USA > Ohio > Ohio in the time of the Confederation > Part 7
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41 This is the first phrasing of the famous anti-slavery clause which was incorporated into the Ordinance of 1784 as originally drafted.
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of the land is the chief question, after all. If the liberties of this country are preserved, it will, in my humble opinion, be done by paying and not by fund- ing the national debt. I am, therefore, of opinion with those who are for making the most of what we have to carry the market.
I find the public creditors are very apprehensive that Congress will set a high price on their lands. We are told of the immense tracts of land the par- ticular states have to dispose of, and of the lands at the disposal of the British Crown adjoining their water boundary, which it will be their interests not only to give away, but to hire people to settle on, in order to preserve their fur trade. A Major Gen- eral, a few days ago, told me that he did not think our land would fetch us above an eighth of a dollar per acre. I replied by asking if his conscience would let him take eighty thousand acres of that land for his commutation only, (for it would come to so much nearly,) when no nation, not even the British, ever gave any general officers more than a colonel's half- pay.
Some are of the opinion, that it would be policy to throw all our western country into a bank and sell it out as bank stock; the stockholders to choose a com- pany of directors, and to make the most of their property. But in my opinion, this would be of too great magnitude to be effected in this country. It might be more practicable in an ancient and wealthy country, such as England or France. Such was the Mississippi scheme in France, which paid the public debt, though it ruined individuals.
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XV
ORDINANCE OF 1784 42a By the UNITED STATES in CONGRESS As- sembled April 23, 1784
RESOLVED,
That so much of the territory ceded, or to be ceded by individual states, to the United States, as is al- ready purchased, or shall be purchased, of the In- dian inhabitants, and offered for sale by Congress, shall be divided into distinct states in the following manner, as nearly as such cessions will admit; that is to say, by parallels of latitude, so that each state shall comprehend from north to south two degrees of latitude, beginning to count from the completion of forty-five degrees north of the equator; and by meridians of longitude, one of which shall pass through the western cape of the mouth of the great Kanhaway: but the territory eastward of this last meridian, between the Ohio, lake Erie, and Pennsyl- vania, shall be one state, whatsoever may be its com- prehension of latitude. That which may lie beyond the completion of the forty-fifth degree between the said meridians shall make part of the state adjoining it on the south; and that part of the Ohio, which is between the same meridians coinciding nearly with the parallel of thirty-nine degrees, shall be substi- tuted so far in lieu of that parallel as a boundary line.
That the settlers on any territory so purchased
42a This is copied from a broadside printed by order of Congress and agrees textually with the ordinance as printed in the Journals of Congress. But in the Journal, no words are all Caps and the designations 1st, 2d, &c are given thus (not written out).
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and offered for sale, shall, either on their own peti- tion, or on the order of Congress, receive authority from them, with appointments of time and place, for their free males of full age, within the limits of their state, to meet together, for the purpose of establish- ing a temporary government, to adopt the constitu- tion and laws of any one of the original states; so that such laws nevertheless shall be subject to alter- ation by their ordinary legislature ; and to erect, sub- ject to a like alteration, counties, townships, or oth- er divisions, for the election of members for their legislature.
That when any such state shall have acquired twenty thousand free inhabitants, on giving due proof thereof to Congress, they shall receive from them authority, with appointments of time and place, to call a convention of representatives, to es- tablish a permanent constitution and government for themselves. Provided that both the temporary and permanent governments be established on these principles as their basis :
FIRST. That they shall for ever remain a part of this confederacy of the United States of America.
SECOND. That they shall be subject to the arti- cles of confederation in all those cases in which the original states shall be so subject; and to all the acts and ordinances of the United States in Con- gress assembled, conformable thereto.
THIRD. That they in no case shall interfere with the primary disposal of the soil by the United States in Congress assembled; nor with the ordi- nances and regulations which Congress may find necessary for securing the title in such soil to the bona fide purchasers.
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FOURTH. That they shall be subject to pay a part of the federal debts contracted or to be con- tracted; to be apportioned on them by Congress, ac- cording to the same common rule and measure by which apportionments thereof shall be made on the other states.
FIFTH. That no tax shall be imposed on lands, the property of the United States.
SIXTH. That their respective governments shall be republican.
SEVENTH. That the lands of non-resident pro- prietors shall, in no case, be taxed higher than those of residents within any new state, before the ad- mission thereof to a vote by its delegates in Con- gress.
That whensoever any of the said states shall have, of free inhabitants, as many as shall then be in any one, the least numerous, of the thirteen orig- inal states, such state shall be admitted by its dele- egates into the Congress of the United States, on an equal footing with the said original states; pro- vided the consent of so many states in Congress is first obtained as may at the time be competent to such admission. And in order to adapt the said articles of confederation to the state of Congress, when its number shall be thus increased, it shall be proposed to the legislatures of the states, originally parties thereto, to require the assent of two-thirds of the United States Congress assembled, in all those cases wherein, by the said articles, the assent of nine states is now required, which being agreed to by them, shall be binding on the new states. Un- til such admission by their delegates into Congress,
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any of the said states, after the establishment of their temporary government, shall have authority to keep a member in Congress, with a right of de- bating, but not of voting.
That measures not inconsistent with the principles of the confederation, and necessary for the preser- vation of peace and good order among the settlers, in any of the said new states, until they shall assume a temporary government as aforesaid, may, from time to time, be taken by the United States in Con- gress assembled.
That the preceding articles shall be formed into a charter of compact; shall be duly executed by the president of the United States in Congress assem- bled, under his hand, and the seal of the United States; shall be promulgated; and shall stand as fundamental constitutions between the thirteen orig- inal states, and each of the several states now newly described, unalterable from and after the sale of any part of the territory of such state, pursuant to this resolve, but by the joint consent of the Uni- ted States in Congress assembled, and of the par- ticular state within which such alteration is pro- posed to be made.
XVI
TREATY OF FORT MCINTOSH (1785) 43
Articles of a treaty concluded at fort M'Intosh, the twenty-first day of January, one thousand seven
43 From American State Papers, v, Indian Affairs, i, 11. By the Treaty of Fort McIntosh the southeastern three-quarters of what is
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hundred and eighty-five, between the commissioners plenipotentiary of the United States of America, of the one part, and the sachems and warriors of the Wyandot, Delaware, Chippewa, and Ottawa nations, of the other.
The commissioners plenipotentiary of the United States, in Congress assembled, give peace to the Wyandot, Delaware, Chippewa, and Ottawa nations of Indians, on the following conditions :
ARTICLE 1. Three chiefs, one from among the Wyandot, and two from among the Delaware nations, shall be delivered up to the commissioners of the United States, to be by them retained till all the prisoners, white and black, taken by the said nations, or any of them, shall be restored.
ARTICLE 2. The said Indian nations do ac- knowledge themselves and all their tribes to be under the protection of the United States, and of no other sovereign whatsoever.
ARTICLE 3. The boundary line between the United States and the Wyandot and Delaware na- tions, shall begin at the mouth of the river Cayahoga, and run thence, up the said river, to the portage between that and the Tuscarawas branch of Mus- kingum; then down the said branch to the forks at the crossing place above fort Lawrence;44 then wes- terly to the portage of the Big Miami, which runs into the Ohio, at the mouth of which branch the fort stood, which was taken by the French in one thou- now Ohio was ceded to the United States by the four Indian nations claiming that region. This step made possible the passing of the Land Ordinance by Congress later in the year.
44 Fort Laurens near Bolivar, Ohio.
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sand seven hundred and fifty-two; then along the said portage to the Great Miami or Omie river, and down the southeast side of the same to its mouth; thence, along the south shore of lake Erie, to the mouth of Cayahoga, where it began.
ARTICLE 4. The United States allot all the lands contained within the said lines to the Wyandot and Delaware nations, to live and to hunt on, and to such of the Ottawa nation as now live thereon; sav- ing and reserving for the establishment of trading posts, six miles square at the mouth of Miami or Omie river, and the same at the portage on that branch of the Big Miami which runs into the Ohio, and the same on the lake of Sandusky, where the fort formerly stood, and also two miles square on each side of the lower rapids of Sandusky river, which posts, and the lands annexed to them, shall be to the use and under the government of the United States.
ARTICLE 5. If any citizen of the United States, or other person, not being an Indian, shall attempt to settle on any of the lands allotted to the Wyandot and Delaware nations in this treaty, except on the lands reserved to the United States in the preceding article, such person shall forfeit the protection of the United States, and the Indians may punish him as they please.
ARTICLE 6. The Indians who sign this treaty, as well in behalf of all their tribes as of themselves, do acknowledge the lands east, south, and west, of the lines described in the third article, so far as the said Indians formerly claimed the same, to belong to the United States; and none of their tribes shall presume to settle upon the same, or any part of it.
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ARTICLE 7. The post of Detroit, with a district, beginning at the mouth of the river Rosine, on the west end of lake Erie, and running west six miles up the southern bank of the said river, thence northerly and always six miles west of the strait, till it strikes the lake St. Clair, shall be also reserved to the sole use of the United States.
ARTICLE 8. In the same manner, the post at Michilimackinac, with its dependencies, and twelve miles square about the same, shall be reserved to the use of the United States.
ARTICLE 9. If any Indian or Indians shall com- mit a robbery or murder on any citizen of the United States, the tribe to which such offenders may belong, shall be bound to deliver them up at the nearest post, to be punished according to the ordinances of the United States.
ARTICLE 10. The commissioners of the United States, in pursuance of the humane and liberal views of Congress, upon this treaty's being signed, will direct goods to be distributed among the different tribes for their use and comfort.
SEPARATE ARTICLE
It is agreed that the Delaware chiefs, Kelelamand, or Colonel Henry, Hengue Pushees, or the Big Cat, Wicocalind, or Captain White Eyes, who took up the hatchet for the United States, and their families, shall be received into the Delaware nation, in the same situation and rank as before the war, and enjoy their due portions of the lands given to the Wyandot and Delaware nations in this treaty, as fully as if
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they had not taken part with America, or as any other person or persons in the said nations.
GEO CLARK, RICHARD BUTLER, ARTHUR LEE. 45
[Signed by the sachems and warriors of the Wyan- dot, Delaware, Chippewa, and Ottawa nations of Indians.]
XVII
LAND ORDINANCE OF 1785 46 May 20, 1785
An ordinance for ascertaining the mode of dis- posing of lands in the Western Territory.
Be it ordained by the United States in Congress assembled, that the territory ceded by individual states to the United States, which has been pur- chased of the Indian inhabitants, shall be disposed of in the following manner :
45 This Commission, consisting of George Rogers Clark, General Butler, and Arthur Lee, member of the U. S. Board of Treasury, ex- ercised the first powers of the National Government in the Old North- west. Created primarily to make and enforce an Indian treaty, they also served as the agent of the government to preserve inviolate the ceded region from the encroachment of "squatters" until the gov- ernment could carry out the survey-before-sale township system de- termined by the Land Ordinance now about to be passed by Congress (Doc. xvii). It was this Commission that authorized the uprooting of the squatter settlements on the western shore of the Ohio on Janu- ary 24th, three days after this treaty was signed. - W. H. Smith, The St. Clair Papers, ii, 3, n.
46 Journals of Congress, iv, 520.
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A surveyor from each state shall be appointed by Congress, or a committee of the states, who shall take an oath for the faithful discharge of his duty, before the geographer of the United States, who is hereby empowered and directed to administer the same; and the like oath shall be administered to each chain carrier, by the surveyor under whom he acts.
The geographer, under whose direction the sur- veyors shall act, shall occasionally form such regu- lations for their conduct, as he shall deem neces- sary; and shall have authority to suspend them for misconduct in office, and shall make report of the same to Congress, or to the committee of the states; and he shall make report in case of sickness, death, or resignation of any surveyor.
The surveyors, as they are respectively qualified, shall proceed to divide the said territory into town- ships of 6 miles square, by lines running due north and south, and others crossing these at right angles, as near as may be, unless where the boundaries of the late Indian purchases may render the same im- practicable, and then they shall depart from this rule no farther than such particular circumstances may require. And each surveyor shall be allowed and paid at the rate of two dollars for every mile, in length, he shall run, including the wages of chain carriers, markers, and every other expense attend- ing the same.
The first line, running north and south as afore- said, shall begin on the river Ohio, at a point that shall be found to be due north and south from the western termination of a line, which has been run as the southern boundary of the state of Pennsyl-
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vania; and the first line, running east and west, shall begin at the same point, and shall extend throughout the whole territory ; provided, that noth- ing herein shall be construed, as fixing the western boundary of the state of Pennsylvania. The geo- grapher shall designate the townships, or fractional parts of townships, by numbers progressively from south to north; always beginning each range with No. 1; and the ranges shall be distinguished by their progressive numbers to the westward. The first range, extending from the Ohio to lake Erie, being marked No. 1. The geographer shall personally attend to the running of the first east and west line; and shall take the latitude of the extremes of the first north and south line, and of the mouths of the principal rivers.
The lines shall be measured with a chain; shall be plainly marked by chaps on the trees, and exactly described on a plat; whereon shall be noted by the surveyor, at their proper distances, all mines, salt- springs, salt-licks and mill-seats, that shall come to his knowledge; and all water-courses, mountains and cther remarkable and permanent things, over and near which such lines shall pass, and also the qual- ity of the lands.
The plats of the townships respectively, shall be marked by subdivisions into lots of one mile square, or 640 acres, in the same direction as the external lines, and numbered from 1 to 36; always beginning the succeeding range of the lots with the number next to that with which the preceding one concluded. And where, from the causes before mentioned, only a fractional part of a township shall be surveyed,
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the lots, protracted thereon, shall bear the same numbers as if the township had been entire. And the surveyors, in running the external lines of the townships, shall, at the interval of every mile, mark corners for the lots which are adjacent, always des- ignating the same in a different manner from those of the townships.
The geographer and surveyors shall pay the ut- most attention to the variation of the magnetic nee- dle; and shall run and note all lines by the true mer- idian, certifying, with every plat, what was the varia- tion at the time of running the lines thereon noted.
As soon as 7 ranges of townships, and fractional parts of townships, in the direction from south to north, shall have been surveyed, the geographer shall transmit plats thereof to the board of treas- ury, who shall record the same, with the report, in well bound books to be kept for that purpose. And the geographer shall make similar returns, from time to time, of every 7 ranges as they may be sur- veyed. The secretary at war shall have recourse thereto, and shall take by lot therefrom, a number of townships, and fractional parts of townships, as well from those to be sold entire, as from those to be sold in lots, as will be equal to one-seventh part of the whole of such 7 ranges, as nearly as may be, for the use of the late continental army; and he shall make a similar draught, from time to time, until a sufficient quantity is drawn to satisfy the same, to be applied in manner hereinafter directed. The board of treasury shall, from time to time, cause the remaining numbers, as well those to be sold en- tire, as those to be sold in lots, to be drawn for, in
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the name of the thirteen states respectively, ac- cording to the quotas in the last preceding requisi- tion on all the states; provided, that in case more land than its proportion is allotted to sale, in any state, at any distribution, a deduction be made there- for at the next.
The board of treasury shall transmit a copy of the original plats, previously noting thereon, the town- ships, and fractional parts of townships, which shall have fallen to the several states, by the distribution aforesaid, to the commissioners of the loan-office of the several states, who, after giving notice of not less than two nor more than six months, by causing advertisements to be posted up at the court-houses, or other noted places in every county, and to be inserted in one newspaper, published in the states of their residence respectively, shall proceed to sell the townships, or fractional parts of townships, at public vendue; in the following manner, viz: The township, or fractional part of township No. 1, in the first range, shall be sold entire; and No. 2, in the same range, by lots; and thus in alternate order through the whole of the first range. The township, or fractional part of a township, No. 1 in the second range, shall be sold by lots; and No. 2, in the same range, entire; and so in alternate order through the whole of the second range; and the third range shall be sold in the same manner as the first, and the fourth in the same manner as the second, and thus alternately throughout all the ranges; provided, that none of the lands, within the said territory, be sold under the price of one dollar the acre, to be paid in specie, or loan-office certificates, reduced to
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specie value, by the scale of depreciation, or certifi- cates of liquidated debts of the United States, in- cluding interest, besides the expense of the survey and other charges thereon, which are hereby rated at 36 dollars the township, in specie, or certificates as aforesaid, and so in the same proportion for a fractional part of a township, or of a lot, to be paid at the time of sales; on failure of which payment, the said lands shall again be offered for sale.
There shall be reserved for the United States out of every township, the four lots, being numbered 8, 11, 26, 29, and out of every fractional part of a township, so many lots of the same numbers as shall be found thereon, for future sale. There shall be re- served the lot No. 16, of every township, for the maintenance of public schools, within the said town- ship; also one third part of all gold, silver, lead and copper mines, to be sold, or otherwise disposed of as Congress shall hereafter direct.
When any township, or fractional part of a town- ship, shall have been sold as aforesaid, and the money or certificates received therefor, the loan- officer shall deliver a deed in the following terms :
The United States of America, to all to whom these presents shall come, greeting :
Know ye, That for the consideration of dollars, we have granted, and hereby do grant and confirm unto the township, (or fractional part of a township, as the case may be) numbered in the range excepting therefrom, and reserving one- third part of all gold, silver, lead and copper mines within the same; and the lots No. 8, 11, 26, and 29, for future sale or disposition, and the lot No. 16,
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for the maintenance of public schools. To have to the said his heirs and assigns for ever; (or if more than one purchaser, to the said their heirs and assigns forever as tenants in common.) In witness whereof, A. B. commissioner of the loan- office, in the state of hath, in conformity to the ordinance passed by the United States in Con- gress assembled, the 20th day of May, in the year of our Lord 1785, hereunto set his hand, and affixed his seal, this day of in the year of our Lord and of the independence of the United States of America
And when any township, or fractional part of a township, shall be sold by lots as aforesaid, the commissioner of the loan-office shall deliver a deed therefor in the following form:
The United States of America, to all to whom these presents shall come, greeting :
Know ye, That for the consideration of dol- lars, we have granted, and hereby do grant and confirm unto the lot (or lots, as the case may be, in the township, or fractional part of the town- ship, as the case may be) numbered in the
range excepting and reserving one-third part of all gold, silver, lead and copper mines within the same, for future sale or disposition. To have to the said his heirs and assigns forever; (or if more than one purchaser, to the said their heirs and assigns for ever as tenants in common.) In witness whereof, A. B. commissioner of the con- tinental loan-office in the state of hath, in conformity to the ordinance passed by the United States in Congress assembled, the 20th day of May,
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in the year of our Lord 1785, hereunto set his hand, and affixed his seal, this day of in the year of our Lord and of the independence of the United States of America
Which deeds shall be recorded in proper books, by the commissioner of the loan office, and shall be certified to have been recorded, previous to their being delivered to the purchaser, and shall be good and valid to convey the lands in the same described.
The commissioners of the loan-offices respective- ly, shall transmit to the board of treasury every three months, an account of the townships, fraction- al parts of townships, and lots committed to their charge, specifying therein the names of the persons to whom sold, and the sums of money or certificates received for the same; and shall cause all certificates by them received, to be struck through with a cir- cular punch; and they shall be duly charged in the books of the treasury, with the amount of the moneys or certificates, distinguishing the same, by them re- ceived as aforesaid.
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