CHAPTER IV

THE BEGINNINGS OF GOVERNMENT

The Northwest Territory at the time of its organization included all of the region comprising the present states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and a portion of Minnesota. The ordinance for its government was framed and ordained at the last session of the Continental Congress in 1787.

This ordinance vested the governing authority in four men, a governor and three judges. Two years later, by act of Congress, “the Secretary of the Territory, in case of the death, removal, resignation or necessary absence of the Governor, became the acting Governor.”

The first governor of the Northwest Territory was Arthur St. Clair, who arrived at the new settlement, July 9, 1788. He landed at Fort Harmar, which was garrisoned with United States troops. Sergeant Joseph Buell, who was stationed at Fort Harmar, wrote in his Journal on the day of the governor’s arrival:

“On landing he was saluted with thirteen rounds from the field piece. On entering the garrison the music played a salute; the troops paraded and presented their arms. He was also saluted by a clap of thunder and a heavy shower of rain as he entered the fort: and thus we received our governor of the western frontiers.”

St. Clair was educated at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, came to America, joined the Colonial Army, and rose to the rank of major general. He served as president of the Continental Congress and stood high in the confidence of George Washington. His military reputation, however, later lost much of its luster in his terrible defeat by the Indians on November 4, 1791, in what is now Mercer County, Ohio. He still owned a large tract of land in the Ligonier Valley in Pennsylvania and returned there for his last years. He died in 1818 and was buried at Greensburg, Pennsylvania.

The secretary of the Northwest Territory was Winthrop Sargent, a graduate of Harvard, a Revolutionary soldier with a fine record, and the scion of an American family whose representatives have risen to fame in literature, science and art. Judge James Mitchell Varnum, Samuel Holden Parsons and John Cleves Symmes, who constituted the first members of the Supreme Court of the territory, had all risen to high rank as officers of the Colonial Army in the Revolutionary War. Varnum was a graduate of Brown University and Parsons of Harvard. All were able lawyers, and Symmes had been chief justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey. Under the ordinance for the government of the Northwest Territory, St. Clair, Varnum, Parsons, and Symmes constituted the legislature.

Their law-making power, however, was limited in the ordinance, which declared:

“The governor and judges, or a majority of them, shall adopt and publish in the district, such laws of the original states,—as may be necessary and best suited to the circumstances of the district.”

This seems perfectly clear. This little legislature of the governor and three judges could only _adopt_ such laws as were already in force in the original states. This lucid statement, however, was made somewhat obscure by the following language in another clause of the ordinance: “The laws to be adopted or made, shall be in force in all parts of the district.” At least that appears to have been the practical conclusion of this legislature, with the exception of St. Clair, who somewhat mildly warned his fellow members against enacting laws not drawn from the statutes of the states. After sounding the warning, however, he joined the other members in enacting laws with small regard to the statutes of the original states.

[Illustration: GOVERNOR ARTHUR ST. CLAIR

_Drawn by Jane Cory, Frankfort, Ohio_]

The first law enacted by the governor and judges provided for a territorial militia in which all men over 16 years of age were to be enlisted. Each man was required to provide himself with musket and cartridge box. Murder and treason were punishable by death according to another law, and flogging was prescribed for theft and minor offenses. A fine of ten dimes was imposed for drunkenness; and, if the guilty person did not pay the fine, he served an hour in stocks. Other laws regulated marriage, set aside Sunday as a day of rest, and urged all citizens to avoid swearing and “idle, vain, and obscene conversations.” On July 27, 1788, St. Clair established Washington County, which originally included almost half of the present state of Ohio.

After a number of laws had been enacted by this territorial legislature and had been published by Congress in two small volumes called “Laws of the Governor and Judges,” the House passed a bill declaring all the laws of the territory thus enacted null and void. While the bill did not pass the Senate, it was stated that the members of that body were in agreement with the House, but that they did not pass the bill because they felt that these laws of the territory were null without any action by Congress. The governor and judges found themselves without laws with which to govern. The legal structure which they had been industriously building was about to tumble down to ruin. The last of these worthless laws that they enacted bore the date of August 1, 1792.

St. Clair wished to assemble the legislature, which it will be remembered, was composed of himself and the three judges, to _adopt_ laws _in accordance with_ the requirements of the ordinance, in order that the territorial government might be administered by constitutional authority.

On July 25, 1793, he called the legislature of the territory to convene in Cincinnati on September 1 of the same year. Due to the difficulties of communication and transportation it was found impossible, however, to meet on September 1, 1793, and it was not until the twenty-ninth day of May, 1795, that a majority of the members of the legislature were able to assemble in Cincinnati. In other words, it took about 20 months to assemble to meet this emergency and adopt a new code of laws to take the place of those which had been nullified by Congress.

Finally, St. Clair, Symmes and George Turner, who had been appointed to take the place of Varnum, deceased, met in Cincinnati on May 29, 1795, to adopt a code of laws. The remaining judge, Rufus Putnam, was not in attendance.

This is the first _recorded_ meeting of a legislative body within the present limits of Ohio and the territory northwest of the Ohio River. This legislature chose its officers and assembled in regular session until it concluded its labors and provided for the publication, in the Maxwell code, of the laws it adopted, the very first published in the Northwest Territory.

Governor Arthur St. Clair presided. Judges John Cleves Symmes and George Turner were the floor members. Accordingly, there were just enough members present to conduct the legislative proceedings—one member to make a motion, another to second it, the presiding governor to put it to a vote. Armstead Churchill was chosen and commissioned clerk of the legislature. He appears not only to have kept a record of the proceedings, but to have prepared drafts of bills for consideration. He received eight cents for every one hundred words that he wrote.

St. Clair read a lengthy address to the two judges. In the opening sentences one can gather some knowledge of the difficulties with which these pioneer legislators had to contend. There were no roads, no steamboats, no coaches, no telegraph. The mails were uncertain, few and far between. Prowling Indians had not ceased to be a menace. Rivers often could not be forded and there were few ferries. The “highways” of travel were the “low ways”—the rivers winding through the unbroken solitudes of the primeval forests.

The Ohio was often difficult to navigate. In February, 1795, Judge Symmes made an effort to meet St. Clair at Marietta. We quote the result from one of his letters:

“On the 20th of February, therefore, I set out from Cincinnati on my passage up the river, and was buffeted by high waters, drifting ice, heavy storms of wind and rain, frost and snow for twenty-three days and nights, without sleeping once in all that time in any house after leaving Columbia. I waited in vain twelve days at Marietta for the coming of the Governor, and, he not appearing, I returned home.”

Travel in these times was not only inconvenient and difficult, but dangerous. Parsons, one of the first judges of the Northwest Territory, lost his life by drowning, on his return journey from the Western Reserve in 1789 down the Big Beaver.

After St. Clair’s message, a resolution was adopted opening the meetings of the legislature to the public. After inviting the public to the sessions, the legislature adjourned to meet the following day. At the second meeting the two judges wrote a dignified reply to the message from the governor.

The record of their proceedings rested securely in an iron box for about 130 years, after which they came into the possession of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society. This record shows that the members of this legislature took themselves and their work seriously. What they lacked in numbers they made up in dignity and decorum. This legislature was in session from May 29 to August 25, 1795. It completed the work for which it had been called and gave to the Northwest Territory a code of laws framed in strict accord with the Ordinance of 1787.

[Illustration: WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON

_Drawn by William Olson, Downers Grove, Ill._]

While these legislative meetings were in session at Cincinnati, General Anthony Wayne was concluding the treaty with the Indians at Greenville, opening the Northwest to peaceful settlement. The subsequent rapid increase in population soon entitled the territory to the second stage of government provided by the ordinance—a legislature chosen by its people to enact laws as soon as there were 5000 free male inhabitants of full age in the territory. This first elected legislature met in September, 1799, and re-affirmed the earlier laws of the governor and judges.

The next year Congress divided the Northwest Territory into two parts, the eastern part, comprising approximately present Ohio and eastern Michigan, remaining as the Northwest Territory; and the western part, comprising the balance of the previous territory, becoming Indiana Territory. At this time the territorial capitals were first definitely located, one at Chillicothe, Ohio, and the other at Vincennes, Indiana. Thus, Chillicothe became the first capital of the Northwest Territory and remained so until the state of Ohio was admitted to the Union in 1803.

[Illustration: OLD INDIANA TERRITORIAL HALL

_Drawn by Robert Osterhag, Vincennes, Ind._]

While the governor and some of the judges lived at Marietta, and they had enacted laws at meetings there, those laws had been invalidated. There was then no officially designated capital of the territory, the judges meeting and promulgating laws wherever might be convenient. In 1790, St. Clair had removed to Cincinnati in preparation for his campaign against the Indians, which proved so disastrous in 1791.

[Illustration: OX TEAM AND COVERED WAGON PARTY

_Drawn by Earl Laweck, Roger City, Michigan_]