USA > Michigan > Cass County > History of Cass county, Michigan > Part 6
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Michigan, as an integral part of the Northwest Ter- ritory, was under this government until the year 1800. Wayne County erected upon the 18th of August, 1796, by Winthrop Sargent, included the whole of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, with portions of Ohio and Indiana. It was entitled to three members in the Territorial Legislature, which met in Chilli- cothe (Ohio).
The authorship of the important clauses of the ordinance and the causes which really led to its for- mation, have, until very recently, been misunderstood. The authorship has been commonly ascribed to Nathan Dane, Congressman from Massachusetts, and some- times accredited to Rufus King of the same State, , and to Thomas Jefferson. And yet nothing is clearer than that the Rev. Manasseh Cutler, the pastor of a Congregational Church, at Ipswich (now Hamilton), Mass., and agent of the Ohio company, was the true author, at least of the great ideas embodied in the ordinance. As agent of the New England Ohio Company, he went before Congress to purchase an immense tract of land upon the Ohio River, that within which Gen. Rufus Putnam and other Revolu- tionary characters in the year 1788, made the first permanent English settlement in the whole Northwest Territory. The ordinance represented and embodied the advanced thought of New England-of Massachu- setts-and yet this act, embracing a clause prohibit- ing slavery was passed by the votes of Southern mem- bers of Congress. There were two inducements which operated strongly on the minds of the legisla- tors, influencing them to grant Dr. Cutler's applica- tion for the purchase of a part of the public domain. The first was the urgent need of an increase in the public revenue. The second was the apparent need of planting a strong colony of patriotic men in the West to bind it to the east, for it must be remembered that about that time it was seriously apprehended that Kentucky would embrace the first opportunity to separate from the Confederacy and join her fortunes with Spain.
Indiana Territory was erected by an act of Con- gress passed on the 7th of May, 1500. It consisted of that part of the Northwest Territory lying west of a line drawn from the Ohio, opposite the Kentucky River, to Fort Recovery, and thence due north to the line dividing the United States from the British pos- session. This line divided the Lower Peninsula almost exactly in the center, crossing the Straits of Mackinac and meeting the international line above the Sault Ste. Marie. Cass County, being west of this line, was in Indiana Territory, of which William Henry Harrison was appointed Governor. Ohio being organized as a State upon the 29th of Novem- ber, all of that part of Michigan, which lay east of the boundary line between the two Territories and which bad remained in the Northwest Territory was added to Indiana Territory. The capital was fixed at Vin- cennes.
The Territory of Michigan was erected by act of Congress passed on the 11th of January, 1805, which, however, did not take effect until June 30 of the same year. On the 26th of February, the Presi- dent nominated the Territorial officers who were en- dowed with legislative power. Gen. William Hull was nominated for Governor and Hon. A. B. Wood- ward for the office of Presiding Julge. Both were confirmed, and the officers proceeded to Detroit, the capital, Judge Woodward arriving there on the 29th of June, and Gov. Ifull upon the 1st of
* Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase.
*William F. Poole (Librarian of the Chicago Public Library), In au admir- able article In the North American Review, for April, 1876, on the ordinance and Dr. Cutler's agency in its formation, says: " The ordinance of 1787 and the Ohie purchase were parts of one and the same transaction The purchase would not have been made withunt the urdinance, and the ordinance could not have been except as an essential condition of the purchase.
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HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY, MICHIGAN
July. Upon the 2d, the Territorial government went into active operation. Its jurisdiction originally in- cluded only the Lower Peninsula, but when Illinois was made a State in 1818, the. region now known as Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula were added to Michigan Territory, and in 1834 the far-away lands of Iowa and Minnesota were attached temporarily.
The war of 1812 was the most important event which occurred during the existence of the Territorial government. It is beyond our province to speak of that struggle in this chapter, and we only allude to it for the sake of making the observation that it brought about indirectly one great good for Michigan -the appointment of Gen. Lewis Cass as Governor. The office was given to him upon the 13th of October, 1813, and he held it until 1831. His administra- tion was an able one and he did much to promote the prosperity of the Territory by various wise measures.
In 1819, Michigan was authorized to send a dele- gate to represent her people in Congress. The first delegate chosen was William Woodbridge. In 1823, a Legislative Council, consisting of nine members was appointed by the President of the United States, and two years later the number was increased to thirteen. This was a change which completely revolutionized the Territorial government, as it removed the legis- lative power from the Judges.
The period from 1820 to 1830 was one of great im- provement in Michigan. The introduction of steam navigation (1818) and the placing of lands in the market had stimulated emigration. The white popu- lation of the Territory which, in 1820, was less than 9,000 souls, had, by 1830, been increased to over 31,000. The advance in legislation and method of government kept apace with that of material improve- ment. A judiciary system was established and militia organized. In 1827, the elective system was resorted to for the choice of a body of as many mem- bers as the Legislative Council contained, to act in union with that assemblage.
In July, 1831, Gen. Cass resigned his office to take a seat in the cabinet of President Jackson, and Gen. George B. Porter, of Pennsylvania, was ap- pointed Governor in his place, entering upon the dis- charge of the duties of his office in September.
As early as 1830, it had become apparent that Michigan must soon pass from the Territorial to the State form of government. The ordinance of 1787 made provision for the erection of not less than three nor more than five States from the Northwest Terri- tory. Three had been formed prior to 1818, viz., Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. Michigan was entitled to knock at the door of the Union for admittance as a State whenever her free white population should num-
ber 60,000. On the 29th of June, 1832, a statute was passed to call an election on the first Tuesday of October to determine whether it be expedient for the people of this territory to form a State government. " The result of the election," says Judge Campbell (in his Outlines of the Political History of Michigan) " was a very decisive expression in favor of the change." This was the first action taken tending toward the establishment of the State, and it does not appear that there was any other until 1834. In that year, the Territory contained a population of 87,273, as was shown by a census taken by order of the Legisla- tive Council. The increase over the population of 1830 was 61,768. " More people had come into Michigan in four years than the 60,000 which entitled her to become a State,"* and this did not include any part of the emigration into that portion of the territory west of Lake Michigan (Wisconsin). At its session of January, 1835, the council passed an act authorizing the holding of a convention at Detroit on the second Monday of May following, for the purpose of forming a State Constitution. This convention composed of eighty·nine delegates met upon the day specified and continued in session until June 24. A constitution was formed which was submitted to the people upon the first Monday in October, at which time also a full set of State officers, members of the Legislature and a representative to Congress were elected. The consti- tution was ratified, Stevens T. Mason was elected Governor ; Edward Munday, Lieutenant Governor, and Isaac E. Crary, Representative.
Michigan had now two governments, State and Ter- ritorial ; Gov. Mason at the head of the former, which still lacked the recognition of Congress and Secretary (Acting Governor) John S. Horner, who had been appointed just prior to the election, holding his place at the head of the Territorial Government.
The heated controversy in regard to the Southern or Ohio boundary line, which has gone into history under the sanguinary title of "the Toledo war" delayed the adınission of Michigan into the Union. This was a contest between Michigan and Ohio, in regard to the possession of a strip of land extending from the Indiana line eastward to the mouth of the Maumee River, embracing the site of Toledo. It was almost five miles wide at the west end, and eight at its eastern extremity. The land belonged in equity to Michigan, the line which her people claimed being that established by the ordinance of 1787. Action had been taken at various times by the State of Ohio, the Territorial authorities of Michigan and the Con- gress of the United States, looking toward a settle- ment of the rival claims, but nothing definite had
"James V. Campbell's History of Michigan.
28
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
been accomplished. On the 23d of February, 1835, the Ohio Legislature passed a resolution declaring the disputed strip to be the property of Ohio, and pro- viding for the re-survey of the line and the marking of the strip into townships. Michigan had, at this time. held possession of the Territory for thirty years, suc- cessfully opposing attempts to collect taxes under Ohio laws, and the Legislative Council apprehending the action of the Ohio Legislature passed an act on the 12th of February, prohibiting any person or persons from exercising official functions in the Territory of Michi- gan, except upon authority derived from the Territorial Government, or from the United States. The people of the tract in dispute were divided in allegiance between the contesting authorities, some taking sides with Michigan and some with Ohio. On the 9th of March, Gov. Mason ordered Gen. Joseph W. Brown, in command of the Third Division of Michigan Militia, to be ready to repel any invasion of the Territory. Gov. Lucas, of Ohio, with a party of surveyors and about six hundred militia, approached the boundary line about the last of the month. Simultaneously, or nearly so, Gov. Mason marched into Toledo with a force of from eight hundred to twelve hundred men. Gov. Lucas made ready to attack the Michigan army, and serious bloodshed was probably only avoided by the intervention of two Commissioners, sent from Washington to settle the dispute. A truce was patched up, but after a few weeks, Gov. Lucas' surveyors beginning their work, were again attacked and put to flight. The onslaught was a bloodless one. Nine Ohioans were taken prisoners. In Ohio a special session of the Legislature was called to take action upon this insult. It met on the 8th of June, passed an act to prevent the forcible abduction of Ohio citi- zens; one to establish the country of Lucas in the disputed territory, with Toledo as its seat of justice ; another to hold a session of the Circuit Court there on the 7th of September following, and made an appro- priation of $300,000 for carrying on the war. Ten thousand volunteers were raised in short order. Matters were becoming serious. President Jackson advised that the quasi agreement made by the Gov- ernors before the Commissioners be observed, and that the parties abstain from pressing their claims until Congress could meet. Meanwhile the 7th of September approached, and to prevent the holding of the proposed court at Toledo, Gen. Brown repaired to the vicinity with a force of militia, estimated at over twelve hundred. It is said that the court was organ- ized in the night in spite of the watchfulness of the soldiery. However that may have been, Gen. Brown's force was soon after disbanded. In the meantime, numerous arrests had been made, a number of people
imprisoned, some small hostilities engaged in (personal encounters) and a furious indignation aroused.
Such was the condition of things (although actual hostilities had ceased) when on June 15, 1836, Con- gress accepted the Constitution of Michigan, and passed an act, admitting her as a State on condition that she accede to the boundary claims of Ohio. In September, a convention of regularly elected delegates was held at Ann Arbor, to act upon the proposition of Congress and rejected it. On the 14th of December, another convention was held, which was made up entirely of delegates known to be in favor of accept- ing the proposition. This gathering was known from the cold nature of the weather at the time it was held, and from the illegality of its action, as the "Frost- Bitten Convention." The convention voted nnani- mously, and with much alacrity to accept the condi- tions imposed by Congress, and that body acting upon the acceptance formally admitted Michigan as a State upon the 26th of January, 1837. The principal irregularity in the convention lay in the fact that it was not called by the Legislature. Its members and those who had favored it were, for several years, deri- sively dubbed "submissionists." Their submission was, however, an act of great value to Michigan. As an inducement to Michigan to forego claim to the long- disputed strip of land along the southern border, she was given the Upper Peninsula, which has proven a domain of far greater value.
" The State," says Judge Campbell, " was recog- nized when admitted as having existed as such since November, 1835, when the Senators and Repre- sentatives, Governor and Legislature, came into office."
The admission of Michigan into the Union, was further complicated by being connected with the admission of Arkansas. The measure was thus made one of political character.
The seat of government, by act of the Legislature approved March 16, 1847, was removed from Detroit to Lansing.
The new constitution-the one now in force-was adopted by a convention which met at Lansing June 3, 1850, and ratified by the people at the November election following.
AMERICAN GOVERNMENT OF MICHIGAN.
Following are the names of the Chief Executives. who have governed Michigan as a part of the North- west Territory, Indiana Territory, Michigan Terri- tory, and as a State :
Northwest Territory-Gen. Arthur St. Clair- 1787-1800. Winthrop Sargent (Secretary and Act- ing Governor), 1796-1800.
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29
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
Indiana Territory-Gen. William Henry Harrison 1800 to 1805.
Michigan Territory-Gen. William Hull from March 1, 1805, to August 16, 1812. Gen. Lewis Cass from October 13, 1813, to August 1, 1831. (During his administration, William Woodbridge, the Secretary, was Aeting Governor at several periods.) James Witherell, Secretary and Acting Governor from January 1, 1830, to April 2, 1830. Gen. John T. Mason, Secretary and Acting Governor from Sep- tember 24, 1830, to October 4, 1830, and from April 4 to May 27, 1831. Stevens Thomson Mason, Secretary and Acting Governor from August 1, 1831, to September 17, 1831. Gen. George B. Porter, Governor from August 6, 1531, to death, July 6, 1834. Stevens Thomson Mason, Secretary and Acting Governor at various periods from October 30, 1831, to February 7, 1834. Stevens Thomson Mason, ex-officio Governor as Secretary of the Territory, July 6, 1834, to August 29, 1835. Charles Shaler was appointed to succeed Mason as Secretary August 29, 1835, but declined. John S. Horner, Secretary and Acting Governor, September 8, 1835, until after organization of State government.
State Governors under Constitution of 1835- Stevens T. Mason, November 3, 1835, to April 13, 1838. Edward Mundy (Lieutenant Governor and Acting Governor), April 13 to June 12, 1838, and September 19 to December 9, 1838. William Wood- bridge, January 7, 1840, to February 23, 1841. James Wright Gordon (Lieutenant Governor and Acting Governor), February 24, 1841, to January 3, 1842. John S. Barry, Governor, January 3, 1842, to Jan- uary 5, 1846. Alpheus Felch, January 5, 1846, to March 3, 1847. William L. Greenley (Lieutenant Governor and Acting Governor), March 4, 1847, to January 3, 1848. Epaphroditus Ransom, Governor, January 3, 1848, to January 7, 1850. Jobn S. Barry, Governor, January 7, 1850, to January 1, 1852.
Under the Constitution of 1850-Robert McClel- land, January 1, 1852, to January 5, 1853. Andrew Parsons (Lieutenant Governor and Acting Governor), March 8, 1853, to January 3, 1855. Kinsley S. Bingham, January 3, 1855, to January 5, 1859. Moses Wisner, January 5, 1859, to January 2, 1861. Austin Blair, January 2, 1861, to January 4, 1865. Henry HI. Crapo, January 4, 1865, to January 6, 1869. 1Ienry P. Baldwin, January 6, 1869, to Jan- uary 1, 1873. John J. Bagley, January 1, 1873, to January 3, 1877. Charles M. Crosswell, January 3, 1877, to January 1, 1879. David II. Jerome, Jan- uary 1, 1881, to -.
POPULATION.
The population of Michigan (white) at various pe- riods from 1796 to 1880, has been as follows :
1796 (estimated). 3,000
1800.
3,200
1810 ... 4.762
1820
8,896
1830.
31,639
1834
87,273
1840.
212,267
1850
397,6 4
1854 (Stale census)
507.521
1860 (United States census)
749,113
1864 (Slate census)
803,661
1870 (United States census) 1,184,282
1874 (State census). 1,334,031
1880 (United States census )
1,636,335
CHAPTER V.
LAND TITLE AND SURVEY.
Ownership of the Northwest-The Claims of France and England- Of States-Their Cession to the United States-System of Survey Introduced in 1785 - 11s Benefits - Modifications for Michigan- Survey of Cass County Lands-Land Sales at White Pigeon- Unfavorable Report on Michigan Lands-School Lands-Indian Title Extinguished-The Treaty of Chicago in 1821-Other Nego- tiations.
FRANCE, as we have seen, was the first civilized
nation that laid claim to the soil of the territory now included within the boundaries of the State of Michigan, as an integral portion of the great Northwest and the Mississippi Valley. Her claim was based upon the discoveries of La Salle and Marquette, and upon the provisions, subsequently, of several European treaties. The English claims rested on the priority of their occupation of the Atlantic coast in latitude corresponding to the territory claimed, upon an eppo- site construction of the treaties upon which the French relied and npon alleged cession of the rights of the Indians. The last was the principal ground of their claim. As has been heretofore shown in this volume, France successfully resisted the claims of England, and maintained control of the territory between the Ohio, the Mississippi and the lakes, by force of arms, until the treaty of Paris was consummated in 1763. By the provisions of this treaty, Great Britain came into possession of the disputed lands, and retained it until the ownership was vested in the United States and confirmed by the treaty of 1783.
All of England's charters to the colonies expressly extended their grants from sea to sea. From the na- ture of these charters, arose grave trouble when the American confederation was formed. The conflicting claims of States, or more properly colonies, threatened even to disrupt the infant nation. Happily, however, they were ceded within a few years, and all rights and titles were consolidated and vested in the General Gov- ernment. New York State, which had a charter ob- tained from Charles II in March, 1664, embracing
30
HISTORY OF CASS COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
territory west of her borders (which had formerly been granted to Massachusetts and Connecticut) made ces- sion of her claim in 1781. Virginia, with a far more valid title, followed in 1784, making, however, a large reservation (in Ohio). Massachusetts ceded her claims, without reservation, the same year, and Connecticut gave up to Congress all her "right, title, interest, jur- isdiction and claim to the lands northwest of the Ohio, excepting the Connecticut Western Reserve (about 3,300,000 acres of land in Northeastern Ohio) in the year 1786.
METHOD OF SURVEY.
Even before the last of these measures had been consummated, Congress began the consideration of two very important matters-the extinguishment of the Indian title to the soil of the Territory North west of the Ohio River, and a plan for surveying it, prepar- atory to sale and settlement of the lands. Passing, for the present, the former subject, we devote a small space to the consideration of the system of the gov- ernment survey.
The provision under which the lands of the North- west Territory were surveyed into uniform sections and townships was contained in an ordinance passed by Congress May 20, 1785. Time has demonstrated the wisdom of its measures. They were undoubtedly first suggested by Gen. Rufus Putnam, in a letter ad- dressed to George Washington, in June, 1783, and modified in a small degree by William Henry Harri- son when he was the Representative of the North- west Territory in Congress in 1800, but in all essen- ordinance of 1785 has remained unchanged down to the present time. The ordinance provided that "the surveyors, as they are respectively qualified, shall pro- ceed to divide the said Territory into townships of six miles square, by lines running due north and south and others crossing these at right angles as near as may be." * *
The first surveying under the new ordinance was tial particulars the plan of survey prescribed by the done in 1786, in what was known as the "seven ranges " in Eastern Ohio. The first land surveys in Michigan were made in 1816, in the vicinity of the Detroit River.
* " The geographer shall desig- nate the townships or fractional parts of townships by numbers, progressively from south to north, always beginning each range with number one; and the ranges shall be distinguished by their progressive numbers to the westward, the first range, extending from the Ohio to Lake Erie, being marked one. The plats of the townships, respectively, shall be marked by subdivisions into lots of one mile square, or 640 acres, in the same direction as the external lines, and numbered from one to thirty six, always beginning the succeeling range of the lots with the number next to that with which the preceding one concluded."
The division of the land into townships of fixed size paved the way for the introduction of the admira- ble New England system of town or township organ-
ization, of which political economists have had much to say. In nearly all of the Southern States the county is the unit of political organization, the township being scarcely known. Many writers have regarded the systems in vogue in the North and the South as in a large measure affecting the condition of the two sections as regards their general advancement and civilization.
But considered in relation to its more immediate ef- fects, the system of survey and township division which has prevailed in the Northwest Territory has been one of almost incalculable good. Daniel Wester; speaking in the Senate of the United States in 1830, upon the two methods of disposing of the public do- main-the Northern and the Southern-said that the latter-that of warrants and patents -" was one which had shingled over the country in which it had been applied with conflicting titles and claims, causing the two great evils in a new country of spec- ulation and litigation." "From the system actually established" (in the North) said he, "these evils are banished. * In effecting this great system,
* * New England acted with vigor and effect, and the latest posterity of those who settled northwest of the Ohio will have reason to remember with grat- itude her patriotism and her wisdom. New England gave the system to the West, and while it remains, there will be spread all over the West one monument of her intelligence in matters of government and her practical good sense."
In the survey of the public lands of Michigan, there was a departure from some of the minor and unimportant provisions of the ordinance of 1785. A base line and principal meridian were established, and the townships numbered north and south from the former, while the ranges were numbered east and west from the latter. The Michigan meridian was the first one located in the United States public lands, and is called " the First Principal Meridian." It passes through the State (of course, in an axact north north and south direction), from a point where the boundaries of Ohio and of Hillsdale and Lenawee Counties meet, to a point in Cheboygan County, nearly south of Bois Blanc Island. The base line crosses the State from east to west, and forms the northern boundaries of the Counties of Wayne, Washtenaw, Jackson, Calhoun, Kalamazoo and Van Buren.
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