Explore the controversial legal history of the formation of the United States Prestatehood Legal Materials is your one-stop guide to the history and development of law in the U.S. and the change from territory to statehood. Unprecedented in its coverage of territorial government, this book identifies a wide range of available resources from each state to reveal the underlying legal principles that helped form the United States. In this unique publication, a state expert compiles each chapter using his or her own style, culminating in a diverse sourcebook that is interesting as well as informative. In Prestatehood Legal Materials, you will find bibliographies, references, and discussion on a varied list of source materials, including: state codes drafted by Congress county, state, and national archives journals and digests state and federal reports, citations, surveys, and studies books, manuscripts, papers, speeches, and theses town and city records and documents Web sites to help your search for more information and more Prestatehood Legal Materials provides you with brief overviews of state histories from colonization to acceptance into the United States. In this book, you will see how foreign countries controlled the laws of these territories and how these states eventually broke away to govern themselves. The text also covers the legal issues with Native Americans, inter-state and the Mexico and Canadian borders, and the development of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of state government. This guide focuses on materials that are readily available to historians, political scientists, legal scholars, and researchers. Resources that assist in locating not-so-easily accessible materials are also covered. Special sections focus on the legal resources of colonial New York City and Washington, DC—which is still technically in its prestatehood stage. Due to the enormity of this project, the editor of Prestatehood Legal Materials created a Web page where updates, corrections, additions and more will be posted.

"[A] guide to the history and development of law in the U.S. and the change from territory to statehood"--Back cover.

Excerpt from The Laws of Indiana Territory, 1809-1816 The territorial assemblies, in size, more nearly resem bled our present committees than our Senate and House of Representatives with their fifty and one hundred mem bers respectively. In the old territorial Legislative Hall at Vincennes, recently restored, the Council table With one long side for the presiding officer and three short sides for the other members of the Council, is eloquent of the intimacy of territorial legislation. The problems of legislators vary from period to period, from year to year. In the period covered by this volume the assemblies had to set up county governments and organize these and lesser local units of government; they had to establish and reorganize courts; they had to extend a very limited governmental control and a very limited legal procedure over a sparse and widely scattered popu lation suffering from great difficulty of communication. They were concerned with the elemental physical needs of a newly occupied region: attraction Of immigration, roads, navigation of streams, ferries, gristmills, armed defense against Indians, extermination of predatory animals. Yet some advance may be noticed in these years as compared with the first ten years of territorial legislation. The assemblies were now looking forward to statehood; preparation for it, and efforts to hasten it, received much attention. The institution of a more settled civilization became the object of consideration. In the laws and memorials we see the incorporation of churches, of the Vincennes Library, the Vevay Literary Society, semina ries, provision for care of the insane, and for inspection of food such as beef, pork, and flour. I believe, also, that county records Show a quicker and more general knowl edge Oi legislation enacted than in the first decade, though there were still many instances of belated receipt of in formation by county officers. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Vols. 1-28, 30-31, 33-34 include the society's Proceedings... at its annual meeting... 1893-1923, 1926.

A supplemental textbook for middle and high school students, Hoosiers and the American Story provides intimate views of individuals and places in Indiana set within themes from American history. During the frontier days when Americans battled with and exiled native peoples from the East, Indiana was on the leading edge of America’s westward expansion. As waves of immigrants swept across the Appalachians and eastern waterways, Indiana became established as both a crossroads and as a vital part of Middle America. Indiana’s stories illuminate the history of American agriculture, wars, industrialization, ethnic conflicts, technological improvements, political battles, transportation networks, economic shifts, social welfare initiatives, and more. In so doing, they elucidate large national issues so that students can relate personally to the ideas and events that comprise American history. At the same time, the stories shed light on what it means to be a Hoosier, today and in the past.

Includes entries for maps and atlases.