William Hendricks' Political Circulars to His

William Hendricks’ Political Circulars to his Constituents : Congressional Period, 1816-1822

Frederick D. Hill*

William Hendricks, though unknown to most modern Hoosiers, played a prominent role in the later years of In- diana territorial history and the early decades of statehood. His career in public office spanned the period from 1813, when he became clerk of the territorial House of Representa- tives, to 1837, when congressional adjournment marked the end of his tenure as United States senator. Hendricks’ service in Congress-in the House from 1816 to 1822 and in the Senate from 1825 to 1837-occurred at a tjme when it was difficult for western congressmen to keep in touch with their constituents. Because travel by horseback, riverboat, or carriage was slow, they could not visit their home districts during a session of Congress. With sessions lasting from three to six months, they could not be in their districts more than six to nine months each year. Long distance communication also was difficult because without the telephone, the telegraph, or electronic media, messages could be transmitted no faster than a person could travel. Hendricks and other representatives engaged in voluminous correspondence, but few of the people they represented could have been reached by individual letters. One effective and widely used device for keeping constituents informed was the political circular. During the eighteen years that Hendricks represented the people of Indiana in Congress, he wrote political circulars to his constituents annually. He usually wrote them about the time Congress adjourned, and they were widely distributed

* Frederick D. Hill is Professor of History at Indiana Central Col- lege, Indianapolis. Hendricks’ Circulars 297 in newspaper columns, as broadsides, and through personal correspondence. Most of them reported the status of legislation with whic!i his constituents were vitally concerned and disclosed his views on matters of public interest. If his term was soon to expire, the circular, reviewing past accomplish- ments, might resemble a campaign document. As a record of one western congressman’s thoughts and actions, Hendricks’ circular letters are an important historical resource, and eight of them were published by the Indiana Historical Commission a half century ag0.l Recently a complete collection has been assembled, and all eighteen are being published in a three part series in this and subsequelit issues of this magazine. William Hendricks was born in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh on November 12, 1782, and graduated from Jefferson College at Canonsburg, Pennsyl- vania, in 1810. He then migrated to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he taught school, studied law, and was admitted to the bar.’ The thirty year old Hendricks, who probably came to Madi- son, Indiana Territory, in the summer or fall of 1812, later described himself at the time of his arrival as an “adventurer,” “without office either in possession or expectancy,” and “with no prospects other than those of a private citizen.”” He was a stranger in search of opportunities; and for a man with his talents, they were abundant.

Logan Esarey, ed., Messages and Papers of Jonathan Jcnnings, Ratliff Boon, William Hendricks (Indiana Historical Collections, Vol. XII; Indianapolis, 1924). z The sources disagree regarding the year of Hendricks’ birth, but a while before his death on May 16, 1850, he gave his age as sixty-seven. Editorial, Madison Daily Banner, May 18, 1850; John M. Gresham and Co., comps., Ciographical and Historical Souvenir for the Counties of Clark, Crawford, Harrison, Floyd, Jefferson, Jennings, Scott and Wash- ington, Indiana (Chicago, 1889), pt. I, 206; A Biographical History of Eminent and Self-made Men of the State of Indiana (Cincinnati, 1880), dist. 4, p. 32; William W. Woollen, Biograpliicnl and Historicol Sketches of Early Indiana (Indianapolis, 1883), 51. On November 1, 1813, Hendricks was chosen to succeed William McFarland, who had resigned as Jefferson County’s representative in the territorial House. In order to qualify as a voter then, one must have lived in Indiana Territory a year before the election. The residence re- quirement for officeholders would not have been less. William W. Woollen, Daniel W. Howe, and Jacob P. Dunn, eds., Executive Joiirnal of Indiana Territory, 1800-1 81 6 (Indiana Historical Society Publications, Vol. 111, No. 3; Indianapolis, 1900), 202; Louis B. Ewbank and Dorothy Riker, eds., The Laws of Indiana Territory, 1809-1816 (Indiana Histori- cal Collections, Vol. XX; Indianapolis, 1934), 226; see below p. 320. 298 Indiana Magazine of History

From February 1, 1813, when he was unanimously chosen clerk of the territorial House of RepresentativesY4until statehood in 1816, Hendricks was not without public office. He served as representative from Jefferson County and speaker of the House,'l territorial printer,6 prosecuting attoriiey for Jefferson and Switzerland counties,' United States attorney for Indiana,xand secretary of Indiana's constitutional convention.q Sometimes he held two or more of these positions con- currently, a common practice among territorial officeholders. During the same period he also practiced law, briefly held a United States mail contract,l" and helped found and for almost a year coedited the Madison Western Eagle, second newspaper in 1ndiana.ll With the coming of statehood Hendricks launched a twenty-one year career of faithful service to his adopted state as congressman, governor, and United States senator. In 1816 he defeated Allen D. Thorn, United States collector of revenue at Jeffersonville, and George R. C. Sullivan, a Vincennes lawyer, to win Indiana's lone House seat in the second session of the Fourteenth Congress (1816-1817) .lZ Despite strong opposition at Vincennes and Corydon, he was reelected in 1817, defeating Thomas Posey, former governor of Indiana Territory, in the contest for a full term in the Fifteenth

Congress (1817-1819) .IJ In 1818 and 1820 Hendricks tri- umphed over Reuben W. Nelson, editor of the Corydon

4 Gayle Thornbrough and Dorothy Riker, eds., Journals of the General Assembly of Indiana Territory, 1805-1 81 5 (Indiana Historical Collections, Vol. XXXII; Indianapolis, 1950), 489. 5 Ibid., 595, 596, 754, 755. 6 Ibid., 611, 697-98. 7 Ewbank and Riker, The Laws of Indiana Territory, 847, 857. * Ibid., 820. 9 Journal of the Convention of Indiana Territory (Louisville, 1816), 4, as reprinted in Indiana Magazine of History, LXI (June 1965), [87- 1551. 10 Postmaster General [Return Jonathan Meigs] to John Francis Dufour, May 31, [1814], in Clarence E. Carter, ed., The Territory of Indiana, 1810-1816 (The Territorial Papers of the United States, Vol. VIII ; Washington, 1939), 305. '1 Donald F. Carmony, "The Pioneer Press in Indiana," Indiana History BuZletin, XXXI (October, 1954), 203; editorial signed by Hend- ricks, Madison Western Eagle, April 8, 1814. '2 Dorothy Riker and Gayle Thornbrough, comps., Indiana Election Returns, 1816-1851 (Indiana Historical Collections, Vol. XL; Indian- apolis, 1960), 71. 13 Ibid., 71-72. Hendricks’ Circulars 299

Indiana Herald. In the former election his margin of victory was almost nine to one; in the latter it was more than ten to one as eight counties voted unanimously for him, and he carried every one of the thirty-three counties except Knox.14 Congressman Hendricks’ popularity continued to increase, and in 1822 he was elected governor of Indiana without opposition. In January 1825, and again in December 1830, the Indiana General Assembly elected him United States senator.15 In 1836 Hendricks was defeated in his bid for an unpre- cedented third six year term as senator from Indiana, but he did not retire from politics. He would have welcomed election to the Senate in 1838 or 1843; and he actively sought appointment as federal district judge for Indiana in 1842 and election as president of the Second State Bank of Indiana in 1843.16 In 1845 the Madison Courier editorially urged the newly elected President, James K. Polk, to make Hendricks com- missioner of the General Land Office; and in 1847 Hendricks appealed to Secretary of State James Buchanan for appointment to the Mexican War peace commi~sion.~~Such efforts, however, were in vain. Though he practiced law in Madison until his death in 1850, his career in public office had ended when Congress adjourned in the spring of 1837. Hendricks’ entry into politics had coincided with the demise of the Federalist party. His early years in high office, therefore, were during a period of “non-party” politics at both state and national levels. Even when the “era of good feeling” ended in the 1820s, he sought to avoid identification with either of the emerging national parties. He believed

14 Ibid., 72-74. The 1818 returns for Daviess and Sullivan counties are missing, but both were decidedly pro-Hendricks in 1820. The 1820 returns are complete, but those from Knox, Monroe, Scott, and Wash- ington counties are from the Corydon Indiana Gazette, August 31 and September 17, and therefore unofficial. 15 Hendricks to John W. Taylor, October 10, 1822, John W. Taylor Papers (New York Historical Society, New York City); Riker and Thornbrough, Indiana Election Returns, 138, 127, 128. 16 Ibid., 131; Abel C. Pepper to John Tipton, December 3, 1838, John Hendricks to [Allen Hamilton], September 29, 1842, Allen Hamilton (Indiana Division, Indiana State Library) ; Hendricks to John Tipton, Papers (Indiana Division, Indiana State Library) ; Hendricks to Daniel Webster, April 7, 1842, Daniel Webster Papers (New Hampshire His- torical Society, Concord) ; Hendricks to Hamilton, November 10, 1843, Hamilton Papers. 17 Editorial Madison Courier, January 11, 1845; Hendricks to James Buchanan, April 22, 1847, James Buchanan Papers (Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia). 300 Indiana Magazine of History that the President, regardless of party, had the right and deserved the privilege of naming his subordinates; and as a legislator he supported presidential nominations even when he lacked confidence in the nominees.lX Though usually taking a firm stand on questions of public policy, he seems to have considered his preferences for political officers a private matter. Hendricks declined to intervene in state and local elections or to exert influence on the selection of the other United States senator from Indiana.” One may infer that he supported Henry Clay for the presidency in 1824 and 1832 and John Quincy Adams in 1828, but this is uncertain. Not until 1836, when he campaigned for the Democratic presidential candidate, Martin Van Buren and his runningmate, Richard M. Johnson, did he openly identify with a political At the same time, however, he sought reelection to the Senate as a nonpartisan candidate. In 1840 he was a Van Buren elector; and in 1844 he was a diligent worker in the successful campaign of Democrat James K. Polk.z’ Few politicians have surpassed Congressman Hendricks in ,careful attention to the needs and desires of those who elected them. The Indiana census of 1815 had reported 63,897 people, almost all of whom lived in the southernmost counties. The 1820 census revealed a population of 147,178, eighty- four percent of whom were still concentrated in the southern third of the state.22 For six years Hendricks faithfully carried the petitions of these people to the appropriate federal agen- cies and obtained answers to their questions whenever possible. He was present on the opening day of each congressional

lXHendricks to Arion and Lodge, publishers, June 15, 1830, Madison Indiana Republican, June 17, 1830 ; editorial, Lawrenceburg Indiana Palladium, January 8, 1831. 13 Hendricks to Noah Noble, July 22, 25, 1828, Noah Noble Papers (Indiana Division, Indiana State Library) ; Hendricks to John Tipton, October 27, 1831, Tipton Papers. 20 Hendricks to Henry Clay, December 22, 1823, William Hendricks Papers (E. M. Violette Museum, Northeast Missouri State College, Kirksville) ; Hendricks to Dennis Pennington, September 26, 1828, in Madison Indiana Republican, October 15, 1828; open letter to Hendricks signed “An Indianian,” Vincennes Western Sun and General Advertiser, April 14, 1832; Madison Republican Banner, October 19, 1836. 21 Communication to [Terre Haute] Wabash Courier signed “A Wabash Citizen,” quoted in Indianapolis Indiana Democrat, November 30, 1836; Riker and Thornbrough, Indiana Election Returns, 36; Madison Courier, June 15, 1844. 22John D. Barnhart and Donald F. Carmony, Zndiana: From Frontier to Industvial Commonwealth (4 vols., New York, 1954), I, 164, 170. Hendricks’ Circulars 301

session, and he responded to more than eighty percent of the roll call votes. His committee assignments reflect his western orientation as he was continuously a member of the Standing Committee on Public Lands and also served on various select committees such as those considering roads and canals, Illinois statehood, Missouri statehood, and authorization of a con-

gressional delegate for Michigan Territory.‘ $ In legislative matters he tried to reflect the will of his constituents without violating his judgment. In committees and on the House floor he fought for policies that would be advantageous to his constituents, but he was not doctrinaire. Because he practiced politics as the art of doing what was possible and was willing to compromise, he doubtless voted for many bills with which he was not wholly satisfied. In the wide variety of national issues discussed in his annual circulars, Hendricks treated certain questions more thoroughly than others. In particular Hendricks reported often on the progress of claims filed against the national government by Indiana militiamen for payment of their service during the War of 1812, the admission of Missouri to the Union, and recognition of revolutionary governments in South America. He also frequently mentioned the United States’ negotiations with Spain over territorial boundaries, and the modification of the public land policy. Hendricks’ first circular is unique. Written after his reelection in August 1817, it was devoted to explaining and defending his motives and actions as congressman and to discrediting those who had sought his defeat. In Indiana, where most men thought of themselves as Jeffersonian Re- publicans, political alignments were conditioned by personal affinities and animosities and by a sectionalism that had carried over from the territorial period and tended to pit the more populous eastern counties against the western counties. The dominant eastern faction was led by Governor Jonathan Jennings of Charlestown, Senator James Noble of Brookville, and Congressman William Hendricks of Madison, while the opposition tended to rally around Senator Waller

23 This statistic was computed from roll call votes recorded in the Annals of Congwss, 14 Cong., 2 Sess.-l‘i Cong., 1 Sess. (December 2, 1816-May 8, 1822). For a complete list and documentation of Hendricks’ committee assignments see Frederick D. Hill, “William Hendricks: In- diana Politician and Western Advocate, 1812-1850” (Ph.D. dissertation, Department of History, Indiana University, 1972), 21-22. 302 Indiana Magazine of History

Taylor of Jeffersonville. To judge from the results of suc- cessive elections, Jennings, Noble, and Hendricks all enjoyed the confidence of a majority of the voters for more than a decade after statehood. Nevertheless, they were repeatedly attacked, especially by editors and readers of the Corydon Indiana Herald and the Vincennes Western Sun. Friendly to them were the Madison Indiana Republican and the Corydon Indiana Gazette. Though only Hendricks’ term had expired, gossip, in- nuendo, and slander were leveled at all three men during the congressional campaign of 1817.24 Apparently Hendricks did not respond to the charges during the campaign but waited until after his reelection when he could address his supporters with confidence and approach his detractors with condescen- sion. Perhaps the most effective defense in the entire circular was Hendricks’ concluding admission that he had “no ‘vested right to represent the people of Indiana’ other than what they gave me [on election day].”25 The militiamen’s payment controversy concerned members of sixteen companies of Indiana militia called to active duty by Acting Governor John Gibson early in 1813. News of the Indian victory at the River Raisin near Detroit had just reached Vincennes, and these companies were ordered to occupy a line of blockhouses across the territory.26 Later. at the insistence of Territorial Delegate Jonathan Jennings, the War Department agreed that the militia should be paid by the national government for their services and compensated for the loss of horses and other personal property. Difficulty in substantiating claims, lack of adequate funds at the dis- posal of the secretary of war, and the failure of Congress to make an appropriation for this purpose, however, delayed payment. Soon after arriving in Washington in 1816, Hend- ricks took up the militiamen’s cause. In Indiana he was criticized for intervening and delaying payment and at the same time was accused of speculating in militia claims and

24 Communications signed “Justice and Truth,” Vincennes Western Sun, February 15, March 1, 1817. No file of the Corydon Indiana Herald is known to exist, but attacks on Hendricks are reflected in his 1817 circular; Census for 1820 (Washington, 1821), 39. 25 See below, p. 321. 26 John D. Barnhart and Dorothy Riker, Indiana to 1816: The Colonial Period (The History of Indiana, Vol. I; Indianapolis, 1971), 416-17. Hendricks’ Circulars 303

seeking to hasten their payment.27 In answer to these charges Hendricks declared that he would ((not rest till every man . . . who have [sic] endured fatigue, and been exposed to danger, to rescue and defend our country from the tomahawk and scalping knife, be paid the uttermost farthing.”’x In 1818 the Missouri territorial legislature petitioned Congress for admission to the Union and precipitated a three year controversy. Missouri’s admission promised to be routine until the House, where representatives froin free states were predominant, voted an amendment to the Missouri Enabling Act, which provided for the gradual extinction of slavery there. When the Senate, where the slave states and free states were equally represented, refused to accept the amendment, Congress became deadlocked on the Missouri issue and remained so for two years. In 1820 the House and Senate agreed to a compromise that provided for the admission of Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state to preserve the balance between the slaveholding and free interests in the Senate, and which prohibited slavery in the remainder of the Louisiana Purchase north of latitude 36”30’. Missouri responded by submitting to Congress a constitution that not only protected slavery but imposed certain disabilities on free Negroes. After additional debate on the anti-Negro provisions of the constitution, Missouri finally entered the Union in August 182L2‘) Hendriclis delivered a major speech during the Missouri debate, and in it he ranged widely over the moral, constitutional, and practical implications as well as the historical pre- cedents involved. j0 In consistently opposing the admission of another slave state, Hendricks was true to his convictions and reflected the will of his constituents.” He reported Ptlissouri’s status in each annual letter from 1818 to 1822. After the Enabling Act had passed in 1820, he referred to the “warm and animated” discussion and the “bitterness and

27 Communications signed “Justice and Truth,” Vincennes Ii‘estcm Sun, February 15, March 1, 29, April 12, 1817. y* See below, p. 317. 21 See Glover Moore, The Missouvi Contvoversy, 181 9-1 821 (Lexing- ton, 1953) for a thorough treatment of the Missouri conflict. “Annals of Congress, 16 Cong., 1 Sess., 1344-55 (February 15, 1820). 31 Editorials, Madison Indiana Republican, March 30, May 25, 1880; Indiana, House Jozcrnal (1819-1820), 91-92. 304 Indiana Magazine of History excitement” that had accompanied the month long debate. The next year he complained that “the consumption of time in useless debate of the Missouri question, promised little practical good to the nation, from the present session.””’ As Spain declined, she experienced increasing difficulty in controlling her American colonies. When revolutions broke out from Mexico to the Argentine during the first quarter of the nineteenth century, Americans disagreed regarding their proper stance. Some wished the United States to remain aloof, withholding even diplomatic recognition; others wanted not only recognition of the infant regimes but also participation in their struggles for freedom. While Hendricks was in the House of Representatives, President James Monroe pursued a cautious policy because he believed the United States to have only meager interests in Latin America and because he did not want to antagonize European nations in general or Spain in particular, With the latter Secretary of State John Quincy Adams was negotiating for the transfer of Florida to the United States and for a fixed boundary between Louisiana Territory and Mexico. But the House, not content to leave recognition to the initiative and discretion of the President, repeatedly debated the question. Hendricks consistently voted with the House majority encouraging Monroe to .recognize the new governments and appropriating funds to support one or more missions if and when the President decided to establish diplomatic relations with them.33 “It would be desirable,” he said, “that the government of the United States whose political tenets, the rising republics of the south are endeavoring to adopt, should be the first to acknowledge their independen~e.”~~ Not until Monroe’s presidency was a serious effort made to define the boundary between the Louisiana Purchase and Mexico. Geographical knowledge of the North American interior had been so incomplete that the Louisiana Purchase Treaty of 1803 was necessarily vague. Secretary of State Adams also wanted to establish an American-Mexican bound-

32 See below pp. 331, 336. 33AnnaZs of Congress, 16 Cong., 1 Sess., 2229 (May 10, 1820) ; ihid., 16 Cong., 2 Sess., 1077, 1091-92 (February 9, 1821) ; ibid., 17 Cong., 1 Sess., 1403-404 (March 28, 1822). 34 See below, p. 334. Hendricks’ Circulars 305

ary from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean to elimi- nate all Spanish claims to the Columbia River Valley. Fur- thermore it was widely believed that Florida, which was a haven for Seminole Indians, white outlaws, and fugitive slaves raiding into Georgia, ought to belong to the United States. While Adams was negotiating these matters with the Spanish minister, Don Luiz de Onis y Gonzales, the War Department sent General Andrew Jackson to impose order along the Florida border. Jackson crossed into Florida, occupied two Spanish settlements, replaced their governments with an American military regime, and arrested two British subjects. The latter were tried by a military court, found guilty of inciting the Indians, and executed. Jackson’s actions offended many Americans, but they also frightened the Spanish. After appropriate formal protests, Onis settled down to serious negotiation, and agreement was reached on all three matters under Though Adams was criticized for not acquiring Texas at that time, and although the agreement was not ratified until two years after it was concluded, the Adams-Onis Treaty was a diplomatic victory for the Monroe administration. It transferred Florida to the United States and fixed a south- western boundary from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean. The Transcontinental Treaty line followed the present boundary of Texas from the mouth of the Sabine River to the Oklahoma panhandle and on north to the Arkansas River; up the Arkansas River to its source and then due north to the 42” parallel; and along that parallel to the Pacific Ocean.”! Hendricks kept his constituents informed of Adams’ progress, and, when at last the treaty was ratified, he said, “No period of our history since the close of the revolution, is better calculated . . . to pourtray the destinies of this great republic.”37 Before western land could be acquired by a private citizen, it had to be ceded by the Indians to the national govern-

35 See Philip C. Brooks, Diplomacy and the Borderlands: The Adams-Onis Treaty of 1819 (Berkeley, 1939); and Charles C. Griffin, The United States and the Disruption of the Spanish Empire, 1S10-1822 (New York, 1937) for detailed coverage of these negotiations. 3~ George Dangerfield, The Awakening of American Nationalism, 1815-1828 (New York, 1965), 67. 37 See below, p. 343. 306 Indiana Magazine of History

ment and surveyed; then it was sold at auction. By 1820 it was obvious that the four year credit system, as established by the Harrison Land Law of 1800 and amended in 1804, was not working well. Both speculators and settlers found it difficult and sometimes impossible to make their scheduled payments. Some speculators had simply bought too much land. Many settlers had discovered the statutory minimum of 160 acres to be more than they could use or pay for within four years at the minimum price of two dollars per acre, especially after the Panic of 1819. Despite passage of a series of relief laws, starting in 1806, to protect the buyer who did not make his payments, by the end of 1820 the outstanding debt on land purchases totalled some $21,000,000 with more than $2,000,000 owed in Indiana alone.38 Moreover, there already had been extensive forfeiture because relief laws were neither uniform nor comprehensive. To halt the increase of landed indebtedness and default, Congress abolished the credit system in 1820. The new minimum purchase tract was eighty acres, and the minimum cash price was $1.25 per acre.3“ Hendricks opposed the abolition of credit land sales, and the only redeeming feature he saw in this bill was the low price. This, he believed, would make it possible for all classes to purchase land and would make the government “more inclined to indulge those who are at present indebted, and who are unable to pay for their lands.”40 The next year Congress, to lighten the burden of purchasers already in arrears and to hasten the liquidation of accumu- lated indebtedness, passed a comprehensive relief law. The buyer could relinquish part of his land and apply payments already made to what he retained. He could pay his debt at 371h percent discount, which in effect reduced his purchase price to the current minimum of $1.25 per acre. Or he could obtain an extension of time. Hendricks worked for the pass-

38 American State Papers: Public Lands (8 vols., Washington, 1832- 1861), 111, 645. ”’Annals of Congress, 16 Cong., 1 Sess., Appendix 2578-79 (April 24, 1820). See Malcolm Rohrbough,, Land Office Business: The Settle- ment and Admanastrataon of Amemcan Public Lands, 1789-1837 (New York, 1971) for full coverage of public land policy. 40 Hendricks to editor, March 10, 1820, Lawrenceburg Oracle, April 1, 1820; see below, p. 334. Hendricks’ Circulars 307

age of this law and described it as “liberal, beyond the expectations and hopes of any portion of the Western country.”41 Several issues of growing importance received less f re- quent or less thorough treatment in this block of circulars than did those discussed above. Among these were internal improvements, the extinguishing of Indian land titles, the Second Bank of the United States, military preparedness and pensions, the tariff, and the state of the national economy. Internal improvements were essential if Westerners were to import needed commodities and export produce with reasonable ease. Of special concern to Hoosiers were the westward extension of the Cumberland Road, opened from Cum- berland, Maryland, to the Ohio River at Wheeling in 1818; a canal to bypass the Falls of the Ohio at Jeffersonville and facilitate the movement of goods on the Ohio River; and the construction of roads within the state. In the Indiana En- abling Act Congress had shown its interest in aiding Indiana transportation and development. In this act, the federal government had agreed to spend two percent of the net proceeds from land sales in the state to build roads to the state, and to transfer to the General Assembly three percent of the net proceeds to build roads and canals in the state. Among other provisions of the act, the state relinquished for five years from the date of sale the right to tax any land passing into private hands after December 1, 1816, and the right to tax public When Indiana entered the Union in 1816, the Indians still possessed most of the northern two thirds of the state, and immediate prospects for the state’s growth and development were not good. Hendricks, therefore, worked hard for early extinction of Indian land titles, rapid survey of newly acquired lands, and the establishment of more land offices. The most spectacular development was the New Purchase negotiated at St. Marys, Ohio, in 1818. It was the largest single purchase ever made in Indiana and embraced most of the central part of the state from Ohio on the east to Illinois

41AnnaZs of Congress, 16 Cong., 2 Sess., Appendix 1795-98 (March 2, 1821) ; see below, p. 338. 42Annak of Congress, 14 Cong., 1 Sess., Appendix 1841-44 (April 19, 1816). 308 Indiana Magazine of History

on the west and from Jackson County on the south to just beyond the Wabash River on the north.45 In 1811 Congress had refused to recharter the First United States Bank. The experience of struggling through the War of 1812 without the benefit of central banking, however, had caused many national leaders to change their minds about the wisdom and constitutionality of a national bank. So in the spring of 1816 Congress chartered the Sec- ond Bank of the United States, which was to act as the government’s fiscal agent and establish and maintain a stable and uniform currency. Less than a year after the bank opened its doors in January, 1817, the House Committee on National Currency investigated its pera at ion.^^ Though the House took no action against the bank at that time, Hendricks described the committee’s report as “an expose of a series of improprieties on the part of the directors, not perhaps equalled in the history of any other moneyed institution.”” Following the War of 1812, the army was reduced to less than, 10,000 men stationed on the seaboard, along the northern frontier, and in the West. After the Panic of 1819, Hendricks and others favored further reduction of the armed force^.^" Congress spent more time, however, on the problem of benefits for needy veterans and for widows and orphans of veterans. A Revolutionary pension law was enacted providing old or indigent veterans of that war a small income for life. Congress also extended for five years the half-pay status of widows and orphans of militiamen killed in the War of 1812, including the Battle of Tippecanoe. These statutes were important for the people of Indiana because numerous veterans of the War for Independence had migrated there and because the Indiana militia had often borne the brunt of In- dian attacks on the frontier during the War of 1812.47

43 R. Carlyle Buley, The Old Northwest: Pioneer Period, 1815-1840 (2 vols., Indianapolis, 1950), I, 111-12. For the nation’s dealings with the Indians viewed through the experience of one tribe see Bert Anson, The Miami Indians (Norman, 1970). 44 Annals of Congress, 14 Cong., 2 Sess., 436 (January 7, 1817). 43 See below, p. 327. For a detailed analysis of the bank’s policies and their impact on the country, see Walter B. Smith, The Second Bunk of the United States (Cambridge, Mass., 1953). 4fiAnnaZs of Congress, 16 Cong., 2 Sess., 933, 1283 (January 22, March 2, 1821). 47 See below, p. 322. Hendricks' Circulars 309

The War of 1812, isolating the United States from the world market, had encouraged the development of industry. When the war ended and trade was resumed, some domestic manufactured products could not successfully compete with imported goods, and the manufacturers turned to the government for aid. In 1816 Congress enacted the first avowedly protective tariff, and twice while Hendricks, who seems to have been a moderate protectionist, was in the House, tariff rates were raised despite the opposition of southern planters and some northern merchant^.^^ Immediately following the War of 1812, the American economy had over expanded to fill the demand created for goods as a result of the disruption of Europe's economy by the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars that had been going on intermittently since 1789. But within a few years after hostilities ended in Europe, the productive system there rebounded, and the demand for American goods declined sharply. Land values plummetted, and the price of staples fell; depression was evident in every section of the country.*" In Indiana public land sales declined and immigration dwindled. With local surpluses of agricultural commodities and declining prices, many settlers could not meet their finan- cial obligations.'" The depression that followed the Panic of 1819 lingered for years, and Hendricks called for the strictest economy in the management of both public and private resources.i1 Perusal of Hendricks' annual circulars reveals his dili- gence in reporting to his constituents and the breadth of his concerns and theirs. His position on each issue is usually clear, and he did not hesitate to take credit for his accom- plishments on behalf of the people of Indiana.

4R Annals of Congress, 16 Cong., 1 Sess., 1902-903 (April 20, 1820) ; see below, p. 335. 49 See Murray N. Rothbard, The Panic of 1819 (New York, 1962) for a thorough analysis of that depression. Rarnhart and Carmony, Indiana, I, 170-71. See below, p. 342.

Hendricks’ Circulars 311 Hendricks Circulars’

Circular Relating to the 14th Congress, 2nd Session (1816-1817)’

[Madison, Indiana September 16, 18171 Fellozo-citizens of Indiana,; Having again been elected your Representative in Con- gress, by a respectable majority, over a respectable opponent,3 & that in the face of, and in opposition to a series of newspaper assaults, & political management 1 might say un- paralleled in the history of our affairs; it may now be expected, that you hear from me, and if nothing of more importance, that at least an effusion of gratitude for the confidence you have reposed, might on the present occasion, be expressed.-Heretofore I have been silent as it respects newspaper address-I had no supereminent qualities, or qualifications of which to “boast,” and if I had had such, I should not have boasted. I was conscious that to stoop to blazon my

1 The editor has attempted to reproduce these circulars as closely as possible to the form in which they were originally published. Vagaries of spelling, capitalization, and paragraphing have been followed exactly as in the original text. In some instances stray marks or imperfections in the original have made it impossible to ascertain whether or not commas or periods are used, and in these cases the editor has made what seems to be the correct punctuation. Letters left out of words have been inserted in brackets wherevei not to have done so might have resulted in mistaking one word for another; otherwise incorrect and phonetic spellings have been retained as found. When names first ap- pear in the text, they have been completed in either brackets or footnotes for identification. Where titles or occupations refer to specific individuals, these persons have also been identified in brackets or footnotes where appropriate. Finally, in cases where geographic locations, acts of Congress, or other types of potentially unclear references are made, bracketed information or footnotes have been added to clarify the text. These circulars are taken from photocopies of the originals. This circular is 1,eprinted from the Madison Znrliann Repisblicnn, September 16, 1817 (Archives Division, Indiana State Libiary, Indian- apolis). This session of Congress convened December 2, 1816, and adjourned March 3, 1817. “endricks defeated Thomas Posey by a sixty percent majority. Before coming to Indiana, Posey had served with distinction in the Con- tinental Army, had been lieutenant governor of Kentucky, and had completed an unexpired term as United States senator from Louisiana. He was appointed governor of Indiana Territory in 1813 and held that office until statehood. Defeated in his bid to become the first governor of the state of Indiana in 1816, he accepted appointment as Indian agent at Shawneetown, Illinois. He held the latter position until his death in 1818. see Lawrence F. Kennedy, Biogvaphical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1971 (Washington, 1971), 1559. 312 Indiana Magazine of History

own eulogy, capacity and fitness, would argue vanity, inca- pacity and unfitness, and being known as a candidate, it was presumable the people would enquire and know, in some good degree, my political tenets and qualifications. I did not meddle with, or answer the billingsgate effusions of the [Cory- don] “Indiana Herald,” its editors or correspondents; because the motives and the object of the one, was too ostensible to be mistaken; and because I conceived the correspondent identified with the editor. It was too visible to be concealed, too plain to be mistaken, that [Reuben W. Nelson,] an editor of the Herald, having already failed in some appointments, and ambitious of preferment, thought it necessary to remove out of his way that which stopped it, and not being able to remove it himself, it was important to brand it with the epithet of public nuisance, and call to his assistance the political energies of the state. It was also as visible and plain, that this self same editor, no doubt viewing himself already on the threshold of Congress, already your representative, usurped your name and authority, and called upon me to answer certain interrogatories which he himself had set forth. These interrogatories I did not, at that time think fit to answer, because I did not consider myself called upon by you for such answers-I did not recognize the voice of the people in the brawlings and lampoonings of that paper. In the distracted ravings of the editors of the Herald, I have been charged among other things with procuring the appointment of printer of the laws of the U. S. for [Armstrong Brandon and James Lodge] the editors of the [Corydon Indiana] Gazette, to the total neglect and great prejudice of the editors of the Herald, whose superior talents, claims & privileges ought by all means to have been recognized and attended to.‘ To this horrible charge I answer that there was a propriety in having the laws of the U. S. printed at [Corydon,] the seat of government, in one of the papers established there. That Mr. [Senator James] Noble and myself were notified that the editors of the Gazette were applicants & wished the appointment, but no intimation ever reached us, that the editors of the Herald were or would be

4 Newly passed federal legislation was disseminated through selected newspapers of the land. Public printing contracts were profitable and much coveted by local editors. The other editor of the Corydon Indiana Herald seems to have been a Mr. Cox. Hendricks’ Circulars 313 applicants, or would perform the duties if appointed. As your representatives it was our duty to have the laws of the Union published in the state, and to select proper mediums of publication. Ought we to have preferred the Herald, without knowing whether its editors would accept the appointment, to the Gazette whose editors were applicants? every man of common sense will say no. But why did not the editors of the Herald inform Mr. Noble and myself, if they wished to obtain that appointment. Perhaps, indeed those gentlemen thought it stooping beneath their dignity to address a line to either of us. Would not the editors of the Gazette have had the same reasons to complain, if their application had not been preferred? what exclusive right or privilege will common understanding or justice give the Herald over the Gazette? on what could such right or privilege be founded‘? or how let me ask can the Herald be effected or “ruined” by the appointment of the Gazette? can that be taken away which was never given or enjoyed? Another very serious charge as easily understood as it is false, & emphatically stated by the Herald, is, that I endeavored to have the printing of the U.S. laws taken away from Mr. Stout.5 The object of this cannot be mistaken. It was intended to impress the citizens of the West[ern counties] with an idea that I had attempted to deprive them of every means of promulgating the laws of the U.S. among them. It was intended to fan the flame of local jealousy already in existence in the West, and to make that feeling heretofore and still prevalent at Vincennes coincident with the whole western end of the state. It was intended to marshal1 the feelings of the East and West against each other, that this same editor [Nelson], whose pretensions had not yet become generally known or repsected [sic],might have to a party, and be taken up generally in the west. If Mr. Noble and myself endeavored to have Mr. Stout removed from that appointment, who else did we nominate? No one. There is in this assertion gross and malignant falsehood. T stated un- equivocally, that there was no other newspaper in the west to be selected, and that it was proper and right to have the laws printed in that section of the state. It was my opinion

5 Elihu Stout had founded the Vincennes Indiana Gwxette, the first newspaper in Indiana, in 1804. Now editor of the Vincennes Western Sun and General Advertiser, successor to the Gazette, he had been a United States printer for several years. 314 Indiana Magazine of History

also, that a greater number of papers in each state would be employed in printing the laws: But when giving an opinion of Mr. Stout as an editor, I did also state, that he had the reputation of an indolent man-that in his publications he had not formerly been very punctual-that his “Sun” had frequently set for more than a week at a time, and that in consequence of this, the publication of the laws in that quarter was frequently retarded.b But I did not state that Mr. Stout while he received the emoluments of the General Government for publishing their laws, permitted his paper to be made a vehicle of slander and abuse against that government. I did not state that Mr. Stout received and published communications abusive of that government to whose protection he was indebted for the enjoyments of his fireside, & the frontiers of Indiana for their habitations. These traits of Mr. Stout as an editor I might have given, and subsequent publications would have proved my assertions true. Another charge of a most singular nature is, that I was “cognizant of and instrumental in bringing the Gazette to Corydon.” The editors of the Gazette have already stated enough on this subject, but all will not do. Mr. Brandon I never saw till April last-Mr. James Lodge I have never yet seen, nor had I the remotest knowledge of their establishment [of the Indiana Gazette] till after I left home last November for Washington. I have been charged with procuring for Mr. Brandon the appointment of Post Master at Corydon. This appointment has rung through the state, and been reiterated in almost every number of the Herald for three months past. The recommendation of Mr. [Richard M.] Heth [the retiring postmaster,] was disregarded. This is the thing so much complained of. On this subject however I might have plead ignorance, for I never before knew that Mr. Heth had a right to nominate his successor. This would be policy and proceeding of a very dignified order indeed. The circumstance of Mr. Heth’s letter, without any other recommendation for Mr. [Gillis] M’Bean, casts a shade of suspicion on

fi Pioneer editors sometimes exhausted their paper supplies, and they sometimes became ill. In either case their papers were legitimately late. Stout’s paper was more reliable than many others. See Donald F. Cannony, “The Pioneer Press in Indiana,” Indiana History Bulletin, XXXI (October, 1954), 191. Hendricks’ Circulars 315

the transaction and argues something behind the scene. If every thing was fair & correct-if the people of Corydon knew that Mr. Heth was about to decline, why did not at least some of the citizens sign Mr M’Bean’s nomination. The history of that affair at Washington, is as follows. Early in the session Mr. Heth forwarded a letter to the Postmaster General [Return Jonathan Meigs], in which he stated his resignation-named Mr M’Bean as his succesor [sic] in office, and proposed transferring the papers as soon as he (M’Bean) should be authorized to receive them.-This letter was by the P. M. General immediately enclosed to me, as the Representative of the people. My opinion was asked respecting the appointment of M’Bean, and a request was added that I should signify my approbation, or nominate some fit person to be appointed. On reading the letter of Mr. Heth, it struck me as a thing very probable, that the citizens of Corydon had not been notified of the resignation of Mr. Heth, or the nomination of Mr. M’Bean, or they would either have joined with Mr. Heth in recommending M’Bean, or nominated another person. Without therefore, having any hostility toward M’Bean, or preference for any particular person, I determined on waiting the arrival of some mails, before I would answer the letter aforesaid; thinking I might receive something from Corydon on the subject, and an expression of the citizens in favor of some applicant for the appointment.-By the arrival of the second mail, I received letters informing me of the resignation of Mr. Heth, and that Mr. Brandon was an applicant-that he was well recommended, and that his recommendation was before the P. Master General. I enquired if this recommendation had arrived, and was answered in the affirmative. This was enough for me. I did not ask to see it. There was no recommendation for any other person save the official one of Mr. Heth. I acquiesced in the nomination of Mr. Brandon, and so would I have done, had the nomination been in favor of Mr. M’Bean, or Mr. any body else. Of Mr. Brandon at that time I had just heard, had never seen him. He had not written to me on that or any other subject, but being acquainted with Col. Johnson,’ had written to him. I had no partiality in his favor. This thing however has answered certain gentry to noise through the state. The

7 Richard M. Johnson was a congressman from Kentucky. 316 Indiana Magazine of History

“Herald” says, that “Messrs Noble and Hendricks put in their counter application without consulting Mr. [Senator Waller] Taylor, to whom the interests and feelings of this town and county had been entrusted in this affair.” And who entrusted Mr. Taylor with the feelings of both town and county in this affair? Perhaps indeed Mr. Heth, whose recommendation ought to have outweighed all others. I strongly suspect that Mr. Taylor wm not entrusted or advised on the occasion, and if he had been, the friends of M’Bean ought not to complain, that Mr. Noble and myself did not consult Mr. T. because he did not consult 11s. Nor do I believe Mr. Taylor made any effort, to have M’Bean appointed, unrecom- mended as he was, over Mr. Brandon who was well recommended. If such was the conduct of Mr. Taylor, such would not be mine. In fine, I have no doubt, that if through my attention, the editors of the “Herald,” had been appointed printers of the laws of the Union,-any other person than an editor of the “Gazette,” appointed post master at Corydon, and one of the editors of the Herald appointed District Attorney for the state, that all would have been well-that for attentions like these, I could have commanded the talents, the labors and zeal of these editors, in the same degree they have been employed against me. Fellow-citizens, it has been my lot ever since I appeared on the political theatre, to receive the scurrilous abuses of some editors and others, who are in the habit of denouncing every officer and candidate for office, who has not been brought forward by themselves. When a candidate for your suffrages last year, though I had not announced my name or pretensions through the medium of any press, the Western Sun was good enough to notice me as altogether “undeserv- ing” of “notice;” and to employ some pleasant epithets, very usual for that paper, when noticing candidates for office, which they are not disposed to support. Notwithstanding that notice, the Western Sun has since thought proper to employ its columns for months past in noticing me-in pouring on me the most scurrilous and undeserved abuse,8 and on a sub-

This is a sample. A reader, calling himself “Justice and Truth,” referred to the “usual cunning” of Noble and Hendricks, charged them with “ignorance and sinister design,” and predicted that “all such men as Jennings, Noble and Hendricks, who take dastardly means to ingrati- ate themselves into your confidence, without either public or individual merit, shall be discarded as unworthy servants.” See Vincennes Western Sun and General Advertiser, February 15, March 1, April 12, 1817. Hendricks’ Circulars 317 ject too, which of all others oile would suppose would have been the last about which to complain, namely, a correspondence with the Acting Secretary of War [George Graham] on the subject of the claims of the militia. The recognition of the Secretary of War of the claims of the militia of Indiana, was obtained by the repeated solicitations of Mr. [Jonathan] Jennings while [a territorial] delegate in Congress. That business was fixed and determined before I arrived at Wash- ington. I wished no credit for that, nor indeed for any of my public services, other than the credit of having done my duty. In vain will the writer under the specious garb of “Justice and Truth,” or any other writer, state, that exertion on their behalf tended to promote delay in the reception of their pay. It need not be told the militiaman or the ranger, that Major Whitlock“ has been most friendly to their claims, and would but for the want of funds long ere now have paid them.- Major Whitlock himself will not say so. He will say for he has said, that many of the rangers had long ago received more from the government than they justly deserved. This he has said respecting Capt. [Frederick] Sholts’ company of rangers, who have lately received a balance of their pay, in consequence of a special order from the Paymaster General. It was pay rolls in due form and properly authenticated, which Major W. looked to, and not to the justice of their claims from having performed services. He was no military chan- cellor. Tf the militia and rangers or any of them have received their pay, I shall not regret any exertion on their behalf, notwithstanding the abuse of the Western Sun. That some and a goodly number have been paid I linow. That some have not been paid I also know, and it is a scibject to which I shall, during the next session of congress devote every attention. While any thing remains in my power on that subject, either as a public man 01’ private citizen, I will not rest till every man, who has performed military service -who have endured fatigue, and been exposed to danger, to rescue and defend our country from the tomahawk and scalping knife, be paid the uttermost farthing; and the In- diana Herald and the Western Sun, lest they should be too much engaged next summer, may begin now on this subject, and write bitterness and cursing, until the first Monday in

9 Major Ambrose Whitlock was a deputy paymaster general, United States Army, and was stationed at Fort Knox near Vincennes. 318 Iridium Magazine of History

August next.'" I also expect to write as many letters home to my friends as I did last session. On this subject also the Herald may take time by the forelock. Perhaps these papers think with Bostonian intellect; that the war was cruel, unnecessary and unjust, and that the debts contracted by the administration which declared war, ought not to be paid." If so it would evidently be improper to promote the claim of the militiamen or the ranger; but thinking differently, I will act differently. Fellow citizens; it is not rational, sentimental objection to my political acts, which has occasioned the opposition I have recently experienced. It is too much[,] say they, that this man who but yesterday came among us, without ac- quaintances, friends, wealth or patronage, should now represent the state in congress.-It is the man and not measures which have actuated my enemies; for what act of mine have they been able to find fault with?-Where except in some trivial appointments for which my clamorous enemies were applicants, do they attempt to charge me? What duty have I neglected? What done amiss? They have not been able to say. Their specifications point to their own disappointments. Their general allegations are mere lampoonings and abuses. Mark the course and channel of opposition, and the time when it commenced. As early as January last, immediately after the editors of the Herald found they were not appointed printers of the laws of the United States, and while I was at Washington attending to my duties as your representative, they commenced abusing me, for writing a letter to the acting secretary of War on behalf of the militia and rangers. On the 5th of March a caucus was advertised by these same editors, and on the 15th of the same month this caucus was held, for the special purpose as was well understood of selecting a candidate to oppose me for Congress. And here it may be remarked, that by this time it was known, at Corydon, that Mr. Brandon was appointed Post-master, Mr. M'Bean was disappointed, Mr. Heth was very angry, and some gentlemen wanted to go to Congress-these things were strengthening

1" August 3, 1818, was the date of the next congressional election in Indiana. In New England there had been strong and widespread opposition to the War of 1812. See Marshall Smelser, The Democratic Republic, 1801-1815 (New York, 1968), 291-99. Hendricks’ Circulars 319 the party there.-At this caucus however but few attended, and some of those few were opposed to the policy about to be pursued. Nothing at that time was done but to make arrangements for a future day.-This day was pitched upon. It was the 28th day of April, the first day of the court, when the citizens of Harrison [County] were expected generally to attend, and who it was presumed would be favorable to a candidate at that place. It then could have been said that the candidate thus taken up was nominated by a large and respectable meeting. But a series of disasters again took place, a writer over the signature of “Vesuvius” in the West- ern Sun of the 29th of March, mistaking the movers and the object of these caucuses, belches forth his lava on the measure, and threatens a total discomfiture of all the schemes and plans so fast maturing. The people too, very unexpectedly disapproved of the whole proceeding. The caucus was abandoned, and the man at that time intended to have been taken up, abandoned the idea of becoming a candidate. Disorder appeared in the ranks, a misunderstanding between the Sun and Herald, and this mighty caucus frustrated. The Herald however on the 10th May justifies caucus nominations, as much the “best way” of selecting on the ground of “example” and “reason.”-But behold on the 24th of May, one of its editors1-?announces himself a candidate for Congress, without following the dictates of the “best” way of “example” or “reason.” Mighty newspaper editorial exertions were used from this time to the day of election, in which every thing was resorted to, which afforded the most remote prospect of weight or influence. I was represented as vain and arro- gant, wishing “that some popular character should be brought forward to oppose me at the next congressional election, and I would shew them that opposition was useless.” This was low groveling policy indeed, but it was not without a parallel.- About the first of August Governor [Thomas] Posey became a candidate. And how was he taken up? Was it by the people, by his own wishes, or by a caucus? By the latter, it may be said without fear of contradiction, a caucus at Vincennes, at which but very few attended. The Western Sun which on former occasions shewed so much hostility to this kind of

12 Reuben W. Nelson announced his candidacy but withdrew befo~e election day. 320 Indiana Magazine of History

nomination was now silent.-Against gov. Posey I have not a word to say. His character both public and private, as far as I know, I admire-I early formed a favorable opinion of him, and that opinion I have not yet changed. Had I been brought into public view for the first time when he became a candidate for congress, I would in all probability have declined a competition, and given way to greater experience and merit. But my situation was a different one. Governor Posey was brought forward by my avowed and inveterate enemies, who have practised everything but fair dealing to injure & destroy me. He suffered himself to be taken up if report be true contrary to his wishes, and certainly contrary to his interests for he had and still has a situation much more lucrative and better suited to his age and infirmities. To have declined would have been disaster to myself & tri- umph to my enemies-would have been worse than defeat. I now stand elected your representative to Congress for two years. During that time I shall unceasingly and undeviat- ingly employ my industry and all the talents I possess to promote your political interests. My political tenets and principles I presume are congenial with the great mass of my constituents, warmly and devotedly republican. My feelings and habits are so also.-My interests are your interests-I was an adventurer to Indiana.-This name has become fa- miliar to my feelings and good wishes.-This place I view as my home. I came here without office either in possession or expectancy-had no prospects other than those of a private citizen. How long or how short soever my political life may last, I shall ever cherish a grateful remembrance of the virtu- ous and independent citizens of Indiana. To them I owe, and particularly to the citizens of Jefferson county my political existence. From the citizens of Jefferson county I received the first notice of political distinction-a seat in the Legisla- ture of the Territory, by them was re-elected, and discharged my duties in that station I believe to their general satisfac- tion, & with an ordinary degree of credit to myself. I was afterwards appointed District Attorney for the territory, and since the formation of our constitution, have twice been elected your representative in Congress. This fellow citizens is my political history. No part of the scene is shaded with antiquity. It is all of recent occurrence. It happened among you. Hendricks’ Circulars 321

The history of my life from my cradle to the present day might be easily written. Most of the materials necessary would be found in the recollection of those who have known me from childhood. This history would not be long. In it there would be no brilliant incident-no disgraceful event. And in answer to the Herald, I might say, that I have not “done” very much “for my country”-have no “distinguished talents” of which to “boast.” Have no claim to other virtues, than those of an “honest man.”-Have no “vested right to represent the people of Indiana,’’ other than what they gave me on the first Monday of last August. Yours very respectfully. WILLIAM HENDRICKS. Madison, September 16, 1817

Circular Relating to the 15th Congress, 1st Session (1817-1818)’J

Washington City, March 17, 1818. SIR- [ I] n the presidents message at the commencement of the session, you will have seen the outline of business which has since that time occupied the attention of Congress.“ More than three months of the session has elapsed, and a great mass of business yet remains to be taken up. Several questions have been agitated this winter which have worn away days and weeks in tedious debate, and which have not been productive of any practical result. Such was the soldiers commutation bill, which ought to have passed into a law; the bankrupt bill &c. &c. This commutation bill offered to the soldier, at his option, one dollar per acre, in lieu of the lands he is entitled to receive. It had for its object his benefit alone. It was negatived by a majority of two votes in the house of Representatives.

I3 This circular is reprinted from the Vincennes Testern Sxn and General Advertiser, April 25, 1818 (Archives Division, Indiana State Library). This session of Congress convened December 1, 1817, and adjourned April 20, 1818. See Fred L. Israel, ed., The State of the Union fii‘essagcs of the Presidents, 1790-1966 (3 vols., New York, 1966), I, 148-56. Hendricks was accused of plagiarizing the President’s message in his 1818 circular. See “Civis” in Vincennes Western Sun and General Advertiser, April 25, 1818, and “Heigh-Ho Circular” in ihid., June 13, 1818. 322 Indiana Magazine of History

On the list of laws which have passed during the present session, is one repealing the internal duties.’? These duties had become unnecessary, from the competency of other sources of revenue, more natural and less oppressive, to meet the current demands of the government, and furnish a sink- ing fund, more than sufficient for the redemption of the public debt, at those periods when it shall become due. A law has passed making further provision for the super- annuated and indigent officers and soldiers of the revolutionary war. It gives, under certain restrictions, to the officers of the revolution 20, and to the soldier 8 dollars per month, during life. Among the orders of the day is [a] bill extending, for a further term of five years, the half-pay pensions, allowed by law to the widows and orphans of the militia who died in the service, or of wounds & dissabilities contracted while in the service during the late war. This bill includes the widows and orphans of the rangers and those who fell in the campaign on the Wabash in November, 1811.1(j A bill authorising a balance of pay to the company of rangers commanded by apt. [James] Bigger, in March, 1814, and a bill authorizing the payment of our three per cent. road fund, are yet unacted upon by the House of Representatives.” This continually growing fund, agreeable to an exhibit of the Treasury Depart- ment, amounted on the 30th Sept. 1817, to $12,280 84 cents; which, if judiciously managed and appropriated, will be of immense advantage to the state. Various post roads will, before the rising of Congress, be established within our state; among which are the following

15 To help finance the War of 1812, Congress had levied an excise tax on saddle horses, leather goods, tobacco, snuff, paper, whiskey, and numerous other items. After President James Monroe assured Congress that revenues from tonnage, import duties, and the sale of public lands would meet the government’s expenses, these internal duties were re- pealed. See Annals of Congress, 15 Cong., 1 Sess., Appendix 2505-508 (December 23, 1817). IRHendricks refers to the Battle of Tippecanoe, which had occurred on November 7, 1811, more than six months before Congress declared war. I7 No law was passed naming Bigger’s Rangers. Perhaps Hendricks was referring to one that provided payment of forty cents per day for each horse furnished by a volunteer mounted cavalryman during the War of 1812. See Annals of Congress, 15 Cong., 1 Sess., Appendix 2563 (April 20, 1818). Congress authorized the secretary of the treasury to transfer moneys from Indiana’s three per cent fund to the state at his discretion. See Annals of Congress, 15 Cong., 1 Sess., Appendix 2537-38 (April 11, 1818). Hendricks' Circulars 323

from Fort-Harrison [Terre Haute], on a route as direct as practicable, to Brownstown; from Salem by Bono, through Lawrence county to the seat of justice of Monroe [Blooming- ton] ; and from Peola [Paoli] by Orleans, to the seat of justice of Lawrence [Bedford]; and pains have been taken, to connect the arrival and departure of the mails, so as to admit as little interruption as possible, to their steady progress through our country. Little doubt can be entertained but that commissioners will shortly be appointed and authorized, to treat for a further extinguishment of indian title within the state of Indiana; and, from information received from the best sources on that subject, as little doubt can be entertained of a successful result to such negociation.lx Few incidents of our political history ought we to hail as more important, than the organization of western States. The State of Mississippi has, during the present session, been admitted into the Union. This, and similar events, increasing the American population on the Mississippi and in those countries west of that river, will tend to a sameness of character, and a more connected union of the different and distant section of this great republic. A law will in all probability pass, authorising the people of the Illinois Territory, to form for themselves a constitution and State Government.'!' Petitions of a similar nature have also been presented from the Territory of Missouri; but no bill will be reported thereon during the present session. The cause of the Patriots of South-America, though subject to the vicissitudes of all revolutionizing colonies, is still gaining strength. By degrees, and by exertions they have learned the art of war. By the same means, some provincen [sic] have long since vanquis[h]ed the armies of the ding [king], and others are marching forward, with a firm and steady pace, to liberty and independence. The cause of the Patroits never needed the alliance of this or any other country. The phisical resources-the men and the money, of these provinces, were equal to the cause [i]n which they were engaged,

13 These negotiations culminated in the New Purchase treaties. See the introduction, 307-308. 19 The Illinois Enabling Act was passed as Hendricks predicted. See Annals of Congress, 15 Cong., 1 Sess., Appendix 2544-47 (April 18, 1818). 324 Indiana Magazine of History they only [nleeded to be taught the art of war. This[,]Their future safety, and the maintenance of their independence, when gained, could not have dispensed with that experience. In this they learnt an important lesson. They will remember the origin of their liberties, and prize them in proportion to what they cost. History has very partially unfolded the resources of those countries. The unaccredited minister of the republic of Buenos Ayres [Argentina] is now at this place. He states, that for the last seven years, no successful army of the king has had footing in his province; that since the year 1810, they have been governed by their own institutions and laws; and that in that year the single province of Buenos Ayres was more populous than was the United States in 1783.’O No favourable result has yet been had to our negociation with Spain. The Chevalier de Onis had, heretofore, declined any cession on the part of Spain, eastward of the Mississippi, unless the boundaries of [the state of] Louisiana should be taken into discussion, and the United States should cede their claims to all the territory westward of that river; and was unwilling to negotiate on the subject of spoliations on our commerce, and of the suppression of the deposite at New- Orleans, until he should have received further instructions from his sovereign. 21 Of a recent date, on the suggestion of the Spanish minister, negociations on the existing differences between the two nations have been renewed. The instructions from his sovereign, heretofore wished for, are presumed to have been received. A disposition has been evinced, by the Spanish minister, to renew the former discussion and the old pre- tentions of Spain relative to the boundaries of Louisiana. He has proposed a submission of the difference between the United States and Spain, to the mediation of one or more of the powers of Europe. The President has wisely declined such mediation; pre- ferring no doubt, the fate of negociation, & the last resort

20 Four years later the United States extended diplomatic recognition to all “Independent nations on the American continent.” See Annals of Conyre.-s, 17 Cong., 1 Sess., Appendix 2603-604 (May 4, 1822). 21 Many American cxrgws had been lost to pirates operating out of Spanish ports on the Gulf of Mexico, and Americans in the Ohio Valley had suffered damages when Spain in 1802 retracted the right to deposit goods tax free at New Orleans while they awaited export. Hendricks’ Circulars 325

of nations, to the mediation of any of the powers of Europe, particulariy that of the British government; which would wish a regulation at the mouth of the Mississippi, favourable to her own commercial and monopolizing policy. With regard to the boundaries of Louisiana, De Onis has been informed that his claims are inadmissible[,] that to dispose of the territory of a sovereign and independent State, is not within the competency of the executive government, & that the discussion on that subject will not, hereafter, be continued. From these last results of a thirteen years, negotiation and forbearance, on the part of our government towards Spain little remains to be hoped for from the justice of that nation. The policy of our government, heretofore, has been to permit the negotiation to linger, waiting the arrival of a time, when the interests of Spain should incline her to justice. This policy may still be extended: the President being authorized to take temporary possession of her contiguous territory, whenever he shall think it the interest of the United States so to do.2L With the other powers of Europe, our relations have not recently changed; and the same balance of power, which was fixed and established by the sovereigns of the continent, subsequent to the last restoration of Louis XVIII, still continues to exist.2’ The adjournment of Congress will liekly [sic] take place between the 10 and 20th of April. I expect to reach home shortly after the first of May. I am very respectfully, &c. WILLIAM HENDRICKS.

2” The third session of the Eleventh Congress-by a joint t~esolution and statutes enacted on Janua~y15 and March 3, 1811-had secretly granted the President discretionary authority to occupy Florida. These actions were not published until seven years later. See Annals of Con- gress, 15 Cong., I Sess., Appendix 2602-604 (January 15, March 3, 1811). 23 After Emperor Napoleon’s defeat at the Battle of Leipzig early in 1814, he was exiled to the island o€ Elba off the coast of Italy, and the Bourbon dynasty in the person of Louis XVIII was restored to the French throne. The next year Napoleon returned to France and regained control of the government. Defeated at the Battle of Waterloo about three months later, he was exiled to St. Helena, an island in the south Atlantic, and Louis XVIII returned to the throne. The victorious nations, meeting in the Congress of Vienna, redrew the map of Europe to restore the balance of power and established the “concert of Europe” to maintain it. 326 Indiana Magazine of History

Circular Relating to the 15th Congress, 2nd Session (1818-1819)'4

WASHINGTON CITY, February 15th, 1819. SIR, At the commencement of the present session, the House of Representatives proceeded to the list of orders of the day, and until a late period, have been engaged in legislating upon the unfinished business of last session. This unfinished business was principally a long list of individual claims against the government: most of which had their origin in the late war, while some were of equal date with the revolution. No question of great national importance presented itself for discussion, until the Committee on Military Affairs, on the subject of the Seminole war, had made their report. This report had long been looked for with anxiety, as likely to present for consideration questions of much national importance. It gave rise to a very long and animated discussion, which took into view the origin, progress, and termination, of the Seminole war, with its incidents; the seizure and military occupation of the Spanish posts of St. Mark's and Pensacola, and the fortress of the Barancas [in Florida]. Much difference of opinion existed as to the constitutionality of the military movements of General [Andrew] Jackson across the line, and the seizure and detention of the fortresses and territory of a government at profound peace with the United States. Whether the constitution of the United States be violated or not, is a question with which Spain has nothing to do; and the discussion has resulted in nothing which can, or ought to be construed, to the prejudice of our negotiations with Spain. No vote, of either censure or thanks, has passed the House of Representatives.z5 No Spanish force having appeared, competent to retain possession of these posts, and to guaranty an observance of the treaty of 1795,

24This circular is reprinted from a broadside in the William Hendricks Papers (Indiana Division, Indiana State Library). This session of Congress convened November 16, 1818, and adjourned March 3, 1819. 25 Hendricks supported a series of House resolutions to censure Jackson, but all were defeated. See Annals of Congress, 15 Cong., 2 Sess., 1136-38 (February 8, 1819). Hendricks’ Circulars 327

on the part of They still remain in possession of our troops. At an early period of the session, a Committee of the House of Representatives were appointed to inspect the books, and to examine into the proceedings of the Bank of the United States. This Committee repaired to Philadelphia for that purpose, and after a long and arduous examination and inquiry, made their report. This report is an expose of a series of improprieties on the part of the directors, not perhaps equalled in the history of any other moneyed institution. It has been referred to a Committee of the whole House, on the state of the Union, and will shortly be taken up. The Committee also reported a Bill, to correct the abuses of the directory, and to prevent them in future. This bill will have many advocates, but I think it will not pass. If it were un- constitutional to grant the charter at first, it is unconstitu- tional now to amend it. If so much evil, and so littie [sic] good, have thus far been produced by the institution, good policy would say, that the charter should be declared forfeited; that a few moneyed capitalists at Philadelphia should no longer govern the circulating medium of our country, and lay their heavy hand on any district of the community they might think proper to press. They have had less specie capital for the business they have done, than many local banks to whom they have refused credit; and have afforded no commercial facilities, except to the East India trade, in the article of specie for exportation. A proposition will be offered to repeal the charter, on the ground of its unconstitutionality, and on the ground that no rights have vested in individuals, the previous conditions required by the charter not having been performed by the stockholders. Should this fail, a proposition will be made to direct a scire facias, in conformity with the act, calling upon the Corporation to show cause why its charter should not be declared forfeited. This mammoth institution has become, in many places, very unpopular. It has not answered the ends for which it was created. It has afforded few facilities to the

2fi By the Treaty of San Lorenzo the thirty-first parallel had been established as the northern boundary of Florida, and the nations had agreed to prevent raids across the border. See Hunter Miller, ed., Treaties and Other International Acts of the United States of Ainericn (8 vols., Washington, 1931-1948), 11, 318-45. 328 Zndiana Magazine of History

operations of the Treasury. It has not equalized the currency of the country. It has enriched its directors and stock-jobbers, at the expense of others. Its depressing and monopolizing policy, in the western country, has borne, and is bearing, peculiarly hard on the agricultural interests of that A law will in all probability pass, giving a further extension of one year in favour of the purchasers of public lands. This, however, will be but a temporary relief. The root of the evil must be controlled, or removed, before we can expect prosperity, to be restored to the West. The conduct of the local banks of the western country, is not to be justified; but the branches of the United States' Bank ceasing to injure us, the disorders of the paper currency of the solvent banks, would, by the course and competition of business, be removed. I have some hopes that the Secretary of the Treasury will authorize the reception of the local bank paper in the land offices; but of this I can say nothing with certainty.28 Since I have had the honour of a seat in the national councils, I have witnessed the reception into the Union, of three western States; and bills are now in progress, authorizing the people of the Alabama, and a part of the people of the Missouri territories, to form for themselves, constitu- tions and State governments. These sections of the union will probably send forward their representatives to the next Congress."' The spirit of enterprize, in all parts of the Union, seems to be attracted by the fertility of our soil, and the alluring prospects of the western country. An extensive theatre is opening for the genius and industry of immigrants from the northern and southern States. In the course of the last year, Indian title has been extinguished to more than fifty millions

27 Hendricks was not opposed to national banking in principle but to current policies of the Second Bank of the United States. Though the bank was mismanaged, it should not be held responsible for the depression that accompanied economic readjustment following the Na- poleonic wars. 28A few weeks later Hendricks reported that Secretary of the Treasury William H. Crawford had authorized the Vincennes Land Office to accept the notes of any solvent bank in the country. Hendricks to editor, April 3, 1819, in Corydon Indiana Gazette, April 10, 1819. 22 The Alabama Enabling Act was passed as Hendricks predicted. See Annals of Congress, 15 Cong., 2 Sess., Appendix 2498-501 (March 2, 1819). Hendricks' Circulars 329 of acres of western lands; and the vigorous enterprize of the War Department is directing our arms and military operations to the vicinity of the Rocky Mountains. During the next summer, posts are intended to be established on the Missouri [River], at the Council Bluffs, the Great Bend,?" and the mouth of the Yellow Stone [River]; and the experiment of the steam boat navigation on the Missouri river, in the transportation of military stores, will shortly he made. Govern- ment is also making an establishment on the shores of the Pacific Ocean, near the mouth of the Columbia river; and a chain of posts is, no doubt, intended to connect that point, with the mouth of the Missouri. Our late treaties with the Indians for the White river and the Wabash lands, have been ratified by the Senate."' This ratification, however, did not take place till a late period of the session. The surveys of the reservations and purchase, will, no doubt, shortly be commenced, with a view of bringing those lands into market at as early a day as possible. Our negotiations with Spain, as far as communicated to Congress, are in a situation little different from what they were at the close of the last session. The diplomatic correspondencies of the two governments, during the last summer, has been little more than a recapitulation of former arguments and statements of facts, on the same subjects; with the additional field of diplomacy, furnished by [thle operations of our army in the south. There is still, however, no prospect of a war with Spain. Save St. Augustine, we have the Floridas and Amelia Island on the south; and west of the Sabine [River], to the Rio del Norte, she has no armed force. She is feebly struggling with her revolut[i]onary colonies in South America, and against a nation so feeble and degraded, magnanimity would seem to forbid an offensive war. Recent movements, however, are said to have been made in the negotiations at this place, and it is also rumored with good prospects of a favourable result.32 The congress at Aix La Chappelle have adjourned, without interfering with the affairs of Spain and her South

3OCouncil Bluffs is in present day Iowa, and the Great Rend is located about fifty miles below present day Pierre, South Dakota. 31 See footnote 17 above. 32 The Adams-Onis or Transcontinental Treaty transferring Florida to the United States and establishing a boundary from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean was concluded in 1821. 330 Indiana Magazine of History

American colonies. The allied sovereigns have contented themselves with conferences and negotiations, about the general pacification of Europe and the balance of power on the continent. They have withdrawn the army of occupation from France, leaving the destiny of that monarchy in the hands of the Bourbons, while Bonaparte is left to linger in miserable exile, on the Island of St. Helena. Since my arrival here, I have received many letters of inquiry, relative to applications for revolutionary pensions, transmitted to the war office during the last summer. Satis- factory answers to these inquiries, in most cases, I have found it impossible to obtain. The officer, however, at the head of the pensions, has assured me, that previous to the close of the session, he will get through his massy files, and give me information of all the cases from Indiana. The cases submitted by myself through the winter, have not been p!aced on these files; but have been allowed or rejected. This will account for the circumstance of some cases, which, though recently presented, have been passed; while others, forwarded six or nine mo[n]ths ago, have not been taken up. The session will close on the third of March. Permit me to subscribe myself very respectfully, WILLIAM HENDRICKS.

Circular Relating to the 16th Congress, 1st Session ( 1819-1820)33

Washington City, April loth, 1820. SIR: Since the commencement of the present Session of Congress, subjects as various in their nature, as in their extent and importance, have been brought into view. Many subjects of general national concern, have presented themselves for consideration, while the great mass of cases, belong to the class of private claims for property impressed into the service, or lost and destroyed in the service during the late war. The sufferers of this war are still asking relief. From the inglorious cantonments of the enemy at Ca~tine,~~to the

33 This circular is reprinted from a broadside in the John Armstrong Papers (Indiana Historical Society Library, Indianapolis). This session of Congress convened December 6, 1819, and adjourned May 15, 1820. 34 Castine is on Penobscot Bay in present day Maine. Hendricks' Circula,rs 331 memorable field of New-Orleans, cases have arisen, and are presenting themselves, in the form of petition for indemnity. From the Niagara frontier, where a large extent of country was laid waste-their houses and their villages pillaged and burnt by an enemy, who respected neither the fireside nor the altar; from the Chesapeake, and all parts of the coast where the enemy touched, claims are presented for the consideration of Congress. Two new States, during the present session, have been admitted into the Union. Alabama on the southern extremity, and Maine furthest to the north: the former at an earlier period of the session; the latter was attached to the Missouri Bill, from which it was not separated until the fate of the restriction of slavery in Missouri had been fixed. Then it was detached, and the bill to admit Maine into the Union, and the Missouri Bill, became laws at the same period of the session. The history of the union of these bills, have travelled with the sound of Missouri, to every part of the United States, and is known every where. The bill to authorize the people of Missouri to form, for themselves, a Constitution and State government, produced much solicitude. Its discussion was warm and animated. It was protracted beyond the length of ordinary debate; and was disagreeable in the bitterness and excitement it produced. This was the character of a debate which lasted in the House of Representatives more than a month, and nearly as long in the Senate. The restriction of slavery in Missouri was lost. The majority against it, was three votes in the House of Representatives. The military establishment of the United States, since the close of the Revolution, has been constantly varying. From the reduction of the army at the close of the Revolu- tionary war to the year 1787, the military establishment scarce made an item in the public expenditure. In that year it was deemed expedient to station a corps of seven hundred troops on the frontiers, for the protection of the inhabitants against the Indians. In '89, this establishment did not amount to six hundred. From that time to the year 1810, the numbers of the army were fluctuating, seldom exceeding 3,500 men. In 1812 war was declared, and the army, in 1815, had increased to 32,000, independent of the vast numbers of 332 Indiana Magazine of History militia, which had been called into the service at various periods during the war. In 1815, the present military peace establishment was fixed. The President was authorized to retain in the servjce, not exceeding 10,000 men. In December, of the same year, the numbers retained in service were 9413, and at the close of the last year, it was estimated to amount to 9,000 men. This army is stationed at the various fortifications on the sea-hoard, the northern frontier, with a strong detachment at the Council Bluffs, on the Missouri, in advance toward the Mandane village,‘{5and the mouth of the Yellow Stone. The navy of the United States, since the late war, has been the peculiar favourite of the nation. Previous to that war, the bravery and skill of our seamen, though signalized in the Mediterranean, had not fully developed themselves to the American people.”6 Until then, the people of the United States were opposed to an extensive or permanent establishment, and the naval armaments of former times were only intended for temporary purposes; which when effected, the vessels were sold, and the armaments reduced. Such was the fact, in pursuance of the act of 1801, when fifteen vessels, were sold for less than one half of what they had recently cost. A navy was thought to be beyond the resources of the country; and it was not supposed, that the people would incline to be taxed for its support. In 1811, the British navy consisted of 1042 vessels. Of this number in 1813, there were 164 in the American Seas; while the American naval force in actual service in 1814, amounted to no more than twenty-seven vessels. With such a disparity of force, and such an extent of coast on which it was necessary for our little navy to cruize, nothing but defeat and capture, could reasonably have been expected. But its brilliant achievements, on the ocean and the lakes, during the late war, has given a character, and created for it a national pride, which continues to foster and cherish the

3s The location of the Mandan village was about fifty miles above present day Bismarck, North Dakota. 3‘; President Thomas Jefferson had sent naval vessels into the Medi- terranean Sea to protect American commerce from the Barbary pirates of North Africa. Though there were incidents of naval heroics there between 1801 and 1805, the problem of piracy in the Mediterranean was not resolved until after the War of 1812. Hendricks’ Circulars 333 navy.37 And we are now too much inclined to naval and military preparations. We are going beyond the means of the country. The Spanish relations which had fixed the expectations and solicitudes of the nation, previous to the meeting of the present Congress, remained with the committee of foreign relations to whom they had been referred, until a late period of the session. A report was at length presented to the House by that committee, authorizing the taking possession of the Floridas and other contiguous territory claimed by Spain.Js This report was committed to a committee of the whole on the state of the Union, and would before this have been taken up, but for the recent complexion of our foreign affairs, communicated in a late message [from President James Monroe] to both houses of Congress.3!) This message proposed for the consideration of Con- gress, the propriety of waiting the arrival of the [new] minister of Spain, before strong measures should be adopted in relation to that government. This minister who has just arrived, is said to be clothed with explanations of the non- ratification of the treaty on the part of the Spanish king, and with full powers to settle all controversies between the two governments. The friendly interferences of the governments of Europe, particularly that of Russia; their wishes that no step should be taken by the American government, which would lead to a war with Spain, have, in part, dictated the measures recommended in the message. From various sources, additional assurances have been given, that during the ensuing summer, will be terminated, our very long negotiations with that government. Some resolutions have since been offered, which have drawn the House incidentally, into the discussion of the treaty and the Spanish affairs generally; but no practical result will be produced on this subject, during the present session. It is most probable the treaty will be ratified.

37 Early in the War of 1812 there were sqfctacular American naval victories in single ship battles such as the Constitution” versus the “Guerriere” and the “United States” versus the “Macedonian.” Later it was Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry’s victory in the Rattle of Lake Erie that inspired the American people. See Harry L. Coles, The War of 1812 (Chicago, 1965), 71-106, 121-29. Sq Spain still had not ratified the Adams-Onis Treaty, concluded on February 22, 1819. See footnote 31 above. 39 See James D. Richardson, ed., A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents (10 vols., Washington, 1896-1899), 11, 73-80. 334 Indiana Magazine of History

A resolution has been submitted, declaring it expedient to provide by law, a suitable outfit and salary, for such minister or ministers as the president, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, may send to any of the governments of South America, which have established, and are maintaining their independence. This resolution, if again taken up, will, in all probability pass the House of Representatives. It would be desirable, that the government of the United States, whose political tenets, the rising republics of the south are endeavoring to adopt, should be the first to acknowledge their independence. The bill to suspend forfeitures [of unpaid-for land] for another year, has become a law. It is the same in principle with the law of last session on that subject. It saves from forfeiture until the 31st of March, 1821, and protects no more than 640 acres in the hands of one person. The prompt payment bill, or the bill changing the present land system [to cash sales only], has passed the Senate, and will, in all probability become a law. The represensatives [sic] from the east and the south, have become alarmed at the extent of the present landed debt in the new States. This debt amounts, in all, to 22,000,000 dollars. Unable to arrest the progress of the bill which last year proposed the price at one dollar and fifty cents per acre, it has been the object of all from the west, to get the price as low as possible; and it is now likely to pass at one dollar and twenty-five cents. Should the tendency of this change of system be found preju- dicial to the western States, this good may, at all events, be expected to accompany it-government will be more inclined to indulge those who are at present indebted, and who are unable to pay for their lands. The necessities of the times have been fertile of expedi- ents, to supply a deficit of currency, and to restore credit to the circulating medium of the country. With this view, the House of Representatives by resolution of the last session, instructed the secretary of the treasury [William H. Crawford], among other things, to report to Congress, at an early period of the present session, such measures, as in his opinion may be expedient to procure and retain, a sufficient quantity of gold and silver coin in the United States, or to supply a circulating medium in place of specie, adapted to the exigencies of the country, and within the power of the government. The report of the secretary Hendricks’ Circulars 335

in obedience to this resolution, is against the policy of an issue of treasury notes or government paper; and his opinion is, that any attempt by the substitution of a paper currency, to arrest the evils we are suffering, would be abortive and produce the worst of consequences. For these evils, public opinion is the best, and, perhaps, the only efficient corrective. Banks unable to redeem their paper, will, as they ought, ultimately go down; while those banks which are solvent, will resume a business which they can sustain, and which will be justified by the metallic capital of the country. The encouragement of domestic manufactures [by means of a protective tariff] is a favourite measure with a great many members. For this purpose bills have been reported to the House, but have not yet been taken up. The merchants of the north, and the planters of the south, are generally opposed to this interest-and whether a majority of the present Congress will be found in its favour or not, is yet uncertain.*” The session will, probably, close about the first of May. I am, with much respect, your obedient servant, WILLIAM HENDRICKS.

Circular Relating to the 16th Congress, 2nd Session (1820-1821)41

Washington City, 28th Feb. 1821. Since the commencement of my services in the National Legislature, I have never witnessed a season of so much interest as the present. I have never seen one, in which the solicitudes of the nation, have been so much directed towards Congress-their interests so generally presented, and ardently pressed. The pecuniary embarrassments of the times, have been co-extensive with the Union. The interests and necessities of almost every section, have found their way into the Hall, and have advocates on the floor of the House of Repre- sentatives.

40 The tariff was not revised at that time. 41 This circular is reprinted from the Hamilton (Ohio) Volwteer, April 18, 1821 (Cincinnati Historical Society, Cincinnati). The editor of the Volunteer labels this circular an “Extract of a letter to the Editors of the Indiana Republican. . . .” This session of Congress convened No- vember 13, 1820, and adjourned March 3, 1821. 336 Indiana Magazine of History

The protection of our manufactures; of our shipping interests; the mercantile concerns or conditions of our country; the more national subject of our Spanish relations; and that which above all is most important to the Western Country, the subject of relief to purchasers of public lands-have all been presented to our view, & till very lately have all been unacted upon, or acted upon without effect; while the dis- tressing tendency, and the consumption of time in useless debate of the Missouri question, promised little practical good to the nation, from the present session. This question it is believed, is finally settled. Missouri is prospectively and conditionally admitted into the Union. The condition is for her Legislature to perform, which being done, on or before the fourth Monday in November next, her Senators and Representatives will be entitled to seats in the next Congre~s.~' The long agitated and deeply interesting subject of our relations with Spain has at length been put at rest. The Florida [Adams-Onis] Treaty lias been ratified by the King, with the consent and authority of the Cortes, and has again been ratified by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. Full effect thereby given to its provisions. By this treaty we gain the Floridas, on the south and on the west a district of territory in breadth seven degress [sic], or 483 miles, and extending from the western limits of the ancient Louisiana to the south sea [Pacific]. We gain the important harbour and military position of Pensacola, & the point of Florida extending to the vicinity of Cuba, from which we will be able, with more ease and certainty, to check and control the piracies in the gulph of Mexico. It will be grati- fying to the friends of philanthropy and liberty, to see the mild and salutary influence of the Republic extended beyond the summit of the Rocky Mountains, to the Columbia, on the shores of the Pacific ocean. The district of country between the Sabine and the Rio del Norte, should good policy require, will very naturally attach itself to us. Should South America succeed in her independence, of which there can at present be no reasonable doubt, our settlements and institutions bordering on the north,

42The Missouri legislature made a gesture of compliance, and Missouri's admission to the Union was proclaimed by President Monroe on August 10, 1821. Hendricks’ Circulars 337

Mexico herself cannot long remain a colony of Old Spain. She will form for herself a republican form of government, and Texas, from her position and population, will incline and attach herself to the United States. No recognition of the independence of the South Ameri- can Provinces, has yet taken place on the part of our Gov- ernment; nor has any legislative act been adopted on the subject, during the present session. A resolution, however, passed the House of Representatives, pledging the constitutional support of the House, to the President of the United States, when ever he may recognize the sovereignty and independence of any of those Provinces. The recent successes of the [South American] Patriots have terminated in a cessation of hostilities, for six months between the armies of the Republic, and the troops of the King [of Spain]. Independent governments are regularly organized, and negociations are in progress between the con- tending parties. These will in all probability, as did those between the United States and G. Britain, terminate in a treaty of amity, and a recognition on the part of Ferdinand [of Spain], of the independence of South America. The bill for the relief of the purchasers of public lands, has at length become a law.43 It is liberally adapted to the situation of the Territories, and the new States. it permits the purchasers, or legal holders of land certificates, on or before the 30th day of September 1821, to relinquish in writing to the Register of the Land Office, a part of the land held and not paid for, in payment of the residue, or part of the residue, which they may retain. All the moneys paid on the land so relinquished, shall be applied so as to complete the payment, on some one or more tract retained, where the sums are sufficient for that purpose. On tracts paid for in this way, no deduction of principal is made, but in all cases, the interest previous to the 30th of September, 1821, is remitted. It further provides, that all purchasers, who do not relinquish a sufficient quantity of land to close their accounts with the Government, shall be divided into three classes. The first class, includes persons who have paid one fourth; the second class, those who have paid one half; and the third class,

43 The space given to this matter and the quantity of details included doubtless reflect the need of Hendricks’ constituents for such legislation. 338 Indiana Magazine of History

those who have paid three fourths, of the original purchase money. The debts of the persons included in the first ciass, to be paid in eight, those of the second class, in six, and those of the third class, in four, equal annual instalments. All these payments without interest, if punctually made. The first instalment of the first class, to be paid on the 31st day of March, 1822, that of the second class, on the 31st of December next, and that of the third class, on the 30th day of September next; and on the cash payments, if completed on or before the 30th of September, 1822, a discount of thirty seven and a half cents [per cent] is allowed. All persons, in order to avail themselves of the benefits of the act must, on or before the 30th of September next, file in the Register’s Office, his relinquishment or other declara- tion, in writing, expressing his consent to whatever provision of the act, he may select, for closing his accounts with the government. The law, I think is liberal, beyond the expectations and hopes of any portion of the Western country. It is made so, to prevent future applications for relief, by making the relief now granted sufficiently extensive. With much respect, I remain your obedient servant. WILLIAM HENDRICKS.

Circular Relating to the 17th Congress, 1st Session ( 1821-1822)44

Washington City, April 16 [1822]. SIR: Few Sessions of Congress, since the commencement of the government, have taken up more business of great national importance, than the present. The ratio and apportionment of representation for the present census, occupied its early attention. The difficulties incident to this subject, the diversity of interests in various sections of the Union, and the consequent difference of opinion in relation to the number proper for the House of Representatives, to- gether with the delay occasioned by the want of returns from

44 This circular is reprinted from the Madison Indiana Republican, May 9, 1822 (Archives Division, Indiana State Library). The editor of the Indiana Republican labels this circular an “Extract of a letter from the Ha. Wm. Hendricks to the Editor. . . .” This session of Congress convened December 3, 1821, and adjourned May 8, 1822. Hendricks’ Circulars 339

some districts retarded the passage of the apportionment bill until a late period of the Session; arid the legislatures of several States, will have special Sessions during the present year, for the purpose of forming Congressional districts. The members elected under the present census, will take their seats in the next Congress,-the ratio is fixed at 40,000. The State of Indiana is entitled to three members, and the legislature have done wisely, in anticipating the number and in districting the State, thereby avoiding the necessity of an extra Session for that purpose. On the formation of the Government under the constitution of the United States, the House of Representatives consisted of 65 members. For the first census, the number was increased to 105; for the second to 141; for the third to 181, and for the presentthe fourth census, it will be organ- ised with 212; making in a little more than 40 years, an increase of more than double its original number, while the ratio of representation has risen from thirty to forty thou- sand. The population, according to the census of 1790, was 3,921,326; that of 1800, was 5,319,762; that of 1810, 7,239,902; and that of 1820, is 9,637,999. Thus in the short space of 40 years, almost tripling our population, while the nations of the old world, are in this respect on the ebb and flow, sometimes increasing, and sometimes decreasing, as plenty or famine, peace or war, happen to favor or to frown upon human life. The bill for the organization of a Territorial Government for the Floridas, although reported at an early period, did not until lately become a law. A proposition for the annexa- tion of West Florida to Alabama, was made by the Legislature of that State, and was much pressed in the Senate. The policy too of annexing East Florida to Georgia, was spoken of; but their limits are not changed, and the bill for their government, recognises the same boundaries they had in the hands of Spain. The bankrupt bill, a measure almost as important to the commercial interests of the east, as our land [relief] bill of last Session to us in the west, was strongly urged upon the House of Representatives, and seems to have been lost by the mismanagement of its friends. The merchants now, as the manufacturers heretofore, by asking too much, have got nothing. They asked to be shielded in prosperity, from those 340 Indiana Magazine of History

debts which in adversity they had become unable to pay, and that the jurisdiction created by the bill, should be put into the hands of the courts of the United States; increasing, in a great degree, the mammoth power already in the hands of the federal judiciary. Early in the session, the committee on the public lands, reported a bill, amendatory to the land relief law of last session. It authorises those who did not avail themselves of the provisions of that law, to transact their business in the land offices, on or before the 30th of September next, & places them in the same situation with those who come forward previous to the 30th of Sept. last. This bill has passed both houses, & wants only the signature of the president to become a law.42 Funds have been provided, for the payment in full of the pensioners within the state.4e This was unavoidably pro- crastinated, until the appropriation bill, containing that item of expenditure, should pass-the sums previously appropriated for that object, having been misapplied and insuffi- cient for the purpose. The whole number of persons on the revolutionary pension roll, amounted on the 7th February last to 11,932. A bill has been reported, authorizing the selection of school lands, for Clark's grant, and that part of the Vincennes donation tract, for which no selections, have yet been made.47 A bill has been reported, and has passed the Senate, for the location of a land office at Fort Wayne.4u A bill is among the orders of the day, making additional appropriations for the location of the National Road from

45 President Monroe approved the bill four days after this circular was written. See Annuls of Congress, 17 Cong., 1 Sess., Appendix 2591- 92 (April 20, 1822). 4F This was a general Revolutionary pension bill that Hendricks chose to relate to Indiana. See Annals of Congress, 17 Cong., 1 Sess., Appendix 2573-75 (February 4, 1822). 47 Both the Ordinance of 1785 and the Indiana Enabling Act had reserved section sixteen in each township for the support of public schools. The Clark land grant, which embraced Clarksville, and the Vincennes land grant had been made earlier, however, and special legislation was required to enable them to share in the federal land grants for the support of education. See Annals of Congress, 17 Cong., 1 Sess., Appendix 2618 (May 7, 1822). 48 This bill became law, but it prohibited the President from staff- ing the Fort Wayne Land Office until additional land in that region had been surveyed and thus made ready for sale. See Annals of Congress, 17 Cong., 1 Sess., Appendix 1633-34 (May 8, 1822). Hendricks' Circulars 341

Wheeling to the Mississippi, and making the seats of Govern- ment, in the states of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois,"" points on the road. No permanent location has yet been made, further west than Zanesville [Ohio], but should the appropriation be made, the work will progress the ensuing season."' Our three per cent. fund, as appears by a letter from the Secretary of the Treasury communicated to the house, amounted, on the 31st of May, 1821, to 42,629 dollars 46 cents. This statement, however, excludes from the calculation the sales of last summer, which in the Brookville district were very large, and the payments which, under the land relief law, have been made on lands purchased since the first day of December, 1816. The whole fund may now fairly be estimated at 60,000 dollars.'1 Since the close of the last war, the commerce and the revenue of the United States, have experienced much change. The nett revenue of 1815, was little less than fifty millions of dollars. In 1820, it was little more than fifteen millions. The first years of the peace were years of unexampled prosperity. The national debt which on the 30th September, 1815, was estimated at one hundred and fifty eight millions of dollars, was, on the 30th of September, 1820, reduced to ninety one millions, payments having been made in that in- terval, to the amount of sixty six millions. In the single year of 1817, the disbursements on account of the principal and interest of the public debt, amounted to more than 25 millions. This was prosperity perhaps unparallelled. But in the year 1820, the other side of the picture presented itself. In that year a loan of three millions became necessary, to defray the ordinary expenses of the Government; and to pay the interest of the debt. During the last year, the same policy was pursued; increasing, instead of diminishing the debt of 91 millions. The importations of 1815 and '16 were excessive: they far exceeded our exports-put the balance of trade largely against us, and drained the country of the precious metals. Nor indeed can we reasonably expect a very great improve-

4') The state capitals at this time were Columbus, Ohio; Indianapolis, Indiana; and Vandalia, Illinois. 50 There wzs no Cumberland Road appropriation during that session. 51 There was no appropriation from Indiana's three per cent fund at that time. 342 Indiana Magazine of History

ment of the revenue arising from the customs, while the foreign markets furnish so little demand for our exports, by which our imports must necessarily be regulated. This state of affairs will impose the necessity on Con- gress of diminishing the expenditure of the Government, and of managing its Treasury on principles of economy which the present times imperiously require. Our peace establishments were organized in the year 1815, when the revenues of the country promised means equal to the wishes of prodigality itself; and it is not wonderful, that at the close of a war, in which the Army and the Navy were identified with the affections of the people those establishments should have been made as they were. But our expenditures must be brought within our means and the administration of Mr. Monroe will terminate with increased reputation, should he go forward, as it is believed he will, in such system of economy and re- trenchment as will afford the prospect of extinguishing the National Debt in a reasonable time, and promote the solid improvement, and prosperity of the nation. The army has already been reduced to 6,000 men; and a bill is reported to fix a naval peace establishment, leaving the Navy in the opinion of its friends as effective as it now is, and reducing considerably its charge upon the For the want of National prosperity, however, we ought not to complain. The pecuniary affairs of the country, it is true, have undergone a very great change. The nation, as well as individuals, have felt that change. Neither the one nor the other are yet prepared for the present state of things. The quantity of our circulating medium has been much reduced. Public opinion has driven from circulation worthless Bank paper, and the merchants have exchanged our specie for European goods; but men have returned to their natural pursuits. Speculation is more generally abandoned, and the credit system done away; and when the embarrassments produced by former times shall have disappeared, we shall not want the quantity of circulating medium which heretofore has been necessary for us. Within the last year manufactures have flourished more than at any period previous to the last war; and the population of the Western Country has advanced with a rapidity heretofore unknown.

52This bill, limiting the size of the navy, was not enacted into law. Hendricks’ Circulars 343

During the period of my services in the National Legis- lature six states have been admitted into the Union. Since the admission of Indiana-Mississippi, Illinois, Alabama, Maine, and Missouri, have, in succession, assumed the rank of independent States. The Union has been strengthened and extended from the Bay of Fundy, to the Mexican Gulph. The Floridas have been added to the jurisdiction and the sovereignty of the United States; and our boundary enlarged beyond the Rocky mountains, to the shores of the Pacific Ocean.5s No period of our history since the close of the revolution, is better calculated to gratify the mind of the philanthropist, or to pourtray the destinies of this great republic. Nor have the principles of our republican institutions been confined to the limits of our own government. During the last year, the progress and the triumphs of their revolutionary armies, have established the independence of South America and Mexico, and the present Congress have recognized them as Governments, independent of Spahs4Buenos- Ayres [Argentina], Chili, Peru, Venezuela, and G [r]enada, the two latter of which forming the Republic of Colombia, have representative forms of Government; and, with the exception of the Brazils, where the name, but not the power of the king of Portugal still exists, there remains scarcely a vestige of monarchy in South America. In Mexico the authority of the king of Spain is put down. The people have become independent, but so far as they have settled at all their political institutions, they are yet mon- archical. The principles of the revolution, however, are not likely there to rest. They will, in all probability, adopt the forms of government which surround them, and add another to the republics of the new world. The attitude of the nations beyond the Atlantic, has not been as peaceful the last year as heretofore. Russia and the Turkish Provinces of Europe, menace the government of the Grand Seignor.s5 The borders of the Hellespont, and the fields

53 See the introduction, 305. 54 See footnote 19 above. 55 This may be a reference to the Ottoman Empire, whose Balkan and Near Eastern interests conflicted with those of Russia, and whose European provinces sought independence. 344 Indiana Magazine of History

of ancient Greece, will probably be again the theatre of war.66 The holy alliance of Sovereigns seem unable to agree among themselves. The struggle for constitutional liberty in Naples has long since been abandoned, but the political aspect of Spain promises a further advance upon the powers and the prerogatives of the crown.57 The French revolution was the beginning of a new era; and although its principles and advocates slumber for the present, the former superstitious veneration for legitimacy and the rights of kings, will probably never he restored, and the idea of representative government which it brought into view, and which is now existing in Spain, may yet change entirely the complexion of Europe. The Session will close the 8th of next month. With much respect, Your obedient servant, WILLIAM HENDRICKS.

Greece had been a part of the Ottoman Empire since the middle of the fifteenth century. Though the Greeks revolted against their Turk- ish overlords in 1821, their independence was not achieved until 1832. 57 Constitutional government took root in neither Naples nor Spain at that time.