USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > Centennial history of Cincinnati and representative citizens, Vol. I, Pt. 1 > Part 17
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to the advancement of liberal learning." (Win- sor, The Westward Movement, p. 283.)
After forty-eight hours' deliberation the com- mittee brought in a new measure which after be- ing debated and amended on July 12, was passed by a unanimous vote on July 13, 1787, all the States present voting for it. The amendment was the provision concerning slavery. This was not reported back with the ordinance but was proposed by Nathan Dane of Massachusetts and agreed to with but one dissenting vote. Says Senator Hoar in his Marietta address :
"To Nathan Dane belongs the immortal honor of having been the draughtsman of the statute and the mover of the anti-slavery amendment. His monument has been erected, in imperishable granite, by the greatest of American architects, among the mass of columns of the great argument in reply to Hayne. But the leg- islative leadership was Virginia's. From her came the great weight of Washing- ton, in whose heart the scheme of Ru- fus Putnam for the colonization of the West oc- cupied a place second only to that of the Union itself. Hers was the great influence of Jefferson, burning with the desire that his country in her first great act of national legislation should make the doctrines of the Declaration of Independence a reality. From her came Carrington, chairman of the committee; Lee, its foremost member ; and Grayson, then in the chair of the Congress, who, Mr. Bancroft says, 'gave, more than any other man in Congress, efficient attention to the territo- rial question, and whose record against slavery is clearer than that of any other Southern man who was present in 1787.''
This statement is open to discussion. Dane claimed the authorship of the anti-slavery amendment in a number of statements made on the subject. In a letter to Rufus King of July 16, 1787, three days after the ordinance was passed he said: "When I drew the or- dinance (which passed a few words excepted, as I originally formed it) I had no idea the States would agree to the sixth article pro- hibiting slavery as only Massachusetts of the Eastern States was present, and therefore omitted it in the draft. But finding the house favorably disposed on this subject after we had completed the other parts I moved this article which was agreed to without opposi- tion." At a later. time Mr. Dane compiled his well known "Dane's Abridgment" which was a digest of the laws of the States. In this work, speaking of the Ordinance of 1787,
he incidentally says: "This ordinance formed by the author of this work was framed mainly from the laws of Massachusetts, etc." This statement was in the seventh volume issued in 1824. In volume nine issued in 1830, Dane being disturbed by the statements in the great debate in the Senate on Foote's resolutions made a more explicit statement. In that great debate Senators Benton and Hayne by their allusions to Dane and the ordinance had called from Webster his celebrated statement with regard to the ordinance and its authorship in which Mr. Webster states explicitly "it so happened that he drew the ordinance of 1787 for the government of the Northwestern Ter- ritory." Mr. Dane in his statement traces the history of the amendment mainly for the pur- pose of refuting Benton's statement that the ordinance was chiefly copied from the plan of Jefferson. As to the main body of the ordi- nance the statement is not important but Mr. Dane's statement with reference to the slavery article is interesting. He states distinctly that it was originally reported in 1784 by a committee consisting of Jefferson, Chase and Howell. As already stated in this chapter it admitted slavery to the year 1800 and for all time, in certain considerable portions of the Territory. He admits that he took from Mr. King in 1785 the words of his article as to time and extent of territory in which freedom was to be granted. Certain other provisions were taken from Mr. Jefferson's resolutions of 1784.
The question of the verbal authorship of the ordinance is not so important however as that of the influences which secured its en- actment. There can be no question that the sentiment in favor of the anti-slavery provis- ion was in the air. The resolutions of Jef- ferson in 1784 and those of King in 1785 showed this clearly. Dr. Cutler has been credited with the greatest influence in secur- ing the incorporation of this article in the ordinance and the statement has even been made that he brought it already prepared from New England and forced it on the committee of Congress as a prerequisite to his land pur- chase. There is no evidence whatsoever to support any such statement. Senator Hoar in his celebrated address particularly dis- claims such an idea. Cutler went to New York expecting to purchase lands under the Ordinance of 1784 provided he could make suitable arrangements with the Treasury
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Board. His appearance with the money to purchase the Western lands came at a fortu- nate time and gave encouragement to those who favored the insertion of the anti-slavery limitation. As a result after the ordinance was reported Dane was emboldened to propose the amendment prohibiting slavery and it was car- ried with one dissenting vote. As to the ordi- nance, its subsequent critics have naught but words of praise. Webster denominated it "as a measure of great wisdom and foresight and one which had been attended with highly beneficial and permanent consequences." He further stated "We are accustomed to praise the law givers of antiquity ; we help to per- petuate the fame of Solon and Lycurgus but I doubt whether one single law of any law giver ancient or modern has produced effects of more distinct, marked and lasting character than the Ordinance of 1787." Judge Cooley. speaks of . it as "immortal for the grand re- sults which have followed from its adoption, not less than for the wisdom and far-seeing statesmanship that conceived and gave form to its provisions. No charter of government in the history of any people has so completely withstood the tests of time and experience : it had not a temporary adaptation to a particu- lar emergency, but its principles were for all time, and worthy of acceptance under all cir- cumstances. It has been the fitting model for all subsequent territorial government in America."
Cooley accredits to Jefferson the honor of first formulating the purpose of dedicating the Territory to freedom and says that "for him it constitutes a claim to immortality superior to the presidency itself. The one was proof of his greatness and far-seeing statesmanship ; the bestowment of the other evidenced only the popular favor. The ordinance was the beginning of the end of American slavery. It checked at the banks of the Ohio the ad- vance of a system fruitful of countless evils, social and political; and the opponents of the system found in its mandate of uncompromis- ing prohibition an inspiration and a prophecy of final triumph in their subsequent warfare."
Senator Hoar in his great address at Mari- etta says: " The ordinance belongs with the Declaration of Independence and the Consti- tution. It is one of the three great title deeds of American constitutional liberty."
The ordinance provided that the Territory, which included two hundred and seventy thou-
sand five hundred and fifty square miles or thereabouts, a country much larger than any known in Europe except Russia and twice as large as Great Britain and Ireland combined was to be one district subject to be divided into two. It also made provision for the descent and distribution of the States, reserving to the French and Canadians their own laws and customs. There was to be a Governor whose commission was for three years who must re- side in the district and have a freehold es- tate therein of a thousand acres of land; a Secretary commissioned for four years who must reside in the district and must have a freehold estate of five hundred acres of land ; and a court of three judges any two of whom would form the court with common law juris- diction who must reside in the district and have each a freehold estate of five hundred acres of land. The Governor and judges or a majority of them were empowered to adopt and publish such laws of the original States as might be necessary and report them to Con- gress. These laws were to be in force and in effect until the organization of the General Assembly unless disapproved by Congress. The Governor was to be the commander in chief of the militia with the power of appoint- ing all the officers below the rank of general officer which last named officers were to be commissioned by Congress. Magistrates and other officers were to be appointed by the Gov- ernor until such time as the General Assembly should be organized. The Governor was to divide the district into counties and town- ships. Provisions were made for the election of a General Assembly. A property qualifi- cation was provided for both representatives and electors. The General Assembly was to consist of the Governor and a Legislative Council of five members and a House of Rep- resentatives. The Legislative Council was to be nominated by the House of Representatives and appointed by Congress from ten nomina- tions submitted for the five places. The Gov- ernor was given the veto power. Provision was also made for the election of delegates to Congress. In conclusion the ordinance contained six articles of compact between the original States and the people and States of the Territory, to remain unalterable forever except by common consent. The first article guaranteed religious liberty ; the second the writ of habeas corpus, trial by jury, propor- tionate representation, right of bail, moderate
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fines, freedom from cruel or unusual punish- ment, the immunity from the taking of liberty or property except by the law of the land, the right of compensation for property taken for public use and the inviolability of private con- tracts. Article three begins as follows: " Re- ligion, morality and knowledge being neces- sary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of educa- tion shall be forever encouraged." The re- inainder of the section is devoted to the pro- tection of the rights of the Indians. Article four provides that the Territory shall remain forever a part of the United States and for the payment by its citizens of their share of Federal taxes. The legislatures of the new States are prohibited from interfering with the primary disposal. of the soil by Congress and from levying any tax on lands the prop- erty of the United States and from levying higher taxes upon non-residents than upon residents. The navigable waters are declared to be common highways. Article five pro- vides that there shall be formed in said Ter- ritory not less than three nor more than five States but fixes the boundaries to take effect as soon as Virginia shall consent to the same. The eastern State provided for was to be bounded by a direct line drawn north from the mouth of the Great Miami to the territorial line between the United States and Canada, by said territorial line and Pennsylvania and the Ohio River. Provision is made by which Con- gess can alter the boundaries and for the ad- mission of the States into the Union. Article six is the slavery section and reads "there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servi- tude in the said Territory otherwise than in the punishment of crimes whereof the party shall have been duly convicted; provided al- ways that any person escaping into the same, from whom labor or service is lawfully claimed in any one of the original States, such fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed and con- veyed to the person claiming his or her labor or service as aforesaid."
As soon as the ordinance had been passed the next point for Cutler to consider was the law for the sale of lands. It is apparent that at this stage much political manoeuvering be- came necessary. Cutler soon found that Gen- eral St. Clair who was at that time the presi- dent of Congress wanted to be Governor of the Northwest Territory. The Ohio Com- pany had selected General Parsons for this
office but it soon became apparent that St. Clair's influence was necessary and Cutler 'was prevailed upon to support St. Clair. Under this arrangement Parsons was shifted to a judgeship. Mr. Smith in his "St. Clair Papers " resents the suggestion that St. Clair was influenced by the offer of this position and devotes considerable space to a discus- sion to prove that St. Clair was not a party to any arrangement of the kind. Cutler's own diary however leaves no doubt as to the im- pression on his mind. St. Clair was not pres- ent on July 13th, at the time the ordinance was passed but returned to New York on the 17th. On the 18th Cutler records that he paid his respects to the President of Congress, Gen- eral St. Clair. On the 23rd appears the fol- lowing entry :
"Spent the evening with Colonel Grayson and members of Congress from the south- ward, who were in favor of a contract. Hav- ing found it impossible to support General Parsons as a candidate for Governor, after the interest that General St. Clair had secured, and suspecting this might be some impedi- ment in the way, for my endeavors to make interest for him were well known, and - the arrangement of civil officers being on the car- pet, I embraced this opportunity frankly to declare that, for my own part, I ventured to engage for Major Sargent that, if General Parsons could have the appointment of First Judge, and Sargent, Secretary, we should be satisfied; and that I heartily wished his Ex- cellency, General St. Clair, might be the Gov- ernor; and that I would solicit the Eastern members to favor such an arrangement. This I found rather pleasing to the Southern mem- bers, and they were so complaisant as to ask, repeatedly, what office would be agreeable to me in the Western country. I assured them that I wished for no appointment in the civil line.
"July 26. This morning I accompanied Generals St. Clair and Knox on a tour of morning visits and, particularly, to the For- eign Ministers. Being now eleven o'clock, General St. Clair was obliged to at- tend Congress. After we came into the street, General St. Clair assured me, he would make every possible exertion to prevail with Con- gress, to accept the terms contained in our letter. He appeared much interested and very friendly ; but said we must expect opposition. I was now fully convinced that it was good
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policy to give up Parsons, and openly to ap- pear solicitous that St. Clair might be appoint- ed Governor. Several gentlemen have told me that our matters went on much better since St. Clair and his friends had been informed that we had given up Parsons, and that I had solicited the Eastern members, in favor of his appointment."
On the 23rd Congress authorized the Board of Treasury to sell to the Ohio Company a tract lying between the seven ranges and the Scioto and beginning on the east five miles away from the left bank of the Muskingum. This tract was supposed to contain one and a half million acres and they were to be paid for it a million dollars in soldiers' certificates, one- half down and the other half when the land was surveyed. Cutler discovered that it was advisable to conciliate Colonel Duer, secre- tary of the Board of Treasury, and land spec- ulator and the "representative of some of the principal characters in the city " and devised a new scheme. This New England parson and agent of the Ohio Company, and above all first-class politician, without saying anything to his principals, enlarged his proposition to include five million acres of land for which he offered three and a half millions of dollars. As a result on July 27th, Congress approved a contract which was satisfactory to the Doc- tor. "By this ordinance, we obtained the grant of near five millions of acres of land, amounting to three millions and a half of dol-
lars. One million and a half of acres for the Ohio Company, and the remainder for a pri- vate speculation, in which many of the princi- pal characters in America are concerned. Without connecting this speculation, similar terms and advantages could not have been ob- tained for the Ohio Company." The private speculation became known as the Scioto pur- chase. This scheme which was not carried out by the principal characters in America, is as good an illustration of practical politics as the history of our country can present. On the day that the bargain was clinched Cutler and Sar- gent, to whom the grant had been made, sold a half interest to Col. William Duer who agreed on his part to advance the money to help meet the payment on the whole.
THE SELECTION OF TERRITORIAL OFFICERS.
All the other terms of the compact having been complied with it remained to carry out the election of officers who had been agreed upon. On Friday, October 5, 1787, Congress clected the officers for the new government. Arthur St. Clair was elected the Governor and Winthrop Sargent, Secretary. Samuel Holden Parsons, John Armstrong and James Mitchell Varnum were elected the judges of the Terri- tory. Mr. Armstrong declined the appoint- ment and on February 19, 1788, John Cleves Symmes was appointed in his place. The ap- pointments took effect as of February 1, 1788.
CHAPTER VII.
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
THE OFFICERS OF THE TERRITORY-THE SETTLEMENT OF MARIETTA-THE ESTABLISHMENT OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT-THE JUDGES OF THE TERRITORY-THE ERECTION OF WASHINGTON COUNTY --- CAPTAIN BRANT AND LOUISA ST. CLAIR-THE TREATY OF FORT HARMAR-THE SETTLEMENT OF GALLIPOLIS.
The territory of the United States north- west of the Ohio River whose formation has been discussed in the preceding chapter was the first important addition to the original Colonies. From the land within its limits was subsequently formed the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin, States which have certainly contributed their share of prosperity and happiness to the life of the country. Not the least important ele- ment in the subsequent development of this vast region was the character of the men who were chosen to govern it at the outset. Al- though the population was small and although the contact of the settlers with the governing officials was in many instances a very rare occurrence, the character of these officials made a great impression upon the people whom they served. It is true that these of- ficials were not at all times in entire har- mony with each other but this lack of harmony had no serious effect upon their relations to the community and was in fact largely due to honest difference of opinion with regard to governmental measures. The vast terri- tory which had for so long a time been a wil- derness given over to savages and wild beasts and which had enjoyed practically no govern- ment when under. French or English occupa- tion was impressed from the outset with the fact that it was an organized community to be governed under the forms of law and that the period of irresponsibility had passed. Much of this was due to the personality of the of- ficials all of whom were men of very high
standing and of education. Five of the six men originally chosen for the important of- fices in the Territory had received a college education. St. Clair had been educated at the University of Edinburgh; Sargent and Parsons were graduates of Harvard; Varnum was a graduate of Brown; Armstrong had been a student at Princeton and Symmes who was appointed in his place was a man of edu- cation who had served for many years in many responsible positions including twelve years as judge. Men of this character were fully convinced of the importance of a well ordered government and it is largely due to their strict adherence to their ideas of duty that the Territory over which they presided became from the first a law abiding communi- ty.
THE OFFICERS OF THE TERRITORY.
Arthur St. Clair the newly appointed Gov- ernor was a Scotchman. He was a relative (sometimes said to be the grandson) of the Earl of Roslyn. He was born in Thurso in 1734 and was educated at the University of Edinburgh and studied medicine under the celebrated Dr. Hunter of London. Inheriting a large sum of money from his mother he purchased a commission of ensign in the Eng- lish Army and came to America in 1758. He participated in the capture of Louisburg and distinguished himself under Wolfe at Quebec. In 1760 lie married at Boston the half-sister or niece of Governor Bowdoin. He resigned his commission in 1762 and in 1764 he set-
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tled in the Ligonier Valley in Pennsylvania where with his inherited wealth and the for- tune brought to him by his wife he purchased a large quantity of land and built large mills and a handsome dwelling house. He became in time the owner of eleven thousand acres of land. He held various offices including that of surveyor, jus- tice of the Court of Common Pleas, mem- ber of the Governor's Council, recorder of deeds and the like and was one of the most prominent citizens in his community. At the time of Dunmore's War the unprincipled Dr. John Connolly representing Governor Dun- more of Virginia in the controversy with Pennsylvania as to the jurisdiction of the head waters of the Ohio took possession of Fort Pitt. St. Clair, who was then a magis- trate, had Connolly arrested on a warrant and committed to jail. As a result of this, Lord Dunmore insisted that St. Clair should be dis- missed from office but Governor Penn de- clined to remove him. "Mr. St. Clair is a gentleman," said Governor Penn, "who for a long time had the honor of serving his majes- ty in the regulars with reputation, and in every station of life has preserved the character of a very honest, worthy man." St. Clair be- came colonel of the militia in 1785 and ac- companied the commissioners to negotiate with the Indians at Fort Pitt, as their secre- tary. He served in Canada in 1776 and in August was made a brigadier-general. He joined Washington's army in November. He was engaged actively in New Jersey until April 17, 1777, when he was placed in com- mand at Ticonderoga which he was obliged to evacuate on July 4th, by reason of the pres- ence of Burgoyne in overwhelming strength. He then became a member of Washing- ton's official family commanding for a time the light infantry in the absence of La- fayette. As much criticism has been aroused by his conduct during the war, criti- cism which was part of the attacks made upon Washington and liis favorite generals, he de- manded a court martial which acquitted him of the charges made against him with the highest honor. He was a member of the court martial which tried Major Andre and was obliged to vote with the others the penalty of death. He was in command at West Point during the latter part of 1780 and aided in suppressing the mutiny of the Pennsylvania troops in January of the next year. He afterwards joined Washington
and participated in the capture of Cornwallis and finally led a body of troops to join Greene in South Carolina. The war left St. Clair an impoverished man. He was elected as a dele- gate to Congress and became president of that body in the year 1787, resigning that position. to accept the governorship of the Northwest Ter- ritory.
Winthrop Sargent, the Secretary of the Terri- tory was from Massachusetts, and a graduate of Harvard in 1781. He served throughout the war with success and was a major at its termina- tion. He became connected with the Ohio Com- pany in 1786 and was a surveyor in the North- west Territory and was subsequently Adjutant- General under St. Clair and under Wayne, and was made Governor of the new Territory of Mississippi in 1798, dying in New Orleans on June 3, 1820.
Samuel Holden Parsons was born in Connecti- cut May 14, 1737, and graduated at Harvard in 1756. He was a Representative in the Connecti- cut Assembly for eighteen sessions. At the out- break of the Revolution he was made a colonel in a militia regiment and took part in the siege of Boston. In 1776 he became a brigadier-gen- eral and as such engaged in the battle on Long Island. In 1779 he succeeded General Putnam as commander of the Connecticut line. In the following year hc was commissioned a major- general. He had taken part as commissioner in thie negotiations with the Indians. He subse- quently settled in the new Territory and was drowned in the Big Bcaver River, November 17, 1789.
James Mitchell Varnum was born in Massa- chusetts, December 17, 1748, and graduated at what is now known as Brown University in 1769. He served throughout the Revolutionary War becoming a brigadier-general in 1777. He resigned in 1779 and was chosen major-general of the militia which office he held until his death. He served in the Continental Congress from 1780 until 1782 and in 1786 and 1787 and was remarkable for liis wonderful gift of clo- quence. He removed to Marietta June, 1788, and held his office until the time of his death, January 10, 1789.
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