Peoria County, Illinois - Chapter 3: Northwestern Territory, 1880

Chapter 3: Northwestern Territory

Territory held by States - Articles of Confederation - Objections of certain States - Delaware Resolutions - Action of Congress - Maryland - New York - Cession of Territory by States - Ordinance of 17S7 - Territorial Organization of the Northwest - Fort Washington - \Vm. H. Harrison. Arthur St. Clair - Early American Settlement - New England Company - Gen. Rufus Putnam - John Cleves Symmes - Cincinnati Founded - Treaty with Spain - Division of the Northwestern Territory - Organization of the Territory of Indiana - Division of Indiana Territory - Territory of Michigan - Gov. \Vm. Hull - Destruction of Detroit by Fire.

At the time the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union were pending a number of the States held, or claimed, large tracts of territory not now included in those States. New York, Virginia, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Soutii (. arolina, North Carolina and Georgia, all held such territory. Virginia claimed all that vast region which now embraces the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illiuois, Michigan, Wisconsin and that part of Minnesota east of the Mississippi river. That State hati made provision, by legislative enactment, to dispose of her lands to settlers. Certain States, claiming that the unoccupied western lands were rightfully tlie common j^roperty of all tlie States, insisted on limiting the area of those States claiming western territory. This was a subject of warm and protracted discussion in the adoption of tiie Articles of Confederation. The delegates from Maryland, under instructions from the General Assembly of tliat State, declined, in the Congress of the Confederation, to sign the Articles of Confederation until provision was made for restricting the boundaries of the States, and vesting the soil of the western territories in the Confederation for the common benefit of all the settlers. Virginia had remonstrated against this course. On the 25th of November, 1778, the act of New Jersey for ratifying the Articles of Confederation was presented in the

Congress. Her delegates were directed to sign the articles " in the firm reliance that the candor and justice of the several States will, in due time, remove as far as possible the ine<iuality wiiich now exists." The delegation from Delaware, after having signed the articles, on the 23d of February, 1779, presented sundry resolutions passed by the legislature of that State, among which were the following:

"Resolvtd. That this State thinks it necessary, for the peace and safety of the States to be included in the Union, that a moderate extent of limits should be assigned for such of those Slates as claim to the Mississippi or South Sea ; and that the United States in Congress assembled, should, and ought to, have the power of fixing the western limits.

"Hesolitd, That this State consider themselves justly entitled to a right in common with the members of the Union, to that extensive tract of countr)' which lies westward o( the frontier of the United States, the property of which was not vested in, or granted to, private individuals at the commencement of the present war. That tlie same hath been, or may be, gained from the King of Great Britain, or the native Indians, by the blood and treasure of all, and ought, therefore, to be a common estate, to be granted out on terms beneficial to the United States."

" Resolvid, That the paper laid before Congress by the delegates from Delaware, and read, be filed ; provided, that it shall never be considered as admitting any claim by the same set up, or intended to be set up."

The State of Maryland still persisting in her refusal to ratify the Articles of Confederation, on the 30th of October, 1779, Congress, by a vote of eight States to three, and one being divided, passed the following :

" Whereas, The appropriation of vacant lands by the several States, during the continuance of the war, will, in the opinion of Congress, be attended with great mischiefs: Therefore,

"Resolved, That it be earnestly recommended to the State of Virginia, to reconsider their late act of Assembly for opening their land office ; and that it be recommended to the said State, and all other States similarly circumstanced, to forbear settling or issuing warrants lor unappropriated lands, or granting the same during the continuance of the present war."

On the 19th of February, 1780, the Legislature of New York piissed an act authorizing her delegates in Congress, for and on behalf of that State, by proper and authentic acts or instruments, " to limit and restrict the boundaries of the State in the western parts thereof, by such line or lines, and in such manner and form, as they shall judge to be expedient," and providing for the cession to the United States of certain " waste and uncultivated " territory. This act was fully carried into effect by her delegates on the Istof March, 1781.

On the 6th of September, 1780, Congress passed a resolution earnestly recommending the States having " claims to the western country, to pass such laws, and give their delegates in Congress such powers" as might effectually remove the only obstacle to a final ratification of the Articles of Confederation, and retjuesting the Legislature of Maryland to authorize her delegates in Congress to subscribe to the articles.

"Resolved, That the unappropriated lands that may be ceded or relinquished to the United States, by any particular State, pursuant to the recommendation of Congress of the 6th day of .September last, shall be disposed of for the common benefit of the United States, and be settled and formed into distinct republican States, which shall become memlicrs of the I'ederal Union, and have the same rights of sovereignty, freedom and inde[>endence as the other States ; that each Slate which shall be so formed shall contain a suitable extent of territory, not less than one hundred, nor more than one hundred and fifty miles square, or as near thereto as circumstances will admit ; that the necessary and reasonable expenses which any particular State shall have incurred since the commencement of the jiretent war, in subduing any British posts, or in maintaining forts or garrisons within and for the defense, or in actiuiring any part of the territory that may be ceded or relinquished to the United States, shall be re-imbursed ; that the said land> shall be granted or settled at such times, and under such regulations, as shall hereafter be agreed on by the United States, in Congress assembled, or any nine or more of them.'

The Northwest Territory

In pursuance of the recommendation of Congress, of September 6, 1780, several States made cessions of territory to the United States. Virginia ceded her northwestern territory March 1, 1784, and by an act of her Legislature of December 30, 1788, agreed to change the conditions of the act of cession of 1784, so far as to ratify the 5th article of the ordinance of 1787, passed by Congress for the government of the territory. The delegates in Congress from Maryland signed the Articles of Confederation at the date of the cession of territory by New York, March 1, 1781, thus completing the confederation.

On the 23d of April, 1784, Congress passed a resolution for the government of the territory ceded by Virginia, which was superseded by the famous ordinance of July 13, 1787, entitled " An ordinance for the government of the territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio." The first part of this important enactment provides for the temporarj' government of the territory, and concludes with six "articles of compact between the original States and the people and States in the said territory, and forever to remain unalterable, unless by common consent." The provisions of these six articles are of such importance as to justify their insertion here in full :

"Article 1. No person, demeaning himself in a peaceable and orderlj' manner shall ever be molested on account of his mode of worship or religious sentiments, in the said territory.

" Art. 2. The inhabitants of the said territory shall always be entitled to the writ of habeas corpus, and of the 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, unless for capital offenses, when the proof shall be evident, or the presumption great. All fines shall be moderate, and no cruel or unusual punishment shall be inflicted. No person 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 any person's property, or to demand his particular services, 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 to be made, or have force in the said territory, that should, in any manner whatever, interfere with or affect private contracts or engagements, bona fide, and without fraud previously formed.

" Art. 3. Religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall be forever encouraged. The utmost good faith shall always be 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 wrongs being done to them, and for preserving peace and friendship with them.

" Art. 4. The said territory, and the States which may be formed therein, shall forever remain a part of this confederacy of tlie United States of Amei'ica, 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 the 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 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 of the United States, in Congress assembled, nor with an)' regulations Congress may find necessary, for securing the title in such soil, to the bona fide purchasers. No tax shall be imposed on lauds the property of the United States; and in no case shall non-resident proprietors he 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 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. 5. There shall be formed in the said territory not less than three, nor more than five States ; and the boundaries of the States, 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 States in the said territor}- shall be bounded by the Mississippi, the Ohio and Wabash rivers; a direct line drawn from the Wal)ash and Post Vincents 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 Mississip])i. The Middle States shall be bounded by the said direct line, the Wabash, from Post Vincents 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 States 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 alleied 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 wiiicli lies north of an east and west line drawn through tlie southerlj' 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 can be consistent with the general interests of the Confederacy, such admission sliall be allowed at an earlier period, and when there may be a less number of free inhabitants in the State than sixty thousand.

" AuT. G. There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory, otiierwise tlian in the punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall be duly convicted; provided, always, tiiat 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."

These articles, sometimes known as the " Compact of 1787," form the basis of the organization of the Northwestern Territory and of the several States into whicli it was subscfiueiitly divided. Although the original act of cession was adopted by Virginia in 17H4, it will be seen that it was three years later before Congress agieed upon a plan of government. The suiiject was one of serious and earnest discussion at various times. At one time a motion prevailed to strike from the jiroposed plan the prohibitiim of slavery. Anotlier proposition was agreed to by which the territory was to be divided into States by parallels and meridian lines, making ten States which were to be named as follows : Sylvania, Michigania, Chersonesus, Assenisipia, Metropotaniia, Illenoia, Saratoga, Washington, Polypotamia and I'elisipia. When this plan was submitted to the legislatures of the States there were serious objections made, esj)ecial]y by Massachusetts and Virginia. There were objections to the category of names, but the chief difficulty was the resolution of Congress of October lOlh, 17sb. which fixed the extent of each State at not less than one hundred nor more than one hundred and fifty miles square, or as near thereto as uircuuislances might admit. So the subject was again taken up in 178G,and discussed

An act of territorial organization was approved August 7th, 1789. Gen. Arthur St. Clair was appointed Governor, and William H. Harrison Secretary. In 1788 a town had been laid out by John Cleves Symmes at Fort Washington, and was named Losantiville, but afterward Cincinnati. The place was settled by persons from the New England States and from New Jersey, but did not extensively improve until after Gen. Wayne's defeat of the Indians in 1794. This became the seat of the new territorial government. The election of representatives for the territory was held February 4th, 1799. As required by the ordinance of 1787, these representatives met at the seat of the territorial government to nominate ten persons, out of which Congress was to appoint five to serve as the territorial council. The following persons were commissioned : Henry Vandenburg, of Vincennes ; Robert Oliver, of Marietta ; James Findlay and Jacob Burnett, of Cincinnati, and David Vance, of Vanceville. The first Territorial Legislature met September I6th, 1799, and on the -24th both houses were duly organized, Henry Vandenburg being elected president of the council. On the 13th of October the legislatui-e elected Wm. Henry Harrison as a delegate to Congress. He received eleven of the votes cast, being a majority of one over his opponent, Arthur St. Clair, son of the Governor. At this session tiiirty-seven acts were passed and approved. Eleven other acts were passed which the Governor vetoed. The greater part of the legislation of the session related to the organization of the militia and to revenue matters. The session closed December 19th, 1799. President Adams appointed Charles Willing Bryd as secretary of the territory to succeed William Henry Harrison, elected to Congress, and the senate confirmed the nomination. James N. Varnum, S. H. Parsons and John Armstrong were appointed to the judicial bench of the territory in October, 1787.

Having briefly outlined the legislation which resulted in the formation of a tei'ritorial government, we return to notice some of the earlier American settlements in the territory. As elsewhere stated, a few French settlements had been made by emigrants from Canada and Louisiana, on the Ohio river and in the region known as the Illinois country, but it was not until after the Virginia cession that any permanent American settlements were made. Then several treaties were made with the Indians, in which they relinquished their title to large portions of the territory. The government made several large grants to companies and individuals, for the purpose of colonizing the country. One of these was to a company from Massachusetts and Connecticut, called the New England Company, of a tract lying along the Ohio and Muskingum rivers, embracing 1,500,000 acres. Here the town of Marietta was laid out. in August, 1787, at the confluence of the Muskingum and Ohio rivers. Fort Harmar was built on the opposite, or west bank of the Muskingum, the year before. The New England Company sent its first party of settlers in the Spring of 1788. They consisted of eight families, and some other persons, and all under the superintendency of Gen. Rufus Putnam. The party, after a long and weary journey over tlie AUeghanies, and down the Ohio, arrived at Marietta on the 7th of April, 1788. This little band had the honor of being the pioneers of Ohio, unless the Moravian missionaries may be so regarded. The settlement was first known as the " Muskingum," but on the 2d day of July, 1788, at a meeting of the directors and agents of the company, the name was changed to Marietta, in honor of Marie Antoinette.

In 1786, John Cleves Sj'mmes, of New Jersey, visited tlie country between the Miamies, and being pleased with its appearance, made application to the government for the purchase of a large tract of land, to be settled on similar conditions with those of the New England Company. The grant was made to Symmes and his associates the following year. Associated with Symmes, was Matthias Deuman, also of New Jersey, who located, among other tracts in the Symmes purchase, the section upon which Cincinnati was laid out. Denman sold to Robert Patterson and John Filson, each one-third of his location, retaining the other third himself. In August, 1788, they laid out the first portion of what, in a few years, became one of the great cities of the West. Fort Washington was erected here in 171*0, and was for some time the headquarters of both the civil and military governments of the Northwestern Territor}-. There were but few settlers here until after 1794, when settlers began to arrive rapidly. In July, 1815, the population was 6,500.

In October, 1795, the treaty was signed between the United States and Spain, which secured to the former the free navigation of the Mississijipi. After this the Northwest began to settle rapidly. During the next year settlements were made at various points along the Miami and Scioto rivers, including those at Piqua and Chillicothe. In September, of the same year, the city of Cleveland was laid out.

The great extent of the Northwestern Territory, and the rapid increase of population at the beginning of the new century, began to render the eflBcient action of the courts impossible ; and to remedy this evil a division of the Territory- was proposed. A committee in Congress, to whom the matter had been referred, on the ;;d of March, 1800, reported in favor of two distinct territorial governments, and that the division be made by a line beginning at the mouth of the Great Miami river, and running directly to the boundary line between the United States and Canada. The report was accepted, and an act passed, which was approved May 7th, of the same year, making the division. It provided, among other things, that from and after the next -Jthday of July, "all that part of the territory of the United States northwest of the Ohio river, which lies to the northward of a line beginning at a point on tlie Ohio, opposite to the nioutii of the Kentucky river, and running thence to Fort Recovery, and tlience north until it sliall intersect the territorial line between the United States and Canada, shall, for the purpose of lemponiry government, constitute a separate territory, and be called the Indiana Territory." The same act provided, that uiiiil tlie Legislatures of the Territories, respectively, otherwise ordered, Chillicothe. on the Scioto river, should be the seat of government of the Territory east of the line of division ; and that Vincennes, on the Wabash river, should be the seat of government of the Indiana Territory. On the 3d of November, of that year, the Territorial Legislature met at Cliillicothe. William Henry Harrison was appointed Governor of Indiana Territory, and entered upon his duties in 1^01. Tiie new Territory then embraced all that region now comprising the States of Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and that jjart of Minnesota east of the Mississii)i)i river. Nearly the whole of it was at that time in the possession of the Indians. Soon after the ariival of Governor Harrison at Vincennes, he concluded several treaties with the Indians, whereby large grants of land were obtained from the various tribes. By a treaty made at St. Louis, August 18th, 1801, he ol)taincd a relinquishment of Indian title to over 51,000,000 of acres. Tiie year before, tlie government had obtained Louisiana froni France, by purchase, and that being divided, the " District of Louisiana" (^tlie " New Nortliwest ") was annexed to Indiana Territory, thus extending Gov. Harrison's authority over a vast domain, occuj)ied chiefly 1)}' savage tribes.

B}' an act of Congress, of January 11th, 1805, Indiana Territory was divided into two separate governments, and the new Territory of Michigan formed. William Hull was appointed Governor of tlie new Territory, and Detroit was designated as the scat of government. On the .'JOth of June the Territorial government of Michigan was to go into operation. When Gov. Hull, and the other Territorial officers, readied Detroit, they found the place in ruins and the inhabitants scattered. On the 11th of that month a fire had destroyed almost every building in the place. Gov. Hull adopted a new plan for rebuilding the town, and in population and importance it soon regained all it had lost by the fire.

Other changes were subseiiuently made in the boundaries of the Western Territories, as new States were from time to time admitted into the Union, until finally, all that vast domain originally designated as the " Northwestern Territory " became sovereign States.