Among the first problems of the new state were those relating to lands and Indians. Throughout the Territorial period there was conflict between French and English land claims. In 1804 Congress established land offices at Kaskaskia and Vincennes to examine existing claims and to eliminate conflict with future grants; in 1812 new offices were established at Shawneetown and Edwardsville for the sale of public lands; and in 1816 more than 500,000 acres were sold. In 1818, however, many citizens were in debt for their lands, and "squatters" invaded the rights of settlers. Congress therefore reduced the price of land from $2 to $1.25 per acre, and adopted the policy of pre-emption, preference being given to the claims of existing settlers. The Indians, however, resisted measures looking toward the extinguishment of their claims to the country. Their dissatisfaction with the treaties signed in 1795 and 1804 caused them to espouse the British cause in the War of 1812, and in 1812 they overpowered a body of soldiers and settlers who had abandoned Fort Dearborn (See CHICAGO). For a number of years after the end of the conflict, the Indians were comparatively peaceful; but in 1831 the delay of the Sauk and Foxes in withdrawing from the lands in northern Illinois, caused Governor John Reynolds (1788-1865) to call out the militia. The following year Black Hawk, a Sauk leader, opened an unsuccessful war in northern Illinois and Wisconsin (the Black Hawk War); and by 1833 all Indians in Illinois had been removed from the state. The financial and industrial policy of the state was unfortunate. Money being scarce, the legislature in 1819 chartered a state bank which was authorized to do business on the credit of the state. In a few years the bank failed, and the state in 1831 borrowed money to redeem the depreciated notes issued by the bank. A second state bank was chartered in 1835; two years later it suspended payment, and in 1843 the legislature provided for its liquidation. The state also undertook to establish a system of internal improvements, granting a loan for the construction of the Illinois and Michigan canal in 1836, and in 1837 appropriating $10,000,000 for the building of railroads and other improvements. The experiment proved unsuccessful; the state's credit declined and a heavy debt was incurred, and in 1840 the policy of aiding public improvements was abandoned. Through the efforts of Governor Thomas Ford (1800-1850) a movement to repudiate the state debt was defeated, and a plan was adopted by which the entire debt could be reduced without excessive taxation, and by 1880 practically the entire debt was extinguished.