USA > Indiana > St Joseph County > A history of St. Joseph County, Indiana, Volume 1 > Part 20
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The property interests of the country were enlisted in behalf of retaining the institution of slavery. and even of introducing more slaves into the country. A large part of the population was from Virginia and Kentucky, and this element constituted a powerful party in favor of perpetuating some form of Afri- can slavery. At the head of the slaveholding interest was the governor of the territory, William Henry Harrison. The governor was a Virginian, and seemed to be sincerely of opinion that the prosperity of the country depended upon the establishment of slavery. A strong effort was made to have the provi- sion in the ordinanee of 1787 prohibiting slav- ery suspended, at least for ten years. The contest before congress was long and earnest, but the petition from Indiana was finally denied by that body. Yet the effort was still
persisted in to retain in slavery, by some form of indenture or otherwise, those who had been slaves or who were the children of slave mothers. As late as the year 1813, the aet concerning taxation passed by the legislature provided, as a part of the schedule of assess- ments and taxation, for a tax "'for every slave or servant of color, above twelve years of age, two dollars." Two cases came to the supreme court, in which the questions so raised were finally settled against the right to hold slaves in Indiana. In the first of these cases, State v. Lasselle, 1 Blackf. 60, the trial court had decided that a colored woman, Polly, was the property of Lasselle. The supreme court, without deciding whether Virginia, by consenting to the ordinance of 1787. intended to emancipate the slaves in the northwest or not. held that, in any event, slavery was effectually abolished by the Con- stitution of 1816. In the other case, that of Mary Clark, also a colored woman, decided in 1 Blackf. 122, Mary Clark had attempted to bind herself as a servant for a term of twenty years. She afterwards repented of her bargain : but the trial court held that she must comply with her contract. The supreme court, however, decided that such an inden- ture, thongh voluntarily made, was a species of slavery, and that the contract could not be enforced. Thus was wiped out the last ves- tige of legal bondage in Indiana. It is true that long after these decisions, many persons continued voluntarily to live out their lives as slaves within the limits of the state. Even as late as 1840, as shown by the United States census for that year, there were still three slaves in Indiana,-a man and a woman in Rush county and a woman in Putnam county. But slavery, as sanetioned by the law, was at an end; and it came to an end, in fact, with the death of the last of such volun- tary slaves.
The desire on the part of many of the in- habitants to establish slavery in the Indiana territory resulted in a proclamation by the governor calling for the election by the peo-
a. Dillon, Hist. Ind., p. 409.
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ple of delegates to meet in convention at Vin- cennes, December 20, 1802. This convention petitioned congress for a suspension of the sixth article of the ordinance of 1787, which prohibited slavery in the territory. The peti- tion, as we have seen, was rejected by con- gress. The report of the committee to which the petition was referred was prepared by John Randolphı, the distinguished orator and statesman, then senator from Virginia, and was an unanswerable argument against the establishment of slavery in the territory. The Vincennes convention which prepared the petition in favor of slavery is also noteworthy as being the first deliberative body elected to represent the people of Indiana. The conven- tion consisted of twelve delegates. From the county of Knox, four; from the county of Randolph, three; from the county of St. Clair, three; and from the county of Clark, two. The counties of St. Clair and Randolph were in that part of the territory which is now the state of Illinois; Knox and Clark were in what is now Indiana. So small was the population, in 1802, of the territory now com- prising these two great states. Wayne county, now the state of Michigan, does not seem to have been represented in this early conven- tion.
Sec. 5 .- THE FIRST INDIANA LEGISLATURE ; THE TERRITORY OF MICHIGAN FORMED .- The act of congress for the organization of the Indiana territory, approved May 7, 1800, pro- vided that whenever the governor became sat- isfied that a majority of the freeholders of the territory were in favor of the organization of a general assembly, an election for that pur- pose should be called, even though there might not then be in the territory five thousand free male inhabitants of the age of twenty-one years; thus providing an earlier period than was provided in the ordinance of 1787, for the establishment of a representative govern- ment. By a vote of the people taken Septem- ber 11, 1804, it appeared that a majority of one hundred and thirty-eight were in favor of organizing a general assembly; and ac-
eordingly Governor Harrison issued his pro- clamation declaring that Indiana had passed into the second stage of territorial govern- ment, and called an election for January 3, 1805, at which members of the first house of representatives were chosen in the several counties. This body met at Vincennes. February 1, 1805, and selected names for the organization of a legislative council, or senate, as provided in the ordinance of 1787. The counties then represented were Knox, Clark and Dearborn, in what is now Indiana; St. Clair, in Illinois; and Wayne, in Michigan. This was the last official connection of Michigan with the Indiana territory. By an act of congress, approved January 11, 1805, it was provided that from and after June 30, 1805, that part of the Indiana territory lying north of an east and west line drawn through "the southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan, until it shall intersect Lake Erie, and east of a line drawn from the said southerly bend" through the middle of Lake Michigan to its northern extremity, and thence north to the northern boundary of the United States, should be erected into a separate territory, to be known as Michigan. It will be noticed that this left the greater part of the present upper peninsula of Michi- gan in the Indiana territory. But, of more importance to St. Joseph county, as well as to all the other northern tier of Indiana counties, it will be seen that the southern boundary of Michigan, as required also by the terms of the ordinance of 1787, was placed ten miles south of the present boundary be- tween Indiana and Michigan, leaving the sites of South Bend, New Carlisle, Mishawaka and Osceola, as well as all the St. Joseph valley and the north ten miles of the county, within the bounds of the new Michigan territory.
The legislative council having been selected, the first general assembly of Indiana. em- bracing then the greater part of the old north- west territory, except Ohio and Michigan, as- sembled at Vincennes, July 29, 1805. The council, or senate, consisted of five members ;
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and the house of representatives, of seven members. Michigan having become a terri- tory, Wayne county was not represented. The counties having representation in the assembly were Knox, Clark and Dearborn, in what is now Indiana, and St. Clair and Randolph in Illinois. The business of this first general assembly was chiefly routine. Benjamin Parke was elected the first delegate of the territory in congress. The second general assembly began its session at Vincen- nes, August 16, 1807. The laws passed at those two sessions, together with all other laws in force in the territory were collected and published in one volume, called the code of 1807. This was the first Indiana eode of laws.
See. 6 .- TECUMSEH AND THE BATTLE OF TIPPECANOE .- After the signing of the treaty of Greenville between General Anthony Wayne and Little Turtle and the other chiefs, August 3, 1795, it was believed that perma- nent peace had been established between the whites and Indians. But the emigration to the rich lands of the northwest grew to such proportions that the Indians were pressed farther and farther into the interior. Numer- ous treaties, as we have seen, were made, from time to time, throwing open to white settle- ment the several reservations of territory made at Greenville to secure to the Indians their hunting grounds. Often, too, where two or more tribes owned certain lands in common, as they often did, the whites secured by treaty the title of one tribe and then failed to respect the claim of the others to the same lands. The French had respected this community ownership of lands, and never denied the title of the Indians, even to the territory occupied by themselves. Moreover, as to their own holdings, the French accepted the community idea, which was universal. Several hundred acres were set aside at Vin- cennes, which the inhabitants of the post used in common for pasture and other uses. They "fenced in" their stock as is now the law in Indiana; and the crops planted outside this
community property by each householder were without enclosure. The community idea, however, was antagonistic to the ideas of the emigrants from the east. Each settler wanted his own lands for himself exclusively, and was particularly unwilling that any Indian should have any part or parcel in his holding. But, besides securing additional Indian lands by new treaties, many white emigrants, with- out any such authority, pushed in upon the lands yet reserved to the Indians by the treaty of Greenville and other treaties. This land greed, as the Indians called it, was exasperat- ing to the natives, who loved their old hunt- ing grounds; and the feeling of resentment against the encroachment of the whites be- came more acute from year to year. After- wards, when white men fell in battle with the Indians, it was not uncommon for the latter to stuff earth into the month, nose and ears of the fallen pale face, as if in mockery of this greed for land.
In a message to the legislature of Indiana, in 1806, Governor Harrison referred to the growing dissatisfaction of the Indians, in this and other respects. The Indians, he said. "will never have recourse to arms-I speak of those in our immediate neighborhood- unless driven to it by a series of injustice and oppression. Of this they already begin to complain ; and I am sorry to say that their complaints are far from being groundless. It is true that the general government has passed laws for fulfilling, not only the stipu- lations contained in our treaty, but also those sublimer duties which a just sense of our prosperity and their wretchedness seem to im- pose. The laws of the territory provide, also, the same punishment for offenses committed against Indians as against white men. Ex- perience, however, shows that there is a wide difference in the execution of those laws. The Indian always suffers, and the white men never."
In the state to which the minds of the In- dians were wrought up, by both their real and their fancied wrongs, they needed but a leader,
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to break out into hostilities against their oppressors. The leader was forthcoming, a greater perhaps than either Pontiac or Little Turtle. In 1805, Tecumseh. a Shawnee chief. and his brother Law-le-was-i-kaw-the lond voice-resided in a village on the White river in what is now Delaware county. Law-le- was-i-kaw took upon himself the character of a prophet, and is usually known under that title. He began to preach to the Indians. calling upon them to reject witchcraft, the use of intoxicating liquors, intermarriage with the whites and the practice of selling their lands to the United States. He acquired great influence among the tribes. not only the tribes in Indiana, but those of the whole west. Prophet's Town was established on the banks of the Wabash river, near the mouth of the Tippecanoe, as a center to which all the Indians were invited to gather. While the prophet was arousing the religions enthusiasm of the Indians Tecumseh was visiting all the tribes of the west and the south, forming a confederacy which might be strong encagh to resist further encroachments on the part of the white settlers. The poison of British in- fluence was again manifested; and when the war of 1812 broke out between England and the United States. the Indians were found in full and active sympathy with the British. Interviews took place from time to time be- tween Governor Harrison and the Shawnee chiefs. but the estrangement continued to in- crease from year to year. In the early part of 1811 the people of the territory became thoroughly alarmed at the growing strength of the Indians at Prophet's Town : and Gover- nor Harrison, under direction of the president and the secretary of war, began preparations for a military expedition against the prophet. Harrison's army consisting of about seven hundred effective men, of whom two hundred and fifty were regular troops, arrived near Prophet's Town November 6, 1811. On the morning of the seventh, before daylight, the Americans were fiercely attacked by the In- dians, and many killed. Harrison quickly
rallied his forces and charged upon the In- dians, who were completely ronted. Harri- son's loss, in killed and mortally wounded. were sixty-two, with one hundred and twenty- six other wounded men. The enemy's forces are believed to have been greater, and their losses quite as severe: but there is a lack of definite information on these points. The battle of Tippecanoe is the most important that ever took place within the confines of Indiana. The spirit of the Indians was com- pletely broken. and the confederacy which Tecumseh was building up was completely destroyed. This great warrior was himself absent at the time, visiting the tribes of the south. It is said that he was angry with his brother for bringing on the engagement. Tecumseh was not then ready for his conflict with the whites, and his plans were therefore frustrated. IIe soon joined the British army with his Indians and was killed at the battle of the Thames. in Canada, not far from De- troit, October 5, 1813. He was undoubtedly the greatest warrior and statesman ever pro- dueed by the Indian race.
After the battle of Tippecanoe there was oceasional minor trouble with the Indians; but with the death of Tecumseh their conrage and ambition as a nnited people was gone forever. The remnants of the red race were by degrees removed to the far west ; and their place was rapidly taken by the hardy pio- neers who poured in from the eastern states and from Europe. The triumph for the see- ond time, of American arms over those of Great Britain, soon after followed; and the future of the great northwest was assured. Up to that date there was not a white in- habitant in St. Joseph county; nor indeed anywhere in northern Indiana.
See. 7 .- AARON BURR .- Another interesting episode in early Indiana history ought to re- ceive at least a passing mention. In 1805. 1806 and 1807, Aaron Burr, once vice-presi- dent of the United States, was engaged in different places along the Ohio valley in or- ganizing a mysterious enterprise. now believed
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPHI COUNTY.
to have been intended for the founding of an independent southwestern republic, to embrace Mexican and American territory. Some are of the opinion that Burr's ambition looked to the uniting of all the states and territories of the Mississippi valley. with Mexico, into one great central state of which he should be chief. Amongst other places Burr visited Jeffersonville, Vincennes and Kaskaskia. He was arrested early in 1807. and his vast project, whatever may have been its nature, suddenly collapsed.
See. 8 .- FORMATION OF ILLINOIS TERRITORY. -As the population of the Indiana territory increased the need of a division into two territories became greater. Congress yielded to the wishes of the people in the matter, and. by an act approved February 3, 1809, de- clared that from and after March 1, 1809, all that part of the Indiana territory lying west of the Wabash river, and a direct line north from Post Vincennes to the British posses- sions. should form a separate territory, to be ealled the Illinois territory. The popula- tion of the whole of the Indiana territory at that time was about twenty-eight thousand: eleven thousand being in the Illinois division. and seventeen thousand in Indiana proper. The cutting off of the territory of Illinois left the capital of Indiana on the extreme west of the territory; and an agitation soon de- veloped for its removal from Vincennes to some more central point. By an act of the general assembly. approved March 11, 1813. the capital of the territory was fixed at Cory- don, Harrison county, from and after May 1. 1813. The capital remained at Corydon until it was removed to Indianapolis, in 1825. as provided in Sec. 11. article XI of the consti- tution of 1816. By reason of the absence of Governor Harrison in the wars with the In- dians and with Great Britain, the active duties of the office of governor devolved for the time upon the secretary. General JJohn Gibson. It was by his eall as governor that this last meet- ing of the general assembly was held at Vin- cenes. On February 27. 1813, President
Madison appointed Thomas Posey, then a senator of the United States from Tennessee, as governor of the new Indiana territory. then reduced very nearly to the territorial limits of the present state of Indiana.
VII. ORGANIZATION OF THIE STATE.
See. 1 .- PERIODS OF GROWTH .- During the thirty-one years from the close of the Revo- Intionary war, and the signing of the treaty of Paris, September 3. 1783, to the close of the second war with Great Britain, and the signing of the treaty of Ghent, December 24, 1814. Indiana passed through the several stages of development, until she reached the full maturity of her growth as a common- wealth. The time during which she was a part of the county of Illinois. nursed and cared for by the mother state of Virginia. may be considered the period of her infancy : the time during which she was a part of the northwest territory, trained and guided by the national authority, and governed by the ordi- nance of 1787 and other laws adopted for her protection, may be considered as the period of her childhood: the time during which she was a part of the vast Indiana terri- tory and entrusted with the forms if not the reality of self goverment. may be considered as the period of her immature youth : the time during which she was regarded as a separate and distinet territory. allowed to legislate in a limited manner for her own particular needs. and called upon to defend her integrity by the shedding of her blood at Tippecanoe and in battle with the British oppressor. may be considered as the period of her adolescence. It was then recognized that the time of her full maturity was at hand, and that she was entitled to take her place as one of the sister states of the Union.
See. 2 .- ADMISSION INTO THE UNION .-- On December 14, 1815. a memorial to congress. praying for the admission of Indiana as a state, was adopted by the general assembly of the territory: and. on the 28th of the same month, was laid before congress by Jonathan
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Jennings, the territorial delegate. The memorial recited the provision of the ordi- nance of 1787. that when the free popula- tion of the territory should be sixty thousand or over, the territory should be admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the origi- nal states, and stating that a census taken by legislative authority showed that Indiana had more than the requisite population. In com- pliance with this request of the legislature, congress passed an enabling act. approved April 19, 1816, providing for an election to be held in the several counties of the territory, May 13, 1816, to select delegates to a conven- tion to frame a state constitution.
The convention consisted of forty-three members. elected from thirteen counties, as follows: Wayne, 4; Franklin, 5; Dearborn. 3: Switzerland. 1: Jefferson, 3; Clark. 5; Harrison. 5; Washington, 5; Knox, 5; Gibson. 4: Warrick. 1; Perry, 1: and Posey, 1. It will be noticed that these counties were almost altogether on the Ohio and Wabash rivers. Indiana's first settlements were along the rivers on the southern borders ; and the settlers were almost all from the states and territories south and southeast of the Ohio. The popula- tion of the thirteen counties sending delegates to the constitutional convention of 1816, was sixty-three thousand. eight hundred and ninety-seven. Two additional counties, Or- ange and Jackson, also in the extreme south, were organized in 1816, under authority of the territorial legislature: but not in time to send delegates to the constitutional conven- tion.
The convention began its deliberations at Corydon, on June 10. 1816. and completed the framing of the constitution, on June 29. 1816. Jonathan Jennings presided over the conven- tion. and William Hendricks was chosen secre- tary. On the completion of their work, presi- dent Jennings, as required by the constitution issued to the sheriff's of the several counties writs of election, fixing the first Monday of August. 1816, for the election of a governor and other state officers. Jonathan Jennings
was elected first governor, receiving 5.211 votes. to 3,934 cast for Thomas Posey, then governor of the territory. William Hendricks was elected first representative of Indiana in the house of representatives of the United States.
The first general assembly, chosen at the same election, began its session at Corydon on Monday, November 4, 1816. Christopher Harrison, elected lieutenant governor, pre- sided over the senate; and Isaac Blackford, the famous jurist, was elected speaker of the house of representatives. The governor and lieutenant governor were inaugurated Novem- ber 7. 1816: John Paul having been previously chosen president pro tempore of the senate. Thereupon the territorial government came to a close. By a joint resolution of congress. approved December 11, 1816, Indiana was formally admitted as a sovereign state of the Union. On November 8. 1816, the general assembly elected James Noble and Waller Taylor as the first senators to represent the state in the United States senate. The ses- sion closed on January 3, 1817.
Sec. 3 .- POPULATION AND REVENUES .-- The population of Indiana when admitted into the Union, in 1816, was less than seventy thou- sand; but such an impetus was given to emigration by the organization of the state government that the census of 1820 showed that the state then contained 147,178 inhabit- ants. The revenues of the state continued for many years to be derived from a tax upon lands, as had been the practice during the territorial government. This tax was not, as at present, a percentage of the valuation, but a fixed sum per hundred acres according to the quality of the land. For this purpose, all lands were deemed to be of first rate, second rate and third rate. In the beginning, first rate lands were assessed at one dollar per hundred acres; second rate. eighty-seven and a half cents; and third rate fifty to sixty-two and a half cents. In 1821, the assessment on first rate lands had increased to one dollar and fifty cents on each hundred acres. and on
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other lands accordingly. In 1831, the assess- ment on first rate lands fell to eighty cents a hundred; second rate, to sixty cents; and third rate to forty cents. By an act approved February 7, 1835, the method of assessment was changed to our present ad valorem sys- tem; and the assessor was directed to assess land for taxation at its true value, or, as the act expressed it, "as he would appraise the same in the payment of a just debt due from a solvent debtor." County revenues were raised principally from poll taxes and license fees, until the adoption of the ad valorem system.
Sec. 4 .- BOUNDARIES .- The boundaries of the state of Indiana, as fixed by the enabling act of congress, approved April 19, 1816, and as agreed to by an ordinance passed by the constitutional convention, at Corydon, June 29, 1816, are as follows: On the east, "the meridian line which forms the western bound- ary of the state of Ohio;" on the south, "the river Ohio, from the month of the great Miami river to the mouth of the river Wa- bash;" on the west, "a line drawn along the middle of the Wabash, from its month to a point where a due north line drawn from the town of Vincennes would Jast touch the northwestern shore of the said river; and from thence, by a due north line, until the same shall intersect an east and west line drawn through a point ten miles north of the southern extreme of Lake Michigan:" and on the north, "the said east and west line, until the same shall intersect the first mentioned meridian line, which forms the western bound- ary of the state of Ohio." It was provided in the enabling act of congress that if the constitutional convention of Indiana should fail to ratify these boundaries, then the boundaries of the state should be as fixed in the ordinance of 1787.
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