USA > Ohio > Clark County > The history of Clark County, Ohio, containing a history of the county; its cities, towns, etc.; general and local statistics; portraits of early settlers and prominent men, V. 1 > Part 10
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Congress called upon Kentucky and Pennsylvania to lend the aid of their militia.' Gen. Harmar was instructed to destroy the Miami villages at the head of the Maumee. Late in the fall of 1790, he executed this order.
The Indians had stored a large quantity of provisions, in expectation of a campaign, and this dependence was devastated. Without authority, and with undue carelessness, he divided his army and attempted to achieve other victo- ries. Ile more than lost what he had gained. Two raids upon the Wabash In- dians, thereafter, proved successful, but the campaign under Gov. St. Clair was not calculated to establish peace or obtain power, and was deemed but little less than a failure.
The year 1792 was a series of skirmishes, so far as a settlement was con- cerned, but 1793 succeeded well enough to convene a meeting of United States Commissioners and representatives of the hostile tribes, at the rapids of the Maumee. It is highly probable that a satisfactory treaty might have been arranged, had it not been for the intervention and malicious influence of the
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British Superintendent of Indian Affairs, Col. McKee, his assistant Capt. Elliott, and the notorious Capt. Simon Girty, who instigated the savages to deeds more horrible than their own barbarisms.
It was evident that a severe struggle must ensue, and Capt. Wayne, in 1792, appointed to the command of the Western army, was called upon to con- duct the campaign. He exhibited his wisdom in the beginning, by preparing his men in military discipline and fully equipping them before marching to meet a savage foe in a wilderness. Various causes detained the army, and it was not until the fall of 1793, that the force marched from Fort Washington (Cincin- nati) to begin the battle.
It was already late in the season, and, before any progress had been made, the -army went into winter quarters at Greenville, on a branch of the Big Miami.
In the mean time, the Ohio Company had not matured its practical "settle- ment plan," although a generous grant had been obtained. In 1792, they received a clear title to 750,000 acres of land, for which the full price had pre- viously been paid, in Continental currency. Congress set aside 214,285 acres as army bounties, and 100,000 acres to actual settlers. The two latter appro- priations joined that of the Ohio Company.
There had been numerous conventions, discussions and other fruitless attempts to somehow form a plan for the government of the Northwest Terri- tory, but it was not until July 13, 1787, that an ordinance was passed, and that was the result of Dr. Cutler's efforts. Every State sustained its measures.
This ordinance was the foundation of the constitution of the future State of Ohio, and indeed, permeates the entire Northwestern creed.
ORDINANCE OF 1787 .- No. 32.
AN ORDINANCE FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF THE TERRITORY OF THE UNITED STATES, NORTHWEST OF THE OHIO RIVER.
Be it ordained by the United States in Congress assembled, That the said Territory, for the pur- pose of government, be one distriet; subject, however, to be divided into two districts, as future cir- cumstances may, in the opinion of Congress, make it expedient.
Be it ordained by the authority aforesaid, That the estates of both resident and non-resident proprietors in the said Territory, dying intestate, shall descend to and be distributed among their children and the descendants of a deceased child, in equal parts; the descendants of a deceased child or grandchild to take the share of their deceased parent in equal parts among them. And when there shall be no children or descendants, then in equal parts to the next of kin in equal degree; and among collaterals, the children of a deceased brother or sister of the intestate shall have, in equal parts among them, their deceased parent's share; and there shail in no case be a distribution between kindred of the whole and half blood, saving in all cases to the widow of intestate, her third part of the real estate, for life, and one-third part of the personal estate; and this law relative to descents and dower, shall remain in full force until altered by the Legis- lature of the district. And until the Governor and Judges shall adopt Jaws as hereinafter mentioned, estates in said Territory may be devised or bequeathed by wills in writing, signed and sealed by him or her in whom the estate may be (being of full age), and attested by three witnesses; and real estate may be conveyed by lease and release, or bargain and sale, signed and sealed, and delivered by the person (being in full age) in whom the estate may be, and attested
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by two witnesses, provided such wills be duly proved, and such conveyances be acknowledged, or the execution thereof duly proved and be recorded within one year after proper magistrates, courts and registers shall be appointed for that purpose. And personal property may be trans- ferred by delivery, saving, however, to the French and Canadian inhabitants and other settlers of the Kaskaskias, St. Vincent's and the neighboring villages, who have heretofore professed them- selves citizens of Virginia, their laws and customs now in force among them, relative to the descent and conveyance of property.
Be it ordained by the authority aforesaid, That there shall be appointed from time to time, by Congress, a Governor whose commission shall continue in force for a term of three years, unless sooner revoked by Congress. He shall reside in the district and have a freehold estate therein, of a thousand acres of land while in the exercise of his office.
There shall be appointed from time to time by Congress, a Secretary whose commission shall continue in force for two years, unless sooner revoked. He shall reside in the district, and shall have a freehold estate therein in 500 acres of land, while in the exercise of his office. It shall be his duty to keep and preserve the acts and laws passed by the Legislature, and the public records of the district, and the proceedings of the Governor in his executive department, and transmit authentic copies of such acts and proceedings every six months, to the Secretary of Congress. There shall also be appointed a court to consist of three Judges, any two of whom to form a court, who shall have a common law jurisdiction and shall reside in the district and have each therein a freehold estate in 500 acres of land, while in the exercise of their office, and their commissions shall continue in force during good behavior.
The Governor and Judges, or a majority of them, shall adopt and publish in the district such laws of the original States, criminal and civil, as may be necessary and best suited to the circumstances of the district, and report them to Congress from time to time, which laws shall be in force in the district until the organization of the General Assembly therein, unless disapproved by Congress. But afterward, the Legislature shall have authority to alter them, as they shall think fit.
The Governor, for the time being, shall be commander-in-chief of the militia, appoint and. commission all officers in the same, below the rank of general officers. All general officers shall be appointed and commissioned by Congress.
Previous to the organization of the General Assembly, the Governor shall appoint such mag- istrates and other civil officers in each county or township, as he shall find necessary for the preservation of the peace and good order in the same. After the General Assembly shall be organized, the powers and duties of magistrates and other civil officers shall be regulated and . defined by the said Assembly, but all magistrates and other civil officers not herein otherwise directed, shall, during the continuance of this temporary government, be appointed by the Governor.
For the prevention of crimes and injuries, the laws to be adopted or made shall have force in all parts of the district, and for the execution of process, criminal or civil, the Governor shall make proper divisions thereof, and he shall proceed from time to time as circumstances may require, to lay out the parts of the district in which the Indian titles shall have been extin- guished, into counties and townships, subject, however, to such alterations as may thereafter be made by the Legislature. So soon as there shall be 5,000 free male inhabitants of full age in the district, upon giving proof thereof to the Governor, they shall receive authority with time and place, to elect representatives from their counties or townships, to represent them in the General Assembly. Provided, That for every 500 free male inhabitants, there shall be one representative, and so on progressively with the number of free male inhabitants, shall the right of representa- tion increase, until the number of representatives shall amount to twenty-five. After which, the number shall be regulated by the Legislature. Provided, That no person be eligible or qualified to act as a representative unless he shall have been a citizen of one of the United States three years, and be a resident in the district, or unless he shall have resided in the district three years, and in either case, shall likewise hold in his own right in fee simple 200 acres of land within the same.
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Provided, Also, that a freehold in 50 acres of land in the district, having been a citizen of one of the States, and being a resident in the district, or the like freehold and two years' resi- dence in the district, shall be necessary to qualify a man as an elector of a representative.
The representatives thus elected, shall serve for the term of two years. And in case of the death of a representative or removal from office, the Governor shall issue a writ to the county or township for which he was a member, to elect another in his stead, to serve for the residue of the terni.
The General Assembly or Legislature shall consist of the Governor, Legislative Council, and a House of Representatives. The Legislative Council shall consist of five members, to continue in office five years, unless sooner removed by Congress ; any three of whoin to be a quorum. And the members of the Council shall be nominated and appointed in the following manner, to wit :
As soon as representatives shall be elected, the Governor shall appoint a time and place for them to meet together, and when met, they shall nominate ten persons, residents in the district, and each person in a freehold in 500 acres of land, and return their names to Congress, five of whom Congress shall appoint and commission as aforesaid. And whenever a vacancy shall hap- pen in the Council by death or removal from office, the House of Representatives shall nominate two persons, qualified as aforesaid, for each vacancy, and return their names to Congress, one of whom Congress shall appoint and commission for the residue of the term. And every five years, four months at least before the expiration of the time of service of the members of the Council, the said House shall nominate ten persons qualified as aforesaid, and return their names to Congress, five of whom Congress shall appoint and commission to serve as members of the Council five years, unless sooner removed. And the Governor, Legislative Council and House of Representatives shall have authority to make laws in all cases, for the good government of the district, not repugnant to the principles and articles in this Ordinance, established and declared.
And all bills having passed by a majority in the House, and by a majority in the Council, shall be referred to the Governor for his assent. But no bill or legislative act whatever, shall be of any force without his assent. The Governor shall have power to convene, prorogue and dis- solve the General Assembly, when in his opinion it shall be expedient.
The Governor, Judges, Legislative Council, Secretary, and such other officers as Congress shall appoint in the district, shall take an oath or affirmation of fidelity and of office. The Gov- ernor before the President of Congress, and all other officers before the Governor.
As soon as a Legislature shall be formed in the district, the Council and House assembled in one room, shall have authority by joint ballot to elect a delegate to Congress, who shall have a seat in Congress, with a right of debating, but not of voting, during this temporary gov- ernment.
And for extending the fundamental principles of civil and religious liberty, which forms the basis whereon these republics, their laws and constitutions, are created ; to fix and establish those principles as the basis of all laws, constitutions and governments, which forever hereafter shall be formed in said Territory. To provide for the establishment of States, and permanent governments therein, and for their admission to a share in the Federal Council on an equal footing with the original States, at as early periods as may be consistent with the general interest.
It is hereby ordained and declared by the authority aforesaid, That the following articles shall be considered as articles of compact between the original States and the people, and States in said Territory, and forever remain unaltered unless by common consent, to wit :
ARTICLE II. The inhabitants of said Territory shall always be entitled to the benefits of the writ of habeas corpus, and of the trial by jury ; of a proportionate representation of the people in the Legislature, and of judicial procedure according to the course of common law. All per- sons shall be bailable, except for capital offenses, where the proof shall be evident or the pre- sumption great. All fines shall be moderate, and no cruel or unreasonable punishment shall be inflicted. No man shall be deprived of his liberty or property, but by the judgment of his peers or the law of the land. And should the public exigencies make it necessary for the common preservation, totake any person's property, or to demand his particular services, full compensation
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shall be made for the same. And in the just preservation of rights and property, it is under- stood and declared that no law aught ever to be made or have force in the said Territory, that shall in any manner whatever interfere with or effect private contracts or engagements bona fide and without fraud, previously formed.
ART. III. Religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged. The utmost good faith shall always be observed toward the Indians; their lands and property shall never be taken from them without their consent; and in their property, rights and liberty they shall never be invaded or disturbed. unless in just and lawful wars authorized by Congress. But laws founded in justice and humanity, shall from time to time be made for preventing wrongs being done to them, and for preserving peace and friendship with them.
ART. IV. The said Territory and the States which may be formed therein, shall ever remain a part of the confederacy of the United States of America, subject to the articles of confedera- tion, and to such alterations therein as shall be constitutionally made, and to all the acts and ordinances of the United States in Congress assembled conformable thereto. The inhabitants and settlers in said Territory shall be subject to pay a part of the federal debts contracted or to be contracted, and a proportional part of the expenses of the Government, to be apportioned on them by Congress, according to the same common rule and measure by which apportionments thereof shall be made on the other States, and the taxes for paying their proportion shall be laid and levied by the authority and directions of the Legislature of the district or districts or new States, within the time agreed upon by the United States in Congress assembled. The Legisla- tures of those districts or new States, shall never interfere with the primary disposal of the soil by the United States in Congress assembled, nor with any regulations Congress may find neces- sary for securing the title in such soil to the bona-fide purchasers. No tax shall be imposed on lands the property of the United States, and in no case, shall non-residents be taxel higher than residents. 'The navigable waters leading into the Mississippi and St Lawrence, and the carry- ing places between the same, shall be common highways, and forever free as well to the inhabi- tants of the said Territory as to the citizens of the United States and those of any other States that may be admitted into the confederacy, without any tax, impost or duty therefor.
ART. V. There shall be formed in said Territory not less than three, nor more than five, States, and the boundaries of the States, as soon as Virginia shall aber her act of cession and consent to the same, shall become fixed and established as follows, to wit: The western State in the said Territory shall be bounded by the Mississippi, the Ohio, the Wabash Rivers; a direct line drawn from the Wabash and Post St. Vincent, due north to the Territorial line between the United States and Canada ; and by the said Territorial line to the Lake of the Woods and Missis- sippi. The middle State shall be bounded by the said direct line, the Wabash from Post St. Vin- cent to the Ohio, by the Ohio, by a direct line drawn due north from the mouth of the Great Miami to the said Territorial line. The eastern State shall be bounded by the last-mentioned direct line, the Ohio, Pennsylvania and said territorial line. Provided, however, and it is further understood and declared, that the boundaries of those three States shall be subject so far to be altered, that, if Congress shall hereafter find it expedient, they shall have authority to form one or two States in that part of the said Territory which lies north of an east and west line drawn through the southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan. And whenever any of the said States shall have 60,000 free inhabitants therein, such State shall be admitted by its delegates into the Congress of the United States on an equal footing with the original States in all respects what- ever, and shall be at liberty to form a permanent constitution and State government. Provided, The constitution and government so to be formed, shall be represented, and in conformity to the principles contained in these articles ; and so far as it can be consistent with the general interest of the confederacy, such admission shall be allowed at an earlier period, and when there may be a less number of free inhabitants than 60,000.
ART. VI. There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said Territory, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes whereof the party shall have been duly convicted. Provided always, That any person escaping into the same from whom labor or service is lawfully
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claimed in one of the original States, each fugitive may be lawfully claimed and conveyed to the person claiming his or her labor or services as aforesaid.
Be it ordained by the authority aforesaid, That the resolutions of the 23d of April, 1784, relative to the subject of this ordinance, be and the same are hereby repealed and declared null and void.
The passage of this ordinance, since known as the " Ordinance of 1787," was immediately followed by an application to the Government, by John Cleves Seymour, of New Jersey, in behalf of the country, between the Miamis, and a contract was concluded the following year. The Ohio Company were exceed- ingly energetic in inaugurating settlements. Gen. Putman, with a party of forty-seven men, set out on an exploring expedition, accompanied by six boat builders. On the 1st of January, 1788, twenty-six surveyors followed, from Hartford, Conn. They arrived in Ohio on the 7th of April, 1788, and their active energy founded the permanent beginning of this great Western State. When we review the dangerous experiments that have been made, in this land west of the Alleghanies, the horrors which had overwhelmed every attempt, we can faintly realize the stalwart courage that sent these men on their way, and sustained them in their pioneer hardships. With characteristic vigor, they began their little town. Enthusiastic and happy, they did not rest from their toilsome march over the old Indian roads, but kept busily at work to estab- lish an oasis in this wide expanse of wilderness, before they should take nec- essary ease to recuperate their strength.
The wise men met on the 2d of May, and the little town was named Marietta. Situated as it was, in the midst of danger, they had used precaution to build and equip a fortified square, which was designated Campus Martius ; Square No. 19 was Capitolium, and Square No. 61 was. Cecelia, and the main street was Sacra Via.
Marietta was especially fortunate in her actual "first families." Ten of the forty-eight men had received a thorough college education ; the remaining were individuals of sterling merit, honorable, and several had already attained reputations for superior excellence of abilities. Patriotic and brave, the settlement certainly possessed a foundation that promised well for the future. The following 4th of July was an auspicious event, and the Hon. James M. Varnum was the eloquent orator of the occason.
The opening of the court, on the 2d of September, was a solemn ceremonial, the High Sheriff leading with drawn sword, followed by citizens, with an escort of officers from Fort Harmar, the members of the bar, the Governor and Clergy- men, the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas-Gen. Rufus Putman and Benjamin Tupper -- all these constituted an imposing spectacle, as they pro- gressed over a path which had been cut through the forest to Campus Martius Hall, the edifice of law and order.
The Judges took their seats, a prayer was offered by the Rev. Dr. Cutler. and immediately the Sheriff, Col. Ebenezer Sprout, proclaimed the response, and the court of impartial justice was convened.
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This ceremonial was, perhaps, made all the more impressive by the presence of several powerful Indian chiefs, who had journeyed to Marietta for the pur- pose of making a treaty. 1
The settlement now increased rapidly, new cabins were erected constantly. On the 17th of December, a society event occurred, in the form of a grand ball, fifteen ladies being present. -
John Cleves Symmes had contracted for 2,000,000 acres of land, and suc- ceeded in obtaining his grant, but circumstances prevented him from meeting his part of the obligations, and the specification was reduced to 1,000,000. After vain attempt to make his payments, a settlement was finally effected for 248,540 acres, and Symmes was prepared to dispose of clear titles to new-com- ers. In 1788, a town was established within the boundaries of his grant, at the mouth of the little Miami, known as Columbia, and in the early part of 1787 another was formed opposite the mouth of the Licking River, by name Losanti- ville, analyzed by a frontier scholar-ville, the town ; anti, opposite to; os, the mouth of; L, Licking.
Judge Symmes had projected building his main town at North Bend. This plan was frustrated by reason of Ensign Luce-who had been commissioned by Gen. Harmar to erect a fort-deciding that North Bend was not suitable for the purpose. He selected Losantiville for the purpose, and Fort Washington was the result. In 1790, Gov. St. Clair was called to inspect the settlement, and proceeded to organize Hamilton County, at the same time calling the town Cincinnati.
It will be remembered that Connecticut ceded most of her western lands to General Government, retaining, however, a minor portion. As the settlements began to increase on the " Virginia Reserve" and between the Scioto and Miami Rivers, all those holding claims were not disposed to part with them, while others were anxious to secure grants for the purpose of speculation, rather than the advancement of civilization. The Scioto Company was a questionable ad- herent of the Ohio Company, and began operations, which resulted well, what- ever their purpose may have been.
Gen. Putnam cleared the land and directed the building of 100 dwellings and six block-houses. During 1791, the colony arrived, consisting of 500 persons. Only ten of these were tillers of the soil. Viscount Malartie ventured into the wilderness, but instead of settling, joined Gen. St. Clair's army, and was ulti- mately his aid-de-camp. Indian conquests were not to his taste, and he soon returned to France. This new colony was essentially French, and its location was Gallia County. The name " Gallipolis " was selected.
These settlers, being unaccustomed to severe toil, and disinclined to learn its hard lesson, soon became demoralized, through deprivation and absolute want. Congress came to their aid with a land grant of 24,000 acres, but few of them cared to enter claims, and soon all traces of the old town were lost, and its inhabitants scattered.
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