(3) the grant of one section in each township for the use of common schools; (4) the grant to the State of all coal mines and salt licks; (5) the reservation of one entire township for the establishment of a college; (6) the grant of one entire township for a seat of government; and (7) the exclusion of slavery. They also suggested an apportionment of the delegates to the convention which was adopted by Congress, with the exception of Harrison county.

[Western Sun, January 27, 1816.]

To the honorable the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States, in Congress assembled:

The memorial of the Legislative Council and House of Representatives of the Indiana Territory, assembled at the town. of Corydon, in the year 1815, in behalf of their constituents, respectfully sheweth:

day of

That whereas the ordinance of Congress for the government of this Territory has provided, "That whenever there shall be sixty thousand free inhabitants therein, this Territory shall be admitted, into the Union on an equal footing with the original States;" and whereas by a census taken by the authority of the Legislature of this Territory, it appears from the returns that the number of free white inhabitants exceeds sixty thousand, we, therefore, pray the honorable Senate and House of Representatives, in Congress assembled, to order an election, to be conducted agreeably to the existing laws of this Territory, to be held in the several counties of this Territory on the first Monday of May, 1816, for representatives to meet in Convention, at the seat of government of this territory, the 1816, who, when assembled, shall determine by a majority of the votes of all the members elected, whether it will be expedient to go into a State government; and if it be determined expedient, the convention thus assembled shall have the power to form a constitution and frame of government; or if it be deemed inexpedient to provide for the election of representatives to meet in convention, at some future period, to form a constitution. And whereas the people of this territory have made great sacrifices, by settling on the frontiers, where they have been exposed to dangers and hardships of almost every description, by which means the lands of the U. S. have been greatly increased in value we feel confident that congress will be disposed to grant us 7 per cent, on all monies received at any of the U. S. land offices, from the first day of April, 1816, for lands already sold or hereafter to be sold, lying in this territory; such

percentage to be at the disposal of this government in such way as may be judged most conducive to the general welfare. It is expected by us that the general government will be disposed to confirm to us her grant of township No. 2, south of range 11, west of the second principal meridian, granted to the Indiana Territory for the use of an academy; also, the reserved sections 16, in that portion of the territory where the Indian title has already been extinguished as well as that which may be hereafter purchased of the Indians, to be at the disposal of the future State for the use of schools; and it is further requested and expected, that all coal mines and salt licks which may be reserved by the U. S. (with a sufficiency of land to work them to effect) will be granted to the future State, as well as where the Indian title is relinquished as where it is not, as soon as said relinquishment is obtained by the U. S. Furthermore, as it is conceived by us that the promotion of useful knowledge is the best guarantee to our civil institutions, and as congress must know something of the difficulties of raising money in new counties for the use of universities, we think we do ourselves but justice in asking a reserve of one entire township, for the support of a college, to be located at some suitable place on the U. States' lands in this territory. And whereas in the counties of Knox, Gibson and Clark, in said territory, a great quantity of the lands in said counties are claimed by private individuals, and confirmed to them by various laws of congress, which lands are so located that those counties will be deprived of the benefits from the 16th section, reserved by the laws of congress for the use of schools. It is, therefore, expected that congress will reserve an equivalent in lands for the use of schools in said counties, in proportion to the number of the 16th section now the property of individuals in said counties.-As it is deemed good policy that every State should have its seat of government as nearly central as the local situation of the country will permit, and as such site proper for the permanent seat is not at this time at the disposal of this territory or the general government, it is expected that congress will whenever the Indian title shall be extinguished, grant us a township of 6 miles square to be selected by such persons as the future State may appoint.

And whereas Congress will receive the most correct information from this body to enable them to proportion the number of representatives to the convention in the different counties we recommend the following, as proportioned to the census of each county according to their present boundaries, to wit:

And whereas the inhabitants of this territory are principally composed of emigrants from every part of the union, & as various in their customs and sentiments as in their persons, we think it prudent at this time to express to the general government our attachment to the fundamental principles of legislation, prescribed by congress in their ordinance for the government of this territory particularly as respects personal freedom and involuntary servitude, and hope that they may be continued as the basis of our constitution.

39.

(Signed)

DENNIS PENNINGTON,

Speaker of the House of Representatives.
DAVID ROBB,

President of the Legislative Council.

Favorable House Committee Report on Admission of Indiana
Territory (January 5, 1816).

The memorial of Indiana Territory, adopted December 11, 1815, asking to be admitted to the Union, was presented in the House on December 28 and in the Senate on January 2. Both petitions were referred to select committees. On January 5, the House Committee of which Mr. Jonathan Jennings was chairman returned a favorable report accompanied by a bill for an Enabling Act.

[Annals, Fourteenth Congress, First Session, 459.]

Mr. Jennings, from the committee appointed on the 28th ultimo, on the petition of the legislature of the Territory of Indiana, made a detailed report, which was read; when, Mr. J. reported a bill to enable the people of the Indiana Territory to form a constitution and State government, and for the admission of such State into the Union; on an equal footing with the original States; which was read twice, and committed to a Committee of the Whole to-morrow.

The report is as follows:

That the said Territory is bounded on the East by the State of Ohio; on the south by the State of Kentucky; on the west by the river Wabash, from its mouth to a point opposite the town of Vincennes, and from thence by a due north line until it intersects a

due east and west line which shall touch the southern extreme of Lake Michigan; and on the north by the line last described; that the said Territory is a portion of the Territory northwest of the river Ohio, which, by the ordinance for the government thereof, was ordained to constitute not less than three nor more than five States; that the ordinance aforesaid, whenever the Territory of Indiana shall possess sixty thousand free inhabitants, guaranties to those inhabitants the benefit of being admitted into the Union upon an equal footing with the original States; that the ordinance aforesaid not having declared under what authority the population of the said Territory should be ascertained, to complete their title to an admission into the Union, the legislature thereof, after having, by actual census, ascertained that the Territory of Indiana possesses a population of upwards of sixty thousand free inhabitants, have deemed it the most prudent and respectful to submit to congress the result of that census, and ask the passage of a law to enable the people of said Territory to form a constitution and State Government.

Your committee, believing the said Territory to possess a population of sixty thousand free inhabitants, at least, deem it unnecessary to offer any further reasons in support of the expediency of granting the principal prayer of the memorialists; and, therefore, beg leave to report a bill to enable the people of the Territory of Indiana to form a constitution and State government, on conditions not less advantageous and similar to those heretofore granted to other Territories of the United States.

The bill for the Enabling Act was reported by the select committee of which Mr. Jonathan Jennings was chairman on January 5, 1816. The bill passed the House on March 30 by a vote of 108-3, and was reported to the Senate. Among the amendments proposed in the Senate was one designed to extend the right of suffrage by striking out that clause of the third section which provides that an elector qualified to participate in the election of delegates "shall have paid a county or territorial tax." This amendment was lost by a vote of 9-13. On April 13, the bill passed the Senate and was approved on April 19, 1816. Apparently, in response to a memorial communicated by Daniel C. Lane and Patrick Shields, the apportionment of constitutional delegates to Harrison county was increased from four to five.

[Annals, Fourteenth Congress, First Session, 1841.]

AN ACT to enable the people of the Indiana Territory to form a constitution and State government, and for the admission of such State into the Union on an equal footing with the original States.

Be it enacted, etc., That the inhabitants of the Territory of

Indiana be, and they are hereby, authorized to form for themselves a constitution and State government, and to assume such name as they shall deem proper; and the said State, when formed, shall be admitted into the Union upon the same footing with the original States, in all respects whatever.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the said State shall consist of all the territory included within the following boundaries, to wit: bounded on the east by the meridian line which forms the western boundary of the State of Ohio; on the south by the river Ohio, from the mouth of the Great Miami river to the mouth of the river Wabash; on the west by a line drawn along the middle of the Wabash from its mouth, to a point where a due north line, drawn from the town of Vincennes, would last touch the northwestern shore of the said river; and from thence, by a due north line, until the same shall intersect an east and west line, drawn through a point ten miles north of the southern extreme of Lake Michigan; on the north by the said east and west line, until the same shall intersect the first mentioned meridian line which forms the western boundary of the State of Ohio: Provided, That the convention hereinafter provided for, when formed, shall ratify the boundaries aforesaid, otherwise they shall be and remain as now prescribed by the ordinance for the government of the territory northwest of the river Ohio: Provided, also, That the said State shall have concurrent jurisdiction on the river Wabash, with the State to be formed west thereof, so far as the said river shall form a common boundary to both.

Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That all male citizens of the United States, who shall have arrived at the age of twenty-one years, and resided within the said Territory at least one year previous to the day of the election, and shall have paid a county or territorial tax; and all persons having in other respects the legal qualifications to vote for representatives in the General Assembly of the said Territory, be, and they are hereby, authorized to choose representatives to form a convention, who shall be apportioned amongst the several counties within the said Territory, according to the apportionment made by the legislature thereof at their last session, to wit: from the county of Wayne, four representatives; from the county of Franklin, five representatives; from the county of Dearborn, three representatives; from the county of Switzerland, one representative; from the county of Jefferson, three representatives; from the county of Clark, five representatives; from the county of Harrison, five representatives; from the