Editing Morgan County, Illinois (section)

==History==
Morgan County was formed in 1823 out of [[Greene County, Illinois|Greene]] and [[Sangamon County, Illinois|Sangamon Counties]]. It was named in honor of General [[Daniel Morgan]], who defeated the British at the [[Battle of Cowpens]] in the [[American Revolutionary War]]. General Morgan was serving under General [[Nathanael Greene]] at Cowpens.  Jacksonville was established by European Americans on a 160-acre tract of land in the center of Morgan County in 1825, two years after the county was founded.  The founders of Jacksonville, Illinois consisted entirely of settlers from [[New England]].  These so-called [[Yankee]] settlers were descended from the [[English American|English]] [[Puritans]] who settled New England in the 1600s. They were part of a wave of New England farmers who headed west into what was then the wilds of the [[Northwest Territory]] during the early 1800s.  Most of them arrived as a result of the completion of the [[Erie Canal]] and the end of the [[Black Hawk War]].  The Yankee migration to Illinois was a result of several factors, one of which was the overpopulation of New England. The old stock Yankee population had large families, often bearing up to ten children in one household. Most people were expected to have their own piece of land to farm, and due to the massive and nonstop population boom, land in New England became scarce as every son claimed his own farmstead. As a result, there was not enough land for every family to have a self-sustaining farm, and Yankee settlers began leaving New England for the Midwestern United States.  When they arrived in what is now Jacksonville there was nothing but dense virgin forest and wild prairie, the New Englanders laid out farms, constructed roads, erected government buildings and established post routes.  They brought with them many of their Yankee New England values, such as a passion for education, establishing many schools as well as staunch support for abolitionism.  They were mostly members of the [[Congregationalist Church]] though some were [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopalian]].  Due to the [[second Great Awakening]] some of them had converted to [[Methodism]] and [[Presbyterianism]] while some others became [[Baptist]], before moving to what is now Jacksonville.  Jacksonville, like some other parts of [[Illinois]], would be culturally very continuous with early New England culture for most of its early history.<ref>The Yankee Exodus: An Account of Migration from New England by Stewart Hall Holbrook University of Washington Press, 1968</ref><ref>American Zion: The Old Testament as a Political Text from the Revolution to ...  By Eran Shalev, Yale University Press, March 26, 2013 {{ISBN|9780300186925}}page 70-71</ref><ref>Recollections of a Nonagenarian of Life in New England, the Middle West, and ... By John Calvin Holbrook pg. 96</ref><ref>Jacksonville, Illinois: The Traditions Continue By Betty Carlson Kay, Gary Jack Barwick pg. 21</ref><ref>Yankee Colonies across America: Cities upon the Hills By Chaim M. Rosenberg pg. 81</ref><ref>New England in the Life of the World: A Record of Adventure and Achievement By Howard Allen Bridgman pg. 93</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Bridgman|first=Howard Allen |title=New England in the Life of the World: A Record of Adventure and Achievement|url=https://archive.org/details/newenglandinlife00bridrich|year=1920|publisher=Pilgrim Press}}</ref>

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File:Morgan County Illinois 1823.png|Morgan County from the time of its creation to 1837
File:Morgan County Illinois 1837.png|Morgan County between 1837 and 1839, when Scott County was split off
File:Morgan County Illinois 1839.png|Morgan County between 1839 and 1845
File:Morgan County Illinois 1845.png|Morgan County in 1845, when its border with Cass County was moved southward, bringing both to their present borders
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