USA > Ohio > Ohio's progressive sons; a history of the state; sketches of those who have helped to build up the commonwealth > Part 6
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A better order of things was soon to come. In the years following Wayne's campaign emigration increased rapidly. It is said that at least one thousand boat loads of settlers passed Marietta on their way to the lower river towns in 1796. The first towns grew and others were settled. A clause of the original ordinance provided that whenever the popula- tion of the territory would reach or exceed five thousand it should be entitled to a more popular and stable government, resembling that granted to the territories still existing. This limit was reached in 1798, and Congress sanctioned the change. In February, of the follow- ing year, arrangements were made for the election of a Territorial Legislature that was to
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serve two years. According to the Ordinance of 1787, the Legislature was to nominate ten freeholders of five hundred acres or more and submit the list to Congress, which would select five to act as a Legislative Council, serving five years. This Legislature was duly elected on the third Monday in November, convened in Cincinnati, and proceeded to enact much- needed legislation. Some of the ablest men of the country were members of this first Legis- lature, among them being Jacob Burnet, Edward Tiffin and Thomas Worthington. This Legislature passed an act making valid without question many of the St. Clair laws that had been disputed, and not the least important step was the election of General William Henry Harrison as delegate to Congress. With this Legislature Ohio began to take form. A decided reform in the land laws stimulated settlement, and something like stable government took the place of the general chaos. In 1800, the census accredited the Eastern portion of the territory, what is now Ohio and Michigan, with a population of 42,000, and in the same year the territory was divided, the Eastern part retained the name and officers ; the Western part became Indian Territory, under the Governorship of William Henry Harrison. This, how- ever, did not entirely end all troubles. General St. Clair evidently felt that the Territorial Legislature was encroaching upon his rights, and he obstructed much which was afterwards proved to be good legislation. Stubborn quarrels soon began between him and the promi- nent men of the territory. There is no doubt that he was inclined to be dictatorial beyond the limits justified by his ability as a statesman, and though it is unlikely that blame was entirely on his side, he was soon the most unpopular man in the whole territory. At the beginning of the nineteenth century an aggressive agitation for the admission of Ohio into the Union as a State was commenced. A second census was taken by order of the Territorial Government early in 1802, and in April of the same year Congress authorized the call of a convention to frame a State Constitution. This move, however, was opposed by many, and in June of that year, a convention was held at Marietta, to protest against the granting of statehood to Ohio. A resolution was passed, asking Congress to change the western boundary to the Scioto River and leave that section in possession of its territorial government, but Congress could not see any wisdom in such a step. The Constitutional Convention met at Chilli- cothe in November, 1802, in which city the seat of government of the Northwestern Terri- tory had been established in 1800, and adopted a Constitution for a State that was destined to become one of the most important factors in the great American Federation. The con- vention, besides adopting a constitution and deciding upon the advisability of Statehood, called the first election of State officers to be held on the 11th of January, 1803. It also made the express provision, that until the new officers should take charge of their offices, on the Ist of March, 1803, Ohio should continue under the Territorial Government, submissive, as heretofore, to Congress. The Constitution was submitted to Congress, approved, and on the 19th of February, 1803, Ohio was admitted into the Union as a State.
Governor St. Clair, who had been removed from his office by President Jefferson, in November, 1802, was a candidate for election to the position which he had held by appointment, but he was overwhelmingly defeated by Edward Tiffin, the first Governor of the State of Ohio.
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CHAPTER IV
The Infancy of a Great State -
The First Constitution of Ohio .- Executive, Legislative and Judicial Departments .- Their Duties Defined. Conspiracy of Aaron Burr .- Impeachment of the Courts .- Harrison Defeats the Indians at the Tippe- canoe River .- The War of 1812 against England .- Ohio the Battleground of Fierce Fights .- Siege of Fort Meigs .- Massacre of Dudley's Kentuckians .- Defense of Fort Stephenson .- Perry's Glorious Victory on Lake Erie.
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HIO was now a State and a member of the Federal Union. The Constitution of the State, adopted by the convention in Novem- ber, 1802, in uniformity with the Constitution of the United States, conferred the elective franchise on every white male resident of the State, twenty-one years old. It otherwise made the usual distribution of State power in three departments, legislative, judicial and executive. The executive power was vested in a Governor. The Governor, elected for two years, could be re-elected for three consecutive terms, and, after being out of HARRISON office for the period of one term, could again be eligible. This privilege, however, has never been used to the full extent of its limits. The arbitrary conduct of Governor St. Clair was so generally recognized by the delegates that in the preparation of a Constitution they resolved to divest the office of Governor of all privileges which by their exercise might to the slightest extent prove unsatisfactory to the people. The veto power, that anomaly in republican governments, was not recognized in the first Constitution of Ohio. It was the duty of the Governor to communicate such information and recommend such measures to the Legisla- ture, as he might think expedient ; on extraordinary occasions it was in his power to convene the General Assembly ; and in case of disagreement between the two houses of the Legisla- ture, as to the time of adjournment, he could adjourn them; but with the business of legis- lation he had nothing to do. He was made Commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the State; except in cases of impeachment he might grant reprieves and pardons; all com- missions were to be made out by him under the great seal, and he had the power to fill vacancies which might occur during the recess of the General Assembly in offices of legisla- tive appointment, by granting commissions which should expire at the end of the next ses- sion, 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 House of Representatives. The Senate was to have not less than one-third nor more than one-half of the members allowed to 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 annu- ally, apportioned to the different counties according to the number of legal voters in the same, the members of the Senate were to be elected biennially. No Judge or Clerk of any court, or member of Congress, or a 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 rendered the person elected by its aid ineligible for that office for two years. The qualifications of members were, that they should be citizens of the United States, free from the disqualifications mentioned, inhabitants of the State of Ohio, residents within the district from which they might be elected, and taxpayers ; Repre- sentatives to be at least twenty-five years of age, and Senators at least thirty years old. No property qualifications were necessary. Property, as such, the Legislature did not repre- sent, nor regard in the distribution of political power. By joint ballot the Legislature appointed Judges and State officers, civil and military, and fixed their salary and compensa- tion. Each House might choose its own officers, establish rules for its proceedings, punish
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its members for misbehavior, expel the same if a two-third vote concurred, and punish con- tempts committed against its dignity by persons not members. Bills could originate in either House, subject to alteration, amendments or rejection by the other. The power to impose taxes to raise a revenue, though not expressly recognized 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-thirds vote. The Governor and all other civil officers were, for misdemeanors in office, liable to impeach- ment by the House of Representatives and triable by the Senate, sitting as a high court for that purpose, but no conviction could ensue unless by a two-thirds vote of the Senators sit- ting in such court. No punishment beyond removal from or disqualification for office could
1
1
Clevelandy
TRUMBULL
Warren
INDIAN RESERVATION
TREATY LINE
1797
.Steubenville
HAMILTON
VRFIELD
1800
1790
Lancaster
St. Clairsville. BELMONT
1801
Marietta
ROSS
Chillicothe
1798
CLERMONT
·Batavia
1800
ADAMS
1799
Manchester
OHIO COUNTIES
1802
MAP OF OHIO IN 1802
follow conviction, but, whether acquitted or convicted, the person was subsequently liable to indictment and triable, with judgment and punishment according to law. No money could be drawn from the treasury except by legislative appropriation, and an accurate account of receipts and expenditures should be annually published with the laws.
The judicial power was vested in a Supreme Court, Courts of Common Pleas, in Jus- tices of the Peace, and any other manner of courts the Legislature might establish and pre- scribe. The Supreme Court consisted of four Judges and by all, or by 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 Judge. The State was divided into circuits, the number of which might be increased with the increase of the population. For each circuit one presid- ing Judge and for each county not less than two and not more than three Associate Judges should be appointed. Each of these Circuit Courts had original and appellate jurisdiction
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FIRE LANDS
WESTERN RESERVE
WAYNE
9621
JEFFERSON
WASHINGTON
1788
Cincinnati
"in common law, chancery and criminal cases." The Court of Common Pleas had "juris- diction of all probate and testamentary matters, granting administration and the appoint- ment of guardians." All the Judges should be appointed for a term of seven years, and, except the associates, were compensated with salaries. They were forbidden to hold any other office for profit or trust, or receive fee or perquisite for their duties. Each court could appoint its own clerk. The Justices of the Peace were elected by the townships, one to each, to serve for three years. Sheriffs and Coroners to be elected biennially, but no
LAKE ERIE AFTER A STORM NEAR CLEVELAND, O.
election of the same person to the former office for a third term was permitted. Officers of towns, and other township officers to be elected annually, and the Legislature was author- ized to designate the manner of filling all public offices, not specially mentioned in the con- stitution. 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 require- ment of law, to speak, write or print as he might think proper and making himself liable for the abuse of that right. All prisoners should be humanely treated, granted a speedy and impartial trial, and punished proportionately to the nature of the offense committed. Imprisonment should be restricted to certain conditions, involving fraudulent intent, poll taxes should be prohibited, and the Legislature was denied the liberty of granting any hered- itary privileges. Finally, the constitution provided for the incorporation of associa- tions to be regularly formed within the State, on application to the Legislature for that purpose by private bill; and that amendment and revision of the State Constitution should only be made by a convention to be elected whenever a majority of the people, on the recom- mendation of two-thirds of the Legis- lature, might vote for the same. To the constitution was fixed a schedule, providing that the Territorial laws should remain in force until repealed
PRINCIPAL STREET IN CHILLICOTHE, IN 1810
by the Legislature of the State ; the first election was to be held in January, and the first General Assembly required to convene at Chillicothe on the first Tuesday of March, 1803.
The first General Assembly under the constitution met at the appointed day. Michael Baldwin was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives and Nathaniel Massie Speaker of the Senate. The General Assembly proceeded to appoint all the officers necessary to carry on the business of governing the State. The offices were filled as follows: Secretary of State, William Creighton, Jr. : AAuditor of State. Colonel Thomas Gib- son : Treasurer, William McFarland: Judges of the Supreme Court, Samuel Huntington, Return J. Meigs, Jr., and William Sprigg ; President Judges of the First, Second and Third Districts, Francis Dunlevy, Wyllis Silliman and Calvin Pease : United States Senators, Thomas Worthington and John Smith. The Legislature passed such laws as seemed to be needed, and organized seven new counties: Gallia, Scioto, Geauga, Butler, Warren, Greene and Montgomery. Those parts of the State had suffered much for want of an organization into counties. St. Clair had continuously refused to have these counties erected. The State courts were organized, their jurisdiction defined, and their practice, in some degree, regu- lated. Judges of the courts were, as above stated, in conformity with the constitution, and the courts of the territory-the General Court, the Cir- cuit Courts, the Orphans' Courts, the Courts of Common Pleas, and the courts of general quarter sessions-were all abolished. Most of the powers, formerly exercised by the courts of quarter sessions, in establishing high- ways, erecting public buildings, granting licenses, etc .. were transferred to the Associate Judges of the Courts of Common Pleas. The tax laws of the territory were slightly modified and continued in force. The Associate Judges, in each county, were authorized to appoint County Treasurers, to whom the Territorial County Treasurers were required to deliver their books, papers and accounts, and the Treasurer of the State was in- structed to receive from the United States Treasury three per cent of the proceeds of the public lands within the State (all of such lands remaining the possession of the United States Government) as agreed upon. The manner of electing the one member of Congress, to which the State by population was entitled, was also de- termined. In the following election, Jeremiah Morrow became the first member of Congress from the State of Ohio.
FIRST CAPITOL BUILDING OF OHIO CHILLICOTHE
On the 5th day of December, 1803. the second Gen- eral Assembly convened at Chillicothe, with Nathaniel Massie Speaker of the Senate, and Elias Langham Speak- er of the House. During this session twenty-nine laws were enacted. All the territorial laws governing the militia were repealed and replaced by State laws. Legislation was enacted for the incor- poration of townships and the election of County Commissioners; to divide the State into counties, stipulating that no new county should have less area than four hundred square miles. To enable aliens to hold lands within the State and enjoy the same property rights as citizens of the United States ; to appropriate the three per cent funds receivable from the
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NAT'L CLEV D
TOLEDO IN 1905
United States Treasury to the construction of roads, the same to be divided into small sums, and applied under the direction of Road Com- missioners in different parts of the State; and to simplify and improve the manner of obtaining a State revenue. The land being the principal source of revenue, the burden of the tax was chiefly borne by nonresidents, who had no prop- erty but land in the State. The tax collectors were required to pay two-thirds of their collec- tions into the State Treasury and one-third into their respective County Treasuries, while County Commissioners and Township Trustees were also authorized to collect taxes for certain pur- poses within their respective limits, and the authorities and duties of Justices and Constables A RURAL SCENE NEAR MANSFIELD, OHIO were defined. But with all the efforts to change the territorial to State laws, many of the former still remained in force, and at the third session of the General Assembly a strenuous effort was made to revise the whole system, the result of which was a very complete code of statute laws. The first difficulty conflicting with the Constitution of the United States oc- curred in 1805, and slavery was the cause of it. Massachusetts proposed as an amendment,
that representation should be apportioned among the States in the ratio of their free population and submitted this proposition of her "General Court," or Legislature, for the consideration and action of the legisla- tors of the various States. Ohio disap- proved on the ground that the Constitution of the United States was the result of com- promise, and interference with its provisions would be productive of discord. In the same year, another proposed amendment originated with the Legislature of Ken- tucky, proposing to take from the Supreme Court of the United States such part of its jurisdiction as related to controversies be- tween citizens of different States, and be- tween a State and its citizens and foreign ENTRANCE TO GORDON PARK CLEVELAND, OHIO States and their citizens. Ohio refused to concur, on the ground that "so much of the Constitution as secured to citizens of different States adjudication of claims before an impartial tribunal and free from the influence of any particular State, was one of its most important provisions.". While the report added the expression of the fear that "frequent alterations might tend to unsettle the great principles upon which the constitution itself was founded." A third proposed amendment came before the Legislature of Ohio from that of North Carolina, requiring that the power to interdict the importation of slaves should be vested in Congress immediately. To this Ohio answered, that, although concurring in
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A PICTURESQUE SPOT IN WADE PARK CLEVELAND, OHIO
sentiment with North Carolina as to slavery and the slave trade, she refused to assent to this pro- posed amendment, on the ground that, by the con- stitution of the United States, a time was fixed when Congress alone should have this power, and until that time arrived nothing should be done, and when it arrived nothing need be done.
In 1805, the Indian claim to the Western Re- serve and "Fire Lands," so called, was by special treaty released, and secured to the State of Con- nectient. These "Fire Lands." amounting to five hundred thousand acres, had been, by act of her Legislature, donated by Connecticut to certain suf- ferers by the invasion of Connecticut by the British troops in the Revolutionary War. particularly per- sons then residents of New London, on the Thames River. at Fairfield, and at Norwalk. These lands included the five westermost ranges of the Western Reserve townships. Lake Erie, with its more southern indentation of Sandusky bay, projected so far southwardly as to leave the space but six tiers of townships and some fraction of land above the forty-first parallel of latitude, or a tract thirty miles from cast to west, and twenty-seven miles from north to south. This land was, after its release from Indian possession, sur- veyed into townships of about twenty-five square miles, each of which was divided into four parts, and. for individual convenience of purchase, subdivided into farm tracts of from fifty to five hundred acres, as the purchaser desired.
In 1803. Napoleon Bonaparte, as First Consul of France, sold to the United States the territory called Louisiana, and which, by a secret treaty, France had but a short time pre- viously obtained from Spain. The price paid by the United States for this immense ter- ritory, bounded on the east by the Mississippi River from its source to its mouth, was fifteen million dollars, and when the bargain was completed, Napoleon is reported to have said: "This accession of territory strengthens forever the power of the United States, and I have just given to England a maritime rival that will sooner or later humble her pride." As Spain was highly indignant at the result of the negotiation, and which resulted by the Governor of Louisiana, in 1802, closing the port of New Orleans against United States shipping, it was believed that the inhabitants of Louisiana, being principally French and Spanish, would not submit to American rule. Spain, in defiance of the purchase from France, and the right of the latter to sell, maintained her right to the possession of New Orleans and all the country cast of the lower Mississippi, but at length peaceably trans- ferred such possessions, as well as her claim to the territory, which subsequently became the State of Florida. These events had greatly agitated the public mind, and one ambitious adventurer resolved to take advantage of them. Aaron Burr had been placed on the Presidential ticket in 1800, and elected as Vice President with President Jefferson. In ISO4 he had, in a duel, shot Alexander Hamilton, and in consequence became an outcast from the society he moved in. Hence, being despised by his former party men, he was not re-nominated with President Jefferson, and, smarting under the stings of this and other public neglects, he was ready to foster any plot that promised sufficient satisfaction to his
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disappointed ambition. Learning that a rich Irish gentleman had purchased an island in the Ohio River, and was living there, he resolved to approach him on his way to New Orleans; and, giving evasive and deceptive reasons to his friends in the East for his jour- ney, proceeded to Wheeling, and from there embarked in an open boat with one attendant for Blennerhassett Island, about sixty miles below. Having arrived, he introduced himself to the proprietor and spent several days with his host and hostess, who, it would seem in a very credulous manner, entered into the plans submitted to them. From there he pro- ceeded by the rivers to Nashville, where he spent some time with General Jackson, who had arranged there a public reception in his honor, and thence he went to New Orleans, where he gained the good will of General Wilkinson, the commandant of the United States troops in that district. By the sea he returned to the East. A second journey West was made, and this time he made Blennerhassett Island the seat of his operations for the ren- dezvous of a flotilla to carry men whom he had enlisted in his project to the lower country. The United States Government, having been advised of these proceedings, in December, 1806, communicated with Governor Tiffin of Ohio, who presented the matter to the State Legislature, then in session, and an act was at once passed, authorizing the arrest of persons engaged in unlawful enterprises, as well as authorizing the seizure of their contraband goods. Mr. Blennerhassett escaped with Burr down the river and reached New Orleans in safety. His property was destroyed in the most wanton manner by the militia, and his wife and family subsequently had to fly to Natchez. Burr was arrested in February, 1807, near Fort Stoddard, in Alabama, by Lieutenant (afterwards Major-General) E. P. Gaines. He was taken to Richmond and there tried for treason, but as the evidence was insufficient to prove that his design was a disseverance of the Union, rather than an invasion of and an attempt to set up a foreign government in Mexico, he was acquitted. This was the only important historical event that occurred during the administration of the first Governor of Ohio. Nothing marked the course of the next two years except the impeachment of three judges of the Third Circuit Court of Common Pleas. The particulars of the offense are worthy of mention.
The charges under the articles of impeachment reported by the House committee against Judge Pease, one of the defendants, were an infraction of the fifth section of the act regulating the jurisdiction of justices of the peace, in deciding in favor of an appeal from the judgment of a justice for a sum exceeding twenty dollars, the justice having no juris- diction above that sum; an infraction of the twenty-ninth section of the same act by having allowed the plaintiff his cost of suit in an action for a sum between twenty and fifty dollars, commenced by original writ from the Court of Common Pleas, and that, sitting as pre- siding judge of his court, he had on various occasions decided that that court had full power to suspend, set aside and declare null and void any act of the State Legislature, and in accordance with such, his decision, he had suspended, etc., etc., the fifth section of the act defining the duties of justices. In answer, the seventh amendment of the United States Constitution was pleaded to the first count, and which says: "In suits at common law, when the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved." Also the eighth section of the eighth article of the State Constitution, which declared that "the right of trial by jury shall be inviolate." These references so fully sup- ported the decisions upon which the first charge was founded, that acquittal followed as a matter of course, while conviction failed in the second charge from lack of the necessary two-thirds votes required, and the Court decided, by a vote of 16 to 8, that the third charge was insufficient to sustain impeachment.
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