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CHAPTER XV

THE ADMISSION OF INDIANA AND ILLINOIS

AFTER the separation of Ohio, the Territory of Indiana went back to the first stage of Territorial government. In 1804 it passed to the second stage. By 1815 the population had reached sixty thousand and the people desired admission to the Union as a State. At the session of the Territorial Legislature in 1815, a petition was sent to Congress asking for an Enabling Act. In response to this petition, Congress passed such an Act, April 19, 1816. This Act provided that the people should elect delegates who might form a Constitution if they thought it expedient to organize a State government.

According to the terms of the Enabling Act, which was accepted by the Constitutional Convention, it was declared that the new State should be "bounded on the east by the meridian line which forms the western boundary of the State of Ohio, being a north line from the mouth of the Miami; on the south by the Ohio River, from the mouth of the Great Miami to the mouth of the River Wabash; on the west by a line drawn along the middle of the Wabash from its mouth to a point where a due north line drawn from the town of Vincennes would last touch the Northwestern shore of said river, and from thence by a due north line until the same shall intersect an east and west line drawn through a point ten miles north of the southern extreme of Lake Michigan; on the north by the said east and west line until the same shall intersect the first mentioned

meridian line which forms the western boundary of the State of Ohio."

This boundary was apparently clear and definite, but it did not agree with the line established by Congress in 1800 when Indiana Territory was separated from the Northwest Territory. The dividing line in the Act of 1800 began "at the Ohio River opposite the mouth of the Kentucky River and running thence to Fort Recovery and thence north until it shall intersect the territorial line between the United States and Canada." The difference between the two lines is due to the fact that the mouth of Kentucky River is several miles west of the Great Miami. The line of 1800 was not directly north and south. It would have given Ohio a strip from the southeastern part of Indiana and would have added to Indiana some of Ohio's territory north of Fort Recovery. The line of 1816 coincided with that established by the Ordinance of 1787 which made the line between two of the States extend north from the mouth of the Great Miami.

Indiana also had a boundary dispute with Michigan due to the Act of Congress on January 11, 1805, by which Michigan was set off as a separate Territory. The bounds of Michigan according to this Act were "all that part of the Indiana Territory which lies north of a line drawn east from the southerly bend of Lake Michigan, until it shall intersect Lake Erie, and east of a line drawn from the said southerly bend through the middle of said lake to its northern. extremity, and thence due north to the northern boundary of the United States."

The boundary of the State of Indiana subtracted somewhat from the territorial limits of Michigan, but as Michigan was still a Territory, and, therefore, under the entire control of the United States, its protests were not heeded, and Indiana continued to exercise jurisdiction.

There was much discussion of the slavery question before the Convention came together, many fearing that an opportunity would be made to gain the legal admission of slavery.

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On June 10, 1816, the Convention assembled at Corydon, at that time the capital of the Territory. The Constitution as adopted did not differ greatly from those formed by earlier States. The main discussion was upon slavery, and after some debate and several attempts to add proslavery amendments, the wording of the Ordinance of 1787 was adopted with the addition "nor shall any indenture of any negro or mulatto hereafter made and executed out of the bounds of this State be of any validity within the State." This clause was added to the prohibition of slavery contained in the Ordinance so that slavery might not be introduced under the form of hiring.

The governor's term of office was fixed at three years, but no one person could hold the office longer than six years in a period of nine years. The Constitution provided for a popular vote every twelfth year on the question of calling a convention to revise the Constitution; the right of suffrage was given to white male citizens of the United States of the age of twenty-one years and upward after a residence of one year in the State.

In addition to the prohibition of slavery it was provided that no alteration of the Constitution should ever introduce slavery into the State. It was provided that no banks could be chartered except a State bank and branches. Corydon was made the seat of government until some other place should be legally designated. Slaveholding continued in Indiana because of the general belief that the prohibition. did not affect those who were already slaves. They were publicly bought and sold, but the entire number held was very small. In 1820 there were only one hundred and ninety reported for the whole State. The number in 1840, according to the national census, had been reduced to three.

In accordance with a joint resolution of Congress Indiana. was admitted into the Union on December 11, 1816. The new government began its career by the choice of Jonathan Jennings as the first governor and the organization of the various departments provided for by the Constitution.

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