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518
HISTORY OF INDIANA
In the article on the legislative department two im- portant changes were made, both dictated by the over- whelming proof of experience. One change was the substitution of biennial for annual sessions of the Gen- eral Assembly. The other forbade the General Assem- bly making special or local laws. In this field the granting of divorces by the General Assembly had occasioned most hostile criticism. For two years the churches had opposed this exercise of power by a legis- lative body. A former General Assembly had invested the State courts with power to try divorce bills, but the Assembly could not by its own act divest itself of the power and the abuse continued.
So far, heavy-footed experience guided the conven- tion with a certain step. But when the subjects of education, benevolent institutions, corporations, and personal rights were reached, the members found trouble in coming to an agreement. In the field of education there was an effort made to give the conven- tion a vision of its duty, but without success. The Constitution of 1816 is far more favorable toward edu- cation than is that of 1850. The seminaries were de- stroyed and there was a strong sentiment favoring abolishing the State University, giving all funds to the public schools.
Likewise the new constitution shows little influ- ence of the awakening of the people to their duty to the unfortunate members of society. The newly estab- lished schools for deaf and dumb, blind, and insane are specifically provided for; but the wide application of benevolence made by the State at present finds no warrant in fundamental law.
In the field of corporations, compromise was effected between those on the one hand who favored
alliance between the Abolitionists and the Democrats in Indiana. It was a purely selfish political move and failed. It was con- demned most severely by the State Journal, Feb. 22, 1851.
519
THE NEW CONSTITUTION
a general law for all corporations and those who wished to re-establish a State bank, and those who opposed all corporate bodies. The article on "corporations" is a poor apology for the weary days of speechmaking on the kindred subjects of "debt," "banks," and "corpora- tion control."
In the field of natural rights the fight was on the homestead exemption and on women's rights. No better evidence of the bigotry and the ignorance of the times exists than the attacks of the self-styled churchmen on Robert Dale Owen, who led the fight for women's rights. His victory is a tribute, however, to the open- mindedness and native honesty of the members.
Taken as a whole, it is not a great constitution. It suffers in comparison with the one it displaced. Its departures from that instrument in most cases are of very doubtful value. Its justification rests on the sub- stitution of biennial for annual assemblies and abolish- ment 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 partisan politics.
§ 91 THE NEW CONSTITUTION
THE convention adjourned Monday morning, Feb- ruary 10, 1851. It had been in session eighteen weeks. No event in the State's history had received as much attention and publicity. The daily papers, and many of the larger weeklies, published the proceedings entire from day to day or from week to week. Innumerable articles by citizens in praise or condemnation of the work appeared in the papers. Answers by the mem- bers in their own defense were equally plentiful. Edi- torials explained the work of the convention day by day and gave the editor's opinion of its value. It was an eighteen weeks' course in political science for the citizens of the State.
520
HISTORY OF INDIANA
The completed constitution was read at the last session of the convention on the morning of February 10. It appeared at once on the front pages of the news- papers, many of which repeated its publication in the three or four succeeding issues.20 The convention ordered 55,000 copies of the constitution, 50,000 in English and 5,000 in German, printed for distribution. These appeared early in March.21
The convention had suggested that the new con- stitution be submitted to the people for ratification or rejection at the approaching August election. The General Assembly affirmed this suggestion, February 14, 1851, and the governor's proclamation followed immediately, directing the election officers to carry the order into effect.22
There was no organized opposition to the ratifica- tion. Both parties favored the new constitution. At the ensuing election every county gave an affirmative majority but Ohio. Starke county cast a unanimous vote for the constitution. The total vote was 113,230 for, and 27,638 against ratification, a majority of 85,592 out of a total vote of 140,868. The vote for the exclusion of colored persons was substantially the same, being an affirmative vote of 113,828 out of a total vote of 135,701.23 Four counties, Lagrange, Randolph, The Elkhart and Steuben voted against exclusion. total vote on the constitution was little short of that cast for congressmen. The total vote in the ten con- gressional districts was 148,529. That there was no partisan opposition to the constitution is shown by this vote. The Democrats carried the State by a majority of only 9,469.24
20 Indiana State Journal, Feb. 15, 1851.
21 Indiana State Journal, March 15, 1851. They were printed for the New Albany Ledger at the Cincinnati Gazette office.
22 Indiana State Journal, Feb. 22, 1851.
23 Indiana State Journal, Sept. 20, 1851.
24 Indiana State Journal, Aug. 30, 1851.
521
THE NEW CONSTITUTION
The new constitution went into operation, Novem- ber 1, 1851. The General Assembly elected in August, 1851, met as directed by the old constitution. The first general election under the new constitution was held in October, 1852, the old officers holding until the newly elected ones were qualified and took their positions ac- cording to law. There was no jar in the operations of the State government during the change.
One of the objections urged at first against a con- stitutional convention was that it would cost an enor- mous sum of money at a time when the State was almost bankrupt, and could ill afford to spend any money except for the most urgent need. The total ex- pense for the eighteen weeks' session as shown by the State treasurer's report was $85,043.82.25
25 Documentary Journal, 1851, 8; 1852, 7.
CHAPTER XXI
POLITICS FROM 1840 TO 1852
§ 92 A BANKRUPT STATE
As soon as the political frenzy of 1840 had spent itself, the citizens of Indiana began to give their seri- ous attention to the condition of their State govern- ment. One ugly fact stared them squarely in the face. That fact was that the State system of internal im- provements was a failure. Long successions of mud- holes marked the places where the people had expected to see hurrying boats bearing the produce of prosperous farmers to expectant buyers. For ten years the people had worked patiently, buoyed up by promises of ignor- ant and dishonest politicians in the hope of seeing their State provided with an adequate transportation system.
The financial condition of the State was alarming. The auditor reported that the total assessment valua- tion of the State had dropped from over $107,000,000 to $91,000,000. The income of the State from taxation had likewise dropped $170,901, leaving a net income for 1840 of only $192,786 from this source.1 The cur- rent expenses for the year were $136,749. There would thus be left a sum of $34,152 to meet the interest at six per cent on upwards of $12,000,000 bonded debt.2
The outlook was gloomy enough. Turning away from the whole subject of internal improvement, the General Assembly gave its attention to governmental reorganization. The ways and means committee, to
1 Auditor's report, in Laws of Indiana, 1840, 228.
2 Treasurer's report, in Laws of Indiana, 1840, 236.
523
NEW TAX SYSTEM
whom was referred the auditor's annual statement for 1840, reported seven bills providing for a complete reorganization of the fiscal policy and machinery of the State.3
The first was entitled a "Bill to Value the Property of the State."4 The law directed the county assessor, an officer created by the third bill of the list, to ap- praise the real and personal property of the State at its cash value. On this basis the State and county gov- ernments were to make tax levies. County and State boards of equalization were provided for. The second bill, when enacted into law, established and defined the office of county auditor, to be filled by popular elec- tion.5 The fourth bill defined the county treasurer's duties; the fifth pointed out the mode of making tax levies ; the sixth subjected the private stock in the State Bank to taxation the same as any other property ; the seventh directed a levy of forty cents to meet the inter- est on the State debt.6
This revolution in the taxing system was accom- plished by the Whig Party. A minority of about twenty-five representatives opposed all the measures. In the "Address of the Democratic Members of the Legislature," dated February 13, 1841, the measures were hotly denounced.7 The prosperous condition of the State in 1834 was contrasted with the dismal out- look in 1840. The annual running expenses of the State in 1834 were given as $30,000; in 1840 they had mounted to $840,000. There was nothing to show for the expenditure except a few lines of stagnant pools and a bitter experience.
3 House Journal, 1840, 306.
4 Laws of Indiana, 1840, ch. I.
5 Laus of Indiana, 1840, ch. II.
6 Laws of Indiana, 1840, chs. I to IX inclusive.
7 Vincennes Western Sun, Mar. 6, 1841. "The time has come for the people to take a hand. Demagogues, temporizers, gam- bling politicians must be put down. Is liberty worth such a tax?"
524
HISTORY OF INDIANA
The Whigs assured the taxpayers that the levy of forty cents would pay all the State debt. The fund commissioners likewise gave it as their opinion that the levy would soon put the State finances on a sound foundation.
The law, which is still in substance on the statute books, was good, but the party that placed it on the statute book was never given complete power again in the State. By one of those inexplicable turns in popular government public opinion grasped the Whig party, internal improvements, the high tax, and the ruined State, all in a single thought which neither fact nor argument seemed able to alter. Public opin- ion, as is usual, was right. The Whig Party had had complete control of the State government at least since 1834. During that time taxes had increased eight-
fold.8 The party was guilty of flagrant misgovern- ment. Its punishment was not unmerited.9
The Democrats had found a vulnerable spot in the Whig political coat which they never failed to take ad- vantage of. It made little difference what the Whigs proposed or what argument they adduced in its sup- port, the sufficient political answer was "internal im- provements." During the session of the General As- sembly of 1841-42, a series of articles appeared in the
8 For a clear indictment of the Whig Party see an address by Robert Dale Owen to the "Citizens of Posey county," August, 1841; published in the Indiana State Sentinel, October 11, and in the Western Sun, November 13. "Our State debt has run up in six years to one-tenth of all our property. Our tax is eight times as high as it was six years ago. Our bonds are hawked about at half price like those of a bankrupt. Our check for in- terest is dishonored. All is lost, save honor, and it is forfeited."
9 The following election gave the Democrats fifty-six repre- sentatives and the Whigs forty-four. The voters complained that they had to pay 9 per cent. interest on their mortgages when money was worth only 6. The financial question was finally set- tled by the "Butler Bill." See chapter on "Internal Improve- ments." Indiana Journal, Aug. 28, 1841; Western Sun, Sept. 4, 1841,
525
WHIG FAILURE
Indiana State Journal on the subject of the general responsibility for the internal improvements policy.10 The author, who was thoroughly conversant with the facts, made it clear that many prominent Democrats were supporters of the policy, but he failed to acquit his own party. The Whig Party, having lost its spirit, had become a vast host, unorganized, reposing on their arms, their leaders fallen or deserted. Many who had formerly taken a fighting interest became sullen and disgusted, "stung with regrets" as an editor put it, and gave no more attention to politics.11 The whole period from 1840 to 1846 was one of distress in Indiana. It was the long reaction after the debauch. The farmers pulled themselves together and plied their trade in dogged silence. Their pride as well as their prosperity was gone.
A committee of Whig members of the General As- sembly at the close of the session issued a long, well- written address, but not even the eloquence of Theo- dore Barnett nor the sound sense of John D. Defrees could make much impression.12 "Amid the ruin and desolation which surrounded the Hoosier affairs, they have only one thing to be proud of, and that is their supreme bench. This is an ornament to American jurisprudence," remarked Pleasant Hackleman, editor of the Rushville Whig.13
The Democrats played a waiting game. The salaries of the State officials were reduced, useless offices were abolished, and the bankrupt State govern- ment relieved of every burden possible.14 The thoughts
10 Indiana Journal, January and February, 1842.
11 Indianapolis Daily Journal, Jan. 5 and 7, 1842.
12 Indianapolis Daily Journal, Jan. 18, 1842.
13 Indianapolis Daily Journal, June 7, 1842.
14 "Our investigation into frauds of the system will exhibit a scene of villainy, fraud and corruption, scarcely, if ever, equaled in the annals of any country. We have appointed a special agent to close up these 'splendid financial operations,' to sue delinquent officers and recover what is possible. Most have been sanctioned
1
526
HISTORY OF INDIANA
of the people, long centered on the activity of the State, were gradually directed into other channels. The schools, the churches, the benevolent institutions, agri- cultural societies, labor unions, numberless organiza- tions for the betterment of society, the protection of the unfortunate and the innocent, began to receive sys- tematic attention and support.
The influx of settlers and especially of workmen on the canal had seriously demoralized society. This was not noticed, or perhaps the vicious element did not assert itself, so long as times were flush. But with the pinching years of 1839 and 1840 many persons, thrown out of employment, were forced to the hard choice be- tween the miseries of extreme poverty and vice. What the newspapers called a wave of crime swept over the State. A Marion county grand jury, in its report to the court, solemnly pronounced the taverns asylums of immorality and crime rather than places of rest and refreshment for travelers. The recent General Assem- bly had required all liquor retailers to secure a county license. The law had the effect of concentrating the drinking as well as the drunkards in the taverns. With the drinkers came their parasites, the gamblers and the prostitutes. The report of the grand jury awakened the capital like a fire alarm.15 Seven days after the report was made public, the citizens met in mass meet- ing. The censure of the grand jury was discussed, and it was decided that it was not wide of the truth. Im- mediate action was demanded. Under the law the voters had a right, by majority remonstrance, to keep
by law. We have also discharged that whole horde of blood suckers, the boards of commissioners and engineers. In the actions of that most unfortunate and designing conclave of men, the people will discern in bold relief the workings of that aristo- cratic policy which had its paternity in Alexander Hamilton and the elder Adams." John W. Davis in "Democratic Address to the Voters" at the close of the session of General Assembly of 1842. Published in Western Sun, March 5.
15 The report is given in the Indiana Journal, May 29, 1841.
INDIANA IN 1852
527
St. Joseph
Elkhart
Steuben
Laporte
Lagrange
Porter
~
Lake
Dekalb
Marshall
Noble
Kosciusko
5
TENTE
Starke
Whitley
Alden
Jasper
Fulton
Pulaski'
Wabash
Miam1
Cass
Adama
White
Wells
Benton
Carroll
ELEVENIA
Howard
Grant
Black ford
Jay
Warren
Tippecanoe
Clinton
Tipton
EIGHTH
Hamilton
Boone
Madison
Vermillion
Hancock
Parke
Marion
Putnam
Hend- ricks
SIXIE
Rush
SEVE
Shelby
Morgan
Johnson
Vigo
Clay
F
Owan
Decatur
Monroe
Bartholo- men
Sullivan
Ripley
Groene
Jennings
THIRD Jackson
Lawrence
Switzer- land
Wvigo
Jefferson
Daviess
artin
Washington
Scott
R 8
Orange
SECOND
Clark
Pike
Dubois
Crawford
Floyd
Van- der- burg
Perry
Harrison
The Democrate car- ried all the dis- tricte except the Fifth in 1852.
Warrick
Posey
Spencer
Huntington
Fountain
Montgomery
Franklin URTE
Brown
Dearborn
Gibson
INDIANA COUNTIES, 1852. By E. V. Shockley
528
HISTORY OF INDIANA
the county commissioners from issuing a liquor license. A remonstrance was drawn up and quickly signed by 224 of the 364 eligible voters of the town. In less than three hours the whole work had been accomplished, barring saloons from the town for three years.16
§ 93 CAMPAIGN OF 1844
THE election of 1840 closed the period of personal politics in Indiana.17 Men of all parties had united to elect Harrison. Among his supporters there was little cohesion except what was furnished by the personality of the President. How helpless the Whigs were is shown by their condition after the death of their lead- er. Under the lead of Clay a bill for a new United States Bank was prepared and rushed through Con- gress. In due time it reached President Tyler, who promptly attached his veto.
The breach produced by the quarrel between Clay and President Tyler extended to Indiana. The officers who enjoyed the presidential patronage maintained a formal allegiance to the administration. The great majority of the voters, together with the party organ- ization, followed Clay. They denounced the President for what they chose to call his betrayal of the party.
The Democratic Party profited indirectly by the de- moralization of the Whigs, though many of the dis- affected went over to that party. The struggle of 1840 eliminated Van Buren, who had come to be the chief liability of the Democratic Party in the West. He had all the weaknesses of Jackson without any of Jackson's strength. Neither party had any leader at the time, who, like Jackson or Harrison, towered head and shoul-
16 Indiana Journal, June 18, 1841. This meeting was held June 5. It was presided over by Samuel Merrill, president of the State Bank.
17 Adam Leonard, "The Period of Personal Politics in Indiana." Mss.
529
ELECTION OF 1844
ders above the multitude. The old issues of the Whig Party, the tariff, internal improvements and the bank, the championing of which had given Clay his hold on the party, had lost their appeal. The bank had become an impossibility under Tyler. Thousands of Indiana Whigs were interested in their own State Bank, whose prosperity would be endangered by a new United States Bank. The internal improvement issue had turned to ashes in the mouths of the Whigs; and the American tariff had come to be regarded with suspi- cion by the farming class.
The period from 1841 to 1844 in Indiana was one of political realignment. Not only was there a change in the political management of the parties, but the old issues were discarded. The secret of the sweeping success of the Democrats in Indiana in the election of 1844 is due to the fact that that party first freed itself from the dead issues of the past, and placed itself in harmony with the advanced thought of the times. The Whigs tried to win the campaign on the same old issues, with the same old machinery, and with the same candidates which they had employed since 1824. They seemed incapable of profiting either by the thought or the experience of the previous fifteen years.
Since the beginning of the rivalry between the Whig and the Jacksonian Parties, there had been two opposing commercial institutions in the State. The banks and the land offices controlled the money of the State. The Democrats had always had control of the land offices, and the Whigs had always controlled the banks. The General Assembly of 1841 appointed Nathan B. Palmer to make a thorough investigation of the condition of the bank.18 In 1843 the General As- sembly, still on the trail of the bank, took the manage- ment of it out of Whig hands and gave it to Judge James Morrison, a Democrat. As an offset to this ad-
18 Laws of Indiana. 1841. ch. 170.
530
HISTORY OF INDIANA
vantage the Democrats lost control of the land offices from 1841 to 1845. It is to be observed, however, that both the bank and the land offices were rapidly losing their political influence.
The opening battle of the new era in Indiana poli- tics was the election of the United States senator to succeed O. H. Smith, whose term expired in 1843. The two parties were almost evenly matched in the General Assembly, so evenly that one or two votes would de- termine the contest. On the first ballot, O. H. Smith, the Whig candidate, received 72 votes; Tilghman A. Howard, the Democratic candidate, 74; Edward Han- negan, an independent Democratic candidate, 3; Joseph G. Marshall, a Whig, 1. On the second ballot Smith received 75 votes, Howard 74. Daniel Kelso, a Whig senator from Switzerland county, voted for Hannegan. On the sixth ballot the Democrats dropped Howard and supported Hannegan, who then received 76 votes and was elected.19 Kelso was openly charged with selling his vote.20 The Whigs by public resolution denounced him. It was the last opportunity of the Whig Party to elect a United States senator in Indiana. The bit- terness was not confined to the Whigs, however. Howard and his friends never forgave some of the Democratic leaders for their part in the contest, though it is difficult to see how they could have elected him.
The Democrats swept the State in the election of 1843. James Whitcomb succeeded Samuel Bigger in the governor's office. He was the first governor elected by the Democrats in Indiana. Eight out of the ten
19 Senate Journal, 1842, 349-355. 1
20 Indianapolis Journal, Jan. 25 and Feb. 1, 1843. These num- bers contain articles on this remarkable election, for which all members later apologized. The 73 Democratic members made a statement in the Sentinel Feb. 7, 1843, over their own signatures, that Governor Whitcomb did not help defeat Howard. David Hoover, of Wayne county, classed himself as a Democrat, but Kelso, of Switzerland, did not. Cf. Sentinel. Jan, 31 and Feb. 7.
531
ELECTION OF 1844
congressmen were elected on the Democratic ticket. In 1841 the Whigs had elected six out of the seven con- gressmen. This reversal was said to be due partly to a Democratic gerrymander by the General Assembly of 1842.21 In the State legislature the Senate in 1843 stood 26 to 24, the house 55 to 45 in favor of the Demo- crats. The Whig junto at Indianapolis was driven from power after a continuous administration of eight- een years. The Methodist and Presbyterian churches deserted the Whigs, especially after it became appar- ent that Clay was to be the candidate in 1844.22
As soon as Harrison was dead, Clay and his fol- lowers began squaring away for the race in 1844. A barbecue in Clay's honor was prepared at Indianapolis, October 5, 1842. Delegations from all parts of the State visited the capital to hear their leader, and to take counsel together concerning the approaching con- test.23 It was determined to conduct the campaign along the old lines. Van Buren was the only Demo- cratic candidate above the horizon at that time. Had he been the candidate in 1844, the plan of the Whigs might have been carried to success, but as it turned out their course was fatal.
Such men as Robert Dale Owen, Joseph A. Wright, Andrew Kennedy, James Whitcomb and John W. Davis, preaching the new Democracy, were more than a match for the old Whigs. They pleaded for human rights, individual liberty, private initiative, that it was more the duty of the State to care for the unfortunate, the feeble, educate the children, and foster individual development, than to concern itself entirely with aiding bankers, manufacturers and transportation com- panies.24
21 Laws of Indiana, 1842, p. 38; Daily Sentinel, Feb. 10, 1843.
22 Western Sun, Sept. 2, 1843.
23 Indianapolis Journal, Sept. 23, 1842.
24 The following sentiment by Senator William Allen, of Ohio, made the rounds of the Democratic press in Indiana, in 1843-4.
532
HISTORY OF INDIANA
Even the hitherto impregnable fortress of a high protective tariff was assaulted by the enthusiastic young Democrats. James Whitcomb, then a candidate for governor on the Democratic ticket, formerly a sup- porter of Clay, showed by the logic of statistics that workmen in the factories were receiving $500 per year, while farm hands received only $213. There were ten farm hands in Indiana to one factory hand. The farm products were not protected, but when the farm pro- ducts were made into manufactured goods, they were highly protected. The wheat and corn which the farmer sold were free, but the plow which he bought was protected. The best markets for the Indiana farm- ers were among the planters of the South. These same planters were being ruined by the high tariff. It was the first time the protection policy had been challenged in Indiana, and it created considerable alarm in the Whig camp.25
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