USA > Ohio > The biographical annals of Ohio, 1904-1905. A handbook of the government and institutions of the state of Ohio Vol. 2, Pt. 1 > Part 13
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May I-For the equal division and distribution of insolvent estates (Connecticut).
May I-To provide for the improvement of the breed of horses (Kentucky).
May I-Directing the mode of proceeding in civil cases (Massa- chusetts).
May I-An addition to the law ascertaining the fees of certain officers.
May I-Method of taxing all unsettled and unimproved parcels of land (Kentucky).
May I-Rendering the acknowledgment of deeds more easy (Con- necticut).
May I-Establishing a land office (Kentucky).
May I-Repealing the 28th section of the law regulating fees; and so much of the law raising county rates and levies as relates to the duties of justices as to wild animals killed.
These laws are severally signed by Winthrop Sargent, acting Gov- ernor, John Cleves Symmes, Joseph Gilman, Return Jonathan Meigs, Junior, and their correctness attested by Winthrop Sargent, Secretary.
This was the last legislative act of the Territorial Council.
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THE BIOGRAPHICAL ANNALS OF OHIO.
THE FIRST SESSION OF THE FIRST TERRITORIAL LEGISLATURE.
I N the year 1798, Governor St. Clair, having by personal visits to the several settlements become satisfied of the presence of the necessary five thousand white male inhabitants in the territory, issued his proclamation to the people calling for the election of representa- tives to a general assembly to be convened at Cincinnati on the fourth day of February, 1799. This general assembly, under the ordinance of 1787, must consist of a House of Representatives, together with a Legislative Council of five members to be appointed by the President of the United States, from a list of ten names to be submitted to him by the House of Representatives when so elected. The representatives were chosen in accordance with the proclamation of the Governor, and on assembling at Cincinnati on the day named in the proclamation, February 4, nominated the members of council and adjourned to meet in Cin- cinnati on the sixteenth of the following September, in order that the President would have an opportunity to act. Of the ten names sub- mitted for his inspection and approval, the President nominated to the United States Senate as members of the Territorial Council (or upper house) : Jacob Burnet and James Findlay of Cincinnati; Henry Van- derburgh of Vincennes; Robert Oliver of Marietta, and David Vance of Vanceville.
These nominations were promptly confirmed by the Senate and trans- mitted to Cincinnati, where they were announced to the people by proclamation of the Governor.
On the sixteenth day of September, 1799, the First Territorial Leg -. islature met in Cincinnati, the two houses being composed of the fol- lowing gentlemen :
IN THE COUNCIL (APPOINTED).
Jacob Burnett, of Cincinnati.
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James Findlay, of Cincinnati.
Henry Vanderburgh, of Vincennes.
Robert Oliver, of Marietta.
David Vance, of Vanceville.
Mr. Vanderburgh was elected President of the Council.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES (ELECTED).
Benham, Robert, of Hamilton County (Cincinnati).
Bond, Shadrack, of St. Clair County.
Chobert de Joncaire, Charles F., of Wayne County (Detroit). 10-B. A ..
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THE BIOGRAPHICAL ANNALS OF OHIO.
The First Session of the First Territorial Legislature.
Caldwell, Aaron, of Hamilton County (Cincinnati).
Darlington, Joseph, of Adams County.
Edgar, John, of Randolph County.
Fearing, Paul, of Washington County ( Marietta). Findlay, Samuel, of Ross County (Chillicothe).
Gofortlı, William, of Hamilton County (Cincinnati).
Ludlow, John, of Hamilton County (Cincinnati).
Langham, Elias, of Ross County (Chillicothe).
McMillan, William, of Hamilton County (Cincinnati).
Martin; Isaac, of Hamilton County (Cincinnati).
Massie, Nathaniel, of Ross County (Chillicothe).
Meige, Return jonathan, Jr., of Washington County ( Marietta).
Pritchard, James, of Jefferson County. Sibley, Solomon, of Wayne County (Detroit).
: Small, John, of Knox County. (Vincennes).
Smith, John, of Hamilton County (Cincinnati).
Tiffin, Edward, of Ross County (Chillicothe).
Viscar, Jacob, of Wayne County (Detroit).
Worthington, Thomas, of Ross County (Chillicothe).
The two houses having met and organized by the election of their officers, on the sixteenth of September, on the following day Governor St. Clair addressed the legislature in eloquent terms, congratulating the body and the Territory on the new form of legislative government in which the people now had a direct voice in the conduct of affairs. Jacob Burnet, a member of the council, writing after the lapse of a half a cen- tury, says in his "Notes on the Northwest Territory" (Cincinnati, 1847) :
"He laid before them a full and faithful view of the condition and the wants of the Territory, and recommended to their attention such measures as he believed were proper to advance the prosperity and happi- ness of the people" (p. 300).
Governor St. Clair had been in active discharge of the duties of the chief executive of the Territory continuously since he had supervised the dispatch of the first settlers to the then unsettled west in 1788; he had joined the first colony at Marietta within three months of is arrival (July, 1788), and had been one of the legislators for the colonies up to the time of the meeting of this first territorial assembly; out of the experience of over eleven pioneer years, the governor spoke to the legis- lators of the work before them, as no better quipped man could speak, for there was no man of better equipment for the duty. Of Governor St. Clair's influence at this time Mr. Burnet says (p. 378) : "And it may be said with great truth, that at the time he addressed the First Territorial Legislature in 1799, he possessed as great, if not a greater
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THE BIOGRAPHICAL ANNALS OF OHIO.
The First Session of the First Territorial Legislature.
share of the confidence and respect of the people of the Territory than any other individual residing in it."
This being the first session of any representative legislative body in the Territory, the transition from the first to the second grade of gov -. ernment involved a general revision of the laws in force; new laws to meet the changed conditions; new officers and new duties for those already establishel ; and a plan must be conceived by which to meet the increased expenditures of a semi-independent government. Many of the members being inexperienced in legislative matters, the active work of the session fell on a few of the men who had been most closely identified with the -- previous history of the settlements.
On the third of October the two houses in joint session elected William Henry Harrison as delegate from the Territory in the Congress of the United States, his election being contested by Arthur St. Clair, Jr., who was beaten by one vote. Captain Harrison was secretary of the Territory at the time of his election, Mr. St. Clair, son of the Governor, being its attorney. Mr. Harrison resigned his position as secretary and at once proceeded to his duties in the Congress.
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 much 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 legisla- ture 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 nine- teenth 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.
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The First Session of the First Territorial Legislature.
2. An act regulating the admission and practice of attorneys and councillors at law. October 29, 1799.
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 percent., and forpreventing usury. (Repealed February 14, 1805.) No- vember 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, 1700.
8. An act making promissory notes and iniand bilis 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.
' 12. An act to regulate the disposition of water crafts of certain description found gone or gone adrift, and of estray animals. December 2, 1799.
I3. 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 spirituous 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. De- cember 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.
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The First Session of the First Territorial Legislature.
23. An act for the relief of poor persons imprisoned for debt. De- cember 13, 1799. (Repealed February 2, 1805.)
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 To. 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 Jeffer- son 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. (Repeaeld 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 pos session of the Supreme Court Library in Columbus. The . clerk of the House certifies in this book that Solomon Sibley was appointed a committee to su- perintend the printing of the laws of the session, on December 5. Mr. Sibley certifies, May 7 following, 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.
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THE BIOGRAPHICAL. ANNALS OF OHIO.
THE SECOND SESSION OF THE FIRST TERRITORIAL LEGISLATURE.
(CHILLICOTHE, NOVEMBER 3, 1800.)
I 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 countries under the Ordinance of 1707, regard- less 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 inex- pedient. : Thus, more than a third of the fruits of the labor of that entire session was lost by the exercise of the arbitrary discretion 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 question during the first two sessions.
The legislature stood prorogued to meet at Cincinnati on the first Monday in November, 1800. By reference to an act of 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 BIOGRAPHICAL ANNALS OF OHIO.
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 Teritory 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, but 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 doorkeeper. To fill the vacancy in council, the Governor requested the House of Repre- ventatives to nominate to the President of the United States two names
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THE BIOGRAPHICAL ANNALS OF OHIO.
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). '
Darlingion, 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 Caldwell, removed from the Territory).
Lytle, William, of Hamilton County.
McMillan, William, of Hamliton 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 BIOGRAPHICAL ANNALS OF OHIO.
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, ontwithstanding 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 he 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 cannot 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 uubmitted 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, Io 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 nur given. (p. 109.)
Adjourned by the Governor December 9, 1800. (S. J., p. 77.)
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THE BIOGRAPHICAL ANNALS OF OHIO.
The Second Session of the First Territorial Legislature.
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ACTS OF THE SECOND SESSION OF THE FIRST TERRITORIAL LEGISLATURE. (1800.)
I. 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 re- ligious 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.
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