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Slavery in Indiana occurred between the time of French rule during late seventeenth century and 1826, with a few traces of slavery afterward. When the United States first forcibly removed the Native Americans out of the region, slavery was accepted as a necessity to keep peace with the Indians and the French. When the Indiana Territory was established in 1800, William Henry Harrison, a former slaveholder, was appointed governor and slavery continued to be tolerated through a series of laws enacted by the appointed legislature. Opposition against slavery began to organize in Indiana around 1805, and in 1809 abolitionists took control of the territorial legislature and overturned many of the laws permitting retaining of slaves. By the time Indiana was granted statehood in 1816, the abolitionists were in firm control and slavery was banned in the constitution. In 1820, an Supreme Court of Indiana ruling in Polly v. Lasselle freed all the remaining slaves in the state. An additional Supreme Court ruling in 1821 freed indentured servant Mary Bateman Clark, helping to bring an end to indentured servitude. With the end of slavery in the state, Indiana became a border state with the southern slave states. Hoosiers like Levi Coffin came to play an important role in the Underground Railroad that helped many slaves escape from the South. Indiana remained anti-slavery and in the American Civil War remained with the Union and contributed men to the war. ==Early existence== In 1783, at the end of the American Revolution, the territory that would become Indiana was annexed to the United States. Slavery was already a present institution – the French who had controlled the area only 20 years earlier, and their allies among the Native American Population, had been practicing slavery in the region for at least one hundred and fifty years before the Americans took control. René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, first began explorations in Indiana in the late 1660s. He was accompanied by a Shawnee slave on several of his expeditions.〔Dunn (1892), p. 8〕 In 1787 Congress organized the territory under the Northwest Ordinance, which prohibited slavery by stating "that there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory". It would later be decided that anyone who purchased a slave outside of the territory could enter and reside there with their slaves. The Ordinance also allowed for preexisting French–Indian slave arrangements.〔Dunn (1892) pp.220, 224, 226.〕 Many Virginian natives living in the territory interpreted the Ordinance as allowing them to have slaves. The Ordinance stated that the Virginians "shall have their possessions and titles confirmed to them, and be protected in the enjoyment of their rights and liberties." Many decided to keep slaves. Fear of French rebellion kept the courts from acting against slavery, as did the violent actions of those who would kidnap escaped slaves. A court ruling in the Michigan Territory in 1807 stated that preexisting slavery could still exist under the Northwest Ordinance, validated Hoosier slaveholding in the opinions of the slaveholders.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「History of slavery in Indiana」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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