Chapter III: Part 3

Although the Six Nations were the nominal owners of the greater part of the territory now constituting the State of Ohio, they did not, after the war with the Canadian colonists broke out in 1663 (and probably for some years previously), exercise such domination over the country as to exclude other tribes. Such being the case, the long deserted and desolate wild was again the abode of the red man, and the wigwams of the race again appeared by the waters of the Muskingum, the Scioto, and the Miamis; by the Tuscarawas, the Cuyahoga, and the Maumee.

Concerning what, so far as our knowledge extends, may be called the second Indian occupation of Ohio, we have authentic information. In 1764 the most trustworthy and valuable reports up to that time secured were made by Colonel Boquet as the result of his observations while making a military expedition west of the Ohio. Previous to the time when Colonel Boquet was among the Indians, and as early as 1750, traders sought out the denizens of the forest, and some knowledge of the strength of tribes and the location of villages was afforded by them. The authentic history of the Ohio Indians may be said to have had its beginning some time during the period extending from 1750 to 1764.

About the middle of the last century the principal tribes in what is now Ohio were the Delawares, the Shawnees, the Wyandots (called the Hurons by the French), the Mingoes, an offshoot of the Iroquois; the Chippewas and the Tawas, more commonly called the Ottawas. The Delawares occupied the valleys of the Muskingum and Tuscarawas; the Shawnees, the Scioto valley; and the Miamis, the valleys of the two rivers upon which they left their name; the Wyandots occupied the country about the Sandusky River; the Ottawas had their headquarters in the valleys of the Maumee and Sandusky; the Chippewas were confined principally to the south shore of Lake Erie; and the Mingoes were in greatest strength upon the Ohio, below the site of Steubenville. All of the tribes, however, frequented, more or less, lands outside of their ascribed divisions of territory, and at different periods from the time when the first definite knowledge concerning them was obtained down to the era of white settlement, they occupied different locations. Thus the Delawares, whom Boquet found in 1764 in greatest number in the valley of the Tuscarawas, had, thirty years later, the majority of their population in the region of the county which now bears their name, and the Shawnees, who were originally strongest upon the Scioto, by the time of St. Clair and Wayne’s wars had concentrated upon the Little Miami. But the Shawnees had also, as early as 1748, a village known as Logstown, on the Ohio, seventeen miles from the site of Pittsburgh.[6] The several tribes commingled to some extent as their animosities toward each other were supplanted by the common fear of the enemy of their race. They gradually grew stronger in sympathy and more compact in union as the settlements of the whites encroached upon their loved domain. Hence the divisions, which had in 1750 been quite plainly marked, became, by the time the Ohio was fringed with the cabins and villages of the pale face, in a large measure, obliterated. In eastern Ohio, where the Delawares had held almost undisputed sway, there were now to be found also Wyandots,[7] Shawnees, Mingoes, and even Miamis from the western border—from the Wabash, Miami and Mad Rivers. Practically, however, the boundaries of the lands of different tribes were as here given.

The Delawares, as has been indicated, had their densest population upon the upper Muskingum and Tuscarawas, and they really were in possession of what is now the eastern half of the State from the Ohio to Lake Erie. This tribe, which claimed to be the elder branch of the Lenni-Lenape, has, by tradition and in history and fiction, been accorded a high rank among the savages of North America. Schoolcraft, Loskiel, Albert Gallatin, Drake, Zeisberger, Heckewelder, and many other writers have borne testimony to the superiority of the Delawares, and James Fennimore Cooper, in his attractive romances, has added lustre to the fame of the tribe. According to the tradition preserved by them, the Delawares, many centuries before they knew the white man lived in the western part of the continent, separated themselves from the rest of the Lenni-Lenape and migrated slowly eastward. Reaching the Allegheny River they, with the Iroquois, waged war successfully against a race of giants, the Allegewi, and still continuing their migration settled on the Delaware River, and spread their population eventually to the Hudson, the Susquehanna, and the Potomac. Here they lived, menaced and often attacked by the Iroquois, and finally, as some writers claim, they were subjugated by the Iroquois through stratagem. The Atlantic coast became settled by Europeans, and the Delawares also being embittered against the Iroquois, whom they accused of treachery, turned westward and concentrated upon the Allegheny. Disturbed here again by the white settlers, a portion of the tribe obtained permission from the Wyandots (whom they called their uncles, thus confessing their superiority and reputation of greater antiquity) to occupy the lands along the Muskingum. The forerunners of the nation entered this region, in all probability, as early as 1745, and in less than a score of years their entire population had become resident in this country. They became here a more flourishing and powerful tribe than they had ever been before. Their warriors numbered not less than six hundred in 1764. The Delawares were divided into three tribes—the Unamis, Unalachtgo, and the Minsi, also called the Monseys or Muncies. The English equivalents of these appellations are the Turtle, the Turkey, and the Wolf. The tribe bearing the latter name exhibited a spirit that was quite in keeping with it, but the Delawares as a rule were less warlike than other nations, and they more readily accepted Christianity.

The principal chiefs among the Delawares were White Eyes and Captain Pipe. The former was the leader of the peace element of the nation and the latter of the tribes who were inclined to war. There was great rivalry between them and constant intrigue. White Eyes died about the year 1780, and Captain Pipe gained the ascendancy among his people. It was principally through his influence that the Delawares were drawn into a condition of hostility towards the whites, and he encouraged the commission of enormities by every artifice in his power. He was shrewd, treacherous, and full of malignity, according to Heckewelder, Drake and other writers on the Indians of the northwest, though brave, and famous as a leader in battle. White Eyes, though not less noted as a warrior, seemed actuated by really humane motives to fight only when forbearance was impossible. He encouraged the establishment of the Moravian Indian missions and was the firm friend of their founders, though he never accepted Christianity. His greatest influence was exerted over the Delawares after the death, in 1776, of Netawatmees, a celebrated chief, who, during his lifetime, had combatted the reforms which White Eyes advocated. Buckougahelas was another of the Delaware chiefs, and was celebrated principally for his action in what is now the western part of the State. Others were King Newcomer (after whom the present Newcomerstown was named) and Half King. There dwelt among the Delawares of the upper Muskingum at one time a white woman, who had great influence among them, and after whom a creek was named—Whitewoman’s Creek.

Most of the Delaware towns were at the vicinity of the forks of the Muskingum, or the confluence of the Tuscarawas and Muskingum, and that region is rich in the old Indian names. The Delawares had no village on the lower Muskingum and, so far as is known, none in what is now Washington County, this region, like most the whole of the Ohio valley, being devoid of inhabitants and regarded as a hunting ground.

The Muskingum River derives its name from the Delawares, and was originally Mooskingom. The literal meaning of this term is Elk’s Eye, and it was probably so called because of its clearness. The Tuscarawas undoubtedly took its name from an Indian town which was situated where Bolivar now is. The name, according to Heckewelder, meant “old town,” and the village bearing it was the oldest in the valleys.

The Shawnees were the only Indians of the northwest who had a tradition of a foreign origin, and for some time after the whites became acquainted with them they held annual festivals to celebrate the safe arrival in this country of their remote ancestors. Concerning the history of the Shawnees there is considerable conflicting testimony, but it is generally conceded that at an early date they separated from the other Lenape tribes and established themselves in the south, roaming from Kentucky to Florida. Afterward the main body of the tribe is supposed to have pushed northward, encouraged by their friends, the Miamis, and to have occupied the beautiful and rich valley of the Scioto until driven from it in 1672 by the Iroquois. Their nation was shattered and dispersed. A few may have remained upon the upper Scioto and others taken refuge with the Miamis, but by far the most considerable portion again journeyed southward and, according to the leading historians, made a forcible settlement on the head waters of the Carolina. Driven away from that locality they found refuge among the Creeks. A fragment of the Shawnees was taken to Pennsylvania and reduced to a humiliating condition by their conquerors. They still retained their pride and considerable innate independence, and about 1740, encouraged by the Wyandots and the French, carried into effect their long cherished purpose of returning to the Scioto. Those who had settled among the Creeks joined them and the nation was again reunited. It is probable that they first occupied the southern portion of their beloved valley, and that after a few years had elapsed the Delawares peacefully surrendered to them a large tract of country further north.[8] It is conjectured by some students that the branch of the Shawnees who lived for a term of years in the south were once upon the Suanee River, and that the well known name was a corruption of the name of the nation of Tecumseh. This chief, whose fame added lustre to the annals of the tribe, is said to have been the son of a Creek woman whom his father took as a wife during the southern migration. The Shawnees were divided into four tribes[9] the Piqua,[10] Kiskapocke, Mequachuke, and Chillicothe.

Those who deny to the American Indians any love for the beautiful and any exercise of imagination might be influenced to concede them the possession of such faculties, and in a high degree, by the abundance of their fanciful traditions, of which their account of the origin of the Piqua is a good example. According to their practical legend the tribe began in a perfect man who burst into being from fire and ashes. The Shawnees said to the first whites who mingled with them, that once upon a time when the wise men and chiefs of the nation were sitting around the smouldering embers of what had been the council fire, they were startled by a great puffing of fire and smoke, and suddenly, from the midst of the ashes and dying coals, there arose before them a man of splendid form and mien, and that he was named Piqua, to signify the manner of his coming into the world—that he was born of fire and ashes. This legend of the origin of the tribe, beautiful in its simplicity, has been made the subject of comment by several writers, as showing, in a marked manner, the romantic susceptibility of the Indian character. The name Megoachuke signifies a fat man filled—a man made perfect, so that nothing is wanting. This tribe had the priesthood. The Kiskapocke tribe inclined to war, and had at least one great war chief—Tecumseh. Chillicothe is not known to have been interpreted as a tribal designation. It was from this tribe that the several Indian villages on the Scioto and Miami were given the names they bore, and which was perpetuated by application to one of the early white settlements. The Shawnees have been styled “the Bedouins of the American wilderness” and “the Spartans of the race.” To the former title they seem justly entitled by their extensive and almost constant wanderings, and the latter is not an inappropriate appellation, considering their well known bravery and the stoicism with which they bore the consequences of defeat. From the time of their re-establishment upon the Scioto until after the treaty with Greenville, a period of from forty to fifty years, they were constantly engaged in warfare against the whites. They were among the most active allies of the French, and after the conquest of Canada, continued, in concert with the Delawares, hostilities which were only terminated by the marching of Colonel Boquet’s forces into the country of the latter. They made numerous incursions into Pennsylvania, the Virginia frontier, harassed the Kentucky stations, and either alone or in conjunction with the Indians of other tribes, actually attacked or, threatening to do so, terrorized the first settlers in Ohio from Marietta to the Miamis. They took an active part against the Americans in the war for independence and in the Indian war which followed, and a part of them, under the leadership of Tecumseh, joined the British in the War of 1812.

The Wyandots or Hurons had their principal seat opposite Detroit and smaller settlements (the only ones within the limits of Ohio, probably, except the village on Whitewoman Creek) on the Maumee and Sandusky. They claimed greater antiquity than any of the other tribes, and their assumption was even allowed by the Delawares. Their right to the country between the Ohio and Lake Erie, from the Allegheny to the Great Miami, derived from ancient sovereignty or from the incorporation of the three extinct tribes (the Eries, Andastes and Neutrals) was never disputed, save by the Six Nations. The Jesuit missionaries, who were among them as early as 1639, and who had ample advantages for obtaining accurate information concerning the tribe, placed their number at ten thousand. They were both more civilized and more warlike than the other tribes of the northwest. Their population being, comparatively speaking, large and at the same time concentrated, they naturally gave more attention than did other tribes to agriculture. Extensive fields of maize adjoined their villages. The Wyandots on the score of bravery have been given a higher rank than any of the other Ohio tribes.[11] With them flight from an enemy in battle, whatever might be the odds of strength or advantage of ground, was a disgrace. They fought to the death and would not be taken prisoners. Of thirteen chiefs of the tribe engaged in the battle of Fallen Timbers, Wayne’s victory, only one was taken alive, and he badly wounded.

The Ottawas existed in the territory constituting Ohio only in small numbers, and have no particular claims for attention. They seem to have been inferior in almost all respects to the Delawares, Wyandots and Shawnees, though as the tribe to which the great Pontiac belonged they have been rendered quite conspicuous in history.

The Miami Indians were, so far as actual knowledge extends, the original denizens of the valleys bearing their name, and claimed that they were created in it. The name in the Ottawa tongue signifies mother. The ancient name of the Miamis was Twigtwees. The Mingoes or Cayugas, a fragment of the Iroquois, had only a few small villages, one at Mingo Bottom, three miles below Steubenville, and others upon the Scioto. Logan came into Ohio in 1772 and dwelt for a time at the latter town, but two years later was on the Scioto.

ALFRED MATHEWS.

ARTHUR ST. CLAIR AND THE ORDINANCE OF 1787.

St. Clair is an honored name in history. First in Normandy, and after the eleventh century for many generations in Scotland, its possessors were men of wealth and a high order of intelligence, and were among the most prominent characters of the realm. They remained loyal to the crown through its varying fortunes, and when Scotland passed under the dominion of England, continued their allegiance to royalty. They showed a rare genius for military life. This bent of mind was characteristic of the St. Clair whose career in part is here briefly outlined.

Arthur St. Clair, whose father was a younger son and possessed neither lands nor title, was born in the year 1734, in the town of Thurso in Caithness, Scotland. Thurso is a place of some 3,500 inhabitants, a quiet village lying to the north of Glasgow and Edinburgh, and close to the Atlantic seaboard. Its chief claim to fame no doubt rests upon having been the birthplace of one who became so prominent in American affairs, gave such valuable aid in securing American independence, and had so large a share in the formation and administration of the government of a considerable portion of the American people. To his father he owed little, to his mother much. Educated at the University of Edinburgh, his parents intended him for a professional career. At an early age he began the study of medicine, which, upon the death of his mother in 1757, he abandoned, and through influential friends obtained a commission as ensign in the second battalion of the Sixtieth Regiment of Foot, known as the Royal American Regiment. It consisted of four battalions of 1,000 men each. In 1758 Major-general Amherst was made colonel of this regiment, and commander-in chief of all the forces in America, and on the 28th day of May of the same year, arrived in Canada with his army. Thus came to the western world in the twenty-fourth year of his age, Arthur St. Clair, with the laudable ambition of making, if possible, a fortune, but certainly a good and honored name. His first lessons in the art of war were taken under the tuition of such veterans as Lawrence, Murray and Wolfe, the story of whose heroic deeds for English supremacy in Canada is familiar to every reader. In every position in which he was placed young St. Clair acquitted himself with rare bravery. He soon received a lieutenant’s commission, serving with distinction in the battle at the mouth of the Montmorency, and in the siege of Quebec, where Gen. Wolfe lost his life, but where the French, on the 8th day of September 1759, surrendered, and Canada became an English province, though articles of capitulation were not executed until nearly a year later.

From Canada St. Clair went to Boston, where he made the acquaintance of Miss Phœbe Bayard, daughter of one of the first families of that city, whose mother was a half sister of Governor James Bowdoin. For Miss Bayard young St. Clair formed a strong attachment, and they were married, probably in the year 1761. In the Ligonier Valley, western Pennsylvania, St. Clair, for services in Canada, received a grant of one thousand acres of land, and thither, in the year 1764 or 1765, he removed. He set actively to work to improve his property. He built a handsome residence, and the first grist mill in western Pennsylvania. Many Scotch families sought a residence in this beautiful and fertile valley. He was the leading spirit in this western colony, and in 1770 was appointed surveyor, a justice of the court of quarter sessions and common pleas, and a member of the Governor’s council for the district of Cumberland, or Cumberland County. When Bedford County was formed in 1771, and Westmoreland in 1773, he was appointed to fill like offices of trust for these counties respectively. Here he led a busy life for two years, when upon the outbreak of hostilities with England he unsheathed his sword and proffered his services in defence of the country of his adoption.

It is not within the scope of this sketch, which is more immediately concerned with the relation he bore to the Ordinance of 1787, and that part of his history which records the acts of his administration as the first governor of the Northwest Territory, to follow the fortunes of Gen. St. Clair through the war for independence. Suffice it to say that quitting private life when its comforts were greatest and his financial affairs the most prosperous, he rendered to his country valuable service in Canada in the summer of 1776, at the battles of Trenton and Princeton in the winter of 1776–7, rose to the rank of Major-general in the northern department in 1777, and afterwards, as a member of Washington’s military family, won the confidence and friendship of his chief to such a degree that they were never withdrawn even when he was overtaken by reverses; and that he returned to civil life at the close of the struggle to find that to his country he had sacrificed not only eight years of the very prime of his life, but likewise his fortune and the emoluments of his lucrative offices. His first office after the war was that of member of the board of censors, whose duties were to see that the laws were efficiently and honestly executed. St. Clair became a member of Congress in 1786, and in 1787 its President. This was the year in which the ordinance for the government of the Northwest Territory was adopted. It is a remarkable coincidence that this gentleman should have presided over the body that enacted this grand Charter of Freedom, and afterwards should have been the first executive officer, as governor of the Northwest Territory, to administer and enforce its laws. General St. Clair’s connection with this great and beneficent ordinance is of very great interest, intensified, however, by the fact that Mr. William Frederick Poole, in an able and well written contribution to the North American Review in 1876, on the authorship of the Ordinance, did him a great injustice by imputing to him improper motives wholly foreign to his character. For a full understanding of the charge and its complete refutation a brief history of the Ordinance will be necessary.

In 1784 Thomas Jefferson had prepared and reported a comprehensive measure for the government of the Northwest Territory, from which ten States were to be formed. It contained among other provisions the following stipulation: “That, after the year 1800 of the Christian era, there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in any of the said (ten) States, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted to have been personally guilty.” This provision was stricken out, and the ordinance was passed, but owing to the fact that the lands had not been surveyed nor Indian titles perfected, it became inoperative and remained a dead letter. In 1786, a memorial having been received from the inhabitants of Kaskaskia, praying for the organization of a territorial government, a committee consisting of Mr. Johnson of Connecticut, Mr. Pinckney of South Carolina; Mr. Smith of New York, Mr. Dane of Massachusetts, and Mr. Henry of Maryland, was appointed to draft a suitable measure, and April 26, 1787, reported a code of laws for the temporary government of the Territory, which reached a third reading on the 10th of May, but was not brought to a final vote. At this juncture there appeared at the door of Congress a gentleman to whom more than to any other the people of the northwestern States are indebted for the prompt action by Congress which gave them this great bill of rights, aptly called the Ordinance of Freedom.

This gentleman was the Rev. Manasseh Cutler of Ipswich, Massachusetts. He came before Congress as the agent of the Ohio Land Company. He wished to purchase for that company a million and a half—and finally did purchase nearly five million—acres of land in the Northwest Territory. He was well fitted for the business he had undertaken. He was a ripe scholar, a graduate of Yale College, a distinguished scientist, an able divine, an eloquent speaker, and more than all, a wily diplomatist, possessed of a fine and commanding presence and courtly manners. He came to Congress armed with letters of introduction to Gen. St. Clair, the President of that body, General Knox, Richard Henry Lee, Melancthon Smith, Colonel Carrington and others.

Dr. Cutler greatly desired to make the purchase for his company, but stipulated, as a necessary condition of purchase, for the passage of a suitable charter of laws for the government of the Territory. The Ohio Company was composed chiefly of Massachusetts men, accustomed to good laws wisely administered, and would not invite their neighbors and friends to immigrate to the far west to settle in a country for which no good system of government had been provided. Hence this was the first matter to be looked into. Dr. Cutler arrived in New York on the 5th day of July, Thursday. On Friday, the 6th, he presented his letters of introduction to President St. Clair and a number of members of Congress. The 7th he passed in extending his acquaintance and explaining his business. The 8th was Sunday. On the 9th he secured the appointment by President St. Clair of a committee who favored such a system of laws for the Northwest Territory as Dr. Cutler wished to see adopted. This committee consisted of Colonel Carrington, a personal friend, as chairman, and Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, Mr. Dane of Massachusetts, Mr. Kean of South Carolina, and Mr. Smith of New York. These gentlemen prepared an ordinance, the famous Ordinance of 1787, submitted it to Dr. Cutler for his opinion or Amendment, introduced it to Congress, had it read, amended, and on the 13th day of July procured its passage. This was quick work, and the way was now clear for the main business which Dr. Cutler had in hand—the negotiation of the purchase of lands for the Ohio Company. A committee on lands was appointed for the purpose of negotiating with the Ohio Land Company’s agent for the sale of the lands, having the same chairman, Dr. Cutler’s friend, Colonel Carrington, with Rufus King, James Madison, Mr. Dane and Mr. Benson as the other members.

The Ordinance having become a law on the 13th day of July, the negotiation for the Ohio Company’s purchase was concluded on the 27th of the same month, and terms agreed upon. On the 5th day of October, 1787, officers for the government of the new territory were elected by Congress as follows: Arthur St. Clair, Governor; James M. Varnum, Samuel Holden Parsons and John Armstrong, Judges, and Winthrop Sargent, Secretary. Mr. Armstrong declining, the vacancy was filled by the appointment of John Cleves Symmes. The charge against General St. Clair, made by Mr. Poole, is that Dr. Cutler, when he arrived in New York and called on the President of Congress to obtain the appointment of a committee to draft and report a system of laws for the Northwest Territory that should be friendly to his terms of purchase, met with a cool reception, and, to quote from Mr. Poole, “_he found that General St. Clair wanted to be Governor of the Northwest Territory; and Dr. Cutler, representing the interests of the Ohio Company, intended that General Parsons, of Connecticut, should have the office. But he must have General St. Clair’s influence, and found it necessary to pay the price. From the moment he communicated this decision, General St. Clair was warmly engaged in his interests._”

This is an extremely unjust imputation upon a gentleman who in all the affairs of life showed himself to be the very soul of honor. That it is false in every particular, a bare recital of the above facts, coupled with the additional fact that Dr. Cutler in the daily journal he kept makes no reference to General St. Clair in connection with the governorship until the evening of the 23rd, _ten_ days after the passage of the ordinance, is clear and sufficient proof. The extract from the journal containing this reference is as follows:

JULY 23rd. * * * * Spent the evening with Colonel Grayson and members
of Congress from the southward, who were in favor of a contract.
Having found it impossible to support General Parsons as a candidate
for Governor, after the interest that General St. Clair had secured,
and suspecting that this might be some impediment in the way (for my
endeavors to make interest for him [Parsons] were well known), and the
arrangements for civil officers being on the carpet, I embraced the
opportunity frankly to declare that for my own part—and ventured to
engage for Mr. Sargent—if General Parsons could have the appointment
of first judge, and Sargent secretary, we would be satisfied; and I
heartily wished that his excellency, General St. Clair, might be
governor, and that I would solicit the eastern members to favor such
an arrangement. This I found rather pleasing to the southern members,
and they were so complacent as to ask repeatedly what officer would be
agreeable to me in the western country.

That General St. Clair should have received the Ohio Company’s agent coolly on the 6th day of July, and on the 9th of the same month appointed as chairman of the committee to treat with Dr. Cutler the very man the latter wished appointed, Col. Carrington, a personal friend; that General St. Clair wanted the governorship, and remained hostile to Dr. Cutler’s plans, until Dr. Cutler gave up Parsons and came to his support on the 23rd day of July, is on the face of it so improbable that, without any direct evidence to the contrary, no fair minded person at all familiar with St. Clair’s character could give it credence. However, we have the very best proof of the untruthfulness of Mr. Poole’s statement in General St. Clair’s own words. [12]In a letter to the Hon. William Giles, written some time after his election as governor, he says the office was forced upon him by his friends; that he did not desire it and would not have accepted it but for “the laudable ambition of becoming the father of a country, and laying the foundation for the happiness of millions then unborn.”

All this shows conclusively that General St. Clair was friendly to the land negotiation from the start; that he clearly saw the advantages to the government of the sale of so large a body of western lands; that he received Dr. Cutler cordially, and warmly espoused his cause from the first; that he had no thought of the governorship until pressed by his friends for the office; that Dr. Cutler discovering the drift of sentiment in his favor concluded it would be futile to longer endeavor to obtain interest for General Parsons, the man of his choice. St. Clair, before Dr. Cutler announced himself in his favor for the governorship, appointed a committee favorable to the land negotiation to draft the ordinance for the government of the Territory; and in fact there is good reason for believing that some of the grand principles of that great charter owe their incorporation in that instrument to his wisdom and foresight. Everything convinces that General St. Clair’s relation to Dr. Cutler, to the land negotiation and to the governorship, was in all respects creditable to the dignity of his office and to his personal honor.

The Ordinance of 1787 was the product of the highest statesmanship. It ranks among the grandest bill of rights ever drafted for the government of any people. It secured for the inhabitants of the great States formed from the Northwest Territory religious freedom, the inviolability of private contracts; the benefit of the writ of _habeas corpus_ and trial by jury; the operation of the common law in judicial proceedings; urged the maintenance of schools and the means of education; declared that religion, morality and knowledge were essential to good government; exacted a pledge of good faith toward the Indians; and proscribed slavery within the limits of the Territory. It provided for the opening, development and government of the Territory, and formed the basis of subsequent State legislation. Chief Justice Chase says of it: “When they (the people) came into the wilderness, they found the law already there. It was impressed on the soil while as yet it bore up nothing but the forest. * * * Never probably in the history of the world did a measure of legislation so accurately fulfill, and yet so mightily exceed, the anticipation of the legislators. * * * The Ordinance has well been described as having been a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night in the settlement of the Northwest States.” Judge Timothy Walker, in 1837 in an address delivered at Cincinnati, says: “Upon the surpassing excellence of this Ordinance no language of panegyric would be extravagant. The Romans would have imagined some divine Egeria for its author. It approaches as nearly absolute perfection as anything to be found in the legislation of mankind. * * * It is one of those matchless specimens of sagacious foresight which even the reckless spirit of innovation would not venture to assail.” Daniel Webster, in his famous reply to Hayne, bore this testimony to the excellence of this measure: “We are accustomed to praise the lawgivers of antiquity; we help to perpetuate the fame of Solon and Lycurgus; but I doubt whether one single law of any lawgiver, ancient or modern, has produced effects of more distinct, marked and lasting character than the Ordinance of 1787. We see its consequences at this moment, and we shall never cease to see them, perhaps, while the Ohio shall flow.”

The people of Ohio, of the farther west, and of the whole country cannot become too familiar with a measure which has received so great praise from such high sources. We publish the Ordinance in full.

_An ordinance for the government of the territory of the United States
northwest of the river Ohio_:

_Be it ordained by the United States in Congress assembled_, That the
said Territory for the purpose of temporary government be one
district, subject, however, to be divided into two districts, as
future circumstances may, in the opinion of Congress, make it
expedient.

_Be it ordained by the authority aforesaid_, That the estates both of
resident and non-resident proprietors in said Territory dying
intestate, shall descend to and be distributed among the children, and
the descendants of a deceased child in equal parts—the descendants of
a deceased child, or grandchild, to take the share of the deceased
parent in equal parts among them; and where 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, the
deceased parent’s share, and there shall in no case be a distinction
between kindred of the whole and half blood, saving in all cases to
the widow of the intestate her third part of the real estate for life,
and [_where there shall be no children of the intestate_] one third
part of the personal estate; and this law relative to descents and
dower shall remain in full force until altered by the legislature of
the district. And until the governor and judges shall adopt laws, as
hereinafter mentioned, estates in the said Territory may be divided 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 or release, or
bargain and sale, signed, sealed and delivered by the person, being of
full age, in whom the estate may be, and attested by two witnesses,
provided such wills lie duly proved, and such conveyance be
acknowledged, or the execution thereof duly proved, and be recorded
within one year after proper magistrates, court and registers shall be
appointed for that purpose; and personal property may be transferred
by delivery, saving, however, to the French and Canadian inhabitants
and other settlers of the Kaskaskies, St. Vincent’s and the
neighboring villages, who have heretofore professed themselves
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 the term of three years, unless
sooner revoked by Congress. He shall reside in the district and have a
freehold estate therein in one 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
four years, unless sooner revoked; he shall reside in the district and
have a freehold estate therein in five hundred 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 reside in the
district, and have each therein a freehold estate in five hundred
acres of land while in the exercise of their offices; 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, 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 afterwards 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 magistrates 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 power 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 and 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 extinguished, into counties
and townships, subject, however, to such alterations as may thereafter
be made by the legislature.

So soon as there shall be five thousand 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 five hundred free male inhabitants,
there shall be one representative, and so on, progressively, with the
number of free male inhabitants shall the right of representation
increase until the number of representatives shall amount to
twenty-five; after which the number and proportion of the
representatives 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, two hundred acres of land within the
same; provided also that a freehold in fifty acres of land in the
district, having been a citizen of one of the States and being
resident in the district, or the like freehold and two years’
residence 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 term.

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 whom may 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 possessed of a freehold in five
hundred acres of land, and return their names to Congress, five of
whom Congress shall appoint and commission to serve as aforesaid; and
whenever a vacancy shall happen 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 dissolve 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 governor before the
President of Congress, and all other officers before the governor. As
soon as 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
government.

And for extending the fundamental principles of civil and religious
liberty, which form the basis whereon these republics, their laws, and
constitutions, are erected; 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, also, for the
establishment of States, and permanent government therein, and for
their admission to a share in the Federal councils on an equal footing
with the original States, at as early periods as may be consistent
with 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 the said
Territory, and forever remain unalterable unless by common consent, to
wit:

“ARTICLE 1. No person demeaning himself in a peaceable and orderly
manner shall ever be molested on account of his mode of worship or
religious sentiments in the said Territory.

“ARTICLE 2. The inhabitants of said Territory shall always be entitled
to the benefits of the writ of _habeas corpus_ and of trial by jury;
of a proportionate representation of the people in the legislature,
and of judicial proceedings according to the course of the common law.
All persons shall be bailable except for capital offences, where the
proof shall be evident or the presumption great. All fines shall be
moderate, and no unusual or cruel 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, to take away any
person’s property, or to demand his particular service, full
compensation shall be made for the same; and in the just preservation
of rights and property it is understood and declared that no law ought
ever 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.

“ARTICLE 3. 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 lie observed towards 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 wrong being done to them, and for preserving peace and
friendship with them.

“ARTICLE 4. The said Territory, and the States which may be formed
therein, shall forever remain a part of this confederacy of the United
States of America, subject to the articles of confederation, 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 government,
to be apportioned on them by Congress, according to the same common
rule and measure by which the 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 direction of the legislatures of
the district or districts, or new States, as in the original States,
within the time agreed upon by the United States in Congress
assembled. The legislatures 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 regulation Congress may
find necessary for securing the title to such soil to bona fide
purchasers. No tax shall be imposed on lands, the property of the
United States; and in no case shall non-resident proprietors be taxed
higher than residents. The navigable waters leading into the
Mississippi and St. Lawrence, and the carrying places between the
same, shall be common highways, and forever free, as well to the
inhabitants 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, import or duty therefor.

ARTICLE 5. There shall be formed in the said Territory not less than
three nor more than five States; and the boundaries of the Stales as
soon as Virginia shall alter 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 and Wabash Rivers; a direct line drawn from the
Wabash and Port Vincent’s 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 Mississippi. The middle State shall be bounded
by the said direct line, the Wabash from Port Vincent’s 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, and by the said territorial
line. The eastern State shall be bounded by the last mentioned direct
line, the Ohio, Pennsylvania, and the said territorial line; provided,
however, and it is further understood and declared, that the
boundaries of these three States shall be subject so far to be altered
that, if Congress should hereafter find it expedient, they shall have
authority to form one or two States in that part of the 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 sixty thousand 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
whatever, and shall be at liberty to form a permanent constitution and
State government; provided the constitution and government so to be
formed shall be republican, 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 in the State than sixty thousand.

“ARTICLE 6. 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 claimed in any one of the original States, such fugitive may
be lawfully reclaimed, and conveyed to the person claiming his or her
labor or services as aforesaid.”

The authorship of this grand charter of rights, vouchsafed to a people who to-day number many millions and are living happily under its benign influence, bears the marks of wisdom the most profound, of statesmanship of the highest order, of foresight akin to inspiration. The question then very naturally arises for eager solution, “Who was the author?” or if more than one, “Who were the authors?” The question has never been, probably never will be, fully and definitely answered to the satisfaction of every inquirer. The claims of Thomas Jefferson, of Nathan Dane, of Dr. Manasseh Cutler have in turn been ably supported by various writers. The truth no doubt is that all these gentlemen, together with Colonel Carrington and Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, and Arthur St. Clair, the President of Congress, were concerned in its preparation. More importance is attached to the authorship of Articles III and VI, especially of the latter, than to any other portion of the instrument. Religious liberty, the provision for the spread of education, the manner in which the Indians should be treated, and the inhibition of slavery, are its distinguishing features. To whom are we chiefly indebted for their place in the Ordinance?

Jefferson has a strong claim upon our gratitude, for it was he who drafted the anti-slavery clause in the inoperative ordinance of 1784, from which the anti-slavery clause (Article VI) of the Ordinance of 1787, no doubt, was copied. The similarity in the phraseology of the two clauses is too striking to admit of a doubt of this, as any one who will carefully read and compare the two will readily perceive. To Jefferson, then, we owe much, but it must be remembered that he was not a member of the last Congress of the old confederation, but was at that time our minister to France. Nathan Dane was the committee’s secretary, and no doubt the original draft is in his handwriting. He had prepared and reported an ordinance in May previous which was not passed, and which contained none of the grand principles that characterized the ordinance under question. If he were the author of any part of the latter, it was an unessential part, as he afterwards, in a letter to Mr. Rufus King published in Spencer’s History of the United States, clearly shows that he had no adequate conception of the grand features of the Ordinance. Moreover he declined to offer the anti-slavery clause as a part of the Ordinance at its first reading because he believed it could not pass, and only presented it the day before the final adoption of the Ordinance, after having learned the feeling of Congress toward the slavery question.