Jonathan Jennings (March 27, 1784 – July 26, 1834) was an American politician who was the first elected governor of Indiana. He was elected nine times to the United States House of Representatives from Indiana's at large and 2nd congressional districts. Born in either Hunterdon County, New Jersey, or Rockbridge County, Virginia, he studied law before migrating to the Indiana Territory in 1806. Jennings initially intended to practice law, but took jobs as an assistant at the federal land office at Vincennes and assistant to the clerk of the territorial legislature to support himself and pursued interests in land speculation and politics. In 1808 Jennings moved to the eastern part of the Indiana Territory and settled near Charlestown, in Clark County. In Charleston, he soon emerged as a leading opponent of the territorial governor, William Henry Harrison. He was elected as the Indiana Territory's delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives by dividing the pro-Harrison supporters and running as an anti-Harrison candidate. By 1812, he was the leader of the anti-slavery and pro-statehood faction of the territorial government. Jennings and his political allies took control of the territorial assembly and dominated governmental affairs after the resignation of Governor Harrison in 1812. As a congressional delegate Jennings aided passage of the Enabling Act in 1816, which authorized the organization of Indiana's state government and state constitution. He was elected president of the Indiana constitutional convention, held in Corydon in June 1816, where he helped draft the state's first constitution. Jennings supported the effort to ban slavery in the state and favored a strong legislative branch of government.
In August 1816, Jennings was elected to serve as the first governor of Indiana at age 32, and re-elected for an additional term. He pressed for the construction of roads and schools, and negotiated the Treaty of St. Mary's to open up central Indiana to American settlement. His opponents attacked his participation in the treaty negotiations as unconstitutional and brought impeachment proceedings against him, a measure that was narrowly defeated by a vote of 15 to 13 after a month-long investigation and the resignation of the lieutenant governor. During his second term and following the panic of 1819, Jennings encountered financial problems, a situation exacerbated by his inability to keep up with his business interests and run the state government simultaneously. Ineligible for another term as Indiana governor under the state constitution, Jennings looked for other means of financial support. Shortly before completion of his second term as governor in 1822, Jennings was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, before retiring from public service in 1831. In Congress Jennings promoted federal spending on internal improvements.
Jennings had been a heavy drinker of alcohol for much of his life. His addiction worsened after the death of his first wife, Ann, and his development of rheumatism. His alcoholism led to defeat in his reelection campaign in 1830. In retirement his condition worsened and he was unable to work his farm. When his finances collapsed, his creditors sought to take his land holdings and Charlestown farm. To protect his friend, U.S. Senator John Tipton purchased Jennings's farm and permitted him to continue living there. After Jennings's death, his estate was sold, but it left no funds to purchase a headstone for his grave, which remained unmarked for fifty-seven years.
Historians have offered varied interpretations of Jennings's life and impact on the development of Indiana. Early state historians, Jacob Piatt Dunn Jr. and William Wesley Woollen, gave Jennings high praise and credited him with the defeat of the pro-slavery forces in Indiana and with laying the foundation of the state. More critical historians during the prohibition era, such as Logan Eseray, described Jennings as a crafty and self-promoting politician and focused on his alcoholism. Among the modern historians, Randy Mills places Jennings's importance between the two extremes, but agreed with Woolen's assessment that the state "owes him more than she can compute."Riker, p. 239
Early life Family background Jonathan Jennings, the son of Jacob and Mary Kennedy Jennings, was born in either Readington Township, Hunterdon County, New Jersey, or Rockbridge County, Virginia, on March 27, 1784.Cayton, p. 277Mills, p. 8 He was the sixth of the Jennings's eight children.Riker, p. 223Gugan and St. Clair, p. 40 His father was a doctor, Presbyterian missionary, and an ordained minister in the Dutch Reformed Church.Mills, pp. 7-8 His mother, who was well educated and practiced medicine, was the daughter of Samuel Kennedy, a Presbyterian minister at Basking Ridge, New Jersey. Mary, who may have had a medical degree, assisted her husband in his practice.Mills, p. 2 Around 1790, Jennings's father moved the family to Dunlap Creek in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, where Jennings remained until his adulthood. After his mother's death in 1792, Jennings was raised by his older sister, Sarah, and his brother, Ebenezer.Mills, p. 4 Jennings was particularly close to Ebenezer and his younger sister, Ann, and her husband, David G. Mitchell, who was a physician.Riker, pp. 223-224Mills, p. 5 Jennings was schooled at home, then attended the nearby grammar school in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, where he received a basic education. Two of his classmates, William Hendricks and William W. Wick, would later become his political allies.Woollen, p. 29 Jennings studied law in Washington, Pennsylvania.Gugin and St. Clair, p. 41 By 1806, Jennings had left Pennsylvania and moved to Steubenville, Ohio, where his brother, Obadiah, had a law office.Riker, p. 225 Jennings helped Obadiah in cases before the Ohio Supreme Court.Mills, p. 12
In 1806, Jennings headed west to Jeffersonville in the Indiana Territory, but stayed only briefly. He moved to Vincennes, the capital of the Indiana Territory, in early 1807 to open his own law practice and was admitted to the bar in April.Mills, p. 76 Jennings had difficulty earning an income as a lawyer, finding there were too few clients in the territory to keep him busy. In July 1807, Nathaniel Ewing, the federal land receiver at Vincennes and a friend from Pennsylvania, invited Jennings to take a job as assistant to John Badollet, the registrar at the federal land office in Vincennes.Mills, pp. 59-60 and 71-72 Along with Badollet, Jennings engaged in land speculation. He obtained significant land holdings and made substantial profits.Mills, pp. 38 and 76 In 1807 Jennings became an assistant to the clerk of the territorial legislature and continued to speculate on the sale of public lands.Riker, pp. 225-226
Confrontation with Harrison In August 1807, Jennings was appointed clerk of the Vincennes University board of trustees and began to be drawn into ongoing political disputes going on territory. The territorial governor, William Henry Harrison, was a member and president of the board.Riker, p. 226Mills, p. xxv and 85Harrison, who came from a well-connected political family in Virginia, had served as an officer in the Northwest Indian War and as a territorial delegate to Congress. Harrison later became a U.S. senator, ambassador, and president. See Gugin and St. Clair, pp. 18-26 As governor of the Indiana Territory, Harrison wielded considerable influence through his political appointments and veto powers.Mills, pp. 46-47 Jennings received the university appointment after General Washington Johnston resigned as clerk of the board following a dispute over Harrison's proposal to ban the French residents of Vincennes from using the university's commons. The board defeated Harrison's proposal, but Johnston resigned as its clerk and Jennings was selected as his replacement over Henry Hurst, one of Harrison's loyal supporters. Harrison was outraged and promptly resigned from the board, but later reconsidered his decision. In September 1807, Harrison was easily reelected to the board and selected as its president. In the meantime, Johnston wrote a pamphlet describing the board's proceedings, which Jennings certified without the board's knowledge or approval. Jennings further angered Harrison when he attempted to secure a clerkship in the territorial legislature. Jennings's opponent for the clerkship was the anti-slavery candidate Davis Floyd, an enemy of Harrison. After Jennings dropped out of the race, Floyd was selected for the position and became an important political ally to Jennings.Mills, p. 80–87 In April 1808, with Harrison reelected as president of the Vincennes University board, a commission was appointed to investigate Jennings's conduct.Mills, p. 87 The committee's inquiry concerned Jennings's certification of Johnston's pamphlet dealing with board proceedings without their knowledge.Riker, pp. 226-227 The incident led to Jennings's resignation in 1808 and created a considerable amount of animosity between the two that prevailed for many years.The incident is significant given that Jennings and Harrison were political opponents later in Jennings's career, but records do not exist that describe their relationship when Jennings lived in Vincennes. The board inquiry appears to be based on Jennings's certification of the pamphlet dealing with board proceedings rather than political opposition. See Riker, p. 227.
By March 1808, Jennings believed that his future in the Harrison-dominated western part of the territory was bleak. By November he had left Vincennes and moved to Jeffersonville, in Clark County, Indiana Territory, before settling in nearby Charlestown. Jennings may have believed his political future would have more success in the eastern part of the territory.Riker, p. 228Mills, pp. 88-89 Settlements in the southeast and eastern portion of the territory opposed slavery and Harrison's aristocratic manner, which were similar to Jennings's beliefs, while the western portion of the territory and Vincennes area remained proslavery.Woolen, p. 30Mills, p. 92When the Indiana Territory was organized in 1800 the people living in the territory favored slavery; however, after it was divided into the Indiana and Illinois territories in 1809 and the Illinois group was removed, the Indiana Territory's remaining proslavery element became much smaller. See Riker, pp. 288-289. Although petitions to allow slavery were received before the formation of the Indiana Territory, the issue attracted widespread attention in 1807 when Harrison and his supporters in the territorial legislature revived efforts to allow slavery in the territory.Cayton, p. 246Slavery had long existed in the region. It was practiced by the French in the Illinois Country and the area around Vincennes, the center of the pro-slavery establishment in the territory, and by the American settlers from Virginia and the upland South. Although slavery was prohibited throughout the territory, as outlined in the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, it was not enforced. William Henry Harrison, a Virginian by birth, owned and traded in slaves while serving as territorial governor, as did others who lived in the Indiana Territory. An indentured servant system with long terms of service was created to override the ordinance's statute that prohibited slavery. See Mills, pp. 54, 56. Jennings and his supporters who opposed slavery wrote writing articles appearing in the Vincennes Western Sun newspaper attacking Harrison's administration, its pro-slavery sentiments, and aristocratic policies.Mills, p. xxv