95 Facts About Jonathan Jennings

Jonathan Jennings was an American politician who was the first governor of the State of Indiana and a nine-term congressman from Indiana.

Jonathan Jennings became involved in a dispute with the territorial governor, William Henry Harrison, that soon led him to enter politics and set the tone for his early political career.

In 1808 Jonathan Jennings moved to the eastern part of the Indiana Territory and settled near Charlestown, in Clark County.

Jonathan Jennings was elected as the Indiana Territory's delegate to the US Congress by dividing the pro-Harrison supporters and running as an anti-Harrison candidate.

Jonathan Jennings was elected president of the Indiana constitutional convention, held in Corydon in June 1816, where he helped draft the state's first constitution.

Jonathan Jennings supported the effort to ban slavery in the state and favored a strong legislative branch of government.

Jonathan Jennings pressed for the construction of roads and schools, and negotiated the Treaty of St Mary's to open up central Indiana to American settlement.

Jonathan Jennings's 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.

Ineligible for another term as Indiana governor under the state constitution, Jonathan Jennings looked for other means of financial support.

Shortly before completion of his second term as governor in 1822, Jonathan Jennings was elected to the US House of Representatives, before retiring from public service in 1831.

Jonathan Jennings had been a heavy drinker of alcohol for much of his life.

Jonathan Jennings's addiction worsened after the death of his first wife, Ann, and his development of rheumatism.

Jonathan Jennings's alcoholism led to defeat in his reelection campaign in 1830.

Jonathan Jennings was the sixth of the Jennings's eight children.

Jonathan Jennings's father was a doctor, Presbyterian missionary, and an ordained minister in the Dutch Reformed Church.

Around 1790, Jonathan Jennings's father moved the family to Dunlap Creek in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, where Jonathan Jennings remained until his adulthood.

Jonathan Jennings helped Obadiah in cases before the Ohio Supreme Court.

In 1806, Jonathan Jennings headed west to Jeffersonville in the Indiana Territory, but stayed only briefly.

Jonathan Jennings 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.

Jonathan 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 Jonathan Jennings to take a job as assistant to John Badollet, the registrar at the federal land office in Vincennes.

Jonathan Jennings obtained significant land holdings and made substantial profits.

In 1807 Jonathan Jennings became an assistant to the clerk of the territorial legislature and continued to speculate on the sale of public lands.

Jonathan 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 Jonathan Jennings was selected as his replacement over Henry Hurst, one of Harrison's loyal supporters.

Jonathan Jennings further angered Harrison when he attempted to secure a clerkship in the territorial legislature.

Jonathan Jennings entered the race against Harrison's candidate, Thomas Randolph, the attorney general for the territory, and John Johnson, a Vincennes native who had the support of the antislavery group.

Jonathan Jennings spoke against what he believed to be Randolph's aristocratic tendencies, ties to Harrison's territorial government, and the issue of slavery in the territory.

Jonathan Jennings found his greatest support among the growing Quaker community in the eastern part of the territory.

On November 27,1809, Jonathan Jennings was elected as a delegate to the Eleventh Congress.

Jonathan Jennings beat Randolph, 428 votes to 402, with Johnson taking 81 votes.

Randolph immediately left for the Indiana Territory to launch a new campaign for the seat, but the House defeated the committee's recommendation by an 83 to 30 vote margin and Jonathan Jennings was permitted to take his seat.

Jonathan Jennings did not play a major role in congressional discussions, but he did make an effort to represent the interests of his constituents.

Jonathan Jennings's family moved to Clark County in Indiana Territory, and settled in Charlestown.

Jonathan Jennings first met her when he was campaigning for Congress in 1809.

Later that year Jonathan Jennings married Clarissa Barbee, who had come from Kentucky to teach at the Charlestown seminary.

Jonathan Jennings was stabbed three times, but recovered and challenged Jennings in his bid for reelection in 1810.

Jonathan Jennings focused on the slavery issue and tied Randolph to Harrison's continued attempts to legalize the institution.

Harrison suggested that Jonathan Jennings further expanded his political base by stumping among the disaffected French residents of the territory.

Jonathan Jennings presented a congressional resolution that intended to reduce Harrison's authority to make political appointments and opposed his policy of purchasing lands from the Indians.

When Harrison was up for reappointment as territorial governor in 1810, Jonathan Jennings sent a scathing letter to President James Madison that argued against his reappointment.

Privately, Jonathan Jennings lamented the battle, while his friends in the territory faulted Harrison for agitating the situation and causing the needless loss of life.

Jonathan Jennings ran for reelection to Congress in 1811 against another pro-slavery candidate, Waller Taylor.

Jonathan Jennings ran on the slavery issue again, fielding his new motto, "No slavery in Indiana".

Jonathan Jennings's supporters tied Taylor, a territorial judge, to the pro-slavery movement.

Jonathan Jennings easily won reelection, thanks to an expanding base of support that included the growing community of Harmonists.

Jonathan Jennings ran against Elijah Sparks in his 1814 reelection campaign and easily won.

In December 1815, Jonathan Jennings's introduced a petition from the territorial legislature to Congress that requested statehood for Indiana.

At the convention, held in June 1816 in the new territorial capital of Corydon, Jonathan Jennings was elected president of the assembly, which permitted him to appoint the convention's committee chairmen.

Shortly after the convention, Jonathan Jennings publicly announced his candidacy for governor.

At the state convention in June 1816, Jonathan Jennings may have informed some of the delegates that he intended to run for governor and by early July 1816 he had publicly announced his candidacy.

Jonathan Jennings won by a large majority, 5,211 votes to 3,934.

Jonathan Jennings moved to the new state capital at Corydon, where he served the duration of his term as governor.

Jonathan Jennings's agenda called for establishing court proceedings to secure justice, organizing a state-funded educational systems, creating a state banking system, preventing unlawful seizure and enslavement of free blacks, organizing a state library, and planning internal improvements.

Jonathan Jennings's efforts had limited success, due, in part, to the state's limited financial resources and Jennings's limited powers as governor.

Jonathan Jennings strongly condemned slavery in his inauguration speech and as governor, he refined his stance on the institution.

In 1818, Jonathan Jennings began promoting a large-scale plan for internal improvements in the state.

The state experienced budget shortages because of low tax revenues, which forced Jonathan Jennings to pursue other means of financing the projects.

The state's spending and borrowing led to short-term budget problems, but despite early setbacks, the infrastructure improvements initiated by Jonathan Jennings attracted new settlers to the state.

When state expenditures exceeded its revenues, Jonathan Jennings preferred to secure the state's debts with bank loans to cover the shortfall rather than issuing treasury notes.

Jonathan Jennings was criticized for not monitoring the state's banks more carefully and investigating bank officials for potential wrongdoing.

In late 1818, Jonathan Jennings was appointed as a federal commissioner, along with Lewis Cass and Benjamin Parke, to negotiate a treaty with the Native Americans, who lived in the northern and central parts of Indiana.

Lieutenant Governor Christopher Harrison claimed that Jonathan Jennings had "abandoned" his elected office and took over as the state's acting governor in Jonathan Jennings's absence.

When Jonathan Jennings learned of the situation, he was "mortified" that his actions were being questioned and burned the documents he received from the federal government that related to his assignment.

The House votes opposing Jonathan Jennings came largely from the state's western counties.

Jonathan Jennings won the election by a large majority, 11,256 votes to Harrison's 2,008.

In 1822 Jonathan Jennings solicited a $1,000 personal loan from the Harmonists in a letter to his political ally, George Rapp, but his request was denied.

Jonathan Jennings was able to secure personal loans from friends by granting mortgages on his land.

Jonathan Jennings depended on income from political office to pay his expenses.

Jonathan Jennings's farm was not likely to provide sufficient financial support.

In September 1822, shortly before his second term as governor expired, Jonathan Jennings became a candidate for Congress after William Hendricks resigned his seat to run for Indiana governor.

Jonathan Jennings became a Democratic-Republican to the 17th Congress and Lieutenant Governor Ratliff Boon succeeded him as governor.

Jonathan Jennings won reelection to Congress and represented Indiana's Second District until in 1830.

Jonathan Jennings became a Jacksonian Republican in the 18th Congress, but switched his allegiance, becoming an Adams Republican in the 19th and 20th Congresses, and then aligned with the Anti-Jacksonians in the 21st Congress.

Jonathan Jennings continued to promote internal infrastructure improvements throughout his term in Congress.

Jonathan Jennings introduced legislation to build more forts in the northwest, to grant federal funding for improvement projects in Indiana and Ohio, and led the debate in support of using federal funds to build the nations longest canal, Wabash and Erie Canal, through Indiana.

Jonathan Jennings introduced a legislative amendment that made a provision to locate and survey the National Road to the west, toward the Mississippi River, so the people living in Indiana and Illinois would have some assurance that the road's large federal appropriation would benefit them directly.

Jonathan Jennings helped secure appropriation of funds to survey the Wabash River and make it more accessible to year-round steamboat travel.

Jonathan Jennings won reelection to Congress in a close race, beating Jeremiah Sullivan of Madison.

Jonathan Jennings favored Adams, and later, Clay; however, when the contested presidential election passed to the House in 1825, Jonathan Jennings voted with the majority and gave his political support to Jackson, but he was defeated in the House and Adams became president.

Jonathan Jennings, seeking to advance his political career, ran for the Senate twice, but was defeated in both attempts.

Jonathan Jennings's wife died in 1826 after a protected illness; the couple had no children.

Jonathan Jennings was deeply saddened by her loss and began to drink liquor more heavily.

Jonathan Jennings won reelection in 1828, soundly defeating his opponent, Indiana's lieutenant governor, John H Thompson.

Jonathan Jennings did not publicly favor a presidential candidate and won the Second District seat with support from voters who favored Jackson and Adams.

Jonathan Jennings's friends, led by Senator John Tipton, took note of his situation and took action to block Jonathan Jennings's reelection bid when his drinking became a political liability.

Jonathan Jennings was twice-elected Grand Master of the Indiana Grand Lodge of Freemasons, serving in 1824 and 1825.

Jonathan Jennings retired with his wife, Clarissa, to his home in Charlestown.

Jonathan Jennings attended the negotiations of the Treaty of Tippecanoe, but the delegation failed in their attempt.

Jonathan Jennings continued drinking alcohol, spending considerable time at a local tavern, and was frequently discovered sleeping in streets or in roadside ditches.

Tipton allowed Jonathan Jennings to remain on his mortgaged farm for the remainder of Jonathan Jennings's life and encouraged Lanier to grant the same permission.

Jonathan Jennings died of a heart attack, most likely brought on by another bout with jaundice, on July 26,1834, at his farm near Charlestown.

Jonathan Jennings was buried after a brief ceremony in an unmarked grave.

Jonathan Jennings's estate lacked the funds to purchase a headstone.

Jonathan Jennings argues that Jennings was a successful campaigner, but an "indifferent" statesman and governor who was "not very good at laying out an agenda and achieving its implementation".