Indiana

THE NATIVE AMERICAN Hopewell culture lived in Indiana from at least 100 C.E., with the French taking control of the area in the 17th century. In 1763, it was ceded to the British, who gave it to the United States at the end of the American Revolutionary War. It was organized into the Indiana Territory and granted a constitution on June 29, 1816. On December 11, 1816 it became the 19th state in the Union. Soon after, its population increased rapidly, and the first state capital was established at Corydon in southern Indiana. There was initial controversy over Indiana's achieving of statehood, because the legislature in the state had nominated three electors for the electoral college in the U.S. presidential elections, with John W. Taylor, a representative from New York, objecting on the grounds that statehood was formally proclaimed a week after the Electoral College met. The argument was purely academic because James Monroe won such a massive victory that the votes from Indiana did not change the outcome.

Because of the short period of time between the establishment of the Indiana Territory and when it gained statehood, there were only two governors of the Indiana Territory. The first was William Henry Harrison, who later became the ninth U.S. president. For much of the period Harrison was away from the state. Territorial Secretary John Gibson was his acting governor. Thomas Posey was the second governor of the territory, after he was defeated as governor of Louisiana.

The first elected governor of Indiana was Jonathan Jennings of the Democratic-Republican Party. From New Jersey, he opposed Thomas Posey who wanted to delay statehood, and in the first gubernatorial election Jennings defeated Posey by 5,211 to 3,934 votes. Jennings completed two terms using the campaign slogan of “No slavery in Indiana.” The second governor was Ratcliff Boon, who had been a member of the Indiana house of representatives, and then lieutenant governor of the state. His successor was William Hendricks, governor 1822–25, who was the uncle of Thomas Andrews Hendricks, who was governor 1873–77, and also 21st vice president of the United States. His successor, James B. Ray, originally from Kentucky, was the only Independent to be elected governor in Indiana.

After Ray, there were three Whig governors, then Democrats held the office 1843–61. One of these, Paris C. Dunning, who was governor 1848–1849, was the only man to hold the positions of governor, lieutenant governor, state senator, president pro tempore of the state senate, and state representative. In 1856, Indiana voted for Democrat James Buchanan in the U.S. presi dential elections, with the Republican Oliver Hazard Perry Morton losing the gubernatorial elections to Ashbel P. Willard (who was the first Indiana governor to die in office).