US Senator. A prominent figure in the early statehood of Illinois, which he represented in the US Senate from 1824 until his death in office. He is sometimes called "The Father of the Illinois Constitution". Kane was born in New York City, and graduated from Yale College in 1813. He briefly practiced law in Nashville before moving to Kaskaskia, Capital of the Illinois Territory, in 1814, and was almost immediately appointed a territorial judge. As a delegate to the first State Constitutional Convention (1818), Kane dominated the proceedings and had the principal hand in drafting the governing document, which included a controversial provision for the retention of slavery. From 1820 to 1824 he served as Illinois' first Secretary of State, a post he relinquished upon his election (as a Jacksonian) to the US Senate. During his two terms on Capitol Hill he was at different times Chairman of the Committees to Audit and Control the Contingent Expenses, on Private Land Claims, and on Public Lands. He died of a fever in Washington, DC and was brought home for burial at his farm in Randolph County, Illinois. Many years later the entire Kane family was reinterred beneath a single marker at Evergreen Cemetery in Chester; there is also a cenotaph for the Senator at Washington's Congressional Cemetery. Kane County in Illinois was created in his honor (1836).
US Senator. A prominent figure in the early statehood of Illinois, which he represented in the US Senate from 1824 until his death in office. He is sometimes called "The Father of the Illinois Constitution". Kane was born in New York City, and graduated from Yale College in 1813. He briefly practiced law in Nashville before moving to Kaskaskia, Capital of the Illinois Territory, in 1814, and was almost immediately appointed a territorial judge. As a delegate to the first State Constitutional Convention (1818), Kane dominated the proceedings and had the principal hand in drafting the governing document, which included a controversial provision for the retention of slavery. From 1820 to 1824 he served as Illinois' first Secretary of State, a post he relinquished upon his election (as a Jacksonian) to the US Senate. During his two terms on Capitol Hill he was at different times Chairman of the Committees to Audit and Control the Contingent Expenses, on Private Land Claims, and on Public Lands. He died of a fever in Washington, DC and was brought home for burial at his farm in Randolph County, Illinois. Many years later the entire Kane family was reinterred beneath a single marker at Evergreen Cemetery in Chester; there is also a cenotaph for the Senator at Washington's Congressional Cemetery. Kane County in Illinois was created in his honor (1836).
Bio by: Bobb Edwards
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