Ohio election. The constitution provided that the sheriffs were to be The first authorized to hold an election on the second Tuesday of the ensuing January (1803) for the choosing of a governor, members of the general assembly, sheriffs, and coroners; and the first Tuesday in March was fixed on for convening the first legislature of the new State at Chillicothe. A temporary apportionment of representatives was so made by the convention that the new legislature consisted of a Senate of fifteen members and a House of thirty members. becomes a State. Meanwhile the possible inconveniences of the change Ohio from Territorial to State government were avoided by the continuance of the Territorial officers in power until superseded under the State constitution, by the administration of the existing laws until they should be repealed, and by the provision for the unimpaired validity of old claims, rights, and suits that had not yet been settled.1 The constitution of the proposed State was submitted to Congress for approval, but not to the people who must live under its sway, and Congress thereupon established Ohio as a judicial district and extended the operation of the Federal laws over its territory; but it was not until the meeting of the first general assembly, March 1, 1803, and the announcement of the results of the election held the previous January that the Territorial government ceased, and Ohio became a State.2 1 See Constitution of Ohio (1802), Schedule, §§ 3, 4, 6, 7. *King, Ohio, 295. Divisions of Ohio's civil history. King, Ohio [to 1880]; Ryan, History of Ohio [to 1865]; articles on "Ohio" in Johnson's Cyclopaedia, the Encyclopaedia Britannica, and Appleton's Annual Cyclopaedia; Carpenter and Arthur, editors, The History of Ohio [to 1850]; Thwaites, "The Boundaries of Wisconsin," in vol. XI. of the Collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin; Galloway, "The Ohio-Michigan Boundary Line Dispute," in vol. IV. of the Ohio Archaeological and Historical Publications; Reid, Ohio in the War, 2 vols.; Fairlie, “The Municipal Crisis in Ohio," Michigan Law Review, Feb., 1903. Howe, Historical Collections of Ohio, 3 vols.; Poore, The Federal and State Constitutions, Colonial Charters, etc.; Ohio Constitutional Debates. II. ORGANIZATION OF THE GOVERNMENT UNDER THE The civil history of Ohio as a State divides itself naturally into two parts. The first of these extends from the time when the constitution of 1802 went into operation to June, 1851, when it was supplanted by the existing constitution, and the second from June, 1851, to the present time. Under the Territorial form the people of Ohio had been denied the right of self-government; and the Territorial legislature had come into clash with the governor, who had used his veto freely in enforcing his will. Moreover, the democratic ideas of Jefferson had taken a strong hold on the pioneers of the West, whose free and unconventional manner of life furnished soil well adapted to the growth of such ideas. It is not surprising, therefore, that the convention which framed the constitution of 1802 should have sought relief from an autocratic system in which the governor joined with the Territorial judges in imposing a code of laws justly characterized as "strict and even cruel." This explains why the first constitution, in distributing governmental power among the three departments, executive, legislative, and judicial, gave the largest share to the legislative, reduced the authority of the governor to a few insignificant functions, and deprived him of the veto power. ture. The result secured by the new arrangements was Powers of government by the people through the representatives the legisla. whom they sent to the legislature. Hence, besides the right of making and amending the laws, the legislature was empowered to name the State executive officers below the governor, namely, the secretary of state, the auditor of public accounts, and the State treasurer; to appoint the chief military officers (major-generals and quartermaster-generals), and elect the judges of the supreme court and the courts of common pleas. The governor and all other State officers were liable to impeachment and trial by the legislature for misdemeanor in office. The legislature voted the taxes, and made all appropriations; it determined the jurisdiction of the courts; and it could increase the number of judicial circuits. Thus we see how completely all departments and officials of the State were "within reach of the legislative power and influence." The general assembly, as the legislature was called, Make-up was made up of two elective houses, and held annual of the legislature. Meagre functions of the governor. The courts. sessions. Representation in both branches was apportioned among the counties or districts according to their white male population. Representatives were required to be twenty-five years of age, and were elected annually. The age qualification for senators was thirty years and their election took place biennially, one-half being chosen each year. 991 'The governor'" was "a name almost without meaning.' He was required to see that all laws were faithfully executed, but as a matter of fact the enforcement of laws, then as now, rested mainly with the local authorities, rather than with the governor. He reported to the legislature on State affairs from time to time, and recommended measures which the assembly was free to ignore. On extraordinary occasions he could convene or adjourn the legislature. He signed all commissions; but his appointing power was limited to filling the office of adjutant general, and, during the recess of the legislature, such offices as were usually filled by its appointment. He could grant reprieves and pardons except in cases of impeachment. His most substantial prerogative was his power as commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the State.2 The judicial power of the State was vested in the supreme court, common pleas courts, justices of the peace, and such other courts as the legislature might establish. The limits within which this power might be exercised and the subjects to which it could be applied 1 Chase, Statutes of Ohio, I., 35; King, Ohio, 291. Chase says: "He may appoint one or two officers; in certain contingencies, he may exercise one or two unimportant powers; it is his duty to make out commissions; and he enjoys the petty prerogatives of pardon and reprieve, and this is all." (Chase, Statutes, I., 35.) |