Kane, Elias K.

Born: 1794-06-07 New York, New York

Died: 1835-12-12 Washington, D.C.

After graduating from Yale College in 1813, Kane read law, received appointment to the bar, and practicing law briefly in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1814, Kane moved to Kaskaskia, Illinois Territory, where he received appointment as a judge of the Illinois Territory. In the Illinois Constitutional Convention of 1818, Kane was a member of the committee of fifteen tasked to draft the new constitution. He was instrumental in convincing his fellow delegates to adopt New York's plan for a council of revision, a body that continued until abolished by the Constitution of 1848. From 1820 to 1824, Kane served as Illinois's first secretary of state. He resigned when the General Assembly elected him as a Jacksonian to represent Illinois in the United States Senate. He served in the Senate from 1825 to 1835. The General Assembly named Kane County in his honor.

Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-2005 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 2005), 1358; Niels H. Debel, "The Veto Power of the Governor in Illinois," University of Illinois Studies in the Social Sciences 6 (Urbana: University of Illinois, 1917), 1:28; Gravestone, Evergreen Cemetery, Chester, IL.