Forty-three men from the Indiana Territory were elected to attend a constitutional convention to consider statehood for Indiana. The delegates convened at Corydon, the territorial capital, from June 10 through June 29, 1816. On June 11 the delegation passed a resolution (34 to 8) to proceed with the task of writing the state's first constitution and forming a state government.[1][2] An Enabling Act, which President James Madison signed into law on April 19, 1816, provided for the election of the delegates that took place on May 13, 1816. The delegation was apportioned among thirteen counties in the territory and based on each county's population.[3][4]

Jonathan Jennings, an elected delegate from Clark County, presided over the convention; William Hendricks, although he was not an elected delegate, served as the convention's secretary.[5] The delegation adopted the state constitution with a simply majority vote (33 to 8). It went into effect on June 29, 1816.[6]

The convention's elected delegates were:

Name County
Represented
Thomas Carr Sr. Clark County
John K. Graham Clark County
Jonathan Jennings[7] Clark County
James Lemen (James Lemon) Clark County
James Scott[8] Clark County
James Dill Dearborn County
Ezra Ferris Dearborn County
Solomon Manwaring Dearborn County
James Brownless Franklin County
William H. Eads Franklin County
Robert Hanna[9] Franklin County
Enoch McCarty Franklin County
James Noble[10] Franklin County
Alexander Devin[11] Gibson County
Frederick Rapp[12] Gibson County
David Robb Gibson County
James Smith Gibson County
John Boone[13] Harrison County
Davis Floyd Harrison County
Daniel C. Lane[14] Harrison County
Dennis Pennington[15] Harrison County
Patrick Shields Harrison County
Nathaniel Hunt Jefferson County
David H. Maxwell Jefferson County
Samuel Smock Jefferson County
John Badollet Knox County
John Benefiel Knox County
John Johnson[16] Knox County
William Polke Knox County
Benjamin Parke Knox County
Charles Polke Perry County
Dann Lynn Posey County
William Cotton Switzerland County
Daniel Grass[17] Warrick County
John DePauw Washington County
William Graham[18] Washington County
William Lowe Washington County
Samuel Milroy Washington County
Robert McIntire Washington County
Patrick Beard Wayne County
Jeremiah Cox Wayne County
Hugh Cull Wayne County
Joseph Holman[19] Wayne County

Ideas

  1. ^ John D. Barnhart and Dorothy L. Riker, ed. (1971). Indiana to 1816: The Colonial Period. The History of Indiana. Vol. I. Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Bureau and the Indiana Historical Society. pp. 441–43. See also Pamela J. Bennett, ed. (September 1999). "Indiana Statehood". The Indiana Historian. Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Bureau: 6, 8–9.
  2. ^ The eight delegates who opposed the resolution for Indiana statehood were John Johnson and William Polke of Knox County; David Robb and Frederick Rapp of Gibson County; John Boone of Harrison County; and Nathaniel Hunt, David H. Maxwell, and Samuel Smock, who comprised the entire delegation from Jefferson County. See Barnhart and Riker, pp. 442–43, 448.
  3. ^ Barnhart and Riker, pp. 441–43, and Bennett, ed., p. 4.
  4. ^ Orange and Jackson counties did not elect delegates to the convention. See Frederick P. Griffin (1974). The Story of Indiana's Constitution Elm, Corydon, Indiana, June 1816. Corydon, IN: General Print Company. p. 5. OCLC 3901490.
  5. ^ Barnhart and Riker, p. 444.
  6. ^ William P. McLauchlan (1996). The Indiana State Constitution: A Reference Guide. Reference Guides to the State Constitutions of the United States. Vol. 26. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-313-29208-8.
  7. ^ Jennings was elected the first governor of Indiana after statehood and served from 1816 to 1822. He also served in the U.S. Congress from 1823 to 1831. See Barnhart and Riker, p. 443, and Bennett, pp. 8–9, 14.
  8. ^ Scott was one of the first three judges appointed to the Indiana Supreme Court on December 28, 1816. The other two were Jesse Lynch Holman and John Johnson, a fellow convention delegate. See Linda C. Gugin and James E. St. Clair, ed. (2010). Justices of the Indiana Supreme Court. Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society Press. pp. 1, 5, 9. ISBN 9780871952882.
  9. ^ Hanna was appointed to fill a vacancy in the U.S. Senate; he served from August 19, 1831, to January 3, 1832. See "Robert Hanna". Biographical Dictionary of the United States Congress. Retrieved 2016-08-15.
  10. ^ Noble, the first U.S. Senator from Indiana after statehood, served from December 11, 1816, until his death in 1831. See "James Noble". Biographical Dictionary of the United States Congress. Retrieved 2016-08-15. He was also the brother of Noah Noble, governor of Indiana from 1831 to 1837. See Barnhart and Riker, p. 461, Bennett, p. 14, and Linda C. Gugin and James E. St. Clair, ed. (2006). The Governors of Indiana. Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society Press and the Indiana Historical Bureau. pp. 70–79. ISBN 0-87195-196-7.
  11. ^ Devin was a Baptist minister in Gibson County. See Dunn Jr., Jacob Piatt (1919). Indiana and Indianans : A History of Aboriginal and Territorial Indiana and the Century of Statehood. Vol. I. Chicago and New York: The American Historical Society. p. 301.
  12. ^ Frederick Rapp, the adopted son of Harmonist leader George Rapp, served as a spokesman for the Harmony Society. See Bennett, p. 14.
  13. ^ John Boone, also known as Squire Boone, was the brother of frontiersman Daniel Boone. See Bennett, p. 14, and Dunn Jr., p. 298.
  14. ^ Lane served as Indiana’s state treasurer from 1816 to 1823. See Bennett, p. 14.
  15. ^ Pennington, a farmer, stonemason, and Indiana Territory legislator, supervised construction of the Harrison County courthouse, which served as the state’s first capitol building from 1816 to 1825. After statehood he served eighteen years in the Indiana General Assembly. See Bennett, p. 14, John W. Ray (March 1907). "A Recollection of Dennis Pennington". The Indiana Quarterly Magazine of History. Bloomington: Indiana University. 3 (1): 26–28. Retrieved 2016-08-16. Robert M. Taylor Jr.; Errol Wayne Stevens; Mary Ann Ponder; Paul Brockman (1992). Indiana: A New Historical Guide. Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society. pp. 169–70. ISBN 0871950499.
  16. ^ Johnson was one of the first three judges appointed to the Indiana Supreme Court on December 28, 1816. The other two were James Scott, a fellow convention delegate, and Jesse Lynch Holman. See Bennett, p. 14, and Gugin and St. Clair, eds., Justices of the Indiana Supreme Court, pp. 1, 5, 9.
  17. ^ Grass was excused from the convention on June 19, 1816, due to ill health. See Bennett, p. 14.
  18. ^ Graham served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1837 to 1839. See Bennett p. 14.
  19. ^ Holman, the youngest delegate, was twenty-eight years old. Barnhart and Riker, pp. 443, 447.

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