Centennial history of Cincinnati and representative citizens, Vol. I, Pt. 1, Part 15

Author: Greve, Charles Theodore, b. 1863. cn
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1020

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The different manner of occupation by the French and English had a very important bearing on the final result. The French were not a colonizing nation in the true sense and in no place has this national weakness been- made so clear as in the territory northwest of the Ohio. At first the advantage was with the French but by the treaty of Paris, in 1763, the country was lost to them forever. By this treaty taken in connection with a secret treaty of Spain made during the pre- vious year, France lost entirely her foothold on the American continent. Then followed the greatest of all Indian attempts to reclaim the hunting grounds of their fathers,-the last despairing gasp of the red men. Then came a series of negotiations and conferences with the Indians which were finally to result in

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CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF CINCINNATI

complete abandonment of their lands along the Ohio. The Revolutionary War so far as the West was concerned was largely but an incident in the struggle with the red men. The English who used the Indians as their allies and kept possession of the Northwest forts for so long a time were not conscious of the value of the territory involved and their principal purpose was to harass the colonists in the rear. It is not likely that they would easily have yielded possession of this terri- tory had the authorities in London understood its value. The fair fame of England will ever be sullied by her willingness to use the savages as allies in a war against England's own kins-

men. It must be remembered however that despite many statements to the contrary, the colonists of Massachusetts were willing at the outset of the war to receive aid from simi- lar sources.

The result of the War of the Revolution as- sured the settlement of these regions by the Americans. It remained however a mooted question to be settled by much negotiation as to the quarter from which the settlements were to come and the jurisdiction under which they were to be made. With this question a new division of the history of the Northwest opens up.

CHAPTER VI.

THE ORDINANCE OF 1787.

TERRITORIAL CLAIMS OF THE STATES-JEFFERSON'S MANY STATES-EXTINCTION OF INDIAN TITLES --- SQUATTERS ALONG THE OHIO-SURVEYS-THE OHIO COMPANY AND THE ORDINANCE-THE SELECTION OF TERRITORIAL OFFICERS.

By the treaty of 1763 all rights of France in the country which afterwards included the State of Ohio were ceded to Great Britain and the title of the land vested in the crown. By the proclamation of October 7, 1763, this ter- ritory was reserved by the King for the In- dians as hunting grounds and was not opened to settlement or purchase without special leave and license from the crown. The policy of maintaining these, fertile. lands as a hunting ground proved to be a failure, as has been seen. By the Quebec act of 1774, this ter- ritory became incorporated in the Royal Prov- ince of Quebec. The Colony of Virginia how- ever never admitted any question as to its rights within the parallels referred to in its charter west .as far as the Mississippi and in 176g created the county of Botetourt which in- cluded a large tract of land seven hundred miles long extending from the Blue Ridge to · the Mississippi, within which was the territory now known as Hamilton County. It is pleas- ing to know that Virginia exempted the resi- dents of this county, situated on the Missis- sippi, from the payment of any levies for the purpose of building a court house and prison for the county.

TERRITORIAL CLAIMS OF THE STATES.

In 1776 it is said that the present territory of Ohio was included in the section of the State of Virginia called the District of West Augusta and the county of Ohio. After the

conquest of the Illinois country by Clark in 1778 the county of Illinois was created by the Virginia Legislature out of the county of Bote- tourt, including all the territory between the Pennsylvania line, the Mississippi, the Ohio and the lakes. Col. Jolm Todd who after- wards lost his life at the battle of the Blue Licks in 1782 was the first county lieutenant. It is apparent therefore from the foregoing that at the time of the cession by Great Brit- ain to the United States in 1783, of the ter- ritory between the Alleghanies and the Mis- sissippi, there was a serions conflict as to the jurisdiction of these lands. The proclamation of the King in 1763, fixing the Western bonn- dary of the seaboard Colonies as the water- shed between the rivers flowing into the At- lantic and those discharging into the Missis- sippi, although not questioned at the time, was never treated by the colonists during the Rev- olutionary period as of any legal force. Jef- ferson in 1774 in his "Summary View" gave as a theory regarding the ownership of the soil that the soil of the Colonies belonged to the communities by whose exertions it had been converted to the uses of man, that is to the colonists themselves.

The Quebec act of 1774. which extended the limits of Quebec to include the country west of the Alleghanies as far south as the Ohio River, strangely enough contained a reservation that it should not in any wise ef- fect the boundaries of any other colony. This

CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF CINCINNATI

reservation and the clauses of the act reserv- ing the rights of holders of grants from the crown do not seem to have been widely known in America. Virginia's claim covered those of three other states and was based on her charters of 1606, 1609 and 1612 all of which had been annuled in 1624, since which time she had been a royal province. The procla- mation of 1763 certainly disposed of her claim. New York's claim rested upon the various submissions made by the Iroquois League to the Governor of New York. Virginia also claimed by right of conquest as the British posts had been captured by Clark's expedition organized and paid for by the State of Vir- ginia. This latter claim, which after all was the only one of real consequence, was ques- tioned by the other States on the ground that they had all made common cause in securing independence and that accordingly such re- sults as might accrue from the confirmation to them of these unsettled lands at the peace ought to be shared in common by the States, since they had all been instrumental in ac- quiring them. Before the Declaration of In- dependence, it will be remembered that the Continental Congress asked the Colonies to establish governments for themselves. Vir- ginia in her constitution adopted in pursuance with this request ceded to Maryland, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, the territory which had been set apart to them by the King, one hundred and fifty years before; it concluded however with the reservation that the western and northern extent of Virginia should re- main as fixed by the charter of 1609 and the public treaty of peace of 1763. The purchase of lands of Indian nations was forbidden ex- cept by authority of the General Assembly. Of course the proviso was absurd so far as the proclamation of 1763 was concerned for the reason just stated, and the charter of 1609, long since revoked, merely covered the territory from sea to sea west and northwest, -clearly too indefinite a description to be available.

Maryland in 1776, Rhode Island and New Jersey in 1778 urged that the Western lands be sold by the Confederation to defray the expenses of the war and Maryland subse- quently refused to enter the Confederation until this question was settled. Thereupon Virginia arrogantly passed a statute in 1779 opening a land office for the entry of lands west of the Alleghany Mountains. This

brought forth remonstrances from various companies claiming rights under the Walpole grants and by other concessions. Virginia objected to the consideration of these remon- strances as being matters pertaining to her own internal affairs. Maryland at this time secured a passage by Congress of a resolu- tion recommending that Virginia close her land office and at least refrain from issuing land warrants while the war lasted. All the delegates except those of Virginia and North Carolina joined in this recommendation. The commandant at Pittsburg in 1779 reported that he was expelling trespassers from the west side of the Ohio and destroying their cabins. This report which was referred to Virginia with the request that further intru- sion be prevented drew a remonstrance from Virginia on the ground that the United States could have no territory otherwise than in the right of one of the States. The logical result of this claim is pointed out by Mr. King to be that no cession could be obtained by a treaty as a result of the war, and therefore Vir- ginia's own claim would be lost. The contest became a bitter one and aroused much feel- ing. At this juncture however the New York Assembly acting under the advice of Schuy- ler, one of the delegates in Congress from that State, passed an act ceding her Western land to the national government for the com- mon good. It will be remembered that the western boundaries of New York had been fixed in the Quebec act upon the intervention of New York's London agent, Edmund Burke. New York's gift therefore was of all the lands held north and south of the Ohio as far west as the Mississippi River including Kentucky, which she claimed to hold under her treaties with the Six Nations and their conquered trib- utaries. The tenuity of this claim in this respect has been referred to a number of times and therefore the magnanimity of this State in surrendering something which she did not have may not be impressive when viewed at this late date. At the time it had great in- fluence upon Congress. That body having under consideration the complaints of Mary- land and the Virginia remonstrances and the New York cession, finally urged the different States to remove all embarrassment by sur- rendering to the general government their ter- ritorial claims and thus establish "the Federal Union on a fixed and permanent basis and on principles acceptable to all its respective men-

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS

bers." Congress indicated that all lands ceded should be disposed of for the common benefit and formed into new States upon equal foot- ing with the original States. All' expenses incurred by a particular State in subduing any British should be reimbursed by the general government. This last provision was a con- cession to Virginia by reason of her aid to George Rogers Clark. Thomas Paine at this time published his tract called "Public Good" in which he attacked the Virginia claims and urged the forming of a new State in the West and the paying of the debts of the war from the sale of the lands. This was clearly the general trend of public opinion. Connecti- cut had previously offered to give up her title to the lands on condition that she retain jur- isdiction over the territory. The purpose of this, as supported by Alexander Hamilton, was to prevent the forming of New States on the frontier. Virginia by this time perceived that something must be done by her and there- upon on January 2, 1781, she offered to cede her lands northwest of the Ohio upon condition that her lands southeast of that river be guaranteed by the United States and that the claims of all other persons held under royal grants or by purchase from the Indians inconsistent with the charter rights of Vir- ginia should be held void. Congress re- fused to accept such conditions as being in- consistent with the honor, interests and peace of the United States. Maryland, convinced that her point against the acquisition of ter- ritory by individual States was now practical- ly made, joined the Union by signing the Ar- ticles of Confederation on March 1, 1781, This made the United States an accomplished fact. The proper announcement was made to the various States and to foreign countries and to the army.

The proposition made by New York in her deed of cession impressed Congress favorably because by accepting it the United States would acquire all the territory in controversy. For this reason they felt that they could not accept Virginia's cession nor that of Con- necticut as, they were inconsistent with the claims of the national government by this cession of New York. To an observer at this late date it seems surprising that such flimsy rights and such mere- tricious arguments should have endangered the organization of the new government. Finally on March 1, 1784, Virginia ceded

her rights making but two reservations, the first of one hundred and fifty thousand acres promised to George Rogers Clark and his of- ficers and soldiers and the second of a tract between the Scioto and the Little Miami rivers to be used as bounty lands for the Vir- ginia soldiers during the Revolutionary War. Other stipulations provided that the new ter- ritory should be for the common benefit and formed into States not less than a hundred nor more than one hundred and fifty miles square to be admitted into the Union upon an equality with the original States. Other States surrendered their claims in turn, Mass- · achusetts in April, 1785, and Connecticut in 1786. There was reserved to the last State a section of Ohio now known as the Western Reserve, which was peopled subsequently by settlers from Connecticut, just as the Virginia military district lying east of the Little Miami was peopled by settlers from Virginia.

Charles Moore in discussing these land ces- sions gives the moral as follows: "Maryland by standing out for the national ownership and control of the Northwest brought about a result of tremendous benefit to the United States; New York by giving up early what she never had won for herself great credit ; Virginia generously made a distinct sacrifice of dearly conquered territory over which she was actually exercising jurisdic- tion; Massachusetts quit claimed a title she could not defend ; and Connecticut gained an empire to which she was not entitled but which she put to the very best of uses."

Mr. King calls attention to the fact that there is still an open question between the States on the opposite banks of the Ohio as to their respective jurisdiction over its waters. It has been deter- mined that Virginia and Kentucky did not ex- tend further than low water mark on the northern shore but "whether they extended to that line is as yet unsettled." As a matter of fact the con- stant practice of courts particularly those in which admiralty questions have arisen has been to accept this line as a boundary.

JEFFERSON'S MANY STATES.

The first proposition with relation to the divis- ion of the Northwestern lands was to divide them into States of not less than one hundred nor more than one hundred and fifty miles square. Jeffer- son was made chairman of the committee to enter into the details of the organization of the new country. He reported on March 1, 1784, an or-

CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF CINCINNATI

dinance somewhat in accord with the idea just mentioned. His plan however included not only. the territory northwest of the Ohio but the coun- try of Virginia and the other Southern States across the mountains from which slavery was to be excluded after the year 1800. The scheme contemplated fourteen States south of the 45th parallel and north of the 3Ist parallel. The whole Western country was to be divided by lines of latitude two degrees apart intersected by the meridians of longitude drawn through the mouth of the Kanawha and the falls of the Ohio. The inost westerly north and south column would in- clude six States south of the 43rd parallel and one above lying west of Lake Michigan and the sec- ond lying still farther north reaching to Canada. The States south of the 43rd parallel were to have for their castern boundary a meridian cutting the falls of the Ohio. Clark had already founded at this point, Louisville, a town which now in- cluded about one hundred houses and the only store in the Ohio Valley which was supplied with stock by traders passing up and down the river from Pittsburg. North of the 43rd parallel and lying between Lakes Michigan and Huron was to be another State and south of that four which would reach to the 35th parallel. The country further to the south and cast of the meridian of the falls was to be joined to South Carolina and Georgia. The eastern boundary of the second column of States was as has been said the merid -. ian of the mouth of the Kanawha. By this ar- rangement an irregular piece of territory was left to the east of the Kanawha meridian extending to the Allegheny River and the western boun- daries of Pennsylvania and to Lake Erie; this was to be another State. This scheme would di- vide Ohio into two States lying between the 37th and 39th parallels.

Jefferson not only provided this checker-board division into states but supplied the names. The most northerly State was to be called Sylvania ; to the west of Lake Michigan was to be Michigania and at the cast Chersonesus ; next south came As- senisipia and Metropotamia and next there came Illinoia and Saratoga. Polypotamia included the country with the many rivers joining the lower Ohio; to the east of this and in the main south of the river Ohio lay Pelisipia. The irregular State just west of Pennsylvania was to be called Washi- ington. Northern Ohio was in Metropotamia ; the rest of the State would have been divided be- tween Washington and Pelisipia. Pelisipy seems to have been another name for the Ohio River. These States were to be admitted to the confed-

eration as they reached a population equal to the smallest of the original States. Jefferson's fa- mous anti-slavery proposal was as follows : "That after the year 1800 of the Christian era there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in any of the said States otherwise than in pun- ishment of crime whereof the party shall have been convicted to have been personally guilty."

The ordinance was recommitted and after some modifications reported March 22nd. Amendments made other changes in its provisions. The won- derful names were given up. The Ohio River was selected as a boundary between the States of Saratoga and Pelisipia. The territory from the 45th.parallel northward was added to Michigania and the slavery clause was dropped. In its new form the ordinance was adopted April 23, 1784. It provided that the States could adopt a consti- tution like that of any of the original States and that when they reached a population of twenty thousand they could be admitted to Congress by delegates and would have a right to vote when- ever the census showed their State to have a pop- ulation equal to that of the smallest of the old States. As a supplement to this ordinance, Mr. King of Massachusetts introduced on March 16, 1785, another provision with relation to slavery. This was as follows : "That there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in any of the States described in the resolve of Congress of April 23, 1784, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes whereof the party shall have been per- sonally guilty and that this regulation shall be an article of compact and remain a fundamental prin- ciple of the constitutions between the thirteen original States and cach of the States described in said resolve of the 23d of April, 1784."

This proposition was referred to a committee who reported on April 6th, but no definite action was taken at the time. It was clear however by the ordinance and various resolutions that Con- gress was committed to the retention of the Northwest Territory, forever as a part of the United States, and secondly that some provision in opposition to slavery was bound to be in- corporated in the final scheme of organization.

EXTINCTION OF INDIAN TITLES.

Necessary steps preliminary to such an organi- zation were the extinction of any Indian titles and proper surveys. To attain the first object Con- gress established in 1784 a board of commission- ers to treat with the Indians. The red men by the treaty of 1768 and by the treaty of Fort Stan-

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS

wix recognized the Ohio as the boundary between them and the whites and were not disposed to make any concessions with regard to the lands on the northwest bank of that river. Joseph Brant ( Thayendanegea ) the leader of the Mohawks and practically of the Six Nations had already formed a confederacy with the Western and Lake Indians for the protection of the Indian lands as far south as the Ohio. This remarkable Indian, the brother of Sir William Johnson's Molly Brant, visited England in 1785 to obtain compensation from the British for the losses incurred by the Mohawks during the Revolution. While there he received the welcome accorded to foreign sovereigns and was wined and dined by the royal family, states- men, wits and ladies of quality. The Prince of Wales, Burke, Fox, Sheridan, Sir Guy Carleton, -the new Governor of Canada,-all vied with each other to do him honor and he was the sen- sation of the time. At a masque ball, the Turk- ish diplomat tried to examine his painted nose, which he thought was false, whereupon Brant re- sented the indignity with a war whoop that would have done honor to one of Pontiac's braves, Upon his return he was able to strengthen the deter- mination of the Indians to adhere to their claims with regard to the lands above the Ohio. In No- vember, 1786, the united Indian nations held their first conference at the rapids of the Maumee and prepared an address to their "Brethren of the Thirteen United States of America." In this they deplored their not being included in the peace made with Great Britain and gave notice that in the future no council would be held legal unless the entire confederacy gave its assent. They said they were ready to make a lasting treaty of peace but on one condition; that was that the surveyors and "others that march on land" must cease crossing the Ohio until they had 'come to terms. The address concluded with this warning : "Brothers! it will be owing to your arrogance if this laudable plan which we so earn- estly wish for is not carried into execution. In that ease the result will be very precarious and if fresh ruptures ensue we are sure we will be able to exculpate ourselves and most assuredly with our united force be obliged to defend those immunities which the Great Spirit has been pleased to give us; and if we then should be re- dueed to misfortune, the world will pity us when they think of the amicable proposals we made to prevent the effusion of unnecessary blood."

This address represented the feelings of the tribes of the Northwestern confederaey which in- cluded the Six Nations, Hurons, Delawares,

Shawanees, Ottawas, Chippewas, Pottawatta- mies, Cherokees, Wabash Confederates and Miamis.

Congress however had all the time refused to pay any attention to this confederacy and through its commissioners had been negotiating with separate bands of savages. Richard Butler, Oli- ver Wolcott and Arthur Lee met the New York Indians at Fort Stanwix in October, 1784, where a treaty was made which shut off the Iroquois from any advance along the southern shores of Lake Erie. The Wyandots, Delawares, Chippe- was and Ottawas were met at Fort McIntosh in January, 1785, by Isaac Lane, George Rogers Clark and Samuel H. Parsons, and a treaty was agreed upon surrendering certain lands in the northwestern part of the State of Ohio to the In- (lians forever, except certain reserve tracts about six miles square about the military posts. This reserve region ran along the south shore of Lake Erie from Cayahoga to the Maumee and as far south as the portage between the Miami and the Maumee. It was this reservation which made it impossible for the Symmes grant, subsequently made, to include the number of acres originally contemplated.

SQUATTERS ALONG THE OHIO.

What were called by many the "lawless emi- grants" were not waiting for treaties and acts of Congress but settlers were pushing to the West and into the lands north of the Ohio. Governor Henry of Virginia warned the intruders of the dangers incurred and General Harmar, in the spring, sent a force along the north bank of the Ohio as far as Wheeling to dispossess the squat- ters; the officer in command reported that there were one hundred more extending as far west as the Miami. Harmar issued a proclamation on April 2, 1785, and by May Ist reported that the cabins of the squatters had been burned. It was estimated however that by the elose of 1785 there were something like fifty thousand souls west of Pittsburg including English, Scotch, Irish and German and in 1786 their numbers were suffi- cient to warrant the setting up of the first news- paper west of the Alleghanies, the Pittsburg Ga- cette. The emigrants were at the rate of from five to twenty thousand a year and their boats within twelve months reached the number of a thousand most of which were for the Kentucky side. Some however attempted settlements on the north.

In fact the principal efforts of the goverment

CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF CINCINNATI

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Centennial history of Cincinnati and representative citizens, Vol. I, Pt. 1, Part 15

Author: Greve, Charles Theodore, b. 1863. cn Publication date: 1904 Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1020

Author: Greve, Charles Theodore, b. 1863. cn
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1020