known to the French and acceptable to the Indians. Such Illinois cultural elements as food, music, and dance styles truly were new combinations not seen elsewhere in America or Europe.
By the second half of the eighteenth century, the lines between French and Inoca were already blurring. A great many habitants had family from both cultures. Local leaders had dual roles, as French colonial administrators and confederation chiefs. "Les Illinois" came to be recognized as a unique, mixed-blood, French-speaking ethnic group. Ethnic Illinois began to migrate across the Mississippi River and elsewhere, bringing a sense of Illinois identity with them.
FROM CONFEDERATION TO STATE
In the 17th and 18th centuries, the French administration officially called Illinois Haute-Louisiane, treating it as a northern extension of their colony in Louisiana. But Illinois had broad de facto autonomy. For one thing, there was the sheer distance between Illinois and the centers of French power in New Orleans and Quebec. In addition, local administrators' roles were merging with the roles of confederation chiefs, encouraging them to have a "national" outlook often different from the colonial French point of view. Finally, Illinois was able to exploit rivalry between Louisiana and Canada to win more local control over its affairs.
In the 1760s France built St. Louis on the other side of the Mississippi River to be a new center of trade and administration, one that would be more subservient to colonial rule than the precocious Illinois. This served to divide Haute-Louisiane in two: a nearly independent "Illinois" east of the river, and a much more reliable colony of "Upper Louisiana" to the west. Subsequent French settlement focused on Upper Louisiana. Other settlements east of the river, most notably Peoria, became dominated by Franco-Illinois and allied Indians from other groups such as the Potawatomi.
The foundations for the modern state of Illinois were laid in the early 19th century. Neighboring peoples acknowledged Illinois's borders and its independence from both Upper Louisiana and the Upper Country. A great meeting began to occur in Peoria that brought together administrators, leaders of Illinois habitants, allied village chiefs, and representatives of English settlers. This meeting evolved into a government. In 1839, Peoria became the sole capital of the state when most functions of government ceased in Kaskaskia (the French center) and Vandalia (the English center).
ETHNICITY AND LANGUAGE
The ethnic Illinois were the foundation of the state, but from early times it incorporated others of different language and ethnic backgrounds. The Potawatomi of the upper Illinois River valley were effectively part of the state by 1800 or so. A short time later, growing settlements of Virginian English speakers in the prairies and hills above Kaskaskia became allies, fully integrating into the state in 1839. The Sauk-Fox confederacy, centered north and west of Peoria, was incorporated shortly after that. Further diversity in the early years came from additional French settlers (mostly people of Canadian background coming from the Upper Country and Upper Louisiana), German immigrants, Pennsylvanian and Virginian land speculators, and freed and runaway slaves.
French has always been the only province-wide official language. English, Meskwaki, Potawatomi, and German have deep roots in Illinois and are spoken in some communities. Old Illinois, or Inoca, is no longer the language of the ethnic Illinois. The same language is spoken by the Wea and Miami people in the state of Ohio, so some speakers live inside the borders of Illinois. It is still used in personal names, place names, and inscriptions. As stated, a number of terms have been borrowed into the local French, such as nal, "cicada," and aquime, "chief", which today can mean "sir", "respected elder", "teacher", "member of a local council", and so forth.
This was actually on my mind for the next one. Maryland's borders are swelled just a little in all directions. In OTL Maryland Colony lost just about every land dispute it ever had; in TTL things went slightly better. The far west is more than just a triangle barely hanging on, for example.
Why, it never went anywhere! Yes, there is naturally huge variation in the state governments. To the point where Southern New England, it appears, has kept the monarchy while most other colonies have not. And I am next to certain that one or more states recognize the Jacobite claimant. Massachusetts and most other ex-English colonies have presidential systems, while southern New England, I am sure, has adopted a Westminster-style parliament. I want to read more about how modern Native American polities governed themselves - particularly the Cherokee pre-Removal and the Haudenosaunee today; because these will form the basis for their corresponding governments in the ASB.
The short answer is yes. The longer answer is that some of that needs to be re-worked as I develop Nova Scotia and the Acadias. I have it filled up with Yankees and Highlanders, per OTL. However, almost everywhere I have been using the term "English" over "British" because part of the back story in my mind is that the Act of Union never occurred and Britain came out of the Civil Wars weaker than in OTL; that partly explains the lack of British and Anglo-American dominance. I think that Nova Sotia will end up as a true Scottish colony, and this will change some of what I've written, both about the ethnic groups (the "stocks") and about the political history of Acadia. This is the reason that nothing on the English stocks has yet made it into the official canon (which lives on my website, http://karnell.weebly.com/the-asb.html).
But yeah, some Scots would still be immigrating to the English colonies, and many Yankees would still move into Nova Scotia, even in this scenario.
ILLINOIS
ORIGINS OF THE ETHNIC ILLINOIS
The Illinois are a hybrid people. They are considered one of the Métis peoples of North America, because their heritage is both French and indigenous; yet they are a different ethnic group from the Métis proper, or Canadian Métis. The language of the Illinois is French, but their dialect contains words and phrases from the language of the ancestral Illinois, or Inoca.
The original Inoca confederacy united several Algonquian tribes. In the first half of the 1600s, it was the dominant power in the present-day states of Illinois, Upper Louisiana, and Arques, as well as the southeastern part of the Upper Country. A series of wars between the Iroquois and their neighbors brought many refugees into this region; the refugees created new alliances that threatened the rule of the Inoca. By the 1660s the confederation was still powerful, but its influence extended no further than the borders of the present-day state, and this influence was diminishing. During this time, the first French traders began to move through the Illinois country.
French habitants began to build farming villages around 1700, with the first appearing next to the existing Inoca villages of Cahokia and Kaskaskia. By then, the confederation was facing serious threats from Iroquois raids, ongoing friction with newcomers to the region, and diseases brought by the French themselves. With their power and their numbers declining, the Illinois had to rely more on their alliance with the French. Illinois villages that did not have adjoining French forts shrank or disappeared. The core of the confederacy shifted to the line of towns in the Mississippi Bottom, the ribbon of flat, fertile soil to the east of the river. The modern Illinois people came from the mixed settlements that took shape there.
Both the Illinois Indians and the French habitants contributed to the emerging culture. The French brought their language and the Catholic religion. The Indians brought styles of clothing and housing suited to life in the bottom lands and up on the prairie. A form of communal land ownership characterized the settlements, a practice known to the French and acceptable to the Indians. Such Illinois cultural elements as food, music, and dance styles truly were new combinations not seen elsewhere in America or Europe.
By the second half of the eighteenth century, the lines between French and Inoca were already blurring. A great many habitants had family from both cultures. Local leaders had dual roles, as French colonial administrators and confederation chiefs. "Les Illinois" came to be recognized as a unique, mixed-blood, French-speaking ethnic group. Ethnic Illinois began to migrate across the Mississippi River and elsewhere, bringing a sense of Illinois identity with them.
FROM CONFEDERATION TO STATE
In the 17th and 18th centuries, the French administration officially called Illinois Haute-Louisiane, treating it as a northern extension of their colony in Louisiana. But Illinois had broad de facto autonomy. For one thing, there was the sheer distance between Illinois and the centers of French power in New Orleans and Quebec. In addition, local administrators' roles were merging with the roles of confederation chiefs, encouraging them to have a "national" outlook often different from the colonial French point of view. Finally, Illinois was able to exploit rivalry between Louisiana and Canada to win more local control over its affairs.
In the 1760s France built St. Louis on the other side of the Mississippi River to be a new center of trade and administration, one that would be more subservient to colonial rule than the precocious Illinois. This served to divide Haute-Louisiane in two: a nearly independent "Illinois" east of the river, and a much more reliable colony of "Upper Louisiana" to the west. Subsequent French settlement focused on Upper Louisiana. Other settlements east of the river, most notably Peoria, became dominated by Franco-Illinois and allied Indians from other groups such as the Potawatomi.
The foundations for the modern state of Illinois were laid in the early 19th century. Neighboring peoples acknowledged Illinois's borders and its independence from both Upper Louisiana and the Upper Country. A great meeting began to occur in Peoria that brought together administrators, leaders of Illinois habitants, allied village chiefs, and representatives of English settlers. This meeting evolved into a government. In 1839, Peoria became the sole capital of the state when most functions of government ceased in Kaskaskia (the French center) and Vandalia (the English center).
ETHNICITY AND LANGUAGE
The ethnic Illinois were the foundation of the state, but from early times it incorporated others of different language and ethnic backgrounds. The Potawatomi of the upper Illinois River valley were effectively part of the state by 1800 or so. A short time later, growing settlements of Virginian English speakers in the prairies and hills above Kaskaskia became allies, fully integrating into the state in 1839. The Sauk-Fox confederacy, centered north and west of Peoria, was incorporated shortly after that. Further diversity in the early years came from additional French settlers (mostly people of Canadian background coming from the Upper Country and Upper Louisiana), German immigrants, Pennsylvanian and Virginian land speculators, and freed and runaway slaves.
French has always been the only province-wide official language. English, Meskwaki, Potawatomi, and German have deep roots in Illinois and are spoken in some communities. Old Illinois, or Inoca, is no longer the language of the ethnic Illinois. The same language is spoken by the Wea and Miami people in the state of Ohio, so some speakers live inside the borders of Illinois. It is still used in personal names, place names, and inscriptions. As stated, a number of terms have been borrowed into the local French, such as nal, "cicada," and aquime, "chief", which today can mean "sir", "respected elder", "teacher", "member of a local council", and so forth.
This was actually on my mind for the next one. Maryland's borders are swelled just a little in all directions. In OTL Maryland Colony lost just about every land dispute it ever had; in TTL things went slightly better. The far west is more than just a triangle barely hanging on, for example.
Hey!
So the ASB is back? Cool!
How do state governments function? Is there a wide variety, with some having parliamentarism and others presidentialism, with even others having special ways?
Why, it never went anywhere! Yes, there is naturally huge variation in the state governments. To the point where Southern New England, it appears, has kept the monarchy while most other colonies have not. And I am next to certain that one or more states recognize the Jacobite claimant. Massachusetts and most other ex-English colonies have presidential systems, while southern New England, I am sure, has adopted a Westminster-style parliament. I want to read more about how modern Native American polities governed themselves - particularly the Cherokee pre-Removal and the Haudenosaunee today; because these will form the basis for their corresponding governments in the ASB.
The short answer is yes. The longer answer is that some of that needs to be re-worked as I develop Nova Scotia and the Acadias. I have it filled up with Yankees and Highlanders, per OTL. However, almost everywhere I have been using the term "English" over "British" because part of the back story in my mind is that the Act of Union never occurred and Britain came out of the Civil Wars weaker than in OTL; that partly explains the lack of British and Anglo-American dominance. I think that Nova Sotia will end up as a true Scottish colony, and this will change some of what I've written, both about the ethnic groups (the "stocks") and about the political history of Acadia. This is the reason that nothing on the English stocks has yet made it into the official canon (which lives on my website, http://karnell.weebly.com/the-asb.html).
But yeah, some Scots would still be immigrating to the English colonies, and many Yankees would still move into Nova Scotia, even in this scenario.
- False Dmitri
- Word Count: 1.3k