Fountain County IN Archives History - Books .....Territorial And State Organization 1881 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/in/infiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com August 23, 2006, 10:54 pm Book Title: History Of Fountain County HISTORY OF FOUNTAIN COUNTY. BY JUDGE THOMAS F. DAVIDSON. TERRITORIAL AND STATE ORGANIZATION. Prior to 1781 all that vast territory lying west and north of the Ohio river, east of the Mississippi, and south of the British possessions, belonged to the State of Virginia. With the exception of the posts at Kaskaskia, St. Vincent, and one or two other points, and the adjoining settlements, the entire region was at that date an unknown and trackless waste, inhabited only by the Indian and the wild beast. Its rivers knew no commerce except the occasional venture of the fur trader, who was usually a half-breed, and carried no vessels save the canoe of the Indian and the pirogue of the trader or the French missionary. Its vast forests had never been disturbed by the stroke of an axe, and its broad expanse of prairie had never felt the touch of the plow. On September 6, 1780, the congress of the United States asked the several states of the Union "having claims to waste and unappropriated lands in the western country" to make "a liberal cession to the United States of a portion of their respective claims, for the common benefit of the Union." In response to this request the Commonwealth of Virginia, in 1781, yielded to the United States all her "right, title and claim" to the territory "northwest of the river Ohio." In 1783 congress signified its desire for a modification of the act of cession, and in December, 1783, the legislature of Virginia modified the act, and authorized the delegates from the state, in congress, to make a deed to the United States for the ceded territory, upon certain conditions, prominent among which were, that the territory should be laid out and formed into states, which should be "distinct republican states, and admitted members of the Federal Union, having the same rights of sovereignty, freedom and independence as the other states; and providing for the protection of the inhabitants of the Kaskaskias, St. Vincents, and neighboring villages, who had "professed themselves citizens of Virginia," in their possessions and titles and in the enjoyment of their rights and liberties, and reserving to "General George Rogers Clarke, and to the officers and soldiers of his regiment who marched with him when the posts of Kaskaskia and St. Vincent were reduced, and to the officers and soldiers that have been since incorporated into said regiment," one hundred and fifty thousand acres of land, to be laid off in one tract, in length not exceeding double its width, in such place as a majority of the officers should choose, and to be divided according to the laws of Virginia. This deed was made on March 1, 1784, and was signed by Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Hardy, Arthur Lee and James Monroe, the delegates in congress from Virginia. In the same year Mr. Jefferson submitted to congress a plan for the government of all the territory from the southern to the northern boundary of the United States, including, of course, the territory north and west of the Ohio river. A prominent feature of this plan,— more noticeable because proposed by a southern man, and a slaveholder, and applying to all the territory south of the Ohio river,—was "that after the year 1800 there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in any of the said" proposed "states other than in the punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted." This plan was not then adopted, and it was again renewed in 1785, having been brought forward by Mr. Rufus King, of Massachusetts, and again failed in securing the necessary votes for its adoption. The original act of cession by the State of Virginia required that the ceded territory should be laid out and formed into states, not less than one hundred nor more than one hundred and fifty miles square, "or as near thereto as circumstances" would admit. In 1786 congress indicated to the State of Virginia that a division of the territory into states, in conformity with the act of cession, "would be attended with many inconveniences," and asked a revision of the act "so far as to empower congress to make such a division of the said territory into distinct and republican states, not more than five nor less than three in number, as the situation of the country and future circumstances might require; and, mindful only of the interests and future prosperity of the great region which she had given for the benefit of the Union, Virginia, through her legislature, December 30, 1788, revised her act of cession so that congress was authorized to create three states out of the ceded territory, the western to be bounded by the Mississippi, the Ohio and Wabash rivers, and a direct line drawn from the Wabash and Post Vincent due north to the territorial line between the United States and Canada, and by that line to the Lake of the Woods and the Mississippi; the middle state to be bounded on the west by the east line of the western state, on the south by the Ohio river, on the east by a direct line drawn due north from the mouth of the Great Miama to the Canada line, and on the north by the Canada line; the eastern state to be bounded on the west by the middle state, on the south and east by the Ohio river and the Pennsylvania line, and on the north by the Canada line; with power in congress to so far alter these boundaries, if found expedient, as to form two states in that part of the territory which was north of the east and west line, drawn through " the southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan." It was an article of compact between the United States and Virginia, and between the original states and the "people and states" in the territory, to remain forever "unalterable unless by common consent," that these states should be created, and thereafter should remain distinct republican states, with their boundaries unaltered, except as it might be done within the terms of the grant, and with all the rights and prerogatives provided for in the act of cession and in the ordinance of 1787. While the divisions made by the Virginia act of December 30, 1788, and the fifth article of the ordinance of 1787, are therein spoken of as states, they were in reality but proposed states, and never did become states with those boundaries. It was provided that whenever either of the three great divisions contained sixty thousand "free inhabitants" it should be admitted into the Union as a state, "on an equal footing with the original states in all respects whatever." The first organic law for the government of this territory was adopted July 13, 1787, and is known as the Ordinance of 1787. This ordinance constituted the territory one district for the purpose of temporary government, reserving the power to divide it into two, if circumstances should make that expedient. It provided for the manner of settling estates and distributing property among heirs, and for the disposition of property by will; for the appointment of a governor and secretary and three judges, with full common law jurisdiction. The governor was required to be possessed of a freehold estate, in the territory, "in 1,000 acres of land"; the secretary and each of the judges in 500 acres. The judges were required to reside in the district, and were to hold their office during good behavior. Until the election and organization of a general assembly the governor and judges were empowered to adopt and publish so much of the civil and criminal laws of the original states as in their judgment were suited to the circumstances of the territory, as the laws of the territory, to be in force, unless disapproved by congress, until the organization of the territorial legislature. So tenacious were the American people, at that day, of the right of having domestic matters regulated by a domestic legislature, that it was provided that such a legislature should be elected and organized when the territory contained five thousand free male inhabitants, with a representative therein for every five hundred of such inhabitants. After providing a plan for the territorial government, which left matters chiefly in the hands of the people themselves, it was ordained that no one should ever be disturbed, in the territory, on account of his mode of worship or religious sentiments, so long as he demeaned himself in a peaceable and orderly manner; that the benefits of the writ of habeas corpus; of trial by jury; of proportionate representation in the legislature; of judicial proceedings according to the course of the common law; of the right to bail, except in capital cases, when the proof was evident or the presumption strong; of freedom from cruel or unusual punishments, and of all the rights of a free man, should be enjoyed by each inhabitant of the territory. Recognizing the truth of the saying of Burke, that "Education is the cheap defense of nations," it was declared that schools and the means of education should "forever be encouraged." Slavery or involuntary servitude "otherwise than in the punishment of crimes, whereof the party" should be duly convicted, was prohibited, in accordance with the original proposition of Mr. Jefferson. The rightful authority, prerogatives, jurisdiction and sovereignty of the United States were preserved by the fourth article. Thus was formed a government for this territory, modeled after that true idea of a republic in which two forces are recognized in the operation of its political machinery, the one pulling outward to preserve the independence of the states in the control of their own local affairs, and the other pulling inward to hold the states in their proper orbit; the one necessary for the protection of the rights of the states, reserved to them by the constitution of the Union, and the other necessary to the integrity of the Union; the one designed to prevent disunion and anarchy, the other to prevent the destruction of the states and the erection of an empire. These are the political centrifugal and centripetal forces. As in nature, so in politics, the undue preponderance of either of these forces will produce disorder, and, if long continued, disaster and ruin. It is the business of the people to keep these forces so adjusted that neither will completely preponderate. To accomplish this the people must be intelligent and the masters of political agencies. They must recognize parties as made for men—as agencies through which the people manifest their power and will—and not as masters to be obeyed. Without education the people are 'helpless. They must be able to understand the principles which underlie their system of government, and to follow the course of public officials and detect any deviation from principle or rectitude. The rights of the people will never be free from danger until that education is common which will enable the individual to distinguish between the behests of party and duty to country, and which inculcates the sentiment that public position is not a purchasable commodity, and that social distinction is to rest upon education and culture and not upon position or wealth. No one thing is more necessary in a republic than independent, intelligent, individual thought and action. These, with purity of purpose and a willingness to sacrifice private interests for the public weal, will compel an uniform administration of public affairs in the interests of the people. When it shall come to pass that "To hold a place * * * * which was once esteem'd an honor, And a reward for virtue, hath quite lost Lustre and reputation, and is made — A mercenary purchase." the end will not be afar off, nor the time distant when all that was done and suffered to build up a government for a free people will be lost. Our form of government is the strongest ever devised by man, so long as the people remain pure and sufficiently intelligent to understand the principles upon which it is founded; but if the people become either ignorant or corrupt it is then the weakest of all governments, and the prey of ambitious, unscrupulous and daring men. Such a people are easily blinded by the glitter of some great reputation, and willingly resign their rights into any single hand that is stronger than theirs. Understanding this, it has been the policy, in all ages, of those who meditated usurpation of the powers and rights of the people, to corrupt and debauch them, and the very tribute which the people, pay to support their government is often the fund which is used to thus destroy it. These things were well understood by those who laid the foundation for the government of that vast territory which has since become the home of millions of happy, industrious, intelligent, prosperous and free people, and they, therefore, emphasized the importance of education, and made liberal provision for its encouragement, and took pains to provide for the early exercise of the powers of government by the people themselves through agencies chosen by themselves. This plan of government was adopted because it accorded with the American idea of "A government of the people, by the people, and for the people," and for the expressed purpose of "extending the fundamental principles of civil and religious liberty which form the basis whereon these republics, their laws and constitutions, are erected," and "to fix and establish those principles as the basis of all laws, constitutions and governments which forever" thereafter might be formed in the territory. After the adoption of our present constitution the ordinance of 1T87 continued as the organic law of the northwest territory, modified only as to the mode of appointing officers, by the act of August 7, 1789. As permitted by the Virginia act of 1788, five states were created out of the ceded territory, and these are Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin. It is hard to realize, in the midst of all that surrounds us wherever we travel in either of these states, that less than one hundred years ago the territory within each of their respective limits was, in the significant language of the acts of congress and of the Virginia legislature, " waste and unappropriated lands." May these states continue to grow in intelligence, in morals, in wealth, in the love of liberty, in men and women true to themselves and their country, and devoted to the advancement of the best interests of humanity. May no man ever be able to say, with truth, to their people, " 'You have not, as good patriots should do, study'd The public good, but your own particular ends; Factions among yourselves; preferring such To offices and honours, as ne'er read The elements of saving policy; But deeply skilled in all the principles That usher to destruction,' they have made your offices and honours the instruments for the accomplishment of their own ambition and for your downfall and degradation." May their people ever tenaciously cling to all the rights and prerogatives belonging to them under the deed which conveyed their territory, and the solemn agreement which guaranteed to them the independence of a free people. May they always be students of "the fundamental principles of civil and religious liberty, which form the basis" upon which their states, "their laws and constitutions are erected." May they lay down only with their lives the right to participate in the control of public affairs, as it has been handed down to them. May they encourage that education which will fit men and women for the work of life and make them superior to circumstances, and as ready to yield to the rights of those beneath them as they are to respect the rights of those above them. May they practice and encourage broad and liberal and charitable views and feelings, and so educate their children that they will be free from the miserable prejudices, petty jealousies and personal bickerings which so disturb society and endanger the public welfare and peace. May they always be faithful in the discharge of all the personal duties of citizenship, and diligent in the effort to acquire that knowledge which is essential to the intelligent discharge of those duties. May they always " reverence and obey the law; be tolerant to all, whatever their creed or party, and keep bright and strong" their faith in their country. May they be true to that Union to whose grandeur they so largely contribute, and to whose guaranty they owe their existence as "distinct republican states." On the 7th of May, 1808, the Indiana Territory was created, and included all the territory west of a line drawn due north from the Ohio, opposite the mouth of the Kentucky river; and this was again divided in 1809, and the western division was called Illinois Territory. On the 19th of April, 1816, the act of congress was approved which admitted Indiana into the Union as a state "upon the same footing" as the original states. The boundary of the state was then fixed as it is now, and must ever remain, unless altered by its own consent. The act of 1816 authorized the calling of a convention to frame a constitution, and provided that when made it should be republican in form, "and not repugnant to those articles of the ordinance" of 1787 "which are declared to be irrevocable between the original states and the people and states of the territory northwest of the river Ohio." Certain propositions were also submitted to the people of the territory "for their free acceptance or rejection," and which, if accepted, were to be obligatory upon the United States; these were: first, that the sixteenth section in each township should be granted for the use of schools; second, that all salt springs and the land reserved for their use, not exceeding thirty-six sections, should be granted to the state, to be used as directed by the legislature; third, that five per cent of the net proceeds of lands sold by congress after December, 1816, should be reserved for making public roads and canals, three-fifths to be applied under the direction of the legislature of the state, and two-fifths under the direction of congress; fourth, that one entire township, to be designated by the President, should be reserved for the use of a seminary of learning; and fifth, that four sections of land should be granted to the state for the purpose of fixing the seat of government thereon. On the 29th of June, 1816, the convention assembled at Corydon ratified the boundaries fixed by congress, and accepted each of the. propositions submitted by the act of 1816. And on the same day the constitution of 1816 was adopted and signed by Jonathan Jennings, president of the convention, and by each of the delegates thereto, and Indiana took her place as a state of the Union. It is hoped that reference to the history of the territory prior to the organization of the state will not be thought uninteresting or out of place, since it is to the transactions of this period that we not only trace back our political rights, but our property rights also. Every land title runs back in its history to the legislation and grants which we have been considering, and we find here the foundation of many of our most valued institutions. On the 30th of December, 1825, the act of creating Fountain county was approved. It is in the following language: AN ACT FOR THE FORMATION OF A NEW COUNTY OUT OF THE COUNTIES OF MONTGOMERY AND WABASH. (Approved December 30, 1825.) SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Indiana: That from and after the first day of April next, all that tract of country included within the following: boundaries shall form and constitute a new county, to be known and designated by the name of the county of Fountain, to-wit: beginning where the line dividing townships seventeen and eighteen crosses the channel of the Wabash river; thence east to the line running through the center of range six, west of the second principal meridian; thence north to where the said line strikes the main channel of the Wabash river; thence running down with the meanderings of said river to the place of beginning. SEC. 2. The said new county of Fountain shall from and after the said first day of April next enjoy all the rights, privileges and jurisdictions which to separate and independent counties do or may properly belong or appertain. SEC. 3. That Lucius H. Scott, of Parke county, William Clark, of Vigo county, Daniel C. Hults, of Hendricks county, Daniel Sigler, of Putnam county, and John Porter, of Vermilion county, be, and they are hereby, appointed commissioners, agreeably to the act entitled "An Act for fixing the seats of justice in all new counties hereafter to be laid off." The said commissioners shall meet at the house of William White, in the said county of Fountain, on the first Monday in May next, and shall immediately proceed to discharge the duties assigned them by law. It is hereby made the duty of the sheriff of Parke county to notify said commissioners, either in person or in writing, of their appointment, on or before the third Monday in April next; and for such service he shall receive such compensation out of the county of Fountain as the board of justices thereof may deem just and reasonable, to be allowed and paid as other county claims are paid. SEC. 4. The board of justices of said new county shall, within twelve months after the location of the permanent seat of justice therein, proceed to erect the necessary public buildings. SEC. 5. That all suits, pleas, plaints, actions, prosecutions and proceedings, heretofore commenced and pending within the limits of the said county of Fountain, shall be prosecuted to final issue, in the same manner, and the state and county taxes which may be due on the first day of April next, within the bounds of said county of Fountain, shall be collected and paid, in the same manner, and by the same officers, as if this act had not been passed. SEC. 6. At the time and place of electing the county officers for the county of Fountain, under the writ of election from the executive department, the electors of said county shall elect five justices of the peace in and for said county, who shall meet, as a board, at the house of Robert Hatfield, in said county, on the first Monday in May next, or as soon thereafter as they may be enabled to do after being commissioned, and then and there proceed to transact all the business, and discharge the duties, heretofore devolving on county commissioners at the organization of a new county, as well as all the duties required of boards of justices at such session. The circuit and other courts of the said county of Fountain shall meet and be holden at the house of the said Robert Hatfield until more suitable accommodations can be had at some other place in said county. SEC. 7. All that part of the county of Wabash lying north and west of the said county of Fountain shall be, and is hereby, attached to the said county for the purpose of civil and criminal jurisdiction. This Act to take effect and be in force from and after its publication in the "Indiana Journal." These boundaries have never been changed. Our view must hereafter be confined to the limits fixed by that far away legislature of 1825; far away, because the world has traveled rapidly in the years that have come and gone since then. With the brief resume of the facts connected with the organization of the territory and of the State of Indiana, prior to the birth of the county, which has been given, we will now proceed with the history of that particular territory known as Fountain county. Additional Comments: Extracted from: HISTORY OF FOUNTAIN COUNTY, TOGETHER WITH HISTORIC NOTES ON THE WABASH VALLEY, GLEANED FROM EARLY AUTHORS, OLD MAPS AND MANUSCRIPTS PRIVATE AND OFFICIAL CORRESPONDENCE, AND OTHER AUTHENTIC, THOUGH, FOR THE MOST PART, OUT-OF-THE-WAY SOURCES. BY H. W. BECKWITH, OF THE DANVILLE BAR; CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETIES OF WISCONSIN AND CHICAGO. WITH MAP AND ILLUSTRATIONS. CHICAGO: H. H. HILL AND N. IDDINGS, PUBLISHERS. 1881. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/in/fountain/history/1881/historyo/territor47nms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/infiles/ File size: 24.7 Kb