Surrender of except certain reservations. red, fixed the location, though not the full extent, of the emerging Commonwealth. The westernmost part of the present State was not included within the boundaries defined by Washington. The western limit which he proposed began at the mouth of the Great Miami, followed that river as far as Dayton, thence ran across country to a point within a few miles of the mouth of the Maumee and so down stream to Lake Erie.1 But before Congress could proceed far with its work State claims, of state-making, the claims of the other States had to be silenced. Under the pressure of the non-claimant States, Virginia, Massachusetts, and Connecticut ceded their lands to Congress in the years 1784, 1785, and 1786 respectively. The claims of the first and last were the most important, and together embraced the whole of what is now Ohio. But both Virginia and Connecticut retained certain parts of the Ohio territory. The lands retained by the former lay between the Great Miami and Scioto rivers; and were for the most part given in bounties to the Revolutionary soldiers of Virginia. Hence this district has been called the Virginia Military Lands. The reservation kept by the latter comprised three and a quarter millions of acres extending for 120 miles along Lake Erie. This district (5000 square miles) was held for settlement by emigrants from Connecticut, and was later known as the Western Reserve. A great slice of 500,000 acres off the west end of this district was set apart in 1792 for the benefit of the citizens of certain Connecticut towns whose possessions had been destroyed or damaged by the torch of the invading Brit 1R. G. Thwaites on "The Boundaries of Wisconsin," in Collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, XI., 451. ish soldier during the Revolutionary War. The section thus allotted became known as the Fire Lands or the Sufferers' Lands, and includes the present counties of Huron and Erie, besides the adjacent part of the peninsula forming the eastern portion of Ottawa county. 6. CONGRESSIONAL MEASURES for the Development OF THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY Ordinance, With the exception of these reservations, the Ohio The Land country was incorporated with the Federal domain. The 1785 question of the orderly and legal settlement of this region had presented itself to Congress from time to time while the negotiations for the cessions were pending. To provide for such settlement Congress passed two ordinances of incalculable importance in the development of the Northwest. The first of these was the Land Ordinance of 1785, which supplied a system of land surveys for facilitating the sale of public lands, and at the same time laid a broad and deep foundation for the beneficent system of our public schools.1 gular survey. Across the Ohio River in Kentucky the pioneers had The rectanbeen allowed to have private surveys made of the lands they had chosen, and it often happened that the tracts thus marked out were irregular in shape and size and wrongly recorded at the State land office. Sometimes it was found that several patents had been issued for the same piece of land. Congress tried to prevent such confusion north of the Ohio by providing a new method of survey, on the rectangular or "checkerboard" plan, and a corps of government surveyors was sent to carry it out. The country was divided into ranges of town1 1 See Chapter IX. The public school system. The of 1787. ships six miles square, each township being subdivided into sections one mile square and therefore containing 640 acres. The ranges, townships, and sections were to be duly numbered. The surveyors began their work under the protection of Federal troops, but after completing the first seven ranges they were forced to give it up on account of the hostility of the Indians.1 The system of surveys thus inaugurated was gradually extended to other parts of the State, with a few exceptions. The most important of these exceptions were the Connecticut and Virginia reservations.2 The basis for our system of public schools was laid by the provision that one section in each township (section 16 near the center of the township) should be reserved for the support of public schools therein. The framers of the Land Ordinance have received unstinted praise for this provision. John Fiske, the historian, says "no other nation has ever made a gift for schools on so magnificent a scale ;" and Hinsdale points out that this was "the first and greatest of the long series of similar dedications made by Congress to education;" and that "the funds derived from the sale of these original 'school lands' are the bulk of the public school endowments of the five great States of the old Northwest."4 The Land Ordinance was intended to attract settlers, 1Howe, Historical Collections of Ohio, I., 133-136; Hinsdale, The Old Northwest, 255-262. 2 In the Connecticut reservation, the townships were made five miles square instead of six. In the Virginia reservation no regular system was introduced; the pre-emptor was entitled to have the number of acres called for by his land-warrant marked out in such form as the existing conditions and his own preference dictated. Fiske, Civil Government in the United States, 86. 'Hinsdale, The Old Northwest, 262. and had now to be supplemented by the Ordinance of 1787, a measure which established a government for the Northwest Territory.1 The motives impelling Congress to enact this second ordinance are apparent. In the first place, Congress hoped to place the finances of the young republic on a good basis by selling a large tract of land west of the mountains; and in the second place, a company of purchasers was awaiting the completion of the Ordinance before closing its contract for the land in question, being especially anxious to see slavery forever excluded from that part of the country.2 of Massa chusetts. Already in June, 1783, 285 officers of the Continental The Ohio Army-of whom more than four-fifths were from New Company England and more than one-half from Massachusettshad petitioned Congress to set apart the region comprising almost the eastern two-thirds of the present State of Ohio for colonization, “in time to be admitted one of the confederated States of America," and to include their bounty lands in this district. This was the beginning of the Ohio Company of Massachusetts, which was organized in Boston, March 3, 1786, at the "Bunch of Grapes" tavern. The association made its purchase through the Rev. Manasseh Cutler, the lands selected being on the Ohio River immediately west of the Seven Ranges, and lying on both sides of the Muskingum.* The purchase was connected with a speculative scheme, 'The full title of the Ordinance is "An Ordinance for the government of the territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio." The Northwest Territory comprised all of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin, and a small part of Minnesota. 'Winsor, The Westward Movement, 267. 'Hinsdale, The Old Northwest, 267; see also The Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly for June, 1887, 46. 'King, Ohio, 195. First under the and 5,000,000 acres were bargained for, but only 964,000 acres fell to the Ohio Company.1 7. ORGANIZATION OF THE TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT The government provided by the Ordinance of 1787 applied, of course, to the whole Northwest Territory, and hence the instrument is often called the Northwest Ordinance; but the part taken by the Ohio Company in giving it its final form, and the fact that it was first tested under the local conditions existing in the Ohio country where the seat of government was fixed, lend a special interest to our study of the famous act. The Ordinance recognized two phases of Territorial government, and fixed the terms according to which defined portions of the Territory could enter upon Statehood with constitutions of their own.2 In the first Territorial phase, the administration was entrusted to a governor, three judges, and a secretary, all appointed by the President.3 The governor was vested with full executive authority; was made commander-in-chief of the militia with power to select his military subordinates below the rank of general officers; was authorized to lay out counties and townships, and appoint all magistrates and other civil officers in these districts; and, jointly with the judges, was entrusted with the adoption and enforcement of such civil and criminal laws from the original States as seemed suitable. 1 Winsor, The Westward Movement, 290-293. 2 The text of the Northwest Ordinance will be found in Appendix B, § 87. These officials were chosen by Congress until the adoption of the Federal Constitution in 1789. For lists of these officers, see Appendix A, § 86. |