Howard G Hendricks William D Hendricks C Popular Books

Howard G Hendricks William D Hendricks C Biography & Facts

William Hendricks (November 12, 1782 – May 16, 1850) was a Democratic-Republican member of the House of Representatives from 1816 to 1822, the third governor of Indiana from 1822 to 1825, and an Anti-Jacksonian member of the U.S. Senate from 1825 to 1837. He led much of his family into politics and founded one of the largest political families in Indiana. He was the uncle of Thomas Andrews Hendricks, who was also Governor of Indiana and Vice President of the United States. Hendricks County was named in his honor. His term as governor was spent repairing the state's finances to later enable large scale internal improvements. The establishment of the basic framework of the state's public school system and the transfer of the capital from Corydon to Indianapolis also occurred during his term. Early life Family and background Hendricks was born in Ligonier Valley, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania on November 12, 1782, the son of Abraham and Ann Jamison Hendricks. His father was a prominent man in the community and a state legislator. He was the brother of Thomas Hendricks and John Hendricks, the uncle of Vice President Thomas Andrews Hendricks, and the father of William Hendricks Jr. He attended a common school in Ligonier Valley where he was a classmate of Jonathan Jennings and William W. Wick, who later became his close political allies. After completion of the lower grades Hendricks attended Jefferson College (now Washington & Jefferson College) until 1810. After completing college he moved west to Ohio where his older brother Obadiah operated a law practice, and briefly lived in his home. He studied law with him a short time and was admitted to the bar. From 1810 to 1812 he made a living as a school teacher while he studied law in Cincinnati and lived in the home of his sister, Ann. He remained there until he was admitted to the bar. Move to Indiana Territory After 1813 he moved to Madison in the Indiana Territory. Madison remained his home for the rest of his life. During his early days in there, he set up a printing press he brought with him from Cincinnati, and became the proprietor of the Western Eagle, the second newspaper to be printed in the territory. His paper and the positions he supported helped him to quickly gain popularity in the local community. The anti-slavery eastern part of the territory was at that time locked in a struggle with the pro-slavery western party for control of the territorial government. The Western Eagle combated the pro-slavery Vincennes Sun, and garnered considerable support from the eastern settlers. He later used his printing press to print the first codification of Indiana state laws during his term as governor. Hendricks married Ann Parker Paul of Hardin County, Kentucky. She was the daughter of Colonel John Paul, who was the founder of Madison. The couple had nine children. William Hendricks Jr became a state legislator. Two sons were killed during the American Civil War and two other children died in infancy. Ann outlived her husband by some thirty-seven years, and died at Madison on September 12, 1887. Public office Territorial legislator In February 1813 Hendricks was elected clerk of the territorial legislature in Vincennes. In May the capital was moved to Corydon following the outbreak of the War of 1812 and the reorganization of the territory. The legislature, which was then dominated by the anti-slavery and pro-statehood faction, appointed Hendricks as printer and charged with publishing the assembly's records. The following year he was elected as a representative of Jefferson County, of which Madison was the county seat. In the legislature he fell into party with speaker Dennis Pennington and the anti-slavery faction. In 1814 Hendricks was chosen to succeed Pennington and became speaker of the legislative assembly. The same year he opened his own law practice and stopped printing his newspaper for lack of time for the enterprise. He received several lucrative positions from the territorial government, including being appointed prosecutor of several eastern counties. He was also appointed by President James Madison as U.S. Attorney for the entire territory. In 1816 he attended the state Constitutional Convention held in Corydon as an unofficial delegate. Although only two years since he entered the territory, he had become so well known and popularized that he served as the convention's secretary. He was again in party with Jonathan Jennings, Dennis Pennington, and others seeking to institute a constitutional ban on slavery. His actions at the convention further strengthened his reputation for business aptitude and political skills. Congressman Jennings was elected Governor of Indiana in the first election leaving his congressional seat vacant. That same year Hendricks was elected as the only Indiana representative, defeating former territorial governor Thomas Posey. His election occurred shortly before Indiana's statehood had been approved by Congress and there was a brief debate about the legality of seating him when he arrived in Washington D.C., but the situation was resolved in his favor. He served in the 14th Congress, succeeding Jennings. Hendricks was reelected three times, serving from December 11, 1816, until the 17th Congress when he resigned July 25, 1822. In Congress he was a member of the Select Committee on Roads and Canals. He supported legislation to fund the construction of the National Road, which would connect Indiana with the eastern states. He also supported several measures to fund other minor road and canal projects, but was unsuccessful. He was a proponent of rapidly granting statehood to the western states, and delivered several speeches urging the statehood of Illinois and Missouri. In his final reelection bid, he won by a margin of ten to one, and was recognized as one of the most popular political figures in the state. Governor In 1822 Hendricks ran unopposed for the position of Governor of Indiana and succeeded Jonathan Jennings; Jennings in turn succeeded Hendricks in his congressional seat. Hendricks won 100% of the 18,340 votes, the only governor in Indiana history to win by that margin. He assumed the office on December 5, 1822. While governor he occupied the Governor's Headquarters in Corydon, which he purchased from Davis Floyd. He served as governor from 1822 until 1825. He was the last governor to serve while the capital remained in Corydon. When he came to office, the state was still in a poor financial condition because the state's bank failures caused by the Panic of 1819 and the ensuing collapse of the modest internal improvement programs. The state's bonds had been depreciated in 1821 and severely hurt the state's credit and ability to borrow funds. The state budget was still in deficit, and the state's sparse population was producing very little revenue. The situation was resolved by selling public land to raise money to pay off a significant portion of the outs.... Discover the Howard G Hendricks William D Hendricks C popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Howard G Hendricks William D Hendricks C books.