USA > Ohio > The Ohio hundred year book; a hand-book of the public men and public institutions of Ohio from the formation of the North-West territory (1787) to July 1, 1901 > Part 13
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It is hard to present the history of this session of the legislature in the limits allowed in a publication of this nature. The existing laws were a poor apology for a code; the Ordinance of 1787 formed a broad and liberal basis for the government which has since grown up under its provisions, but there was miich legislation needed to supplement and make practical its several declarations. The governor and the judges had selected or made laws, from time to time, neglecting many important interests, and imperfectly providing for others which were touched upon ; one of the statutes of Virginia had been adopted which put in operation the English common law and certain English statutes of a date prior to the fourth year of the reign of James I; statutes from the original states had been called upon to supply, in whole or in part, contributions to the code of statute law in the Territory, and there fell upon the legis- lature at this first session the duty of "repealing, amending, enacting and supplementing," in such manner as appealed to the best judgment of the pioneers who composed the body, until on their adjournment on the nineteenth day of December, 1799, there had been laid the foundation for much of the subsequent public law in the Territory and in those states which have been carved out of it.
Following is a summary of the acts of this assembly :
ACTS OF THE FIRST SESSION OF THE FIRST TERRITORIAL LEGISLATURE ( 1799).
I. An act to confirm and give force to certain laws enacted by the Governor and Judges of the Territory. (Their validity having been called in question on divers occasions.) October 28, 1799.
2. An act regulating the admission and practice of attorneys and councillors at law. October 29, 1799.
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THE OHIO HUNDRED YEAR BOOK.
The First Session of the First Territorial Legislature.
3. An act regulating enclosures. October 29, 1799.
4. An act providing for the service and return of process in certain cases. (Repealed February 14, 1805.) October 29, 1799.
5. An act regulating the interest of money, fixing the same at six per cent, and for preventing usury. (Repealed February 14, 1805.) November 15, 1799.
6. An act authorizing and regulating arbitrations. (Repealed Feb- ruary 14, 1805.) November 15, 1799.
7. An act to establish and regulate ferries. November 15, 1799.
8. An act making promissory notes and inland bills of exchange negotiable. (Repealed February 21, 1805.) November 15, 1799.
9. An act to prevent trespass by cutting of timber. November 15, 1799.
IO. An act supplementary to above. December 19, 1799. (Both acts repealed January II, 1805.)
II. An act regulating grist-mills and millers. December 2, 1799.
I2. An act to regulate the disposition of water-crafts of certain description found gone or gone adrift, and of estray animals. December 2, 1799.
13. An act for the prevention of vice and immorality. December
2, 1799. (Repealed February 14, 1805.)
14. An act to create the offices of a territorial treasurer, and of an auditor of public accounts. December 2, 1799.
15. An act establishing courts for the trial of small causes. De- cember 2, 1799. (Repealed February 15, 1804.)
16. An act providing for the appointment of constables. December 2, 1799.
17. An act to ascertain the number of free male inhabitants of the age of twenty-one, in the territory of the United States northwest of the River Ohio, and to regulate the election of representatives for the same. December 6, 1799.
18. An act to prevent the introduction of spiritous liquors into cer- tain Indian towns. December 6, 1799.
19. An act regulating the firing of woods, prairies and other lands. December 6, 1799. (Repealed February II, 1805-)
20. An act establishing and regulating the militia. December 13, 1799.
21. An act defining and regulating privileges in certain cases. December 6, 1799.
22. An act allowing compensation for the session of February, 1799, called to put in nomination the members of the legislative council. De- cember 13, 1799.
23. An act for the relief of poor persons imprisoned for debt. De- cember 13, 1799. (Repealed February 2, 1805.)
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THE OHIO HUNDRED YEAR BOOK.
The First Session of the First Territorial Legislature.
24. An act for opening and regulating public roads and highways. December 13, 1799. (Amended January 20, 1802; repealed February 17, 1804.)
25. An act levying a territorial tax on land. December 19, 1799.
26. An act to regulate county levies. December 19, 1799.
27. An act for the appointment of county treasurers. December 19, 1799.
28. An act allowing compensation to the members of the territorial legislature. December 19, 1799.
29. An act to regulate the enclosing and cultivation of common fields. December 19, 1799.
30. An act regulating the fees of the constables in the several counties within this territory. December 19, 1799. (Repealed February 21, 1805.)
31. An act to encourage the killing of wolves. December 19, 1799. (Repealed January 9 , 1802. )
32. An act for the punishment of arson. December 19, 1799.
33. An act to alter the boundary line between the counties of Jefferson and Washington. December 19, 1799.
34. An act allowing the compensation to the attorney-general of the Territory, and to the persons prosecuting pleas in behalf of the Territory in the several counties. December 19, 1799.
35. An act to authorize the freeholders of Marietta township to levy a certain tax for religious purposes. December 19, 1799.
36. An act supplementary to the act entitled "an act for the relief of the poor." (Paupers when and how to be farmed out. ) December 19, 1799. (Repealed February 22, 1805.)
37. An act appropriating monies and making appropriations for the ensuing year. December 19, 1799.
38. An act repealing certain laws and parts of laws. December 19, 1799.
The above was taken from the printed laws of the territorial legislature, as printed by Carpenter & Findlay at Cincinnati, 1800. The book is now in possession of the Supreme Court Library in Columbus. The clerk of the House certifies in this book that Solomon Sibley was appointed a committee to superintend the print- ing of the laws of the session. on December 5. Mr. Sibley certifies, May 7 fol- lowing, that he has carefully compared the printed laws with the original enrolled bills, and finds them to agree. The act bears the signatures of Edward Tiffin, Speaker of the House of Representatives, H. Vanderburgh, President of the Council, and are approved by Ar. St. Clair, Governor.
THE SECOND SESSION OF THE FIRST TERRITORIAL LEGISLATURE.
( CHILLICOTHE, NOVEMBER 3, 1800. )
1 T was in connection with the work of this first session of the legislature, that the signs of approaching disagreement with the governor made their appearance. Governor St. Clair assumed that he was a branch of the assembly and that he had an absolute right to veto the acts of the two houses. He claimed the right, as governor, to lay out and change the boundaries of counties under the Ordinance of 1787, regardless of the expressions from the legislature and was no doubt sincere in his efforts to perform that which he looked upon as his sworn duty. The result of his action was, however, to bring about a strained relation which only grew in force as time went on. Judge Burnet says, in the book already quoted: "The effect of the construction he gave of his own power may be seen in the fact that of thirty bills passed by the two houses during the first session, and sent to him for his approval, he refused assent to eleven; some of which were supposed to be of much importance, and all of them calculated, more or less, to advance the public interest. Some of them he rejected because they related to the establishment of new counties; others because he thought they were unnecessary or inexpedient. Thus, more than a third of the fruits of the labor of that entire session was lost by the exercise of the arbitrary dis- cretion of one man." (p. 376.)
In this connection it may be well to add that the governor was not sustained in his position when he submitted to the Senate of the United States his report of new counties laid out after the legislature of the Territory had come into existence. It was held that the governor of the Territory had exhausted his authority when he had once laid out the whole territory into counties (which Governor St. Clair had done early in his administration) and that subsequent rearrangements or divisions vested solely in the territorial legislature. This decision was not reached in time to prevent a recurrence of the differences between the governor and the legislature at its second session in 1800, but was gratifying to those members who had been engaged on the legislative side of the ques- tion during the first two sessions.
The legislature stood prorogued to meet in Cincinnati on the first Monday in November, 1800. By reference to an act of the Congress of the United States, May 7, of that year ( See Part One), it will be noticed that after the adjournment of the first session of the legislature, the Northwest Territory was divided by a line running due north from the
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THE OHIO HUNDRED YEAR BOOK.
The Second Session of the First Territorial Legislature.
mouth of the Kentucky River, into an eastern part which retained the old name and government, and a western part which was given the name of THE TERRITORY OF INDIANA, and a new government of the first grade established therein, the officers of which were to be appointed by the President. This act of Congress was acquiesced in by the Governor and 'legislature of the Territory with great reluctance, and was regarded by the best men in the Territory to be an unwarranted assumption of legis- lative power on the part of the Congress. President Vanderburg of the council was thus legislated out of office and became a citizen of the new territory. Representatives Shadrack Bond, of St. Clair County John Edgar, of Randolph County, and John Small, of Knox County, also lost their seats in the House of Representatives for the same reason, and the constituents of these gentlemen were summarily deprived of a voice and a membership in that local territorial government, for which they had but recently voted. The seat of government for the new territory was fixed by Congress at Vincennes, and the same act named the village of Chillicothe, instead of the already established capital at Cincinnati, as the seat of government for the old territory. It was charged that this act of Congress was urged by two or three ardent and aggressive spirits who hoped to bring about an early state government in Ohio, and were already planning to accomplish the removal of Governor St. Clair and his administration.
Pursuant to the call issued by the Governor under the new order, the members of the legislature met in Chillicothe on the third day of November, 1800. This was almost exactly one hundred years ago, it being an interesting fact that the editor writes these lines on the twenty- sixth day of October, 1900. The council met in the house of Joseph Tiffin, the council chamber in the new capitol not being ready for occu- pancy. As there is no record to the contrary, it is probable that the representatives were better provided for. The composition of the legis- lature at this second session was as follows :
IN THE COUNCIL.
Jacob Burnet, of Hamilton County (Cincinnati). Robert Oliver, of Washington County ( Marietta).
David Vance, of Jefferson County (Vanceville). James Findlay, of Hamilton County ( Cincinnati).
Mr. Vanderburg, of Vincennes, having for reasons already given, lost his seat in the council, Mr. Oliver was elected president of that body, Mr. William C. Schenck ( secretary of the Territory) acting as secretary to the council, and William Rutledge being elected door-keeper. To fill the vacancy in council, the Governor requested the House of Repre- sentatives to nominate to the President of the United States two names
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THE OHIO HUNDRED YEAR BOOK.
The Second Session of the First Territorial Legislature.
from which to make a selection, and on the ninth of November the names. of Solomon Sibley, of Detroit, and Samuel Findlay (Finley ?), of Cincin -. nati, were chosen. The seat remained vacant until the session of 1801, owing to the time necessarily consumed in forwarding the nominations to. the national capitol and in returning the appointment to the Territory ...
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
The following members were present or took their seats at a later- day :
Benham, Robert, of Hamilton County.
Chobert de Joncaire, Charles F, of Wayne County (Detroit).
Darlington, Joseph, of Adams County.
Fearing, Paul, of Washington County.
Findlay, Samuel, of Ross County.
Goforth, William, of Hamilton County.
Kimberly, Zenas, of Jefferson County.
Langham, Elias, of Ross County (Contested seat).
Ludlow, John, of Hamilton County (Vice Cadwell, removed? from the Territory).
-- Lytle, William, of Hamilton County.
McMillan, William, of Hamilton County.
Martin Isaac, of Hamilton County.
Massie, Nathaniel, of Adams County (Seated November 10) ..
Meigs, Return J., Jr., of Washington County ..
Pritchard, James, of Jefferson County.
Sibley, Solomon, of Wayne County (Detroit).
Smith, John, of Hamilton County.
Tiffin, Edward, of Ross County.
Visgar, Jacob, of Wayne County (Detroit) ..
Worthington, Thomas, of Ross County.
Edward Tiffin was elected Speaker of the House.
One of the first duties devolving on the legislature was the election of a delegate to Congress to succeed Captain William Henry Harrison, who had resigned to accept the appointment as governor of the territory of Indiana, and also to elect a delegate for the long term beginning on the fifth day of March, 1801. On the sixth day of November the two houses met in joint session in accordance with a previous resolution to that effect, and elected as delegates to Congress: William McMillan, of Hamilton County, for the unexpired term ending March 4, 1801, and Paul Fearing, of Washington County, for the term ending on the fourth day of March, 1803.
As will be noticed, the selections were made from the members of the House of Representatives.
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THE OHIO HUNDRED YEAR BOOK.
The Second Session of the First Territorial Legislature.
Mr. McMillan at once resigned from the House and proceeded to his new duties.
The work of legislation was begun with mutual expressions of regard between the Governor and the members of the assembly, notwithstanding the differences of the preceding winter. On November 5, the Governor visited the joint assembly and delivered an annual message of kindly tone in which he spoke of the near approach of the end of his term of office and of their own. He mentioned the efforts of his adversaries only to remark: "The remorse of their own consciences will one day be pun- ishment sufficient. Their acts may, however, succeed. Be that as it may, this I am certain, that, be my successor who he may, he can never have the interests of the people of this Territory more truly at heart than I have had for them, nor labor more assiduously for their good than I have done ; and I am not conscious that any one act of my administration has been influenced by any other motive, than a sincere desire to promote their welfare and happiness."
To this the assembly drafted its formal reply and asked the Governor to fix an hour when he could receive the committee and hear the same. On receiving an intimation of his convenience, the committee formally waited on him in the executive chamber at 10 o'clock a. m., Monday, November 17, and afterward returned to their respective houses bearing with them the formal reply of his excellency to their address. This second communication from St. Clair is a feeling response to the expressions of confidence in which the House had clothed its message to him.
Governor St. Clair, in a message to the House December 2, 1800, calls to their attention the fact that, as his term of office expires in one week from that day, it will be necessary that the session must end on that day, and therefore any business of importance to be transacted should not be too long postponed. He says in this case, the Secretary of the Territory can not supply to the Assembly the place of a Governor.
French inhabitants of the County of Wayne presented to the House, December 4, a petition in French language which was referred to Messrs. Kimberly and Visger for translation. (p. 95.) This committee reported later in the day that the petition was for a redress of certain grievances, and it was referred to the Committee on Propositions and Grievances.
A proposition was submitted that the assembly should hold its sessions in rotation as follows: The first session to be held in the town of Marietta, the second in the town of Cincinnati, and the third in the town of Chillicothe. This was agreed to by the House, 10 to 8.
A motion to hold the sessions in Cincinnati was lost, 4 to 14. The bill was finally defeated by striking out the enacting clause, on a vote not given. (p. 109.)
Adjourned by the Governor, December 9. 1800. (S. J. p. 77.)
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THE OHIO HUNDRED YEAR BOOK.
The Second Session of the First Territorial Legislature.
ACTS OF THE SECOND SESSION OF THE FIRST TERRITORIAL LEGISLATURE (1800).
1. An act defining seals affixed to certain instruments of writing. November 27, 1800.
2. An act to amend the act entitled, "An act allowing compensation to the attorney-general of the Territory," etc. November 27, 1800.
3. An act authorizing the leasing of school lands, and lands for religious purposes, in Washington County. November 27, 1800.
4. An act to revise "an act to establish and regulate ferries." No- vember 27, 1800.
5. An act to incorporate the town of Marietta. December 2, 1800.
6. An act to amend the act entitled "An act to create the offices of a territorial treasurer and of an auditor of Public Accounts." December 2, 1800.
7. An act to empower the trustees named in the last will and testa- ment of Doctor William Burnet, the elder, to dispose of certain lands. (PRIVATE - The act is not published in full.)
8. An act to amend the act entitled, "An act to encourage the killing of wolves." December 2, 1800.
9. An act authorizing the judges of the General Court to appoint commissioners to take special bail, and to administer oaths. December 3, 1800.
IO. An act to amend the act entitled "An act allowing and reg- ulating prison bounds." December 6, 1800.
II. An act to provide for the recording of town plats. December 6, 1800.
12. An act confirming and establishing the town of Athens in the County of Washington, December 6, 1800.
13. An act to provide for the maintenance and support of illegit- imate children. December 6, 1800.
14. An act to establish and regulate taverns and public houses of entertainment. December 6, 1800.
15. An act to amend the act entitled "An act regulating the admis- sion and practice of attorneys and councillors at law." December 8, 1800.
16. An act to ascertain and defray the travelling expenses of the judges of the General Court, and to dispose of the fees heretofore allowed them by law. December 8, 1800.
17. An act for the relief of Lucy Petit. ( PRIVATE - Not printed. )
18. An act providing for the trial of homicide committed on Indians. (To the more effectually insure justice to the Indian tribes.) December 8, 1800.
19. An act to prevent the abatement of suits in event of the death of a party thereto. December 8, 1800.
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THE OHIO HUNDRED YEAR BOOK.
The Second Session of the First Territorial Legislature.
20. An act supplementary to the act establishing and regulating the militia. December 8, 1800.
21. An act supplementary to the act entitled "An act to regulate the county levies." December 8, 1800.
22. An act supplementary to the act entitled "An act levying a ter- ritorial tax on land," and providing for a territorial tax for the year 1801. December 9, 1800.
23. An act to amend the act entitled "An act to ascertain the num- ber of free male inhabitants of the age of twenty-one, and to regulate the election of representatives for the same." December 9, 1800.
24. An act regulating circuit courts and allowing appeals from the courts of common pleas in certain cases. December 9, 1800.
25. An act supplementary to the act entitled, "An act establishing courts for the trial of small cases." December 9, 1800.
26. An act appropriating monies, etc. December 9, 1800.
The apropriation bill (No. 26) contains the following interesting items connected with the enforced removal of the seat of government from Cincinnati to Chillicothe :
To Bazil Abrams for rent of a house, occupied by the general assembly during their present session, ninety dollars.
To Thomas Worthington (afterwards United States senator and governor) for repairing the house, providing chairs, etc., for the use of the general assembly at their present session, thirty-four dollars and twenty-seven cents.
To John Armstrong, esquire, territorial treasurer, for transporting the books and papers belonging to his office, from Cincinnati to Chillicothe, forty dollars. .
To Thomas Gibson, esquire, auditor of public accounts, for transporting from Cincinnati to Chillicothe the books and papers belonging to his office, sixty dollars.
To William McMillan and James Findlay, esquires, for their services and expenses in providing a house for the reception of the legislature at the present session, each forty-three dollars.
To William C. Schenck, for transporting the papers belonging to the legis- lative council from Cincinnati to Chillicothe and for traveling expenses, forty dollars.
To John Reily, for transporting the papers belonging to the House of Rep- resentatives from Cincinnati to Chillicothe and for traveling expenses, forty dollars.
The above recited acts were signed by Edward Tiffin, Speaker of the House of Representatives ; Robert Oliver, President of the Council; and approved by Ar. St. Clair, Governor, on the date named.
Winship & Willis, Chillicothe, printers.
Authenticity vouched for by Zenas Kimberly, Committee, February 4, 180I.
THE FIRST SESSION OF THE SECOND TERRITORIAL GENERAL ASSEMBLY.
[Convened at Chillicothe on Monday, the twenty-third day of November, 1801, being the day appointed by proclamation of Governor St. Clair.]
MEMBERSHIP. THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL (SENATE).
R
OBERT OLIVER, who appeared on the twenty-third, and on the twenty-fourth, to find no other member in attendance. David Vance, who appeared on the twenty-fifth, with his col- league, Mr. Jacob Burnet.
Solomon Sibley, from Detroit, in the County of Wayne (now Mich- igan), presented his commission to succeed Mr. Vanderburgh (see notes of previous year) and was sworn and seated.
THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
Chobert, Francoise Joncaire, of Wayne County (now Detroit, Michigan).
Cutler, Ephraim, of Washington County.
Darlington, Joseph, of Adams County.
Dunlavy, Francis, of Hamilton County.
Kimberly, Zenas, of Jefferson County.
Langham, Elias, of Ross County (Seated November 26). Ludlow, John. of Hamilton County.
Massie, Nathaniel, of Adams County.
McCune, Thomas, of Jefferson County.
McDougal, George, of Wayne County (Detroit).
Miller, Moses, of Hamilton County. Milligan, John, of Jefferson County.
Morrow, Jeremiah, of Hamilton County.
Paine, Edward, of Trumbull County.
Putnam, William Rufus, of Washington County.
Reeder, Daniel, of Hamilton County.
Schiefflein, Jonathan, of Wayne County. (Detroit.
Smith, John, of Hamilton County (Seated December I). Tiffin, Edward, of Ross County.
White, Jacob, of Hamilton County.
Worthington, Thomas, of Ross County.
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143
THE OHIO HUNDRED YEAR BOOK.
The First Session of the Second Territorial General Assembly.
The House organized on the twenty-fourth of November by the election of the following officers: Edward Tiffin, Speaker; John Reilly, Clerk.
The seats of Messrs. Scheifflin and McDougall, of Wayne County, were contested, but they were declared to be entitled to their seats.
The finances of the Territory were in such condition that the gov- ernor, who had been reappointed during the adjournment of the assembly, in his address at a joint session of the two houses called to be held in "Mr. Gregg's Hall" for the purpose said: "The Territory is in debt in the sum of $5,419 beyond the whole revenue for the present year. A new emission of bills (of credit) must be made, even to meet the expenses of the present session. A wretched expedient, it is true, because the bills suffer a depreciation in the hands they pass through, and the public pays the full interest."
During this session of the General Assembly, a bill was passed trans- ferring the seat of government to Cincinnati, from which city it had been removed by a provision in the territorial act of 1800, and as an expres- sion of feeling on the part of the local inhabitants, a number of the members of the legislature, and also the governor, were set upon in Chillicothe on the twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth of December. The mat- ter was made a subject for official investigation.
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