St. Joseph County, Indiana - The State of Indiana, 1907 (part 2 of 3)

The famous statement of Mr. Gladstone, that the constitution of the United States "is the greatest work ever struck off at any one time by the mind and purpose of man, ' ' while a most noble and deserved encomium upon the excellence of our constitution and of the form of government created by it, is nevertheless misleading in so far as it carries the idea that the provisions of that great document were original with the men who framed our fundamental law. Our constitution, like that of every other free state, was a growth rather than a creation. The Fathers of the republic put into complete, well rounded form the principles of free and stable government which had developed, year by year, in the several colonies since the time of their first settlement. Something was drawn from the experience of each of them. Indeed we may go further, and say that American institutions, as established in the Declaration of Independence, in the Ordinance of 1787 and in the Constitution of the United States, and as since developed in our history, are but the culmination of the preceding centuries of Christian civilization.

A profound student of our system of government has said that, the real source of the constitution is the experience of the American people. They had previously established and developed admirable little commonwealths in the colonies. Since the beginning of the Revolution they had become experienced in state governments, organized on a different basis from the colonial. Finally, they had carried on two successive national governments, with both of which they had been profoundly discontented. The general outline of the constitution has been looked upon as British; it was really colonial. The president's powers of military command, of appointment and of veto were similar to those of the colonial govei-nor. National courts were created on the model of colonial courts. A legislature of two houses was accepted because such legislatures had been common in colonial times. In the English parliamentary system as it existed before 1760 the Americans had no share; the later English system of parliamentary responsibility was not yet developed, and had never been established in colonial governments; and our fathers expressly excluded it from the constitution. Nor were they more affected by the experience of other European nations. The chief source of the details of the new constitution was the state constitutions and the laws then in force. Indeed, the principal experiment in the constitution, for which there was no precedent, was the establishment of an electoral college for the election of president and vice-president; and of all parts of the system this has worked . least as the framers expected. The constitution, therefore, represents the accumulated ex- perience of the time. Its real boldness is the novelty of the federal system. The framing of a constitution in detail by a body of uninstructed delegates, expressly chosen for that purpose, was familiar experience in the several states ; even though it was unexampled elsewhere in the world. That the instrument of federal government should provide for proportional representation in one house, and for a federal court, were steps in federal organization which mark a new federal principle. The great merit of the members of the constitutional convention is their understanding of the temper of their own countrymen. They selected out of British, colonial or state usages such practices and forms as experience had shown to be acceptable to the people. The members of the convention had further the wisdom to express their work in general though carefully stated principles. All previous federal governments had been fettered either by an imperfect and inadequate statement, or by an unwritten constitution with an accumulation of special precedents. The phrases of the Constitution of 1787 were broad enough to cover cases unforeseen. A third distinction of the convention is the skill with which it framed acceptable compromises upon the most difficult questions before it. The two houses of congress satisfied both large and small states. The convention had profited by the experience of the Confederation; on every page of the constitution may be found clauses which would not have stood there had it been framed in 1781. An adequate revenue was provided ; foreign and interetate commerce was put under the control of congress; the charge of foreign affairs was given entirely to the central authority; the powers of government were distributed among the three departments, legislative, executive and judicial."

Sec. 7. - Ratification of the Constitution. - Yet, wise as seems to us this fundamental law of our country, after our experia. A. B. Hart, Formation of the Union, Sec. 62; Study of Fed. Gov'nt, Ch. 4.

ence of more than a hundred years, it was only with the greatest difficulty that the spirit of compromise prevailed in the convention, and afterwards with the people themselves. It was finally accepted only through the extraordinary and persistent influence of some of the wisest statesmen that ever lived, - Washington, Franklin, Madison, Hamilton, James Wilson, John Marshall and others. The opposition in Massachusetts, New York, Virginia and the Carolinas was pronounced! Hancock and Adams were lukewarm. Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee and James iNIonroe were in opposition. Massachusetts and South Carolina, the former under the lead of Hancock, finally came to the support of the constitution, with recommendations in favor of amendments which were afterwards adopted.

Rhode Island refused to send delegates to the convention, but the remaining twelve states finally agreed so far that delegates from each signed the constitution, September 17, 1787. The seventh, and last, article of the constitution provided that :

"The ratification of the conventions of nine states, shall be sufficient for the establishment of this constitution between the states so ratifying the same."

And then again began the great struggle. Would the requisite number of states ratify the work of the convention? The fate of the proposed constitution remained in doubt for over nine months after the adjournment of the convention. The state of Delaware was the first to ratify, December 7, 1787; Pennsylvania followed, December 12, 1787, but by the ominous vote of forty-six to twentythree, so strong was the opposition, notwithstanding the powerful advocacy of Franklin and Wilson ; New Jersey came next, December 18, 1787; Georgia ratified, January 2, 1788 ; Connecticut, January 9, 1788, by a vote of one hundred and twenty-eight to forty; Massachusetts, with the suggested amendments, February 6, 1788, by the excessively close vote of one hundred and eighty-seven to one hundred and sixty-eight; Maryland,

April 28, 1788 ; South Carolina, with its amendments, May 23, 1788 ; and New Hampshire, the ninth state, June 21, 1788. The union was formed. The remaining: states came in afterwards, as follows: Virginia, June 26, 1788 (but before the ratification of the ninth state was known, so slow were the means of communication in those days) ; New York, July 26, 1788 (by a vote of thirty to twentyeight) ; North Carolina, November 21, 1789; and, finally, Rhode Island, May 29, 1790.

A powerful influence in turning the minds of the people towards what may perhaps be termed a reluctant ratification of the constitution, and without which at least New York, even with the powerful advocacy of Hamilton, would probably have remained out of the union, for years if not forever, was the publication of a series of essays in exposition of the true character of the constitution, written by Hamilton, Madison and Jay, over the common signature of "Publius. " These essays were published in a newspaper, between October, 1787. and June, 1788. They were subsequently collected and published in a volume, named ' ' The Federalist. ' ' The influence of this series of essays was very great, and deservedly so. From its publication to this day, "The Federalist" has held its rank as the very highest authority upon the proper construction of the constitution. "Madison's Debates," taken down by the "Father of the Constitution" during the sessions of the convention, and this series of essays, known as "The Federalist," must always remain invaluable to the student of American government."

Sec. 8. - Government Under the Ordinance. - The northwest territory was governed by the old continental congress, under the provisions of the ordinance of 1787, from the passage of the ordinance, July 13, 1787, until the new constitution went into effect. As soon as the ratification of the constitution by nine states was certified to congress, that body, by a resolution adopted September 13, 1788, provided "that the first Wednesday in March next (1789) be the time, and the present seat of Congress (New York city) the place, for commencing proceedings under the said constitution." The first Wednesday of March, 1789, was March 4th of that year, and from that day, or, at least, from the inauguration of Washington as first president, which did not take place until April 30, 1789, the ordinance, though still remaining in eftect. was modified by the supreme control of the constitution.

One provision of the ordinance was "that there shall be appointed, from time to time, by congress, a governor, whose commission shall continue in force for a term of three years, unless sooner revoked by congress." Provision was also made for the appointment by congress of a secretary for the territory ; as also a court, to consist of three judges. As soon as the constitution was adopted this appointing power and other executive functions passed to the president. A formal declaration to this effect was made by act of the new congress, approved August 7, 1789. It was not until October 5, 1787, that the old congress had proceeded to the election of a governor for the territory, and then selected General Arthur St. Clair, the president of that congress, for the office of governor. Winthrop Sargent was appointed secretary. The appointees of the congress were continued in office by Washington after his election as president.

The ordinance provided for the election of a legislature by the people of the territory. "so soon as there shall be five thousand free male inhabitants, of full age, in the district," - a name frequently applied in the ordinance ,to the northwest territory. But, until tha^ time, it was provided that, "The governor and judges, or a majority of them, shall adopt and publish in the district such laws of the original states, criminal and civil, as may be necessary, and best suited to the' circumstances of the district, and report them to

L'ougress, from time to time; which hiws shall be in force in the district until the organization of the general assembly therein, unless disapproved of by congress ; but afterwards the legislature shall have authority to alter them as they shall see fit. ' ' So fast did those ' old republicans 'stand to the principles of free representative government that, although the people of the territory were as yet too few and too scattered to make it practicable to oi'ganize a legislature, still congress would not suffer even its own appointees to make laws for the territory. The most that would be allowed, and that from sheer necessity, was the adoption of "such laws of the original states" as might be "best suited to the circumstances of the district," and not even then if "disapproved bj" congress." The laws from which the governor and judges were given power to make selections were strictly confined to those of "the original states," that is, to those laws which the emigrants themselves had helped to enact in the states from which they had come. In this way the principle of self government was maintained as far as possible.

Sec. 9. - Governor St. Clair. - Before setting out for the west Governor St. Clair received private instructions from congress requiring him to acquaint himself with the real temper of the Indians, to regulate trade with them and remove, if possible, all causes of controversy. He was also to neglect no opportunity that might offer to extinguish Indian titles to lands west to the Mississippi and north as far as the forty-first parallel of latitude. He was further charged to do w^hat he could to conciliate the w^hites and induce them to live on friendly ' terms with the Indians. In July, 1788, the governor and other officers arrived at the new^ town of Marietta, at the junction of the Muskingum and the Ohio, and proceeded to organize the new government, under the provisions of the ordinance of 1787. On July 15, 1788, Governor St. Clair and the three judges met for the first time as a legislative body, and adopted a code of laws.

The first session of court for the trial of causes was convened at Marietta, September 2, 1788, and w^as opened with impressive ceremonies. The court was a tribunal of last resort, with power to review the decisions of inferior courts, and had supreme jurisdiction throughout the northwest territory. Successive terms of court were held at Cincinnati, Vincennes and Kaskaskia, and later at Detroit. The judges traveled this wide circuit on horseback. Those first judges to be commissioned under authority of the United States, and given the two-fold power, to adopt laws for this immense territory, and, at the same time, to hold courts and hear and decide causes, were Samuel Holden Parsons, James Mitchell Varnum and John Cleves S>Tnmes. They were at the same time our first lawgivers and our first judges; and were all most eminent men. and worthy to lay the foundations of great states.

On October 6, 1789, President Washington issued instructions to Governor St. Clair, chiefly having reference to the preservation of peace with the Indians, but providing for hostilities if they should break out, and adding: "You will also proceed, as soon as you can, with safety, to execute the orders of the late congress, respecting the inhabitants at Post Vincennes, and at the Kaskaskias and other villages on the Mississippi. It is a circumstance of some importance, that the said inhabitants should as soon as possible possess the lands to which they are entitled, by some - known and fixed principles. ' '

Early in January, 1790, the governor, with the secretary and judges of the territory, descended the Ohio, from INIarietta to Fort Washington, which was located at a town then know^n as Losantiville. St. Clair persuaded the proprietors of the town to change this name to Cincinnati, in honor of the Society of the Cincinnati, recently formed by the officers of the Revolutionary tii-iny. At this place, he also laid out the county of Hamilton, and appointed officers for the administration of the affairs of the county. On January

8, 1790, the governor, with the secretary, ar- owed so much, was denied the gift of a small rived at Clarksville, from which point he sent plat of ground for which he had petitioned, dispatches to Major Hamtramck, then com- and he, like Clark and Vigo, ended his life in mander of Post Vincennes, enquiring into the poverty. It has been frequently said, rereports as to great destitution among the in- marks Mr. Cauthorn, in his history of Vinhabitants for want of food, and suggesting ' cennes, that republics are ungrateful. The plans of relief. From Clarksville the officials truth of this trite saying is forcibly illusproceeded to the Illinois country, to continue trated by the treatment of these men, who, the work of organizing the government of the above all others, were the main instruments territory, and to carry into effect the resolu- in wresting from England the territory northtions of congress in relation to the lands of west of the river Ohio, and thereby paving the settlers near Kaskaskia and Vincennes. the way for the ultimate acquisition of that Upon the arrival of the governor at Kas- vast and fertile country out of which the kaskia the county of St. Clair was organized, five rich and populous states of Ohio, Indiana, embracing the present territory of the state Illinois, Michigan and "Wisconsin have been of Illinois south of the Illinois river. The carved, and added to the sisterhood of states. county was divided into three common pleas The three men are Pierre Gibault, George court districts, and judges and other officers Rogers Clark and Francis Vigo. They all were appointed. Two of the three judges went to their graves in a very similar conwere of French descent. The governor spent dition, and all present a parallel of governsome time straightening out the land titles, ment neglect of consideration for patriotic which were discovered to be in great con- and valuable services rendered, without a fusion. He found the reports as to the suf- counterpart in the annals of history.^* fering of the inhabitants to be true. The Major Hamtramck, early in June, 1790, supplies furnished by the people to Clark's sent dispatches from Vincennes to the govarmy were never paid for. Troubles with ernor, at Kaskaskia, from which it was apthe Indians and consequent failure of trade parent that no treaty could be made with relations, as well as loss of crops by inunda- the Miamis and their confederates. Governor tions and other causes, completed the mis- St. Clair therefore prepared to go to Fort fortunes of the unhappy settlers. In a me- Washington, at Cincinnati, and consult with morial, dated at St. Clair county, June 9, General Harmar upon the means of sending 1790, and signed by the patriot priest. Father an expedition against the hostile Indians. He Gibault. and eighty-seven others, the misera- left Kaskaskia on the eleventh of June, placble condition of the inhabitants was most ing the affairs of the government in the hands pathetically set forth for the ir^formation of of the secretary, Winthrop Sargent. This ofthe governor. It is a sad commentary on the ficer proceeded at once to Vincennes, where distressed condition to which these generous he laid out the county of Knox, appointed hearted people were reduced, to reflect that the necessary civil and military officers and so large a part of their suft'ering was due organized the militia. He then proceeded to to the failure of both the government of Vir- settle the old land titles which were in the ginia and that of the United States to make same cojifusion as those near Kaskaskia. adequate return for the sacrifices which these The result of the conference of Governor far western patriots had so freely made in St. Clair with General Harmar, at Fort AVashthe service of their country. It is neglect of ington, was the sending of an expedition, this nature that has given currency to the chiefly of militia, commanded by General Haradage that republics are ungrateful. Even mar, against the Miamis under Little Turtle. Father Gibault. the friend to whom Clark a. History of Vincennes, p. 105.

The Indians were met near the site of the present city of Fort Wayne, where sang-uinary fighting took place, rather to the advantage of the Indians, so that Harmar's forces returned to Fort Washington. All the frontier settlements in Ohio and Indiana, and even those in Kentucky, were alarmed at the outcome of this expedition ; and preparations were at once made to raise an army sufficiently powerful to repel the Indians. Two other expeditions, one under General Scott, and one under General Wilkinson, were in turn sent from Fort Washington against Indian villages, situated near Ouiatanon, below the site of the present city of La Fayette, and near the site of Logansport. Those villages were referred to. generally, as the Wea towns on the Wabash. The net results of those three expeditions was to rouse the Indians to the utmost pitch of resentment, with the consequent effect of striking terror into all the white settlements in the northwest, and also Kentucky, western Virginia and Pennsylvania.

Little Turtle and Governor St. Clair hastened preparations for the conflict which all persons, Indian and white, knew was impending. Although it was stipulated in the treaty of peace by which the independence of the United States was acknowledged, signed at Paris, September 3, 1783, that Great Britain should, with all convenient dispatch, withdraw her forces from the forts and other places within United States territory; yet, under claim that our government had failed to take measures to make payment of claims of British creditors, as also provided by that treaty, the government of Great Britain continued, from 1783 to 1796, to hold possession of various forts within American territory, including those at Sandusky, Detroit and Michilimackinac. These last named posts were within the northwest territory, and from all of them the Indians received encouragement and support. The English did not like to give up the fur trade with the Indians, which they had so long monopolized; and the British government therefore looked with an unfriendly eye upon the efforts of the American people to subdue the northwestern Indians and establish states of the Union in their stead. There is no question but that this moral, and often active, support given by the presence of British garrisons within the confines of the northwestern territory had very much to do with the building up by Little Turtle of the strong Indian organization which must now be encountered by Governor St. Clair and his hastily gathered forces. The Indian feared that the American was to deprive him of his rich lands, while the Briton claimed that the American was depriving British creditors of moneys due them. These were the ostensible motives; but, while the Indian's fear may have been well grounded, the real British motive was hatred of the people who had wrested from the control of Great Britain these vast American states and territories, and threatened to build upon the soil a republic which should forever be a rival to the British monarchy.

In the spring of 1791, Governor St. Clair began the formation at Fort Washington (Cincinnati), of an army of invasion against the Indians under Little Turtle. There seemed little enthusiasm among the militia. Troops and supplies had to be procured from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and Kentucky; and it was not until September that General Butler, second in command, led. the first detachment from Fort Washington. On November 3, 1791, the army, on its march, reached a point about fifteen miles from the Miami village, near the spot where Fort Recovery was afterwards built. Here, on the morning of November 4, 1791, the Americans under St. Clair and Butler were unexpectedly attacked by the Indians under Little Turtle, and most disastrously defeated, losing many men and all their munitions and supplies.

St. Clair's defeat wrought consternation throughout the northwest. The commanderin-chief was blamed universally, and that blame has not ceased to this day; and yet this severe judgment seems not altogether just. The failure of the expedition was due to causes which the governor may have been, and probably was, unable to control, - the character of his forces, made up as they were of bodies of backwoodsmen who had heretofore been accustomed to make desultory excursions in small parties along the borders, and who were therefore unfamiliar with discipline and movements necessary to an army; the inefficiency of the quartermaster's department, due, undoubtedly, to the same causes; and finally to the lateness of the season, which rendered exceedingly difficult the marching of troops, and the hauling of artillery and stores, through the forests, across swollen streams and over rain soaked grounds, with the winter snows already falling. But the governor, stung by the universal criticism, resigned his military command, and Anthony Wayne, one of the most distinguished of the Revolutionary generals, was appointed in his place. St. Clair, however, retained his office of civil governor of the territory ; though the duties of that office, were frequently performed by the secretary, Winthrop Sargent.

Sec. 10. - General Anthony Wayne. - The transfer of command from St. Clair to Wayne, after St. Clair's defeat, was followed by action on the part of the government which calls to mind similar action taken after the transfer of command from Rosecrans to Grant, subsequent to the battle of Chickamauga. Measures were at once taken to put the army on a better footing; men and munitions of war were gathered and preparations were made to meet the formidable forces which Little Turtle and his British allies were massing in the wilderness. The government and the people, instead of waiting apathetically for an ill supplied army to win victories over the thoroughly roused Indian tribes, now made every effort to send an army, worthy the name, against their exultant foes, red and white.

the French revolution was at its height ; Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette had been put to death ; the monarchy was overthrown ; and the republic had armed nearly a million men in war with all Europe. The sympathy of the American people was to a great extent in favor of the French republic ; and it was perhaps only through the wise counsels of Washington that we were preserved from being drawn into the terrific storm which then raged between France and the armies of the world. The French minister to the United States, Mr. Genet, artfully playing upon the people's sentiments of gratitude for aid received from France during our revolution, tried to secure American enlistments and to form an army to attack the Spanish possessions in Florida and Louisiana, and also to induce Americans to man privateers to prey upon British commerce. Even George Rogers Clark accepted a Major-General's commission from Genet, with authority to wrest from Spain her dominions beyond the Mississippi. Both England and Spain expected war with the United States; and both English and Spanish emissaries were constantly engaged in stirring up the Indians to continue hostilities with the Americans. Early in 1794, Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe, of the Canadian government, was ordered to establish a British military post at .the foot of the rapids of the Maumee, near the present site of Fort Wayne; and, on April, 1794, he marched three companies of British troops from Detroit to that point, while about the same time a Spanish messenger from St. Louis came to encourage the Indians assembled at that point, promising Spanish assistance from the settlements beyond the Mississippi. It needed the coolness and wisdom of Washington and the military genius of General Anthony Wayne to carry the country safely through this crisis. On the representations of our government. Genet was recalled, and a new minister sent from France who did very much to undo the mischief which Genet had caused. During the same time , the United States government took every measure possible to secure the good will of the Indians, and to enter into treaties of peace with them. The commissioners and agents of the government were instructed to assure the Indians, in the "most explicit terms, that the United States renounced all claim to any Indian land which had not been ceded, by fair treaties, made with the Indian nations." All was apparently to no purpose. The Indians, partly through fear of losing their hunting grounds, and partly through unfriendly representations made by British and Spanish emissaries, refused to make any treaties w^liich the Americans could agree to.

Meanwhile General Wayne went ahead with his preparations for the conflict that finally became inevitable. Having collected at Fort Washington a force sufficiently strong and well disciplined for the purpose, and all hope of the making of any treaties of peace having finally vanished, General Wayne with his army, upon which so much depended, began his eventful expedition October 7, 1798. proceeding by way of Forts Hamilton, St. Clair and Jefferson, following the line taken by St. Clair two years previous, and arriving at a point half way between Fort Jefferson and St. Clair's battle ground on October 13th. where he was compelled to await his supplies. After garrisoning the several forts and leaving the sick to be cared for, there remained an army of twenty-six hundred men in the advance. Having in mind the fate of St. Clair, General Wajme concluded that the winter season was unsuited for a further campaign, and w^ent into winter quarters at a place which he named Fort Greenville, near the site of the present city of Greenville. On October 23rd, he sent forward a detachment to take possession of the ground where St. Clair was defeated, and there erected a fort to which he gave the appropriate name of Fort Recovery. During the winter some attempt was made by the 'Indians to renew peace negotiations with General AVayne. but nothing came of it. On June 30, 179-4, a large body of Indians, aided by British agents and Canadian volunteers, made an attack on an American detachment in the neighborhood of Fort Recovery. On July 26, 1794, a force of sixteen hundred mounted Kentucky volunteers were added to Wayne's army; and with these fresh troops he felt strong enough to take up the line of march for the Maumee towns. On the 8th of August the army arrived at the confluence of the Maumee and Auglaize rivers, where a fort named Fort Defiance was erected. Here peace was again offered to the Indians, but was again declined. On August 15th, Wayne marched out from Fort Defiance, and on the 20th met and defeated the Indians in a decisive battle, almost under the guns of the new British fort. With Little Turtle's army were no less than seventy white men. including a corps of volunteers from Detroit under command of a British officer. On September 17,

1794, the American army reached the deserted Miami village at the junction of the Little St. Joseph's and the St. Mary's rivers; and on October 22nd, a fort was completed at that point and named Fort Wayne. In 1814, a new fort was built on the site of this old fort ; and from this has grown the splendid city of Fort Wayne.

Sec. 11. - The Treaty of Greenville. - General Wayne returned with his army to Greenville, and sent invitations to all Ihe tribes to send representatives to him at that place to renew negotiations for peace. On November 19, 1794, the United States antl Great Britain concluded "a treaty of amity, commerce and navigation"; so that the Indians no longer could hope for British aid against the Americans. They therefore began to listen to Wayne's renewed invitations; and in June, 1795, strong deputations from various tribes arrived at Greenville. After long continued deliberations, and many eloquent speeches, according to the Indian custom, peace was finally concluded, and the famous treaty of Greenville was signed August 3,

See. 12. - Indian Land Titles. - By the treaty of Greenville the Indians for the first time formally relinquished title to parts of lands in the northwest theretofore in dispute between them and the whites. Before that treaty the Indians had never acknowledged the right of the whites to any lands, even those claimed by the latter from their first occupancy of the county, such as the lands of Clark's Grant and the lands in and around Vincennes. Including the treaty of Greenville, August 3, 1795, there were no less than forty-six separate treaties with various tribes of Indians, covering all the lands within the present state of Indiana, the last of those treaties being made with the Miamis, November 28, 1840. "It will thus be seen," says Mr. W. H. Smith, in his history of Indiana, "that the process of extinguishing the Indian titles was a slow one, and that the Indians were not finally dispossessed until after Indiana had been a member of the Union for nearly a quarter of a century. In most of these final treaties certain tracts were reserved by the Indians for favorite members of the tribes, and are yet known as 'reservations,' although about all the lands have passed to other persons than the descendants of the original beneficiaries. A few descendants of the Miamis still live in Wabash and Miami counties. [A few persons of Pottawatomie descent are also found in St. Joseph county.] In its various purchases from the Indians, the United States frequently had to accept from two, sometimes three, different tribes separate relinquishments of their respective rights, titles, and claims to the same section of country."«

Sec. 13. - Lew^is Cass and the Indian Treaties.^ - Most readers of Indiana history know that Cass county, Indiana, was named after Lewis Cass, the Michigan general and governor of that name, who afterwards came very near being president of the United

States ; but many do not know how much he had to do with extinguishing the Indian titles to land in this state and opening the lands to white settlement.

Of the treaties by which the Indians at different times made cessions of land in Indiana, General Cass assisted in negotiating nine. These were with several different tribes and covered a period of about ten years, from 1818 to 1828. One of them was negotiated and signed at Maiunee Rapids, 0., in 1817; four at St. Mary's, 0., in 1818; one at Chicago, in 1821 ; two near the mouth of the Mississinewa, in 1826, and one at Mission, on the St. Joseph, in the same year.

The process of extinguishing the Indian titles to lands in Indiana occupied nearly fifty years, beginning with the treaty at Greenville, negotiated by General Wayne, in 1795, and ending with that of Forks of the Wabash, negotiated by Samuel Milroy and Allen Hamilton, in 1840.

The policy of making treaties with the Indians as independent tribes for the possession of their lands began immediately after the adoption of the constitution and continued tiU 1871. To this extent, therefore, the Government recognized the Indian tribes as foreign nations, making treaties with them which were ratified by the Senate, the same as treaties with foreign governments. No doubt this was better than seizing the lands by force and appropriating them without any pretense of negotiation, though the whole proceeding was really one of force.

As the Indians were practically subjugated from the beginning and destined to extermination or removal to reservations, making treaties with them was rather a farcical procedure, yet no doubt, it was the best method of extinguishing their title to lands. As the tribes, north and south, were numerous, it required a great many treaties to complete the process of extinguishing title.

The treaties by which they relinquished since left it, and the deer are going. There their rights and ceded their lands usually con- are no beaver and there will soon be no other tained provisions for the payment of a lump animals worth hunting upon it. sum of money to the tribe, for the payment "There are a great many of the white of annuities to the chiefs and the promise of children of your Great Father who would be various articles, such as rifles, hoes, kettles, glad to live on this land. They would build blankets and tobacco to each Indian who houses and raise corn and cattle and hogs, should move to the new reservation. Provi- You know when a family grows up and besion was also generally made for their trans- comes large, they must leave their father's portation. The consideration named in some house and look for a place for themselves. So of the treaties for their cessions of land, what it is with your white brethren ; their family might be called the purchase money, was is increasing and they must find some new ridiculously small compared with its real place to move to. Your Great Father is willvalue, ing to give for this land much more than it equal in extent to your lands here, and to pay you an annuity which will make you comfortable, and to provide the means of your removal. You will then have a country abounding with game, and you will also have the value of the country you leave, and you will be beyond the reach of whisky, for it can not reach you there. Your Great Father will not suffer his white children to reside there, for it is reserved for the red people; it will be yours as long as the sun shines and the rain falls. You must go before long ; you can not remain here, you must remove or perish.

"Now is tho time to make a good bargain for yourselvas which will make you rich and comfortable. Come forward, then, like wise men and accept the terms we offer." The Indians were not fools and they must have been rather disgusted by the pretended anxiety of their Great Father at Washington for their welfare. However, they signed the treaty. Under it they were removed first to a reservation in Kansas which General Cass had assured them "will be yours as long as the sun shines and the rain falls. ' ' But their Great Father changed his mind, and later they were removed to the Indian Territory.

Between 1817 and 1831, General Cass had assisted in concluding treaties with different tribes of Indians by which cessions of land were acquired in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin, to an amount equal to nearly one-fourth of the entire area of those states. There is a Cass county in Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska and North Dakota, besides that in our own state. General Cass's public services as superintendent of Indian Affairs, United States Senator. Secretary of War, Secretary of State, and other important offices made him very popular, and in 1844 he came very near beingnominated for President. On the first day of the convention he ran up from eighty-three on the first ballot to 114 on the eighth, and if another ballot had been taken on that day he would have been nominated. The next morning James K. Polk was sprung as a "dark horse" candidate and nominated on the first ballot. In 1848, General Cass was nominated, but was defeated by General Taylor. The Democracy of Indiana were for him from the beginning and in 1848 he received the electoral vote of the state.

Sec. 14. - Indian Titles to St. Joseph County Lands. - The Indian title to the lands of St. Joseph county was extinguished in four of the forty-six treaties above referred to, as follows:

1. The lands in the northeastern section of the county, embracing Harris and Clay townships, the north part of Penn, the east part of German, the east part of Portage and the north part of Center, are included in the lands ceded to the United States by the treaty made at Chicago with the Ottawas, Chippewas and Pottawatomies, August 29, 1821. The sites of our two cities, South Bend and Mishawaka, as well as those of the village of Osceola, the University of Notre Dame and St. Mary's Academy, are all within this cession. Only a small part of the lands ceded by this treaty are within the bounds of the state of Indiana, the greater part being in Michigan. Indeed, it would seem as if the lands were looked upon as all in Michigan. The Ottawas and Chippewas were Michigan Indians, as were, in part, the Pottawatomies also ; and it is to be noted that the southern boundary of the lands ceded ])y this treaty is the old Michigan boundary line, the line recognized by the Ordinance of 1787, running east and west through rlie southerly bend of Lake Michigan. Indeed this old Michigan boundary line is frequently referred to as the old Indian boundary line.

2. The lands in the northwestern .section of the county, embracing W^arren township, the north part of Olive, the west part of German, the west part of Portage and the north part of Greene, are included in the lands ceded to the United States by the treaty made with the Pottawatomies, October 16, 1826. The southern boundary of the lands ceded by this treaty is also the old Michigan boundary line, the line recognized in the Ordinance of

1787. The site of the town of New Carlisle, and also the beautiful Terre Coupee prairie as well as the villages of Lindley and Crum's Point, are within this cession.

3. The lands in the southeastern section of the county, embracing- the township of Madison, the south part of Penn, the south part of Center and the east part of Union, are included in the lands ceded to the United States by the treaty made with the Pottawatomies, September 20, 1828. The lands so ceded reach north to the old INIichigan boundary line. Woodland and Lakeville are within the limits of this cession.

4. The lands in the southwestern section of the county, embracing the townships of Liberty and Lincoln^ the south part of Greene and the west part of Union, are included in the lands ceded to the United States by the treaty made with the Pottawatomies, October 26, 1832. The lands here ceded also reach north to the old Michigan boundary line. Walkerton and North Liberty are within this territory.

It appears, then, that all the lands of St. Joseph county were claimed and ceded by the Pottawatomies ; except those in the northeastem section, which were ceded jointly by the Ottawas, Chippewas and Pottawatomies. This former home of the Miamis had become essentially a Pottawatomie country. And, although, when the first treaty of cession of the lands of this county was made, Augast 29, 1821, the state of Indiana had already been five years in the Union, with its northern boundary ten miles north of the line fixed by the Ordinance of 1787 ; yet, in the four treaties by which the lands of this county were ceded by the Indians to the United States, the old Michigan boundary line was recognized. It is remarkable, too, that as this county of St. Joseph had been the center of geological forces, resulting in the present configuration of the St. Joseph and Kankakee valleys and the adjacent hills and prairies; and as the portage between the two rivers formed the central road of commerce for untold ages between the lakes and the Mississippi ; so now, when the Indian came to yield, reluctantly, stubbornly, these fair lands of his forefathers, he stood, as it were, with his foot on the center of the county, and, by treaty after treaty, ceded one fourth of the county at a time, from 1821 until 1832, when all was gone. It was, indeed, a land to hold fast to, and to be finally yielded to the white man only when the superior race could be resisted no longer.

Sec. 15. - The First Legislature of the Northwest Territory. - The free male inhabitants of the territory northwest of the river Ohio having reached the number of five thousand, Governor St. Clair, on October 29,

1798, as required by the provisions of the Ordinance of 1787, issued his proclamation for an election to be held on the third Monday of December following, for the election of members of the first general assembly ; which was called to convene at Cincinnati, January 22, 1799. The legislature met accordingly, and nominated ten persons from whom the president should select a legislative council of five, to constitute an upper house, or territorial senate, as provided in the ordinance of 1787. After making their nominations to the president for the appointment of a legislative council, the legislature was adjourned by the governor to meet again. September 16,

1799. The two houses were not properly organized until the 21:th of that month. The members of the legislative council, as selected by President Adams, were Jacob Burnet, James Findlay, Henry Vanderburgh, Robert Oliver and David Vance. This was the first senate 'of the northwest territory. Henry Vanderburgh was elected president ; William C. Schenk, secretary; George Howard, doorkeeper; and Abner Cary,"sergeaii1-at-;irms. Seven counties were represented; and the house of representatives consisted of nineteen members. The counties were mostly in the territorj' constituting the present state of Ohio, showing that the emigration was chiefly to that section. Knox county, of which Vincennes was the county seat, was the only and it was represented in the general assem- court had adopted many laws for the govembly by Shadrach Bond. The house organized ment of the northwest territory, which were

Reilly, clerk; Joshua Rowland, doorkeeper; assembly. The territory was therefore supand Abraham Gary, sergeant-at-arms. On plied with a code of laws before the 'convening

This first general assembly of the territory that treason, murder and house burning northwest of the Ohio river continued in ses- (where death resulted) were punishable by sion until December 19, 1799 ; during which death ; burglary and robbery, by whipping, time forty-eight acts were passed, thirty-seven not exceeding thirty-nine stripes, fine and imof which were approved by Governor St. prisonment, not exceeding forty years ; per- Glair and became laws. These first laws jury, by a fine not exceeding sixty dollars, enacted by the representatives of the people or by whipping, not exceeding thirty-nine were, in general, such as were necessary for lashes, and disfranchisement, and standing on the administration of justice and the conduct the pillory, not exceeding two hours ; larceny, of public affairs. Many of them, however, by fine or whipping, at the discretion of the were peculiar to the time and to the condi- court. If the convict could not pay the fine, tions of the people. One was for the regula- it was lawful for the sheriff, under direction tion of ferries, made necessary by the absence of the court, to bind him for a term of servof bridges over the large rivers. Another was ice, not exceeding seven years to any one designed to prevent Sabbath breaking, pro- who would pay the fine. Forgery was punislifane swearing, drunkenness, duelling, cock- able by fine, disfranchisement and standing fighting, running horses on public highways, on the pillory, not exceeding three hours, gambling at billiards, cards, dice, etc. An act Drunkenness, for the firet offense, was punf or the taxation of land provided that every ishable by a fine of five dimes ; and for every hundred acres of first raite land should be succeeding offense, by a fine of one dollar. In taxed eighty-five cents; every hundred acres either case, if the fine were not paid, the of second rate land, sixty cents; every hun- drunkard was placed in the stocks for one dred acres of third rate, twenty-five cents ; hour. Persons intending to marry were relarger or smaller tracts to be assessed in pro- quired to give fifteen days ' notice, by publicaportion. An act for the compensation of tion in church, or by a writing, under the members of the legislative council and mem- hand and seal of a judge or a justice of the bers of the house of representatives, provided peace, posted in some conspicuous place ; or, that each member should receive three dollars in lieu of such publication, a license might be for each day's attendance, and also three dol- obtained from the governor. By an act publars at the beginning and end of each session lished November 6, 1790, the governor was for each fifteen miles traveled. authorized to appoint not less than three nor not to exceed nine justices of the peace, iu each county ; and the number of terms of common pleas court was increased from two to four in each year. It is to be remembered that there was then but one county for all Indiana. On July 2, 1791, an act was passed requiring that whenever persons enrolled in the militia should assemble at any place of public worship, they should arm and equip themselves as if marching to engage the enemy. By an act published August 1, 1792, a licensed tavern keeper or retailer of liquors was required to affix a sig-n on the front of his building, with the words, iu large letters, ' ' By authority, a tavern"; or "By authority, a retailer." On August 1, 1792, laws were enacted for opening and regulating highways ; and also for building court houses, jails, pillories, whipping posts and stocks, in every county.

An act, published on the same day, required attorneys on being admitted to practice law to take the following oath: "I swear that I will do no falsehood, nor consent to the doing of any, in the courts of justice ; and if I know of any intention to connnit any, I will give k^iowledge thereof to the justices of said courts, or some of them, that it may be prevented. I will not wittingly or willingly promote or sue any false, groundless or unlawful suit, nor give aid or counsel to the same; and I will conduct myself in the office of an attorney within the said courts according to the best of my knowledge and discretion, and with all good fidelity as well to the courts as my client. So help me God."

By an act adopted in the summer of 1795, , the common law was formally adopted, and the laws for the decision of causes in the courts of the northwest territory declared, in the following words: "The common law of England, all statutes or acts of the British parliament made in aid of the common law, prior to the fourth year of the reign of King James the First, (and which are of a general nature, not local to that Kingdom,) and also the several laws in force in this territory, shall be the rule of decision, and shall be considered as of full force, until repealed by legislative authority, or disapproved of by congress.

Indiana Territory

Sec. 1. - Extent op the Territory. - By an act approved May 7, 1800, congress provided, ' ' That from and after the fourth day of July next, all that part of the territory of the United States northwest of the Ohio river, which lies westward of the line beginning at the Ohio, opposite to the mouth of Kentucky river, and running thence to Fort Recovery, and thence north, until it shall intersect the territorial line between the United States and Canada, shall, for the purpose of temporary government, constitute a separate territory, and be called the Indiana Territory." The act provided further, "That there shall be established within the said territory a government in all respects similar to that provided by the ordinance of congress, passed on the thirteenth day of July, 1787, for the government of the territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio ; and the inhabitants thereof shall be entitled to, and enjoy, all and singular, the rights, privileges and advantages granted and secured to the people by the said ordinance." A further provision of the act creating the Indiana territory was, "That so much of the ordinance for the government of the territory of the United States northwest of the Ohio river, as relates to the organization of a general assembly therein, and prescribes the powers thereof, shall be in force and operate in the Indiana territory, whenever satisfactory evidence shall be given to the governor thereof, that such is the wish of a majority of the freeholders, notwithstanding there may not be therein five thousand free male inhabitants of the age of twenty-one years and upwards." But until there should be such five thousand inhabitants the representatives in the general assembly, if one should be organized, should be not less than seven nor more than nine; to be apportioned by the governor among the several counties, agreeably to the number of free male inhabitants of the age of twenty-one years and upwards, in each. As to the eastern boundary line, as fixed in the act, it was further provided, "That whenever that part of the territory of the United States which lies to the eastward of a line beginning at the mouth of the Great Miami river, running thence due north to the territorial line between the United States and Canada, shall be erected into an independent state, and admitted into the union on an equal footing with the original states, thenceforth said line shall become and remain permanently the boundary line between such state and the Indiana territory. ' ' A final provision was that, until the general assembly should determine otherwise. ' ' Saint Vincennes, on the Wabash river, shall be the seat of government for the Indiana territory. ' '

The Harrison mansion is the name given to the venerable building in which the legislature of the territory held its sessions and in which the governor resided and where the general court was held. The building is- still in a good state of preservation ; a^nd efforts have often been made to have the state secure it as a historical museimi.

The house, from an architectural point of view, as well as from its massiveness, seems remarkable. At the time it was erected its situation was a wilderness, far from civilization, and to get the materials for its construction, the glass, iron, etc.. meant a yeaior more of time before they could be delivered at Vincennes. Historical societies have endeavored to have it kept as a lasting monument 40 the memory of those who built so well and as a reminder that this was the birthplace of government, religion and education in the west. The building is two stories high. Avith a large attic, and a basement under the entire place. It was completed in 1805. The ceilings are thirteen and one-half feet high and the rooms are spacious. The walls are of brick and inside and out are eighteen inches thick. The glass in the windows came from England, and it took two years to have it delivered. The wood was sawed with the oldfashioned whip-saw, and all the nails Avere hand-forged on the grounds. The woodwork is hard-paneled, finished with beading and is of solid, clear black walnut. It is said that the walnut in the house today is worth a small fortune.

So came Indiana into existence, with a capital of her own, and with even a freer form of government than that of the northwest territory, prior to its legislative stage. The area of this new Indiana territory included all of the present state of Indiana, except a small wedge-shaped section in the southeast part of the state, east of a line running from a point on the Ohio opposite the mouth of the Kentucky river, northeasterly to Fort Recovery, in the state of Ohio, this line being the old Indian boundary line, between those points named in the treaty of Greenville. The new territory included also a norrow strip less than three miles in width on the west side of the state of Ohio, north of Fort Recovery, and lying between the north and south line through Fort Recovery and the present boundary of the two states.'' The territory included besides, all of the .state of Michigan lying west of the north and south line through Fort Recovery ; also the whole of Illinois and Wis<^onsin ; and so much of ^Minnesota as lies east of the Mississippi river. The limits of the Indiana territory, for a time, extended even west of the Mississippi. By an act approved ^ilareh 26. 1804, congress attached to Indiana all that part of Louisiana west of the Mississippi and north of the thirty-third degree of north latitude, under the name of the District of Louisiana. At a session of the governor and judges of Indiana territory, held at Vincennes, beginning October 1, 1804, a number of laws were adopted for the District of Louisiana. During the following year, however, by an act of congress approved March 3, 1805. this district was organized into a separate tera. Drake's Hist. American Indians, Chap. XIV.

ritory." This was truly an imperial domain. Detroit, Sault Ste. Marie, St. Ignace, with eastern Michigan and all Ohio, remained in the northwest territory, until the admission of Ohio as a state of the Union, November 29, 1802, when the northwest territory, as a political division, ceased to exist. At that date also, congress attached to Indiana the remainder of ]\Iichigan, or Wayne county, as it was then called; and. in 1803. William Henry Harrison, as governor of the Indiana territory, assumed jurisdiction over all of ^Michigan, and extended the limits of Wayne county to Lake Michigan. Thereafter, until the formation of the territory of Michigan, June 30, 1805, Detroit, Sault Ste. Marie, and St. Ignace, as well as the sites of Ann Arbor, (xrand Rapids, Kalamazoo and Niles, with all the valley of the St. Joseph, were in Indiana. So much of the ruins of old Fort St. Joseph's, if any, as remained after the Spanish invasion of our valley, in 1781, w-ere in the territory. Chicago and St. Louis were then in Indiana; and so were the sites of ^Milwaukee, St. Paul, :Minneapolis and Duluth. Our inland sea, Lake Michigan, was wholly within the Indiana territory. The ambition of Napoleon is said to have been to make the Mediterranean a French lake: and he came near succeeding. La Salle made Lake Michigan a French lake ; it was afterwards a British lake; and now it is the only one of the great lakes that is wholly American: in the first years of the nineteenth century, it was an Indiana lake, surrounded on every side by Indiana territory.

Sec. 2. - Organization of the Territorial Go\t:rnment. - On May 13, 1800, the appointment by the president of William Henry Harrison, of Virginia, as first governor of the Indiana territory was confirmed by the senate. Harrison had been secretary of the northwest territory, and also delegate in congress from that territory. On the next day, John Gibson, of Pennsylvania, a pioneer of distinction, was appointed first secretary of the territory.

It was to Secretary Gibson that the great chief Logan, in 1774, delivered his celebrated speech, known to every school boy.« William Clark, Henry Vanderburg and John Griffin were appointed the first judges of the territory. Harrison did not come to assume his office until January, 1801. John Gibson, the secretary, arrived at Vincennes early in July, 1800, and, as acting governor, proceeded to make appointments of territorial officers and to provide for the administration of the affairs of the new government, which was formally organized July 4, 1800. The first entry on the executive journal, dated at Saint Vincennes, July 4, 1800, reads as follows: "This day the government of the Indiana Territory commenced. William Henry Harrison having been appointed governor; John Gibson, secretary; William Clark, Henry Vander Burgh and John Griffin, judges in and over said Territory. ' ' This was the second time in the history of our commonwealth that July 4th, proved to be a notable day. It was on July 4, 1778, that George Rogers Clark surprised and captured Kaskaskia, then the capital of the British possessions northwest of the Ohio, thus opening up the first page of our history, as a part of the American Union; and now again, on July 4, 1800. was organized the government of Indiana, as an incipient commonw^ealth of -the republic.

On January 12, 1801, Governor Harrison having arrived at Vincennes and issued proclamation therefor, the governor and judges convened in legislative session and adopted laws for the government of the territory. This was the first body ever convened within the present limits of Indiana to make laws for our commonwealth. The ordinance of 1787 continued in force, so far as applicable, as also the laws already adopted for the government of the northwest tei-ritory before the division.

Indiana territory, organized and held its first session at Vincennes, March 3, 1801. The court record opens as follows: "At a General Court of the Indiana Territory, called and held at Saint Vincennes the third day of March, in the year one thousand eight hundred and one. The commissions of the judges being read in open court, they took their seats, and present: William Clark, Henry Vander Burgh and John Griffin, Judges. Henry Hurst, Clerk of the General Court, having produced his commission from the governor and a certificate of his having taken the oath of allegiance and oath of office, took his place. John Eice Jones, Attorney-General, produced his commission, and a certificate of his having taken the oath of allegiance and oath of office. ' ' One of the ordere made on this first day of court is of much significance. It was for the examination of certain persons "for counsellor's degree, agreeable to a law of the Territory. ' ' Among the persons so ordered to be examined as to his proficiency in the law was the Attorney-General himself, John Rice Jones. After obtaining their degree as counsellors, those distinguished gentlemen were required to appear at subsequent terms of court, t-o be examined for their second degree, for admission to practice as attorneysat-law. Now-a-days it is the constitutional privilege of "every person of good moral character, being a voter," to be admitted "to practice law in all courts of justice." Which is the better system in "a government of the people, for the people, and by the people," may perhaps be a subject of debate. One may become a good lawyer, though admitted to practice without examination ; and he may be a poor lawyer, though admitted after the most severe examination. "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves that we are underlings."

The business of this early supreme court was very light, as compared with the business of the courts of our day. From the organization of the court, March 3, 1801, until the close of its last term, September 16, 1816, just before the territorial form of government gave way to the establislunent of a permanent state government, two manuscript dockets, or order books, one of 457 and the other of 120 pages were found sufficient to contain all the orders of the court. The court sat at Vincennes from its organization until 1813, when the seat of government was removed to Cory don. in Harrison county.

The general court, unlike the supreme court of our day, had original as well as appellate jurisdiction. The business, however, was usually appellate, the appeals being taken from the several county courts. Yet the most important case that came before the court was an original action for slander, brought by the governor, William Henry Harrison, against one William Mcintosh, a wealthy Scotch resident of Vincennes, and said to be a relative of the distinguished Sir James Mcintosh. The case was tried by a jury selected as follows : Forty-eight men were summoned by elisors, appointed by the court; of these, the plaintiff struck out twelve names, after which the defendant struck out twelve. From the remaining twenty-four a jury of twelve men was drawn by lot. The jury gave the governor a verdict for four thousand dollars, a part of which was remitted and the rest given to charity. The judges of the general court, like the judges of our supreme court in their respective circuits, had power to preside in the circuit courts ; and we learn that Benjamin Parke, after whom Parke county was named, while judge of the general court, rode on horseback from Vincennes to Wayne county, to try a case of larceny. It is said that his judicial bench on that occasion was a log of wood. The case w^as one of petit larceny,- - exceedingly petty, indeed, - the theft of a pocket knife. The people of those days sought the just enforcement of the law upon the statute books, according to its true intent and meaning, rather than the making of many new laws. A speedy hearing, a fair trial, a prompt acquittal of the innocent, a certain conviction of the guilty, the taking of no man's property without right and the delay his death until its re-establislmient by the of no man in the recovery of what belonged legislature, under the new constitution, in to him, - these things seemed to our simple 1855. To Benjamin Parke, and to General forefathers the true ends of the administra- Washington Johnston, another distinguished tion of justice. They deemed the enforcement lawyer, our supreme court is indebted for the of the old laws of more consequence than the nucleus of its present library, - one of the making of new ones. To remedy miscarriage finest west of New York City. The books of of justice, they looked to the courts and to Parke and Johnston upon the shelves of this the officers appointed to administer the laws, library are made the more precious by the rather than to the enactment of new laws. autographs of those eminent men. The sal- The first judges of the general court were aries of the judges of the general court were succeeded by Thomas Terry Davis, Waller seven hundred dollars a year each; that of Taylor, Benjamin Parke and James Scott, the attorney-general, at first sixty and after- The last three occupied the bench until the wards one hundred dollars a year, territorial form of government came to a close. The questions brought for decision before in 1816. The most distinguished of the the general court of the Indiana territory judges, and one of the ablest public men in were in many cases quite diff'erent from those the history of Indiana, was Benjamin Parke, that have since engaged the attention of our Soon after the close of his services as judge courts. Legislation itself was diff'erent. of the general court, he was appointed first Many acts now deemed criminal were then j udge of the United States district court for either sanctioned by the law, or at least looked Indiana, serving from 1817 until his death, upon with indifference or even indulgence, in 1835. Waller Taylor was also a man of On the other hand, some offenses were then distinction. While judge of the general court punished more severely than at present. Not he served as major with Harrison at the battle only treason and murder, but also arson, of Tippecanoe. On the organization of the horse-stealing upon a second conviction, and state government, in 1816, he was chosen as rape were punishable by death. Burglary, one of the first United States senators from hog stealing and bigamy, in addition to other Indiana, and served for two terms. James penalties, rendered the offender liable to be Scott, the third member of the general court punished by whipping. But duelling was at the time of its dissolution, was appointed punishable only by a fine; although all offlone of the first judges of the state supreme cers, whether legislative, executive or judicial, court, and served for fourteen years. The as well as attorneys-at-law, were required to attorneys-general for the territorial period take an oath that they had not given or acwere three in number, - James Rice Jones, cepted a challenge to a duel. In their legisla- Benjamin Parke and Thomas Randolph, tion against corruption in elections, the men Jones was one of the compilers of the Indiana of those days seem to have been wiser than code of 1807. Disappointed in his political some of our modern legislators. They punaspirations, he went to Illinois, and after- ished the briber, the bribe-giver; while more wards to Missouri. He was a member of the recent laws, in many cases, have punished first constitutional convention of Missouri, only the bribe-taker. Liquor laws also differed and afterwards member of the supreme court widely from our own. Tavern keepers might o'f . that state. Thomas Randolph, the last have their licenses revoked, not only for failattorney-general of the territory, was a cousin ing to do their duty towards their guests, as of John Randolph of Roanoke. He was killed to giving proper attention and providing at the battle of Tippecanoe, in 1811. The wholesome food for man and beast, but also office of attorney-general ceased to exist from for failure to keep on hand "ordinary liquors of good and salutary quality. ' ' Provisions of this kind, in favor of pure food and against adulteration, again seem to be receiving some attention from legislators, both in congress and in the general assembly.

As we have already seen, provision was made for the erection of pillories and whipping posts in every county for the punishment of criminals. And not only men, but even women, were publicly whipped for violations of law. Imprisonment for debt was also authorized by the laws of the territory, as it was then generally throughout the United States. Lotteries, on the contrary, now regarded as not only illegal but even as immoral, were in those days, rather favored by the law.

Sec. 4. - Lotteries and Slavery in Indiana. - By an act of the legislature, approved September 17, 1807, the Vincennes university was chartered by the legislature. It is the oldest educational institution of that rank in the state, if not in the west. Among the provisions of the charter was one for the raising of twenty thousand dollars "for the purpose of procuring a library and the necessary philosophical and experimental apparatus" for such university. The trustees of the university were required to "appoint five discreet persons" as managers of the lottery, who were to have power "to adopt such schemes as they may deem proper, to sell the said tickets, and to superintend the drawing of the same, and the payment of the prizes. ' ' It was further provided that "said managei^ and trustees shall render an account of their proceedings therein at the next session of the legislature after the drawing of said lottery." It is clear that our worthy forefathers thought pillories and whipping posts suitable and proper means for the punishment of wrongdoers ; and that they were also of opinion that money for the promotion of the higher education of the people, might properly be secured by the establishment of a lottery. It was not until February 3, 1832, that an act was passed by the legislature making the conducting of a lottery a misdemeanor; but even in that act, for the purpose no doubt of protecting the Vincennes lottery, there was a saving claiLse in favor of lotteries "authorized by law. In the constitution of 1851. however, the prohibition wa.s made absolute, - that "no lottery shall be authorized; nor shall the sale of lottery tickets be allowed." But, notwithstanding this distinct declaration in the constitution, added to the previous statutory enactment, the trustees of the university still persisted in keeping up their lottery; and in this practice they were long sustained by the courts. As late as the May term, 1879, of the supreme court, the lottery provision of the Vincennes university charter was held to be an inviolable contract, which neither the legislature nor even the people, in the framing of their constitution, could abrogate; and the Dartmouth college case and other high authority was cited in support of the decision. "We hold," said the court, in Kellum v. State, 66 Ind. 588, "that the lottery established by the board of trustees for the Vincennes university, under the fifteenth section of the territorial law for the incorporation of said university was and is a lottery ' authorized by law. ' " It was not until the May term, 1883, of the court, in the case of State v. Woodward, 89 Ind. 110, that the Vincennes lottery was finally declared illegal. The opinion in the case was the last written by the eminent jurist, James L. Worden ; and followed a then recent ruling of the supreme court of the United States.*

Another illustration of the persistence of customs which have long prevailed in a community, is exhibited iii the history of slavery in Indiana. To many persons the statement may be a surprise that human slavery ever existed within the borders of this state. We must remember, however, that, on the eonquest of the northwest by George Rogers Clark, all this country became a part of Virginia, under the name of the county of Ulio. Acts 1831, p. 269.

nois. Our territory thus becoming- a part of the state of Virginia, slavery had a legal foothold here, as it had there. Besides, the French, and also the Indians, held slaves in the territory previous to the Virginia conquest; the slaves so held being not only negroes, but also captive Indians.'* After the deed of cession by Virginia to the United States,, it was uncertain for a time whether slavery should be recognized or not ; but, in the ordinance of 1787, for the government of the territory northwest of the Ohio, it was finally provided, in terms, that "There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in said territory, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted. ' ' The same prohibition was carried into both our state constitutions. Yet, under the plea that, before the passage of the ordinance, slave property had been lawfully acquired within the limits of the territory, it was argued that the holders of such property could not be legally deprived of it. The argument was even made tliat a mother being a slave, her children could be born only as slaves, and that the owner of the mother became the owner of the children so born.

The property interests of the country were enlisted in behalf of retaining the institution of slavery, and even of introducing more slaves into the country. A large part of the population was from Virginia and Kentucky, and this element constituted a powerful party in favor of perpetuating some form of African slavery. At the head of the slaveholding interest was the governor of the territory, William Henry Harrison. The governor was a Virginian, and seemed to be sincerely of opinion that the prosperity of the country depended upon the establishment of slavery. A strong effort was made to have the piuvision in the ordinance of 1787 prohibiting slavery suspended, at least for ten years. The contest before congress was long and earnest, but the petition from Indiana was finally denied by that body. Yet the effort was still persisted in to retain in slavery, by some form of indenture or otherwise, those who had been slaves or who were the children of slave mothers. As late as the year 1813, the act concerning taxation passed by the legislature provided, as a part of the schedule of assessments and taxation, for a tax -'for every slave or servant of color, above twelve years of age, two dollars." Two cases came to the supreme court, in which tlie questions so raised were finally settled against the right to hold slaves in" Indiana. In the first of these cases. State v. Lasselle, 1 Blackf. 60, the trial court had decided that a colored woman, Polly, was the property of Lasselle. The supreme court, without deciding whether Virginia, by consenting to the ordinance of 1787, intended to emancipate the slaves in the northwest or not, held that, in any event, slavery was effectually abolished by the Constitution of 1816. In the other case, that of Mary Clark, also a colored woman, decided in 1 Blackf. 122, Mary Clark had attempted to bind herself as a servant for a term of twenty years. She afterwards repented of her bargain ; but the trial court held that she must comply with her contract. The supreme court, however, decided that such an indenture, though voluntarily made, was a species of slavery, and that the contract could not be enforced. Thus was wiped out the last vestige of legal bondage in Indiana. It is true that long after these decisions, many persons continued voluntarily to live out their lives as slaves within the limits of the state. Even as late as 1840, as shown by the United States census for that year, there were still three slaves in Indiana, - a man and a woman in Rush county and a woman in Putnam county. But slavery, as sanctioned by the law, was at an end ; and it came to an end, in fact, with the death of the last of such voluntary slaves.

The desire on the part of many of the inhabitants to establish slavery in the Indiana territory resulted in a proclamation by the governor calling for the election by the peo- pie of delegates to meet in convention at Vincennes, December 20, 1802. This convention petitioned congress for a suspension of the sixth article of the ordinance of 1787, which prohibited slavery in the territory. The petition, as we have seen, was rejected by congress. The report of the committee to which the petition was referred was prepared by John Randolph, the distinguished orator and statesman, then senator from Virginia, and was an unanswerable argument against the establishment of slavery in the territory. The Vincennes convention which prepared the petition in favor of slavery is also noteworthy as being the first deliberative body elected to represent the people of Indiana. The convention consisted of twelve delegates. From the county of Knox, four; from the county of Randolph, three; from the county of St. Clair, three; and from the county of Clark, two. The counties of St. Clair and Randolph were in that part of the territory which is now the state of Illinois; Knox and Clark were in what is now Indiana. So small was the population, in 1802, of the territory now comprising these two great states. Wayne county, now the state of Michigan, does not seem to have been represented in this early convention.

Sec. 5. - The First Indiana Legislature; THE Territory op Michigan Formed. - -The act of congress for the organization of the Indiana territory, approved May 7, 1800, provided that whenever the governor became satisfied that a majority of the freeholders of the territory were in favor of the organization of a general assembly, an election for that purpose should be called, even though there might not then be in the territory five thousand free male inhabitants of the age of twenty-one years ; thus providing an earlier period than was provided in the ordinance of 1787, for the establishment of a representative government. By a vote of the people taken September 11, 1804, it appeared that a majority of one hundred and thirty-eight were in favor of organizing a general assembly; and accordingly Governor Harrison issued his proclamation declaring that Indiana had passed into the second stage of territorial government, and called an election for January 3, 1805, at which members of the first house of representatives were chosen in the several counties. This body met at Vincennes, February 1, 1805, and selected names for the organization of a legislative council, or senate, as provided in the ordinance of 1787. The counties then represented were Knox, Clark and Dearborn, in what is now Indiana ; St. Clair, in Illinois ; and Wayne, in Michigan. This was the last official connection of Michigan with the Indiana territory. By an act of congress, approved January 11, 1805, it was provided that from and after June 30, 1805, that part of the Indiana territory lying north of an east and west line drawn through "the southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan, until it shall intersect Lake Erie, and east of a line drawn from the said southerly bend" through the middle of Lake Michigan to its northern extremity, and thence north to the northern boundary of the United States, should be erected into a separate territory, to be known as Michigan. It will be noticed that this left the greater part of the present upper peninsula of Michigan in the Indiana territory. But, of more importance to St. Joseph county, as well as to all the other northern tier of Indiana counties, it will be seen that the southern boundary of Michigan, as required also by the terms of the ordinance of 1787, was placed ten miles south of the present boundary between Indiana and Michigan, leaving the sites of South Bend, New Carlisle, Mishawaka and Osceola, as well as all the St. Joseph valley and the north ten miles of the county, within the bounds of the new Michigan territory.

The legislative council having been selected, the first general assembly of Indiana, embracing then the greater part of the old northwest territory, except Ohio and Michigan, assembled at Vincennes, July 29, 1805. The council, or senate, consisted of five members; jiiid the house of representatives, of seven members. Michigan having become a territory, Wayne county was not represented. The counties having representation in the assembly were Knox, Clark and Dearborn, in what is now Indiana, and kSt. Clair and Randolph in Illinois. The business of this firet general assembly was chiefly routine. Benjamin Parke was elected the first delegate of the territory in congress. The second general assembly began its session at Vincennes, August 16, 1807. The laws passed at those two sessions, together with all other laws in force in the territory were collected and published in one volume, called the code of 1807. This was the first Indiana code of laws.

Sec. 6. - Tecumseh and the Battle of Tippecanoe. - After the signing of the treaty of Greenville between General Anthony Wayne and Little Turtle and the other chiefs, August 3, 1795, it was believed that permanent peace had been established between the whites and Indians. But the emigration to the rich lands of the northwest grew to such proportions that the Indians were pressed farther and farther into the interior. Numerous treaties, as we have seen, were made, from time to time, throwing open to white settlement the several reservations of territory made at Greenville to secure to the Indians their hunting grounds. Often, too, where two or more tribes owned certain lands in common, as they often did, the whites secured by treaty the title of one tribe and then failed to respect the claim of the others to the same lands. The French had respected this community ownership of lands, and never denied the title of the Indians, even to the territory occupied by themselves. Moreover, as to their own holdings, the French accepted the community idea, which was universal. Several hundred acres were set aside at Viucennes, which the inhabitants of the post used in common for pasture and other uses. They "fenced in" their stock as is now the law in Indiana; and the crops planted outside this community property by each householder were without enclosure. The community idea, however, was antagonistic to the ideas of the emigrants from the east. Each settler wanted his own lands for himself exclusively, and was particularly unwilling that any Indian should have any part or parcel in his holding. But, besides securing additional Indian lands by new treaties, many white emigrants, without any such authority, pushed in upon the lands yet reserved to the Indians by the treaty of Greenville and other treaties. This land greed, as the Indians called it, was exasperating to the natives, who loved their old hunting grounds; and the feeling of resentment against the encroachment of the whites became more acute from year to year. Afterwards, when white men fell in battle with the Indians, it was not uncommon for the latter to stuff earth into the mouth, nose and ears of the fallen pale face, as if in mockery of this greed for land.

In a message to the legislature of Indiana, in 1806, Governor Harrison referred to the growing dissatisfaction of the Indians, in this and other respects. The Indians, he said, "will never have recourse to arms - I speak of those in our immediate neighborhood - unless driven to it by a series of injustice and oppression. Of this they already begin to complain; and I am sorry to say that their complaints are far from being groundless. It is true that the general government has passed laws for fulfilling, not only the stipulations contained in our treaty, but also those sublimer duties which a just sense of our prosperity and their wretchedness seem to impose. The laws of the territory provide, also, the same punishment for offenses committed against Indians as against white men. Experience, however, shows that there is a wide difference in the execution of those laws. The Indian always suffers, and the white men never. ' ' to break out into hostilities against their oppressors. The leader was forthcoming, a greater perhaps than either Pontiac or Little Turtle. In 1805, Teciunseh, a Shawnee chief, and his l^rother Law-le-was-i-kaw - the loud voice - resided in a village on the White river in what is now Delaware county. Law-lewas-i-kaw took upon himself the character of a prophet, and is iLsually known under that title. He began to preach to the Indians, calling upon them to reject witchcraft, the use of intoxicating liquors, intermarriag'e with the whites and the practice of selling their lands to the United States. He acquired great influence among the tribes, not only the tribes in Indiana, but those of the whole west. Prophet's Town was established on the banks of the Wabash river, near the mouth of the Tippecanoe, as a center to which all the Indians were invited to gather. While the prophet was arousing the religious enthusiasm of the Indians Tecumseh was visiting all the tribes of the west and the south, forming a confederacy which might be strong enough to resist further encroachments on the part of the white settlers. The poison of British influence was again manifested; and when the war of 1812 broke out between England and the United States, the Indians were found in full and active sympathy with the British. Interviews took place from time to time between Grovernor Harrison and the Shawnee chiefs, but the estrangement continued to increase from year to year. In the early part of 1811 the people of the territory became thoroughly alarmed at the growing strength of the Indians at Prophet's Town; and Governor Harrison, under direction of the president and the secretary of war, began preparations for a military expedition against the prophet. Harrison's army consisting of about seven hundred etfective men, of whom two hundred and fifty were regular troops, arrived near Prophet's Town November 6, 1811. On the morning of the seventh, before daylight, the Americans were fiercely attacked by the Indians, and many killed. Harrison quickly rallied his forces and charged upon the Indians, who were completely routed. Harrison's loss, in kiUed and mortally wounded, were sixty-two, with one hundred and twentysix other wounded men. The enemy's forces are believed to have been greater, and their losses quite as severe ; but there is a lack of definite information on these points. The battle of Tippecanoe is the most important that ever took place within the confines of Indiana. The spirit of the Indians was completely broken, and the confederacy which Tecumseh was building up was completely destroyed. This great warrior was himself absent at the time, visiting the tribes of the south. It is said that he was angry with his brother for bringing on the engagement. Tecumseh was not then ready for his conflict with the whites, and his plans were therefore frustrated. He soon joined the British army with his Indians and was killed at the battle of the Thames, in Canada, not far from Detroit, 5, 1813. He was undoubtedly the greatest warrior and statesman ever produced by the Indian race.

After the battle of Tippecanoe there was occasional minor trouble with the Indians ; but with the death of Tecumseh their courage and ambition as a united people was gone forever. The remnants of the red race were by degrees removed to the far west ; and their place was rapidly taken by the hardy pioneers who poured in from the eastern states and from Europe. The triumph for the second time, of American arms over those of Great Britain, soon after followed; and the future of the great northwest was assured. Up to that date there was not a white inhabitant in St. Joseph county; nor indeed anywhere in northern Indiana.

Sec. 7. - Aaron Burr. - Another interesting episode in early Indiana history ought to receive at least a passing mention. In 1805. 1806 and 1807, Aaron Burr, once vice-president of the United States, was engaged in dift'erent places along the Ohio valley in organizing a mysterious enterprise, now believed to have been intended for the founding of an independent southwestern republic, to embrace Mexican and American territory. Some are of the opinion that Burr's ambition looked to the uniting of all the states and territories of the ^Mississippi valle3^ with Mexico, into one great central state of which he should be chief. Amongst other places Burr visited Jeffersonville, Vincennes and Kaskaskia. He was arrested early in 1807, and his vast project, whatever may have been its nature, suddenly collapsed.

Sec. 8. - Formation op Illinois Territory. - As the population of the Indiana territory increased the need of a division into two territories became greater. Congress yielded to the wishes of the people in the matter, and. by an act approved February 3, 1809, declared that from and after ]March 1, 1809, all that part of the Indiana territory lying West of the Wabash river, and a direct line north from Post Vincennes to the British possessions, should form a separate territory, to be called the Illinois territory. The population of the whole of the Indiana territory at that time was about twenty-eight thousand; eleven thousand being in the Illinois division, and seventeen thousand in Indiana proper. The cutting off of the territory of Illinois left the capital of Indiana on the extreme west of the territory; and an agitation soon developed for its removal from Vincennes to some more central point. By an act of the general assembly, approved ]March 11, 1813, the capital of the territory was fixed at Corydon, Harrison county, from and after May 1, 1813. The capital remained at Corydon until it was removed to Indianapolis, in 1825, as provided in Sec. 11, article XI of the constitution of 1816. By reason of the absence of Governor Harrison in the wars with the Indians and with Great Britain, the active duties of the office of governor devolved for the time upon the secretary. General John Gibson. It was by his call as governor that this last meeting of the general assembly was held at Vincennes. On February 27, 1813, President

Madison appointed Thomas Posey, then a senator of the United States from Tennessee, as governor of the new Indiana territory, then reduced very nearly to the territorial limits of the present state of Indiana.

Sec. 1. - Periods op Growtpi. - During the thirty-one years from the close of the Revolutionary war, and the signing of the treaty of Paris, September 3. 1783, to the close of the second war with Great Britain, and the signing of the treaty of Ghent, December 24, 1814, Indiana passed through the several stages of development, until vshe reached the full maturity of her growth as a commonwealth. The time during which she was a part of the county of Illinois, nursed and cared for by the mother state of Virginia, may be considered the period of her infancy : the time during which she was a part of the northwest territoiy, trained and guided by the national authority, and governed by the ordinance of 1787 and other laws adopted for her protection, may be considered as the period of her childhood ; the time during which she was a part of the vast Indiana territory and entrusted with the forms if not the reality of self government, may be considered as the period of her immature youth ; the time during which she was regarded as a separate and distinct territory, allowed to legislate in a limited manner for her own particular needs, and called upon to defend her integrity by the shedding of her blood at Tipi)ecanoe and in battle with the British oppressor, may be considered as tlic period of her adolescence. It was then recognized that tlic time of her full maturity was at hand, and that slie was entitled t<» take lici- place as one of the sister states of llie I'nioii.

gee. 2. - Admission Into the IInion. - On December 14, 1815, a memorial to congress, praying for the admission of Indiana as a state, was adopted by the general assembly of the territory: and. on the 28th of the same inotitli. was laid l)efore congress by Jonathan

Jennings, the territorial delegate. The memorial recited the provision of the ordinance of 1787, that when the free population of the territory should be sixty thousand or over, the territory should be admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original states, and stating that a census taken by legislative authority showed that Indiana had more than the requisite population. In compliance with this recpiest of the legislature, congress passed an enabling act, approved April 19, 1816, providing for an election to be held in the several counties of the territory. May 13, 1816, to select delegates to a convention to frame a state constitution.

The convention consisted of forty-three members, elected from thirteen counties, as follows: Wayne, 4; Franklin, 5; Dearborn, 3 ; Switzerland, 1 ; Jefferson, 3 ; Clark, 5 ; Harrison, 5 ; Washington, 5 ; Knox, 5 ; Gibson, 4 ; Warrick, 1 ; Perry, 1 ; and Posey, 1. It will be noticed that these counties were almost altogether on the Ohio and Wabash rivers. Indiana's first settlements were along the rivers on the southern borders ; and the settlers were almost all from the states and territories south and southeast of the Ohio. The population of the thirteen counties sending delegates to the constitutional convention of 1816, was sixty-three thousand, eight hundred and ninety-seven. Two additional counties, Orange and Jackson, also in the extreme south, were organized in 1816, under authority of the territorial legislature ; but not in time to send delegates to the constitutional convention.

The convention began its deliberations at Corydon, on June 10, 1816, and completed the framing of the constitution, on June 29, 1816. Jonathan Jennings presided over the convention, and William Hendricks was chosen secretary. On the completion of their work, president Jennings, as required by the constitution issued to the sheriffs of the several counties writs of election, fixing the first Monday of August, 1816, for the election of a governor and other state officers. Jonathan Jennings was elected fii*st governor, receiving 5.211 votes, to 3,934 cast for Thomas Posey, then governor of the territory'. William Hendricks was elected first representative of Indiana in the house of representatives of the United States.

The first general assembly, chosen at the same election, began its session at Corydon on jNIonday, November 4, 1816. Christopher Harrison, elected lieutenant governor, presided over the senate; and Isaac Blackford, the famous jurist, was elected speaker of the house of representatives. The governor and lieutenant governor were inaugurated November 7, 1816 ; John Paul having been previously chosen president pro tempore of the senate. Thereupon the territorial government came to a close. By a joint resolution of congress, approved December 11, 1816, Indiana was formally admitted as a sovereign state of the Union. On November 8, 1816, the general assembly elected James Noble and Waller Taylor as the first senators to represent the state in the United States senate. The session closed on January 3, 1817.