Adoption of the Constitution of 1816.—The memorial embodying the formal application for the admission of Indiana to the Union on an equality with the original States was adopted on December 11, 1815. The official census of the Territory which was recommended by a Congressional resolution reported on March 31, 1812,2 and authorized by the Territorial Assembly on August 29, 1814,3 disclosed the fact that the total population of the Territory was 63,897, and the total number of white males of the age of 21 years and upwards was 12,112.4 As the mandatory provisions of the Ordinance of 1787 had been fully complied with, an Enabling Act, authorizing the inhabitants of Indiana Territory to adopt a Constitution, form a State Government and assume a name, was passed on April 19, 1816.5
It is perhaps impossible to determine with assurance why the demand for Statehood culminated in 1815. Among the circumstances which conspired to create that demand, the following may be enumerated with confidence: (1) The rapid increase in the population, and the steady growth of the material prosperity of the Territory; (2) The excessive powers exercised by the Terri
Western Sun, January 27, 1816. The vote on this resolution was 33-8. Letter from Corydon, in Western Sun of June 22, 1816.
The total population of Indiana Territory in 1800 was 4,875, of which 907 were free white males 21 years of age or over. The vote on September 11, 1804, in all counties except Wayne, which did not receive the proclamation in time to hold an election on the question of adopting a representative form of government, was 400. Owing to a lack of information as to the time and place of the election. the distance from the voting places, and the further fact that it was a busy time of the year, a full vote was not cast. In 1809, when Indiana and Illinois were separated, the population was estimated at 17,000. On May 22, 1809, the total number of votes cast for delegate to Congress in Knox, Harrison, Clark and Dearborn counties was 911. According to the official census of 1810, the population of the Territory was 24,520 of which 3,441 were free white males of the age of 21 years or over.