Editing Corydon, Indiana (section)

===Constitutional convention, 1816===
{{Main|Constitution of Indiana}}
On April 19, 1816, President [[James Madison]] signed an [[Enabling Act]] that provided for the election of delegates to a convention at Corydon to consider statehood for Indiana. Forty-three delegates, including five men from Harrison County, convened June 10–29, 1816, to draft Indiana's first state [[Constitution of Indiana|constitution]].<ref>"The Setting for the Convention, " in {{cite journal |editor=Pamela J. Bennett |title=Indiana Statehood |journal=The Indiana Historian |page=6 |publisher=Indiana Historical Bureau |location=Indianapolis |date=September 1999}}</ref><ref>Harrison County's delegates were John Boone, [[Davis Floyd]], Daniel C. Lane, [[Dennis Pennington]], and Patrick Shields. See Barnhart and Riker, pp. 441–42.</ref> The preamble of the constitution acknowledges the site of the historic gathering: "We the Representatives of the people of the Territory of Indiana, in Convention met, at Corydon, on Monday the tenth day of June in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and sixteen,..."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.in.gov/icpr/2778.htm |title=Full Text Of The 1816 Constitution |publisher=State of Indiana |access-date=October 24, 2014}}</ref>

The delegates met in an unfinished log cabin near the Harrison County courthouse, which had not yet been completed; due to cramped conditions and the summer heat, the men often sought refuge outside under a giant [[elm tree]], later named the Constitution Elm. Although the tree was lost to Dutch Elm Disease in 1825, a portion of its trunk has been preserved, surrounded by a [[sandstone]] memorial built by the WPA during the Great Depression in the 1930s.<ref>{{cite book |author=Earl L. Conn |title=My Indiana: 101 Places to See |publisher=Indiana Historical Society |year=2006 |location=Indianapolis |page=204 |isbn=978-0-87195-195-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Frederick P. Griffin |title=The Story of Indiana's Constitution Elm, Corydon, Indiana, June 1816 |publisher=General Print Company |year=1974 |location=Corydon, IN |pages=10–13 |oclc=3901490}} See also {{cite book |author=William P. McLauchlan |title=The Indiana State Constitution: A Reference Guide |publisher=Greenwood Press |series=Reference Guides to the State Constitutions of the United States |volume=26 |year=1996 |location=Westport, CT |page=2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a-RQI0gEscUC&pg=PA1 |isbn=978-0-313-29208-8}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://centerforhistory.org/learn-history/indiana-history/indiana-the-nineteenth-state-1816 |title=Indiana History: Indiana, the Nineteenth State (1816) |publisher=Center for History |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121027053723/http://centerforhistory.org/learn-history/indiana-history/indiana-the-nineteenth-state-1816 |archive-date=October 27, 2012}}</ref> The delegates completed their work in nineteen days, adjourning on June 29, 1816, when the newly signed state constitution went into effect.<ref>Barnhart and Riker, p. 460.</ref> As outlined in Article XI, Section 11, of the constitution of 1816: "Corydon, in Harrison County shall be the seat of Government of the state of Indiana, until the year eighteen hundred and twenty-five, and until removed by law."<ref>{{cite web |title=Constitution of 1816: Article XI |publisher=Indiana Historical Bureau |url=http://www.in.gov/history/2872.htm |access-date=August 3, 2016}}</ref>

Corydon's selection as the capital led to rapid growth of the town and a housing shortage. There were only three taverns for visitor lodging in 1813. A fourth and much larger tavern, the [[Kintner House Hotel|Kintner House Tavern]], opened in 1819. Many officials, including three successive Governors, and their staff moved to Corydon and built large homes in the town. The town hosted meetings from national officials, including an 1819 visit by United States President [[James Monroe]] and [[Andrew Jackson]].<ref>Griffin, p. 33</ref>