The Cities and Villages Act of 1872 was an act of the

Illinois General Assembly The Illinois General Assembly is the legislature of the U.S. state of Illinois. It has two chambers, the Illinois House of Representatives and the Illinois Senate. The General Assembly was created by the first state constitution adopted in 181 ...

governing the operation of

incorporated municipalities A municipal corporation is the legal term for a local government, local governing body, including (but not necessarily limited to) city, cities, county, counties, towns, townships, charter townships, villages, and boroughs. The term can also be use ...

. The act was an immediate source of political controversy. The legacy of the Act is that Illinois municipal elections take place in the spring while county, state, and federal elections continue to occur on the federal

Election Day Election day or polling day is the day on which general elections are held. In many countries, general elections are always held on a Saturday or Sunday, to enable as many voters as possible to participate; while in other countries elections ar ...

History

The Act was adopted by the State of Illinois on April 10, 1872, and went into force on July 1 of the same year. The purpose of the Act was to provide a standard outline and means for villages and cities in the state to incorporate without requiring separate legislation for each application. On April 23, 1875, the city of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

voted to operate under the Act, as opposed to operating under the

city charter A city charter or town charter (generically, municipal charter) is a legal document (''charter'') establishing a municipality such as a city or town. The concept developed in Europe during the Middle Ages. Traditionally the granting of a charter ...

which had previously been in effect. The Act has been revised since then, and is located in Chapter 65 of the

Illinois Compiled Statutes The ''Illinois Compiled Statutes'' (ILCS) are the codified statutes of a general and permanent nature of Illinois. The compilation organizes the general Acts of Illinois into 67 chapters arranged within 9 major topic areas. The ILCS took effect i ...

. Despite this operation, the Illinois State Constitution was later amended by the addition of Article VII (Adopted September 3, 1970; Entered into force July 1, 1971) which grants

home rule Home rule is government of a colony, dependent country, or region by its own citizens. It is thus the power of a part (administrative division) of a state or an external dependent country to exercise such of the state's powers of governance wit ...

powers to Chicago. Among those powers are regulation for the protection of public health, safety, morals, and welfare, to license for regulatory purposes, to tax, and to incur debt.

Legal implications for Chicago

The act moved Mayoral elections to April, whereas they had previously taken place in November. The politically-manipulated late April adoption date effectively canceled the 1875 election for

Mayor of Chicago The mayor of Chicago is the chief executive of city government in Chicago, Illinois, the third-largest city in the United States. The mayor is responsible for the administration and management of various city departments, submits proposals and r ...

. The act also lengthened the Mayoral term from 1 year to 2 years and expanded Mayoral powers. The law was ambiguous on the extension of the one year-term of the incumbent mayor,

Harvey Doolittle Colvin Harvey Doolittle Colvin (December 18, 1815 – April 16, 1892) was an American politician. Colvin is best remembered for his stint as mayor of Chicago, Illinois from 1873 to 1875 as a member of the People's Party, a pro-liquor factional off ...

. In the November 1875 elections, neither the Republicans nor the Democrats ran a candidate for mayor, believing that there was no election. An independent candidate,

Thomas Hoyne His Honor, the Mayor, Thomas Hoyne, Esquire (February 11, 1817July 27, 1883) was elected Mayor of Chicago in 1876, but his election was later declared null and void by a Circuit Court. Prior to 1876, Hoyne had led a political career in which h ...

, received over 82% of the votes for Mayor of Chicago. Colvin refused to surrender his seat, which led to turmoil until a court ruling declared him Mayor until a special election and thus nullified Hoyne's election. Chicago continues to have municipal elections in the spring. In 1907, four-year mayoral terms were ushered in, and 1935 saw the first 4-year aldermanic terms.

External links

Illinois Compiled Statutes, Chapter 65

References

1872 in American law 1872 in Illinois History of Chicago Legal history of Illinois Local government in Illinois Illinois statutes Local government legislation History of local government in the United States {{Illinois-stub