Excerpt from Church and State: Columbus and America
The author does not find it necessary to make any apology for the appearance Of this little contribution to the history Of the Scandinavian settlements in the Northwest. The Bishop Hill Colony will always occupy a prominent place in any history of the State Of Illinois. It was founded when Chicago was but an overgrown village, and when there was not a single city worthy Of the name in the State. It brought 1100 able-bodied immigrants into the county of Henry when the entire population Of the county was only four times that number. It put large quantities of ready money into circu lation at a time when business was largely conducted by barter and when the principal medium Of exchange was the skins of fur-bearing animals. It inaugurated that mighty tide of Swedish immigration which has flooded the State Of Illinois and the entire Northwest with prosperous Swedish homesteads and flourishing villages. The Bishop Hill Colony built mills, erected manufactories, and put thousands of acres of virgin soil under cultivation. It engaged in banking, and its history connects itself with that Of early railroading in the State. In the days of its greatest prosperity it was the principal commercial and industrial center in all the distance between the cities Of Peoria and Rock Island. Yet, in spite of its importance for the early industries of the State, the Bishop Hill Colony was primarily a religious society. The history of the J ansonists before their emigration belongs to the ecclesiastical history of Sweden. What they sought in the New World was not wealth, but freedom to worship God after their own manner. They held views that were repug nant to the Church of Sweden. It was the realization Of these views which they sought in the New World. Of thecharacter Of these views, as well as of the result Of the ex periment, the reader Of this historical sketch will be able to judge for himself.
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