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HISTORICAL CHAPTER I. RELATED STATE HISTORY. The first white men to set foot upon the Northwest Territory were French traders and missionaries under the leadership of La Salle. This was about the year 167o and subsequent discoveries and explorations in this region by the French gave that nation practically undisputed possession of all the territory organized in 1787 as the Northwest Territory. It is true that the English colonies of Virginia, Connecticut and Massachusetts claimed that their charters extended their grants westward to the Mississippi river. However, France claimed this territory and successfully maintained possession of it until the close of the French and Indian War in 1763. At that time the treaty of Paris transferred all of the French claims east of the Mississippi river to England, as well as all claims of France to territory on the mainland of North America. For the next twenty years the Northwest Territory was under the undisputed control of England, but became a part of the United States by the treaty which terminated the Revolutionary War in 1783. Thus the flags of three nations have floated over the territory now comprehended within the present state of Ohio—the tri-color of France, the union jack of England and the stars and stripes of the United States. History will record the fact that there was another nation, however, which claimed possession of this territory and, while the Indians can hardly be called a nation, yet they made a gallant fight to retain their hunting grounds. The real owners of this territory struggled against heavy odds to maintain their supremacy and it was not until the battle of Tippecanoe, in the fall of 1811, that the Indians gave up the unequal struggle. Tecumseh, the Washington of his race, fought fiercely to save this territory for his people, but the white man finally overwhelmed him, and "Lo, the poor Indian" was pushed westward across the Mississippi. The history of the Northwest (3 ) 34 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. Territory is full of the bitter fights which the Indian waged in trying to drive the white man out, and the defeat which the Indians inflicted on General St. Clair on November 4, 1792, will go down in the annals of American history as the worst defeat which an American army ever suffered at the hands of the Indians. The greatest battle which has ever been fought in the United States against the Indians occurred in the state of Ohio. This was the battle of Fallen Timbers and occurred August 20, 1794, the scene of the battle being within the present county of Defiance. After the close of the Revolutionary War the Indians, urged on by the British, caused the settlers in the Northwest Territory continual trouble and defeated every detachment sent against them previous to their defeat by Gen. Anthony Wayne at the battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794. Although there was some trouble with the Indians after this time, they never offered serious resistance after this memorable defeat until the fall of 1811, when Gen. William Henry Harrison completely routed them at the battle of Tippecanoe. TERRITORY NORTHWEST OF THE OHIO (1670-1754). Ohio was the first state created out of the old Northwest Territory, although Indiana had been previously organized as a territory. When the land comprehended within the Northwest Territory was discovered by the French under La Salle about 1670, it was a battle ground of various Indian tribes, although the Eries, who were located along the shores of Lake .Erie, were the only ones with a more or less definite territory. From 1670 to 1763, the close of the French and Indian War, the French were in possession of this territory and established their claims in a positive manner by extensive exploration and scattered settlements. The chief centers of French settlement were at Detroit, Vincennes, Kaskaskia, Cahokia, Fort Crevecour and at several missionary stations around the shores of the great lakes. The French did not succeed in doing this without incurring the hostility of the Iroquois Indians, a bitter enmity which was brought about chiefly because the French helped the Shawnees, Wyandots and Miamis to drive the Iroquois out of the territory west of the Muskingum river in Ohio. It must not be forgotten that the English also laid claim to the Northwest Territory, basing their claim on the discoveries of the Cabots and the subsequent charters of Virginia, Massachusetts and Connecticut. These charters extended the limits of these three colonies westward to the Pacific ocean, although, as a matter of fact, none of the three colonies made a settlement west of the Alleghanies until after the Revolutionary War. New York CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 35 sought to strengthen her claim to territory west of the Alleghanies in 1701, by getting from the Iroquois, the bitter enemies of the French, a grant to the territory from which the French and their Indian allies had previously expelled them. 'Although this grant was renewed in 1726 and again confirmed in 1744, it gave New York only a nominal claim and one which was never recognized by the French in any way. English traders from Pennsylvania and Virginia began in 1730 to pay more attention to the claims of their country west of the Alleghanies and north of the Ohio river. When their activities reached the ears of the French the governor of French Canada sent Celeron de Bienville up and down the Ohio and the rivers and streams running into it from the north and took formal possession of the territory by planting lead plates at the mouth of every river and stream of any importance. This peculiar method of the French in seeking to establish their claims occurred in the year 1749 and opened the eyes of England to the necessity of taking some immediate action. George II, the king of England at the time, at once granted a charter for the first Ohio Company (there were two others by the same name later organized), composed of London merchants and enterprising Virginians, and the company at once preceded to formulate plans to secure possession of the territory north of the Ohio and west of the Mississippi. Christopher Gist was sent down the Ohio river in 175o to explore the country as far west as the mouth of the Scioto river, and made several treaties with the Indians. Things were now rapidly approaching a crisis and it was soon evident that there would be a struggle of arms between. England and France for the disputed region. In 1754 the English started to build a fort at the confluence of the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers, on the site of the present city of Pittsburgh, but before the fort was completed the French appeared on the scene, drove the English away and finished the fort which had been begun. FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR (1754-63). The crisis had finally come. The struggle which followed between the two nations ultimately resulted in the expulsion of the French from the mainland of America as well as from the immediate territory in dispute. The war is known in America as the French and Indian War and in the history of the world as the Seven Years' War, the latter designation being due to the fact that it lasted that length of time. The struggle developed into a world-wide conflict and the two nations fought over three continents, America, Europe and Asia. It is not within the province of this resume of 36 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. the history of Ohio to go into the details of this memorable struggle. It is sufficient for the purpose at hand to state that the treaty of Paris, which terminated the war in 1763, left France without any of her former possessions on the mainland of America. PONTIAC'S CONSPIRACY ( 1763-64 ) . With the English in control of America east of the Mississippi river and the French regime forever ended, the Indians next command the attention of the historian who deals with the Northwest Territory. The French were undoubtedly responsible for stirring up their former Indian allies and Pontiac's conspiracy must be credited to the influence of that nation. This formidable uprising was successfully overthrown by Henry Bouquet, who led an expedition in 1764 into the present state of Ohio and compelled the Wyandots, Delawares and Shawnees to sue for peace. NORTHWEST TERRITORY AND QUEBEC ACT. From 1764 to 1774, no events of particular importance occurred within the territory north of the Ohio river, but in the latter year ( June 22, 1774), England, then at the breaking point with the colonies, passed the Quebec act, which attached this territory to the province of Quebec for administrative purposes. This intensified the feeling of resentment which the colonies bore against their mother country and is given specific mention in their list of grievances which they enumerated in their Declaration of Independence. The Revolutionary War came on at once and this act, of course, was never put into execution. REVOLUTIONARY WAR PERIOD ( I 775-83). During the War for Independence (1775-1783), the various states with claims to western lands agreed with the Continental Congress to surrender their claims to the national government. In fact, the Articles of Confederation were not signed until all of the states had agreed to do this and Maryland withheld her assent to the articles until March I, 1780, on this account. In accordance with this agreement New York ceded her claim to the United States in 178o, Virginia in 1784, Massachusetts in 1785 and Connecticut in 1786, although the latter state excepted a one-hundred-and-twenty-mile strip of three million five hundred thousand acres bordering on Lake Erie. This CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 37 strip was formally relinquished in 1800, with the understanding that the United States would guarantee the titles already issued by that state. Virginia was also allowed a reservation, known as the Virginia Military District, which lay between the Little Miami and Scioto rivers, the same being for distribution among her Revolutionary veterans. There is one other fact which should be mentioned in connection with the territory north of the Ohio in the Revolutionary period. This was the memorable conquest of the territory by Gen. George Rogers Clark. During the years 1778 and 1779, this redoubtable leader captured Kaskaskia, Cahokia and Vincennes and thereby drove the English out of the Northwest Territory. It is probable that this notable campaign secured this territory for the Americans and that without it we would not have had it included in our possessions in the treaty which closed the Revolutionary War. FIRST SURVEYS AND EARLY SETTLERS. The next period in the history of the territory north of the Ohio begins with the passage of a congressional act (May 20, 1785), which provided for the present system of land surveys into townships six miles square. As soon as this was put into operation, settlers—and most Revolutionary soldiers—began to pour into the newly surveyed territory. A second Ohio Company was organized in the spring of 1786, made up chiefly of Revolutionary officers and soldiers from New England, and this company proposed to establish a state somewhere between Lake Erie and the Ohio River. At this juncture Congress realized that definite steps should be made at once for some kind of government over this extensive territory, a territory which now includes the present states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and about a third of Minnesota. Various plans were proposed in Congress and most of the sessions of 1786 and the first half of 1787 were consumed in trying to formulate a suitable form of government for the extensive territory, The result of all these deliberations resulted in the famous Ordinance of 1787, which was finally passed on July 13, 1787. ORDINANCE OF 1787. There have been many volumes written about this instrument of government and to this day there is a difference of opinion as to who was its author. The present article can do no more than merely sketch its outline and set forth the main provisions. It was intended to provide only a tem- 38 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. porary government and to serve until such a time as the population of the territory would warrant the creation of states with the same rights and privileges which the thirteen original states enjoyed. It stipulated that not less than three nor more than five states should ever be created out of the whole territory and the maximum number was finally organized, although it was not until 1848 that the last state, Wisconsin, was admitted to the Union. The third article, "Religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged," has given these five states the basis for their excellent system of public schools, state normals, colleges and universities. Probably the most widely discussed article was the sixth, which provided that slavery and involuntary servitude should never be permitted within the territory and by the use of the word "forever" made the territory free for all time. It is interesting to note in this connection that both Indiana and Illinois before their admission to the Union sought to have this provision set aside, but every petition from the two states was refused by Congress in accordance with the provision of the Ordinance. FIRST STAGE OF GOVERNMENT UNDER THE ORDINANCE. The Ordinance contemplated two grades of territorial government. During the operation of the first grade of government the governor, his secretary and the three judges provided by the Ordinance were to be appointed by Congress and the governor in turn was to appoint "such magistrates and other civil officers in each county and township as he shall deem necessary for the preservation of the peace and good will of the same." After the federal government was organized a statutory provision took the appointment of these officers out of the hands of Congress and placed it in the hands of the President of the United States. All executive authority was given to the governor, all judicial authority to the three judges, while the governor and judges, in joint session, constituted the legislative body. This means that during the first stage of territorial government the people had absolutely no voice in the affairs of government and this state of affairs lasted until 1799, a period of twelve years. SECOND STAGE OF GOVERNMENT UNDER THE ORDINANCE. The second stage of government in the territory was to begin whenever the governor was satisfied that there were at least five thousand free male CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 39 inhabitants of the age of twenty-one and above. The main difference between the first and second stages of territorial government lay in the fact that the legislative functions were taken from the governor and judges and given to a "general assembly or legislature." The Ordinance provided for the election of one representative for each five hundred free male inhabitants, the tenure of the office to be two years. While the members of the lower house were to be elected by the qualified voters of the territory, the upper house, to consist of five members, were to be appointed by Congress in a somewhat complicated manner. The house of representatives were to select ten men and these ten names were to be sent to Congress and out of this number five were to be selected by Congress. This provision, like the appointment of the governor, was later changed so as to make the upper house the appointees of the President of the United States. The five men so selected were called councilors and held office for five years. ORGANIZATION OF THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. The first governor of the newly organized territory was Gen. Arthur St. Clair, a gallant soldier of the Revolution, who was appointed on October 5, 1787, and ordered to report for duty on the first of the following February. He held the office until November 22, 1802, when he was dismissed by President Jefferson "for the disorganizing spirit, and tendency of every example, violating the rules of conduct enjoined by his public station, as displayed in his address to the convention." The governor's duties were performed by his secretary, Charles W. Byrd, until March I, 1803, when the state officials took their office. The first judges appointed were Samuel Holden Parsons, James Mitchell Varnum and John Armstrong. Before the time came for the judges to qualify, Armstrong resigned and John Cleve Symmes was appointed in his place. The first secretary was Winthrop Sargent, who held the position until he was appointed governor of Mississippi Territory by the President on May 2, 1798. Sargent was succeeded by William Henry Harrison, who was appointed by the President on June 26, 1798, and confirmed by the Senate two days later. Harrison was later elected as the first delegate of the organized Northwest Territory to Congress and the President then appointed Charles Willing Byrd as secretary of the Territory, Byrd's appointment being confirmed by the Senate on December 31, 1799. 40 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. REPRESENTATIVE STAGE OF GOVERNMENT ( I 799-1803). The Northwest Territory remained under the government of the first stage until Septmeber 16, 1799, when it formally advanced to the second or representative stage. In the summer of 1798 Governor St. Clair had ascertained that the territory had a population of at least five thousand free male inhabitants and, in accordance with the provisions of the Ordinance of 1787, was ready to make the change in its form of government. On October 29, 1798, the governor issued a proclamation to the qualified voters of the territory directing them to choose members for the lower house of the Territorial Legislature at an election to be held on the third Monday of the following December. The twenty-two members so elected met on January 16, 1799, and, pursuant to the provisions of the Ordinance, selected the ten men from whom the President of the United States later chose five for the Legislative Council. They then adjourned to meet on September 16, 1799, but since there was not a quorum on that day they held adjourned sessions until the 23rd, at which time a quorum was present. At the time the change in the form of government went into effect there were only nine counties in the whole territory. These counties had been organized either by the governor or his secretary. The following table gives the nine counties organized before 1799, with the dates of their organization and the number of legislators proportioned to each by the governor : |
County. |
Date of organization. |
Number of representatives |
Washington Hamilton St. Clair Knox Randolph Wayne Adams Jefferson Ross |
July 27, 1788 January 4, 1790 April 27, 1790 June 20, 1790 October 5, 1795 August 6, 1796 July 10, 1797 July 29, 1797 August 20, 1798 |
2 7 1 1 1 3 2 1 4 |
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FIRST TERRITORIAL LEGISLATURE OF NORTHWEST TERRITORY. The twenty-two representatives and five councilors were the first representative body to meet in the Northwest Territory and they represented a CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 41 constituency scattered over a territory of more than two hundred and sixty-five thousand square miles, an area greater than Germany or France, or even Austria-Hungary. It would he interesting to tell something of the deliberations of these twenty-seven sterling pioneers, but the limits of the present article forbid. It is necessary, however, to make mention of one important thing which they did in view of the fact that it throws much light on the subsequent history of the Northwest Territory. DIVISION OF 1800. The Legislature was authorized to elect a delegate to Congress and two candidates for the honor presented their names to the Legislature, William Henry Harrison and Arthur St. Clair, Jr., the son of the governor. The Legislature, by a joint ballot on October 3, 1799, elected Harrison by a vote of eleven to ten. The defeat of his son undoubtedly had considerable to do with the subsequent estrangement which arose between the governor and his Legislature and incidentally hastened the division of the Northwest Territory. Within two years from the time the territory had advanced to the second stage of government the division had taken place. On May 7, 1800, Congress passed an act dividing the Northwest Territory by a line drawn from the mouth of the Kentucky river to Fort Recovery, in Mercer county, Ohio, and thence due north to the boundary line between the United States and Canada. Governor St. Clair favored the division because he thought it would delay the organization of a state and thus give him a longer lease on his position, but he did not favor the division as finally determined. He was constantly growing in disfavor with the people on account of his overbearing manner and he felt that he would get rid of some of his bitterest enemies if the western inhabitants were set off into a new territory. However, the most of the credit for the division must be given to Harrison, who, as a delegate to Congress, was in a position to have the most influence. Harrison also was satisfied that in case a new territory should be formed he would be 'appointed its first governor and he was not disappointed. The territory west of the line above mentioned was immediately organized and designated as Indiana Territory, while the eastern portion retained the existing government and the old name—Northwest Territory. It is frequently overlooked that the Northwest Territory existed in fact and in name up until March 1, 1803. 42 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. CENSUS OF NORTHWEST TERRITORY IN 1800. The division of 1800 left the Northwest Territory with only about one-third of its original area. The census of the territory taken by the United States government in 1800 showed it to have a total population 0f forty-five thousand three hundred and sixty-five, which fell short by about fifteen thousand of being sufficient for the creation of a state as provided by the Ordinance of 1787, which fixed the minimum population at sixty thousand. The counties left in the Northwest Territory, with their respective population, are set forth in the appended table, all of which were within the present state of Ohio, except Wayne : |
Adams Hamilton Jefferson Ross Trumbull Washington Wayne Total |
3,432 14,632 8,766 8,540 1,302 5,427 3,206 45,365 |
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The population as classified by the census with respect to age and sex is interesting and particularly so in showing that considerably more than one-third of the total .population were children under ten years of age. |
|
Males. |
Females |
Whites up to ten years of age Whites from ten to sixteen Whites from sixteen to twenty-six Whites from twenty-six to forty-five Whites forty-five and upward Total |
9,362 3,647 4,636 4,833 1,955 24,433 |
8,644 3,353 3,861 3,342 1,395 20,595 |
Total of both sexes Total of other persons, not Indians Grand Total |
45,028 337 45,365 |
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CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 43 A digression is necessary at this point in order to trace the growth of settlement of the territory now within the present state of Ohio up to 1803, when it was admitted to the Union as a state. Marietta, founded in July, 1788, by the Ohio Company, is the oldest permanent settlement in the state. A number of New. Jersey settlers were organized by John Cleves Symmes, and Symmes succeeded in securing a grant of land from Congress (1788- 1792). containing two hundred forty-eight thousand five hundred and forty acres, located between the Great Miami and Little Miami rivers. This grant of land is known in Ohio history as the Symmes purchase and contained the settlements of Columbia (1788) and Cincinnati (1789), although the latter place was first christened Losantiville. The man who devised this name exercised no small amount of ingenuity in its manufacture. The proposed settlement happened to be located at the mouth of the Licking river and this circumstance, with a little knowledge of Latin and a vivid imagination, was responsible for this hybrid word. The Latin word for town is "villa," which is Anglicized into "ville" ; the Latin for opposite is "anti" and for mouth "os". There three Latin words account for the completed word, with the exception of the "L", and this letter is the initial letter of Licking. To make the word clear it must be read backward, syllable at a time thus L-os-antiville, which being interpreted means the-town-opposite-the-mouth-of-theLicking. The Virginia Military District, to which reference has been made, was settled largely by people from that state. The Connecticut Reserve, along Lake Erie, attracted many settlers from that state, among whom should be mentioned Moses Cleveland, who, in 1796, founded the city which bears his name. The northern part of the state did not begin to fill up rapidly until after 1832, when the Ohio-Erie canal was opened for traffic. There have been estimates running from fifteen to twenty thousand as to the number of people who floated down the Ohio river within a year after the Ordinance of 1787 went into effect. COUNTY ORGANIZATION ( 1788-1810). It has already been stated that there were nine counties within the Northwest Territory in 1799, when it advanced to the second stage of territorial government. According to the provisions of the Ordinance, the creation of new counties was in the hands of the governor, although after the federal constitution went into effect the secretary was also given the same power. Knox and Wayne counties were started by Secretary Winthrop Sar- 44 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. gent according to this provision. The state of Ohio is now divided into eighty-eight counties, ten of which were created before the state was admitted to the Union on March 1, 1803. The counties organized by Governor St. Clair, or his secretary, from 1788, when Washington county was organized, up to 1803, when the state was admitted to the Union, are ten in number ; Washington, Hamilton, Wayne, Adams, Jefferson, Ross, Trumbull, Clermont, Fairfield and Belmont. The dates of the creation of the first six have already been given. Trumbull county was organized on July 1o, 1800; Clermont and Fairfield, December 9, 1800; Belmont, September 7, 1801. Between the years 1803 and 1810, when Fayette county was organized, there were no less than twenty-four counties organized within the state of Ohio. The first session of the General Assembly of the state organized eight counties, as follows : Franklin, Gallia, Greene, Scioto, Warren, Butler, Montgomery and Columbiana. Muskingum started its independent existence on the first day of March, 1804. In 1805 there were four counties created, Champaign, Athens, Geauga and Highland. The session of 1807 added four more to the rapidly growing state, Miami, Ashtabula, Cuyahoga and Portage. The following year saw six new counties opened for entry, Delaware, Stark, Tuscarawas, Preble, Knox and Licking. One county, Huron, was created in 1809. The five counties organized in 1810 included Fayette, Pickaway, Guernsey, Clinton and Madison. This makes a total of thirty-nine counties up to and including the year 1810. In this year Cincinnati, the largest city of the state, boasted of a population of two thousand three hundred and twenty. INDIAN WARS ( 1787-1803) . The period from 1787 to 1803 in the Northwest Territory was marked by several bitter conflicts with the Indians. Just as at the close of the French and Indian War had the French stirred up the Indians against the Americans, so at the close of the Revolutionary War did the English do the same thing. This inciting of the Indians by the British was one of the causes of the War of 1812, a struggle which has very appropriately been called the second War for Independence. The various uprisings of the Indians up to 1794 retarded the influx of settlers and was a constant menace to those who did venture into the territory. Three distinct campaigns were waged against the Indians during this period before they were finally subdued. The first campaign was under the command of Gen. Josiah Harmar, 1790, and resulted in a decisive defeat for the whites. The second expedition was under the leadership of Gen. Arthur St. Clair, the governor of the Territory, and CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 45 was marked by one of the worst defeats ever suffered by an American army at the hands of the Indians. A lack of knowledge of Indian methods of warfare, combined with reckless mismanagement, sufficiently accounts for both disasters. It remained for Gen. Anthony Wayne, the "Mad Anthony" of Revolutionary fame, to bring the Indians to terms. The battle which closed his campaign against the Indians is known as the battle of Fallen Timbers and was fought on August 20, 1794. The scene of the battle lies along the Maumee river within the limits of the present county of Defiance. This crushing defeat of the Indians, a rout in which they had lost twelve out of thirteen chiefs, was so complete that the Indians were glad to sue for peace. On June 10, 1795, delegates from the various Indian tribes, headed by their chiefs, met at Greenville, Ohio, to formulate a treaty. The United States government appointed General Wayne as commissioner plenipotentiary to draft the treaty and, after nearly two months of bickering, a treaty was drawn up on August 3, 1795. It was signed by General Wayne on behalf of the United States and by ninety chiefs and the delegates of twelve interested tribes. The treaty was faithfully kept by the Indians and ever afterwards Little Turtle, the real leader of the Indians, was a true friend of the whites. It may be said that this battle of Fallen Timbers was the most important battle fought in America between the close of the War for Independence and the battle of Tippecanoe in the fall of 1811. To General Anthony Wayne will remain the honor of opening the way for permanent settlement of the Northwest Territory. THE FORMATION OF A NEW STATE. The three years intervening between the creation of Indiana Territory (May 7, 1800) and the admission of Ohio to the Union (March 1, 1803), are marked by an acrimonious struggle during which Governor St. Clair was constantly growing in disfavor with his Legislature and the great mass of the people of the territory. The Legislature wanted a state formed as soon as possible and succeeded in getting Congress to pass an act, April 3o, 1802, authorizing the calling of a constitutional convention. This act established the limits of the proposed new state as follows : "That part of the Northwest Territory bounded east by Pennsylvania, south by the Ohio river, west by a line drawn from the mouth of the Big Miami river due north to an east and west line passing through the south extremity of Lake Michigan, and by this line and the Canada line through Lake Erie to the west line of Pennsylvania." Since these boundaries omitted the eastern half of the present 46 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. state of Michigan which had been left a part of the Northwest Territory by the division of May 7, 1800, it was denounced as a fraud by the Federalists in the omitted territory. However, it is very plain that Congress carried out the intent of the Ordinance of 1787 by their act and the charge of political trickery fails of substantiation in the light of the specific provisions therein set forth regarding the creation of states out of the Northwest Territory. The enabling act provided for an election of delegates to the constitutional convention to be held in September of the same year (1802), the delegates to meet at Chillicothe on the first Monday of the following November. The thirty-five delegates met at the appointed time and by a vote of thirty-four to one, the negative vote being cast by Ephraim Cutler, decided to proceed at once to the organization of a state government and the formation of a constitution. The convention was in session until November 29th, at which time it had completed the first constitution for the state and the one which lasted until 1851, when a second constitution was adopted. WHEN WAS OHIO ADMITTED TO THE UNION ? It is interesting to note the difficulty which Ohio historians have had in trying to fix upon the date which marks the formal admission of the state to the Union. The natal day of Ohio has given rise to more dispute than the natal day of any other state in the Union. This is undoubtedly due to the fact that Congress never passed an act formally admitting it to the Union. There have been no less than five dates assigned by as many different authorities and each group of historians substantiate their claim by the citation of facts. These five dates are as follows : April 3o, 1802; November 29, 1802; February 19, 1803 ; March I, 1803 ; March 3, 1803. The first date (April 3o, 1802) has for its chief sponsor the editor of the "United States Statutes at Large." This date is not tenable at all, since the territorial judges were in office for several months after this date and were, by the congressional act of February 21, 1806, paid their full salaries up to March 1, 1803. The second date (November 29, 1802) is advanced by Hickey in his volume, "The Constitution," on the ground that the constitution was adopted on that day. The third date (February 19, 1803) has been held by several good authorities, notably, Caleb Atwater, in his "political Manual" ; G. W. Pascal, in his "Annotated Constitution," and the late president of Marietta College, I. W. Andrews. It was upon this date that Congress passed an act to "provide for- the due execution of the laws of the CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 47 United States within the state of Ohio." This would seem to indicate that Congress recognized February 19, 1803, as the date of the admission of Ohio to the Union, but when it is recalled that Congress had not yet appointed the necessary judicial officers it must be concluded that this is not the proper date. The fourth date (March 1, 1803) is now recognized officially as the actual day on which Ohio formally entered the Union, although it was an act of Congress passed nearly three years later which definitely settled this fact. The question arose in 1806 in Congress regarding the payment of the territorial officers and the act of February 21st of that year ordered that the governor and judges be paid for their services up to March I, 1803. There can be no question but that Congress placed its official approval on this date as being the first day of Ohio's existence as a separate state. The fifth and last date (March 3, 1803) was advanced as the real date of the admission of the state, for the reason that on this date Congress gave its approval to certain changes in the constitution of the state which had been adopted on November 29, 1802. These changes related to the disposition of certain school lands within the state and were of minor importance and in no sense advocated any radical changes in the constitution of the state. However, on March 3, 1803, the state had been in full operation for a space of three days and exercising all the rights and privileges of a state; the governor. had been installed; the Legislature was in session and the various state officials were discharging their duties in accordance with the constitution. Thus it must be concluded from all available evidence that Ohio was admitted to the Union on March 1, 1803. CAPITALS OF NORTHWEST TERRITORY AND OHIO. The capital of the Northwest Territory was located within the present limits of Ohio during the whole existence of the Territory both before and after the division of the Territory in 1800. When the Ordinance of 1787 was formally put into operation, on July 17, 1788, the capital was established at Marietta, the name being chosen by the directors of the Ohio Company on July 2, 1788. The name of Marietta was selected in honor of the French Queen Marie Antoinette, compounded by a curious combination of the first and last syllables of her name. The capital remained at Marietta until 1800, when it was moved by the congressional act of May 7th of that year to Chillicothe and by the constitution adopted in 1802 the capital was to remain there at least until 1808. The Legislature of 1809 moved the capital to Zanesville until such time as a 48 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. permanent site should be selected. The Legislature at the same time that it moved the capital to Zanesville appointed commissioners to report at the following sessions "the most eligible and central spot for permanently establishing it." The approaching War of 1812 made it necessary to take the capital back to Chillicothe, where there was less danger from attack by the Indians and British. The commissioners appointed by the Legislature of 1809 selected a small village by the name of Dublin, on the Scioto, about fourteen miles north of Columbus, but the Legislature refused to abide by their choice. The capital was permanently located at Columbus by the legislative act of February 14, 1812, although no less than nine different sites were under consideration before the final decision was made. The act selecting the site did not choose a name for the proposed city and this honor belongs to Joseph Foos, the senator from Franklin county, who had been largely instrumental in the selection of the Legislature. At that time there was a solitary log cabin on the site and the whole tract was covered with a dense forest. The act of February 17, 1816, formally designated Columbus as the capital "from and after the second Tuesday of October, 1816." During the War of 1812, and until the buildings were ready at Columbus, the capital remained at Chillicothe. CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF OHIO. The state of Ohio has had four constitutional conventions : 1802, 1850-51, 1873-74 and 1912. The constitution of 1802, it is interesting to note, was never submitted to the people for ratification. Between the adoption of the first and second constitutions there was an effort to hold a constitutional convention. A resolution, passed December 25, 1818, authorized a vote on the question of holding a constitutional convention, but at the election which was subsequently held it was decided adversely by a vote of 29,315 to 6,987. The main facts concerning the second constitutional convention may be briefly summed up as follows : The Legislature on October 9, 1849, authorized a vote on the question of holding a convention and the voters of the state cast a majority of 94,531 in favor of the constitutional convention. The vote stood 145,698 for and 51,167 against the convention. On April 1, 1850, the one hundred and eight delegates were elected and on the 6th of the following May they met at Columbus. The convention was in continuous session until July 9, 1850, and then, not having yet completed their deliberations, adjourned to meet again on December 2, 185o. The second session continued to hold daily meetings until March To, 1851, when it finally concluded its labors after having spent a total of one hundred and sixty-three CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 49 days. The constitution was submitted to the people of the state on June 17, 1851, and adopted by a vote of 125,564 to 109,276. An attempt to adopt a new constitution was made in 1874, but failed. On March 3o, 1871, the Legislature provided for a vote on the question of holding a constitutional convention and at an election held October 10, 1871, it was decided, by a vote of 267,618 to 104,231, to hold such a convention. On April 6, 1873, the one hundred and five delegates to the convention were elected and on the 13th of the following month they met and organized. The convention continued in session from that date until August 8th, and, after a recess, met on December 2d and remained in continuous session until May 15th of the following year. The convention held daily sessions for one hundred and eighty days, one of the longest constitutional conventions ever held in the United States. With all this deliberation it would seem that a satisfactory constitution could have been framed, but the voters of the state, on August 18, 1874, rejected it by a vote of 250,169 to 102,885. This expensive attempt to make a new constitution was sufficient to thwart all efforts along this line for several years. However, the changes in economic, social and industrial conditions became more pronounced year by year, and on March 9, 1909, the Legislature submitted the question of holding a constitutional convention. At an election held on November 8, 1910, it was decided, by a vote of 693,263 to 67,718, to select delegates to a constitutional convention. The convention met on the second Tuesday of January, 1912, and remained in session until June 8, 1912, when it finally concluded its labors. This convention submitted forty-two changes in the existing constitution and on September 3d of the same year the qualified voters of the state accepted all but eight of the proposed amendments. The eight amendments lost were as follows : Suffrage, good roads, advertising, injunctions, capital punishment, voting machines, eligibility of women and elimination of word "white" from the constitution. The amendments which carried by various majorities concerned the following subjects : Jury system, depositions, suits, wrongful death, initiative and referendum, investigations, limiting veto, mechanics' lien, welfare, compensations, conservation of natural resources, eight-hour clay, removal of officials, expert testimony, land titles, prison contracts, extra sessions, reform of the judiciary, county judges, justices, school boards, school commissioners, insurance, abolishing of board of public works, taxation, corporations, double liability, state printing, civil service, submission of amendments, home rule for cities, schedule and license. The fight was the most bitter on woman's suffrage and the initiative and referendum. The (4) |