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At the close of the
revolution the United States found herself heavily burdened with debts,
while the only resources in view were such as might be derived from the
sale of the lands commonly termed the northwest Territory, the region
between the Ohio and Great Lakes extending west to the Mississippi
River, which had been relinquished by Great Britain in the treaty of
1783. The title to these lands was, however, still unsettled; the
Indians claimed the territory as their home and hunting ground by right
of possession, while the different states asserted claims, based on
their original charters and also on conquest in the case of Great
Britain herself refusing for a number of years to comply implicitly with
the terms of the treaty, retained her military posts in that vicinity;
The settlement of state claims to this territory was a matter of
pressing importance because Maryland refused to enter the new
confederacy, while her neighbors had title to the wide region in the
west. She argued that as all the states had contributed their share of
blood and money for the common defense of this territory, they should
all share in the common advantage from it. When, however, an appeal was
made to the patriotism of the states, New York set the example early in
1780 by giving up her claims in the Northwest, the other states proving
in turn, congress had title to all the Northwest except a small tract
south of Lake Erie, the Western Reserve, which Connecticut did not cede
till 1800.
It was also necessary for congress to extinguish the Indian title to
these lands before she could set up a civil government. The last treaty
recognized as official by the Indians was that if Port Stanwix 1768,
between the British and the Indians, which recognized the Ohio as the
boundary line of the whites. In gaining the right to the territory
beyond this, congress unwisely decided to deal with the Indians by
tribes. In 1784 a second treaty of Fort Stanwix was held by which the
Iroquois consented to a western boundary line running south from the
western end of Lake Ontario to the northern boundary of Pennsylvania,
west along that line and down the western boundary of the state to the
Ohio, the United States reserving in that district a six mile square
about Fort Oswego.
The next year the treaty of Port McIntosh was held with representatives
from the Wyandot, Delaware, Chippewa and Ottawa nations. It was agreed
that these tribes should retain possession of a region south of the
eastern half of Lake Erie, except for tracts six miles square about the
military costs in the country which were reserved to the whites. Still
another treaty took place in 1786 with the Shawanese Nation at the mouth
of the Great Miami.
Theoretically the Indian title was settled by the lands allotted them
began at the south line of the lands assigns these treaties but in
reality they were not observed and only served to rouse the jealousy of
some of the tribes, who denied the validity of treaties with separate
tribes and stood for the old boundary line of the Ohio.
Efforts and plans for governing this new territory had not been lacking.
As early as April 1783, 288 of the army officers at Newburg had drawn a
plan for the organization of the Northwest by which congress might
fulfill its debts to the soldiers. For some reason this was not pushed
but was allowed to drop, as well as an ordinance for the organization of
the west which was introduced into congress in June of the same year.
But with Virginia's cession congress was put in actual possession of a
large tract of land for which government must be provided.
It was then that Jefferson brought forward his ordinance for the
Northwest. By his plan there were to be laid out fourteen states between
the 45th and first parallels, allowing two degrees of latitude to each
state in horizontal tiers. These states, to which he attached most
fantastic names, were to become members of a confederation when they
attained a population equal to that of the smallest of the original
states. The most important provision of the Ordinance perhaps was that
slavery v/as excluded from the territory. T^is clause was later dropped
out, together with the fancy names for the states, and thus, with
other-minor changes, the Ordinance was passed April 1784.
Though the government for the Northwest had thus been provided, the
Ordinance was not put into effect, while for the next two or three years
various schemes were proposed for its improvement What is known as
Grayson's plan (1785) introduced some variations in the scheme, namely,
that there should be but five states, that townships were to be made six
miles square, that a section of a square mile in each should be reserved
for education, and that the district between the Scioto and Little Miami
be reserved to meet the bounties due Clark's troops.
Meanwhile the necessity of a territorial government was keenly felt
among the old French settlers on the Wabash, who were in desperate
straits from the confusion of war, and trouble from the Indians and
squatters. In response to their petition that a government be set up
among them, congress ordered on August 24, 1786 "that the secretary of
congress inform the inhabitants of Kaskaskia, that congress have under
their consideration the plan of a temporary government for the said
district, and that its adoption will be no longer protracted than the
importance of the subject and a due regard to their interest may
require.
But the most potential factor in bringing these desultory efforts at
organization of the west to a head was the arrival of an actual
purchaser of the lands of that region, for one of the chief motives in
organizing a government was that the lands might be sold to pay the
public debt. This purchaser was Dr. Manasseh Cutler, a Massachusetts
clergyman, who represented the Ohio Company, which had been organized in
1786 by a group of Hew Englanders, revolutionary officers. They hoped to
pay for the land in army certificates, thus gaining future homes for
themselves west of the Ohio. Though Dr. Cutler was ostensibly interested
in making the land purchase, yet he was also concerned in the government
which was to be set up there, for on that depended to a great extent the
success of the Ohio Company.
He bore numerous letters of introduction to the members of congress,
especially the southern delegates, who were more in favor of the
project; and it is significant that four days after his arrival the
Ordinance was referred to a new committee, three of the five members
southerners, whose amended report was accepted four days later, July
13th, by congress. Thus in four days the work of four years was finally
culminated. Just what influence^ Cutler himself had on the terms of the
Ordinance it is difficult to say. A copy was sent him by the committee
and he proposed amendments, all which, he says, "except one, and that is
better qualified," were accepted.
This is the famous Ordinance of July 13th, 1787. After providing that
for the purposes of government the territory should be one district, to
be divided, however, into two, as future circumstances made expedient,
rules were given for the free descent of property. The government was in
the hands of a governor, secretary and three judges to be appointed by
congress, the governor and judges or a majority of them being authorized
to adopt such laws of the original states as they thou-ht necessary for
the district. As soon as there were 5,000 free male inhabitants in the
country, they could form a general assembly, which could send a delegate
to congress with the right of debating but not of voting during the
temporary government.
Then followed six articles of compact which gave religious freedom in
the territory and secured the writ of habeas corpus, trial by jury, and
proportional representation to the inhabitants.
The third article stated that education was to be encouraged and good
faith observed towards the Indians. Not less than three or more than
five states were to be organized in the territory and when any state had
a population of 60,000 it was to be admitted to the Union on an equal
footing with the original states. The last and most famous clause
provided that "There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude
in the said territory, otherwise than in punishment of crime, whereof
the party shall have been duly convicted.
It now remained for Dr. Cutler to make the land purchase which was
attended with more difficulty, the committee being unwilling to accede
to his terms. Several times Cutler threatened to leave them altogether
and purchase lands from some of the states. It was at this time that he
wrote in his journal, "Colonel Duer came to me with proposals from a
number of the principal characters in the city, to extend our contract,
and take in another company, and that it should be kept a profound
secret. He explained the plan they had concerted and offered me generous
conditions, if I would accomplish the business for them". The "generous
conditions" were that Colonel Duer and his friends would undertake to
get enough votes to pass the ordinance through on the Ohio Company's
terms, that Cutler and Sargent and such of their friends in the Ohio
Company, as they chose to interest, should have one half interest in the
proposed right of purchase, and that Colonel Duer would loan the Ohio
Company $100,000 without interest until they could collect enough for
payment in signing the contract. To these terms Cutler agreed and thus
the famous Scioto Company came into existence.
On July 27th the purchase was concluded and congress authorized the sale
of 5,000,000 acres west of the seven ranges and east of the Scioto
River; 1,500,000 acres for the Ohio Company and "the remainder for
private speculation in which many of the principal characters of America
are concerned". The total price was $3,500,000 but as payments were made
in public securities worth only twelve cents on a dollar, the real price
was only eig^t or nine cents an acre.
Cutler's contract, as well as the Ordinance of 1787, was parsed through
congress, while St. Clair was president of that body, and it seems
evident that the passage of the former was considerably due to St.
Clair's influence, and that the price paid for this influence was
Cutler's support of St. Clair for the governorship of the Northwest.
Prom Cutler's Journal we learn that he had intended to support General
Parsons as candidate for the governor of the new territory, but
suspecting that this was an impediment to the passage of the contract,
he declared that if Parsons could be made first judge he would solicit
the eastern members to favor St. Clair as governor, which pleased the
southern delegates. This proved to be effective, for three days after
that declaration we find in the journal, "General St. Clair assured me
that he would make every possible exertion to prevail with congress to
accept the terms contained in our letter. He appeared much interested
and very friendly, but said we must expect opposition. I was now fully
convinced that it was good policy to give up Parsons, and openly to
appear solicitous that St. Clair might be appointed governor. Several
gentlemen have told me that our matters went on much better since St.
Clair and his friends had been informed that we had given up Parsons,
and that had solicited the eastern members in favor of his appointment."
St. Clair's own version of his appointment in later years was that "the
office of governor was, in a great measure, forced upon me," as his
friends hoped he might in that fray compensate for the losses incurred
during the revolution. But he had neither the taste nor genius for
speculation in land, nor did he think it consistent with his office; so
that in after days he looked upon his accepting that position as the
most important act of his life.
While Cutler was in Hew York negotiating his land purchase, he called on
Thomas Hutchins who advised him to pick out his lands at the forks of
the Muskingum. This advice was not exactly followed, for the land
actually covered by the Ohio Company was the section on the west by a
line just west of the Great Kanawha River and extending so far north
that a due east and due west line from the seventh range to the said
western line would include the whole.
Here at the confluence of the Muskingum with the Ohio the Ohio Company
planted its first colony, Marietta, named for Marie Antoinette, which
was protected by the garrison of Tort Harmar just across the river.
During the late spring and summer of 1788 ground was cleared for homes
and for their stockade, Campus Martius, just half a mile up the
Muskingum. Industrious farmers who came out to the colony found a soil
of astonishing fertility. During the first year 132 settlers including
15 families arrived. So the colony flourished and rapidly grew. In 1789
Harmar wrote Major Doughty, "The Hew England gentlemen are extremely
industrious; Campus Martius is nearly Completed. Gay circles of ladies,
balls, etc., which I have neither time nor inclination to frequent,
these are the changes which in three years this wilderness has
undergone."
Here at Marietta it was that St. Clair, the new governor, was welcomed
on July 8th, 1783 with a salute of fourteen guns, when he arrived to
organize the government of the northwest.
One of Mr.Smith's arguments seems aside from the point. St. Clair
returned from New Jersey July 15th accompanied by General Irvine who on
July 19th writes Butler in speaking of the Ordinance passed that he did
not know who the officers of that government were to be. Mr.Smith argues
from this that St. Clair had net been canvassed or such an understanding
formed with the Ohio Company else Irvine would have known of it. But Dr.
Poole does not argue that any such arrangement was made before July
23rd, when Cutler first suggested it; Mr. Smith's only other arguments
are St. Clair's own statement given above which he made in later years,
and a rather intangible one based on St. Clair's character.
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