INDIANA 



2958 



INDIANA 



seem to have received the Frenchmen gladly, 

 but despite that fact no permanent settlement 

 was made until the third decade of the 

 eighteenth century. Vincennes had been estab- 

 lished about 1727, and in 1734 eight French 

 families settled in its neighborhood. For a half 

 a century Vincennes was the only settlement 

 within the present limits of the state. Its 

 primitive, wild life Maurice Thompson de- 

 scribed in his Alice of Old Vincennes. 



In 1673 the territory came nominally under 

 the control of the English, but they did not 

 actually occupy the town of Vincennes until 

 1777, and then they held it but a few months, 

 surrendering it in the next year to George 

 Rogers Clark and his little band of picked 

 men (see CLARK, GEORGE ROGERS). 



Early National Period. The colonists had 

 the territory in their hands, but it was by no 

 means subdued, for the Indians were con- 

 stantly on the warpath, and the little settle- 

 ments which were springing up here and there 

 were never safe from their depredations. In 

 1794 "Mad Anthony" Wayne, by a decisive 

 victory called the Battle of Fallen Timbers, 

 ended the Indian hostilities for the time being, 

 and definite progress became possible. Mean- 

 while, in 1787, the region had been made a 

 part of the Northwest Territory, but in 1800 

 the present states of Indiana, Illinois and 

 Michigan were constituted a separate territory 

 under the name of Indiana. General William 

 Henry Harrison was the first governor, and 

 Vincennes was his seat of government. Michi- 

 gan in 1805 and Illinois in 1809 were made 

 separate territories, and from the latter date 

 Indiana in its present area has existed. See 

 NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 



Meanwhile the Indians, united under the 

 famous Tecumseh, were again making trouble, 

 but General Harrison put an end to their ris- 

 ing in 1811 at the Battle of Tippecanoe, 

 which earned him his popular nickname, "Tip- 

 pecanoe." When war broke out in 1812 be- 

 tween the United States and Great Britain the 

 Indians seized the opportunity to renew their 

 raids, but again they were speedily put down, 

 and from that time Indiana has had no Indian 

 troubles. Immigrants flocked to the territory, 

 most of them coming from the region to the 

 south of the Ohio, and there was a strong senti- 

 ment in favor of slavery. In 1816 Indiana be- 

 came a state with definite provisions against 

 slavery in its constitution, but the feeling 

 against the negroes was clearly shown by a 

 clause forbidding their immigration into the 



state. This restriction was removed from the 

 second constitution. The cajpital, removed 

 from Vincennes to Corydon in 1813, was in 1825 

 finally established at Indianapolis. 



The New State. One of the first things the 

 new state had to face was a period of wild spec- 

 ulation in land. The possibilities, it seemed, 

 were endless, but the ambitious schemes failed 

 in 1837, and the state was left bankrupt, with a 

 debt of $14,000,000. These difficulties settled 

 by means of compromise, the state embarked 

 on a period of steady progress. Canals were 

 opened, and the great National Road, com- 

 pleted about 1850, was a highway which put 

 the state into close touch with the older states 

 to the east. Fascinating pictures of the life in 

 the "bottom-land" districts of Indiana in the 

 middle of the century and later were given by 

 Edward Eggleston in his three novels, The 

 Hoosier Schoolmaster, The Hoosier Schoolboy 

 and The Circuit Rider. 



A Half -Century of Progress. The prosperity 

 and industrial growth of the state in the dec- 

 ades following the war were largely due to the 

 development of the coal deposits and the dis- 

 covery of natural gas. Indiana in recent years 

 well illustrates the adage that "happy is the 

 people that has no history," for there have 

 been almost no outstanding events in its peace- 

 ful progress. An occasional labor difficulty has 

 appeared and even these worked for good, as 

 they led to the creation of a permanent board 

 of arbitration. There have been stringent anti- 

 trust laws, and various legislative enactments in 

 regard to prohibition. The saloon question was 

 for years uppermost in Indiana's political and 

 social life. From 1906 to 1911 a county option 

 law was in force; in the latter year the legisla- 

 ture substituted for this a law making the town- 

 ship or ward the unit of option. In 1917 it 

 established state-wide prohibition, to go into 

 effect April 2, 1918. The same legislature ex- 

 tended the suffrage to women, but this was 

 killed by the Supreme Court. 



In politics Indiana has for many years been 

 doubtful, and some memorable campaigns have 

 taken place. The state had an especial inter- 

 est in the Presidential campaign of 1912, as 

 its governor, Thomas Marshall, was the suc- 

 cessful candidate for the Vice-Presidency, on 

 the Democratic ticket with Woodrow Wilson, 

 and he was chosen to the same office in the 

 election of 1916. Another Indianian, Charles 

 W. Fairbanks, was also honored with the Vice- 

 Presidency during Roosevelt's second Presi- 

 dential term; he was the candidate for the 



