USA > Ohio > History of Ohio; the rise and progress of an American state, Volume Three > Part 11
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It was amidst the humiliation of an unappreciated life, and the pangs of financial want that this distin- guished patriot ended his career. He died August 31, 1818. His name is inseparably connected with the romance and history of Ohio, and in his long and useful life, there was no period in which he gave more brilliant and lasting service to his country, than during his career as Governor of the Northwest Territory.
With St. Clair's exit from office the Constitutional Convention closed its labors. The Constitution, which it framed, and which was the organic law of the new State for fifty years, can be fairly understood by the summary which follows.
Like the Constitution of the United States, it con- ferred the elective franchise on every white male resi- dent of the State, twenty-one years of age. It likewise divided the exercise of power into three departments -executive, legislative and judicial.
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The Governor, elected for two years, could be re- elected continuously to serve three terms, and after being out of office for the period of one term, would again be eligible. This privilege, however, has never been exercised to the full extent of its limits. The veto power was removed, and while making it the Governor's duty to communicate such information to the Legislature and recommend such measures as he might think expedient, on extraordinary occasions to convene the Legislature, and, in case of disagreement between the two houses as to the time of adjournment, adjourn them, with the business of legislation he should have nothing to do. As commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the State he could control the arming and equipment of the same; except in cases of impeach- ment, he might grant reprieves and pardons; and he could fill vacancies in State offices which occurred during the recess between the two sessions of the Legislature, by granting commissions which should expire at the close of the next occurring session; but beyond the exercise of these privileges, he was rendered powerless.
The legislative power was committed to a General Assembly, consisting of a Senate and a House of Representatives. The Senate was to have not less than one-third nor more than one-half of the members allowed the House. While the members of the latter were to be not less than seventy-two nor more than seventy-six in number, and be chosen annually, and apportioned among the several counties, according to the legal voters in the same, the members of the former were chosen biennially. No judge or clerk of any
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court, or member of Congress, or person holding office under the United States, or any lucrative office, except in the militia, or as justice of the peace under the State, could be a member of the Legislature. Bribery ren- dered the person elected by its aid ineligible for that office for two years. The qualifications for members were, that they should be United States citizens, free from the disqualifications mentioned, inhabitants of the State, and resident within the district from which they might be chosen, and tax-payers; also Represen- tatives to be not less than twenty-five years, and Senators not less than thirty years of age.
No property qualification was necessary. Property, as such, the Legislature did not represent, nor regard in the distribution of political power. By joint ballot the Legislature appointed judges and State officers, civil and military, and fixed their salaries and com- pensation. Each house might choose its own officers, establish rules for its proceedings, punish its members for misbehavior, expel the same if a two-third vote concurred, and punish contempts committed against its dignity by persons not members. Bills could originate in either house, subject to alteration, amend- ment, or rejection by the other. The power to impose taxes to raise a revenue, though not expressly re- cognized by the constitution, could be exercised as a power necessarily implied. Each house was to sit with open doors, unless secret session was necessary, such necessity to be decided by a two-third vote.
The Governor and all other civil officers were, for misdemeanors in office, liable to impeachment by the House of Representatives, and subject to trial by the
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Senate, sitting as a high court for that purpose; but no conviction could ensue unless by a two-third vote of the Senators sitting as such court. No punishment beyond removal from or disqualification for office could follow conviction; but, whether acquitted or convicted, the person was subsequently liable to in- dictment and might be tried, with judgment and punishment according to law. No money could be drawn from the treasury except by legislative appro- priation, and an accurate account of receipts and ex- penditures should be annually published with the laws.
The judicial power was vested in a Supreme Court, Courts of Common Pleas, in justices of the peace, and any other manner of courts the Legislature might establish and prescribe. The Supreme Court consisted of four judges, and by all, or any two of them, a court should be held once a year in each county. Each Common Pleas Court should consist of a President and Associate Judges. The State was divided into circuits, the number of which might be increased with the increase of the population. For each circuit one President Judge, and for each county not less than two nor more than three Associate Judges should be appointed. Each of these circuit courts had original and appellate jurisdiction "in common law, chancery, and criminal cases."
The Court of Common Pleas had "jurisdiction of all probate and testamentary matters, granting ad- ministration, and the appointment of guardians." All the Judges should be appointed for the term of seven years, and, except the associates, were compensated with salaries. They were forbidden to hold any other
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office of profit or trust, or receive fee or perquisite for the performance of their duties. Each court could appoint its own clerk. The justices of the peace were elected by the townships, one to each, to serve three years. Sheriffs and coroners to be elected biennially, but no election of the same person to the former office for a third term was permitted. Officers of towns and other township officers to be chosen annually, and the Legislature authorized to designate the manner of filling all public offices not specially mentioned in the constitution.
In addition to these matters of power, the great doctrines established by the Ordinance of 1787, were, in a more solemn manner, stated and confirmed. The people were recognized as the original source of power, with the right of the citizen under the requirement of law, to speak, write, or print as he might think proper, and making liable for the abuse of that right. All prisoners should be humanely treated, granted a speedy and impartial trial, and punished proportion- ately to the nature of the offense committed. Im- prisonment should be restricted to certain conditions, involving fraudulent intent. Poll taxes should be prohibited and the Legislature denied the liberty of granting any hereditary privileges.
Finally, it provided for the incorporation of associ- ations to be regularly formed within the State, on application to the Legislature for that purpose by private bill; and that amendment or revision of the State constitution should only be had by a convention to be elected whenever a majority of the people, on the recommendation of two-thirds of the General
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Assembly, might vote for the same. To this consti- tution was affixed a schedule, providing that the territorial laws should remain in force until repealed by the Legislature of the State; the first election was to be held on the second Tuesday in January following and the first General Assembly required to convene at Chillicothe on the first Tuesday of March, 1803.
In the closing days of the Convention, Mr. Goforth of Cincinnati from a committee appointed to prepare an address to the President of the United States and both branches of the Federal Legislature, expressive of the high sense the Convention entertain of the cheerful and philanthropic manner in which they made provision for the admission of the State into the Union, and expressive of their approbation of the present administration, submitted a report to the Convention.
The result of the consideration of this report was a formal address as follows: "To the President and both Houses of Congress of the United States: The Convention of the State of Ohio, duly appreciating the importance of a free and independent State govern- ment, and impressed with sentiments of gratitude to the Congress of the United States for the prompt and decisive measures taken at their last session to enable the people of the Northwestern Territory to emerge from their colonial government and to assume a rank among the sister States, beg leave to take the earliest opportunity of announcing to you this import- ant event. On this occasion the Convention cannot help expressing their unequivocal approbation of the measures pursued by the present administration of the General Government and both Houses of Congress,
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in diminishing the public burdens, cultivating peace with all nations, and promoting the happiness and prosperity of our country. Resolved, That the Presi- dent of this Convention do inclose to the President of the United States, to the President of the Senate, and to the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States the foregoing address."
The schedule providing for the election authorized the President of the Convention to issue writs of elec- tion to the sheriffs of the several counties, requiring them to proceed to the election of a governor, members of the General Assembly, sheriffs and coroners, at the respective election districts in each county. In this provision the last blow at territorial rule was given. The Convention ignored the Governor and the Terri- torial Assembly and proceeded on its own motion to create a state government.
After unanimously signing the Constitution the Con- vention adjourned sine die on the evening of Monday, November 29, 1802.
CHAPTER V. THE GENESIS OF A STATE
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HE people of the Territory at once assumed the duty of organizing the new State. Pur- suant to the new Constitution on January II, 1803, an election was held at which was chosen a Governor, members of the General Assembly, and sheriffs and coroners for the different counties.
Politically the election was one-sided, as the Feder- alists nominated no one for Governor. The success of the statehood movement resulted in the practical destruction of the Federalist party in Ohio. Those who had opposed statehood were buried in oblivion. Judge Burnet wrote: "My political influence and that of my associates sank into a common grave. We were proscribed, and as soon as the plan of our com- petitors was consummated, we submitted to our destiny with good grace and withdrew from all participation in the politics of the day." Rarely did they offer a candidate in opposition. So weak and few did they become, that in 1804 at the Presidential election the Federalist party cast only three hundred and sixty- four votes in the whole State for their electoral ticket. The decadence of this party was a positive calamity to the State as future events will prove, for it left no check upon the party in power and the result was a reign of riotous excesses of the worst form of partisan- ship.
There were urgent demands by the Federalists for St. Clair to be their candidate for Governor, but he refused in a touching address to the people of the Territory. Writing from Cincinnati, December 8, 1802, he said that his private affairs, long sadly neg- lected and now in hopeless confusion, needed his
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attention. "You will be at no loss for a Governor," said he, "many I am told are anxious for the office. The lot I hope and pray may fall upon some person who, with better talents than have fallen to my share, may possess an equal inclination to render you happy -a greater inclination that way no man can possess." The lot fell upon Edward Tiffin. By general consent, and not by any formal nomination, he became the candidate of the Democratic-Republican party. The selection was deserving to him and meritorious to the people. His efforts and influence were largely respon- sible for the present conditions. To his experience could be added a thorough and practical. knowledge of the wants and resources of the future State, with an ambition to supply the one and develop the other.
At the election for Governor, the Federalists either declined to vote, or cast blank ballots. When the returns were afterward made to the Legislature on March 3, it was declared that Tiffin was elected, he having 4,564 votes and no votes being cast against him. It is apparent from this result that nothing like a full vote was cast, and this conclusion is veri- fied from the size of the vote cast for Jeremiah Morrow for Congressman-at-large on June 21, not six months after Tiffin's election. He received as the Republican candidate 5,558 votes, as against 1,960 votes for his Federalist opponent, William McMillan; the total vote on this occasion being 7,518. The light vote for Tiffin was due not so much to a lack of interest in the election, but to the fact that it was practically determined in advance who was to be the Governor.
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The organization of the State of Ohio was inaugu- rated by the assembling, March 1, 1803, of its first Legislature at Chillicothe, which was designated by the Constitution, as the Capital until the year 1808. Nathaniel Massie was elected Speaker of the Senate and Michael Baldwin Speaker of the House of Repre- sentatives. The executive and judicial officers of the State were elected by joint ballot of both Houses as follows: Secretary of State, William Creighton, Jr .; Auditor of State, Thomas Gibson; Treasurer of State, William McFarland; Judges of the Supreme Court, Return J. Meigs, Jr., Samuel Huntington and William Sprigg. The judicial system of the State was supple- mented by the appointment, in joint session, of three Associate Judges for each county. The salaries of the State officers were fixed as follows : to the Governor, $900.00; to the Judges of the Supreme Court, each $900.00; to the Secretary of State, $700.00 and to the Treasurer of State, $400.00.
John Smith and Thomas Worthington were elected as the first United States Senators. Both were Re- publicans, and both had been conspicuous in the struggle for statehood, especially Worthington whose efforts in that campaign have been recorded. Both became noted in their Senatorial careers; Smith, rather sensationally and unfortunately by reason of his association with Aaron Burr, and Worthington, because of his having attained a high rank for states- manship and usefulness to his State.
The State was entitled to but one Representative in Congress, and June 21 was appointed as the day to hold an election for that purpose. Jeremiah Mor-
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row, Republican, was elected, He had been selected by the Republican members of the Legislature as that party's candidate, he being at the time a Senator from Hamilton county. He was one of the most sterling of the statesmen of that period; no man of his time was more in the confidence of his fellow-citizens or possessed higher ideals of public duty. His career is an important part of the early history of the State, and whether we consider him as the first Representa- tive in Congress or United States Senator or Governor we must rank him as a man of great ability, integrity and simplicity of life. His whole life was loyal and safe in the line of every public duty. Henry Clay in his speech in the Senate on the Public Lands, June 20, 1824, said of him: "No man in the sphere within which he acted, ever commanded or deserved the explicit confidence of Congress more than Jeremiah Morrow." From 1803 to 1813 when Ohio was en- titled to but a single Congressman, Mr. Morrow filled that position.
On March 3, Governor Tiffin appeared before the joint session and took the oath of office. His inaugu- ral address was very brief-occupying not twenty lines in the printed journal- but on the next day he sent his first annual message to the General Assembly. It is a thoughtful and patriotic document dwelling upon the wants, duties and aspirations of the new State and contains numerous recommendations as to legislation. He recommends an enumeration of the white male inhabitants above twenty-one years, urges a revision of the militia laws, a remedy for de- fective taxation and modification of the marriage
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license act. The Legislature in due time acted upon all these subjects from the viewpoint of the Governor.
As in all his official and private writings there is a dominant note of good morals, so there is in this. Closing he says: "'Religion, morality and knowledge, are necessary to all good governments,' says the excellent constitution under which you are convened and to this great truth we must all subscribe. The liberal grants of land made by the United States, for the purpose of erecting and endowing universities and other seminaries of learning, and for the support of religion, are advantages in these respects, superior to those which perhaps any other new country can boast of; to improve those means with advantage, towards the noble ends for which they were given, to preserve the public faith unimpeached, to practice economy in all public expenditures, to impose no taxes upon our citizens, either for State or county purposes, but what are really necessary for their honest wants, to cultivate peace and harmony with our Indian neigh- bors, and to exemplify both in our public acts and private life, every disposition towards discountenancing idleness and dissipation, and by encouraging industry, frugality, temperance and every moral virtue, are objects of such importance to our rising republic, that they cannot fail if attended to, of producing the best effects in form- ing for us a national character, which may be the admir- ation of all. On my part, gentlemen, you may rest assured it shall be no less my honest pride than it is made my constitutional duty, cordially to co-operate with you in every measure your united wisdom and experience may devise for the public good."
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The work of the General Assembly was confined to the necessary legislation growing out of the initiative period of the State. Its principal acts related to revenues, reform of the marriage laws, opening and construction of highways, salaries, elections, census, militia and the erection of new counties. Eight new counties were erected at this session-Butler, Colum- biana, Franklin, Gallia, Greene, Montgomery, Scioto and Warren. The general character of the laws of this session is to be considered preparatory and temporary. The Territorial laws were to remain in force, provided that they were not inconsistent with the Constitution, until they were repealed by the Legislature. On April 16, 1803, the first session of the General Assembly terminated.
The machinery of the State was now in full operation and its autonomy completely established. Its rela- tion to the Federal government at this time has been the subject of much comment and literature among historical writers. The question, "When was Ohio admitted to the Union?" has been a fruitful query for academic discussion for a century. Whether the inquiry is of value historically or whether Ohio ever was admitted to the Union by formal action of the United States, is doubtful. But the subject is of sufficient value and of such curious uncertainty as to make it worthy of examination.
There have been five different dates contended for by various authorities as the beginning of Ohio's membership in the Union. The first date, April 30, 1802, is adopted by the editor of the "United States' Statutes at Large," Volume I, page II, in a note to
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which he gives the dates of the admission of all the new States up to 1845. He says "Ohio was estab- lished as a State of the Union by act of April 30, 1802." Hickey in his work on "The Constitution" gives November 29, 1802; N. C. Towle and others also fix this date. Caleb Atwater in his quaint "History of Ohio" says that February 19, 1803, is the correct date; E. D. Mansfield in his "Political Manual," G. W. Pascal in his "Annotated Constitution" and I. W. Andrews, late President of Marietta College, all contend for this. March 1, 1803, is given by Hildreth in his "History of the United States" as the date of admission; this is adopted by Rufus King in his "Ohio," by Samuel Adams Drake in his "History of the Ohio Valley States," and has been officially recognized as the date of statehood. Salmon P. Chase in his "Pre- liminary Sketch of Ohio" in his "Statutes," gives March 3, 1803, as the date of admission; Walker in his valuable and scholarly "History of Athens County," says the same. A consideration of each of these dates will show at which one of them Ohio became a full fledged State and a member of the United States.
In this inquiry it is well to bear in mind that there was no formal act of admission by Congress. The first date mentioned, April 30, 1802, is that of the passage of the act enabling the people of the Territory to form a Constitution and state government, and nothing more. It clearly did not create a State. Congress cannot do that, as such power rests solely in the people. In the case of no other State has the date of the enabling act been considered as the date of admission to the Union. That date then can
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safely be rejected, as Ohio was not in existence at that time. The second date, November 29, 1802, was the day when the Constitution was signed and the Con- vention adjourned. Still Ohio was not in existence, no election for State offices was held and Charles Willing Byrd was signing official documents as Acting Governor of the Northwest Territory. On the third date, February 19, 1803, Congress passed an act "to provide for the due execution of the laws of the United States within the State of Ohio." Now while Congress referred to the "State of Ohio," the Federal authority was not distributed over the State nor the judicial officers appointed until March 1, 1803. Therefore this act did not make Ohio a State on February 19, nor was it recognized as such until March I. This position is fortified by the subsequent action of Con- gress. When on a question as to payment of salaries to the Territorial officers it directed by an act passed February 21, 1806 that those salaries be allowed and paid until March 1, 1803, and no further; recognizing thereby the termination of the Territorial government on that date.
The fourth date, March 1, 1803, has every argument as well as official sanction, as the day on which Ohio became a State and member of the Union. The new Constitution expressly provided in the third section of the schedule that "the Governor, Secretary and Judges, and all other officers under the territorial government shall continue in the exercise of the duties of their respective departments, until said officers are superseded under the authority of this Constitution." The earliest date that this could occur was the as-
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sembling of the Legislature on March 1, 1803, for that body represented the sovereign power of the State. We have seen how Congress also recognized this date as the beginning of Ohio.
After a complete and careful consideration of all the dates herein referred to, the General Assembly when it provided for the celebration of the Centennial of the State of Ohio in 1903 declared by joint resolution passed April 21, 1902, that "on March 1, 1803, the first General Assembly of Ohio met and organized and Ohio thereupon became a State." The conduct and charge of the celebration was placed under the control of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society, which also after research and consideration declared the date of March 1, 1803, as the beginning of statehood. This celebration was on May 20 and 21, 1903, because of the inclement weather of March and also because March I that year fell on Sunday.
The fifth date of March 3, 1803, was the date of an act of Congress assenting to certain modifications proposed by the Constitutional Convention relating to lands for school purposes. Mr. Chase intimates that this fixes Ohio's date of statehood. But the fact is everything necessary for that fact was consummated before this date. On March 3, the State was in full operation; its Legislature was in session; its Governor was inaugurated and United States Judges and officials were acting in the State. Ohio was then as she was on March I, a fully equipped State and had taken her place in the sisterhood of the Union. It may therefore be considered as settled from a historical and author- itative standpoint that March 1, 1803, was the date
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