territory. An 1803 "Law Concerning Servants" had been promulgated for the Indiana Territory by then-Governor William Henry Harrison that maintained the status of people brought into the territory "under contract to serve another in any trade or occupation." The law, which remained in force in the Illinois territory, permitted slavery to persist for decades under the guise of indentured servitude. Most of Illinois' early governors were slaveowners, and Edwards was no exception. In 1812, Edwards offered for sale, "several likely young negro men and women." Later, he made extra income by renting some of his "indentured servants" out for labor in Missouri. In 1814, he "sold my mulatto boy slave named Wallace now in possession of Harry of Ste. Genevieve Missouri Territory to Theodore Hunt. In 1815, he was seeking to sell his "Mulatto Boy" for $400. The new territorial governor was sworn in on June 11, 1809. At first Edwards tried to avoid partisanship but soon found that faction was an inevitable result of his power to appoint officials and distribute government jobs. Although the First Party System continued to define national politics, the Federalist and Republican Parties never took hold in frontier Illinois. Rather, factional loyalties were created by personality, personal bonds such as kinship and militia service, and especially the distribution of patronage. In the early territorial years, two rival factions grew up around Edwards and Judge Jesse B. Thomas. These two factions formed Illinois' political landscape during its time as a territory and for its first several years of statehood. Democratic government Throughout Edwards' three terms as governor, he showed a willingness to surrender his own considerable powers in order to expand participatory government in the Illinois Territory. Before 1812, while Illinois had a first-grade territorial status, Edwards had vast powers to appoint county and local officials; however, he made it his practice to consider local opinion as much as he could when making appointments, often giving weight to petitions signed by local residents. He attempted to do the same for militia officers for a time, letting the men of a unit elect their leaders, but he soon abandoned this policy as impractical. In 1812, Edwards successfully persuaded Congress to modify a provision of the 1787 Ordinance limiting voting rights to freeholders of of land. Due to long-running disputes over fraudulently sold lands, very few Illinois frontiersmen could qualify. At Edwards' urging, Congress granted the Illinois