History of Licking County, Ohio: Its Past and Present, Part 15

Author: N. N. Hill, Jr.
Publication date: 1881
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 826

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"This great and abiding peace document was signed by the various tribes, and dated August 3, 1795. It was laid before the Senate December 9, and ratified the 22d. So closed the old Indian wars in the West." *

* Annals of the West."

CHAPTER VIII.

JAY'S TREATY-THE QUESTION OF STATE RIGHTS AND NATIONAL SUPREMACY-EXTENSION OF OHIO SETTLEMENTS-LAND CLAIMS-SPANISH BOUNDARY QUESTION.

W HILE these six years of Indian wars were in progress, Kentucky was admitted as a State, and Pinckney's treaty with Spain was com- pleted. This last occurrence was of vital impor- tance to the West, as it secured the free navigation of the Mississippi, charging only a fair price for the storage of goods at Spanish ports. This, though not all that the Americans wished, was a great gain in their favor, and did much to stop those agitations regarding a separation on the part of Kentucky. It also quieted affairs further south than Kentucky, in the Georgia and South Carolina Territory, and put an end to French and Spanish intrigue for the Western Territory. The treaty was signed November 24, 1794. Another treaty was concluded by Mr. John Jay between the two governments, Lord Greenville representing the English, and Mr. Jay, the Ameri- cans. The negotiations lasted from April to November 19, 1795, when, on that day, the treaty was signed and duly recognized. It decided effectually all the questions at issue, and was the signal for the removal of the British troops from the Northwestern outposts. This was effected as soon as the proper transfers could be made. The second article of the treaty provided that, "His Majesty will withdraw all his troops and garrisons from all posts and places within the boundary lines assigned by the treaty of peace to the United States. This evacuation shall take place on or before the 1st day of June, 1796, and all the proper measures shall be taken, in the interval, by concert, between the Government of the United States and His Majesty's Governor General in America, for settling the previous arrangements

which may be necessary respecting the delivery of the said posts; the United States, in the mean time, at their discretion, extending their settle- ments to any part within the said boundary line, except within the precincts or jurisdiction of any of the said posts.

" All settlers and all traders within the precincts or jurisdiction of the said posts shall continue to enjoy, unmolested, all their property of every kind, and shall be protected therein. They shall be at full liberty to remain there or to remove with all, or any part, of their effects, or retain the property thereof at their discretion; such of them as shall continue to reside within the said boundary lines, shall not be compelled to become citizens of the United States, or take any oath of allegiance to the Government thereof; but they shall be at full liberty so to do, if they think proper; they shall make or declare their election one year after the evacuation aforesaid. And all persons who shall continue therein after the expiration of the said year, without having declared their intention of remaining subjects to His Britannic Majesty, shall be considered as having elected to become citizens of the United States."

The Indian war had settled all fears from that source; the treaty with Great Britain had estab- lished the boundaries between the two countries and secured peace, and the treaty with Spain had secured the privilege of navigating the Mississippi, by paying only a nominal sum. It had also bound the people of the West together, and ended the old separation question. There was no danger from that now. Another difficulty arose, however, relating to the home rule, and the organization of

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the home government. There were two parties in the country, known as Federalist and Anti-Federal- ist. One favored a central government, whose au- thority should be supreme; the other, only a compact, leaving the States supreme. The worth- lessness of the old colonial system became, daily, more apparent. While it existed no one felt safe. There was no prospect of paying the debt, and, hence, no credit. When Mr. Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury, offered his financial plan to the country, favoring centralization, it met, in many places, violent opposition. Washington was strong enough to carry it out, and gave evidence that he would do so. When, therefore, the excise law passed, and taxes on whisky were collected, an open revolt occurred in Pennsylvania, known as the " Whisky Insurrection." It was, put down, finally, by military power, and the malcontents made to know that the United States was a gov- ernment, not a compact liable to rupture at any time, and by any of its members. It taught the entire nation a lesson. Centralization meant pres- ervation. Should a " compact" form of government prevail, then anarchy and ruin, and ultimate sub- jection to some foreign power, met their view. That they had just fought to dispel, and must it all go for naught? The people saw the rulers were right, and gradually, over the West, spread a spirit antagonistic to State supremacy. ' It did not revive till Jackson's time, when he, with an iron hand and iron will, crushed out the evil doctrine of State supremacy. It revived again in the late war, again to be crushed. It is to be hoped that ever thus will be its fate. "The Union is insepa- rable," said the Government, and the people echoed the words.

During the war, and while all these events had been transpiring, settlements had been taking place upon the Ohio, which, in their influence upon the Northwest, and especially upon the State, as soon as it was created, were deeply felt. The Virginia and the Connecticut Reserves were at this time peopled, and, also, that part of the Miami Valley about Dayton, which city dates its origin from that period.

As carly as 1787, the reserved lands of the Old Dominion north of the Ohio were examined, and, in August of that year, entries were made. As no good title could be obtained from Congress at this time, the settlement practically ceased until 1790, when the prohibition to enter them was withdrawn. As soon as that was done, surveying began again. Nathaniel Massie was among the

foremost men in the survey of this tract, and lo- cating the lands, laid off a town about twelve miles above Maysville. The place was called Manchester, and yet exists. From this point, Massie continued through all the Indian war, despite the danger, to survey the surrounding country, and prepare it for settlers.

Connecticut had, as has been stated, ceded her lands, save a tract extending one hundred and twenty miles beyond the western boundary of Pennsylvania. Of this Connecticut Reserve, so far as the Indian title was extinguished, a survey was ordered in October, 1786, and an office opened for its disposal. Part was soon sold, and, in 1792, half a million of acres were given to those citizens of Connecticut who had lost property by the acts of the British troops during the Revolutionary war at New London, New Haven and elsewhere. These lands thereby became known as " Fire lands" and the "Sufferer's lands," and were located in the western part of the Reserve. In May, 1795, the Connecticut Legislature authorized a committee to dispose of the remainder of the Reserve. Before autumn the committee sold it to a company known as the Connecticut Land Company for $1,200,000, and about the 5th of September quit-claimed the land to the Company. The same day the Company received it, it sold 3,000,000 acres to John Mor- gan, John Caldwell and Jonathan Brace, in trust. Upon these quit-claim titles of the land all deeds in the Reserve are based. Surveys were com- menced in 1796, and, by the close of the next year, all the land east of the Cuyahoga was divided into townships five miles square. The agent of the Connecticut Land Company was Gen. Moses Cleve- land, and in his honor the leading city of the Re- serve was named. That township and five others were reserved for private sale; the balance were disposed of by lottery, the first drawing occurring in February, 1798.

Dayton resulted from the treaty made by Wayne. It came out of the boundary ascribed to Symmes, and for a while all such lands were not recognized as sold by Congress, owing to the failure of Symmes and his associates in paying for them. Thereby there existed, for a time, considerable un- easiness regarding the title to these lands. In 1799, Congress was induced to issue patents to the actual settlers, and thus secure them in their pre- emption.

Seventeen days after Wayne's treaty, St. Clairs Wilkinson, Jonathan Dayton and Israel Ludlow contracted with Symmes for the seventh and eighth

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1876.

LICKING COUNTY COURT HOUSE.

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ranges, between Mad River and the Little Miami. Three settlements were to be made: one at the mouth of Mad River, one on the Little Miami, in the seventh range, and another on Mad River. On the 21st of September, 1795, Daniel C. Cooper started to survey and mark out a road in the pur- chase, and John Dunlap to run its boundaries, which was completed before October 4. On No- vember 4, Mr. Ludlow laid off the town of Day- ton, which, like land in the Connecticut Reserve, was sold by lottery.

A gigantic scheme to purchase eighteen or twenty million acres in Michigan, and then pro- cure a good title from the Government-who alone had such a right to procure land-by giving mem- bers of Congress an interest in the investment, appeared shortly after Wayne's treaty. When some of the members were approached, however, the real spirit of the scheme appeared, and, instead of gaining ground, led to the exposure, resulting in the reprimanding severely of Robert Randall, the principal mover in the whole plan, and in its speedy disappearance.

Another enterprise, equally gigantic, also ap- peared. It was, however, legitimate, and hence successful. On the 20th of February, 1795, the North American Land Company was formed in Philadelphia, under the management of such pat- riots as Robert Morris, John Nicholson and James Greenleaf. This Company purchased large tracts in the West, which it disposed of to actual settlers, and thereby aided greatly in populating that part of the country ..

Before the close of 1795, the Governor of the Territory, and his Judges, published sixty-four statutes. Thirty-four of these were adopted at Cincinnati during June, July and August of that year. They were known as the Maxwell code, from the name of the publisher, but were passed by Governor St. Clair and Judges Symmes and Turner. Among them was that which provided that the common law of England, and all its stat- utes, made previous to the fourth year of James the First, should be in full force within the Terri- tory. "Of the system as a whole," says Mr. Case, "with its many imperfections, it may be doubted that any colony, at so early a period after its first establishment, ever had one so good and applicable to all."

The Union had now safely passed through its most critical period after the close of the war of independence. The danger from an irruption of its own members; of a war or alliance of its West-

ern portion with France and Spain, and many other perplexing questions, were now effectually settled, and the population of the Territory began rapidly to increase. Before the close of the year 1796, the Northwest contained over five thousand inhabitants, the requisite number to entitle it to one representative in the national Congress.

Western Pennsylvania also, despite the various conflicting claims regarding the land titles in that part of the State, began rapidly to fill with emigrants. The "Triangle" and the "Struck District " were surveyed and put upon the market under the act of 1792. Treaties and purchases from the various Indian tribes, obtained control of the remainder of the lands in that part of the State, and, by 1796, the State owned all the land within its boundaries. Towns were laid off, land put upon the market, so that by the year 1800, the western part of the Keystone State was divided into eight counties, viz., Beaver, Butler, Mercer, Crawford, Erie, Warren, Venango and Armstrong.

The ordinance relative to the survey and dis- posal of lands in the Northwest Territory has already been given. It was adhered to, save in minor cases, where necessity required a slight change. The reservations were recognized by Congress, and the titles to them all confirmed to the grantees. Thus, Clarke and his men, the Connecticut Reserve, the Refugee lands, the French inhabitants, and all others holding patents to land from colonial or foreign governments, were all confirmed in their rights and protected in their titles.

Before the close of 1796, the upper North- western posts were all vacated by the British, 'under the terms of Mr. Jay's treaty. Wayne at once transferred his headquarters to Detroit, where a county was named for him, including the north- western part of Ohio, the northeast of Indiana, and the whole of Michigan.

The occupation of the Territory by the Ameri- cans gave additional impulse to emigration, and a better feeling of security to emigrants, who fol- lowed closely upon the path of the army. Na- thaniel Massie, who has already been noticed as the founder of Manchester, laid out the town of Chillicothe, on the Scioto, in 1796. Before the close of the year, it contained several stores, shops, a tavern, and was well populated. With the increase of settlement and the security guar- anteed by the treaty of Greenville, the arts of civilized life began to appear, and their influence upon pioneers, especially those born on the frontier,

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began to manifest itself. Better dwellings, schools, churches, dress and manners prevailed. Life began to assume a reality, and lost much of that recklessness engendered by the habits of a frontier life.

Cleveland, Cincinnati, the Miami, the Mus- kingum and the Scioto Valleys were filling with people. Cincinnati had more than one hundred log cabins, twelve or fifteen frame houses and a population of more than six hundred persons. In 1796, the first house of worship for the Presby- terians in that city was built.

Before the close of the same year, Manchester contained over thirty families; emigrants from Virginia were going up all the valleys from the Ohio; and Ebenezer Zane had opened a bridle- path from the Ohio River, at Wheeling, across the country, by Chillicothe, to Limestone, Ky. The next year, the United States mail, for the first time, traversed this route to the West. Zane was given a section of land for his path. The popu- lation of the Territory, estimated at from five to eight thousand, was chiefly distributed in lower valleys, bordering on the Ohio River. The French still occupied the Illinois country, and were the principal inhabitants about Detroit.

South of the Ohio River, Kentucky was pro- gressing favorably, while the " Southwestern Ter- ritory," ceded to the United States by North Carolina in 1790, had so rapidly populated that, in 1793, a Territorial form of government was allowed. The ordinance of 1787, save the clause prohibiting slavery, was adopted, and the Territory named Tennessee. On June 6, 1796, the Terri- tory contained more than seventy-five thousand inhabitants, and was admitted into the Union as a State. Four years after, the census showed a population of 105,602 souls, including 13,584 slaves and persons of color. The same year Tennessee became a State, Samuel Jackson and Jonathan Sharpless erected the Redstone Paper Mill, four miles east of Brownsville, it being the first manufactory of the kind west of the Alle- ghanies.

In the month of December, 1796, Gen. Wayne, who had done so much for the development of the West, while on his way from Detroit to Philadel- phia, was attacked with sickness and died in a cabin near Erie, in the north part of Pennsylvania. He was nearly fifty-one years old, and was one of

the bravest officers in the Revolutionary war, and one of America's truest patriots. In 1809, his remains were removed from Erie, by his son, Col. Isaac Wayne, to the Radnor churchyard, near the place of his birth, and an elegant monument erected on his tomb by the Pennsylvania Cincinnati So- ciety.

After the death of Wayne, Gen. Wilkinson was appointed to the command of the Western army. While he was in command, Carondelet, the Spanish governor of West Florida and Louisiana, made one more effort to separate the Union, and set up either an independent government in the West, or, what was more in accord with his wishes, effect a union with the Spanish nation. In June, 1797, he sent Power again into the Northwest and into Kentucky to sound the existing feeling. Now, however, they were not easily won over. The home government was a certainty, the breaches had been healed, and Power was compelled to abandon the mission, not, however, until he had received a severe reprimand from many who saw through his plan, and openly exposed it. His mission closed the efforts of the Spanish authorities to attempt the dismemberment of the Union, and showed them the coming downfall of their power in Amer- ica. They were obliged to surrender the posts claimed by the United States under the treaty of 1795, and not many years after, sold their Amer- ican possessions to the United States, rather than see a rival European power attain control over them.

On the 7th of April, 1798, Congress passed an act, appointing Winthrop Sargent, Secretary of the Northwest Territory, Governor of the Territory of the Mississippi, formed the same day. In 1801, the boundary between America and the Spanish pos- sessions was definitely fixed. The Spanish retired from the disputed territory, and henceforward their attempts to dissolve the American Union ceased. The seat of the Mississippi Territory was fixed at Loftus Heights, six miles north of the thirty-first degree of latitude.

The appointment of Sargent to the charge of the Southwest Territory, led to the choice of William Henry Harrison, who had been aid-de-camp to Gen. Wayne in 1794, and whose character stood very high among the people of the West, to the Secretaryship of the Northwest, which place he held until appointed to represent that Territory in Con- gress.

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CHAPTER IX.

FIRST TERRITORIAL REPRESENTATIVES IN CONGRESS-DIVISION OF THE TERRITORY-FORMA- TION OF STATES-MARIETTA SETTLEMENT-OTHER SETTLEMENTS SETTLEMENTS IN THE WESTERN RESERVE-SETTLEMENT OF THE CENTRAL VALLEYS FURTHER SETTLEMENTS IN THE RESERVE AND ELSEWHERE.

THE ordinance of 1787 provided that as soon as there were 5,000 persons in the Territory, it was entitled to a representative assembly. On October 29, 1798, Governor St. Clair gave notice by proclamation, that the required population ex- isted, and directed that an election be held on the third Monday in December, to choose representa- tives. These representatives were required, when assembled, to nominate ten persons, whose names were sent to the President of the United States, who selected five, and with the advice and consent of the Senate, appointed them for the legislative council. In this mode the Northwest passed into the second grade of a Territorial government.

The representatives, elected under the proclama- tion of St. Clair, met in Cincinnati, January 22, 1799, and under the provisions of the ordinance of 1787, nominated ten persons, whose names were sent to the President. On the 2d of March, he selected from the list of candidates, the names of Jacob Burnet, James Findlay, Henry Vander- burgh, Robert Oliver and David Vance. The next day the Senate confirmed their nomination, and the first legislative council of the Northwest Territory was a reality.

The Territorial Legislature met again at Cincin- nati, September 16, but, for want of a quorum, was not organized until the 24th of that month. The House of Representatives consisted of nine- teen members, of whom seven were from Hamilton County, four from Ross erected by St. Clair in 1798 ; three from Wayne-erected in 1796; two from Adams-erected in 1797; one from Jeffer- son-erected in 1797; one from Washington- erected in 1788; and one from Knox-Indiana Territory. None seem to have been present from St. Clair County (Illinois Territory).

After the organization of the Legislature, Gov- ernor St. Clair addressed the two houses in the Rep- resentatives' Chamber, recommending such meas- ures as, in his judgment, were suited to the con- dition of the country and would advance the safety and prosperity of the people.

The Legislature continued in session till the 19th of December, when, having finished their business, they were prorogued by the Governor, by their own request, till the first Monday in November, 1800. This being the first session, there was, of necessity, a great deal of business to do. The transition from a colonial to a semi-independent form of government, called for a general revision as well as a considerable enlargement of the stat- ute-book. Some of the adopted laws were re- pealed, many others altered and amended, and a long list of new ones added to the code. New offices were to be created and filled, the duties at- tached to them prescribed, and a plan of ways and means devised to meet the increased expenditures, occasioned by the change which had now occurred.

As Mr. Burnet was the principal lawyer in the Council, much of the revision, and putting the laws into proper legal form, devolved upon him. He seems to have been well fitted for the place, and to have performed the laborious task in an excel- lent manner.

The whole number of acts passed and approved by the Governor, was thirty-seven. The most im- portant related to the militia, the administration of justice, and to taxation. During the session, a bill authorizing a lottery was passed by the council, but rejected by the Legislature, thus interdicting this demoralizing feature of the disposal of lands or for other purposes. The example has always been followed by subsequent legislatures, thus honorably characterizing the Assembly of Ohio, in this re- spect, an example Kentucky and several other States might well emulate.

Before the Assembly adjourned, they issued a congratulatory address to the people, enjoining them to "Inculcate the principles of humanity, benevolence. honesty and punctuality in dealing, sincerity and charity, and all the social affections.' At the same time, they issued an address to the President, expressing entire confidence in the wis- dom and purity of his government, and their warm attachment to the American Constitution.

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The vote on this address proved, however, that the differences of opinion agitating the Eastern States had penetrated the West. Eleven Representatives voted for it, and five against it.

One of the important duties that devolved on this Legislature, was the election of a delegate to Congress. As soon as the Governor's proclama- tion made its appearance, the election of a person to fill that position excited general attention. Be- fore the meeting of the Legislature public opinion had settled down on William Henry Harrison, and Arthur St. Clair, Jr., who eventually were the only candidates. On the 3d of October, the two houses met and proceeded to a choice. Eleven votes were cast for Harrison, and ten for St. Clair. The Leg- islature prescribed the form of a certificate of the election, which was given to Harrison, who at once resigned his office as Secretary of the Territory, proceeded to Philadelphia, and took his seat, Con- gress being then in session.

"Though he represented the Territory but one year, " says Judge Burnett, in his notes, " he ob- tained some important advantages for his constitu- ents. He introduced a resolution to sub-divide the surveys of the public lands, and to offer them for sale in smaller tracts; he succeeded in getting that measure through both houses, in opposition to the interest of speculators, who were, and who wished to be, the retailers of the land to the poorer classes of the community. His proposition be- came a law, and was hailed as the most beneficent act that Congress had ever done for the Territory. It put in the power of every industrious man, how- ever poor, to become a freeholder, and to lay a foundation for the future support and comfort of his family. At the same session, he obtained a liberal extension of time for the pre-emptioners in the northern part of the Miami purchase, which enabled them to secure their farms, and eventually to become independent, and even wealthy."

The first session, as has been noticed, closed December 19. Gov. St. Clair took occasion to enumerate in his speech at the close of the session, eleven acts, to which he saw fit to apply his veto. These he had not, however, returned to the Assem- bly, and thereby saved a long struggle between the executive and legislative branches of the Territory. Of the eleven acts enumerated, six related to the formation of new counties. These were mainly disproved by St Clair, as he always sturdily main- tained that the power to erect new counties was vested alone in the Executive. This free exercise of the veto power, especially in relation to new

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History of Licking County, Ohio: Its Past and Present, Part 15

Author: N. N. Hill, Jr. Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Number of Pages: 826

Author: N. N. Hill, Jr.
Publication date: 1881
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 826