by 1850. In his first inaugural speech in August 1816, Jennings called attention to the need for an educational plan. In his 1817 annual message to the state legislature, he encouraged the establishment of a free, state-funded education system, as called for in the state constitution, but few of the state's citizens were willing to impose taxes to fund public schools. The state legislature believed priority should be given to creating government infrastructure. Lack of public funds postponed creation of a state library system until Governor James B. Ray's administration in 1826. From the beginning the state's banking institutions were closely tied to the state government's fiscal affairs, made even more challenging due to the state's "extremely limited economic and population base", the economic depression of the late teens and early twenties, a lack of experience in banking on the part of state politicians and citizens, and other factors. "Indiana banking rested on shaky foundation even in the prosperous years preceding the Panic of 1819." To remedy the problem, Jennings signed legislation in 1817 to create the First State Bank of Indiana by converting the Bank of Vincennes, established under a territorial charter in 1814, into the new bank's main headquarters and established three new branches at Corydon, Brookville, and Vevay. The First State Bank soon became a depository of federal funds and was involved in land speculation. The Farmers and Mechanics Bank of Madison, established in 1814, chose to remain separate from the state bank under a territorial charter that was valid until 1835. When state expenditures exceeded its revenues, Jennings preferred to secure the state's debts with bank loans to cover the shortfall rather than issuing treasury notes. Although taxes were levied and the state borrowed from the First State Bank of Indiana, the state's fiscal status remained bleak, worsened by the economic depression of 1819. Around 1820 federal deposits at the First State Bank were suspended and the bank's notes were no longer accepted for purchases from federal land offices. Numerous reports of corruption at the Bank of Vincennes and the collapse of land values, brought on by the panic of 1819, put the bank in further financial distress. By 1821 the bank was insolvent. In June 1822 the Knox County circuit court declared the First State Bank had forfeited its charter. In November 1823 the Indiana Supreme Court upheld the termination of the bank's charter and