The Development of Modern Indiana (1865-1900)
Reconstruction Years
The
issue of reconstruction for the southern states largely
dominated the decade following the Civil War.
Reconstruction concerned the whole country and how a
nation was going to deal with a new united country.
Reconstruction referred to the plans of the national
government to help rebuild the South, and Indiana’s leaders
played an important role to form such policies.
The main issue in reconstruction was the question of
how to deal with a large population of freed Blacks and whether or not Blacks should have the right to
vote. Some
leaders thought that the freed Blacks should have the right
to vote. Still others thought that they should have the right to vote
immediately
and that the administrators of the former Confederate
Government should be punished, and even executed.
This group became known as the radical Republicans
and included such Hoosiers as Schuyler Colfax, Speaker of
the House of Representatives and George W. Julian, a staunch
abolitionist and a representative of eastern Indiana.
On
the conservative side were those who favored a gradual
change for the South and opposed the ideas of the radicals.
Daniel W. Voorhees, from Terre Haute and Senator
Thomas A. Hendricks from Indianapolis were the leading
Hoosiers in Congress who favored a less violent attitude
towards the defeated Confederacy. However, the radicals, and the radical point of view, was a
view held by a majority of representatives and their
policies went into effect.
One of their main accomplishments was the passage of
the Fifteenth Amendment.
Indiana’s General Assembly had already ratified the
Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments that gave Blacks their
freedom and rights of citizenship.
There had been great difficulty among the states in
getting the 13th Amendment passed, however the 14th
passed with little or no discussion.[1]
However, in 1869, when the 15th Amendment (that
gave Blacks the right to vote) was due for ratification,
there were many heated debates in the Indiana General
Assembly.
The Republicans controlled the legislative body, but
some Democrats were necessary in order to actually be able
to vote on the issue of the 15th Amendment.
In protest many Democrats began to resign from the
General Assembly and the process of ratification within
Indiana came to a grinding halt.
A special state election was held and all of those
members who had resigned were again reelected to their
posts. When the
amendment was again brought up for ratification, members of
the General Assembly again began to resign in protest.
However, the members that were left went ahead and
held a vote.
The General Assembly still had two-thirds of its members and
was legally able to hold the vote. The 15th Amendment was ratified with a majority
vote. Later,
when the Democrats gained control of the General Assembly
they attempted to recall the passage of the amendment but
met with no success.[2]
The
reconstruction policy that the radical Republicans of
Congress put into effect for the treatment of the defeated
southern states is looked upon today as one of the shameful
periods of our collective history—the tragic carpet bagging
days. Some of
Indiana’s representatives in Congress, like Colfax and
Oliver P. Morton, were among those radical Republicans.
Not all Republicans favored the policies enacted by
the radicals.
The outstanding Republican opponent of such policies was a
man who spent 14 years-from the age of 7 to 21-in our state
of Indiana.
That man was Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President
of the United States.
President Lincoln had already instituted a just and humane
policy for the treatment of the defeated southern states
when his assassination closed his career, and his wishes.
Andrew Johnson, the Vice-President, was a staunch supporter
of Lincoln’s policy and tried to carry it out.
He was bitterly opposed by radicals in Congress, who
finally brought impeachment proceedings to remove him from
office. The
impeachment failed and Johnson remained President, but he
was helpless to prevent the policies of the radical
Republicans from going into effect.
His vetoes of bills were simply overridden by the
radical Republicans who controlled Congress for 12 years
following the Civil War.
The
ratification of the 15th Amendment by Indiana was
not followed by an immediate change in the Indiana
Constitution.
Blacks were still excluded from voting in the state and, in
addition, free Blacks were not allowed to enter the state. During the next two decades, Blacks were gradually granted
the standing of full citizen.
The laws made to restrict Blacks within Indiana were
eventually eliminated and they were allowed to take part in
the making of contracts. In education there was to be a fair distribution of public
funds between white and colored schools.
In 1881, Blacks gained full equality in voting and
the only remaining discrimination in the Indiana
constitution at the time was the clause that prevented
Blacks from taking part in the state militia.[3]
Reconstruction Governors in Indiana
There were two governors during the period of the
Reconstruction, Conrad Baker and Thomas A. Hendricks.
Baker was lieutenant governor under Oliver P. Morton
and gained the governor’s office when Morton resigned to
become a U.S. Senator. Baker's home was in Evansville.
He ran for the office of governor against Thomas Hendricks
in the election of 1868. Humane and public oriented,
Baker was known as a good man with a high intellect.
He was especially concerned with the social welfare of his
fellow Hoosiers. He actively secured reforms in the
prisons and other state institutions. Governor Baker
was a believer in eliminating the state's debt as soon as
possible and began making arrangements for paying it off.
When he left office the state's debt was significantly
reduced. He died in 1885.
Also during Governor Baker's term in office a Hoosier was
elected Vice-President of the United States. In 1868
South Bend native, Schuyler Colfax, was on the Republican
ticket that elected General Ulysses S. Grant to the
presidency of the United States.
Governor Hendricks took office as Indiana's governor in
1873. He had served in the state legislature, in the
constitutional convention of 1850, as a United States
Senator and previously ran for office of governor twice
(both times being defeated). His first Indiana home
was in Shelbyville, but had moved to Indianapolis. In
what became known as the “Disputed Election of 1876,”
Hendricks ran for the office of Vice-President of the United
States with Samuel J. Tilden, but never won the national
election of that year.[4]
He gave 35 years to public service in this state and
finally died in the office of Vice-President in 1885.
A national depression hit the United States in the first
year of Hendricks’ term as governor.
This depression did not affect the expansion and
prosperity throughout Indiana after the Civil War; but the
industrial and commercial areas of the economy within the
state suffered.
There were conflicts between laborers and employers, often
followed by strikes.
In the coal industry around Knightstown and Brazil, rioting
was quieted only after the involvement of the state militia. At Logansport, employees of the Pennsylvania Railroad, who
had recently gone on strike, were causing severe problems
for the local sheriff, who had contacted the governor for
help.
Detachments of troops were sent to Logansport to disperse
the crowds of disgruntled workers.
There were several other incidents, but none led to any
serious violence.
James D. “Blue Jeans” Williams
Governor James D. Williams was elected to office during
the first centennial of American Independence (1876).
The 100 years from the signing of the Declaration of
Independence had been a century of progress for the state of
Indiana.
Governor Williams will long be remembered in history as the
“farmer governor of Indiana.”
He became the 17th Hoosier governor and
was the first farmer by occupation to make it to that
office.
In his early youth his parents moved from Ohio to Knox
County, Indiana, where he resided until he went to the state
capital to assume the duties as governor.
Williams’ early education was a one-room schoolhouse
and to this he added a good general knowledge of current
events. When he
was 20 years old his father died making Jim the sole support
for his family.
He soon established a good reputation within his
community and was known for his honesty, hard work and a lot
of common sense.
Williams became the wealthiest man in his Knox County
community through his excellence farming techniques.
Williams’ first taste of public service was as a justice
of the peace.
Four years later, in 1843, he was elected to the
General Assembly where he served until 1874, when he was
elected to Congress.
In his campaigns for governor he wore his usual homespun
clothing, or blue jeans.
His opponents called him “Blue Jeans” and made fun of
him, regarding him as an ignorant hick.
This was a huge mistake on his opponent’s part,
knowing that Indiana is a highly agricultural state and
Williams’ appeal to the Hoosier farmer. When the campaign ended, the election returns showed that the
old farmer from Knox County had beaten his opponent, General
Benjamin Harrison, by over 5,000 votes![5]
Williams’ administration is marked by some very important
events.
Several amendments to the state constitution were
proposed at this time and pushed forward to final adoption
in 1881. The
most important events included the holding of elections on
the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November
(instead of the former October elections), limiting of debts
by local communities and elimination of the restrictions
against Black voters. Governor Williams died November
20, 1880, and lieutenant governor Isaac Gray served out the
remaining 7 weeks of his term.
During Governor Williams' term Oliver P. Morton died and
Benjamin Harrison completed his mansion in Indianapolis.
To visit Benjamin Harrison’s Indianapolis home www.presidentbenjaminharrison.org
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