The American victory in the Revolutionary War (thanks in part to the efforts of George Rogers Clark) meant that American explorers and settlers asserted their right to take over the territory. Indiana in 1787 became part of the Northwest Territory, which also included what is now Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Ohio became a state in 1800, and the rest of the area was renamed the Indiana Territory. The newly created Indiana Territory has as its first governor William Henry Harrison. The first capital was at Vincennes.

Armed resistance by Native Americans against American settlement continued. American General "Mad" Anthony Wayne won a strategic victory at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794. Tecumseh, chief of the Shawnee, was instrumental in bringing Native Americans together in resistance. Tecumseh and Ohio Gov. William Henry Harrison set out to negotiate a settlement, but the result was an armed struggle. American forces won the Battle of Tippecanoe (1811), and American settlement of Indiana continued.

The Indiana Territory had been divided in 1809, with part of it becoming the Illinois Territory. A handful of battles during the War of 1812 were fought in Indiana Territory. Corydon became the Indiana territorial state in capital 1813. Settlers applied in 1815 for statehood, which was granted the following year, on December 11.

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