Strictly speaking the beginnings of our civil history antedate by many yeas the history of Northwest Territory, and a very brief consideration of our political antecedents may not be amiss as an introduction to the form of government we live under in the present State of Indiana.

It is, of course, understood and need merely be mentioned, that we are the lineal heirs of those forces in English history that have made for the liberties and enlargement of man. "Magna Charta," or the Great Charter, wrung from King John by the barons in 1215, is customarily regarded as the logical starting point for a study of those liberties and their developments. When, four hundred years later, the stream of English history divided, sending forth its minor current in the new world, those who founded the colonies brought with them ideas of individual rights and of forms of government that all Englishmen had contended for since the concessions of King John, and that all Englishmen shared alike. Then came a differentiation in the development, due to the introduction of new conditions. The isolated life of the colonies, remote from the home government, fostered local government; local government fostered self-sufficiency, independence and the spirit of democracy, and a century and a half of development along this line could hardly fail of distinctive result.

In brief, the elements that emerge as we examine the unfolding of the American ideal are the idea of inherent rights, common to all men, the right to realize these through self-government, and the right to safeguard them at every point. How far these ideas had progressed by 1776 is revealed by the immortal Declaration of Independence, which startled the world with the bold and radical proposition that "all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." When, in addition to this, the age-honored allegiance to kings was cast aside; the instrument certainly took rank as marking a new departure in the affairs of men.