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History
The area of
Indiana has been settled since before the development of the
Hopewell culture (ca.
100–400 CE). It was part of the
Mississippian culture
from roughly the year 1000 up to 1400. The specific
Native
American tribes that inhabited this territory at that
time were primarily the Miami and
the Shawnee. The area was
claimed for New France in the 17th
century, handed over to the
Kingdom of Great Britain
as part of the settlement at the end of the
French and Indian War,
given to the United States
after the American Revolution,
soon after which it became part of the
Northwest Territory, then
the Indiana Territory, and
joined the Union in 1816 as the 19th state. See
Northwest Indian War.
Pioneer Era
On
June 29, 1816,
Indiana adopted a constitution, and on
December 11, 1816,
became the 19th State to join the
Union.
Indiana
filled up from the Ohio River north. Migration, mostly from
Kentucky and Ohio, was so rapid that by 1820 the population
was 147,176, and by 1830 the sales of public lands for the
previous decade reached 3,588,000 acres (5,600 sq mi;
14,500 km˛) and the population was 343,031. It had more than
doubled since 1820. The first state capital was in the
southern Indiana city of Corydon.
Transportation
Down the
Mississippi and its tributaries (the Ohio and Wabash) was to
be found the sole outlet for the increasing produce of the
Middle West, whose waters drained into the great valley.
Districts which were not upon streams navigable by even the
lightest draught steamboat were economically handicapped.
The small, flat boat was their main reliance. Roads suitable
for heavy carriage were few up to the middle of the century.
The expense and time attending shipment of merchandise from
the east at that time were almost prohibitive. To meet this
condition, the building of canals (espoused by the
constitution of 1816) was long advocated, in emulation of
Ohio which took example after New York State. In 1826,
Congress granted a strip two and a half miles wide on each
side of the proposed canal. A very extensive and ambitious
scale of main and lateral canals and turnpikes was advocated
in consequence.
Work began
on the Wabash and Erie
Canal in 1832, on the
Whitewater Canal in 1836, on the Central in 1837. Bad
financing and "bad times" nearly wrecked the whole scheme;
yet, the Wabash and Erie Canal was completed from Toledo to
Evansville. It was a great factor in the development of the
state, although it brought heavy loss upon the bondholders
with the advent of the railroad. Upon completion, the canal
actually increased prices of farm products three or fourfold
and reduced prices of household needs 60%, a tremendous
stimulus to agricultural development. By 1840, the
population of the upper Wabash Valley had increased from
12,000 to 270,000. The canal boat that hauled loads of grain
east came back loaded with immigrants. In 1846, it is
estimated that over thirty families settled every day in the
state.
Manufacturing also developed rapidly. In the ten years
between 1840 and 1850, the counties bordering the canal
increased in population 397%; those more fertile, but more
remote, 190%. The tide of trade, which had been heretofore
to New Orleans, was reversed and went east. The canal also
facilitated and brought emigration from Ohio, New York, and
New England, in the newly established counties in the
northern two-thirds of the state. Foreign immigration was
mostly from Ireland and Germany. Later, this great canal
fell into disuse, and finally was abandoned, as railway
mileage increased.
In the next
ten years, by 1840, of the public domain 9,122,688 acres
(14,250 mi˛; 36,918 km˛) had been sold. But the state was
still heavily in debt, although growing rapidly. In 1851 a
new constitution (now in force) was adopted. The first
constitution was adopted at a convention assembled at
Corydon, which had been the seat of government since
December, 1813. The original statehouse, built of blue
limestone, still stands; but in 1821, the site of the
present capital, Indianapolis, was selected by the
legislature. It was in the wilds, sixty miles from
civilization. By 1910, it was a city of 225,000 inhabitants,
and was the largest inland steam and electric railroad
center in the United States that was not located on a
navigable waterway. No railroad reached it before 1847.
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