USA > Indiana > Centennial history and handbook of Indiana : the story of the state from its beginning to the close of the civil war, and a general survey of progress to the present time > Part 13
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SUPPLEMENTARY MATTER
Sketch of Governor Jennings .- As Indiana's first executive, Governor Jonathan Jennings de- serves, perhaps, a consideration that we can not give to his successors in the gubernatorial office. Jennings came from Pennsylvania to Indiana Territory in 1806, settling first at Jeffersonville,
Old State House at Corydon.+
then at Vincennes, where he was admitted to the bar and began the practise of law in 1807. The "practise," however, seems to have been little
+ House Jour., 1820-21, p. 25.
# This structure. erected in 1811-12, as nearly as can be de termined, was built by Dennis Pennington for the Harrison county courthouse. It was never owned by the State, but was rented for legislative use. For documentary research into this question by Miss Ethel Cleland see Ind. Mag. Hist., vol. ix.
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more than nominal, as he drifted into clerical work in connection with the territorial Legis- lature, and this employment turned him in the direction of politics. His first appearance in the political field was as a candidate for the office of territorial delegate to Congress in 1809. The issue on which the campaign was waged was that of admitting slavery into the territory, and Jennings, as the anti-slavery candidate, was elected after a bitter contest. During the rest of the territorial period he remained in Congress, as he was returned in 1811 and 1813, and this fact, doubtless, contributed greatly to the anti- slavery movement which in 1816 succeeded in bringing in the State free. It was Jennings who laid before Congress the memorial asking for an act to enable the Territory to become a State, and with the passing of that act and the subse- quent Constitutional Convention, he was chosen president of that body, being also a delegate from Clark county. In the subsequent campaign for State officers he ran for governor against Thomas Posey, the territorial governor, and won by a large majority.
Of his peculiar task as the first governor one of his biographers (Woollen) says: "The mak- ing and putting into motion of the machinery of a new State requires ability of a high order. Rev- enue is to be created, laws for the protection of life and property to be drawn and passed, and divers other things to be done that the founda- tions of the government may be properly laid. The governor proved himself equal to the task." It must be said that this latter laudation is not too strongly put. Jennings was one of the com- missioners who, at the treaty of St. Marys, Ohio, secured from the Indians the large tract of terri- tory, covering the central part of the State, after- ward known as the "New Purchase," and in 1820 he personally accompanied the commission- ers who had been appointed to select a site for the permanent capital. In 1822 he was elected a representative to Congress and resigned the gov- ernorship to accept that office, the remainder of his term being filled out by Ratliff Boon. He re- mained in Congress eight years, then, being de- feated in the race for another term, retired to private life. His one other public service was as a commissioner, in 1832, to treat with the In- dians for lands in northern Indiana and southern Michigan. He died July 26. 1834. at his home
about three miles west of Charlestown, and lies buried in the Charlestown cemetery, where, for many years, his grave lay neglected and un- marked, though it now has a fitting granite mon- ument.
In an appreciation of Jennings written by John H. B. Nowland, who knew him personally, he is described as a man of great personal magnetism, free-handed, generous of nature and kind of heart, with much simplicity of character. During his service in Congress, Mr. Nowland says, "No letter was ever addressed to him on the most trivial, as well as important matter, that was not promptly answered and his business attended to ;" and the biographer further adds that the honest discharge of every official duty entrusted to him won for him wide esteem.
Throughout his political career, Jennings had his bitter enemies, who were unescapable then as now, but many of the fulminations against him are at this day their own condemnation. For example, Waller Taylor, a pro-slavery opponent of territorial days, tried to provoke him to a quar- rel and a duel for no particular reasons except political ones, and disgustedly dubbed him a cow- ard because he persisted in being amiable and friendly. In 1816, Elihu Stout, editor of The Western Sun, and a coterie of Harrison sup- porters, raged because he was back of a (to them) nefarious scheme to introduce a rival news- paper, The Centinel, in Vincennes. The humor of this did not seem to strike them.
According to Mr. Nowland, Governor Jen- nings' salary of $1,000 per year was paid in treas- ury notes worth about $600, and his expenditures more than doubling this depreciated salary, left him involved in debts which he never got free from .*
The Jennings-Harrison Incident .- During the administration of Governor Jennings occurred an incident that is unique, at least in the history of this State. In 1818 President Monroe ap- pointed Jennings one of three commissioners to negotiate a treaty with the Indians for a new tract of territory. This placed Lieutenant-Gov- ernor Christopher Harrison in the position of acting governor. The constitution contained the provision that "no member of Congress, or per-
* For fuller sketches of Jennings, see Woollen's "Biographical and Historical Sketches," Nowland's "Prominent Citizens" and Dunn's "Indiana."
CENTENNIAL HISTORY AND HANDBOOK OF INDIANA
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son holding any office under the United States, or this State, shall exercise the office of governor or lieutenant-governor." As Harrison rather in- geniously construed this, Jennings, by accepting a commission from the United States, had abdi- cated his office as governor and the lieutenant- governor had become governor instead. Wool- len ("Biographical and Historical Sketches") thus describes the situation :
"Governor Jennings refused to accept this in- terpretation of the law and demanded possession of the executive office. The lieutenant-governor
committee which may be appointed on the part of the House of Representatives to wait on the lieutenant-governor, and late acting governor, and inform him that the two houses of the Gen- eral Assembly have met, formed a quorum, and are now ready to receive any communications which he may please to make relative to the exec- utive department of government, and request a similar committee be appointed on the part of the House of Representatives, and that on the part of the Senate Messrs. Boon and De Pauw were appointed that committee.' "
Indianapolis, "The Capital in the Woods," in 1820 .- From an ideal painting by Alois E. Sinks.
left the room he had been occupying, and, taking with him the State seal, opened an office else- where. The State officers were in a quandary what to do. Two men were claiming to be gov- ernor, and they did not know which to recognize. Such was the condition of affairs when the Leg- islature of 1818 convened. On the 10th of De- cember of that year Ratliff Boon, then a senator from the county of Warrick, appeared upon the floor of the House and said :
"'Mr. Speaker, I am directed by the Senate to inform this House that the Senate has appointed a committee on their part to act with a similar
The requested committee was formed in the House, and the joint committee waited on Harri- son, but was told that he had no communication to inake unless it was to be received as coming from the governor. Then came a committee to investi- gate the troubles in the executive department. and this committee reported as their opinion "that His Excellency, Gov. Jonathan Jennings, did, in the months of September and October last, accept an appointment under the government of the United States, by virtue of which he, together with oth- ers, did repair to St. Marys, and then and there did negotiate and conclude a treaty with various
6
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tribes of Indians in behalf of the United States ; and that he did sign said treaty as the agent or officer of the United States, and he did thereto subscribe his name with others." The next step in the solemn red-tape process was Governor Jen- nings' notification as to the investigation, and a request that he appear before the committee in his own defense ; but he declined to do so in per- son, appointing, instead, Charles Dewey to rep- resent him as counsel. The upshot of it all was that after the committee had taken the testimony of various persons to prove that Jennings had acted as a United States commissioner ( which, of course, everybody knew beforehand), and
after this was duly reported to the Legislature, that body passed a resolution that it was "inexpe- dient to further prosecute the inquiry into the existing difficulties in the executive department of the government of the State," thereby recog- nizing Jennings as the rightful governor. This resolution, however, was carried by only two votes and our first administration came just that near to a sudden and rather ignominious ending .: Lieutenant-Governor Harrison resigned his of- fice in a pique, and in the next gubernatorial cam- paign ran for the governorship against Jennings, . but received less than a fifth of the total vote cast.
Greasy Creek, Brown County .- Photograph by Frank M. Hohenberger.
CHAPTER VII
THE STATE'S DEVELOPMENT TO 1836
Explanation of This Period .- Any division of the State's history into distinct periods is apt to be more or less arbitrary. Some division, how- ever, facilitates grouping of the elements to be dealt with, and helps to an understanding of the social development and the chronological order. The period between the admission to the Union and the year 1836 may for these purposes be con- sidered as a distinct chapter in the development, because the growth of activities up to that date are a continuous and normal unfolding, and be- cause the internal improvement law of 1836 in- augurated a new departure and introduced an- other very distinctive chapter.
General Character of Period .- The period comprised the administrations of Governors Jonathan Jennings (1816-1822)*, William Hen- dricks (1822-1825), James B. Ray (1825-1831), and part of that of Noah Noble, who served from 1831 to 1837. This span of our history, offering little that is spectacular or conspicuous, has not particularly invited the researches of the historian, and hence it is rather an obscure pe- riod and the source material is limited. Finances, a taxing system, internal improvements, educa- tion and local politics were the questions that engaged public attention, and the dealing with these were noticeably in the experimental stage.
The various messages of the governors and the contemporary legislation afford us glimpses of conditions and of questions that were uppermost. As late as 1825 there was complaint of serious financial depression. Governors Hendricks and Ray agree in attributing the condition to the re- cent war with England. The extensive consump- tion of European goods and the want of a market for surplus produce, says Hendricks. "has put the balance of trade largely against the western country and produced general and individual dis- tress."
Ray On Hard Times .- Governor Ray, at the close of 1825, gives a graphic explanation of the trying times the young State had been pass-
ing through. "In consequence of the war," he affirms, "large disbursements of public money were made by the general government in every part of the country ; a general rage for specula- tion was excited ; numerous banks with fictitious capital were established ; immense issues of pa- per were made and the circulating medium of the country was increased fourfold in the course of two or three years. A natural consequence of this great increase of what was then deemed equivalent to money was that a fictitious value was placed upon labor and every species of prop- erty. .
. Money, as it was then called, was easily acquired, and the people too generally and too easily indulged in visionary dreams of wealth and splendor. Then the extraordinary flow of money from our treasury was discontinued ; our army was reduced ; the newly created banks be- gan to fail ; specie disappeared : the fictitious cir- culating medium of the country became trash in the hands of the people ; wages and every species of property suffered an unprecedented depres- sion in their value, and the industry of the coun- try suffered a shock from which, in many places. it has not yet recovered." In addition. he says that the lack of markets for surplus produce "operates as a dead weight upon the industry and enterprise of the State."
The State's Revenue; Taxing System .- Along with this general depression went the dif- ficulties of raising the State's revenues. The country was poor, taxables few, and the taxing system crude. Hendricks speaks of the methods of collecting the taxes as "attended with uncer- tainty and delay" and practically every message refers to the difficulties in this line. The manner of collecting was for the sheriff or his deputy to advertise, giving ten days' notice of the time when he would be present at the place of elec- tion in each township for the purpose of receiv- ing the taxes. If the taxpayer failed to attend at the time set and pay, then he was to discharge his debt at the house of the sheriff or deputy on or before the 1st of September of that year, under penalty of having his property levied on. The
* Jennings went to Congress before the expiration of his term, which was filled out by Ratliff Boon.
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indications are that very many failed to meet the collector, either at the advertised place or at his house, for Ray, in his first message, alludes to accumulated delinquencies amounting to $12,000, out of which, it was thought, the treasurer might realize $3,000. In 1825 the law was modified by the provision that the collector call at "the most usual and best known place of residence" of the citizen, but too much was not expected of this, evidently, for of the $40.000 income that was due that year it was calculated that there would be a shrinkage from delinquency and commissions, of $8,000. The poll tax of 50 cents per head was so unpopular that Ray advised its reduction "be- cause a poll tax seems to be most odious to the people, being often viewed in no better light than as a remaining badge of British vassalage."
Tax Schedule .- The tax and revenue prob- lem was the subject of repeated legislation. The law as it stood in 1824 appraised first-class land at $1.50 per hundred acres; second-class at $1, and third-class at 75 cents ; lands to be rated ac- cording to quality, local advantages and contigu- ity to towns and navigable rivers, etc. Each $100 in bank stock was assessed 25 cents, and there was a poll tax of 50 cents on each male over twenty-one years of age who was sane and not a pauper. This was the State tax. For county revenue every horse, ass or mule over three years old was assessed not to exceed 371/2 cents; a stallion was rated at the price at which he served ; work oxen, not over 183/4 cents; two-wheeled pleasure carriages, $1; four-wheeled carriage, $1.50; brass clock, $1; gold watch, $1; silver watch, 25 cents ; license for retailing spirituous liquors, not less than $5, nor more than $25; license to vend foreign merchandise, not less than $10 nor more than $50; ferry privileges, not less than $2 nor more than $20; each original suit or complaint commenced and prosecuted in the cir- cuit courts, 50 cents.
Increase of Revenue from Lands .- Lands sold by the United States were exempt from tax- ation for five years after purchase, and one grow- ing source of income was the increase of taxable acreage as the five-year limit expired. Accord- ing to Ray's estimate in 1825, the following year would see 500,000 acres added to the State's tax- ables, and elsewhere we find it estimated that the annual average increase of taxable land amounted to 400,000 acres. By the treasurer's report of
1822 and 1830, respectively, the State's annual income increased in the eight years from $+1,- 085.29 to $65,344.48.
Banking .- During most of the third decade Indiana had no system of banks, though the early twenties saw the close of an interesting chapter of banking history. During the territorial period money affairs were chaotic; private "wildcat" banks prevailed, along with the dangers incident to those irresponsible institutions. In 1814 the Legislature took steps toward helping the situa- tion by chartering the Bank of Vincennes and the Farmers' and Mechanics' Bank, of Madison. In 1817 the Legislature made the Bank of Vin- cennes a State institution, in which the State was a stockholder, and which was to have fourteen branches in as many districts. The capital stock was increased from $500,000 to $1,500,000. This extensive scheme was quite out of proportion to the wealth and circulating requirements of the State, and only three branches organized. The Vincennes bank, under the State's wing, had its vicissitudes, was fraudulently managed, and finally, in 1822, went out in a blaze of disrepute that stirred up the State. The Madison bank, which was to have been included in the State's branch scheme, but declined the alliance, made a reputable record for itself, but it also had its difficulties and ceased business some time after the collapse of the Vincennes bank. From then until the inauguration of a new banking era in 1834 the circulation of the State was supplied chiefly by the Bank of the United States.
State Bank of 1834 .- The Legislature, by an act that was signed January 28, 1834, created the State Bank of Indiana. . It was chartered for twenty-five years with a capital stock of $1,600,- 000, of which the State took one-half, assuming supervisory powers and retaining the right to select some of the more important officers. The institution was, in reality, a system consisting of ten branches, to be afterward added to and lo- cated at different points in the State. These branches were more or less independent, but sub- ject to a certain supervisory control by a central board consisting of a president and four members chosen by the Legislature, besides one member chosen by each of the branches. This board and the branches were required to make an annual report to the Legislature, which retained full powers of investigation at any time. The orig.
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inal branches were located at Indianapolis, Law- renceburg, Richmond, Madison, New Albany, Evansville, Vincennes, Bedford, Terre Haute and Lafayette. In 1835 another branch was estab- lished at Fort Wayne, and in 1838 two more at South Bend and Michigan City, respectively. On January 1, 1835, the loans were $520,843.75 ; cir- culation, $456,065 ; deposits, $127,236.30; specie, $751,083.29, and capital paid in $800,000. In 1836 the capital stock was increased to $2,500,000, and this was divided equally among the various branches. For two or three years this institution prospered ; then with the panic of 1837 and in the financial distress brought on the State by the sorry collapse of the internal improvement scheme, it suffered with things generally. Recov- ering from this period of adversity it prospered again from about the middle forties to the expira- tion of its charter in 1859 .*
Population .- The population of the State grew from about 63,000 in 1816 to 147,178 in 1820 and 341,582 in 1830. The tide of immigra- tion swelled particularly throughout the latter half of the twenties, and in 1829 Ray wrote : "For months past we have daily seen from twenty to fifty wagons, containing families, moving through this single metropolis (Indianapolis), most of whom have fixed their abodes in the White river country and in that bordering upon the Wabash." By the census tables of 1830, showing the distribution of population through- out the sixty-three counties then existing, Wayne was far in advance of all the others with 23,344 inhabitants. Dearborn followed with 14,573, and Washington, Jefferson, Clark, Harrison and Franklin came in the order named, this being the total number of those running over 10,000. Knox, once the most populous, was now but 6,557. By this, certain of the older southern and eastern counties still held the ascendency and as yet had not suffered by the pressure northward in search of new lands. Of the central counties located in the newer part of the State, Rush led with 9,918, followed by Putnam, Fountain, Parke, Mont- gomery, Marion and Tippecanoe, all running over 7,000. These majorities indicate the direc- tions in which the currents of immigration set strongest. They bore no relation to priority of settlement and the attracting causes are a matter
for speculation. In the case of Rushi county, the most populous, it was doubtless the lay and qual- ity of the land, and perhaps its contiguity to the older settlements of the Whitewater. The capi- tal of the State, of course, drew many to Marion county. Tippecanoe and Fountain were undoubt- edly beholden to the Wabash river, but why Put- nam, Parke and Montgomery should have so far outstripped some other counties that seemed to have equal advantages, is a matter of inquiry for the curious student.
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Map of Indiana, 1827.
Politics .- During the first years of the State partisan interests and partisan virulence were not in evidence in Indiana as they were a little later. The standard of self-government did not. how- ever, seem to be particularly elevated by that fact. The scrambling for public office went on just the same, without regard to fitness or honesty of can- didates, and the acrimony of opposing individuals or their little supporting cliques were only equaled by the unctuous truckling to voters. In the be- ginning as now public service was sometimes en- trusted to incompetency and rascality, proving, perhaps, that this shortcoming is inseparable
* For studies on banking see Esarey's Hist. Ind., Smith's Hist. Ind. and Harding's "State Bank of Ind." in Journal of Political Economy, December, 1895.
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from our political system. More than once Ray complained of failures from many counties to make proper election returns, and ever and anon in the House and Senate Journals we find reports of proceedings against minor public officials for maladministration of their office.
Beginning of Party Politics .- For more than a dozen years after the admission of the State political issues in Indiana were local and the for- tunes of an aspirant to public life devolved upon his personal standing rather than on allegiance to a party. The presidential campaign of 1828, with its intense partisanship, introduced a new political era. This was not felt here at once but Governor Ray's last message, delivered on his retirement in 1831, is notable for its protest against party ascendency and party discipline as assailing "the vitals of the first principles of the republic." A country's happiness and honor, he affirmed, was "about to be periled upon the self- ish basis of alternate triumphs and defeats." Noah Noble, a Whig, was the first Indiana gov- ernor elected along national party lines, but a local issue, that of internal improvement, was a prominent factor in his ascendency. The three successive governors from 1831 to 1843-Noah Noble, David Wallace and Samuel Bigger, were Whigs.
Industries and Trade .- Industry throughout this period was confined almost entirely to agri- culture and home products of manufacture, such as fabrics for clothing. Occasionally some mill or factory with a sounding name was incorpo- rated under the law, but as yet they cut little figure in the activities of the commonwealth. Trade developed quite as rapidly as could be ex- pected considering the serious handicap conse- quent upon the wretched transportation facilities. There was much surplus produce in the shape of horses, cattle, swine, flour, sugar and whisky, for export, and as early as 1828, before the days of the Wabash canal, it was affirmed that ten counties along the Wabash valley, from Knox to Tippecanoe, had been receiving annually from the cast 385 tons of dry goods, while from Terre Haute alone went 2,800 barrels of whisky and 7,000 barrels of pork .* The most of the export trade went southward by way of the Mississippi river, and the localities most favored were those that had easiest outlet by streams that could be
navigated. The Ohio and Wabash permitted of egress at all times of the year, but most of the watercourses that threaded the interior afforded outlet at high water only, and advantage was taken of the freshet season to send down flat- boats laden with the produce of the country. These rude craft required comparatively little skill to build and the Indiana forests supplied an abundance of timber for their construction. They were from forty to a hundred feet in length and from fifteen to twenty feet wide and had great carrying capacity, one estimate being 500 dressed hogs for a sixty-foot boat.
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