390 ORDINANCE OF 1787 PASSED; CUTLER'S NEGOTIATIONS. prospect of materially reducing the public debt.* But a quorum was lacking in Congress, and none could be obtained from May 12 until July 4, and Parsons therefore decided to return home, turning over the actual negotiation to his co-director, Manasseh Cutler. Cutler arrived at New York on July 5, and on the following day, as a quorum was present in Congress, made a new proposal for the purchase, which the same day went to the old committee on Parsons' memorial. On the 9th the report on the Ordinance was sent to a new committee consisting of Dane, Smith, of New York; Carrington and Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, and Kean, of South Carolina, and it was determined to push this to a conclusion befor considering the matter of the sale. The committee reported on the 11th, and having been made a special order of business the report was read and amended on the 12th. On the 13th it was advanced to the third reading and passed, Abraham Yates, Jr., whom Roosevelt calls a "nobody from New York," registering the only vote against it.† Cutler now experienced much difficulty in obtaining the terms he desired, which were chiefly "three shillings, six pence, Continental money, Ibid, p. 201. Ibid, pp. 203-204, 215. On the debate, see Bancroft, vol. vi., pp. 227-291; McMaster, vol. i., pp. 507-508; Roosevelt, Winning of the West, vol. iii., pp. 256-257. or one-twelfth of a dollar coin, per acre, for the tract, with sections 8, 11, and 26 of each township to be reserved by Congress for future sale, section 16 to be donated for school land, section 29 to be donated for religious purposes, and two entire townships to be donated for a university. On July 19 Congress came to the conclusion that the lowest price acceptable per acre for the land was a dollar in specie, or Continental money on a specie basis, but a discount of 33 1-3 per cent. was allowed for bad lands, expenses, etc. No allowance was made, however, for a university or for religious purposes. Cutler refused these terms, but at the instigation of Colonel William Duer, and the urging of Winthrop Sargent, secretly consented to take in another company, and to buy lands as its agent, though apparently for his own company. Thenceforth Duer and Sargent took an active interest. Impetus was added when it became known that Arthur St. Clair, then President of Congress, desired to become governor of the new territory. Cutler consented to this arrangement, being satisfied if Parsons became first judge and Sargent secretary of the territory. The negotiations were now rapidly pushed, all the friends of the sale contributing their share, and Dunn, p. 216. King, Ohio, pp. 196-197. As to whether this had any effect on St. Clair, see the conflicting statements in North American Review, vol. cxxii., p. 229, and Magazine of Western History, vol. i., p. 49. GRANT TO THE OHIO COMPANY; MARIETTA FOUNDED. on the 27th of July the bill passed, making the reservations for university and religious purposes for which Cutler had stipulated.* The contract was formally signed October 27, 1787, by the treasury board, and by Cutler and Sargent as agents for the Ohio Company.† According to the entry in Cutler's Journal, the company obtained" the grant of near five million of acres of land, amounting to three million and a half of dollars; one million and a half of acres for the Ohio Company, and the remainder for a private speculation, in which many of the principal characters of America are concerned. Without connecting this speculation, similar terms and advantages could not have been obtained for the Ohio company." Putnam was made superintendent and the company was given immediate possession. In the spring of 1788 two parties of settlers (including surveyors, boat-builders, smiths, carpenters, farmers and laborers, 48 in all) left for the West, one by water and the other by land, and on April 7 a little town was es * Dunn, Indiana, pp. 217-218. King, Ohio, p. 197. According to McMaster, this was probably the Scioto Company. || Extracts from Cutler's Journal were published in North American Review, vol. iii., p. 520, and in Annals of the West, p. 308 et seq. See also Cutler, Life, Journals and Correspondence of Manasseh Cutler (1888); John M. Merriam, The Legislative History of the Ordinance of 1787, in Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, n. s. vol. v., p. 303; William F. Poole, Dr. Cutler and the Ordinance of 1787, in North American Review, vol. cxxii., pp. 229-265. 391 tablished on the site of the present As the Ordinance of 1787 constituted the basis of the territorial governments provided by Congress, and as its principles lie at the foundation. of the civil polity of a considerable portion of the country, we will give its provisions somewhat at large.|| For the present the territory was to be one district, but could be divided into two, whenever Congress should Roosevelt, Winning of the West, vol. iii., p. 265; King, Ohio, pp. 197-198; McMaster, United States, vol. i., pp. 508-515. Ford's ed. of Washington's Writings, vol. xi., p. 282. Daniel Webster said: "I doubt whether one single law of any law-giver, ancient or modern, has produced effects of more distinct, marked and lasting character than the Ordinance of 1787." || Pitkin, vol. ii., pp. 210-213; McLaughlin, The Confederation and the Constitution, p. 120 et seq.; Curtis, History of the Constitution, vol. i., pp. 302-306 (Constitutional History, vol, i., p. 203 et seq.); Poore, Federal and State Constitutions, pt. i., pp. 429-432; United States Statutes-at-Large (ed. 1845), pp. 50-51; Story, Exposition of the Constitution, pp. 329-337; Preston, Documents Relating to American History, pp. 241-250; MacDonald, Select Documents, pp. 2229; Hough, American Constitutions, vol. ii., pp. 144-148; Thorpe, Federal and State Constitutions, vol. ii., pp. 957-962; Andrews, Manual of the Constitution, app. xiii.; Donaldson, Public Domain, pp. 153-156; Duer, Constitutional Independence, pp. 512-520; Clusky, Political Text-Book, pp. 469-472; St. Clair Papers, vol. ii., p. 612; Albach, Annals of the West, p. 466. See also Appendix I. at the end of the present chapter. 392 PROVISIONS OF THE ORDINANCE. deem wise. The Ordinance provided that until the free male inhabitants, of full age, in the district, should number five thousand, the legislative, executive, and judicial power should be vested in a governor and three judges, who, with a secretary, were to be appointed by Congress. The governor was to hold office three years, and the judges during good behavior. The governors and judges were given the power to adopt and publish such laws of the original States as might be necessary or suitable to the affairs of the district, and to report them to Congress, these laws to be enforced unless disapproved by that body. The governor had power to divide the territory into districts or townships, and to appoint all civil officers. As soon as the free male inhabitants should number five thousand, an assembly, consisting of the governor, a legislative council, and a house of representatives, was to be instituted. The representatives were to be chosen, for a period of two years, from the counties or townships, one for every five hundred free male inhabitants, until they should number twenty-five, after which time the legislature should regulate the number. These representatives must have been residents of the United States for three years, residents of the districts from which they were elected or have resided three years in the district. In either case they must possess in fee simple two hundred acres of land in the district. The electors must reside in the district, be citizens of one of the States, and have a freehold of fifty acres of land in the district, or a like freehold and two years' residence. The legislative council was to be composed of five persons, chosen for a term of five years, subject to removal by Congress. The method of choosing them was as follows: ten persons, who were the possessors of a freehold in five hundred acres of land, were to be nominated by the house of representatives, and out of this number Congress was to choose five who should constitute the council. All laws for the government of the district were to be made by the general assembly, but none were to be enacted contrary to the provisions of the Ordinance; and before these enactments could become law they must have had the sanction of a majority of both houses and the assent of the governor. The legislative assembly, by joint ballot, was to elect a delegate to Congress who should have the privilege of debating, but not of voting. At the same time Congress established certain articles which were to be considered as articles of compact between the people in the new territory and the original States, and which could not be altered except by the common consent of all. Religious liberty was established and all were entitled to the benefits of the writ of habeas corpus, trial by jury, and other fundamental rights. Education was to be encouraged and good faith PROVISIONS OF THE ORDINANCE. observed toward the Indians; lands and property were not to be taken from them without their consent. Such States as might be formed from the territory (not less than three nor more than five) were forever to remain a part of the American Confederacy.* While the boundaries of these States were fixed, Congress reserved the right to alter them by forming one or two new States in that part of the territory lying north of a line drawn east and west through the southern bend or extreme of Lake Michigan. Whenever one of these States should contain 60,000 free inhabitants, such State was to be admitted to the Union on an equal footing with the old States in every respect. At that time such State was to adopt a constitution and form a government of a republican nature and in strict conformity with the Articles of Confederation. If, however, the Confederation should deem it wise at any time to admit a State with less than 60,000 free inhabitants, this could be done, if not inconsistent with the general interests of all the States. Slavery and involuntary servitude were prohibited except in the punishment of crime of which the party should have been duly convicted. But it was provided that fugitive slaves owned in other States might be extradited and taken back Cooley, Michigan, pp. 128-129. On the importance of this slavery proviso see Dunn, Indiana, pp. 219-260. 393 to the owners.* In speaking of this subject, Curtis makes the following remarks: "American legislation has never achieved any thing more admirable, as an internal government, than this comprehensive scheme. Its provisions concerning the distribution of property, the principles of civil and religious liberty which it laid at the foundation of the communities since established under its sway, and the efficient and simple organization by which it created the first machinery of civil society, are worthy of all the praise that has ever attended it. It was not a plan devised in the closet, upon theoretical principles of abstract fitness. It was a constitution of government, drawn by men who understood, from experience, the practical working of the principles which they undertook to embody. Those principles were, it is true, to be applied to a state of society not then formed; but they were taken from states of society, in which they had been tried with success." † * Mr. President King, in February, 1855, printed in the New York Daily Tribune, a chapter from his Life and Correspondence of Rufus King. In this chapter the question is fully and lucidly discussed respecting the authorship of the celebrated Ordinance of 1787. For an extract from this paper, see Appendix II. at the end of the present chapter. See also Dane, Abridgement of American Law (ed. 1824), vol. vii., p. 389; (1830), vol. ix., app., pp. 74-76; F. D. Stone, The Ordinance of 1787, in Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography (1889); John M. Merriam, The Legislative History of the Ordinance of 1787, in Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society; Dunn, Indiana, pp. 177–178, 204–215 and authori ties cited; Life, Journal and Correspondence of Rev. Mannasseh Cutler, LL.D., vol. ii., pp. 367-368; Edward Coles, History of the Ordinance of 1787; J. A. Barrett, The Evolution of the Ordinance of 1787, in University of Nebraska Seminary Papers; Hinsdale, The Old Northwest, chap. xv.; Israel W. Andrews, The Northwest Territory, in Magazine of American History, vol. xvi., pp. 133-147. Many claim that "the authorship of the Ordinance of 1787, and its passage through the old Congress, are the indisputable work, both in its conception and consummation, of the South." For this view see Benton, Thirty Years' View, vol. i., pp. 133136. † Curtis, Constitutional History, vol. i., p. 206. 394 TERRITORY SOUTH OF THE OHIO. It was not until October 5, 1787, that Congress elected Arthur St. Clair governor of the territory, with the capital at Marietta, now in the State of Ohio. The territory then began to grow and received large acquisitions of settlers from the Eastern States.* While the territory north of the Ohio was thus making rapid progress, the country south of this river was in the throes of civil strife. In chapter v., of the Revolutionary Era, we have seen that the Watauga Association had been formed, but for purposes of lucidity we shall give a short review of the circumstances. In 1770 James Robertson, with a party of pioneers, entered Boone's country and made a settlement on the Watauga, a headwater of the Tennessee river. In 1772 he was joined by John Sevier, and as the settlement was isolated from the rest of the world, the settlers proceeded to form a government of their own. This association, called the Watauga Association continued to exist until 1776 when it was incorporated in the government of North Carolina as the District of Washington. Settlers continued to pour into the region, and before the * For details, see Moore, The Northwest under Three Flags, pp. 327-344, and authorities cited; Dunr, Indiana, p. 263 et seq. † J. G. Ramsey, Annals of Tennessee to the End of the Eighteenth Century, chap. ii.; John Haywood, Civil and Political History of Tennessee (ed. of 1823), p. 41. See Roosevelt, Winning of the West, vol. i., chap. vii. end of the Revolution numerous permanent settlements had been made beyond the mountains, all possessing a certain amount of self-government. North Carolina owned a large tract of land, comprising nearly 29,000,000 acres, lying beyond the western foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and stretching past the Tennessee to the Mississippi. It had been settled about 1758, and in 1784 nearly 10,000 persons were living in the region lying between the Holston, the Cumberland and the hills.* In June, 1784, the North Carolina Legislature passed a bill ceding this land - that is, all of what is now Tennessee — to the government, allowing two years for the acceptance of the grant, during which time the authority of North Carolina was to be supreme.† Shortly afterward (August 23), delegates from Washington, Greene, and Sullivan counties met at Jonesboro, for the purpose of discussing the affairs of their section; and it was resolved that the three counties - *Albach, Western Annals, p. 507. For a his tory of the progress of the Holston and Cumberland settlements, see Roosevelt, Winning of the West, vol. ii., chaps. x.-xii. North Carolina considered these settlers "off-scourings of the earth" and "fugitives from justice." See George H. Alden, The State of Franklin, in American Historical Review, vol. viii., p. 277. For a description of the early Indian warfare, see J. R. Gilmore, Advance-Guard of Western Civilization, chaps. i. |