Corydon, the location of the first Indiana Supreme Court

When Indiana became a state in 1816, it looked very different than today. The State capital was Corydon. The Miami, Potawatomi, and Delaware tribes controlled much of the state. There were fewer than 64,000 white colonizers in the state. Those who lived there lived a rugged life. A map from 1816-1817 illustrates the three circuit court districts that covered the counties of Southern Indiana. The Supreme Court was initially located in Corydon, the state capital. Supreme Court Justices were appointed to two-year terms by Governor Jennings appointing James Scott, John Johnson, and Jesse Holman as the first Supreme Court Justices. When John Johnson died during the first court recess in 1817, Jennings appointed Isaac Blackford to Johnson's position.

Blackford had just been elected to the State Legislature. He was surprised that Jennings wanted to nominate him as he was only thirty-one years old. Accepting the position, he served until 1851. He authored writing opinions on court cases as part of his "Blackford Reports," which became an officially published and widely respected collection of Indiana legal precedents. In 1851, the Constitutional Convention changed the role of Supreme Court Justices making the positions elected rather than appointed. Blackford did not get reelected or make it through the nomination process.

After losing the nomination, Blackford rebuilt his client base at sixty-seven years of age. Ultimately, he returned to judicial work as a judge on the Court of Claims in Washington, DC, in 1855.