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60 - HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES, OHIO. CHAPTER VIII. OUTLINE OF CIVIL HISTORY. Exercise of Authority by the Virginia House of Burgesses.—Establishment of the Northwest Territory.—"Ordinance of Freedom."—Early Officers.---Second Grade of Territorial Government.--Chillicothe Made the Seat of Government in 1800—Founding of the State.— The Important services of Tiffin, Worthington, Massie, and Others. —The Success of Governor Worthingtons Efforts at the National Capital.—Conslitutional Convention Assembled at Chillicothe — Removal of the Seat of Government to Zanesville.—Return to Chillicuthe.—The Erection of Counties. THE pre-territorial period of the civil history of Ohio begins with the exercise of authority by Virginia in 1769. In that year the Old Dominion extended her jurisdiction over all of the territory northwest of the Ohio, the house of burgesses passing an act establishing the county 01 Botctourt, with the Mississippi river as its western boundary. This was a vast county, and of this fact the authorities who ordered its establishment seem to have been aware, for they passed the following among other provisions of the act: " Whereas, The people situated on the Mississippi, in the said county of Botetourt, will be very remote from the court house, and must necessarily become a separate county as soon as their numbers are sufficient, which will probably happen in a short time, be it therefore enacted by the authority aforesaid, that the inhabitants of that part of the said county of Botetourt which lies on the said waters shall be exempted from the payment of any levies to be laid by the said county court for lhe purpose of building a court house and prison for said county.- It was only nominally, however, that civil government had an existence in the territory now included in Ohio until the erection of Illinois county, in 1778, after the conquest of the country by General George Rogers Clark. Colonel John Tod secured the appointment from the Governor of Virginia as a civil commandant and lieutenant of the county, and served until his death, in 17.82, being succeeded by Timothy Montbrun. In accordance with the provisions of an act passed by the general assembly of Virginia, in 1783, authorizing the cession to the. United States all the right of the commonwealth to the• territory northwest of the Ohio, Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Hardy, Arthur Lee, and James Monroe, Virginia's delegates to congress, on the first of March, 1734, made over to the United States "all right, title and claim, as well of soil as of jurisdiction." The United States having thus secured the title to the northwest (and, soon after, securing by deeds of cession that of the southwest), immediately took steps toward the establishment of a scheme of government "for the transmontane half of the American Republic." The result was the formation of the ordinance of 1784, which was passed with, however, some material 'modifications, such as the striking out of the clause providing against the maintenance of slavery. The division of States contemplated by this ordinance was found inexpedient, and another act was proposed, which resulted in the passage, July 13, 1787, of the celebrated "Ondinance of Freedom," also called "The Ordinance of '87." This remarkable product of statesmanship "was the last gift of the congress of the old confederation to the country, and it was a fit consummation of their glorious labors," It was the foundation upon which a great State was to be built up, the fundamental law, and, in a certain sense, the constitution of the northwestern territory; but, better than all, it forever proscribed slavery upon the soil of the great territory that it organized, and it is undoubtedly true that to this ordinance the people of the nation owe thanks for the final complete suppression of slavery within its borders. Had the institution of slavery been established in the vast territory between the Ohio and the Mississippi, its strength as a system would have resisted all reforming forces, and the United States, to-day, have been a slaveholding power. And so the congress of 1787 "builded wiser than they knew," and more grandly. But passing, as we must, the broader significance and vaster value of the "Ordinance of Freedom," and looking upon it simply in its relation to the immediate opening, development and government of the territory, we find it alike admirable HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES, OHIO - 61 and effective. It provided for successive forms of territorial government, and upon it were based all the territorial enactments and much of the subsequent State legislation. It was so constructed as to give the utmost encouragement to immigration, and it offered the greatest degree of protection to those who became settlers, for, "when they came into the wilderness," says Chief Justice Chase, " they found the law already there.. It was impressed upon the soil itself while as yet it bore up nothing but the forest. Congress, in 1787, appointed General Arthur St. Clair governor of the northwest territory; Major Winthrop Sargeant, secretary, and James M. Varnum, Samuel H. Parsons and John Armstrong, judges, though the latter declining to serve, was supplanted by John Cleves Symmes in the following year. On July 9, 1788, Governor St. Clair arrived at Marietta, and proceeded to organize the territory. These were the first officers of the territorial government. The first grade of territorial government existed until 1799, or for eleven years, when it was superseded by the second grade, the conditions authorizing it, and presented in the ordinance of 1787 having been fulfilled by that time—that is, the popular tion having increased until five thousand free males resided in the territory. The governor having ascertained that the territory had reached that degree of advancement which entitled it to the more popular form of government, on the 29th of October, 1798, issued a proclamation directing the qualified electors to hold elections for territorial representatives on the third Monday of December, of the same year. The scheme of the territorial government provided for the establishment of a law making power to be composed of an elective house of representatives and a legislative council to consist of five members, who were to be appointed by the United States congress. The election resulted in the choice of the following members to constitute the popular branch of the legislature : Return Jonathan Meigs and Paul Fearing, of Washington county; William Goforth, William McMillen, John Smith, John Ludlow, Robert Benham, Aaron Caldwell and Isaac Martin, of Hamilton county; Shadrack Bond, of St. Clair; John Small, of Knox; John Edgar, of Randolph; Solomon Sibley, Jacob Visgar and Charles F. Chabert de Joucaire, of Wayne county; Joseph Darlinton and Nathaniel Massie, of Adams county; James Pritchard, of Jefferson; Thomas Worthington, Elias Langham, Samuel Findlay and Edward Tiffin, of Ross. The legislative council consisted of Jacob Burnet, Henry Vandenburg, Robert Oliver, James Findlay and David Vance, This legislature composed of just twenty-seven persons, met at Cincinnati September 16, 1799, and then and there was organized the second grade of government for the vast northwestern territory, of which Ohio was an integral part. Ohio was even then fortunate in the same manner that has, of late years, become proverbial. Sixteen of the twenty-two members of the elective house were residents within the present limits of the State, and so were three out of the five members of the legislative council. Edward Tiffin, of Ross county, was elected to the position of speaker of the house. CHILLICOTHE MADE THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT. The first session of the territorial legislature was prorogued by the governor, December 19, 1799, until the first Monday in November, 1800, when it was reassembled for the second session at Chillicothe, which had been made the seat of government by an act of congress passed May 17th of the same year. The session lasted only until December 9, 1800. May 7, 1800, Indiana territory was established, including the country now contained within the bounds of the States of Indiana and Illinois. By the organization of this territory, the counties of St. Clair, Knox and Randolph were taken out of the jurisdiction of the northwest territory. On the twenty-third of November, 18o1, the third session of the territorial legislature was held at Chillicothe. A new election had been held, and although the council remained unchanged, with but one exception, there were quite a number of new representatives in the popular branch of the house. It was composed as follows: Ephraim Cutler and William Rufus Putnam, of Washington county; Moses Miller, Francis Dunlavy, Jeremiah Morrow, John Ludlow, John Smith, Jacob White and Daniel Reeder, of Hamilton county; Joseph Darlinton and Nathaniel Massie, of Adams county; Zenas Kimberley, John Milligan and Thomas McCune, of Jefferson county; Edward Tiffin, Thomas Worthington and Elias Langham, of Ross county; Charles F. Chabert de Joucaire, George McDougall, and Jonathan Schieffelin, of Wayne county, and Edward Paine, of Trumbull. At this session we again find Edward Tiffin, of Ross, the speaker of the house. This—the third-- session of the territorial legislature was continued from November 24, 18o1, until January 23, 1802, when it adjourned to meet at Cincinnati.* It was destined, however, that there should never be held another session of the territorial legislature at Cincinnati, or elsewhere, FOUNDING OF THE STATE. A movement was started in the legislative council in December, 1801, for the purpose of changing the provisions of the ordinance of 1787, in such a manner as to make the Scioto, and a line drawn from the intersection of that river and the Indian boundary, to the western extremity of the Connecticut Reserve, the limit of the most eastern State. It was said that Governor St. Clair favored this proposition, because he foresaw a possibility of becoming the governor of the State, should it be established. The plan was not popular with the majority of the members of the legislature who resided near the proposed dividing line, or in the Miami settlements, for various + “The governor and several of the legislators of the northwest territory having been insulted during the autumn of 1801 at Chillicothe, while the assembly was in session, and no measures being taken by the authorities of the capital to protect the executive, a law was passed removing the seat of government to Cincinnati again."---James R. Alback' s "Annals of the West," page five hundred and eighteen based upon statement in American State Papers, paragraph five hundred and seven. 62 - HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES, OHIO. reasons, but particularly because it would have long deferred the establishment of a State government west of the Ohio. It was vigorously protested against by Edward Tiffin, Thomas Worthington, Nathaniel Massie, Langham, Darlinton, Dunlavy, Morrow, and others, and it was determined that some one should at once visit the national capital in behalf of the objectors. Thomas Worthington was selected for this important mission, and obtaining leave of absence from the legislature, left on the twentieth of December for Washington. While he was journeying toward the capital Nathaniel Massie introduced a resolution for choosing a committee to address congress, in respect to the proposed State government. The house, however, refused to pass the resolution, by a vote of twelve to five, and an attempt was then made to procure a census of the northwest territory. An act for this purpose passed the house, but its consideration was postponed by the legislative council: In the meantime Worthington, at Philadelphia, was using all of his influence to effect that organization " which terminating the influence of tyranny " (the authority of St. Clair), was to "ameliorate the circumstances of thousands by freeing them from the domination of a despotic chief." His efforts were successful, and upon the fourth of March, 1802, a report was made to congress in favor of authorizing a State convention. This report was made upon the supposition that, as according to the United States census of 1800, the northwest territory had a population of forty-five thousand, and as the government had, since it was taken, sold half a million acres of land, the territory east of the mouth of the Miami would, by the time the State government could be organized, at the same rate of increase, contain the sixty thousand people contemplated by the "Ordinance of '87." It was proposed that a convention should be held to determine whether it was desirable and expedient to form a State government, and if so, to prepare a constitution. In accordance with the tenor of this report, congress passed, April 3o, 1802, an act carrying into effect the recommendations of the committe. The proposed convention met upon the first of November, 18o2, and was in session, at Chillicothe, at the time when the fourth territorial legislature should have met at Cincinnati, according to their adjournment. It failed to assemble, however, as its members, of whom eight were members of the constitutional convention, saw plainly that the territorial form of government must very soon be supplanted by the State organization. Governor St. Clair, after considerable opposition, addressed the convention, and strongly urged the postponement of a State organization, for which advice he was removed by President Jefferson. When the matter was put to vote, only one of the thirty-three members, Ephriam Cutler, of Washington county, voted as the Governor had advised, and the result was that the State was established by the constitution which the convention framed upon November 29, 1802. It was ratified by congress, but never submitted to. the people. The members of the constitutional convention, in which was framed that splendidly Democratic document upon which the State was founded, were the following: Joseph Darlinton, Israel Donaldson, and Thomas Kirker,. of Adams county; James Caldwell and Elijah Woods, of Belmont county; Philip Gatch and James Sargeant, of Clermont county; Henry Abraffis and Emanuel Carpenter, of Fairfield county; John W. Browne, Charles Willing Byrd, Frances Dunlavy, William Goforth, John Kitchell, Jeremiah Morrow, John Paul, John Reilly, John Smith, and John Wilson, of Hamilton county; Rudolph Blair, George Humphrey, John Milligan, Nathan Updegraff, and Bazalael Wells, of Jefferson county; Michael Baldwin, Edward Tiffin, James Grubb, Thomas Worthington, and Nathaniel Massie, of Ross county, David Abbott and Samuel Huntington, of Trumbull county; Ephriam Cutler, Benjamin Ives Gilman, Rufus Putnam, and John McIntire, of Washington county. The State government was organized at Chillicothe, March 3, 1803, in accordance with the constitution, Edward Tiffin being the first governor; and so was begun the most important era in the existence of transmontane government, but one which belongs to general and not to local history. Chillicothe remained the seat of the State government until 181o, when it was removed to Zanesville, where two sessions Of the legislature were held. At the session of 1811-12, the legislature passed an act again making Chillicothe the capital until 1816-17, when it was to be removed to Columbus, which was already fixed upon as the place for the permanent capital. The sessions of the State legislature, the first constitutional convention, and the sessions of the old territorial legislature of 1801 and 1802, were held in the little old stone State house, built in r800, which stood upon the ground now occupied by the Ross county courthouse. Having briefly sketched the organization of the territorial governments, and that of the State into the history of which Chillicothe enters so prominently, and which should always be a matter of interest and pride to its people, let us, as a preparation for the next chapter, glance at the important matter of civil division of territory. THE ERECTION OF COUNTIES. The first county proclaimed in the old northwestern territory was Washington, July 27, 1788, with Marietta as the county seat, and the second was Hamilton, January 2, 1790, with Cincinnati as the county seat. Then were proclaimed the four counties of St. Clair, Knox, Randolph, and Wayne—the first two in. 1790 and the last two in 1795. Only one of these, Wayne, of which the county seat was Detroit, was composed in any part of the territory now included in the State. Adams was the seventh territorial county, and the third lying wholly within the present bounds of Ohio. Jefferson was the eighth. Both of these counties were formed in July, 1797. Upon the twentieth of August, 1798, Ross was proclaimed. It was the ninth territorial county, the fifth of those lying wholly within the State limits, and the sixth in Ohio, counting Wayne, which, besides the Michigan peninsula, had within its jurisdiction the territory which now forms the northwestern part of the State. Trum- HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES, OHIO - 63 bull county was next erected, and included all the present northeastern quarter of the State. It was proclaimed July 10, 1890, and Warren was made the county seat. There were only three other territorial counties—Clermont, Fairfield, and Belmont, the first and second proclaimed in i800, and the last in 1891. Under the State government, the same year that it was organized, and by its first legislature, were organized the counties of Columbiana, Butler, Franklin, Gallia, Greene, Montgomery, Scioto, and Warren. In the following year Muskingum was organized and Highland was one of the four counties organized in 1805. The erection of these counties shows where the country had been filling up with settlers, but that subject has already been considered in a chapter by itself, and it is too broad for further treatment in these pages. Having constantly in view the necessity of confining our history to the narrower field, we pass from the study of the civil organization of the State to the more specific relation of the civil history of Ross county, which originally included not only all of the counties that now border it, but the whole of the Scioto country. |