Divorce restrictions in the United States slowly softened during the first half of the twentieth century. Couples could now voluntarily cease a marriage and women could establish an identity outside that of their husband and leave an unsuitable marriage.]]>
Tension between Governor Charles A. Deneen and Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives, Edward D. Shurtleff, both Republicans, exploded in 1909 when Democratic representative Lee O'Neill Browne and other Democrats were approached by Speaker Shurtleff's faction and accepted a thousand dollar bribe to elect William Lorimer to the U.S. Senate. Democratic legislator Charles A. White later told the Chicago Tribune that he had accepted a thousand dollar bribe to assure his vote for Lorimer, throwing the city and the nation into scandal. The U.S. Senate held a series of hearings in which Lorimer was exonerated; however, new evidence convinced the Senate to invalidate Lorimer's election in 1912.]]>
La Follette, a Progressive Republican Senator from Wisconsin, ran unsuccessfully for president in 1912 as a Republican and in 1924 under the Progressive Party ticket.]]>
Political cartoonist Harold R. Heaton satirizes the prolonged deadlock in the Illinois House of Representatives over the 1909 Senate election, which lasted from January 19, 1909 through May 26, 1909.]]>
This cartoon represents Joseph M. McCormick, former Republican congressman; Frank H. Funk, unsuccessful Progressive Party candidate for governor (1912) and U.S. Senate (1913); and University of Chicago professor of political science Charles E. Merriam, jockeying for the 1919 Republican nomination for U.S. Senator. McCormick went on to win the 1919 Senate election.]]>
In 1911 the Illinois legislature signed a bill abolishing deputy game wardens, or rabbit shepherds, and granting their powers to local law enforcement officials.]]>
President William H. Taft surveys the fractured political landscape in Illinois, likely after the bitter Republican presidential primary, in which ex-president and progressive leaning Theodore Roosevelt, and progressive/socialist senator Robert Maron La Follette of Wisconsin, both challenged Taft. Taft was unable to mend the political fences and suffered defeat at the hands of the Democrats.]]>
Political cartoonist Harold R. Heaton depicts the two warring Republican factions, those supporting University of Chicago political scientist Charles E. Merriam and sitting governor Charles S. Deneen (1905-1913), blocking the path to the capital, while the Democrats look on from the sidelines.]]>
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Political cartoonist Harold R. Heaton illustrates the precarious position of Governor Charles S. Deneen (1905-1913), a Republican governor caught between warring party factions (Conservative and the Progressive Republicans), and the whim of machine politics.]]>
Political cartoonist Harold R. Heaton captures the tension between Governor Charles A. Deneen (1905-1913) and Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives, Edward D. Shurtleff, both Republicans, during the tense deadlock over the 1909 Senate election, known as the Lorimer scandal.]]>
This cartoon is in response to Deneen's political allies's reliance on political patronage and vote buying to secure their power. As Deneen prepared to attempt an unprecedented third term as governor, Republican infighting and the veil of political corruption helped Democrat Edward F. Dunne beat Deneen in 1913.]]>