USA > Indiana > Carroll County > History of Carroll County Indiana, its people, industries and institutions > Part 3
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SECOND STAGE OF GOVERNMENT UNDER THE ORDINANCE.
The second stage of government in the territory was to begin whenever the governor was satisfied that there were at least five thousand free male inhabitants of the age of twenty-one and above. The main difference be-
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tween the first and second stages of territorial government lay in the fact that the legislative functions were taken from the governor and judges and given to a "general assembly or legislature." The ordinance provided for the election of one representative for each five hundred free male inhabitants, the tenure of the office to be two years. While the members of the lower house were to be elected by the qualified voters of the territory, the upper house, to consist of five members, were to be appointed by Congress in a somewhat complicated manner. The house of representatives was to select ten men and these ten names were to be sent to Congress and out of this number five were to be selected by Congress. This provision, like the ap- pointment of the governor, was later changed so as to make the upper house the appointees of the President of the United States. The five men so selected were called councilors and held office for five years.
INDIAN STRUGGLES (1787-1803).
The period from 1787 to 1803 in the Northwest Territory was marked by several bitter conflicts with the Indians. Just as at the close of the French and Indian War had the French stirred up the Indians against the Americans, so at the close of the Revolutionary War did the English do the same. In fact the War of 1812 was undoubtedly hastened by the depredations of the Indians, who were urged to make forays upon the frontier settlements in the Northwest Territory by the British. The various uprisings of the Indians during this critical period greatly retarded the influx of settlers in the new territory, and were a constant menace to those hardy pioneers who did ven- ture to establish homes north of the Ohio river. Three distinct campaigns were waged against the savages before they were finally subdued. The first campaign was under the command of Gen. Josiah Harmar (1790) and re- sulted in a decisive defeat for the whites. The second expedition was under the leadership of Gen. Arthur St. Clair ( 1791), the governor of the Territory, and was marked by one of the worst defeats ever suffered by an American army at the hands of the Indians. A lack of knowledge of Indian methods of warfare, combined with reckless mismanagement, sufficiently accounts for both disasters. It remained for Gen. Anthony Wayne, the "Mad Anthony" of Revolutionary fame, to bring the Indians to terms. The battle of Fallen Timbers, which closed his campaign against the Indians, was fought August 20, 1794, on the Maumee river within the present county of Defiance county, Ohio. This crushing defeat of the Indians, a rout in which they lost twelve out of thirteen chiefs, was so complete that the Indians were glad to sue for
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peace. On June 10, 1795, delegates from the various Indian tribes, headed by their respective chiefs, met at Greenville, Ohio, to formulate a treaty. A treaty was finally consummated on August 3, and was signed by General Wayne on behalf of the United States and by ninety chiefs and delegates of twelve interested tribes. This treaty was faithfully kept by the Indians and ever afterwards Little Turtle, the real leader of the Indians at that time, was a true friend of the whites. While there were several sporadic forays on the part of the Indians up to 1811, there was no battle of any importance with them until the battle of Tippecanoe in the fall of 1811.
ORGANIZATION OF THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
The first governor of the newly organized territory was Gen. Arthur St. Clair, a gallant soldier of the Revolution, who was appointed on October 5, 1787, and ordered to report for duty on the first of the following February. He held the office until November 22, 1802, when he was dismissed by Presi- dent Jefferson "for the disorganizing spirit, and tendency of every example, violating the rules of conduct enjoined by his public station, as displayed in his address to the convention." The governor's duties were performed by his secretary, Charles W. Byrd, until March 1, 1803, when the state officials ยท took their office. The first judges appointed were Samuel Holden Parsons, James Mitchell Varnum and John Armstrong. Before the time came for the judges to qualify, Armstrong resigned and John Cleves Symmes was ap- pointed in his place. The first secretary was Winthrop Sargent, who held the position until he was appointed governor of Mississippi Territory by the President on May 2, 1798. Sargent was succeeded by William Henry Har- rison, who was appointed by the President on June 26, 1798, and confined by the Senate two days later. Harrison was later elected as the first dele- gate of the organized Northwest Territory to Congress and the President then appointed Charles Willing Byrd as secretary of the Territory, Byrd's appointment being confirmed by the Senate on December 31, 1799.
REPRESENTATIVE STAGE OF GOVERNMENT (1799-1803).
The Northwest Territory remained under the government of the first stage until September 16, 1799, when it formally advanced to the second or representative stage. In the summer of 1798 Governor St. Clair had ascer- tained that the territory had a population of at least five thousand free male inhabitants and, in accordance with the provisions of the Ordinance of 1787,
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was ready to make the change in its form of government. On October 29, 1798, the governor issued a proclamation to the qualified voters of the terri- tory directing them to choose members for the lower house of the territorial Legislature at an election to be held on the third Monday of the following December. The twenty-two members so elected met on January 16, 1799, and, pursuant to the provisions of the ordinance, selected the ten men from whom the President of the United States later chose five for the Legislative Council. They then adjourned to meet on September 16, 1799, but since there was not a quorum on that day they held adjourned sessions until the 23rd, at which time a quorum was present.
At the time the change in the form of government went into effect there were only nine counties in the whole territory. These counties had been organized either by the governor or his secretary. The following table gives the nine counties organized before 1799 with the dates of their organization and the number of legislators proportioned to each by the governor :
Date of
Number of
County.
Organization.
representatives.
Washington
July 27, 1788
2
Hamilton
January 4, 1790
-7
St. Clair
April 27, 1790
I
Knox
June 20, 1790
I
Randolph
October 5, 1795
I
Wayne
August 6, 1796
3
Adams
July 10, 1797
1
1
1
1
I
1
1
2
Jefferson
July 29, 1797
I
Ross
August 20, 1798
-4
FIRST TERRITORIAL LEGISLATURE OF NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
The twenty-two representatives and five councilors were the first rep- resentative body to meet in the Northwest Territory and they represented a constituency scattered over a territory of more than two hundred and sixty- five thousand square miles, an area greater than Germany or France, or even Austria-Hungary. It would be interesting to tell something of the delibera- tions of these twenty-seven sterling pioneers, but the limit of the present article forbids. It is necessary, however, to make mention of one important thing which they did in view of the fact that it throws much light on the subsequent history of the Northwest Territory.
.
I
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
I
1
1
1
1
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DIVISION OF 1800.
The Legislature was authorized to elect a delegate to Congress and two candidates for the honor presented their names to the Legislature, William Henry Harrison and Arthur St. Clair, Jr., the son of the governor. The Legislature, by a joint ballot on October 3, 1799, elected Harrison by a vote of eleven to ten. The defeat of his son undoubtedly had considerable to do with the subsequent estrangement which arose between the governor and his legislature and incidentally hastened the division of the Northwest Terri- tory. Within two years from the time the territory had advanced to the second stage of government the division had taken place. On May 7, 1800, Congress passed an act dividing the Northwest Territory by a line drawn from the mouth of the Kentucky river to Fort Recovery, in Mercer county, Ohio, and thence due north to the boundary line between the United States and Canada. Governor St. Clair favored the division because he thought it would delay the organization of a state and thus give him a longer lease on his position, but he did not favor the division as finally determined. He was constantly growing in disfavor with the people on account of his overbearing manner and he felt that he would get rid of some of his bitterest enemies if the western inhabitants were set off into a new territory. However, the most of the credit for the division must be given to Harrison, who, as a dele- gate to Congress, was in a position to have the most influence. Harrison also was satisfied that in case a new territory should be formed he would be ap- pointed its first governor and he was not disappointed. The territory west of the line above mentioned was immediately organized and designated as Indiana Territory, while the eastern portion retained the existing govern- ment and the old name-Northwest Territory. It is frequently overlooked that the Northwest Territory existed in fact and in name up until March I, 1803.
CENSUS OF NORTHWEST TERRITORY IN 1800.
The division of 1800 left the Northwest Territory with only about one- third of its original area. The census of the territory taken by the United States government in 1800 showed it to have a total population of forty-five thousand three hundred and sixty-five, which fell short by about fifteen thou- sand of being sufficient for the creation of a state as provided by the Ordi- nance of 1787, which fixed the minimum population at sixty-thousand. The counties left in the Northwest Territory, with their respective population,
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are set forth in the appended table, all of which were within the present state of Ohio, except Wayne :
Adams
3,432
Hamilton
14,632
Jefferson
8,766
Ross
8,540
Trumbull
1,302
Washington
5,427
Wayne
3,206
Total
45,365
The population as classified by the census with respect to age and sex is interesting and particularly so in showing that considerably more than one- third of the total population were children under ten years of age.
Males.
Females.
Whites up to ten years of age.
9,362
8,644
Whites from ten to sixteen
3,647
3,353
Whites from sixteen to twenty-six.
4,636
3,861
Whites from twenty-six to forty-five _.
4,833
3,342
Whites forty-five and upward
.1,955
1,395
Total
24,433
20,595
Total of both sexes
45,028
Total of other persons, not Indians
337
Grand total
45,365
1
1
The above table shows in detail the character and distribution of the population of the Northwest Territory after the division of 1800. It is at this point that the history of Indiana properly begins and it is pertinent to set forth with as much detail as possible the population of Indiana Territory at that time. The population of 5,641 was grouped about a dozen or more settlements scattered at wide intervals throughout the territory. The follow- ing table gives the settlements in Indiana Territory in 1800 with their re- spective number of inhabitants :
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Mackinaw, in northern Michigan
1 25I
Green Bay, Wisconsin 1
1 1 50
Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin 65 1 1 I
Cahokia, Monroe county, Illinois 719 1 1
Belle Fontaine, Monroe county, Illinois 286 1 1 1
1 L'Aigle, St. Clair county, Illinois 250
Kaskaskia, Randolph county, Illinois 467
Prairie du Rocher, Randolph county, Illinois 212
Settlement in Mitchel township, Randolph county, Ill. 334
Fort Massac, southern Illinois 90
Clark's Grant, Clark county, Indiana 929
Vincennes, Knox county, Indiana 714
Vicinity of Vincennes (traders and trappers) 819
Traders and trappers at Ouitenon and Fort Wayne 155
Fur traders, scattered along the lakes
300
Of this total population of nearly six thousand. it was about equally divided between what is now Indiana and Illinois. There were one hun- dred and sixty-three free negroes reported, while there were one hundred and thirty-five slaves of color. Undoubtedly, this census of 1800 failed to give. all of the slave population, and it is interesting to note that there were efforts to enslave the Indian as well as the negro.
All of these settlements with the exception of the one in Clark's Grant were largely French. The settlement at Jeffersonville was made in large part by soldiers of the Revolutionary War and was the only real American settlement in the Indiana Territory when it was organized in 1800.
FIRST STAGE OF TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT.
The government of Indiana Territory was formally organized July 4, 1800, and in a large book kept in the secretary of state's office at Indianapolis, there appears in the large legible hand of John Gibson the account of the first meeting of the officials of the Territory. It reads as follows :
"St. Vincennes, July 4, 1800. This day the government of the Indiana Territory commenced, William Henry Harrison having been appointed governor, John Gibson, secretary, William Clarke, Henry Vanderburgh & John Griffin Judges in and over said Territory."
Until Governor Harrison appeared at Vincennes, his secretary, John Gibson. acted as governor. The first territorial court met. March 3, 1801,
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the first meeting of the governor and judges having begun on the 12th of the preceding January. The governor and judges, in accordance with the pro- visions of the Ordinance of 1787, continued to perform all legislative and judicial functions of the territory until it was advanced to the representative stage of government in 1805. The governor had sole executive power and appointed all officials, territorial and county.
CHANGES IN BOUNDARY LIMITS OF INDIANA.
During this period from 1800 to 1805, the territory of Indiana was con- siderably augmented as result of the organization of the state of Ohio in 1803. At that date Ohio was given its present territorial limits, and all of the rest of the Northwest Territory was included within Indiana Territory from this date until 1805. During this interim Louisiana was divided and the northern part was attached to Indiana Territory for purposes of civil and criminal jurisdiction. This was, however, only a temporary arrangement, which lasted only about a year after the purchase of Louisiana from France. The next change in the limits of Indiana Territory occurred in 1805, in which year the territory of Michigan was set off. The southern line of Michigan was made tangent to the southern extreme of Lake Michigan, and it so remained until Indiana was admitted to the Union in 1816. From 1805 to 1809 Indiana included all of the present states of Indiana, Illinois, Wiscon- sin and about one-third of Minnesota. In the latter year Illinois was set off as a territory and Indiana was left with its present limits with the exception of a ten-mile strip along the northern boundary. This strip was detached from Michigan and this subsequently led to friction between the two states, which was not settled until the United States government gave Michigan a large tract of land west of Lake Michigan. Thus it is seen how Indiana has received its present boundary limits as the result of the successive changes in 1803. 1805, 1809 and 1816.
SECOND STAGE OF TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT ( 1805-1816.)
The Ordinance of 1787 provided that whenever the population of the territory reached five thousand free male inhabitants it should pass upon the question of advancing to the second or representative stage. Governor Har- rison issued a proclamation August 4, 1804, directing an election to be held in the various counties of Indiana territory on the 11th of the following month. In the entire territory, then comprehending six counties, there were
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only three hundred and ninety-one votes cast. The following table gives the result of this election :
County.
For Advance. Against Advance.
Total.
Clark
35
13
48
Dearborn
O
26
26
Knox
163
12
175
Randolph
40
21
61
St. Clair
22
59
81
Wayne
O
O
O
Total
260
131
391
1
It will be noticed that there is no vote returned from Wayne and this is accounted for by the fact that the proclamation notifying the sheriff was not received in time to give it the proper advertisement. Wayne county at that time included practically all of the present state of Michigan and is not to be confused with the Wayne county later formed within the present limits of Indiana. As result of this election and its majority of one hundred and twenty-nine in favor of advancing to the second stage of government, the governor issued a proclamation calling for an election on January 3, 1805, of nine representatives, the same being proportioned to the counties as follows: Wayne, three; Knox, two; Dearborn, Clark, Randolph and St. Clair, one each. The members of the first territorial legislature of Indiana convened at Vincennes on July 29, 1805. The members of the house were as follows: Dr. George Fisher, of Randolph; William Biggs and Shadrach Bond, of St. Clair; Benjamin Parke and John Johnson, of Knox; Davis Floyd, of Clark, and Jesse B. Thomas, of Dearborn. This gives, however, only seven repre- sentatives, Wayne county having been set off as the territory of Michigan in the spring of this same year. A re-apportionment was made by the governor in order to bring the quota of representatives up to the required number.
The Legislative Council consisted of five men as provided by the Ordin- ance of 1787, namely: Benjamin Chambers, of Dearborn; Samuel Gwath- mey, of Clark; John Rice Jones, of Knox; Pierre Menard, of Randolph, and John Hay, of St. Clair. It is not possible in this connection to give a detailed history of the territory of Indiana from 1805 until its admission to the Union in 1816. Readers who wish to make a study of our state's history can find volumes which will treat the history of the state in a much better manner
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than is possible in a volume of this character. It may be noted that there were five general assemblies of the Territorial Legislature during this period of eleven years. Each one of the five general assemblies was divided into two sessions, which, with the dates, are given in the appended table :
First General Assembly-First session, July 29, 1805; second session, November 3, 1806.
Second General Assembly-First session, August 12, 1807; second session, September 26, 1808.
Third General Assembly-First session, November 12, 1810; second session, November 12, 1811.
Fourth General Assembly-First session, February 1, 1813; second session, December 6, -1813.
Fifth General Assembly-First session, August 15, 1814; second session, December 4, 1815.
CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATES OF INDIANA TERRITORY.
Indiana Territory was allowed a delegate in Congress from 1805 until the close of the territorial period. The first three delegates were elected by the Territorial Legislature, while the last four were elected by the qualified voters of the territory. The first delegate was Benjamin Parke, who was elected to succeed himself in 1807 over John Rice Jones, Waller Taylor and Shadrach Bond. Parke resigned March 1, 1808, to accept a seat on the supreme judiciary of Indiana Territory, and remained on the supreme bench of Indiana after it was admitted to the Union, holding the position until his death at Salem, Indiana, July 12, 1835. Jesse B. Thomas was elected Octo- ber 22, 1808, to succeed Parke as delegate to Congress. It is this same Thomas who came to Brookville in '1808 with Amos Butler. He was a tricky, shifty, and, so his enemies said, an unscrupulous politician. He was later elected to Congress in Illinois and became the author of the Missouri Compromise. In the spring of 1809 the inhabitants of the territory were permitted to cast their first vote for the delegate to Congress. Three candi- dates presented themselves for the consideration of the voters, Jonathan Jennings, Thomas Randolph and John Johnson. There were only four counties in the state at this time, Knox, Harrison, Clark and Dearborn. Two counties, St. Clair and Randolph, were a part of the new territory of Illinois, which was cut off from Indiana in the spring of 1809. The one newspaper of the territory waged a losing fight against Jennings, the latter appealing for
(4)
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support on the ground of his anti-slavery views. The result of the election was as follows: Jennings, 428; Randolph, 402; Johnson, 81. Jonathan Jennings may be said to be the first successful politician produced in Indiana. His congressional career began in 1809 and he was elected to Congress four successive terms before 1816. He was president of the constitution conven- tion of 1816, first governor of the state and was elected a second time, but resigned to go to Congress, where he was sent for four more terms by the voters of his district.
EFFORTS TO ESTABLISH SLAVERY IN INDIANA.
The Ordinance of 1787 specifically provided that neither slavery nor any voluntary servitude should ever exist in the Northwest Territory. Notwith- standing this prohibition, slavery actually did exist, not only in the North- west Territory, but in the sixteen years while Indiana was a territory as well. The constitution of Indiana in 1816 expressly forbade slavery and yet the census of 1820 reported one hundred and ninety slaves in Indiana, which was only forty-seven less than there was in 1810. Most of these slaves were held in the southwestern counties of the state, there being one hundred and eighteen in Knox, thirty in Gibson, eleven in Posey, ten in Vanderburg and the remainder widely scattered throughout the state. As late as 1817 Frank- lin county scheduled slaves for taxation, listing them at three dollars each. The tax schedule for 1813 says that the property tax on "horses, town lots, servants of color and free males of color shall be the same as in 1814." Franklin county did not return slaves at the census of 1810 or 1820, but the above extract from the commissioners' record of Franklin county proved con- clusively that slaves were held there. Congress was petitioned on more than one occasion during the territorial period to set aside the prohibition against slavery, but on each occasion refused to assent to the appeal of the slavery advocates. While the constitution convention of 1816 was in session. there was an attempt made to introduce slavery, but it failed to accomplish anything.
THE INDIAN LANDS.
The United States government bought from the Indians all of the land within the present state of Indiana with the exception of a small tract around Vincennes, which was given by the Indians to the inhabitants of the town about the middle of the eighteenth century. The first purchase of land was made in 1795, at which time a triangular strip in the southeastern part of the
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state was secured by the treaty of Greenville. By the time Indiana was ad- mitted to the Union in 1816, the following tracts had been purchased: Vin- cennes tract, June 7, 1803; Vincennes treaty tract, August 18 and 27, 1804; Grouseland tract, August 21, 1805; Harrison's purchase, September 30, 1809; Twelve-mile purchase, September 30, 1809.
No more purchases were made from the Indians until the fall of 1818, at which time a large tract of land in the central part of the state was pur- chased from the Indians. This tract included all of the land north of the Indian boundary lines of 1805 and 1809, and south of the Wabash river with the exception of what was known as the Miami reservation. This treaty, known as St. Mary's, was finally signed on October 6, 1818, and the next Legislature proceeded to divide it into two counties, Wabash and Delaware.
ORGANIZATION OF COUNTIES.
As fast as the population would warrant, new counties were estab- lished in this New Purchase. Newton county (December 9, 1859) was the last county to be organized in the state. It had been first established by the legislative act of January 29, 1839, but within a year it was found that the population was too sparse to justify its separate existence, so it was attached to Jasper county and it was not until about twenty years later that its population was sufficient to make a separate county of it. Howard county was first organized as Richardville county (May 1, 1844), but its name was changed by the legislative act of December 28, 1846, to Howard. For purposes of reference, a list of the counties, with the dates of their establishment, is here appended. The dates given represent the time the organization became effective, since in many instances it was from a few months to as much as seven years after the act establishing the county was passed before it became effective.
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