Indiana Historical Collections

Adoption of the Constitution of 1816.-The memorial embodying the formal application for the admission of Indiana to the Union on an equality with the original States was adopted on December 11, 1815. The official census of the Territory which was recommended by a Congressional resolution reported on March 31, 1812,2 and authorized by the Territorial Assembly on August 29, 1814,3 disclosed the fact that the total population of the Territory was 63,897, and the total number of white males of the age of 21 years and upwards was 12,112.4 As the mandatory provisions of the Ordinance of 1787 had been fully complied with, an Enabling Act, authorizing the inhabitants of Indiana Territory to adopt a Constitution, form a State Government and assume a name, was passed on April 19, 1816.5

It is perhaps impossible to determine with assurance why the demand for Statehood culminated in 1815. Among the circumstances which conspired to create that demand, the following may be enumerated with confidence: (1) The rapid increase in the population, and the steady growth of the material prosperity of the Territory; (2) The excessive powers exercised by the Terri

Western Sun, January 27, 1816. The vote on this resolution was 33-8. Letter from Corydon, in Western Sun of June 22, 1816.

The total population of Indiana Territory in 1800 was 4,875, of which 907 were free white males 21 years of age or over. The vote on September 11, 1804, in all counties except Wayne, which did not receive the proclamation in time to hold an election on the question of adopting a representative form of government, was 400. Owing to a lack of information as to the time and place of the election. the distance from the voting places, and the further fact that it was a busy time of the year, a full vote was not cast. In 1809, when Indiana and Illinois were separated, the population was estimated at 17,000. On May 22, 1809, the total number of votes cast for delegate to Congress in Knox, Harrison, Clark and Dearborn counties was 911. According to the official census of 1810, the population of the Territory was 24,520 of which 3,441 were free white males of the age of 21 years or over.

torial Governor, a Federalistic practice which was wholly incompatible with the vigorous self-assurance of Jeffersonian Democracy; (3) The uncomfortable and distasteful political restraints imposed by an autocratic system upon an electorate which had been quickened by the impulses of effervescent Democracy; (4) Evidences of undoubted corruption and favoritism in the administration of the agencies of local government; (5) A wide-spread feeling that the political inconsequence of the Territory led to a studied neglect of its interests, particularly in affording inadequate security and protection against the incursions of the Indians; (6) The shifting of political control from the "Virginia Aristocrats," inspired by the "Vincennes Junto," to the anti-slavery "Parvenues" of the southeastern portions of the Territory;8 (7) The alleged ambition of certain Territorial politicians to distinguish themselves in public life. The chief argument advanced in opposition to the assumption of Statehood was the expense and the increased taxation.10

Although Jonathan Jennings, the Territorial delegate in Congress, assured his constituents that the times fixed for the election and meeting of the Convention, are as well suited to every interest and circumstance as I was enabled to select when every consideration was duly weighed,'" the provisions of the Enabling Act fixing the date of the election of delegates on May 13, and the assembling of the Convention on June 10,

7. By virtue of the Ordinance of 1787, the Territorial Governor appointed all subordinate officers, both civil and military. According to the provisions of the Compiled Laws of 1807, the officers appointed by the Governor included: The General Court, the Court of Chancery, the Auditor and Treasurer; one sheriff, one coroner, one surveyor, one recorder, one clerk, and three Judges of the Court of Common Pleas in each county; one or more constables and two overseers of the poor in each township; one or more pilots at the falls of the Ohio; and numerous Justices of the Peace, Notaries Public and Militia Officers.

8. The Slavery controversy has been fully emphasized by other writers. A Circular Address to the Citizens of Indiana by Moses Wiley opposed even a partial admission of slavery. (Western Sun, February 3, 1816.) "A Citizen of Gibson" advanced the well-known theory that the diffusion of slaves would ameliorate their condition (Ibid., March 2, 1816.; "Another Citizen of Gibson" was opposed to the introduction of slavery. (Ibid., March 30, 1816;

9. There was a wide-spread conviction that Jonathan Jennings, the delegate in Congress, was promoting the scheme of a State government in the hope that he might be elected its first Governor. "A Settler" accused Jennings of playing a cunning and astute game to offer himself as a candidate for Governor; his friends, in fact, had already declared that Jennings was a candidate, and that fact accounted for his "crooked and sinister maneuvering" at Washington. (Western Sun, February 10 and 24, 1816.) See, also, "A Farmer of Knox County", (Ibid., April 20, 1816.)

10. "A Republican" in Western Sun Extra of June 1, 1816, "Farmers and Patriot Rights", Ibid., February 10, 1816. "A Farmer of Knox County", Ibid., April 20, 1816.

11. Open Letter to his constituents, Western Sun, May 11, 1816.

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Indiana Historical Collections, Volumen1;Volumen2,Parte1;Volumen3