USA > Indiana > St Joseph County > A history of St. Joseph County, Indiana, Volume 1 > Part 17
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97
The famous statement of Mr. Gladstone, that the constitution of the United States "is the greatest work ever struck off at any one time by the mind and purpose of man," while a most noble and deserved encomium upon the excellence of our constitution and of the form of government created by it, is nevertheless misleading in so far as it carries the idea that the provisions of that great document were original with the men who framed our fundamental law. Our constitution, like that of every other free state, was a growth rather than a creation. The Fathers of the republic put into complete, well rounded form the principles of free and stable government which had developed, year by year, in the several colonies since the time of their first
settlement. Something was drawn from the experience of each of them. Indeed we may go further, and say that Ameriean institu- tions, as established in the Declaration of Independence, in the Ordinance of 1787 and in the Constitution of the United States, and as since developed in our history, are but the culmination of the preceding centuries of Christian civilization.
A profound student of our system of government has said that, the real source of the constitution is the experience of the Amer- ican people. They had previously established and developed admirable little commonwealths in the colonies. Since the beginning of the Revolution they had become experienced in state governments, organized on a different basis from the colonial. Finally, they had carried on two successive national govern- ments, with both of which they had been pro- foundly discontented. The general outline of the constitution has been looked upon as Brit- ish; it was really colonial. The president's powers of military command, of appointment and of veto were similar to those of the co- lonial governor. National conrts were created on the model of colonial courts. A legislature of two houses was accepted because such legis- latures had been common in colonial times. In the English parliamentary system as it existed before 1760 the Americans had no share; the later English system of parlia- mentary responsibility was not yet developed, and had never been established in colonial governments; and our fathers expressly ex- cluded it from the constitution. Nor were they more affected by the experience of other European nations. The chief source of the details of the new constitution was the state constitutions and the laws then in force. In- deed, the principal experiment in the consti- tution, for which there was no precedent, was the establishment of an electoral college for the election of president and vice-president ; and of all parts of the system this has worked. least as the framers expected. The constitu- tion, therefore, represents the accumulated ex-
S1
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY.
perienee of the time. Its real boldness is the novelty of the federal system. The framing of a constitution in detail by a body of un- instructed delegates, expressly chosen for that purpose, was familiar experience in the sev- eral states; even though it was unexampled elsewhere in the world. That the instrument of federal government should provide for proportional representation in one house, and for a federal court, were steps in federal or- ganization which mark a new federal prin- ciple. The great merit of the members of the constitutional convention is their under- standing of the temper of their own country- men. They selected out of British, colonial or state usages such practices and forms as experience had shown to be acceptable to the people. The members of the convention had further the wisdom to express their work in general though carefully stated principles. All previous federal governments had been fettered either by an imperfect and inade- quate statement, or by an unwritten consti- tution with an accumulation of special prece- dents. The phrases of the Constitution of 1787 were broad enough to cover cases un- foreseen. A third distinction of the conven- tion is the skill with which it framed ac- ceptable compromises upon the most difficult questions before it. The two houses of con- gress satisfied both large and small states. The convention had profited by the experience of the Confederation; on every page of the constitution may be found clanses which would not have stood there had it been framed in 1781. An adequate revenue was provided ; foreign and interstate commerce was put un- der the control of congress; the charge of foreign affairs was given entirely to the cen- tral authority; the powers of government were distributed among the three depart- ments, legislative, executive and judicial."
Sec. 7 .- RATIFICATION OF THE CONSTITU- TION .- Yet, wise as seems to us this funda- mental law of our country, after our experi-
a. A. B. Hart, Formation of the Union, Sec. 62; Study of Fed. Gov'nt, Ch. 4. 6
ence of more than a hundred years. it was only with the greatest difficulty that the spirit of compromise prevailed in the convention, and afterwards with the people themselves. It was finally accepted only through the extraordinary and persistent infinenee of some of the wisest statesmen that ever lived, -Washington, Franklin, Madison, Hamilton, James Wilson, John Marshall and others. The opposition in Massachusetts, New York, Vir- ginia and the Carolinas was pronounced: Hancock and Adams were lukewarm. Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee and James Monroe were in opposition. Massachusetts and Sonth Carolina, the former under the lead of Han- cock, finally came to the support of the con- stitution, with recommendations in favor of amendments which were afterwards adopted.
Rhode Island refused to send delegates to the convention, but the remaining twelve states finally agreed so far that delegates from each signed the constitution, September 17, 1787. The seventh, and last, article of the constitution provided that :
"The ratification of the conventions of nine states, shall be sufficient for the establishment of this constitution between the states so rati- fying the same."
And then again began the great struggle. Would the requisite number of states ratify the work of the convention ? The fate of the proposed constitution remained in doubt for over nine months after the adjournment of the convention. The state of Delaware was the first to ratify, December 7, 1787; Penn- sylvania followed, December 12, 1787, but by the ominous vote of forty-six to twenty- three, so strong was the opposition, notwith- standing the powerful advocacy of Franklin and Wilson : New Jersey eame next, Decem- ber 18, 1787: Georgia ratified, Jannary 2. 1788; Connecticut, January 9, 1788, by a vote of one hundred and twenty-eight to forty ; Massachusetts, with the suggested amend- ments, February 6, 1788, by the excessively close vote of one hundred and eighty-seven to one hundred and sixty-eight : Maryland,
82
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY.
April 28, 1788; South Carolina. with its amendments, May 23, 1788; and New Hamp- shire. the ninth state. June 21. 1788. The union was formed. The remaining states came in afterwards. as follows: Virginia, June 26, 1788 (but before the ratification of the ninth state was known, so slow were the means of communication in those days) ; New York, July 26, 1788 (by a vote of thirty to twenty- eight) : North Carolina, November 21. 1789: and, finally, Rhode Island, May 29, 1790.
A powerful influence in turning the minds of the people towards what may perhaps be termed a reluctant ratifieation of the consti- tution, and without which at least New York, even with the powerful advocaey of Hamilton. would probably have remained out of the union, for years if not forever, was the pub- lication of a series of essays in exposition of the true character of the constitution, written by Hamilton, Madison and Jay, over the com- mon signature of "Publius." These essays were published in a newspaper. between Oe- tober, 1787. and June, 1788. They were sub- sequently collected and published in a vol- ume. named "The Federalist." The influence of this series of essays was very great. and deservedly so. From its publication to this dạy, "The Federalist" has held its rank as the very highest authority upon the proper construction of the constitution. "Madison's Debates." taken down by the "Father of the Constitution" during the sessions of the eon- vention, and this series of essays, known as "The Federalist," must always remain in- valuable to the student of American govern- ment.«
Sec. 8 .- GOVERNMENT UNDER THE ORDI- NANCE .- The northwest territory was gov- erned by the old continental congress, under the provisions of the ordinance of 1787, from the passage of the ordinance, July 13, 1787. until the new constitution went into effeet. As soon as the ratification of the constitution by nine states was certified to congress, that
a. Landon, Const. Hist. and Gov'nt of the U. S., Lecture 4.
body, by a resolution adopted September 13, 1788, provided "that the first Wednesday in March next (1789) be the time, and the pres- ent seat of Congress (New York city) the place. for commeneing proceedings under the said constitution." The first Wednesday of March. 1789, was March 4th of that year. and from that day, or, at least, from the inaugura- tion of Washington as first president, which did not take place until April 30, 1789, the ordinance, though still remaining in effeet. was modified by the supreme control of the constitution.
One provision of the ordinance was "that there shall be appointed, from time to time. by congress, a governor, whose commission shall continue in force for a term of three years, unless sooner revoked by congress." Provision was also made for the appointment by congress of a secretary for the territory : as also a court, to consist of three judges. As soon as the constitution was adopted this ap- pointing power and other executive functions passed to the president. A formal deelara- tion to this effect was made by act of the new congress. approved Angust 7. 1789. It was not until October 5. 1787, that the old con- gress had proceeded to the election of a gov- ernor for the territory, and then selected Gen- eral Arthur St. Clair, the president of that congress, for the office of governor. Winthrop Sargent was appointed secretary. The ap- pointees of the congress were continued in of- fice by Washington after his election as presi- dent.
The ordinance provided for the election of a legislature by the people of the territory. "so soon as there shall be five thousand free male inhabitants. of full age, in the district." -a name frequently applied in the ordinance to the northwest territory. But, until that time, it was provided that, "The governor and judges, or a majority of them, shall adopt and publish in the district such laws of the original states, criminal and civil. as may be necessary. and best suited to the" cirenm- stances of the district. and report them to
83
IHISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY.
congress, from time to time: which laws shall be in force in the district until the organiza- tion of the general assembly therein, unless disapproved of by congress; but afterwards the legislature shall have authority to alter them as they shall see fit." So fast did those old republicans stand to the principles of free representative government that, although the people of the territory were as yet too few and too seattered to make it practieable to organize a legislature, still congress would not suffer even its own appointees to make laws for the territory. The most that would be allowed, and that from sheer necessity. was the adoption of "such laws of the original states" as might be "best suited to the cir- eumstances of the district," and not even then if "disapproved by congress." The laws from which the governor and judges were given power to make selections were strictly confined to those of "the original states." that is, to those laws which the emi- grants themselves had helped to enaet in the states from which they had come. In this way the principle of self government was maintained as far as possible.
See. 9 .- GOVERNOR ST. CLAIR .- Before set- ting out for the west Governor St. Clair re- eeived private instructions from congress re- quiring him to acquaint himself with the real temper of the Indians, to regulate trade with them and remove. if possible, all causes of controversy. He was also to neglect no op- portunity that might offer to extinguish In- dian titles to lands west to the Mississippi and north as far as the forty-first parallel of lati- tnde. He was further charged to do what he could to eonciliate the whites and induee them to live on friendly terms with the Indians. In July, 1788, the governor and other officers arrived at the new town of Marietta, at the junetion of the Muskingum and the Ohio, and proceeded to organize the new government, under the provisions of the ordinance of 1787. On July 15, 1788. Governor St. Clair and the three judges met for the first time as a legislative body. and adopted a eode of laws.
The first session of court for the trial of causes was convened at Marietta. September 2. 1788, and was opened with impressive ceremonies. The court was a tribunal of last resort, with power to review the decisions of inferior courts, and had supreme jurisdiction through- out the northwest territory. Successive terms of court were held at Cincinnati, Vincennes and Kaskaskia, and later at Detroit. The judges traveled this wide circuit on horse- back. Those first judges to be commissioned under authority of the United States, and given the two-fold power, to adopt laws for this immense territory, and, at the same time. to hold courts and hear and decide causes, were Samnel Holden Parsons, James Mitehell Varnum and John Cleves Symmes. They were at the same time our first lawgivers and our first judges; and were all most eminent men, and worthy to lay the foundations of great states.
On October 6, 1789, President Washington issued instructions to Governor St. Clair, chiefly having reference to the preservation of peace with the Indians, but providing for hostilities if they should break out, and add- ing: "You will also proceed, as soon as you can, with safety, to execute the orders of the late congress, respecting the inhabitants at Post Vincennes, and at the Kaskaskias and other villages on the Mississippi. It is a cir- eumstance of some importance, that the said inhabitants should as soon as possible possess the lands to which they are entitled. by some . known and fixed principles."
Early in Jannary, 1790. the governor, with the secretary and judges of the territory. deseended the Ohio, from Marietta to Fort Washington, which was located at a town then known as Losantiville. St. Clair persuaded the proprietors of the town to change this name to Cincinnati, in honor of the Society of the Cincinnati, recently formed by the of- fieers of the Revolutionary army. At this place, he also laid out the county of Hamil- ton. and appointed officers for the administra- tion of the affairs of the county. On Jannary
84
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY.
8, 1790, the governor, with the secretary, ar- rived at Clarksville, from which point he sent dispatches to Major Hamtramck, then eom- mander of Post Vineennes, enquiring into the reports as to great destitution among the in- habitants for want of food, and suggesting plans of relief. From Clarksville the officials proceeded to the Illinois country, to continue the work of organizing the government of the territory, and to carry into effect the resohi- tions of congress in relation to the lands of the settlers near Kaskaskia and Vincennes.
Upon the arrival of the governor at Kas- kaskia the county of St. Clair was organized, embracing the present territory of the state of Illinois south of the Illinois river. The county was divided into three common pleas court districts, and judges and other officers were appointed. Two of the three judges were of French descent. The governor spent some time straightening out the land titles, which were discovered to be in great con- fusion. IIe found the reports as to the suf- fering of the inhabitants to be true. The supplies furnished by the people to Clark's army were never paid for. Troubles with the Indians and consequent failure of trade relations, as well as loss of crops by inunda- tions and other causes, completed the mis- fortunes of the unhappy settlers. In a me- morial, dated at St. Clair county, June 9, 1790. and signed by the patriot priest, Father Gibault, and eighty-seven others, the misera- ble condition of the inhabitants was most pathetically set forth for the information of the governor. It is a sad commentary on the distressed condition to which these generous hearted people were reduced, to reflect that so large a part of their suffering was due to the failure of both the government of Vir- ginia and that of the United States to make adequate return for the sacrifices which these far western patriots had so freely made in the service of their country. It is neglect of this nature that has given curreney to the adage that republies are ungrateful. Even Father Gibault, the friend to whom Clark
owed so much, was denied the gift of a small plat of ground for which he had petitioned, and he, like Clark and Vigo, ended his life in poverty. It has been frequently said, re- marks Mr. Cauthorn, in his history of Vin- · cennes, that republics are ungrateful. The truth of this trite saying is foreibly illus- trated by the treatment of these men, who, above all others, were the main instruments in wresting from England the territory north- west of the river Ohio, and thereby paving the way for the ultimate acquisition of that vast and fertile country out of which the five rich and populous states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin have been earved, and added to the sisterhood of states. The three men are Pierre Gibault. George Rogers Clark and Franeis Vigo. They all went to their graves in a very similar con- dition, and all present a parallel of govern- ment neglect of consideration for patriotic and valuable services rendered, without a counterpart in the annals of history.ª
Major Hamtramck, early in June, 1790, sent dispatches from Vincennes to the gov- ernor, at Kaskaskia, from which it was ap- parent that no treaty could be made with the Miamis and their confederates. Governor St. Clair therefore prepared to go to Fort Washington, at Cincinnati, and consult with General Harmar upon the means of sending an expedition against the hostile Indians. He left Kaskaskia on the eleventh of June, plac- ing the affairs of the government in the hands of the secretary, Winthrop Sargent. This of- ficer proceeded at once to Vincennes, where he laid out the county of Knox, appointed the necessary civil and military officers and organized the militia. He then proceeded to settle the old land titles which were in the same confusion as those near Kaskaskia.
The result of the conference of Governor St. Clair with General Harmar, at Fort Wash- ington, was the sending of an expedition, chiefly of militia, commanded by General Har- mar, against the Miamis under Little Turtle. a. History of Vincennes, p. 105.
85
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY.
The Indians were met near the site of the present city of Fort Wayne, where sanguinary fighting took place, rather to the advantage of the Indians, so that Harmar's forces returned to Fort Washington. All the frontier settle- ments in Ohio and Indiana, and even those in Kentucky, were alarmed at the outcome of this expedition ; and preparations were at once made to raise an army sufficiently powerful to repel the Indians. Two other expeditions, one under General Scott, and one under Gen- eral Wilkinson, were in turn sent from Fort Washington against Indian villages, situated near Ouiatanon, below the site of the present city of La Fayette, and near the site of Lo- gansport. Those villages were referred to, generally, as the Wea towns on the Wabash. The net results of those three expeditions was to rouse the Indians to the utmost pitch of resentment, with the consequent effect of striking terror into all the white settlements in the northwest, and also Kentucky, western Virginia and Pennsylvania.
Little Turtle and Governor St. Clair has- tened preparations for the conflict which all persons, Indian and white, knew was im- pending. Although it was stipulated in the treaty of peace by which the independence of the United States was acknowledged, sign- ed at Paris, September 3, 1783, that Great Britain should, with all convenient dispatch, withdraw her forces from the forts and other places within United States territory; yet, under claim that our government had failed to take measures to make payment of claims of British creditors, as also provided by that treaty, the government of Great Britain eon- tinned, from 1783 to 1796, to hold possession of various forts within American territory, including those at Sandusky, Detroit and Michilimackinac. These last named posts were within the northwest territory, and from all of them the Indians received encouragement and support. The English did not like to give up the fur trade with the Indians, which they had so long monopolized; and the Brit- ish government therefore looked with an un-
friendly eye upon the efforts of the American people to subdue the northwestern Indians and establish states of the Union in their stead. There is no question but that this moral, and often active, support given by the presence of British garrisons within the confines of the northwestern territory had very much to do with the building up by Little Turtle of the strong Indian organiza- tion which must now be encountered by Governor St. Clair and his hastily gathered forces. The Indian feared that the American was to deprive him of his rich lands, while the Briton claimed that the American was depriving British creditors of moneys due them. These were the ostensible motives; but, while the Indian's fear may have been well grounded, the real British motive was hatred of the people who had wrested from the control of Great Britain these vast Ameri- can states and territories, and threatened to build upon the soil a republic which should forever be a rival to the British monarchy.
In the spring of 1791, Governor St. Clair began the formation at Fort Washington (Cincinnati), of an army of invasion against the Indians under Little Turtle. There seemed little enthusiasm among the militia. Troops and supplies had to be procured from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Vir- ginia and Kentucky; and it was not until September that General Butler, second in command, led. the first detachment from Fort Washington. On November 3, 1791, the army, on its mareh, reached a point about fifteen miles from the Miami village, near the spot where Fort Recovery was afterwards built. Here, on the morning of November 4, 1791, the Americans under St. Clair and Butler were unexpectedly attacked by the Indians under Little Turtle, and most disastrously de- feated, losing many men and all their muni- tions and supplies.
St. Clair's defeat wrought consternation throughout the northwest. The commander- in-chief was blamed universally, and that blame has not ceased to this day; and yet
86
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY.
this severe judgment seems not altogether just. The failure of the expedition was due to causes which the governor may have been, and probably was, unable to control,-the character of his forces, made up as they were of bodies of backwoodsmen who had hereto- fore been accustomed to make desultory excursions in small parties along the borders, and who were therefore unfamiliar with dis- cipline and movements necessary to an army ; the inefficiency of the quartermaster's depart- ment, due, undoubtedly, to the same causes ; and finally to the lateness of the season, which rendered exceedingly difficult the marching of troops, and the hauling of artillery and stores, through the forests, across swollen streams and over rain soaked grounds, with the win- ter snows already falling. But the governor, stung by the universal criticism, resigned his military command, and Anthony Wayne, one of the most distinguished of the Revolution- ary generals, was appointed in his place. St. Clair, however, retained his office of civil governor of the territory; though the duties of that office, were frequently performed by the secretary, Winthrop Sargent.
Sec. 10 .- GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE .- The transfer of command from St. Clair to Wayne, after St. Clair's defeat, was followed by action on the part of the government which calls to mind similar action taken after the transfer of command from Rosecrans to Grant, subsequent to the battle of Chieka- manga. Measures were at once taken to put the army on a better footing; men and muni- tions of war were gathered and preparations were made to meet the formidable forces which Little Turtle and his British allies were massing in the wilderness. The govern- ment and the people, instead of waiting apathetically for an ill supplied army to win victories over the thoroughly roused Indian tribes, now made every effort to send an army, worthy the name, against their exultant foes, red and white.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.