1816 Indiana gubernatorial election

August 5, 1816 1819 →

Nominee Jonathan Jennings Thomas Posey Party Nonpartisan Nonpartisan Popular vote 5,211 3,934 Percentage 56.98% 43.02%

County results[1] Jennings:     80–90% Posey:     50–60%     70–80%     80–90%

Governor before election Thomas Posey[a] Nonpartisan Elected Governor Jonathan Jennings Nonpartisan

The1816 Indiana gubernatorial election took place on August 5, 1816.Jonathan Jennings, the longtimeU.S. delegate representing theIndiana Territory's at-large congressional district and former president of the Indiana constitutional convention, defeated the incumbent territorial governorThomas Posey.^[2]

This was the firstgubernatorial election held following ratification of theConstitution of Indiana. The short turnaround between the adjournment of the constitutional convention on June 29 and thedate of the election left a narrow window forelectioneering.^[3] Of the roughly 12,000 eligible voters, more than 9,000 cast ballots for governor, indicating substantial popular interest in the election.^[4]

TheDemocratic-Republican Party was dominant nationally following theWar of 1812, and the politics of the new state were conducted on anonpartisan basis. Jennings and Posey representedpolitical factions held over from the territorial period.^[5] Jennings, a resident ofClark County, was the leader of theantislavery eastern faction, while Posey was associated with theproslavery western faction based out ofVincennes.^[6]

Posey, aFederalist and aslaveholder, was unpopular, politically isolated, and too ill to actively campaign. He had opposed the movement for statehood as premature, for which he was accused of seeking to retain his position as the unelected territorial governor.^[7] With his residence inJeffersonville, he was too far from the territorial capital inCorydon to effectively respond to events. Jennings conducted a campaign typical of the era, speaking to voters directly at log rollings,militia musters, and other public functions, while maintaining the pretense of indifference to his election expected of nineteenth-century candidates.^[8] Posey's surrogates attempted to link Jennings to the recent unpopular congressional salary increase and the non-payment of militiamen during the War of 1812. Charges that Jennings had pursued statehood against the wishes of the western counties failed to mobilize the electorate against the new constitution. On Election Day, Jennings defeated Posey with strong support from voters in the eastern counties, while Posey performed well in the western part of the state.^[9]

The original manuscript returns appear to be lost. Records kept by theIndiana House of Representatives show topline figures for Jennings and Posey, noted above, but omit the county-level data.^[2]Phil Lampi locates complete or partial data for eight out of fifteen counties.^[11]

• Carmony, Donald Francis (1998).Indiana 1816-1850: the Pioneer Era. Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society.ISBN 0-87195-125-8.
• Dubin, Michael J. (2003).United States Gubernatorial Elections, 1776–1860: The Official Results by State and County. Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Company.
• Lampi, Philip J. (January 11, 2012)."Indiana 1816 Governor".A New Nation Votes. American Antiquarian Society. RetrievedOctober 9, 2025.
• Posey, John Thornton (Winter 1990)."A Federalist on the Frontier: General Thomas Posey".Illinois Historical Journal.83 (4):247–58.
• Riker, Dorothy; Thornbrough, Gayle (1960).Indiana Election Returns: 1816-1851. Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Bureau.
• Riker, Dorothy (December 1932)."Jonathan Jennings".Indiana Magazine of History.28 (4):223–239.

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• 1816 Indiana elections
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• August 1816

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