| 144 | HISTORY |
protect the commissioners. Treaties were concluded with the Pottawattamies, Piankeshaws, Sioux, Mahas, Kickapoos, Sacs and Foxes, Osages, Iowas and Zanzans. Several other treaties were made with various western tribes during the year 1816 and general peace was established throughout the West.
From this time forward thousands of settlers sought hoes in the western Territories. Indiana had by this time acquired a popularion which entitled it to admission into the Union and was made a State on the 19th of April, 1816; Jonathan Jennings became its first Governor. On the 3d of December, 1818, Illinois also became a State. Michigan Territory had not, up to this time, attracted much immigration. The few settlers about Detroit and along the Raisin River had suffered greatly from the British and their savage Indian allies and many had abandoned their homes. The tide of immigration kept farther south, seeking homes in the rich lands of Indiana, Illinois and Missouri up to 1820. Iowa had not yet been named but was embraced in the great indefinite Northwest Territory and was occupied by Indians, as well as the traders, miners and trappers who had permission of the natives to come among them.
The first steamboat that ascended the Mississippi to the limits of Iowa, reached St. Louis on the 2d day of August, 1817. It was most appropriately named General Pike, in honor of the young commander of the first American expedition ever sent to explore the upper Mississippi Valley. It was commanded by Captain Jacob Reed.
In 1818 Missouri Territory made application for admission to the Union. When the bill was introduced in Congress for her admission, Mr. Talmadge, of New York, offered the following proviso:
“Provided that the further introduction of slavery or involuntary servitude be prohibited, except in punishment for crime where the party shall have been duly convicted; and that all children born within said State after the admission thereof, shall be free at the age of twenty years.”
