Jonathan Jennings

Infobox Politician
name =Jonathan Jennings


caption =Official portrait of Jonathan Jennings by James Forbes.
width = 115
order =First
office =Governor of Indiana
term_start =Dec. 12, 1816
term_end =Dec. 1, 1822
lieutenant =Christopher Harrison (1816–1819)
Ratliff Boon (1820–1823)
predecessor =None
successor =Ratliff Boon
office1 =United States House of Representatives
term_start1 =Nov. 27, 1809
term_end1 =Dec. 11, 1816
predecessor1 =Jesse B. Thomas
successor1 =William HendricksHendricks was the first representative of the State of Indiana]
constituency1 = Indiana Territory at large
term_start2 =December 2, 1822
term_end2 =March 3, 1831
predecessor2 =William Hendricks
successor2 =John Carr
constituency2 = Indiana 1st District
birth_date= 1784
birth_place= Readington, New Jersey
death_date= July 26, 1834
death_place= Charlestown, Indiana
spouse = Ann Gilmore Hay
party = Democratic-Republican
religion= PresbyterianWoollen, p. 29]
profession = lawyer
farmer
politician
children = none

Jonathan Jennings (1784–July 26, 1834) was a Democratic-Republican governor and senator from Indiana. Born in Readington, New Jersey, he immigrated to Indiana in 1806 and became the Indiana Territory's representative to Congress. He played an active role in Indiana's early development as a leader in the abolitionist movement that overturned the early pro-slavery laws in the territory. Jennings served as president of Indiana's constitutional convention, and he and his partisans were able to instate a constitutional ban on slavery.

After Indiana was granted statehood, Jennings was elected to serve as the first Governor of Indiana. As governor, he pushed for the construction of roads and schools, and negotiated the Treaty of St. Mary's. This treaty allowed the state to purchase millions of acres of land from Native American tribes and opened central Indiana to white settlement. After his governorship, he returned to Congress, representing Indiana for six terms. Losing his reelection bid, he retired to his farm in Charlestown, Indiana, where he engaged in agricultural pursuits until his death.

Early life

Jonathan Jennings was born the son of an abolitionist Presbyterian minister in Readington, New Jersey during 1784. Around the year 1790, his family moved to Dunlap Creek in Fayette County, Pennsylvania where Jennings remained until his adulthood. Jennings attended the nearby grammar school in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, and received a basic education.

Jennings left Pennsylvania for the frontier and first arrived in Indiana Territory in 1806. He initially lived in Jeffersonville where he studied law and began a practice. That same year, he was married to Ann Gilmore Hay and the couple never had children. Jennings had difficulty earning an enough money as a lawyer, and finding there were too few clients in the young territory, he decided to seek an additional source of income. In 1807 he moved to Vincennes where he was admitted to the bar. In the same year he became clerk to the receiver of public money, and in 1809 he became assistant to the clerk of the House of Representatives of the territorial government. During 1808 he began writing articles for the "Western Sun", the newspaper of Vincennes. Vincennes was the center of the pro-slavery establishment in the territory, and Jennings was bitterly opposed to slavery. The issue was attracting widespread attention in the territory because of Governor William Henry Harrison's recent attempts to legalize the institution. Many of Jennings' articles attacked Harrison's administration and its pro-slavery sentiments.Woollen, p. 30] In 1809, Jennings left Vincennes and moved to Charlestown, which remained his home for the remainder of his life.

Congressman

Battle against slavery

"No slavery in Indiana" was Jennings' motto, and he labored for that goal.Woollen, p. 31] In 1809 he defeated William Henry Harrison's chosen candidate, Thomas Randolph, to become the Indiana Territory's representative to Congress. He campaigned across the territory, riding from settlement to settlement to give speeches against slavery, and found his greatest support among the Quakers in the eastern part of the territory. On November 27, 1809, Jennings was elected as a delegate to the 11th Congress, winning a close election, 429–405. In the United States Congress he served three consecutive terms, leaving office on December 11, 1816. When Jennings first arrived in Congress, Randolph was also there and contested the results of the election in the House of Representatives. Randolph claimed that one of the precincts did not follow the proper procedures for counting votes, and that the precinct's votes should be discarded. The result of discarding those votes would have made Randolph the winner of the election. A House committee took up the case and issued a resolution in Randolph's favor, but the motion was voted down in the full house and Jennings was permitted to take his seat. During his bid for reelection, he ran against another pro-slavery candidate, Waller Taylor. Jennings' two election campaigns were divisive; Randolph would become a strong opponent of Jennings. Taylor derided Jennings as a "pitiful coward" and even went so far as to challenge Jennings to a duel in the reelection campaign, but Jennings refused.Woollen, p. 32]

In Congress, Jennings was a outspoken opponent to slavery in all of the former Northwest Territory and a tough critic of William Henry Harrison. In 1812, Jennings used his position in Congress, to lead the movement to speed the process for Indiana to attain statehood against the wishes of incoming Territory Governor Thomas Posey. Posey, another pro-slavery governor, was appointed by the President of the United States, and would lose his position if statehood was granted. In 1811 Jennings introduced legislation to grant Indiana statehood, but the War of 1812 caused Congress to postpone debate on the measure until the conclusion of the war. In 1815 the House began debate on the measure, and again, in early 1816, Jennings submitted a bill to Congress which would authorize the territory to organize for statehood; this time the bill passed. The Enabling Act granted Indiana the right to form a government and write a constitution.

Indiana's statehood

Dennis Pennington, a leading man in the territorial legislature, was able to help get many abolitionists elected as delegates to the territory's constitutional convention. At the convention in 1816, held in Corydon, Jennings' partisans were able to elect him as president of the assembly. This allowed Jennings and his allies to have their way in the writing of the constitution. Their primary goal was to create a constitutional ban on slavery, and effectively kill any possibility that it could ever become a legal institution in the new state. It was by to the actions of Jennings and Pennington that the ban was able to be put in place.

Governor

Abolitionist victory

In the election for Indiana's first governor, there was little active campaigning. Jennings beat Thomas Posey 5,211–3,934, by touting on his anti-slavery credentials.Woollen, p. 33] Jennings served as Governor and lived in Corydon for the duration of his term. Upon his election, he strongly condemned slavery. He went further and asked the legislature to enact laws that would help slaves escape through Indiana, but he came to moderate his position and asked for a new law that would prevent the "unlawful attempts to seize and carry into bondage persons of color legally entitled to their freedom: and at the same time, as far as practical, to prevent those who rightfully owe service to the citizen of any other State of Territory, from seeking, within the limits of this State (Indiana), a refuge from the possession of their lawful masters." He claimed that such laws would help secure the freedom of many. His moderated position was against his personal feelings, but he claimed it was needed in order to "maintain harmony among the states". [Woollen, p. 34]

In 1818, Jennings began a large scale plan for internal improvements in the state. Most of the projects where directed toward the constructions of roads, canals, and other projects that were thought to enhance the commercial appeal and economic viability of the state.Goodrich, pp. 188–189] Among the projects authorized was the Indiana Canal Company, who the state granted over $1.5 million. [Dunn, pp. 384–385] The state was experiencing budget shortages because of low tax revenue, and Jennings had to pursue other means to finance the projects, mainly by issuing bonds from the state bank and the sale of public land. The overspending led to problems in the short term budget, but despite early set backs, the infrastructure improvements initiated by Jennings had the desired effects in the decades after his governorship.

Treaty of St. Mary's

In late 1818, Jennings served as a United States Commissioner to negotiate a treaty with the Native Americans in the northern and central parts of Indiana. In doing so, he acted as an agent of the U.S. President. The treaty he negotiated, known as the Treaty of St. Mary's, allowed the state to purchase millions of acres of land and opened up most of central Indiana to white settlement.Woollen, p. 37]

Jennings almost lost his governorship due of his role in the negotiation and signing of the treaty. The state constitution forbade a person to hold a position in both the state and federal government simultaneously, but Jennings had acted as a commissioner of the federal government to negotiate the treaty with the native Americans. In the Indiana House of Representatives the pro-slavery opposition party began impeachment proceedings against Jennings before he had returned from the negotiations. Jennings was "mortified" that his actions were questioned and he proceeded to burn all the documents granting him authority from the federal government.Dunn, p. 378] The Lieutenant Governor, Christopher Harrison, immediately took up the position as governor in the absence and declared that Jennings' actions where the equivalent of a resignation. When Jennings returned from the negotiations, there was still contention in the General Assembly as to who to recognize as the legitimate governor. The legislature called Jennings before them to be interrogated for his actions, but he declined to appear. The legislature then demanded copies of the documents that he received from the federal government to which he replied in a short letter which stated:

"If I were in possession of any public documents calculated to advance the public interest it would give me pleasure to furnish them and I shall at all times be prepared to afford you any information which the constitution or laws of the State may require... If the difficulty real or supposed has grown out of the circumstances of my having been connected with the negotiation at St Mary's I feel it my duty to state to the committee that I acted from an entire conviction of its propriety and an anxious desire on my part to promote the welfare and accomplish the wishes of the whole people of the State in assisting to add a large and fertile tract of country to that which we already possess"

The legislature then summoned everyone in the surrounding area who had any knowledge of the events at St Mary's, but found that no one was certain of Jennings' exact role in the commission. After a short period of wrangling in the General Assembly, they passed a resolution 15 to 13 that Jennings was the "rightful governor" and they would continue to recognize him in that position.. [Woollen, p. 38] Christopher Harrison was outraged by the decision and resigned. Harrison considered his honor tarnished and ran against Jennings in his reelection bid of 1820 but was soundly beaten, 2,008 votes to Jennings' 11,256.Woollen, p. 39]

econd term

After reelection, Jennings appointed a commission that included Harrison, to go northward into the newly acquired lands. The commission was charged to select the site of a new, permanent capitol in the center of the state. The commission ultimately chose Indianapolis on the White River. [Dunn, p. 380] Jennings instituted Indiana's first official observance of Thanksgiving in 1822 by proclaiming it to be a day of humility and prayer. [Dunn, p. 422]

The state was in a poor economic condition when Jennings left office. The Panic of 1819 had severely damaged the state's agricultural economy and cause even greater harm to the state's only two banks, both of which had folded shortly after the panic. The banks had been established by the Indiana Territorial government and continued to be backed by the state government. Their collapse marred the young state's credit.

Later years

Return to Congress

During the final year of his second three-year term term as governor, Jennings ran again for Congress and in 1822 he was elected as a Democratic-Republican to the 17th Congress. After winning the election, he resigned his position as governor and was succeeded by Lieutenant Governor Ratliff Boon. Jennings was a Jacksonian Republican in the 18th Congress, and switch his allegiance becoming an Adams Republican in the 19th and 20th Congresses. He then became an Anti-Jacksonian in the 21st Congress. Jennings was defeated in the election of 1830 by war hero John Carr. Jennings had served from December 2, 1822, to March 3, 1831. According to historian William Woollen, the loss of his position may have been linked to alcoholism that had worsened while he lived in Washington. Woollen also wrote that many of Jennings' friends thought that the stress of Washington caused him to drink more liberally. Jennings, however, continued to enjoy alcohol until his death. During his time in Congress he also twice served as Grand Master of the Indiana Grand Lodge of Freemasons.Woollen, p. 40]

Retirement

After being defeated in the 1830 congressional election, Jennings retired to his home in Charlestown where he tended his farm and engaged in agricultural pursuits. In 1832 he briefly re-entered public life as a commissioner to negotiate the Treaty of Tippecanoe with Native Americans, purchasing land in north-western Indiana. The treaty was successfully completed and another large tract of land was procured for the state.

Jennings died of a heart attack July 26, 1834 near Charlestown and was buried in the Charlestown Cemetery. [Owen, p. 248] The exact location of his burial is uncertain because he was buried without a headstone. In 1887 a petition was printed and circulated to have the state purchase a monument for his grave.

At the next session of the Indiana Legislature a vigorous effort will be made to have the Assembly pas an act appropriating a sufficient amount of money to erect a suitable monument over the grave of Jonathan Jennings, the first Governor of the State. The body now lies interred in an abandoned little graveyard at Charlestown without stone or slab to indicate the location. The mound has long since disappeared, and it is hardly probable that there is any one now living who can point out the exact spot where the bones of the first executive of one of the chief States in the Union now lie [cite web|url=http://genealogytrails.com/ind/harrison/earlysettlers.html|title=Immigrant Trails to Harrison County|author=Perrin, E. W|accessdate=2008-10-04]

The state granted the petition and a headstone was purchased by the state in 1888. Jonathan Jennings Elementary School in Charlestown and Jennings County are both named in his honor. [Goodrich, p. 563]

ee also

*History of Indiana

Footnotes

References

ources

*cite book|author= Dunn, Jacob Piatt|title=Indiana and Indianans|location=New York & Chicago|publisher=American Historical Society|year=1919

*cite book|author=Goodrich, De Witt C. & Tuttle, Charles Richard |title=An Illustrated History of the State of Indiana|year=1875|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=-1ntxcb7KJYC

*cite book|title=Mr. Jefferson's Hammer|pages=248|author=Owen, Robert|year=2007|isbn=0806138424|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press

*cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=PCbZ8rS-84gC|title=Biographical and Historical Sketches of Early Indiana|author=Woollen, William Wesley|publisher=Ayer Publishing|year=1975|isbn=0405068964

External links

* [http://www.in.gov/history/4673.htm Indiana State Historical Bureau biography of Jonathan Jennings]
*CongBio|J000097
* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=5796 Jonathan Jennings on Find-A-Grave]