Talk:History of slavery in Indiana

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 History of slavery in Indiana is currently a good article nominee. An editor has indicated a willingness to review the article in accordance with the good article criteria. Further reviews are welcome from any editor who has not contributed significantly to this article, and can be added to the review page, but the decision whether or not to to list the article as a good article should be left to the first reviewer.

Date: 16:12, 6 June 2008 (UTC)
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[edit] Hoosier

Does Hoosier refer to a person who's surname is Hoosier or to Indiana natives in general (as in Hoosier)? It isn't really made clear in the text. 193.118.251.61 18:06, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

It's to refer to people from Indiana. As there was nobody in the article with the surname of Hoosier, there should be little confusion.--Bedford 19:46, 5 June 2007 (UTC)


[edit] What about jennings?

This article does not even mention Dennis Pennington or Jennings battle (anti-slavery) against Thomas Posey and his supporters (Pro-Slavery). It also says nothing about their tak over at the constitutional convention and how they stacked it against slavery, or Jennings campaign motto "No slavery in Indiana" and the he declared indiana "a free state". I will try to add that in somewhow.Cool10191 (talk) 14:42, 7 March 2008 (UTC)

I think this is overly critical of Indiana, not very fair. Indiana had to do this because of rulings in federal court.I haven't removed it though, but it should be discussed. This reads as though the whole state of Indiana was pro-slavery. Even with the true end of slavery in the state, Hoosiers were supportive of the South’s right to hold slaves, expressed by the help Indiana gave to those who sought fugitive slaves. The Indiana General Assembly passed a law in 1824 that allowed for warrants to be given to slaveholders or their agents to directly go retrieve their slaves. A traveler from New York, Dr. Samuel Bernard Judah, described Vincennes in 1829 as having many blacks, making the observation of them being “generally poorly clad…poor miserable race”.Cool10191 (talk) 15:17, 7 March 2008 (UTC)


I started this article by copying/pasting part of a paper I did in graduate school about the Southerness of Indiana. So I was interested in showing parallels.--Bedford 18:47, 7 March 2008 (UTC)

I think that is fine. I want to add info about the anit-slavery movement in Indiana, it was pretty strong. That would balance it better. I wil dig up some refences and add something in. Thanks Bedford!Cool10191 (talk) 23:23, 7 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] A Reference

Does anyone object to this reference http://www.adena.com/adena/epler/e13.htm. It sites this as it's source: Indiana, A Redemption From Slavery, by J. P. Dunn, Jr, pages 355-359. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1888

I am adding to the reference section. The page gives an interesting look at how slavery was viewed and contested in the early days of the territory. Feel free to remove it if you think it is not a good reference.Cool10191 (talk) 14:23, 13 March 2008 (UTC)

Several books by Jacob Piatt Dunn are on Google Books; check to see if the original source is on there, instead of quoting that website.--Bedford 14:49, 13 March 2008 (UTC)
It's there, I will link the book directly. I haven't based anything I've added from that site. The book looks interesting, i will try to browse it later for anything interesting to add. Thanks BedfordCool10191 (talk) 17:24, 13 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Proposed rewrite

I would like to do a fairly substantial re-write of the article. While it does contain alot of useful information I think it still has somewhat of a baised tone. Mainly that it does not give much information on the anti-slavery movement within the state or much credit to them for actually winning the slavery debate. Here are some points I would like to integrate into the artcle, it may take a me little research but I will try to do it later today:

1. I want to make it clear that the early Territory government was appointed by the federal governemtn, who at the time was dominated by southerners, (Washington, Jefferson, etc ) But as time changed and norterners came to power (Madison, Adams) that it co-incides with defeat of slavery in the state.

2. also worth mentining, in correletion with point 1, the govorner was appointed by the president until 1816, and was always pro slavery, (harrison and posey). They in turn appointed the state legislature up until 1805. In 1805 the lower house of the legislature was elected and only one of them, Davis Floyd was anti-slavery. Then in 1809 the people where allowed to elect the entire legislature and then the anti slavery won overwhelmingly. They passed laws outlawing slavery and ind. servitude. So the facts bear out that the "establishment" was pro-slavery, but when the people were permitted to elect their government it swung strongly against slavery.

3. I think it would be good to more accuratly and fully explain the early debate on slavery in the state. How Harrison tried to force it on the state with the appointed legislature in 1803. Then the springfield meeting of the anit-slavery party and how theyformed a plan to combat the slavery party. How the people went around Harrison in 1805 and overruled his attempt to get slavery. Then their ongoing battle - Jennings's went to congress to hurry statehood so they could be rid of the appointed governers. Pennington and his part took the state legislature and battled back against Harrison and by the time posey had come the legislature was running the state - Posey was so disliked becasuse of his pro-slavery positions that he was supposedly heckled out of Corydon by Pennington. Then bring this right on down the line to pennington getting the position of census enumerator and spreading anti-slavery propeganada statewide the year before the consitionial convention. Then at the convention how it was stacked with anti-slavery men. and finally their crowning truimph in the consitution: they made it unconsitional to remove the clause that banned slavery. Effectivly they prevented slavery from ever entering teh state.

4. Then i would tie in how after election Jennings was forced to stop runaway slaves by federal law after the incident with pennington and the slave stealing in 1819.

5. finally tie that into the larger nationwide slavery struggle - Indiana ultimatly aligned with the north.. ec. the rest is history

Charles Edward 16:02, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

OK! I finally got around to working on the article. I added in the points I wanted to. I would like to remove some information that was already in the article and reword things a bit. I may go ahead and do that now. Charles Edward 17:41, 10 April 2008 (UTC)
OK I did it. Also in my research I found som eof my dates where wrong i nmy above comments. The correct dates are in the article. Charles Edward 17:55, 10 April 2008 (UTC)


I thought of another point to incorporate into the artcle which i did slightly: The population was around 3,000 when all the pro-slavery stuff was going on. But about 5 years later the population had increased to near 20,000 and slavery began to be seen in a bad light in the territory. The early establishment was certainyl pro-slavery, but the larger influx of settlers during the first two decades turned the tables and swelled the anti-slavery party's ranks. Charles Edward 14:45, 11 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Harrison Spring

You might want to mention Harrison Spring in your the article.--Bedford 13:56, 11 April 2008 (UTC)

Yeah that's a good idea. Did they use slave labor there? (I would bet he did). That must be documented somewhere, i will try to research it. Congrats on your adminship! Charles Edward 14:48, 11 April 2008 (UTC)
Thanks. I would love to expand that article into something DYK worthy.--Bedford 16:21, 11 April 2008 (UTC)
I have a book somewhere that is really old about the history of harrison county. Probably in some box in the back of libarary. I bet there is some info in there on the spring. I also have a book on W H Harrison too, there must be at least a mention. I will see what I can dig up. I had looked at that article awhile ago, its interesting! Charles Edward 16:34, 11 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Citations

Please note, this is not a GA review, but it may help with future review processes.

The internet inline citations used in this article are improperly formatted and this problem may hinder a GA nomination. Internet citations require at the very least information on the title, publisher and last access date of any webpages used. If the source is a news article then the date of publication and the author are also important. This information is useful because it allows a reader to a) rapidly identify a source's origin b) ascertain the reliability of that source and c) find other copies of the source should the website that hosts it become unavaliable for any reason. It may also in some circumstances aid in determining the existance or status of potential copyright infringments. Finally, it looks much tidier, making the article appear more professional. There are various ways in which this information can be represented in the citation, listed at length at Wikipedia:Citing sources. The simplest way of doing this is in the following format:

<ref>{{cite web|(insert URL)|title=|publisher=|work=|date=|author=|accessdate=}}</ref>

As an example:

  • <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.discovery.org/a/3859|title=Avoiding a Thirty Years War|publisher=www.discovery.org|work=[[The Washington Post]]|date=2006-12-21|author=Richard W. Rahn|accessdate=2008-05-25}}</ref>

which looks like:

If any information is unknown then simply omit it, but title, publisher and last access dates are always required. I strongly recommend that all internet inline references in this article be formatted properly before this article undergoes GA review, and indeed this is something that a reviewer should insist you do before promoting your article. If you have any further questions please contact me and as mentioned above, more information on this issue can be found at Wikipedia:Citing sources. Regards--Jackyd101 (talk) 17:12, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

I have been meaning to do that. I will go through and format them all this afternoon. Charles Edward 17:17, 6 June 2008 (UTC)