This course uses the geographic region of west central Illinois. Specifically, the course focuses on Jacksonville, the county seat of Morgan County, Illinois. The engaging learning questions are what does Jacksonville have to teach us about the Underground Railroad and why is that important?

The activities of a developing nation coming to grips with the institution of slavery, manifest destiny, expansion and growth are the sources of present day identity. How these giant issues made an impact in a small town that was growing along with the rest of the nation serve as a metaphor for development of the west.

Though we will deal with the real lives of real people and their experiences of daily life, we will also consider Jacksonville as an example for all those places that were equally active on the stage of national development and the pathway that led inevitably to the Civil War.

We cannot consider all of the issues with which these early settlers contended, but we will focus our attention more narrowly and peer into the lives and times of these pioneers through the lens of  "...our peculiar institution..." we know as slavery and the flight for freedom. We will consider the experiences associated with this flight from the perspectives of those who fled and those who helped the freedom seekers flee. We will consider a thirty-year time frame from 1830 to 1860 and we will inquire into the political, theological, educational, agricultural, and motivational traits and attitudes that brought people to this place and influenced their actions.

We will draw connections between important personal values and why people came to this frontier of the national western boundary of the U.S. and how the institutions they built continue to transform our lives.^{© 2003}

John Willets, PhD, Faculty
School for New Learning
DePaul University, Chicago, IL