Order and opportunity: The development of the Illinois Railroad and Warehouse Commission

The study examined the transformation of political culture, economic growth and technological progress as influencing factors in the passage of the Illinois Railroad and Warehouse Commission of 1871. Illinois early nineteenth-century Illinois political activity was reviewed and a culture of individual self-gain was determined to be of dominant influence. The research found Illinois' operative political culture was subsequently challenged by the hegemonic, ideological elements of democracy and equality and by tangible conditions of economic growth and the progress of technology. The tension between self-gain and progress was evidenced in debates over banking in the constitutional conventions of 1848 and 1862 and the debates concerning railroads during the Illinois legislative sessions of 1867 and 1869. The study found that the struggle between self-gain and progress had been mitigated by the constitutional convention of 1870 and the following legislative session in 1871. The delegates and legislators were able to adjust reigning political paradigms, overcome past patterns of individual enrichment and pass a regulatory solution that withstood constitutional challenge and resulted in the case Munn vs. Illinois, 1877.