votes; and his competitor, Thomas Posey, who was then governor of the territory, received 3,934 votes. Christopher Harrison, of Washington county, was elected lieutenant-governor; and William Hendricks was elected to represent Indiana in the house of representatives of the United States.

The voting for members of the first general assembly of the State of Indiana, resulted in the election of the persons whose names here follow:

Members of the senate: For the county of Knox, William Polke; for the county of Gibson, William Prince; for, the counties of Posey, Perry, and Warrick, Daniel Grass; for the county of Wayne, Patrick Baird; for the county of Franklin, John Conner; for the counties of Washington, Orange, and Jackson, John De Pauw; for the counties of Jefferson and Switzerland, John Paul; for the county of Dearborn, Ezra Ferris; for the county of Harrison, Dennis Pennington; and for the county of Clark, James Beggs.

Members of the house of representatives.-For the county of Wayne, Joseph Holman, Ephraim Overman, and John Scott; for the county of Franklin, James Noble, David Mounts, and James Brownlee; for the county of Dearborn, Amos Lane and Erasmus Powell; for the county of Switzerland, John Dumont; for the county of Jefferson, Williamson Dunn and Samuel Alexander; for the county of Clark, Benjamin Ferguson, Thomas Carr, and John K. Graham; for the county of Harrison, Davis Floyd, Jacob Zenor, and John Boone; for the county of Washington, Samuel Milroy and Alexander Little; for the county of Jackson, William Graham; for the county of Orange, Jonathan Lindley; for the county of Knox, Isaac Blackford, Walter Wilson, and Henry I. Mills; for the county of Gibson, Edmund Hogan and John Johnson; for the county of Posey, Dann Lynn; for the county of Warrick, Ratliff Boon; and for the county of Perry, Samuel Conner.

The first general assembly, elected under the authority of the State constitution, commenced its session, at Corydon, on Monday the 4th of November, 1816. John Paul was called to the chair of the Senate pro tempore; and Isaac Blackford was

* The counties of Orange and Jackson were organized in 1816, under the authority of acts of the territorial legislature of December, 1815.

elected speaker of the house of representatives. On Thursday, November 7th, the oath of office was administered to Governor Jennings and to Lieutenant-governor Harrison, in the presence of both houses; immediately after which, Governor Jennings delivered his first message to the general assembly. In this message he said-"Gentlemen of the senate and house of representatives: The period has arrived which has devolved on you the important duty of giving the first impulse to the government of the State. The result of your deliberation will be considered as indicative of its future character, as well as of the future happiness and prosperity of its citizens. The reputation of the State, as well as its highest interest, will require that a just and generous policy toward the general government, and a due regard to the rights of its members respectively, should invariably have their proper influence. In the commencement of the State government, the shackles of the colonial should be forgotten in your united exertions to prove, by happy experience, that a uniform adherence to the first principles of our government, and a virtuous exercise of its powers, will best secure efficiency to its measures and stability to its character. Without a frequent recurrence to those principles, the administration of the government will imperceptibly become more and more arduous, until the simplicity of our republican institutions may eventually be lost in dangerous expedients and political design. Under every free government the happiness of the citizens must be identified with their morals; and while a constitutional exercise of their rights shall continue to have its due weight in the discharge of the duties required of the constituted authorities of the State, too much attention can not be bestowed to the encouragement and promotion of every moral virtue, and to the enactment of laws calculated to restrain the vicious, and prescribe punishment for every crime commensurate to its enormity. In measuring, however, to each crime its adequate punishment, it will be well to recollect, that the certainty of punishment has generally the surest effect to prevent crime; while punishments unnecessarily severe, too often produce the acquittal of the guilty, and disappoint one of the greatest objects of legislation and good government. * The dissemination of useful knowledge will be indispensably necessary as a support to morals, and as

*

a restraint to vice; and, on this subject, it will only be necessary to direct your attention to the plan of education as prescribed by the constitution. *** I recommend to your consideration the propriety of providing, by law, to prevent more effectually any unlawful attempts to seize and carry into bondage persons of color legally entitled to their freedom; and, at the same time, as far as practicable, to prevent those who rightfully owe service to the citizens of any other State or territory, from seeking, within the limits of this State, a refuge from the possession of their lawful owners. Such a measure will tend to secure those who are free from any unlawful attempts [to enslave them], and secure the rights of the citizens of the other States and territories as far as ought reasonably to be expected."

The territorial government of Indiana was thus superseded by a State government, on the 7th of November, 1816; and the State of Indiana was formally admitted into the Union by a joint resolution of congress, approved on the 11th of December, in the same year.

On the 8th of November, 1816, the general assembly, by a joint vote of both houses, elected James Noble and Waller Taylor to represent the State of Indiana in the senate of the United States. Subsequent joint ballotings resulted in the electing of Robert A. New, secretary of state; William H. Lilley, auditor of public accounts; and Daniel C. Lane, treasurer of State. The session of the first general assembly of the State of Indiana was closed, by a final adjournment, on the 3d of January, 1817.

GENERAL VIEWS OF THE PROGRESS OF POPULATION AND IMPROVEMENTS.

IN the preceding chapters I have traced the history of the discovery and settlement of the territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio, and the history of Indiana, from the period of its organization under a territorial government to the year 1816, when the citizens of the territory formed for themselves a republican constitution, and established a State government. The history of the State of Indiana, from the year 1816 to the present time, would be, if it were now written in detail, a record of the rapid growth of a State, whose peaceful progress toward a condition of strength and prosperity was sometimes greatly embarrassed by the presence of financial difficulties, once agitated by the events of a war between the United States and Mexico, and often retarded by the disturbing influence of unwise legislation, and by obstacles which had their origin in the demoralizing dissensions of local factions.

The number of free white inhabitants in Indiana, at the close of the year 1816, did not, probably, exceed seventy thousand; but the tide of immigration which flowed into the State from other quarters of the Union, between the years 1816 and 1820, was so full that the population of Indiana, in 1820, according to the census tables of that year, amounted to 147,178. The inhabitants of the new State began to open new farms, to found new settlements, to plant new orchards, to erect schoolhouses and churches, to build hamlets and towns, and to engage, with some degree of ardor, in the various peaceful pursuits of civilized life. A sense of security pervaded the minds of the people. The hostile Indian tribes, having been overpowered, humbled, and impoverished, no longer excited the fears of the pioneer settlers, who dwelt in safety in their plain log cabin homes, and cultivated their small fields without the protection of armed sentinels. The numerous temporary forts and blockhouses, which were no longer required as places of refuge for the pioneers, were either converted into dwelling houses, or suffered to fall into ruins,

The State was in its infancy, its resources were undeveloped, its citizens were not wealthy, and, while the number of the proper objects of taxation was small, their value, at that time, was not great. The revenue which was necessary for the support of the new State government, was, for a period of about twenty years, drawn almost wholly from the land-holders; and the funds required for county purposes were derived, chiefly, from a poll tax, and taxes on lands, town lots, horses, carriages, clocks, and watches, and from charges on licenses which were granted to the vendors of merchandize, the retailers of spiritous liquors, and the keepers of taverns. For revenue purposes, the taxable lands were classed as first rate, second rate, and third rate lands. The taxes which were levied on such lands, for the support of the State government, were not burdensome. For example, the rate of taxation on one hundred acres was

In 1817, on first rate land, $1 00; on second rate land, 871 cents; on third rate land, 50 cents.

In 1818, on first rate land, $1 00; on second rate land, 871 c nts; on third rate land, 62 cents.

In 1821, on first rate land, $1 50; on second rate land, $1 25; on third rate land, 75 cents.

In 1824, on first rate land, $1 50; on second rate land, $1 00; on third rate land, 75 cents.

In 1831, on first rate land, 80 cents; on second rate land, 60 cents; on third rate land, 40 cents.

By an act of February 7, 1835, the general assembly made some provisions for the levying of taxes on land, not according to its quality, but in proportion to its value; and every assessor was required to appraise taxable land "as he would appraise the same in the payment of a just debt due from a solvent debtor." The new mode of raising a State revenue, by the levying of a certain per centage on the value of taxable property, was, on its adoption, viewed by many persons as a measure of doubtful expediency; but a large majority of the people soon began to regard it as an equitable mode of taxation, and a part of the settled policy of the State government.

The different opinions which were, for many centuries, in conflict in European nations with respect to the policy of supporting and advancing the cause of general education among the people, were transmitted from those nations to North