In 1852, Logan won a seat in Illinois’ 18th General Assembly. Here his most noteworthy/notorious accomplishment was the passage of a bill to prevent free blacks from entering Illinois. Logan made no secret of his racist views and in a speech against a bill to allow blacks to testify in court he stated, “It was never intended that whites and blacks should stand in equal relation.” A resident of “Egypt” as Southern Illinois was then known, Logan reflected the view of most of his constituents and, it seems, the majority of Illinoisan’s as a state-wide vote to allow the passage of the exclusionary law won by a two to one margin. The passage of “Logan’s Black Law,” however, did not endear him to many of the inhabitants of central and northern Illinois.
