(INDIANA) Pinkney James Letter reporting on Indianas constit

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(INDIANA.) Pinkney James. Letter reporting on Indiana's constitutional convention which paved the way to statehood. Autograph Letter Signed to uncle Daniel James of New Market, MD. 2 pages, 10 x 7 1/4 inches, plus integral address leaf marked "25" in manuscript for postage; mailing folds, seal tear on address leaf. Lawrenceburg, IN, 9 July 1816

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This letter was written by Pinkney James (1794-1851), who had come with his parents in 1807 as one of the original white settlers of what became Rising Sun, Indiana. Indiana Territory had been formed in 1800, and its constitutional convention was held in Corydon, IN in preparation for statehood. The convention was concluded on 29 June 1816, with a ban on slavery included.

11 days later, James wrote: "Our convention rose a few days since, and have agreed to except the terms of Congress for receiving them in the Union on the same footing with the other states. They have given it the name of the State of Indiana. The Constitution contains eleven articles, and from what I can collect verbally I believe must be a very good one. Our law remains as it was in regard to slaves." James also discussed agriculture in his home town: "The soil looks so productive and the citizens living so much at their ease that it is a fair paradise."