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Show 292 HISTORY OF PUBLIC LAND LAW DEVELOPMENT with claims to land. At the same time Congress provided that in the Detriot, Vincennes, and Kaskaskia land districts-then a part of Indiana Territory-section 16 in each township should be reserved for schools and a township should be preserved for a seminary of learning.13 In 1811, in one of the numerous acts "to provide for the final adjustment" of private land claims in Orleans Territory, Congress reserved from sale section 16 for schools and two townships for seminaries. The enabling act for the State of Louisiana (previously Orleans Territory), which was adopted 5 days later, consequently does not include the usual propositions or offers of land. The constitution of the new state was required to contain a provision, irrevocable without the consent of Congress, disclaiming all right or title to the waste or unappropriated lands, and declaring that the public lands "shall be and remain at the sole and entire disposition of the United States; and moreover, that each and every tract of land, sold by Congress, shall be and remain exempt from any tax. . . for the term of five years . . . ." Finally, it was provided that the lands of American citizens who were not residents of Louisiana should never be taxed higher than were those of persons living in the state and that "no taxes shall be imposed on lands the property of the United States." The enabling act did make one concession to Louisiana which it had not allowed Ohio: the 5-percent fund derived from the net proceeds of the public lands was "to be applied altogether to laying out and constructing public roads and levees within the said state as the legislature . . . may direct."19 Indiana Indiana's transition from territory to state was comparatively peaceful. In 1815 the territorial legislature, believing there were sufficient people for statehood, ordered a 18 2 Stat. 277, 283. 19 Acts of Feb. 15, 20, 1811,2 Stat. 617, 641. census which showed 63,897 white males of 21 years and over. In response to a memorial of Indiana, Congress passed an Enabling Act on April 19, 1816. Five propositions were presented to the people of Indiana, including grants of section 16 in each township which was to go to the township, not to the state, as in Ohio; salt springs and adjacent lands to the amount of 36 sections; an additional township for a seminary beyond that reserved in 1804; four sections for a capital building; and 5 percent of the net proceeds from land sales for road construction, of which three-fifths was to be spent in Indiana under the direction of the legislature. In return Indiana was required to adopt the usual irrevocable ordinance, promising that it would not tax lands for 5 years after they were sold by the United States.20 The propositions of Congress were accepted; Indiana entered the Union in 1816. Illinois The pattern of Federal state-making was well established with the admission of Indiana though there were to be numerous deviations thereafter. In most territories the majority of the population was eager for statehood but the larger property owners, fearing heavier taxes and Federal patronage appointees concerned about the prospective loss of their positions, were inclined to be dubious about its advantages. Other problems such as the boundary dispute between Michigan and Ohio kept the former from statehood for a time, and the slavery question delayed the admission of Illinois. The desire of most leaders for admission and full local government overcame any antipathy they may have had to the insistence of Federal authorities that the authorization of Congress was necessary for the calling of conventions, though 20 2 Stat. 266; 3 Stat. 289. In Ohio, Louisiana, and Indiana there were strong elements opposed to the territories moving into statehood. R. Carlyle Buley, The Old Northwest. Pioneer Period 1815-1840 (2 vols., Indianapolis, 1950), I, 58. |