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Illinois: Illinois State
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The top five ancestry groups in Illinois are: German American (19.6%), African American (15.1%), Irish American (12.2%), Mexican American (9.2%), and Polish American (7.5%). Nearly three in ten whites in Illinois claimed at least partial German ancestry on the Census. Blacks are present in large numbers in the city of Chicago, East St. Louis, and the southern tip of the state. Residents citing American and British ancestry are especially concentrated in the southeastern part of the state. Metropolitan Chicago has the greatest numbers of people of Irish, Mexican, and Polish ancestry.
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The Illinois flag is a simple representation of the Great Seal of Illinois against a white background. In 1969, the General Assembly voted to add the word "ILLINOIS" under the Great Seal of the flag. The State's name was added to the flag to ensure that people not familiar with the Great Seal of Illinois would still recognize the banner. Flag adopted 1915. Get this Flag
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Illinois has numerous museums. The state of the art Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield is the largest presidential library in the country. And numerous museums in the city of Chicago are considered some of the best in the world. These include the John G. Shedd Aquarium, the Field Museum of Natural History, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Museum of Science and Industry. The Museum of Science and Industry is the only building remaining from the 1893 Columbian Exposition held in Chicago to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Columbus' discovery of the new world.
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Throughout the twentieth century Illinois occupied a place among the nation's agricultural, commercial, and industrial leaders. It was home to such corporate giants as Sears, Montgomery Ward, International Harvester, Kraft Foods, Archer Daniels Midland, John Deere, and Caterpillar Tractor. The Great Depression hit Illinois even harder than other states, and in the early 1930s the state received more federal relief money than New York and Pennsylvania combined. Governor Henry Horner (1933รข€“1941) used a suspension of the property tax to aid farmers and persuaded the legislature to enact taxes on gasoline and liquor (legal after the repeal of Prohibition) to fund relief efforts, but the economy did not fully re-cover until the nation began building up for war in 1940. Following World War II, Illinois enjoyed several decades of prosperity and growth. The completion of the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1959 transformed Chicago into an international port by linking the Great Lakes to the Atlantic, and by 1970 Chicago's O'Hare Airport was the nation's busiest.
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When the powerful men in Illinois first applied for admission as a state, they were confronted with the United States Ordinance of 1787. This piece of legislation was responsible for the creation of the Northwest Territory, out of which the states of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois were carved by 1818. The Ordinance read as follows:
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The governor of Illinois is elected for a term of four years. Jim Edgar, a Republican elected governor in 1990 and 1994, was succeeded by another Republican, George H. Ryan, elected in 1998. In 2002 a Democrat, Rod Blagojevich, was elected to the office; he was reelected in 2006. The state legislature, called the general assembly, consists of a senate with 59 members and a house of representatives with 118 members. Illinois elects 20 representatives and 2 senators to the U.S. Congress and has 22 electoral votes.
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Illinois State