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 18
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73
ple began to travel, not only because there was a growing class who could afford to, but because the new passenger transportation by boat was a luxury compared with travel by coach over rough wilderness roads. Passenger packets, less bulky and more speedy than the freight boats, ap- peared, and these, hauled at a sharp trot, could make, under favorable conditions, about eight miles an hour. Of pleasant summer weather the travelers, lolling about the roomy decks of the smoothly gliding packet, played games, con- versed, sang in chorus or otherwise cultivated the social amenities as it fitted their holiday mood. At the locks where the boats were delayed ro- mantic couples could stroll on ahead, if they wanted to, gathering wild flowers as they went. The approach to a town was heralded by a great blowing of the boat's horn that brought out the townsmen, and at dock the two crowds, mingling, fraternized genially and exchanged in- formation till the boat's horn again gave warn- ing of departure.
This, however, was not the only side of the picture, for we have other accounts of stuffy cabins, wretched food, millions of mosquitoes that had to be fought all night, and pestilential, miasmatic vapors. Notwithstanding these draw-| backs, however, people in the Wabash valley moved about as they never had since their resi- dence there. This brought the isolated rural life that much nearer to the social life of the town, and that it had its educative effects is a safe sur- mise.
This canal era, while it was most conspicuous in the forties by reason of its having no competi- tor north of the Ohio river, as a great highway, continued to increase in its freight transportation till 1856, when it reached its maximum with 308,- 667 tons. After that it waned year by year, un- able to hold its own against the competing rail- roads, especially the Toledo & Wabash, which paralleled it as far down as Lafayette. Of this the State's creditors, who had taken over the canal, bitterly complained, the granting of fran- chises to competitive utilities, they maintained, being a breach of honor, since they, the creditors, had accepted the canal in good faith as a prop- erty of value and as an earnest of the State's de- sire to make good its debt.
With all the seeming prosperity of the Wabash and Erie during the score or so years in which
----- - -- -
115
CENTENNIAL HISTORY AND HANDBOOK OF INDIANA
it flourished, its great value was as an incidental developing factor. As a paying investment it was a failure, because during the winter season its traffic was suspended and because of the heavy expenses for repairs. In many places through the lowlands the canal was built up instead of being excavated. That is, it ran between stretches of levees or dikes and the springing of a leak through these not infrequently resulted in a washout which would empty the ditch, leaving
40,000 less than the increase of the last pre- ceding decade, and the falling off was largely due, doubtless, to the State's heavy debt. In 1841 that debt in its totality amounted to $15,- 088,146; there was no prospect of any equiva- lent returns, and the affairs of the commonwealth generally were not such as to invite citizenship. Hence of the great tide of immigration pouring westward by way of the National road much that might have stopped here passed on to re-
Neals' Mill on Eel River, near Clay City. This was one of the stations of the "Underground Railroad," used for the purpose of hiding fugitive slaves during the carly '50s .- Photograph by Bert Weedon.
boats, freight and passengers stranded in the mud until the breach was repaired and the canal ·e-filled. Floods had their dangers, and in 1844 the liberated contents of a mill-dam broke through adjacent levees so swiftly that a packet boat, the Kentucky, was carried bodily through the gap into the river bottom and broken to pieces among the trees, three passengers being lrowned.
STATISTICAL SURVEY
Population .- The population during this dec- de grew from 685,866 in 1840 to 988,416 in 1850. This increase of 302,550 was more than
gions farther west. Of the aberrant classes there were estimated, in 1850, to be 81 convicts, 861 paupers, 278 blind, 517 deaf and dumb and 1,059 insane persons and idiots.
Agriculture .- During the decade about one- fourth of the total area of the State, or 5,019,- 822 acres, was farmed, and the assessed value of farm lands was $128,325,552. There was a general and pronounced increase of agricultural wealth, in both produce and live stock. The staple crop of corn, for example, advanced from 28,155,887 bushels in 1840, to 52,877,564 bushels in 1850, and swine increased by nearly a million head. The farmers' long-standing problem of
116
CENTENNIAL HISTORY AND HANDBOOK OF INDIANA
getting to the larger markets was vastly helped out by three transportation outlets of great value-the Madison & Indianapolis railroad, the Whitewater canal and the Wabash and Erie canal. The railroad was a crude affair, by the modern standard, with its strap rails, and its di- minutive locomotives and cars, but in capacity and speed it was a marvelous advance over the old, laborious teaming. As the road slowly crept northward its business. increased, and by the time it reached Indianapolis, in 1847, it was en- tering upon a fat prosperity.
What the Madison & Indianapolis railroad was to the south-central part of the State the Whitewater canal was to the Whitewater valley and the Wabash and Erie canal was to the Wa- bash region, as set forth in a previous section.
Church Statistics .- In 1850 the religious de- nominations in the State had multiplied to six- teen, besides sundry minor sects, with a total membership of 709,655, and with 2,032 churches. The church property was valued at $1,529,585. The Methodists were far in the lead with 778 churches and 266,372 members. The Baptists came second with 138,783 members and the Presbyterians third with 105,582, followed in order of strength by the Christian, with 65,341 ; Friends, 60,355; Roman Catholic, 25,115; Lu- theran, 19,050; Moravian, 18,250; Episcopal, 7,- 300; Universalist, 5,050; Tunker, 3,000; Free, 2,750; Congregational, 1,400; Dutch Reform, 1,275 ; Union, 1,250; German Reform, 1,150; Unitarian, 250; minor sects, 2,822. As compared with previous periods, Catholicism had spread rapidly during this decade, there being in 1849 upward of 63 churches distributed over 35 coun- ties, Franklin county leading in membership. They also supported a theological seminary at Vincennes.
Increase of Professions .- While agriculture was still far in the ascendency as compared with other industries, there was by 1850 a large in- crease in the number of professions and trades, the census list showing nearly 200 of these.
MEXICAN WAR PERIOD
From the spring of 1846 to the middle of 1848 Indiana, along with the rest of the country, suf- fered the distraction incident to war. Eight days after the declaration of hostilities with Mexico
(May 13) Governor Whitcomb received a requisition for three regiments of volunteers and on May 22 he issued a proclamation calling for this quota. The military conditions of the day and the response to the call are thus set forth in "Indiana in the Mexican War," a collection of documents compiled in 1908 by Adjutant-General Oran Perry :
Military Conditions .- "At the outbreak of the Mexican war the martial spirit of the people of the State was at the lowest ebb. There was no State organization of militia, no arms, no equipment, and apparently not a soldier in sight. The probability of war and the necessity of pre- paring for it had occurred to the minds of but few. The position of adjutant-general was looked upon as a compliment, a peg on which to hang a title. He was paid a salary of $100 per annum, provided his own office, fuel and sta- tionery, and was blissfully ignorant of every de- tail of the position. Fortunately for the reputa- tion of the State the incumbent, General David Reynolds, was a man of superior executive abil- ity, dauntless in all emergencies, a tireless worker and blessed with an abundance of com- mon sense, which largely offset his lack of ex- perience. His success in rapidly organizing the State's quota for the war had no parallel at that time, and in 1847 a grateful Legislature recog- nized the fact by adding $150 to his salary for that year.
"At that time there was but one railroad in the State, running between Madison and Edinburg. There were but few improved highways and no telegraphs. All communication was by mail, mostly carried by men on horseback and over bad roads. There were no daily papers, the press services being rendered by small weekly sheets, one or two to the county."
Governor's Proclamation; Response of the People .- "In spite of these handicaps the war news traveled fast. The governor issued his proclamation on the 22d of May and the ad- jutant-general his General Order No. 1 of the Fourth of July, directing the companies to as- semble at the rendezvous (old Fort Clark, be- tween Jeffersonville and New Albany) as soon as possible by the shortest route, and at their own expense for transportation and subsistence.
-
شنوعية
-
Moonlight Views of Cataract Fallen Dal Dirne in Ourne County
118
CENTENNIAL HISTORY AND HANDBOOK OF INDIANA
"As if by magic the roads were filled with marching men, helped on by patriotic farmers, who furnished teams for transportation and whose kind-hearted wives fed the hungry volun- teers. Notwithstanding these drawbacks the con- centration was quickly made, and by the 10th of June, nineteen days after the call, thirty com- panies had reported at camp and been mustered into service, while an overflow of twenty-two companies reported from their home stations, clamoring for acceptance.
"No less remarkable than the uprising of vol- unteers was the patriotic action of the banks in volunteering to supply the governor with the needful funds and take the chance of reimburse- ment by the State or general government, and this at a time when the State was almost hope- lessly in debt."
Indiana Regiments; Battle of Buena Vista .- Indiana sent, all told, about 5,000 men into the field, the three regiments in response to the first requisition being followed in 1847 by the fourth and fifth. This number included also 326 who joined the United States regiment of mounted riflemen.
At the battle of Buena Vista the disorderly retreat from the field of the second regiment fixed a stigma on the name of Indiana that long remained. This disrepute was but one illustra- tion of the truth that the judgments of the world are not based on either charity or reason. The
facts seem to be that comparatively a handful of raw recruits were fronted by an overwhelming force of the enemy ; that there was a confusion of orders; that those who started the retreat thought they were doing so under order. Some were rallied and led anew to the fight under the colors of another regiment, and that some, under the circumstances, were panic-stricken beyond rallying was no earthly reason why the charge of; dishonor should be visited upon a State.
The Part of Politics .- A feature of the Mexi- can service not to be overlooked is the fact that here, as elsewhere, according to one writer (Esarey) petty politics played their part at the expense of efficiency. "Indiana," we are told, "had competent men trained for war, but through political juggling not one of them was called into service. Of the three colonels and one brigadier- general, not one could have led a company through the manual of arms." This is the sin- ister evil that crops out all along the line of our political history, and one wonders if the common sense of the people will ever take home the les- son that it teaches.
The published roster of Indiana troops with accompanying brief data (see "Indiana in the Mexican War") shows a loss by death of 542. The mortality from disease and exposure was heavy, though statistics do not give the propor- tion. Another detriment to the State was a de- lay in the federal improvement of rivers, har- bors and the National road, on account of a de- pleted treasury.
!
CHAPTER XIII
PERIOD FROM 1850 TO 1860
Developments of Decade .- The conspicuous developments of this decade were the adoption of a new State constitution ; the beginning of a transportation system that was to revolutionize the economics of the State, and the marked ad- vancement by agitation and legislation of a gen- eral system of public schools. A change in the banking system, the establishment of a State fair and a permanent agricultural society are also notable features of the period.
THE NEW CONSTITUTION
Constitutional Provisions for Change. - The framers of the constitution of 1816, recog- nizing the uncertainties of it as an instrument for future years and future conditions, provided that "every twelfth year after this constitution shall have taken effect . there shall be a poll opened in which the qualified voters of the State shall express by vote whether they are in favor of calling a convention or not." If a majority fa- vored it, then provision was to be made by law for an election of delegates who, when met, should have the power to revise, amend or change the constitution, with the one restriction that no alteration should ever sanction slavery in the State.
This twelfth-year proviso gave rise to consid- erable argument before the adoption of another constitution, some maintaining that it should be followed strictly, as the fundamental law, while others held that the Legislature had the right to submit the question to the people whenever de- sired. As a matter of fact the proviso was not followed strictly. Esarey calls attention to the fact that as early as 1822 a law directed that at the next election the voter should indicate on the bottom of his ballot whether or not he favored calling a convention. In 1828, the end of the first twelve years, the vote was taken on the question, but evidently there was little interest in it for only ten out of fifty-eight counties were heard from, and these voted almost two to one against it. When the referendum was again ex- ercised, in 1840, fourteen counties out of sixty-
nine made no returns, and the fifty-five that did vote stood overwhelmingly against the proposi- tion. Nevertheless the minority sentiment for a change was growing more urgent, for six years later another vote was taken which gave a ma- jority of those cast on the question in favor of the convention. It was not, however, a majority of the total vote and the election of delegates was not held. Three years later it was tried again. Hitherto a large percentage of the voters had refrained from voting at all on the convention question and the attempt was now made to catch these non-voters by a provision in the law direct- ing the inspector of election to verbally put to each one, as he presented his ballot, the query : "Are you in favor of a convention to amend the constitution ?" The answer was recorded by the clerk of election in a special poll book. Even by this unusual method the special vote fell short of the total by more than 10,000, but the required majority for the convention was gained and a law for the election of delegates was passed on January 3, 1850 .* It may be noted that this ref- erendum was three years before the twelfth year as specified in the constitution.
Reasons for Change .- The argument for sup- planting the old constitution was that under it certain conditions had sprung up that in time be- came evils. Chief of these was legislation of a purely local or even personal character. Divorces, special privileges to individuals, the incorpora- tion of towns and the improvements of local roads were some of the matters that absorbed the legislative energy to the exclusion of general and important business. The General Assembly, we are told, "was constantly being beset to pass hun- dreds of such personal and local acts," until "the local laws became six or seven times more voluminous than the general laws" (Woodburn). Under the old regime the Legislature met each year and it was thought that every other year would do as well and be much less expensive. The old constitution did not impose restrictions on the creation of public debt, and the evil of that
* J. A. Woodburn, Ind. Magazine of History, vol. x, p. 237.
119
120
CENTENNIAL HISTORY AND HANDBOOK OF INDIANA
was apparent after the colossal plunging of the State in 1836. Also, the appropriating of public funds needed a stricter safeguard. These were among the reasons specified by Governor Whit- comb in his message of 1848. Other reasons that existed were that there should be opportunity for a more general banking law ; that judges and the State officers should be elected by the people in- stead of being appointed by the governor, as the judges were, or elected by the General Assembly as were the secretary, auditor and treasurer ; that the appointive power of the governor should be curtailed. Also, the court system was unsatis- factory and court practice costly.
The Convention .- The second constitutional convention met in Indianapolis October 7, 1850, with 150 delegates,* among whom were a num- ber of men whose names were, or afterward be- came, well known in our political history. Ex- Governor David Wallace, Schuyler Colfax, Thomas A. Hendricks, Robert Dale Owen, W. S. Holman, Alvin P. Hovey, William McKee Dunn and William H. English are, perhaps, the ones best remembered to-day. The convention spent eighteen weeks at its work and was the great event of the day. One writer speaks of it as "an eighteen weeks' course in political science for the citizens of the State," and both press and people showed a lively interest in the work as it progressed. When the new constitution was completed it was not only published abroad by the newspapers but 50,000 copies in English and 5,000 in German were printed for distribution. At the next election, which was in August of 1851, it was submitted to the people for ratifica- tion and it was approved by a majority of 85,- 592. It went into operation November 1, 1851, and in the transition there was no noticeable dis- arrangement in the machinery of government. The cost of the convention was $85,043.82 (Es- arcy).
Changes Effected .- The principal changes brought about by the new constitution were those indicated above. The nuisance of special legisla- tion was corrected by the following section of article four :
"SECTION 22. The General Assembly shall not pass local or special laws in any of the following enumerated cases, that is to say :
"Regulating the jurisdiction and duties of justices of the peace and of constables ;
* There were 42 delegates in the convention of 1816.
"For the punishment of crimes and misdemeanors;
"Regulating the practice in courts of justice ;
"Providing for changing the venue in civil and crim- inal cases ;
"Granting divorces ;
"Changing the names of persons ;
"For laying out, opening and working on highways,
and for the election or appointment of supervisors;
"Vacating roads, town plats, streets, alleys and public squares ;
"Summoning and impaneling grand and petit juries and providing for their compensation ;
"Regulating county and township business ;
"Regulating the election of county and township officers and their compensation ;
"For the assessment and collection of taxes for State, county, township or road purposes ;
"Providing for supporting common schools, and for the preservation of school funds ;
"In relation to fees or salaries; except that the laws may be so made as to grade the compensation of officers in proportion to the population and the necessary serv- ices required ;
"In relation to interest on money ;
"Providing for opening and conducting elections of State, county or township officers, and designating the places of voting ;
"Providing for the sale of real estate belonging to minors or other persons laboring under legal disa- bilities, by executors, administrators, guardians or trustees."
This rather lengthy list of negative provisions indicates the variety of special legislation that had sprung up under the old constitution, and to further guard against such misuse of the legis- lative power another section specifies that "all laws shall be general and of uniform operation throughout the State."
By the old constitution the number of legis- lators was fixed by the General Assembly and was to vary with the voting population. In the House there were to be not less than twenty-five nor more than thirty-six so long as the number of voters was less than 22,000. The number in the Senate was to be not less than one-third nor more than one-half of that in the House. In the new instrument the Senate was not to exceed fifty nor the House one hundred members.
The secretary, auditor and treasurer of State were to be elected by the voters of the State for a uniform term of two years, whereas they had been elected by joint ballot of the General As- sembly, the secretary for four years and the other two for three years.
Among the changes in the judiciary was the popular election of judges instead of appointment by the governor. Under the old system the State was divided into three circuits, and the circuit courts were under the jurisdiction of a president and two associate judges. These latter were local officials elected by the voters of their sev-
121
CENTENNIAL HISTORY AND HANDBOOK OF INDIANA
eral counties, and they sat with the president judge as he traveled the rounds of the circuit. In the change they were done away with. There was no constitutional limit to the number of ju- dicial circuits, and one judge was elected by the voters of each circuit. The new instrument pro- vided for the appointment of three commission- ers to "revise, simplify and abridge the rules, practice, pleadings and forms of the courts of justice," and "for abolishing the distinct forms of action at law now in use." A duty of these commissioners was "to reduce into a systematic code the general statute law of the State."
The safeguard against excessive State debt was thus embodied (section 5, article x) : "No law shall authorize any debt to be contracted on be- half of the State, except in the following cases : To meet casual deficits in the revenue ; to pay the interest on the State debt ; to repel invasion, sup- press insurrection, or, if hostilities be threat- ened, provide for public defense." Section 1 of article xiii also places a restriction upon the in- debtedness of "political or municipal corpora- tions," limiting such indebtedness to two per cent. on the value of taxable property within the cor- poration.
A drastic provision that was ratified in 1851 but stricken out in 1881 was one that "no negro or mulatto shall come into, or settle in the State after the adoption of this constitution." All con- tracts made with any negro coming into the State was to be void and any one who employed or otherwise encouraged such negro to remain here was subject to a fine of from $10 to $500 and fines so collected were to be set apart and ap- propriated to the colonization of negroes already in the State who might be willing to emigrate. The negro was explicitly forbidden all right of suffrage.
Comment on the Constitution .- Logan Es- arey, in his "History of Indiana," has this com- ment on the new constitution :
"Taken as a whole, it is not a great constitu- tion. It suffers by comparison with the one it displaced. Its departure from that instrument in most cases are of very doubtful value. Its jus- tification rests on the substitution of biennial for annual assemblies and abolishment of private and local legislation. On the other hand its critics rightly insist that the judiciary was weakened
and a vast field opened for sinister party politics."
Whether or not one agrees with this estimate, the fact remains that there seems to have been considerable dissatisfaction with the new consti- tution. Soon after its adoption there was agita- tion for amendments, and in 1859 there was an effort to bring about another convention or at least secure a series of amendments. The ques- tion of calling a convention was submitted to the people at the regular election in October of the year mentioned, but was voted down. In subse- quent years there was further agitation and in 1881 sundry amendments went through, among them the elimination of the provision forbidding negroes coming into the State.
BANKING CHANGES
Passing of the Old State Bank; "Wildcat" Banks .- The charter of the State Bank of In- diana, which dated from 1834, ran till January 1, 1859. The State was a part owner in that bank, but though the institution ranks well in our history as a reputable one, objections to it had sprung up. In the new constitution was inserted a section forbidding the State to be a stockholder in any bank after the expiration of the charter then existing. There was also the provision that no bank should be established otherwise than under a general banking law, except that there might also be chartered a bank with branches without collateral security, the branches to be mutually responsible for each other's liabilities upon all paper credit issued as money. If the General Assembly should enact a general law it was to "provide for the registry and countersign- ing, by an officer of State, of all paper credit de- signed to be circulated as money ; and ample col- lateral security, readily convertible into specie, for the redemption of the same in gold or silver," was to be required, such collateral security to be under the control of the proper officers of the State.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.