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In 1850 Indiana was the second highest state of the Northwest Territory to have settlements, greater than or equal to 199 acres, with at least one male landowner that was from an African decent

This doesn’t include people who had successful businesses in urban area such s black smiths and people who didn’t want their settlement to be documented because of anti-immigration laws, fugitive laws and unjust tax policies.

Tens of thousands African American pioneers migrated to the “great west”, most of them chose to not come to cities but rather some of the wildest edges of the frontier. Many of their accomplishments were lost so historians assumed that they weren‘t successful.

It was counted over 63,000 African Americans living in the Northwest territory states.

William Loyd Garrison recalled on his time in the Northwest Territory that “people of every clime and race standing side by side, grouped together in one common locality… and continually interchanging the kindnesses and courtesies of civilized life!” and realized that in some parts of the Northwest Territory this wasn’t an idea, it was a reality

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This text explains how during the early 1800s the Great West, which included Indiana, was the foremost leader of equality in America.  While not directly relating to the central question, this text provides the necessary contested  needed in order to properly show why taking people’s voting rights away was such a big deal besides the obvious reason that people’s right are being taken away.

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Northwest Ordinance of 1787 opened up territories for purchase by citizens: promised no slavery and voting rights to any man who owned land

Freed slaves often went to rural areas as well as cities

In Randolph County, Indiana the Union Literary Institute was created, a boarding school for all people white, black, boys, girls. The school even had an African-American president

In 1792 a large percentage of states had equal voting rights among men

Some politicians began to describe prejudice laws as nonsensical and based on differences in hair follicles

At any point you could decide to exclude any group of people from citizenship

Deciding who is and isn’t an ‘American

“there has never been a time in this nation when there hasn’t been a very loud voice from both African-American and whites saying no, slavery is tyranny.”

Polly Strong who was enslaved in Indiana had to sue the man who was threatening and enslaving her, to overcame slavery in a supposedly free state

In 1840 the largest mill owner in Indiana, in Warwick County who was an African American, was driven out of the area at gunpoint, despite the services he was doing in the area, which caused the area economy to crash

Duke to the amount of violence caused by the argument of slavery, a gag rule was placed in the federal government saying that they cannot talk about slavery

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This is another text that gives context too the central question. This text shows how polarizing the topic of slavery and equality was along with how common racism was even in the northern states. This text shows a different side to the north than what was presented in the previous text. Where the previous text talks about the great west as this relative egalitarian society, this text bring to light the racism and violence that both black people and abolitionists faced.

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Marion County

Marion County, there was one documented settlement of African Americans that was located in Bridgeport, Wayne Township

Marion County offered economic opportunity over the decades and African Americans arrived seeking employment and community. From pre-statehood through 1870, Indianapolis lead the state in African American population

In the 1850s two percent of Marion County’s population was black

Most of the 835 African Americans (708) lived in Center Township. The remainder of the population was distributed in every township except Lawrence and Pike.

Hamilton County

In Hamilton County the only significant settlement was called the Roberts settlement

In the 1870s the settlement peaked with around 300 residents, however by the 1900s much of Indiana shifted towards jobs in towns and cities and many of the residents of the Roberts settlement left by 1920

The settlement was farm based and they occupied and farmed around 2,000 acres

The reason why the chose Hamilton county iOS because of the large Quaker population

Scott County

In Scott County there were no African American settlements documented, however  there were small numbers of African Americans living there.

There were six enslaved people in the county from the years 1820-1900and  the numbers of African American people who weren’t enslaved was a very low number, and decreased overall from 15 in 1830 to one in 1900

These numbers may not be entirely accurate because the census data all depended on whether citizens wanted to report their data.

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This collection of texts is another one that peers in to the lives of free African Americans during the 1800s. This provides us with even more context on the lives of African American before their right to vote was taken away, however this isn’t as strong as evidence than the other two texts.

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Settlements

Popular understanding of Indiana black history focuses on post-Civil War African-American migration to cities in the north, such as Evansville, Fort Wayne, Gary, Indianapolis and South Bend. This generalized thinking situates Indiana's African-Americans as part of a national story, but fails to reveal the stories of free blacks and formerly enslaved people who settled the state much earlier. These untold stories have the potential to evoke pride and add a level of complexity to our understanding of black heritage and Hoosier history. With a mounting interest in history related to Indiana's Bicentennial, now is an opportune time to uncover and share untold parts of Indiana's history.

Despite a rich history, little is known about the African-American experience from the state's founding to the Civil War era. With the exception of a handful of monographs, graduate papers and journal articles, few publications have been written that focus on this history. Over the past 30 years, various research projects related to early black settlements have been completed by independent researchers, college professors and students, IHS, Indiana Humanities, Ball State University, Conner Prairie and Indiana Landmarks.

A planning grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. allowed IHS to convene interested organizations to guide a team of researchers to gather available research on early black settlements. These organizations include Southern Indiana Minority Enterprise Initiative, Indiana Landmarks, Indiana Historical Bureau, Indiana Tourism, Indiana Humanities, Indiana State Library, Indiana State Archives and the Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites.

"A Treasure Hunt: Black Rural Settlements in Indiana by 1870"
From the Winter 2015 issue of Traces.
Research Early Black Settlements by County

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Early Black Settlements - Indiana Historical Society

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Settlements Popular understanding of Indiana black history focuses on post-Civil War African-American migration to cities in the north, such as Evansville, Fort Wayne, Gary, Indianapolis and South Bend. This generalized thinking situates Indiana's African-Americans as part of a national story, but fails to reveal the stories of free blacks and formerly enslaved people who settled ...

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Article eight and article 11 section 7 talks about not allowing slavery

Article 6 says that white men over 21 can vote but does not explicitly exiled anyone

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This text gives more context to the central question by showing that technically black Americans could vote. In a paper I would use this source in order to prove that at one point in during the 1800s black American had the right to vote.

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The Indiana Supreme Court and the Indiana Historical Bureau are collaborating on a major project to gather in one place copies of original documents and research materials relating to Indiana's constitutional history. View the collection and the original Indiana Constitution of 1816

On June 10, 1816, the constitutional delegates assembled at Corydon. As a group they were men of high quality. Of the forty-three elected twenty-six had southern antecedents but they had come from the democratic backcountry rather than the plantation tidewater. Eleven were from northern states and six were foreign-born. Jonathan Jennings was chosen as president and William Hendricks as secretary of the convention. By a vote of 33 to 8 they asserted that it was expedient to form a constitution. In preparing Indiana's fundamental law they borrowed heavily from existing state constitutions especially those of Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky. They produced a strongly democratic document for that period which served Indiana well for thirty-five years. Slavery was forbidden and an advanced concept of state responsibility for public education was incorporated. The amending process was to prove cumbersome. The new constitution went into effect without submission to the people. ³³

³³ Manuscript Constitution, Indiana State Library; Kettleborough (ed.), Constitution Making in Indiana, I, 83-125; Barnhart and Carmony, Indiana, I, 151-160; Dunn, Indiana, I, 295-313.

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The Indiana Supreme Court and the Indiana Historical Bureau are collaborating on a major project to gather in one place copies of original documents and research materials relating to Indiana's constitutional history. View the collection and the original Indiana Constitution of 1816 On June 10, 1816, the constitutional delegates assembled at Corydon.

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Article 2, section 2 states that all white male citizens can vote

Article 2 section 5 stays that no black person or mulatto has the right of suffrage

Article 13 section 1 says that no black person or mulatto shall come into or settle in the state

Article 13 section 2 says that contracts made with black people shall be void

Article 13 was later shot down in the Indiana Supreme Court

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This is the first text that  shows that black people got their voting rights taken away. Compare this to the constitution of 1816 this one more throughly outlines who can and can’t vote and takes the rights away from more people, however, it does not explain why this happened. This relates to the central question by showing that some American voting rights are being taken away.

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Constitution of 1851 as originally written

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The text is taken from Constitution Making in Indiana, Vol. I, which is a source book of constitutional documents with historical introduction and critical notes, by Charles Kettleborough, Ph. D., published in 1916 and reprinted by the Indiana Historical Bureau in Indianapolis in 1971.

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Dred Scott, an illiterate Missouri slave, was taken by his master to the free state of Illinois and then to a portion of Wisconsin Territory

Since it lay north of the line of 36° 30' established by the Missouri Compromise of 1820  these area where considered free territories and states

So he sued for his freedom on the group that he was living on free lands, which was eventually sent up to the Supreme Court, headed by the  pro-southern Chief justice Roger Taney

The court does not rule in his favor because they basically say that the right to own slaves is in the Constitution and that slaves are their masters property and that property stays property no matter where they go

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This is really the first text the tells me why black peoples rights are being taken away that not just racism. By saying that all salves remain salves no matter where they live, not only makes things such as the fugitive slave act legal, it also allows for places like Indiana to restrict voting right and the rights of black people since the majority of black people living here were fugitive slaves and according to the Supreme Court the property of their master.

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This was during a debate between Lincoln and Stephan Douglas

He says that he does not believe that back people and white peoples should live on equal footing

He does not believe that he has the legal right to put on end to southern slavery and he does not want to interfere

However he does say that, “there is no reason in tpe world why the Negro is not entitled to all the natural  rights enumerated in the Declaration of Independence, the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. “

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This text provides more on an insight to what the more moderate northerners thought about black people. This tells me that although they were against slavery, they did not believe that black people were on the same level as them. The fact that this is coming from Ab Lincoln, who was considered the face of the north during the time by the modern day, shows that the was more than likely the opinion of the majority of the northerners. This text relates back to the central question by showing that people supporting taking rights away from free black people and that could be a possible reason why their right to vote got taken away.

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This speech takes place during the same debate mentioned previously. During his speech Douglas goes onto explain that he believes that black people adn who it’s people are not equals and that America is “made by white men for the benefit of white men and their posterity for ever” and all of these statements were met with a positive reception by the crowd.

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This viewpoint is obviously a bit more extreme than Lincoln’s, however the crowd reactions show that this is the opinion of many people fo the area and time. This text relates back to the central question by showing that people supporting taking rights away from free black people and that could be a possible reason why their right to vote got taken away.

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During the 1800s many free black men were given many rights in the great west relation which includes the states of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin.  So much so in fact famous abolitionist William Loyd Garrison spoke about he area he said that “people of every clime and race standing side by side, grouped together in one common locality… and continually interchanging the kindnesses and courtesies of civilized life!” However, this all change as the decades passed on and these next few texts shows us how and why these rights got taken away.

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The cause behind why free black men got their right to vote take away can be boiled down to one thing, racism. The people that lived in this area did not believe that black people and white peoples could live in harmony. This lead to the right to vote being taken away and even some places trying to completely ban all black people form living in the state at all.