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I’ve been studying the Indiana Constitutional Convention of 1851 as part of the observance of Indiana’s Bicentennial next year. One provision that was included in the 1851 Constitution was Article 13, which read:

Section 1. No negro or mulatto shall come into or settle in the State, after the adoption of this Constitution.

Section 2. All contracts made with any Negro or Mulatto coming into the State, contrary to the provisions of the foregoing section, shall be void; and any person who shall employ such Negro or Mulatto, or otherwise encourage him to remain in the State, shall be fined in any sum not less than ten dollars, nor more than five hundred dollars.

Section 3. All fines which may be collected for a violation of the provisions of this article, or of any law which ay hereafter be passed for the purpose of carrying the same into execution, shall be set apart and appropriated for the colonization of such Negroes and Mulattoes, and their descendants, as may be in the State at the adoption of this Constitution, and may be willing to emigrate.

Section 4. The General Assembly shall pass laws to carry out the provisions of this article.

This was how Indiana chose to deal with the issue of slavery, even though we were a free state. At the time, it was estimated that about 1% of the population was free blacks. The proposed Constitution was put to a popular vote as an up and down measure on the ballot, with the exception of Article 13. It was the only article that received it’s own independent referendum. Article 13 passed by a greater margin than the rest of the Constitution. Some of the counties on the Ohio River bordering Kentucky, a slave state, passed Article 13 unanimously.

The matter of drafting a constitution for Kansas was, as we shall see, a matter of considerable controversy with both free state and slave state versions being drafted. The constitution on which Kansas was admitted to the Union, was, of course, a free state document but it did not allow blacks the right to vote. It did, however, allow blacks to settle in Kansas. I was not aware of any provisions in free state constitutions prohibiting blacks from settling until you drew attention to such a provision in Indiana. Given some of my Indiana relatives' views on race in the 20th Century I'm not surprised that passed in the 19th.

Kansas Territory went west to the Continental Divide, including the Pikes Peak region. Many thought that was too big a territory for Congress to grant statehood, so the draftsmen gave up the far West, which was later incorporated in Colorado Territory.

There was considerable support for women's suffrage, but that ultimately was deemed too radical. Still, women were granted equal rights to property and children, advanced concepts for the day.