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Indiana Government & Politics, Past & Present

Indiana Government & Politics, Past & Present

Indiana government & politics, past and present. Free books and articles. Includes state handbooks, government reports, Constitution …Some topics are:

Territory of Indiana laws
State government handbooks
Indiana politics
Indianapolis legal profession
Governors’ profiles
Indiana-Michigan boundary controversy
Municipal government
State Constitution history

Governors Messages and Letters: Messages and Papers of Jonathan Jennings, Ratliff Boon, William Hendricks 1816-1825

Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Commission 1924

In addition to the documents mentioned in the title, the editor has included a number of documents of explanatory value. Among these are the annual reports of the state treasurer, bank reports, and committee reports on education and roads.

See the Menu at the top of every page for Directories of Free Online Fiction and NonFiction Books, Magazines, and more, on 400 pages like this at Century Past

Historic Documents Relating to the Organization of the State of Indiana: …

papers showing the transfer of ownership of what is now the State of Indiana, from the State of Virginia to the United States government. Also the laws and ordinances showing the organization of the territory, and later the State of Indiana. For use by the Terre Haute Public Schools

Terre Haute, IN: The Board 1917

Documents in this brief collection are;

-Two Acts of Virginia (1783 and 1788) pertaining to Virginia’s cession of the Northwest Territory to the Federal Government
-The Ordinance of 1787, “for the Government of the Territory of the United States North-west of the River Ohio”
-An Act of 1789 providing for government of the Northwest Territory
-An Act of 1800 dividing the Northwest Territory into two governments
-An Act of 1809 dividing the Indiana Territory into two governments
-An Act of 1816 to enable the people of Indiana Territory to form a State Government
-An Indiana Ordinance of 1816 accepting the Federal Act of 1816 above

See related historical documents at:
Great Lakes Region History: Documents & Collections of Records
;
Indiana History: Documents & Collections of Records

Indiana Government Documents in the “Indiana Memory Digital Collections” website, hosted by the Indiana State Library

This collection contains the published records of the Indiana General Assembly from 1817 to 1900. Included are the Brevier Legislative Reports, the Documentary Journals, the Senate Journals, and the House Journals. These publications document the debates and proceedings of both houses of the legislative branch, messages from the Governor, and reports from the various state agencies.

“The Criminal Code of the Northwest Territory”

Indiana Magazine of History Volume 9, Issue 4, 1913, pp 234-246

Banta, David D.
Bloomington, IN: Indiana University

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Brown’s Government of Indiana: including the history, resources, and jurisprudence of the state …

Also, a brief outline of the history and government of the United States

Brown, Charles R.
Kalamazoo, MI: Governmental Publishing 1875

This volume was intended as a citizenship textbook, to provide all that an educated Hoosier should know about his government. Parts of the book, and a summary description of some of the chapters within the parts, are:

Part 1 – History of Indiana
-Explorations, French posts, conflict between French and English, Ordinance of 1787, Government of the Northwest Territory, Early Legislation, Organization of State Government, State Capital in Indianapolis, State Bank, Internal Improvements, Governors of Indiana.

Part 2 – Government and Law
-Of Laws and their Necessity, Organization of Government, Different forms of Government, Government of Indiana, Elections, How President of the U.S. and Senators are elected.

Part 3 – Executive Department
-Duties of Governor, Lt. Governor, State Officers; Duties of Counties and County Officers, Townships, Cities and Villages.

Part 4 Judicial Department
-Establishment and Jurisdiction of Courts.

Part 5 – Education and Educational Institutions
-Commons Schools, School districts, Directors, Examination of Teachers, State Board of Education, School Terms; Universities, Academies, Female Seminaries; The State University, Purdue University, the State Normal School.

Part 6 – Benevolent, Penal, and Reformatory Institutions

Part 7 – Crimes and Misdemeanors
Necessity for Punishment, Abstract of Criminal laws.

Part 8 – Revenues of the State

Part 9 – Real Estate and Personal Property

Part 10 – Domestic Relations
-Marriage, Relations concerning husband and wife, Apprentices.

Part 11 – Sundry Matters affecting Civil Rights
-Money and Interest, Weights and Measures, Salaries of Officers.

Part 12 – Indiana in the War of the Rebellion

Part 13 – Government of the United States

Law in America’s Crossroads: A History of the Indianapolis Legal Profession

Carlson, Alicia
Birmingham, AL: Association 2001

This popular history produced by the Indianapolis Bar Association includes numerous personal profiles and anecdotes, and is heavily illustrated.

“Indiana Territorial Expenditures, 1800-1816”

Indiana Magazine of History Volume 39, Issue 3, 1943, pp 237-262

Carmony, Donald F.
Bloomington, IN: Indiana University

“Hoosier Justice: The Journal of David McDonald, 1864–1868”

Indiana Magazine of History Volume 62, Issue 3, September 1966, pp 175-232

Dewey, Donald O.
Bloomington: Indiana University

McDonald was a U.S. judge for the District of Indiana during these years, and the diary entries “relate the day-to-day activities of an active participant and penetrating observer of the Indiana courts and bar during the last year of the Civil War and the first three years of Reconstruction.”

Four Years of Public Welfare in Indiana 1936-1940

Department of Public Welfare, State of Indiana
Indianapolis: State of Indiana 1941

An official report of State agencies engaged in public welfare.

Indiana: A Redemption from Slavery

Dunn, J. P. Jr.
Boston: Houghton, Mifflin 1905

Author Jacob Piatt Dunn (1855-1924) was a journalist, ethnologist and historian who grew up in Indiana and published his first book on history in 1886. Among his publications were a history of Indianapolis and a dictionary of the Miami language. He served as the recording secretary of the Indiana Historical Society for over 35 years, and served four years as the state librarian of Indiana. Other Indiana books by Dunn can be found on this website.

In the Preface the author wrote that most people did not know that slavery had ever existed in Indiana, or if they did, they “…regarded it merely as one of the incongruities of frontier life, – an unlawful condition which nothing but the imperfection of government permitted to exist. A like haziness has enveloped the petitions of Indiana for the further admission of slavery.” “The historical fact that the local slavery question was the paramount political influence in Indiana, up to the time of the organization of the state government, has never been hinted at.”

This is a later edition of a volume originally published in 1888, with the addition of one chapter. Chapter headings are:

-The First White Man -The French Posts -The Oldest Inhabitant -The Hannibal of the West -The Ordinance of 1787 -The Slavery Proviso -The Northwest Territory -The Governor and Judges -The Second Grade -The Harmony of Discord -The Aristocrats and the People -The Emancipation -The Growth of the Commonwealth

Governors Messages and Letters: Messages and letters of William Henry Harrison vol 1

– Volume 2

Esarey, Logan, ed.
Indianapolis : Indiana Historical Commission 1922

This is a two-volume edition covering the period during which Harrison was Governor of Indiana. Vol. 1 1800-1811; Vol. 2 1812-1816. Included are messages and letters of Governors John Gibson and Thomas Posey.

See related historical documents at:
Great Lakes Region History: Documents & Collections of Records
;
Indiana History: Documents & Collections of Records

The Laws of Indiana Territory, 1809-1816

Ewbank, Louis B. and Riker, Dorothy L., eds
Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Bureau 1934

A reprint of the legislation of the General Assembly of Indiana Territory from March 1, 1909, when the western part of Indiana Territory was separated and made into Illinois Territory, until Aug 5, 1816, when members of the first General Assembly of the State of Indiana were elected.

The History and Civil Government of Indiana

Hendricks, Eldo L.
NY: MacMillan 1908

Author Eldo Hendricks was the Superintendent of Schools at Delphi, IN. This book was intended for teaching civics to students, and is organized around the Constitution of the State of Indiana. Chapter headings and some of the topics within are:

-The Relation of State and Federal Government
Formation of State Constitutions, Federal powers and State powers.

-The History of Indiana

-The Constitution and Government
The Bill of Rights, Suffrage, Distribution of Powers, Legislative, Executive, Administrative, Judicial, Education, State Institutions, Finance, Corporations, the Militia.

-Local Government
County, Township, Town, City.

-Appendix
Ordinance of 1787, Enabling Act of 1816, State Ordinance of 1816, Official List of Governors, Salaries of State Officers, Salaries of County Officers.

Websites with links to Century Past

Here is Your Indiana Government 2013-2014

Indiana Chamber of Commerce
Indiana Chamber of Commerce 2013

This book explains the roles, responsibility and organization of all levels of Indiana government. At the state level, it covers the top of the executive branch, led by the governor, and the legislative branch, including legislative committees. It then goes through all state agencies, explaining the role of each. It then moves down to the level of county government, covering all county officials and agencies. Following that are townships, cities and towns, school corporations, and Indiana courts. It then covers the election process and the state legislative process.

Mental Defectives in Indiana

Report of the Committee on Mental Defectives appointed by Governor Samuel M. Ralston

Indiana Committee on Mental Defectives
Indianapolis: 1916

The Board of State Charities of Indiana reported in 1915 that “the state faces no more serious problem than that involved in the care of mental defectives. No other class of public wards in increasing so rapidly, none other is so burdensome, socially and economically.” The Board recommended a thorough study of the situation, and the Governor established a Committee on Mental Defectives to carry out that study, resulting in this report.

See our Public Domain Audiobooks

Prisons in Indiana 1827-1847

Indiana General Assembly
Indiana House Journal, Senate Journal and House Reports 1827-47

Collected excerpts from reports and journals of the Indiana State Legislature.

“Indiana Constitution”

The Indiana Historian 2002

Indiana Historical Bureau
Indiana Historical Bureau

16-page overview on the creation of the State Constitutions of 1851. Also a bibliography.

See our books on Business Management PDF

“Indiana Statehood”

The Indiana Historian September 1999

Indiana Historical Bureau
Indiana Historical Bureau

16-page overview of the road to Statehood, including the Constitutional convention. Also a bibliography.

Municipal Government in Indiana: Third Class Cities

Indiana Historical Records Survey, Works Projects Administration
Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Records survey 1942

“Third Class” cities had populations between 20,000 and 35,000. In Indiana they were Bloomington, Elkhart, Kokomo, Lafayette, Logansport, Marion, Michigan City, Mishawaka and New Albany. The team that authored this document was established within the 1930s Federal New Deal works program to inventory local government records. This paper on municipal government of smaller cities in Indiana was the result of their investigation into how these governments were organized to carry out their functions. Each significant position in city administration is described, delineating all their duties, and documenting the legislation that established those responsibilities.

Annual Report of the Board of Trustees of the Indiana Industrial School for Girls and the Indiana Woman’s Prison

for the year ending October 31, 1899

Indiana Industrial School for Girls
Indianapolis: Burford 1900

“Daniel Wolsey Voorhees”

Mississippi Valley Historical Review Vol VI, 1919-20, 532-55

Jordan, Henry D.
Cedar Rapids, Iowa: Mississippi Valley Historical Association

A profile of Voorhees as a Democratic party Congressman representing Indiana during the Civil War. Raised on a farm in Fountain county, IN, he was a U.S. District Attorney in Terre Haute when he was elected to Congress in 1860.

Political Recollections, 1840 to 1872

Julian, George W.
Chicago: Jansen, McClurg 1884

Author George W. Julian (1817-1899) began practicing law in 1840 in Greenfield, IN. He was elected to the Indiana House of Representatives in 1845, and to the U.S. House in 1848. He was one of the founders of the Free Soil Party and a leading opponent of slavery.

The author wrote in the Preface that this volume is “…devoted mainly to facts and incidents connected with the development of anti-slavery politics from the year 1840 to the close of the work of Reconstruction which followed the late civil war.” “…I have deemed it proper to state my own attitude and course of action respecting various public questions, and to refer more particularly to the political strifes of my own State.” Chapter headings are:

-The Harrison Campaign – The Beginning of Anti-Slavery Politics -Campaign of 1844 – Annexation and Slavery -Campaign of 1848 – its Incidents and Results -Reminiscences of the Thirty-first Congress -The Thirty-first Congress (continued) -The Evolution of the Republican Party -The Republican Party (continued) -Progress of Republicanism -The New Administration and the War -The New Administration and the War (continued) -Incidents and End of the War -Reconstruction and Suffrage – The Land Question -Mineral Lands and the Right of Pre-emption -Reconstruction and Impeachment -Grant and Greeley -Concluding Notes

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Constitution Making in Indiana; A Source Book of Constitutional Documents, with Historical Introduction and Critical Notes Vol. 1 1780-1851

Kettleborough, Charles, PhD.
Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Commission 1916; In Indiana Historical Collections Vol 2, part 1, 1916

“The documents comprised in these two volumes are designed to illustrate and interpret the constitutional growth and development of the State of Indiana from the beginnings of its institutional history to the present. For the hundred years from 1816-1916, an attempt has been made to include every document of a constitutional character.”
– from the Preface

Part 1: Cession of the Northwest Territory to the United States and the Organization and Development of the Territorial Government – (1780-1860). This part begins with a 230-page introduction by Kettleborough. This is followed by 33 documents, each with an introduction by Kettleborough that provides background. Altogether there are 152 documents, with introductions, in the four parts.
Part 2: The Organization of a Constitutional Government.
Part 3: Amendment of the Constitution of 1816.
Part 4: The Constitutional Convention of 1850.

See related historical documents at:
Great Lakes Region History: Documents & Collections of Records
;
Indiana History: Documents & Collections of Records

“Personal Politics In Indiana 1816 to 1840” – Part 1

Indiana Magazine of History Volume 19, Issue 1, 1923, pp 1-56; Volume 19, Issue 2, 1923, pp 132-168; Volume 19, Issue 3, pp 241-281

– Part 2

– Part 3

Leonard, Adam A.
Bloomington, IN: Indiana University

Courts and Lawyers of Indiana

– Volume 2

– Volume 3

Monks, Leander J. ed., and others
Indianapolis: Federal 1916

Governors of Indiana 1816-1916

Oval, Charles Joseph
Indianapolis: Oval & Koster 1916

This thin centennial volume contains one-page biographies of the governors, with portraits.

The Laws of Indiana Territory 1801-1809

Philbrick, Francis S. ed.
Springfield, ILL: Illinois State Historical Library 1930

Chapter headings summarized are:

-Introduction
-Laws adopted by the Governor and Judges at their first sessions, 1801
-Laws adopted at 2nd and 3rd sessions, 1802 and 1803
-Laws passed at the first session of the First General Assembly, 1805
-Laws passed at the second session of the First General Assembly, 1806
-Laws of the Indiana Territory, including previous acts and acts passed in 1807 [this section is 400 pages long]
-Acts of Assembly passed at the second session of the Second General Assembly, 1808
-Bibliography

The Government of the People of the State of Indiana

Rawles, William A., PhD
NY: Hinds, Noble 1906

Chapter Headings: Historical Sketch of Indiana -The State Government -County and Township Government -Municipal Government -Party Organization and Elections -Public Education

“James Noble”

Indiana Magazine of History Volume 9, Issue 1, 1913, pp 1-13

Reid, Nina K.
Bloomington, IN: Indiana University

A Manual of Civil Government of Indiana; township and county, town and city

Sanders, Leroy
Covington, IN: Manual 1913

“Describes the legislature at work. The machinery of political parties. The law of contracts, etc. Told in the language of the schoolroom for citizens large and small.”
– from the title page

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“”Henry S. Lane and the Formation of the Republican Party in Indiana”

Mississippi Valley Historical Review Vol VII, 1920-21, 93-112

Sharp, Walter Rice
Cedar Rapids, Iowa: Mississippi Valley Historical Association

In the turbulent decade of the 1850s there was a sharp political division within Indiana on the slavery issue. “The northern half, peopled from New England and the middle states, was predominantly anti-slave in it its interests and sympathies. The southern section, or practically all the territory south of the old National road through Indianapolis, was, on the contrary, strikingly southern in thought and ideals, for it was settled almost entirely by immigrants from Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and the Carolinas”. Given this environment, the author examines the new Republican party in Indiana to see how its positions were developed and to see how Indiana Republicans may have influenced the party outside the state.

The Northern Boundary of Indiana

Sheehan, Mrs. Frank J.
Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society 1928

There was a long controversy in early Indiana about the exact location of the boundary between Indiana and Michigan, with many influential people in Indiana convinced that the boundary must be moved north. This is a history of that controversy, and how it was eventually resolved.

Early Indiana Trials and Sketches

Smith, Oliver H.
Cincinnati: Moore, Wilstach and Keys. 1858

This unusual 600-page book has over 250 ‘essays’ that include dozens of courtroom anecdotes, biographical sketches, transcribed political speeches, poems of some of Indiana’s best poets, and probably much else of interest. The ‘Index’, which is really a Table of Contents, is at the back.

Township Government in Indiana

An analysis of the Indiana township as a governmental unit, and of its financial operations as exemplified by the townships of Monroe County

Snider, Clyde F.
Bloomington: Indiana University 1932

The author was an instructor in Political Science.

Annual Report of the Indiana State Board of Agriculture

1851-1907
Indianapolis: State Board of Agriculture

Indiana, 1930

State of Indiana
Fort Wayne: Board of Public Printing 1930

This well-illustrated book, meant to inform the Indiana public about its state government, contains profiles of all the Indiana governors, a profile of the legislature, pictures and backgrounds of monuments found around the state, profiles of each state government department and board, profiles of state institutions such as reform schools, state prisons, etc.

History of the Indiana Democracy, 1816-1916

Stoll, John B.
Indianapolis: Indiana Democratic 1917

A history of the Democratic party in Indiana. Unfortunately there is no Table of Contents to bring some organization to this diverse collection of writings. The volume begins with chapters on the history of the state-wide party, then has chapters on more specific topics in State politics. These are followed by contributed chapters of county histories of the party, then a long section of biographies of prominent men. No doubt there is more. The index at the back is extensive.

Biographical Sketches and Review of the Bench and Bar of Indiana …

Containing biographies and sketches of eminent judges and lawyers of Indiana, together with a history of the judiciary of the state and review of the bar from the earliest times to the present, with anecdotes, reminiscences, etc.

Taylor, Charles W.
Indianapolis: Bench and Bar 1895

This 850 page volume provides sketches of judges and lawyers in Indiana both present (as of publication in 1895) and past, including over 250 portraits. Biographical sketches are in the second section, and make up most of the book. The first section, entitled “Historical Sketches of the Bench and Bar” contains the following chapters and topics (some as brief as one page), written by W. W. Thornton and others:

-United States Circuit Court for the District of Indiana -United States District Court for the District of Indiana -The General Court of the Northwest Territory -The General Court of Indiana Territory -Sketch of the Old Supreme Court -The New Supreme Court of Indiana -Supreme Court Commissioners -Sketches of the Old Indiana Supreme Court Bar -The Appellate Court -The Circuit Courts -Courts of Common Pleas -Superior Court -Courts of Impeachment -Old Chancery Court -Probate and Orphans’ Court -Criminal Courts -Courts of Conciliation -Masters in Chancery and Master and Probate Commissioners -Mayor’s, Police and City Courts -Court of Claims -Justices of the Peace -Board of County Commissioners -Session Laws and Statutes of the Northwest and Indiana Territory and the State of Indiana -Law Writers of Indiana -Attorneys at Law -When the Lawyers Rode the Circuit -The Indianapolis Bar of 1839 -A Justice’s Trial -Right of Trial by Jury -State Law Library -Law Schools of Indiana

History and Government of Indiana: A Supplement to the Indiana Edition of the Elementary American History and Government

Woodburn, James Albert
NY: Longmans, Green 1916

This is a 60-page illustrated textbook for students, with review questions at the end of each chapter.

Executive Journal of Indiana Territory 1800-1816

Woollen, William W., Howe, Daniel W. and Dunn, Jacob Piatt, ed.
Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society 1900

An extensive introduction by the editors provides an account of the changing boundaries of the Indiana Territory throughout this period, and explains how the Acts that established territorial governments were implemented. The Executive Journal, reproduced here, provides an account of all official actions of the Governor’s office. The editors provide explanatory footnotes throughout the Journal. Note that there are two indexes at the end – one for subjects and one for persons.

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