totaled over $1.25 million, making it the highest dollar item on the budget to that date. Construction of the State Seminary, later to become Indiana University, also began during his term. Hendricks also contributed personally to Hanover College. As the state's finances would not allow the large-scale improvements Hendricks envisioned, he focused efforts on creating critical routes and approved legislation that required state residents to spend allotted amounts of time helping to build the state roads. Existing roads and rivers were improved by clearing obstacles. Hendricks codified Indiana's laws for the first time in 1822, creating the Indiana Code. In 1824 a Seneca family was murdered by a group of men near Pendleton, Indiana, and tension between the natives in northern Indiana and the settlements in central Indiana moved quickly toward conflict. Governor Hendricks, hoping to maintain peace and enforce justice for the tribe, ordered the murderers to be captured and tried. While one of the murderers escaped, the others where captured and all were sentenced to death. One of the murderers was a minor and was later pardoned by Governor James B. Ray. Governor Hendricks had denied his appeal for clemency and used the execution to show the natives his goodwill. This was the first time a white man was executed for killing a Native American in the United States. One of his final acts as governor was to approve a move of the capitol from Corydon to Indianapolis. There had been an intense debate to keep the capitol in the south where almost all of the state's population resided. Indianapolis was north of the nearest settlement and on the edge of the frontier. Despite considerable pressure, Hendricks signed the measure in late 1824. Senator On February 14, 1825, Hendricks resigned his position as Governor to become a United States senator after being elected to that position by the legislature, defeating Chief Justice Isaac Blackford. Lieutenant Governor Ratliff Boon had resigned earlier and the governorship devolved to James B. Ray, the Senate president pro tempore. Back in Congress in 1825, Hendricks was an Anti-Jacksonian, supporting federal funding for western internal improvements. He chaired the committee on roads and canals from 1831 until 1837 and joined fellow Indiana congressman Ratliff Boon in support of federal funding for the Wabash and Erie Canal in the Senate. He failed in his attempt to be reelected to his seat in the Senate in