Slavery, of course, prevailed in Illinois just as everywhere else in the Northwest Territory, having been introduced during the French occupation and allowed to continue under the English. When, by an act of Congress, in 1787, slavery was forever prohibited “northwest of the Ohio River,” this act was so strenuously objected to in the territory of Illinois that it was construed to refer only to the introduction of new slaves, not to the emancipation of those already in slavery. When Illinois became a state in 1818, its compromise constitution forbade perpetual slavery, but allowed indenture for twenty-five years of service. [Sidenote: =Illinois Liberal in Slave Time=] Although the state of Illinois was bound by this compromise, the early city of Chicago itself was most liberal to the negro, as the following incident illustrates: In 1842 an industrious and well behaved colored man in Chicago was arrested on the ground of being in the state without a “free certificate.” He was taken before a judge who promptly committed him to jail, to be sold at auction if no owner turned up. In the meantime, friends of the colored man printed handbills announcing that “A man will be sold at auction next Monday morning in the jail,” and distributed them on Sunday among the church-goers. When the sheriff brought out his “ware” on Monday to auction him off, he faced an angry and scowling audience and when he began his auctioneering, he found that no bids were forthcoming. “What will you bid for a strong man who can do all kinds of work?” he called again and again, but meeting with no response he threatened to take his man back to jail and lock him up. This threat had the desired effect and he received a solitary bid of twenty-five cents from Mr. M. C. Ogden, a prominent man in the early life of Chicago. The purchaser then addressed the colored man in the presence of the crowd and assured him that he was free to go where he pleased. [Sidenote: =Chicago Police Did Not Aid in Fugitive Slave Law=] The passing of the fugitive slave law in Congress in 1850, created a great excitement in Chicago when the colored people of the city met in convention and resolved “not to fly to Canada, but to remain and defend themselves.” A few days later the City Council passed a resolution that the city police should not be required to aid in the recovery of slaves. [Sidenote: =Colored Children Admitted to Public Schools in 1873=] In 1854 Stephen A. Douglas was hooted off a Chicago platform when he tried to speak for his pro-slavery resolution in the Senate. From that day Chicago took a leading place in the anti-slavery fight, but it was not until 1872 that all laws discriminating against the colored people were taken off the Illinois statute books. In the next year, 1873, the colored children were by statute allowed to attend the public schools of the city. [Sidenote: =High School Education of No Value=]