The Indiana Territory, officially the Territory of Indiana, was created by an organic act that President John Adams signed into law on May 7, 1800, to form an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 4, 1800, to December 11, 1816, when the remaining southeastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the state of Indiana. The territory originally contained approximately of land, but its size was decreased when it was subdivided to create the Michigan Territory (1805) and the Illinois Territory (1809). The Indiana Territory was the first new territory created from lands of the Northwest Territory, which had been organized under the terms of the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. The territorial capital was the settlement around the old French fort of Vincennes on the Wabash River, until transferred to Corydon near the Ohio River in 1813.
William Henry Harrison, the territory's first governor, oversaw treaty negotiations with the Native inhabitants that ceded tribal lands to the U.S. government, opening large parts of the territory to further settlement. In 1809 the U.S. Congress established a bicameral legislative body for the territory that included a popularly-elected House of Representatives and a Legislative Council. In addition, the territorial government began planning for a basic transportation network and education system, but efforts to attain statehood for the territory were delayed due to war. At the outbreak of Tecumseh's War, when the territory was on the front line of battle, Harrison led a military force in the opening hostilities at the Battle of Tippecanoe (1811) and in the subsequent invasion of Canada during the War of 1812. After Harrison resigned as the territorial governor, Thomas Posey was appointed to the vacant governorship, but the opposition party, led by Congressman Jonathan Jennings, dominated territorial affairs in its final years and began pressing for statehood.
In June 1816 a constitutional convention was held at Corydon, where a state constitution was adopted on June 29, 1816. General elections were held in August to fill offices for the new state government, the new officeholders were sworn into office in November, and the territory was dissolved. On December 11, 1816, President James Madison signed the congressional act that formally admitted Indiana to the Union as the nineteenth state.
Geographical boundaries
When the Indiana Territory was formed in 1800, its original boundaries included the western portion of the Northwest Territory. This encompassed an area northwest of a line beginning at the Ohio River, on the bank opposite the mouth of the Kentucky River, extending northeast to Fort Recovery in present-day western Ohio, and north to the border between the United States and Canada along a line approximately 84 degrees 45 minutes West longitude. Reprint of 1812 edition.
The territory initially included most of the present-day state of Indiana; all of present-day states of Illinois and Wisconsin; fragments of present-day Minnesota that were east of the Mississippi River; nearly all of the Upper Peninsula and the western half of the Lower Peninsula of present-day Michigan; and a narrow strip of land in present-day Ohio that was northwest of Fort Recovery. This latter parcel became part of Ohio when it attained statehood in 1803. The Indiana Territory's southeast boundary was shifted in 1803 when Ohio became a state, to the mouth of the Great Miami River. In addition, the eastern part of present-day Michigan was added to the Indiana Territory. The territory's geographical area was further reduced in 1805 with the creation of the Michigan Territory to the north, and in 1809 when the Illinois Territory was established to the west.Cutler and Le Raye, pp. 110 and 112.
Population In 1800 the Indiana Territory's total white population was 5,641, but its Native American population was estimated to be near 20,000, possibly as high as 75,000. Reproduced 2006.Madison, p. 34. In the 1800 United States census, 4 counties in the Indiana Territory (2 of which were located in contemporary Illinois and 1 in contemporary Michigan) reported the following counts: Rank County Population1Knox2,5172Randolph1,3553St. Clair1,1034Michilimackinac551Unincorporated115Indiana Territory5,641
In the 1810 United States census, following the passage of organic acts by the 9th U.S. Congress to create the Michigan Territory in 1805 and by the 10th U.S. Congress to create the Illinois Territory in 1809, 4 counties in the Indiana Territory located within contemporary Indiana reported the following population counts: Rank County Population1Knox7,9452Dearborn7,3103Clark5,6704Harrison4,699Indiana Territory24,520
Government The Indiana Territory's government passed through a non-representative phase from 1800 to 1804; a semi-legislative second phase, which included the election of lower house of the territorial legislature, that extended through the ongoing hostilities with Native Americans and the War of 1812; and a final period, when the territory's population increased and its residents successfully petitioned Congress for statehood in 1816.Barnhart and Riker, p. 314.
Under the terms of the Northwest Ordinance, the territorial government went through 3 phases prior to statehood:Barnhart and Riker, pp. 267–70.Madison, p. 32.
During the non-representative phase of territorial government the U.S. Congress and after 1789, the president with congressional approval appointed a governor, secretary, and three judges to govern each new territory. Local inhabitants did not elect these territorial officials. This phase lasted from the territory's creation in 1800 until 1804. During the semi-legislative phase of government, the territory's adult males who owned at least fifty acres of land elected representatives to the lower house of the territorial legislature. In addition the Congress (and later the president with congressional approval) appointed five adult males who owned at least five hundred acres of land to the upper house of the territorial legislature from a list of ten candidates that the lower house submitted for consideration. The upper and lower houses could legislate for the territory, but the territorial governor retained absolute veto power. This phase began in 1805. When the territory reached a population of 60,000 free inhabitants, it entered the final phase that included its successful petition to Congress for statehood.
In 1803, when the Indiana Territory was formed from the remaining Northwest Territory after Ohio attained statehood, the requirement for proceeding to the semi-legislative phase of territorial government was modified. Instead of requiring the territory's population to reach 5,000 free adult males, the second phase could be initiated when the majority of territory's free landholders informed the territorial governor that they wanted to do so.Barnhart and Riker, p. 312. In 1810 the requirement for voters to be landholders was replaced with a law granting voting rights to all free adult males who paid county or territorial taxes and had resided in the territory for at least one year.Barnhart and Riker, p. 360.
Governors Because of William Henry Harrison's leadership in securing passage of the Land Act of 1800 and his help in forming the Indiana Territory in 1800, while serving as the Northwest Territory's delegate to the U.S. Congress, it was not surprising that President John Adams chose him to become the first governor of the territory. Presidents Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison made a total of three appointments to the office of governor of the Indiana Territory between July 4, 1800, when the territory was officially established, and November 7, 1816, when Jonathan Jennings was sworn in as the first governor of the state of Indiana.
#NameTook officeLeft officeAppointed by1William Henry HarrisonMay 13, 1800 (appointed);January 10, 1801 (took office)Barnhart and Riker, p. 323.December 28, 1812 (resigned)Barnhart and Riker, p. 405.John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison2John GibsonDecember 28, 1812 (appointed)Barnhart and Riker, pp. 405–06.Acting governor: July 4, 1800 – January 10, 1801;June 1812–May 1813Gugin and St. Clair, eds., pp. 28–31.March 3, 1813James Madison3Thomas PoseyMarch 3, 1813 (appointed); May 1813 (took office)November 7, 1816Jonathan Jennings was sworn into office as the first governor of the new state of Indiana on November 7, 1816. See Gugin and St. Clair, eds., p. 37.James Madison
Judicial court When the Indiana Territory was created, the Ordinance of 1787 made no provision for a popularly-elected territorial government in the non-representative phase of territorial government (1800 to 1804). Instead of separate legislative and judicial branches of the territorial government, the U.S. Congress, and later, the president with congressional approval, had the authority to appoint a general court consisting of three territorial judges. The judges were initially appointed by the president who later delegated this authority to the territorial governor. Adams chose William Clarke, Henry Vanderburgh, and John Griffin as the territory's first three judges. Following Clarke's death in November 1802, Thomas T. Davis was appointed as his replacement.Barnhart and Riker, pp. 314, 317, and 324.
Acting as the combined judicial and legislative government, the territorial governor and the three judges adopted the laws to govern the territory. In addition to working with the territorial governor on legislative issues, the territorial judges presided over the general court. When the Indiana Territory entered the semi-legislative phase of government in 1805, the legislature gradually became the dominant branch, and the judges focused on judicial matters.Dunn, p. 215. In 1814, as the territory progressed toward statehood, three circuit courts were established. Governor Posey appointed Isaac Blackford, Jesse Lynch Holman, and Elijah Sparks as presiding judges over the circuit courts. James Noble was appointed to replace Sparks following Sparks' death in early 1815.Barnhart and Riker, p. 425.
Legislature
When the Indiana Territory entered its semi-legislative phase of government, territorial inhabitants were allowed to elect representatives to the lower house of its bicameral legislature. President Jefferson delegated the task of choosing the five members of the Legislative Council (upper house of the legislature) to the governor, who chose from a list of ten candidates provided by the lower house.Barnhart and Riker, pp. 345–46, and p. 345, note 2.
After the formation of the new legislative body, each county in the territory was granted the right to elect representatives to the House of Representatives (the legislative assembly's lower house). The lower house initially included seven representatives: one from Dearborn County, one from Clark County, two from Knox County, two from St. Clair County, and one from Randolph County. The territorial legislature met for the first time on July 29, 1805.Barnhart and Riker, pp. 347, 351. Governor Harrison retained his veto powers as well as his general executive and appointive authority, while the legislative assembly had the authority to pass laws, subject to the governor's approved before they could be enacted. The change in territorial governance also removed the territorial judges' legislative powers, leaving the territorial court with only its judicial authority.