Democracy and Slavery in Frontier Illinois - Hardcoverby James Simeone (Author) During the 1820s, Illinois witnessed one of the earliest and most important battles between slavery and antislavery forces in the new American republic one that unleashed riots, arson, and mob violence across the state. In this deeply researched and finely argued book, James Simeone contends that the contest over slavery in Illinois prefigured the course of national politics up to the Civil War, revealing the complexity of