USA > Ohio > Franklin County > Columbus > History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume I > Part 82
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS.
question would draw in her treasury vast sums of money, and, in proportion to the sums arising from such sales would be enabled to lessen her taxes. Lands comparatively cheap, and taxes comparatively low, with the lands and taxes of an adjacent State, would quickly drain the State thus disadvantageously circumstanced of its most useful inhabitants, its wealth and its consequence in the scale of the confederated states would sink, of course. A claim so injurious to more than onehalf if not to the whole of the United States ought to be sup- ported by the clearest evidence of the right. Yet what evidences of that right have been produced ? What arguments alleged in support either of the evidence or the right? None that we have heard of deserving a serious refutation. ... We are convinced [that] policy and justice require that a country unsettled at the commencement of this war, claimed by the British Crown and ceded to it by the Treaty of Paris, if wrested from the common enemy by the blood and treasure of the thirteen States, should be considered as a common property, subject to be parcelled out by Congress into free, convenient, and independent governments in such manner and at such times as the wisdom of that assembly shall hereafter direct.
The sale and disposition of western lands having been left by the Articles of Confederation with the' several States claiming them, Virginia precipitated a crisis by the passage of an act providing for opening a land office for the entry of lands between the mountains and the Ohio. Remonstranees against such a course were promptly filed with Congress by the Indiana and Vandalia companies, and in behalf of the grand company organized by Thomas Walpole. These remon- strances denied the jurisdiction of Virginia to the particular tracts claimed by them respectively. Congress, notwithstanding Virginia's objection that it had no jurisdiction in the premises, recommended to that " and all other states similarly circumstanced to forbear settling or issuing warrants for unappropriated lands, or granting the same during the continuance of the present war." This recommenda- tion, which was transmitted to the several states, drew forth a remonstrance from Virginia, but it proved ineffectual to stem the current of public sentiment setting in so strongly towards the creation of a public domain. The patriotism of New York rose above its desire for western lands, and that State, on March 7, 1780, by proposing to cede to the United States the western lands claimed by it lying west of such a boundary as its delegates might fix, cast its lot with the nonclaimant States. A committee was appointed by Congress ; to it were referred the declara- tions and instructions of the General Assembly of Maryland, the remonstrances of Virginia and the proposed cession of New York. That committee submitted a report which strongly recommends to the claimant States " a liberal surrender of a portion of their territoral claims" as indispensable to the consummation of a national union and concludes with the following proposed resolution :
Resolved, That copies of the several papers referred to the committee be transmitted, with the copy of the report, to the legislatures of the several States, and that it be earnestly recommended to those States who have claims to the western country to pass such laws and give their delegates to Congress such powers as may effectually remove the only obstacle to a final ratification of the Articles of Confederation ; and that the legislature of Maryland be earnestly requested to authorize the delegates in Congress to subscribe the said Articles.
Congress adopted this report but in so doing declined to discuss the western land question, and advised concession and compromise. It appealed to the patriotism of the States, and on October 10, 1780, resolved :
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That the unappropriated lands that may be ceded or relinquished to the United States by any particular state pursuant to the recommendation of Congress of the sixth day of September last, shall be disposed of for the common benefit of the United States and be settled and formed into distinct republican states which shall become members of the Federal Union, and have the same rights of sovereignty, freedom, and independence as other states; that each state which shall be so formed shall contain a suitable extent of territory, not less than one hundred nor more than one hundred and fifty miles square, or as near thereto as circumstances will permit; that the necessary and reasonable expenses which any particular state shall have incurred since the commencement of the present war in subduing any British posts or in maintaining forts or garrisons within and for the defense, or in acquiring any part of the territory that may be ceded or relinquished to the United States, shall be reimbursed ; that the said land shall be granted or settled at such times, and under such regulations, as shall hereafter be agreed on by the United States in Congress assembled, or any nine or more of them.
Inasmuch as Virginia had incurred the expense of sending an expedition under George Rogers Clark to drive out the British from a portion of the North- west Territory, she would, pursuant to the foregoing resolution, be reimbursed for snch expense if she should relinquish ber western lands.
The wisdom of the course pursued by Congress was soou manifest. Maryland instructed her delegates to sign the Articles of Confederation, and on the same day on which these instructions were fulfilled - March 1, 1781 - New York, through her delegates, formally ceded all her western lands lying west of her present boundaries. The cessions first proposed by Connecticut and Virginia were rejected, but on March 1, 1784, Virginia, through her delegates, Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Hardy, Arthur Lee and James Monroe, executed and delivered in behalf of that State a deed whereby that commonwealth conveyed to the United States in Congress assembled, for the benefit of said States, all the lands claimed by her northwest of the Ohio River. The deed stipulated among other things that the necessary and reasonable expenses incurred by Virginia in subduing British posts, or in maintaining forts and garrisons witbin and for the defense or acquisition of the territory relinquished should be 'nlly reimbursed by the United States, and further provided,
That, in case the quantity of good lands on the southeast side of the Ohio, upon the waters of the Cumberland River and between the Green River and Tennessee River which have been reserved by law for the Virginia troops upon Continental establishment should, from the North Carolina line, bearing in further upon the Cumberland lands than was expected, prove insufficient for their legal bounties, the deficiency should be made up to the said troops in good lands to be laid off between the rivers Scioto and Little Miami, on the northwest side of the River Ohio, in such proportions as have been engaged to them by the laws of Virginia. That all the lands within the territory so ceded to the United States and not reserved for or appropriated to any of the beforementioned purposes, or disposed of in bounties to the officers and soldiers of the American Army, shall be considered a common fund for the use and benefit of such of the United States as have become or shall become members of the confederation or federal alliance of the said states, Virginia inelusive, accord- ing to their usual respective proportions in the general charge and expenditure, and shall be faithfully and bona fide disposed of for that purpose and for no other use or purpose what- soever.
During the War of Independence, Virginia had, by several legislative acts, offered land bounties to encourage the enlistment of soldiers, and the reservation
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS.
of land between the Scioto and Little Miami rivers for Virginia troops was made to enable the state to fulfill its obligations. The territory comprised in this reser- vation is known as the Virginia Military District, and includes the Virginia Mili- . tary Lands. By resolution of July 7, 1786, Congress requested Virginia to so modify her deed of cession as to permit the creation of not more than five nor less than three states out of the territory ceded, and this request was complied with by an act of the General Assembly of Virginia on December 30, 1788 On April 19, 1785, Massachussetts, through her delegates in Congress, ceded to the United States the western lands claimed by her. On September 13, 1786, Connecticut made a like cession excepting so much of Ohio as is known as the Western Reserve, and in May, 1800, she released all claim to jurisdiction over the part so reserved.43
By the definitive treaty of peace at Paris, made between the United States and Great Britain, his Britannic Majesty for himself, his heirs and successors, relinquished all claim to the territory east of the Mississippi north of the thirty- first degree of north latitude, but notwithstanding this relinquishment and the cessions of the several states, the western territory was really not nationalized until the adoption of the constitution, for by provision of the second of the Arti- cles of Confederation the United States had no powers except such as were expressly delegated by the several states. An examination of the deeds of cession reveals the fact that all the cessions were made to the United States for the benefit of the states. Whatever the United States received by way of revenue from the lands ceded would have to come through the states. By, the final treaty of peace with Great Britain, the cessions of the several states and the adoption of the constitu- tion the ultimate fee to the territory now occupied by us became vested in the United States subject only to the Indian right of occupation." The arguments urging the cessions of western lands to the United States assumed that those lands would prove a source of revenue. Experience has demonstrated that lands are practically valueless except as cultivated and developed. From the origin of the public domain to June 30, 1880, the net cash receipts therefrom aggregated $200,702,849.11. The cash expenditures on account of the public domain during the same period were $322,049,595.26. In other words the cost to the date above- named exceeded the receipts by $121,346,746.85.45 The cash receipts from public lands since that date have been, and in the future will be, comparatively small ; for in 1879, the agricultural lands of the West, excluding certain lands in some of the Southern States subject to survey and disposition, and cultivable without irrigation or artificial appliances, did not exceed the area of the State of Ohio.46
Although the ultimate and absolute title to the lands under consideration became vested in the United States by the various steps heretofore mentioned, they were held subject to the Indian right of occupancy. The European nations - England, France, Spain and Holland - recognized and enforced the principle that discovery gave title to the government by whose subjects or under whose authority it was made, as against all other European governments, and that the title so acquired might be perfected by possession. The nation making the dis- covery possessed the exclusive right of acquiring from the natives the territory discovered and of making settlements therein. The Indians were recognized as
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the rightful occupants of the soil, with the right to possess and use it at their dis- cretion, but with no power to dispose of the same except to the government claim- ing the right of preemption. The right of the Indians to use and occupancy is no more inconsistent with the seizin in fee in the government than a lease for years. The United States succeeding England in the ownership of a part of the American continent asserted and enforced the principle recognized by the discovering nations, and excepting those instances in which land has been acquired from the Indians by conquest in wars deemed just and necessary, all Indian titles have been extinguished by purchase or by voluntary cessions. In recognition of the foregoing principles Congress provided in the Ordinance of 1787, that,
The utmost good faith shall always be observed towards the Indians ; their lands and property shall never be taken from them without their consent ; and in their property, rights, and liberty they shall never be invaded or disturbed unless in just and lawful wars author- ized by Congress ; but laws founded in justice and humanity shall from time to time be made for preventing wrongs being done to them and for preserving peace and friendship with them.
The policy pursued by the government towards the Indians under the Arti- cles of Confederation has been continued under the Constitution by virtue of Article One of Section Eight, which empowers Congress " to regulate commerce . . . with the Indian tribes," but an Indian tribe or nation is not a foreign state in the same sense in which that term is used in the Constitution of the United States, although it is such a state as may bind itself by treaty. The Indian nations have been treated as subject principalities or domestie dependent nations, entitled to governmental protection and relief, but incapable of passing a title to their lands which the courts will recognize. They do not hold the fee in the land of their original occupation, but only a usufruct, the fee being in the United States or in some of the several states. The United States, or the State owning the fee, may grant the same, subject to the Indian right of occupancy. The relations between the Indian nations and the Government closely resemble those of a ward to bis guardian. "The condition of the Indians in relation to the United States," as was held in the case of the Cherokee Nation v. State of Georgia, 5 Peters, " is perhaps unlike that of any other two nations in existence. In general, nations not owing a common allegiance are foreign to each other. The term foreign nation is with strict propriety applicable by either to the other. But the relation of the Indians to the United States is marked by a pecular and cardinal distinction which exists nowhere else." In the case of Worcester v. The State of Georgia, 6 Peters, 515, the same court held : "The Indian nations have always been considered as distinct, independent, political communities, retaining their original natural rights as the undisputed possessors of the soil from time immemorial, with the single exception of that imposed by irresistible power which excluded them from intercourse from any other European potentate, and the first discoverer of the coast of the particu- lar region claimed."47
The Indian right to use and occupancy of lands in and about Columbus was extinguished by a series of treaties between the Indian nations and commissioners appointed by Congress. In 1785 George Rogers Clark, Richard Butler and Arthur Lee, as commissioners plenipotentiary of the United States, entered into a
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treaty at Fort McIntosh, with the Wyandot, Delaware, Chippewa and Ottawa nations, all of whom dwelt and claimed territory within the limits of Ohio. The second article of the treaty declared the Indian nations and all other tribes to be under the protection of the United States and of no other sovereignty whatever. A boundary line as between the United States and the Wyandot and Delaware nations was fixed by the third article of the treaty as follows : Beginning at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River, thence up the river to the portage between it and the Tuscarawas branch of the Muskingum, then down that branch to Fort Laurens, near Bolivar, Tuscarawas County, thence westwardly to the portage of the Big Miami (Fort Loramie, Shelby County), thence along said portage to the Saint Mary's, thence down it and the southeast side of the Maumee to its mouth, thence along the shore of Lake Erie to the mouth of the Cuyahoga. The treaty further provided that all the lands within the above limits, excepting certain tracts reserved for trading posts, were allotted to the Wyandots and Delawares and to such of the Ottawas as lived within the same, and all citizens of the United States were prohibited from settling within the territory so assigned to the Indians. All the lands east, south and west of the territory so set apart, in so far as these nations were concerned, were relinquished to the United States. The pro- visions of this treaty were referred to and readopted in the subsequent treaty of Fort Harmar, made by Arthur St. Clair, January 9, 1789. The south boundary line above mentioned is represented on maps as passing through Cardington, Mor- row County, which is almost due north of Columbus.
In 1786 the United States, through its commissioners, George Rogers Clark, Richard Butler and Samuel H. Parsons, made another treaty at Fort Finney, near the mouth of the Great Miami River, with the Shawnee, Delaware and Wyandot nations. In that treaty the Shawnee nation acknowledged the sole and absolute sovereignty of the United States over all land ceded by the treaty of peace with Great Britain made January 14, 1784, and relinquished to the government all lands in Ohio except an irregular territory lying west of the Great Miami.
The treaty made at Greenville August 3, 1795, by General Anthony Wayne in behalf of the United States with the Wyandot, Delaware, Shawnee, Ottawa, Chippewa, Pottawattomie, Miami, Eel River, Wea, Kickapoo, Piankeshaws and Kaskaskia tribes was more comprehensive than the treaties above mentioned. The boundary line between those tribes and the United States was made to begin at the mouth of the Cuyahoga, from whence it extended up that river to the portage between it and the Tuscarawas branch of the Muskingum, thence down that branch to Fort Laurens, thence westerly to a branch of the Great Miami at Fort Loramie> thence westerly to Fort Recovery on the Wabash, thence southwesterly in a direct line to the Ohio, so as to intersect that river opposite the mouth of the Kentucky. The Indian tribes ceded and relinquished forever all claims to the east and south of the boundary line so established. The United States, by the fourth article of that treaty, relinquished all claim to all lands between the Mississippi River and the boundary line above named, excepting sixteen small tracts ceded for the accommodation of the United States, and " for that convenient intercourse which will be beneficial for both parties." These tracts were reserved for forts and posts.
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The basis of the treaty was the previous one made by Arthur St. Clair. Thus was the Indian claim or title to lands in Ohio east and south of the boundaries named in the foregoing treaties forever extinguished.48
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All west of the SCIOTO PiVER is the VIRGINIA MILITARY LAND. The shaded portion of the Map in part of & Sec 1011 25 26 shows the outlines of the first Subdivision of INLOTS of the CITY.
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LAND MAP OF COLUMBUS.
The treaty line above mentioned, crossing Ohio and generally known as the Greenville Treaty Line, is nearly one hundred and fortyfive miles in length, and, although represented on the maps as a straight line, is in fact a very crooked one ; " nevertheless all adjacent government surveys were based upon it, and there is
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS.
hardly a county within twenty miles of it that does not depend upon it for its location." Yet the marks and evidenees of the location of this line have became almost entirely obliterated. " Upon a recent and careful examination of about twenty miles of this line there could be found but three trees which bore the original mark of the surveyor's ax and the Indian's tomahawk."49
As heretofore stated, there are four classes of lands within the limits of Columbus, viz: The United States Military Lands, the Refugee Tract, the Virginia Military District and the Congress Lands. We shall state briefly low these lands came to be so designated, and their location. The United States Military Lands are so called beeause they were set apart to satisfy certain claims of soldiers who engaged in the War of Independence. On September 16, 1776, Congress by resolution made provision for granting lands to the officers and soldiers who should engage and continne in service until the close of the war, or until their discharge by Congress, and to the representatives of sueli officers and soldiers as might be slain by the enemy, in the following proportions: To a colonel five hundred acres, to a lieutenant-colonel four hundred and fifty acres, to a major four hundred aeres, to a captain three hundred acres, to a lieutenant two hundred acres, to an ensign one hundred and fifty aeres, to each noncommissioned officer and soldier one hundred aeres. The expense of procuring lands was to be paid and borne by the states in the same proportion as the other expenses of the war. Two days later, the provisions of the above recited resolutions were extended to all who had enlisted or should enlist in the army of the United States during the war. Subsequently the provisions of the resolution were so extended as to include major-generals, brigadier-generals, directors, surgeons, physicians, apothecaries and other designated persons serving in the army. To meet the obligation created by the foregoing resolution, an act entitled " An act regulating the grants of land appropriated for military services and for the society of the United Brethren for propagating the gospel among the heathen," was passed by Congress June 1, 1796, setting apart the tract of lands in Ohio known as the United States Military Land. The tract so designated extended from the north- west corner of the seven ranges of townships - a point fortytwo miles west of the intersection of the Ohio River and the western boundary line of Pennsylvania - due south fifty miles, thence west to the Scioto River, thence up that river to a point where it crosses the Indian boundary line as fixed by the treaties of 1785, 1786, and 1795, thence along that boundary line to the Tuscawaras branch of the Muskingum River at the point above Fort Laurens, near Bolivar, thence up the river to a point due west from the place of beginning, thenee easterly to the place of beginning. In accordance with the terms of the aet the lands were divided into townships of five miles square by running, marking and numbering the exterior lines of the townships and marking corners in such lines at the distance of of two and onehalf miles from each other. Grants were to be made of only a quarter of the township to which the lands belong, lying at the corners thereof. The Secretary of the Treasury was required, for a space of nine months after public notice in the states and territories, to register warrants for any one or more tracts for any person or persons holding the same on account of military services,
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Immediately after the expiration of that time he was required to determine by lot, drawn in the presence of the Secretaries of State and War, the priority of loca- tion of the registered warrants. The person or persons holding the warrants then made their locations after the lots had been proclaimed, on the day fixed in the public notice for the registration of warrants, but in case they failed so to do, they were then postponed in locating warrants to all other persons holding registered warrants. Patents signed by the President of the United States and counter- signed by the Secretary of State, were to issue free of eost to persons so locating, their heirs or assigns. After the time limited for the making of locations had elapsed, any person or persons holding warrants for military services sufficient to cover one or more quarter townships might make their locations on any tract or tracts not before located. All lands not located by January 1, 1800, should no longer be held for the satisfaction of such warrants, but should, as any other vacant territory, be at the free disposition of the United States. All warrants or claims for land on account of military services which were not registered and located by that date were to be forever barred. All navigable streams within the territory so set apart were made public highways, and in case the opposite banks of unnavi- gable streams should belong to different persons, such streams and their beds should be common to both. By an amendment to the above recited act, made March 2, 1799, the time for the location of lands within the United States Military District was extended to January 1, 1802, and all lands not located at that time were to be released from the reservation and to be subject to the disposi- tion of the United States as any other vacant territory. All claims and warrants for land unregistered and unlocated at that date were to be forever barred. On February 11, 1800, the original act was still further amended by directing that for fourteen days after the expiration of the nine months allowed for the registration of warrants for military services the Secretary of the Treasury should still register warrants in the manner prescribed in the original act. The amendment further provided that the priority of location of such warrants and of warrants registered under the original act, should be determined by lot immediately after expiration of the fourteen days for which the time of registration was extended, and that the day for the location should be fixed by the Secretary of the Treasury by public notice given in one of the Philadelphia Gazettes.
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