stitutional number of the citizens of this territory shall assume that right."*

On the 6th of April, 1804, Governor Harrison, having been informed that certain persons were about to remove a number of indentured persons of color from the territory, for the purpose of selling them as slaves, issued a proclamation, forbidding the removal of such persons of color; and calling upon the civil authorities of the territory to oppose and prevent the removal and sale of such persons.

By an act of congress, approved on the 26th of March, 1804, that part of the territory of Louisiana which was situated west of the river Mississippi, and north of the thirty-third degree of north latitude, was, under the name of the district of Louisiana, attached to the territory of Indiana; and the governor and judges of this territory were invested with authority to exercise, over the district of Louisiania, powers similar to those which they were authorized to exercise for the maintenance of civil government in the territory of Indiana. In conformity with the provisions of this act of congress, Governor Harrison and the judges of the Indiana territory, at a session begun at Vincennes, on the first of October, 1804, adopted and passed some laws for the government of the district of Louisiana. This district was, however, detached from the territory of Indiana, and organized into a separate territory, under the provisions of an act of congress, approved on the 3d of March, 1805.

When it appeared by the result of a vote which was taken in the Indiana territory, on the 11th of September, 1804, that a majority of one hundred and thirty-eight of the freeholders of the territory were in favor of organizing a General Assembly, Governor Harrison issued a proclamation in which he declared that the territory had passed into the second grade of government, as contemplated by the ordinance of 1787, and fixed Thursday, January 3d, 1805, as the time for holding an election in the several counties of the territory, to choose members of a house of representatives; which members were required to meet at Vincennes, on the first of February, in order to adopt measures for the organization of a territorial legisla

* Annals of Congress-10th Congress, 1st session, vol. i, p. 26.

tive council.

The members of the house of representatives who assembled, in obedience to this proclamation, proceeded, on the 7th of February, 1805, to select, by ballot, the names of ten residents of the territory, to be forwarded to the President of the United States-five of which number the President, under the authority of Congress, was authorized to appoint and commission as members of the legislative council of the Indiana territory. The ten persons whose names were thus selected, and forwarded to the President were-John Rice Jones, and Jacob Kuykendall, of Knox county; Samuel Gwathmey, and Marston Green Clark, of Clark county; Benjamin Chambers, of Dearborn county; Jean Francois Perrey, and John Hay, of St. Clair county; Pierre Menard, of Randolph county; and James May and James Henry, of Detroit, in the county of Wayne.

Mr. Jefferson, who was, at that time President of the United States, waived the right of designating, from the list, the members of the legislative council, on the ground that, "as the characters were unknown to him, it would be substituting chance for choice, were he to name the five councilors."* The President, however, forwarded to Governor Harrison an instrument in which blanks were left for the names of five members of the legislative council; and the governor was authorized to fill the blanks with the names of suitable persons, rejecting "land-jobbers, dishonest men, and those who, though honest, might suffer themselves to be warped by party prejudices."

By an act of congress, approved on the 11th of January, 1805, a few days after the first meeting of the house of representatives of the Indiana territory, and before the organization of a legislative council, the territory of Indiana was divided, in order to establish the territory of Michigan, which was separated from the Indiana territory, from and after the 30th of June, 1805. The Michigan territory was formed, in the words of the act of congress, out of "all that part of the Indiana territory which lies north of a line drawn east from 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 said lake to its northern ex

* Dawson's Life of Harrison, p. 71.

tremity, and thence due north, to the northern boundary of the United States."

The first general assembly or legislature, of the Indiana territory, met at Vincennes, on the 29th of July, 1805, in pursuance of a proclamation which was issued by Governor Harrison, on the 7th of June. The members of the house of representatives were, Jesse B. Thomas, of Dearborn county; Davis Floyd, of Clark county; Benjamin Parke and John Johnson, of Knox county; Shadrach Bond and William Biggs, of St. Clair county; and George Fisher, of Randolph county. On the 30th of July, the governor delivered his first message to "the legislative council and house of representatives of the Indiana territory." In this message, Governor Harrison congratulated the members of the general assembly "upon entering on a grade of government which gave to the people the important right of legislating for themselves." He recom

mended the passage of laws-1st, to prevent the sale of intoxicating liquors to Indians:-2dly, to establish a better system of courts for the administration of justice:-3dly, to provide for the improvement of the militia system of the territory: — 4thly, to provide for the punishment of horse stealing:-and 5thly, to provide ways and means for raising a revenue.

In that part of the message which related to the prevailing vice of drunkenness among the Indians, Governor Harrison said "The interests of your constituents, the interests of the miserable Indians, and your own feelings, will sufficiently urge you to take it into your most serious consideration, and provide the remedy which is to save thousands of our fellow-creatures. You are witnesses to the abuses; you have seen our towns crowded with furious and drunken savages; our streets flowing with their blood; their arms and clothing bartered for the liquor that destroys them; and their miserable women and children enduring all the extremities of cold and hunger. So destructive has the progress of intemperance been among them, that whole villages have been swept away. A miserable remnant is all that remains to mark the names and situation of many numerous and warlike tribes. In the energetic language of one of their orators, it is a dreadful conflagration, which spreads misery and desolation through the country, and threatens the annihilation of the whole race."

FIRST LEGISLATURE OF INDIANA TERRITORY. 417

In calling the attention of the legislature to the consideration of the expediency of reorganizing the inferior courts of justice, the governor said:—“ As the judges of those courts derive little or no emolument from their commissions, in order to secure the attendance of a sufficient number for the business, I have been obliged to multiply them to an extent which precludes all hope of a uniformity of decision. It is, indeed, not unfrequent that the judges who determine the question are not those who have presided at its discussion. Limited as our

means certainly are, and cautious as we must be of drawing from the people a single cent that can be dispensed with, it is indispensably necessary that an evil should be corrected which strikes at the root of one of the first objects of civil society."

On the question of providing ways and means to raise a revenue, the governor said-"The most difficult and delicate of your duties, gentlemen, will be to create a revenue which shall be adequate to the expense of the government, without imposing too great a burden upon your constituents, and to appropriate, with the strictest frugality and economy, the sums which must be chiefly drawn from industry and improvement. Few, indeed, are the objects of taxation in a newly settled country. In the commencement of our financial operations, some trifling embarrassments must be expected: however, I trust they will be of momentary continuance."

According to the provisions of the ordinance of congress, of July 13, 1787, the legislative council and house of representatives of the Indiana territory were invested with authority to elect, by joint ballot, a delegate to congress; and in the discharge of this duty the legislature elected Benjamin Parke, a native of New Jersey, who emigrated from that State to the territory of Indiana in 1801.

27

CHAPTER

XXXII.

INDIAN TREATIES-TERRITORIAL LEGISLATION.

By certain laws and regulations of the government of the United States, Governor Harrison was authorised and instructed to promote peace and harmony among the different tribes of northwestern Indians, and to induce them, if possible, to abandon their modes of living, and to engage in the practice of agriculture, and other pursuits of civilized life. He was, also, invested with general powers which authorised him to negotiate treaties between the United States and the several Indian tribes of the Indiana territory; and to extinguish, by such treaties, the Indian title to lands within the boundaries of the territory. By an active exercise of these powers, between the beginning of the year 1802 and the close of the year 1805, Governor Harrison, under the stipulations of various treaties, extinguished the Indian title to several very large districts of country lying within the boundaries of the Indiana territory.

First: At a conference held at Vincennes, on the 17th day of September, 1802, certain chiefs and head men of the Pottawattamie, Eel River, Piankeshaw, Wea, Kaskaskia, and Kickapoo tribes, nominated and appointed the Miami chiefs, Little Turtle and Richardville, and the Pottawattamie chiefs, Winamac and To-pin-e-pik, to settle the terms of a treaty for the extinguishment of Indian claims to certain lands on the borders of the river Wabash, in the vicinity of Vincennes.

Secondly: At a treaty held at Fort Wayne, on the 7th of June, 1803, certain chiefs and head men of the Delaware, Shawanee, Pottawattamie, Eel River, Kickapoo, Piankeshaw and Kaskaskia tribes, ceded to the United States about one million six hundred thousand acres of land.

Thirdly By the provisions of a treaty concluded at Vincennes, on the 13th of August, 1803, certain chiefs and warriors of the Kaskaskia tribe ceded to the United States about eight millions six hundred thousand acres of land, lying on the borders of the Mississippi and Illinois rivers.