The area that became the Indiana Territory was once part of the
Northwest Territory, which the
Congress of the Confederation formed under the terms of the Northwest Ordinance on July 13, 1787. This ordinance outlined the basis for government in the western lands and also provided for an administrative structure to oversee the territory, including a three-stage process for transitioning from territory to statehood. In addition, the
Land Ordinance of 1785 called for the U.S. government to survey the newly acquired territory for future sale and development. The Northwest Territory, which initially included land bounded by the
Appalachian Mountains,
Mississippi River,
Great Lakes, and
Ohio River, was subsequently partitioned into smaller territories that included the Indiana Territory (1800), Michigan Territory (1805), the Illinois Territory (1809), and eventually became the present-day states of
Ohio,
Michigan,
Indiana,
Illinois,
Wisconsin, and eastern
Minnesota.
Naming the new territory Indiana, meaning "Land of the Indians", references the fact that most of the area north of the Ohio River was still inhabited by Native Americans. Formal use of the word
Indiana dates from 1768, when the Six Nations of the
Iroquois Confederacy reserved about of land in the present-day state of
West Virginia and deeded it to a twenty-five-member
Philadelphia-based trading company that engaged in trade with the native tribes in the Ohio River valley. The company named their land claim Indiana, in honor of its previous owners. In 1776 the land claim was transferred to the
Indiana Land Company and offered for sale; however, the government of
Virginia disputed the claim, arguing that it was the rightful owner because the land fell within its boundaries. The
United States Supreme Court took up the case and extinguished the company's right to the land in 1798. Two years later, Congress applied the Indiana Land Company's name to the new territory.
Western expansion and conflict Passage of the Land Ordinance of 1785 and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 committed the U.S. government to continued plans for western expansion. Increasing tensions with the Native Americans who occupied the western lands erupted into the Northwest Indian War. During the autumn of 1790, American forces under the command of General
Josiah Harmar unsuccessfully pursued the
Miami tribe near present-day
Fort Wayne, Indiana, but had to retreat. In the meantime, Major
Jean François Hamtramck led an expedition from
Fort Knox to
Wea,
Potawatomi, and
Kickapoo villages on the
Wabash,
Vermilion, and
Eel Rivers, but his company lacked sufficient provisions to continue, forcing a return to Vincennes. In 1791 Major General
Arthur St. Clair, the governor of the Northwest Territory, commanded about 2,700 men in a campaign to establish a chain of forts and enforce peace in the area. In the early morning of November 3, 1791, nearly a 1,000 Miamis, Shawnees,
Delawares, and other warriors under the leadership of Chief
Little Turtle launched a surprise attack on the American camp near the Miami town of
Kekionga, costing the Americans nearly nine hundred casualties and forcing the militia's retreat.
St. Clair's defeat in 1791 remains the
U.S. Army's worst defeat by American Indians in history. Casualties included 623 federal soldiers killed and another 258 wounded; the Indian confederacy lost an estimated 100 men. negotiating with the Northwestern Indian Confederacy in the
Treaty of Greenville In August 1794, General
"Mad Anthony" Wayne organized the
Legion of the United States and defeated a Native American force at the
Battle of Fallen Timbers. The battle was a turning point for the Americans, who took control of the area near the strategically important Maumee–Wabash portage, as well as Fort Miami at Kekionga (rebuilt as
Fort Wayne). In addition, several other forts were built in the territory to maintain American control of the area. The
Treaty of Greenville (1795) ended the Northwest Indian War and marked the beginning of a series of land cession treaties. Under the terms of this treaty, native tribes ceded southeastern Indiana and two-thirds of present-day Ohio to the U.S. government. As a result of the treaty, the Miamis considered themselves allies with the United States, and thousands of acres of newly ceded western lands attracted an increasing number of new settlers to what would become the Indiana Territory.
Territory formation The U.S. Congress passed legislation to form the Indiana Territory on May 7, 1800, effective July 4, 1800. The new territory was established by dividing the Northwest Territory in advance of Ohio's statehood. At the time the Indiana Territory was formed, the two main American settlements in what would later become the state of Indiana were at Vincennes and
Clark's Grant, while the settlement at
Kaskaskia would later become a part of Illinois (but, because it is now west of the Mississippi River, is accessible only from
Missouri. , the home of Governor
William Henry Harrison President
John Adams appointed
William Henry Harrison as the first governor of the territory on May 13, 1800, but Harrison did not arrive in the territory to begin his duties as governor until January 10, 1801.
John Gibson, the territorial secretary, served as acting governor until Harrison's arrival at Vincennes. A three-member panel of judges called the General Court assisted the territorial governor. Together they served as both the highest legislative and judicial authority in the territory. , showing Indiana Territory Vincennes, the territory's oldest settlement and among its largest with 714 townspeople in 1800, became its first territorial capital. The former French trading post was also one of the few white settlements in the territory. Indiana Territory began with four counties:
Saint Clair and
Randolph County, which became part of present-day Illinois;
Knox in present-day Indiana;
Wayne County, which became part of present-day Michigan. Governor Harrison formed
Clark County, the first new county in the territory, out of the eastern portion of Knox County. Additional counties were established as the territory's population increased. When the Indiana Territory petitioned for statehood in 1816, its population was spread among fifteen counties and exceeded 60,000 people, which was the minimum required for statehood under the terms of the Northwest Ordinance of 1796. Because Harrison's political fortunes were tied to Indiana's rise to statehood, he was eager to expand the territory. In 1803
President Thomas Jefferson granted Harrison the authority to negotiate and conclude treaties with the Native American tribes in the territory. Harrison oversaw the establishment of thirteen treaties that ceded more than of land from Native American tribes, including most present-day southern
Indiana, to the U.S. government. The
Treaty of Vincennes (1803) was the first of several treaties that Harrison negotiated as territorial governor. Leaders from local tribes signed this treaty to recognize Americans' possession of the Vincennes tract, an area that
George Rogers Clark had captured from the British during the
American Revolutionary War. The
Treaty of Grouseland (1805) further secured the federal government's possession of land in present-day south-central Indiana. After the signing of the contentious and disputed
Treaty of Fort Wayne (1809), in which Harrison acquired for the U.S. government more than of land in what later became central Indiana and eastern Illinois, tensions between the Native American and settlers on the frontier neared the breaking the point. The availability of low-cost federal land led to a rapid increase in the population of the territory, with thousands of new settlers entering the region every year. Large settlements began to spring up on the periphery of the territory around the Great Lakes, the Ohio River, the Wabash River, and the Mississippi River. Much of the interior, though, remained inhabited by the Native American tribes and was left unsettled. Under the terms of the act establishing the district's temporary government, Governor Harrison and the Indiana Territory's judges enacted laws that extended to the Louisiana district. The Indiana Territory's temporary administration of the district of Louisiana lasted only nine months, until the
Louisiana Territory was established, effective July 4, 1805, with its own territorial government. One of the most notable events during the Indiana Territory's administration of the District of Louisiana was the
Treaty of St. Louis in which the
Sac and
Fox tribes ceded northeastern
Missouri, northern Illinois, and southern Wisconsin to the United States. Resentments over this treaty later caused the native tribes to side with the British during the
War of 1812 in raids along the
Missouri, Ohio, and Mississippi Rivers, and lead to their involvement in the
Black Hawk War in 1832.
Tecumseh's War in 1810,
Tecumseh lost his temper when
William Henry Harrison refused to rescind the
Treaty of Fort Wayne. Ongoing tensions between the Native Americans and new settlers led to further hostilities between American forces and a
pan-Indian confederacy. A resistance movement against U.S. expansion that developed around two
Shawnee brothers,
Tecumseh and
Tenskwatawa (The Prophet), became known as
Tecumseh's War. Tenskwatawa convinced members of native tribes that the
Great Spirit would protect them from harm if they would rise up against the whites. He further encouraged resistance by telling the tribes to only pay white traders half of what they owed, and to give up all the white man's ways, including their clothing, whiskey, and guns. In 1810 Tecumseh and an estimated 400 armed warriors traveled to Vincennes, where he confronted Harrison and demanded that the governor rescind the Treaty of Fort Wayne. Harrison refused and the war party left peacefully, but Tecumseh was angry and threatened retaliation. Afterwards, Tecumseh journeyed south to meet with representatives of the tribes in the region, hoping to create a confederation of warriors to battle the Americans. In 1811, while Tecumseh was still away,
U.S. Secretary of War William Eustis authorized Harrison to march against the nascent confederation as a show of force. Harrison moved north with an army of more than 1,000 men in an attempt to intimidate the Shawnee into making peace. Early on the morning of November 6, tribal warriors launched a surprise attack on Harrison's army. The ensuing battle became known as the
Battle of Tippecanoe, where Harrison ultimately won his famous victory on November 7 at
Prophetstown, along the
Wabash and
Tippecanoe Rivers. Harrison was publicly hailed as a national hero and the nickname of "Old Tippecanoe," despite the fact that his troops had greatly outnumbered the Indian forces and had suffered many more casualties. After the battle, central Indiana was opened to further settlement by allowing more settlers to safely venture beyond the southern periphery of the territory.
Movement toward statehood On December 5, 1804, Governor Harrison issued a proclamation announcing the Indiana Territory's advancement to the semi-legislative phase of government. The territory's voters elected members to its House of Representatives for the first time on January 3, 1805; the governor selected the five-member Legislative Council (upper house) from a list of candidates that the elected representatives provided. The first legislative session of the territorial general assembly met in Vincennes from July 29 through August 16, 1805, and chose
Benjamin Parke as its first delegate to the
U.S. House of Representatives. Between 1805 and 1811 the northern portion of Indiana Territory was partitioned to establish Michigan Territory and the western portion of the territory set off to form the Illinois Territory. In addition, Governor Harrison negotiated a series of treaties with native tribes that ceded additional lands within the Indiana Territory to the federal government, opening millions of acres for sale and settlement in the present-day southern of Indiana and most of Illinois. In 1810 antislavery supporters in the territorial legislature also succeeded in repealing the 1805 indenture law. , delegate of the Indiana Territory In late December 1811 and early January 1812,
Jonathan Jennings, who had become the territory's first popularly-elected delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1810, presented the territorial legislature's petition to the U.S. Congress that requested permission to draft a state constitution for Indiana in preparation for statehood. At that time the white population of the entire territory in 1810 was only 24,520, well below the threshold of 60,000 that the Northwest Ordinance required as a condition for statehood. Congress took no action on the petition, largely because of the outbreak of the War of 1812.
War of 1812 Tecumseh's war with the Americans merged with the War of 1812 after the pan-Indian confederation allied with the British in Canada. In May 1812, Chief
Little Turtle hosted a meeting of tribal leaders in the region in the
Miami village of Mississinewa. Most of the tribes decided to remain neutral during the conflict and rejected Tecumseh's plans of continued rebellion. Despite their rejection, Tecumseh continued to lead his dwindling army against the Americans, moving farther north so the British army could support them. Tecumseh's followers who remained behind continued to raid the countryside and engaged in the Siege of Fort Harrison, which was the
U.S. Army's first land victory during the war. John Gibson served as acting governor of the territory during the War of 1812, while Harrison was leading the army. After Harrison resigned, Gibson continued as acting governor until
Thomas Posey, the newly appointed governor, arrived in May 1813. Other
battles that occurred during the war within the boundaries of the present-day state of Indiana include the
Siege of Fort Wayne, the
Pigeon Roost Massacre and the
Battle of the Mississinewa. Most of the territory's native inhabitants remained passive throughout the war; however, numerous incidents between settlers and the native tribes led to the deaths of hundreds in the territory. The
Treaty of Ghent (1814) ended the war and relieved American settlers from their fears of attack by the nearby British and their Indian allies.
Achieving statehood Efforts to attain statehood for Indiana were revived in 1815, following a
census made in 1814–15 that found the territory's total population had reached 63,897. On February 1, 1815, a petition for statehood for Indiana was presented to the U.S. House of Representatives, but no immediate action was taken. Territorial legislature presented another petition to the U.S. House on December 28, 1815, and the
U.S. Senate on January 2, 1816, prompting Jennings to introduce a bill to authorize the election of delegates to a constitutional convention to discuss statehood for Indiana. There was considerable disagreement between Jennings and Posey on the subject of statehood. Posey, who thought it was too early to petition for statehood for Indiana, argued that a state government would pose a fiscal burden on its residents and there would not be sufficient candidates to fill all the new state offices. He also supported slavery, much to the chagrin of his opponents, including Jennings,
Dennis Pennington, and others in the territorial legislature and who sought to use the bid for statehood to permanently end the possibility of slavery in Indiana. Posey's fiscal concerns were valid. If Indiana became a state it would lose the federal government subsidies it received to operate the territorial government. To support the new state government expenses and to offset the loss of the federal government subsidies, additional taxes would have to be levied on residents. On April 19, 1816, President
James Madison approved an enabling act that the U.S. Congress passed on April 13. This act granted permission to convene a group of elected delegates tasked with drafting a state constitution, that would establish the form of government for the new state. Elections of the forty-three delegates took place on May 13, 1816, and the constitutional convention assembled on June 10, 1816, in Corydon to begin their work. Convention delegates signed the
state's first constitution on June 29, 1816, which immediately went into effect. Elections were held on August 5, 1816, to fill the offices of the new state government, including governor, lieutenant governor, a congressional representative, members of the Indiana General Assembly, and other offices. Jennings defeated Posey to become the first
governor of Indiana;
Christopher Harrison (no relation to William Henry Harrison) was elected the state's first
lieutenant governor; and
William Hendricks was elected to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. In November 1816 Congress approved the state constitution. The first session of the
General Assembly for the state of Indiana convened on November 4, 1816. Jennings and Harrison were inaugurated on November 7, 1816. On the following day the state legislature elected
James Noble and
Waller Taylor to represent Indiana in the U.S. Senate. Hendricks, Noble, and Taylor were sworn into their congressional offices and took their seats in Congress in early December. The dissolution of the territorial government ended the existence of the Indiana Territory. On December 11, 1816, Madison signed the congressional resolution that formally admitted Indiana to the Union as the nineteenth state, and federal laws were formally extended to the new state on March 3, 1817. ==Commemoration==