PART II. THE ORGANIZATION OF A CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT. One of the earliest formal petitions for the admission of Indiana Territory to the Union was presented to Congress during the twelfth session of 1811-1812. The House Committee, to whom this petition was referred, reported favorably on the admission of the Territory as soon as its population should amount to 35,000, to be ascertained by a census taken under the authority of the Territory. In response to this recommendation, the Territorial Legislature on August 29, 1814, authorized the tax listers to take a census of the Territory in the year 1815. This was done accordingly and disclosed the fact that the total population of the Territory was 63,897. Having complied with the only requirement prescribed by Congress and having completely fulfilled all conditions prescribed by the Ordinance of 1787, the Legislative Assembly adopted a memorial on December 11, 1815, asking Congress to be admitted to the Union on an equality with the other States. Both houses acted favorably on this petition and an Enabling Act was passed and approved on April 16, 1816. The election of constitutional delegates was held on May 13 and the Constitutional Convention convened on June 10. On June 11, the convention decided that it was expedient to proceed to the framing and adoption of a constitution and the organization of a state government. On June 27, the convention adopted an Ordinance formally accepting the propositions enumerated in the Enabling Act, and on June 29, the Constitution was completed and the convention adjourned. Meantime, a copy of the Constitution had been forwarded to Congress, a representative, two senators and three presidential electors had been chosen and at the beginning of the fourteenth session, Indiana asked formal admission to the Union. The representative to the lower House encountered no opposition and was sworn into office on December 2, 1816, the day on which Congress convened. The credentials of the senatorselect were referred to a select committee and they were sworn into office on December 12. After a brief but spirited contest the 65 electors were permitted to participate in the election of presidential electors and on December 11, 1816, by an appropriate resolution, Indiana was formerly admitted to the Union. 34. House Committee's Report on Petition of 1811 Asking Admission to Union (March 31, 1812). At the session of the Territorial Legislature which met on November 11, 1811, a petition was adopted asking Congress to admit Indiana Territory to the Union on an equal footing with the original States. This petition was presented in the Senate in Congress on December 31 and in the House on January 1, 1812. On January 13, the Speaker laid before the House a letter of protest signed by James Dill and Peter Jones, two members of the Indiana House of Representatives, opposing the memorial asking the admission of Indiana Territory to the Union. It was the general expectation in the Territory that this petition would be favorably acted upon. General W. Johnston, a member of the Territorial Legislature from Knox County, assured his constituents that "The economical advantages which the general government will derive from this measure, induces me to hazard the belief that it will be acceded to." The petition which was presented in the House was referred to a select committee of which Jonathan Jennings was chairman and was under consideration by this committee for a period of three months. On January 10, in a letter to one of his constituents, Jennings said that the memorial had "met a very favorable reception by the select committee," and he expected a favorable report. He was unable to say whether he would be able to obtain the passage of an act for the admission of Indiana at that time but if not successful at that session, "I doubt not that it will be successful at the next." On March 31, the select committee submitted a report in which they recommended that Indiana Territory should be admitted to the Union whenever its population should amount to 35,000 to be ascertained by a census taken under authority of the Territory. [Annals, Twelfth Congress, First Session, 1247.] Mr. Jonathan Jennings, from the committee to whom was referred the memorial of the legislature of the Indiana Territory, praying to be admitted into the Union upon an equal footing with the original States, made a report thereon; which was read, and committed to a Committee of the Whole on Monday next. The report is as follows: That the Territory of Indiana is a part of the original territory northwest of the river Ohio, and includes so much of the latter as was ordained by the ordinance for the government thereof to form a separate and independent State. That the acts of Congress establishing the Territories of Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois, have bounded the territorial limits of the former by the Territory of Michigan on the North; by a line drawn due North from the mouth. |